In the Equestrian Rim, the best known trader is Beatrix, or "Trixie", captain of the small freighter Lulamoon. Some would even call her a merchant princess. That's how well she's done for herself. She's never particularly cared about what happens to others, only that she gets paid.

But when a routine contract leads her to the backwater Outer Rim, to a colony called "Ponyville", things change. First she almost has a run-in with the nanite-infested Sombrans, and then learns the Sombrans have been raiding Ponyville regularly. So why does she now care about what happens to others?

Sci-fi AU.

Written for the EqD story event that happened May 13, 2013. The prompt was "Fireworks and the open road. Sun, rain, sleet and hail. Through it all, Trixie travels. It's up to you to figure out why she travels, and the reason she performs. A friend she left behind? Wanting to show up Twilight? Something else? It's down to you."

Cover art is The Great and Cosplaying Trixie by pikkinon, so graciously commissioned for me an age ago.