Starlight, Starbright...

Trixie walked through the streets of Ponyville, wondering who she might be able to sell her necklace to. She hated to part with it, it did have a certain beauty to it… however when ones pockets were empty, true beauty comes in coin. ‘None of the local stand owners would possibly have near enough coin to suffice for this’ She thought to herself ‘so perhaps I should check in with ponies with more suitable wallet sizes.’

As she approached the museum, an idea came to her out of the blue; she would show the amulet off as an ancient relic of long ago, that would surely fetch a fair price. She was great at playing things up much greater than they actually were, so this would be a walk in the park for her. Smiling to herself she prepared the speech in her head, “Consider yourself lucky, for the amazingly generous Trixie has the deal of a lifetime for you, and your museum.”

Unfortunately, this same boasting hadn’t exactly given her the best name around town. Everywhere she went, the door was slammed in her face as soon as it was opened. Time and time again she was cast aside, and whenever she got somepony to listen to her for more than three seconds the price she offered was deemed ludicrous. Even the one she had expected the most to take her offer, the fashion Expert Rarity, denied her any service. After hours of sales pitching, she walked out onto Main Street yet again… defeated, drained of energy, and worst of all: hungry.

Out of ideas, she hung her head began the long walk home, defeated. However her head perked up when another idea came to her ‘Twilight seems to take a liking to magical miracles and ancient artifacts, perhaps she will be my one saving grace… but just to make sure I shall cut down the price to a reasonable 100 bits.’

Renewed of energy and hope she set her sights for the Golden oaks library, nothing was going to stop her… until she flopped over onto her back out of hunger. ‘Better add dinner to the price tag’ she made a mental note and eventually got to her hooves. After a few more dramatic bouts she eventually made it to front doorstep of her old rival. Shoving her stomach into the back of her mind she calmed herself and knocked on the door.

A few minutes passed before a surprised purple unicorn opened the door. “Um… Hello, Trixie… what are you doing here?” she asked, unsure of Trixie’s intentions this time.

“Ah, Twilight Sparkle, the GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie has the deal of a lifetime!” She boasted as she showed the amulet off. “She has come across a rare and powerful artifact and thought by chance that you might be interested in it.” However, something unexpected happened as she held it aloft, the gem in the center of it began to glow. Surprised, she quickly rolled with it as the unicorn eyed it suspiciously. “Yes, its untold powers could be revolutionary for our… our understanding of ancient cultures… but alas, I could not simply part with it so easily.” Bringing it close Trixie withheld a smile as Twilight sighed.

As she held it closer to play up her act, Trixie felt some sort of faint magic resonating from it. Unsure what was happening she imagined this was why Twilight finally succumbed and asked “Ok Trixie, what do you want for it?”

“Oh don’t worry darling, the Generous Trixie won’t ask for much, just a meager… 100~~~0 bits should suffice.” However when her stomach growled loud enough for even her business partner to flinch she added “And… dinner wouldn’t hurt either…”

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Trixie placed him down on a pedestal, in a rush to finally eat a decent meal. Everything had gone according to his plans; the fool of a mare Trixie had followed his every suggestion… and hadn’t even questioned a single one of them. His whispers sending her around town, giving faulty sales pitch scripts… in which she played the part perfectly. Whether it was luck or skill, it did not matter. The hardest part of the plan was about to go underway.

Any minute now, Twilight and Trixie would finish dinner, Trixie would be sent on her merry way, and the pink unicorn would soon come to examine the new artifact. This is where it would be tricky… we would have to use every skill he has mastered to date, to not only convince Twilight to help him, but to keep her or her friends from notifying Celestia.

He played the scene out several times in his head, watching and waiting. About half an hour passed before the two ponies walked back into the room, the blue unicorn’s pockets/stomach no longer empty. After she said goodbye and closed the door, Twilight came over to the pedestal and inspected the amulet down to the last detail. However, a flaw in his plan began making itself apparent. The girl was using magic to handle his prison! If she didn’t at least make contact, he would be unable to communicate… ruining everything!

“Strange, I’m not sensing any of the energies from before… maybe Trixie really was just fooling me with some new spell.” She said to herself. The situation was deteriorating, and he would have to act quickly. Victory was so close, but was going to slip away just as it had so many times before. However, Twilight suddenly spoke up again. “But that magic I felt before, she was just as surprised as I was… maybe there’s just some way to activate it…. Maybe if I put it on, and concentrate on…” she placed the amulet around her neck, it was a surprisingly good fit.

This was perfect, but even though he had his chance, that he could scream out at any moment, he would bide his time for just a few more precious moments. He allowed the unicorn to flow just a few more drops of magic into the amulet before he finally spoke up. He decided to go with a more innocent approach. “Um….Hello?” he asked, in a quiet and scared voice.

As he predicted, the poor mare was caught off guard “What!? Who’s there?!” she asked, frantically looking around “Is that you Spike?”

“You… can really hear me?” He continued the charade, praying on her innocence, “Really?”

Confused and slightly scared, Twilight hesitantly answered “Umm… yes, now who are you? And um… where are you?”

He knew that his real name was probably written in the history books with blood, and using it around somepony as well read as Twilight was suicide… so he decided to the name he had made for situations like these. “Well I suppose I should introduce myself, my name is Starbright, and I am currently wrapped around your neck.”

Twilight’s face grew pale white, and after a few moments of silence. “…WHAAAAAAT!?!?!?!?!??!!1?”

“This is going to take a while… isn’t it?"