Black

To describe the level of nervousness – and if she were being honest with herself, abject terror – that swamped Trixie's brain would have defied her vocabulary. Pacing back and forth along the red carpet, between the marble columns and the stained glass windows and under a ceiling which vaulted so high it could tickle the stars, the magician looked up again at the dark blue door at the end of the hall just ahead. Specifically, her eyes stuck to the gleaming silver crescent set in the center, which served both as a door knocker and an indication of just whose chambers were enclosed behind it.

Swallowing, Trixie tugged at her collar again. In deference to the gravity of her business she had donned the most formal clothing she owned, an ensemble which would have graded out at 'daily wear' on Rarity's scale and in fact looked much like the dressmaker's usual professional attire. The blazer might have been blue, and the blouse and skirt an odd shade of purple, but everything else was very similar, even the heels.

Another eternity ticked by, squashed into the space of a second which was marked by her dainty little wristwatch. She had arrived as early as she assumed necessary for a meeting with a Princess – about an hour – but now the time appointed for her audience had wandered past by nearly five minutes. The mounting delay only allowed her anxiety to deepen and twist her stomach into frigid knots.

And then the door swung open, almost causing her to jump right out of her clammy skin with fright. "Enter," a voice commanded. Its source was a barely distinguishable silhouette, backed by dim light and standing in the doorway. Trixie obeyed immediately and strode quickly through the golden frame. Only after the door was shut behind her did a light come on and reveal her new surroundings.

"You didn't have to dress up," Luna chided with a smirk. She walked past and into the magician's sight, clad in a black hoodie and blue jeans. Her socks were a different shade of blue. "I'm not my sister."

"Wh-wha?" Trixie shook her head furiously and, at last, managed a few steps forward in an attempt to follow. Her heels clacked on the black granite floor – as she glanced about, it became clear that the walls were granite too, as was the ceiling. So far as she had seen, there was nothing else like this room in Celestia's white marble bastion.

Luna was across the room by now, past her tremendous indigo poster bed. "My apologies for being late. My alarm clock wasn't loud enough to wake me," she said, drawing closed the curtains across the single, enormous window. As if to prove it, the Princess let loose an obnoxious yawn. "Maybe I should use my phone..."

"Beg your pardon," Trixie began, feeling safe enough to shed her uncomfortable shoes, "but you just woke up? I've been outside for over an hour."

Luna turned back with an eyebrow raised high. "Whatever for?" The look on the magician's face said it all. "Oh, I get it. You wanted to be early to avoid insulting my dignity?" With a porcelain hand, she waved for Trixie to sit in one of the fat chairs arranged in front of a TV in the corner. "I wish you people would relax."

Trixie blinked as she sat down, still trembling lightly. "You...people?"

The Princess sat as well, rolling her eyes and grinning. "Forgive me. Lately my sister has been feeling protective."

"I see." It took actual effort for the magician to attempt to calm herself; seeing Luna slumped into her chair, idly channel surfing, did the trick. "I guess I was expecting something more formal."

Cyan eyes squinted with annoyance, and not due to the loud car salesman on the screen. "I have no use for formalities. Not anymore."

"Right." Trixie decided it would be safest to glue her sight to the TV and wait for the first move to be made. Soon after she clammed up, her peripheral vision caught Luna reaching down under the cherry table between them. Her hand came back up with a thick manila envelope, which the Princess tossed into her lap. "The papers?" Almost instinctively, she went to open the package for a peek. A hot spark of magic slashed across her wrist and halted her. "Ow!"

Luna rolled her eyes at the magician. "Honestly, you should know better. Those are for Winter's eyes, not yours."

She shook her hand to cool the sting, setting the envelope in her lap as she did. "I can't help being curious. I'm curious about a lot of things, if I may be direct with you."

"I know. That is why I asked you to come." After turning down the volume, she turned her upper half to Trixie and rested her chin in her hand. "I can't tell you everything, but you can ask whatever you like."

The first question had been brewing for some time and came instantly. "How do you know Winter? She never mentioned being acquainted with the royal family."

Luna squinted with vague unhappiness, but allowed the question anyway. "It's complicated. I cannot be specific."

Feeling a bit more comfortable with time, Trixie folded her arms and assumed her usual demeanor. "I guess I should have expected that. Is she related to you? An illegitimate child or something?"

"No." Her expression here was more genuine, but the tone of her answer was still curt.

With the ice broken, Trixie felt ever so slightly in charge of the situation and began to press. "Really? She seems pretty strong. I thought power like that was limited to the three of you."

Luna swatted down her assertiveness with a regal glare. "No means no. She is not related to us, despite what her abilities may lead you to think. Move on."

"R-right," she swallowed, trying to regain her edge. "How did you know about the amulet?"

The Princess tucked back an errant lock of shimmering hair and sighed. "There is a registry of such artifacts. We'd been looking for that one for some time."

"I see." Trixie's eyes drifted away while she thought on the matter. "Why am I not in jail?"

"It would be easier to have you killed."

The magician almost fell out of her chair at those words. Laughing nervously, she tried to pass it off as a bad joke before panic crushed her. "Oh, come on. This isn't a movie."

Luna folded her arms and exuded just as much imposing willpower as her sister, even if it looked incongruous with her casual clothing. "Do not think I'm teasing you. You walk free because one, you are close enough to Winter to keep an eye on her without raising suspicion, and two, because you are distant enough from Twilight to not be obliged to divulge things to her. I could not trust her friends to keep their mouths shut about this."

"So I'm convenient?" Trixie squeaked, hands balled into trembling fists.

With a sigh, the hardness of her pose faded. She slumped over a little and shook her head. "More or less. As long as you keep quiet, you have nothing to fear from me." Frowning at the continued fearful reaction, Luna finally reached out and patted the woman on the shoulder. "It is complicated. Most things having to do with us are."

"No kidding." Trixie needed several moments to screw up her courage for another question. "I thought her name was Fuyu?"

That inquiry was just irrelevant enough to make her smile. "A nickname she picked up. Her given name is Winter. She'll answer to both."

"Huh. Right. Uh..." While figuring out if she had anything else to ask, Trixie stood and stretched her legs. "I have a feeling I won't get much else out of you, so I guess that's all."

"Actually, it isn't." After reaching under the table again, Luna also got to her feet. "I wanted to give you this."

Blinking, she took a small, velveteen box from the Princess. Rectangular and purple, it appeared to be a case of some sort, although for what she had no idea. Unwilling to open the thing after Luna's reaction to her curiosity, she simply held on to it. "What's this?"

She caught that hesitation and smirked. "For you. You can look inside this one."

Exhaling with relief, Trixie flicked it open with the tip of her thumb. Inside was a silver, circular medal. The obverse was an intricately carved representation of the sky, featuring a crescent moon at top center and whose empty field was dotted with stars. It was suspended, via a simple hoop and a bar of silver, to a rectangle ribbon dyed alternating stripes of indigo and white. While awed by it, the magician had no clue what it was. "It's...nice? Very shiny."

Luna burst out laughing. "This is a medal of the Order of the Evening Sky. Consider this your investiture ceremony."

"W-wait...am I a knight now?!" she yelled, jaw slamming into the floor.

"No, you're a Dame." Still chortling lowly, she turned the TV back on. "That entitles you to a monthly stipend which should help you remain in Ponyville indefinitely. It will also get you out of the media's eye – and kill any investigation into the incident."

Trixie was giggling as she pinned the device to her blazer lapel. "Look at me, I'm a martial noble! I feel like I'm in one of those fantasy novels!"

"It has been some time since either Order has raised a sword in anger, and nobility might be stretching it, but, yes. I suppose you are...special, now." It didn't take long for the giddiness of Trixie's laughter to start grating. Luna moved to knock her down a few notches – and remind her of the clandestine nature of their interaction. "Do not wear it in public. Only people that know you have it in the first place will ask for its presentation. Otherwise, keep it to yourself. Am I understood?"

Her scolding worked, but only to some extent. Trixie continued to cradle the gleaming thing in her left hand and smile brightly. "Yes, Your Highness. I can't believe it!" Unable to help giggling again, she laughed until an icicle of silence jabbed at her senses. Looking up, she saw Luna, arms crossed and a dark smirk on her face. "Why are you looking at me that way?"

The Princess' lips curled further, baring her teeth in an almost-threatening grin. "Don't get too excited. All this means is that you're officially my little secret."

Fuyu walked into the shop, her stride and visage oozing purpose unlike Pinkie had ever seen before. Only when she found her friend unnerved by her demeanor did she drop it and adopt something closer to her usual gentle aloofness. "Good morning," she offered, sliding behind the counter. "Am I early?"

"Little bit!" Pinkie shook it off and began to dance around, examining the inventory in the glass cases that lined the walls. "We both are! Oh, heads up, Mrs. Cake is gonna be by herself – not by herself by herself, I mean I'll be there too and...what was I saying again? Oh yeah! Just the two of us in the kitchen today 'cause Pumpkin's all sick and her daddy stayed home to take care of her. If people want food, just tell them it might be a while."

Fuyu translated the deluge of babbling and fished out the important pieces with a firm nod. "Mr. Cake is not here, so let the customers know that making food might be slow. I understand."

"Yep!" The baker was lost in her rounds until a random thought walked by and booted her in the brain. She straightened up and placed her hands on her hips, then fired a pointed look over at Fuyu. "Hey, why did you look so scary just now?"

Her question was smashed by a stone-faced counter. "How much money am I earning for this? Neither of the Cakes told me."

Utterly stunned, Pinkie could only drop her hands and stare for a moment. "Same amount as me, I guess. Why?"

"And how much is that?" she asked, eyes glued to the other woman. Despite her stare, she was also sorting the change in the register – or her black assistants were, piling the coins by weight and setting them into the appropriate slot. The tendrils slid back into her hands after she finished.

It had taken that long for Pinkie to formulate any answer, a span full of 'hmm' and eye rolling and toe-tapping that at last yielded, "I dunno. I let the Cakes handle that 'cause I am soooooo bad at money things. I can't even do my taxes without Rarity's help! It's boring and makes my head hurt..."

Now it was the pale woman's chance to bear a stunned look. "You've worked here for so long and you don't even know your salary?"

She beamed. "Nope!" On the way back to the counter she added, "I mean, a whole lot gets taken out for rent and whatever I might snack on that I'm not supposed to and utilities for the loft and blah blah blah. Like I said, boring."

Fuyu rubbed at her forehead and sighed. "I suppose I will just have to ask someone else."

Pinkie twirled over and wrapped an arm around her, grinning widely. "Why are you askin' in the first place, huh? I thought you didn't care about scratch."

"I need to know because I want to buy a phone like you have," she said, sliding the register drawer shut with a finger. "Wait, what is scratch?"

"You know, scratch! Paper, lettuce, bank, dough, coin, bread!" After seeing that her slang was going right over Fuyu's head, she gave up and focused on the other topic by pulling her phone out of her jacket pocket. It was a faded pink with three balloons on the back, but the same model as their five mutual friends owned. "Never mind. Getting your own phone is good idea! I think? Right?"

Fingernails tapping, she nodded at the baker and glanced about. "Yes. Twilight has been my go-between for long enough."

While putting her phone away, Pinkie offered up a slightly nervous grin. "Huh. You're scary when you want something, Fufu."

Her words made the woman blink with surprise. "I am?"

"Yeah, like, wow. It's 'stay out of your way 'cause you are on a mission' scary." An abrupt hug smoothed out the awkwardness. "Don't worry! All I'm saying is that you're super focused!"

"Right." The arrival of Mrs. Cake drew their attention. Fuyu decided her question could not wait and posed it the moment the woman walked nearer. "I would like to know what my salary is."

The tone caught her square, forcing a pause as she shed her light coat and reached for the apron on the rack by the kitchen entrance. "Goodness. Fifteen an hour, the same we pay Pinkie. So that would be..." She trailed off, looking up as she tried to wrangle with the math.

Fuyu crushed the numbers almost instantly. "One hundred and twenty for an eight hour day, or ninety for six. Thank you. That's all I needed."

Her final statement did not apply to Mrs. Cake. She looked over at Pinkie for context and got some with a poorly-concealed whisper. "Fufu wants to buy a fancy phone like mine and she will not be stopped. Just roll with it."

"I see." She finally finished donning her apron and headed into the kitchen. "Come on, dearie. I'm going to need your cookie expertise."

Pinkie exploded with joy and gave chase. "Oooooo! I love cookies! Are we gonna make the ones with the macadamia nuts? Do we even have any macada—oh crap, did I forget to buy macadamia nuts?"

The last Fuyu heard of their conversation was a laugh and assurance from Mrs. Cake. "No, I bought them yesterday." As the noise faded, she positioned herself near the register like a casually-clothed sentinel and waited for the first customer of the day to arrive. Instead, she was met by two arriving about five minutes after being left alone. Applejack appeared first, holding the door open for Rainbow Dash.

"You dork," the athlete said, grinning up at her girlfriend. "Always doing the door thing."

She tipped her hat and issued an equally wry smirk. "I can't help bein' raised right." Together, they wandered up to the counter. "Howdy! How's work treatin' ya?"

Just after the blonde asked, a loud crash and accompanying torrent of four letter words – most of which were spoken by Pinkie, whose chipper voice made the curses sound hilarious – rang out from the kitchen. "I don't know how to answer that," Fuyu admitted, folding her arms.

Rainbow grinned again, stretching. "Seems about right. Can I get an iced coffee and a box of doughnuts for the living tree?" She snickered as Applejack elbowed her in the shoulder. "Like I'm wrong."

Fuyu raised her left hand and, without even turning around, began the process of producing the coffee. Black tendrils flew out and traveled behind her to operate the knobs and switches. Both women recoiled a bit at the sight, but Fuyu kept going. "I'm supposed to say that any food orders may take longer due to Mr. Cake's absence." All three of them noticed a smell and looked up. A vague, gray trail of smoke was wafting in from the kitchen. "...a lot longer," the pale woman added.

The couple stared at the haze and unconsciously huddled together. "Geez. Screw the doughnuts, then. Guess we'll have to get some later," Rainbow said with a grumble. She shared a sudden look with Applejack, then both cast their eyes at the pale woman. Neither said anything.

It was hard for Fuyu to miss, even as she devoted some brainpower to magically making the coffee. Once it was done, she set the cup on the counter and blinked. "What?"

The blonde doffed her hat and adjusted her ponytail. "Y'all didn't drop by again yesterday, so we didn't get ta ask ya..."

Fuyu didn't wait for her to finish. "Have I been roped into something else?" Genuine annoyance marked her face.

Rainbow interjected, taking her coffee. "Nah. At least not on our end. We were just wondering if you knew why Trixie was going to Canterlot."

Now she only looked confused. Dismissing her assistants, Fuyu stared the athlete down. "I hadn't heard about this. How did you find out?"

Applejack cleared her throat in that particular way which signaled the beginning of a story. "Well, Rainbow told me what ya said day 'fore yesterday and we both felt like jackasses. In fact I felt like enough a'one to pay Trixie a visit just after dawn. Told her I was sorry. That's when I saw the train ticket. And just after ya left ta see Fluttershy, we saw her with a suitcase leavin' the apartment complex."

"Hmm." After a few thoughtful seconds, Fuyu shrugged and laid her hands on the counter. "I wonder why."

Her underwhelming reaction caused Rainbow to blink and Applejack to smile. "Told ya," the blonde said. "Ain't no big deal."

"I wish you'd stop being right." She took an annoyed drink from her cup, although a smile was in her eyes.

Fuyu smiled at their banter. "Perhaps not, but I am curious. I'll ask her when she gets back."

Rainbow smacked her lips with the flavor of her coffee. "What if she doesn't come back?"

"She will. This is the probably the only town that will have her." Suddenly, a chain of thoughts formed in Fuyu's head that made her scowl. "Which means she must have had some important reason to travel. I wonder if everything is all right."

Applejack exchanged another look with her girlfriend, but all three let the matter drop. "Well, since we're all done with that, can we get ta the orchard? Got a lot of apples ta knock down 'fore the first frost gets here."

"Yeah, and by the way, I wouldn't have needed the caffeine if you hadn't kept me up all night." Rainbow reached into the front pocket of her white hoodie and dropped a bill on the counter. "Keep the change, we've gotta go so AJ can save her precious fruit. See ya!"

"Goodbye." Fuyu offered a wave as they left and placed the money in the register. Alone again, she allowed her train of thought to bother her more outwardly. "Why would she need to go to the capital?" A happy chime from the front killed her contemplation.

Twilight was peeking around the door. She looked around a few times before finally entering and skittering up to the counter. "Good, I'm not too late."

Fuyu was a bit thrown off by the librarian's behavior. "Too late for what?"

"You seemed kind of angry at me this morning. I wanted to make sure everything was fine before a crowd got here." While waiting for a response, she started to fidget.

"I seemed angry?" Quickly, she figured out that the intensity that had frightened Pinkie was likely responsible for this as well. "Oh. I wasn't angry, I just wanted a phone like yours."

Twilight fell still while trying to resolve the explanation with her memory of the exchange. "But your eyes were terrifying! Are you sure that was it?"

A smile twisted her thin lips. "Pinkie says I'm scary when I want something."

"No kidding. I thought I'd made you mad." She smiled too, but it vanished at the same time as Fuyu's. "Why are you frowning?"

"I think I might be a little..." The word wouldn't come at first, at least not the one she felt matched her feelings best. Seconds passed before she settled for something close. "Annoyed with you."

"I knew it!" Twilight slapped her palms down on the counter top. She winced with pain and shook her hands. "Ouch. Why? What did I do?"

As usual, the pale woman got right to the point. "You enjoy intercepting as many of my interactions as possible. I want a phone so I can avoid that."

The sullen, slack-jawed, stunned look on Twilight's face said it all. Her expression did soften quickly, but a shadow of it stuck fast. "I...I see. Not the first time I've heard something like this." Her hands decided to hide in her pockets as she took a breath and retorted. "I swear there's a good reason!"

Fuyu meant to put on a receptive look, but it was made unrecognizable by her lingering intensity. "Let's have it, then."

"I'm afraid for you," she replied, starting to pace. "Not of physical harm, of course, I mean...you're still adjusting emotionally to, well," she paused, sweeping her hands around, "normal. I just want to make sure nothing hurts you while you get settled in."

Displeasure began to tickle Fuyu's brain as she listened. "I think I've adjusted well."

In her rush to be reassuring, Twilight let slip too much of the truth. "Totally not what I mean. I'm saying I don't know how you'll react to-" A hand covered her mouth to catch the words, then to conceal the gasp as she registered the dark look in Fuyu's turquoise eyes. "No, no, I don't mean..."

"Are any of you ever going to trust me?" Her words lacked volume and emotion, which only caused them to feel like bricks against Twilight's eardrums.

She scrambled to dig herself out – even her gesticulations gave that impression – but instead succeeded in deepening the hole. "We do! But you're unique and I have no idea how to handle you!"

"I do not think I need to be handled." The librarian had finally done it; Fuyu was spited full sore. Anger flowed freely from her eyes. Meanwhile, others were beginning to arrive and fall in line behind Twilight, waiting to place orders. "Now, I have work to do. Leave me alone."

"But..." The pale woman pointed at the door and silenced her. Defeated, Twilight shuffled out of the way and past the customers, disappearing out into the parking lot just as tears began to fall.

Seven hours of work cooled Fuyu's emotions off – it would have been a welcome feeling, except what they'd hardened into was a heavy lump of regret. Standing in the parking lot, her eyes fell on the crown of the library tree. She wasn't sure whether or not to go home.

"I don't like this," she muttered, watching the town go by. After asking herself if there were really anywhere else she could go, she began to move toward the tree in a slow hover. If the other people around were reacting any worse to her presence than normal, it fell upon blind eyes and deaf ears. Fuyu was too busy wrangling with her reaction to Twilight's sheltering, and the librarian's reaction to her reaction. "I think I might have made a mistake."

In no time she was at the front door, struggling to force her hand up and open it. It swung open abruptly, startling her enough to make her step back off the stoop.

"Welcome back," Twilight greeted, uncertain but pleasant. "I got you something!"

"Huh?" She was dragged unceremoniously into the library, then in the direction of the kitchen. "What did you get me?"

"Just a second!" Only after depositing her at the table did she reach into her pocket and produce a shining black phone. "Here. You're right."

Fuyu took it, turning it over in her hands. The back of the case had two blue stripes running horizontal through the center. "I am?" she asked while looking back up.

Twilight sat down and exhaled. "Listen, I really meant what I said. I don't want anyone to hurt you. I guess I was just coloring your experiences with my own because, as we both know, I'm not very good at social interactions sometimes. I...I just didn't want anything bad to happen to you."

She set the phone on the table and gazed blankly. "Do you think I would hurt someone if something did?"

It was returned with a firm look and a shake of the head. "Deep down? No. But everyone says that. Nobody knows what they're really capable of in the moment, and you're so strong. I'm looking out for others. Not that that will make you feel any better." The resultant smile from Fuyu made her head tilt. "What?"

"I've heard that you like to take charge." She looked down at the phone and smiled a little wider. "Maybe you have a point. All of this is still somewhat new to me. I would like to be allowed to handle it myself, though."

"Right. Of course." Twilight watched her play with the device for a moment. "I, uh, put in our numbers for you. So you could use it right away, I mean."

"Thank you. I think I will." She stood up and walked toward the steps, but hesitated and turned around. "I am very scary, aren't I?"

Twilight rubbed the back of her neck and nodded. "The old you is hard to forget. We try our best to hide it, but wow, is it difficult."

"Then stop trying." Fuyu floated up the stairs to the loft without a further word and settled on her bed. Her first act with the phone was not to call anyone, but instead commit the various menus and icons and screens of the device to her memory. Fifteen minutes later, she brought one such menu up and stared at it. "Now what was her number..." The digits popped up in order as her thumb flew across the display. "Yes." Once added, she called it straightaway.

Four rings passed before a voice responded. "Who is this?"

"Trixie. It's Fuyu," she replied. "I was wondering what you were doing in Canterlot."