A Tale of Two Trixies

Chapters

Skitchverse Chapter 2
Lunaverse Chapter 2
Skitchverse Chapter 3
Lunaverse Chapter 3
Skitchverse Chapter 4
Lunaverse Chapter 4
Skitchverse Chapter 5
Lunaverse Chapter 5
Skitchverse Chapter 6
Lunaverse Chapter 6
Finale
Epilogue
Prologue
Chapter 1

Skitchverse Chapter 2

At least my home city is kind of familiar. Trixie thought, trotting through the cobblestone streets of Neigh Orleans. Though, there definitely weren’t so many electric lights about.

At least, that’s what she guessed all the metal posts topped with glass spheres on street corners were. She even trotted past a few boxy cars transporting ponies around, while connected to wires that ran above the streets, yet another sign that technology in this Equestria was more advanced. She spared a glance at the saddlebags she had found in the theater office. In one of the pockets was a book that she had also found. It was a book on the history of this Equestria, something that she had every intention of quickly skimming through over a quick breakfast.

The last time she had traveled between worlds, her lack of knowledge about the world she found herself in had caused problems. She would not make the same mistake this time. She had also come to the decision to tell her double’s team about herself...after they cased the ambassador's place this morning.

Thankfully, she found a corner cafe relatively quickly. Sweeping inside, Trixie quickly trotted for an isolated table in the back corner to read at. She had just barely finished sitting down when a waitress swooped over to her table.

“Mornin’ sugar!” She beamed. “What can I get for ya?”

“A pair of yeast muffins.” Trixie rattled off, flipping open the book as she talked. “With an egg on each, hay on top of that, and a collection of your breakfast jams and spreads. Oh! And some hot sauce if you have it.”

The waitress raised an eyebrow at that, but nodded and trotted off, leaving Trixie to her book.

The interior cover of the thick tome was marked with a world map that Trixie quickly turned her gaze upon, only to raise an eyebrow at what she saw. Equestria was bigger, seemingly having swallowed part Pferdreich at some point in its history. The rest of that nation, as well as the whole of Heststed and Paardveld were now part of Cavallia (on the wrong side of the continent, she noted), which was almost equal to Equestria itself if one factored in the states in its “sphere of influence”.

But Cavallia was hardly alone in its change in size. The scattered Griffin Kingdoms of her world seemed to be united here under the banner of the High Confederation of Wings. Elkhiem, having picked up an extra ien to become Elkienhiem, had gathered enough territory to be labeled an empire. Across the seas, two other empires rose. Tapiria- no longer part of Equestria’s continent- now strode across a landmass to the south like a colossus, while to the east, the Raj of Inj squatted on its sub continent with five nations in its sphere of control.

Just what kind of world have I walked into? Trixie wondered, quickly flipping onwards.

A scan of the history of this Equestria revealed that the unification of the three tribes had happened due to a celestial event rather than Hearth Warming story she was familiar with. Celestia and Luna had then revealed themselves after a disastrous conflict with the griffin tribes that had firmly set Equestria’s northern borders.

From there, the book mostly discussed the rule of the princesses, and their efforts to protect Equestria during a so called “Age of Nightmares”. There were some reflections from her own world’s history at this point. Names like Grogar and Tirek lept from the page. And in this world, as Trixie had guessed from some of what she had read already, Celestia had remained strong, while Luna had gone the dark route.

It was here that the biases of the writer began to bleed through into the text, with snide implications that the returned to her throne Luna was somehow undeserving of the position. After all, the text argued, Princess Cadance had been serving admirably as the leader of the Night Court for the last thousand years and “it remained to be seen” if Luna could overcome her fall.

Trixie bristled at that.

Sure, the Luna described here wasn’t her Luna, her mentor. But the fact that this was the second universe she had been to where Luna had gone evil just made her angry. It almost felt unfair, like the multiverse was somehow passing commentary and judgement on her home for being the odd universe out. With a frown, Trixie jumped ahead, to the back of the book and more modern events, searching for who received the Elements of Harmony.

“Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie.” Trixie read the list, complete with pictures, (though she couldn’t help but note the three scars that Applejack sported across her snout) a slightly deadpan tone creeping into her words, “Again.”

She frowned remembering the, quite frankly, pain in the flank version of herself from that other Equestria. Suddenly, in light of that, and the fact that Twilight Sparkle and her friends were the Element Bearers in two universes….

“No.” She said firmly to herself, pushing the dark thoughts from her mind, “The me of this Equestria is trusted enough by its leadership to be recommended to another ruler to help fix his problem. And I am the Element of Magic, and Princess Luna’s personal student.”

The book was firmly snapped shut with a flick of her hoof.

“Trixie is not the punching bag of reality. My universe is just as legitimate as any of these ones.”

Flipping the cover closed with a sigh, she waited for her breakfast. She would need the energy for what she was going to today, after all.

Approaching the ambassador’s manor, Trixie absentmindedly rubbed at her ear, and the amber colored oval that was carefully tucked within. A quick look at them when they had been dug out revealed to her that they were similar to both her communication earrings from the Grand Galloping Gala, and the mental communication spell that Princess Luna used sometimes.

It was a handy little magic device, really.

I wonder if the other me made these? She thought to herself.

Trixie!

She jumped at the sudden burst of mental communication, Northern Light’s voice ringing strong and clear in her head.

Where are you? We’re all here already!

I’m almost there. Trixie thought back, picking up the pace. Keep your coat on!

Breaking into a light canter, Trixie rounded the last corner and stepped onto the street that contained her destination. The ambassador’s manor was about what Trixie expected. Large, with well maintained grounds and a high likelihood that everything contained within ranged from “expensive” to “very expensive”. A tall stone wall and wrought iron bars kept it separate from the rest of the neighborhood.

But, what made her raise her eyebrow was “her” team. They had broken up after the meeting, each heading to grab their gear before meeting back up here and it was an...interesting look for the group.

Kassa had gone from dark mane to a light sandy color, a neatly trimmed mustache and goatee now on his muzzle. A small, round pair of glasses, a brown colored jacket and clipboard completed a very scholarly look. Northern Lights was similarly decked out with her own pair of glasses, and a light cream colored vest. She looked to be the assistant of Kassa’s character.

But what made her suppress a round of giggles was Iron Will. The minotaur was dressed like a chef, complete with the white jacket, and puffy hat balanced between his two curved horns. The disgruntled look on his face spoke to just what he thought about his role in the plan.

“Alright everypony,” Trixie smiled as she approached, “Ready?”

“Why do I have to be the chef?” Iron Will frowned.

“Because, Kassa is the party planner, and we need two pairs of eyes inside.” Trixie responded with an imperious wave of her hoof. “If you see anything, let each other know.”

Stepping forward, she tapped the electric buzzer that was set next to the gate. A minute ticked by before a nervous looking, buckwheat coated, yellow maned pegasus came trotting up to the bars. She wore the plain white apron of domestic staff.

“Yes?” She asked, a slight taprian accent evident in her speech, “Can I help you?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie and her assistants. I understand that the ambassador’s daughter is having a birthday tomorrow. Has entertainment been procured yet?”

“Well…”

The sound of distant shouting floated from around the building.

“...No.”

“Then please, if you would lead the way, we’ll be more than happy to take care of all of your problems.”

The pony nervously bit her lip, but at an angry sounding roar tearing its way across the grounds seemed to convince her. “R-right this way!” She smiled, unlocking the gates with a large iron key plucked from her apron pocket. As they trotted across the grounds, Trixie could hear the mental echoes of her companions rapidly firing off their observations.

I can sneak somepony out along the left wall there. Those bushes are planted too close together.

Only works if ya can lift that key off the maid there.

Please! I wouldn’t be uncaught if I couldn’t lift a key.

I’m seeing some guards on the roof, but that’s about it. That’s either all they have, or the rest are hiding someplace. Iron Will added.

One at a time please. Trixie thought. You’re giving me a headache.

Breaking around the edge of the building, the site of a party, clearly still under construction came into view. A stage was being hastily erected next to one of the back doors, most likely the kitchen, if Trixie had to hazard a guess, while two groups of long tables were set up on either side of said stage.

In the empty space in front of the stage, a taparian family sat. The father, with his all brown coat and neatly trimmed beard, and the mother with her black head and white body, both looked exceptionally bored. As did the calf with her mottled coat that sat in between the two, who was flanked by a pair of nervous looking pony foals. It was easy to see why. There was magician on stage who was absolutely bombing. The light green stallion’s hooves were shaking like a leaf, as he tried to pull off a variation of the ball in a cup trick.

Of course, he was probably nervous because of the tiger.

As scary as Kassa had appeared when he first showed up in the theatre, he suddenly looked like the skinny dramatist he actually was in comparison to the beast hovering behind the magician. The muscles that rippled under his fur were massive, giving him the appearance of a living juggernaut, that was only enhanced by the jagged scar over one of his golden eyes. Even the black stripes in his fur pattern seemed almost dagger shaped.

It only took that glance for Trixie to realize that, like Kassa, he was sapient. The stance, the way he kept extending and retracting his claws. He was trying to intimidate the pony and doing a damn good job of it.

Oh. Iron Will deadpanned. There’s the rest of the security.

The calf looked up at her father, saying something in her native tongue, though the snotty attitude came through clear as day.

She’s decidedly not a fan of the show. Kassa supplied. Not sure why big, orange and angry there is trying to scare the fur off that stallion though.

“That’s quite enough.” Velenta frowned, holding up a hoof in response to his daughter’s comments. “We will not be using your services for the party.”

The stallion looked more relieved than anything else, as he scooped up the remains of his act and very quickly bolted from the stage, towards the front gate, the eyes of the tiger on him all the way. At least until he noticed Trixie and her team.

“HALT!” He barked, springing from the stage to the ground in one smooth motion. “Who are you to trespass on sovereign Tapirian soil!”

While the servant leading the way came to a stuttering halt, Trixie didn’t slow down, striding forward to meet him. She passed the disgraced magician on the way, who paused for a brief moment.

“From one magician to another,” He hissed. “This job is so not worth it.” And then he was gone, and Trixie was almost nose to nose with the tiger.

“I,” She evenly responded, looking up into those intense golden eyes. “Am Trixie. The Great and Powerful Trixie. And I’m here to solve all of your employer’s problems.”

“Trixie.” Velenta blinked as he trotted over to her. “Of the Lulamoon family? Regained control of your family theatre recently?”

“That would be me.” Trixie lied.

“Might I ask why you’d be interested in performing at a child’s party then?”

“Yes.” The tiger growled, leaning closer. “Very suspicious.”

“The rather...complex, nature of my theatre’s state has left its coffers rather drained.” Trixie explained, quickly cooking up an excuse that would get them in. “I will be the first to admit that performing for an ambassador would be good for my finances and reputation.”

“Hmm. Direct and to the point. I appreciate that.” He motioned to the rest of Trixie’s team. “And your friends there?”

“These are my assistants.” She motioned to Iron Will first. “This is Zinc Saucier, my chef, who can take care of all your food preparation needs. And then we have Mister Griser and his assistant Dazzler. Some of the best party planners I know.”

Zinc Saucier? You named me Zinc Saucier?

Your fault for not picking your own code name. Kassa chided.

“Well, I do appreciate the extra effort, but we’ve already set things-”

“Nein!” Kassa interrupted in a thick accent.

“Nein?”

“Zis party you’ve created so far.” He waved a dismissive paw at the tables. “Would be appropriate for a normal kind. But she’s ze daughter of an ambassador! She deserves a truly amazing party!”

“Well, we aren’t done yet-”

“All ze more reason we should get involved now!” Kassa beamed, walking forward and throwing an arm around the ambassador. “Please. Allow my assistant und I to truly see what kind of magicks we can create for the kind.”

“Please daddy!” His child whined, switching over to Equestrian in an attempt to add a bit more leverage to her position of having an awesome party.

“Very well….” He sighed. “But only if my daughter approves of your act.”

Alright everypony. Trixie thought. Do your thing.

Kassa immediately began to lead Velenta away, launching into a tirade about design, color theory and how it related to proper child development. Iron Will intercepted his wife, Tesi , asking to be led to the kitchen. Northern Lights was just gone, having vanished like the thief in the night that she was. Ignoring the outraged sputter from the tiger security, Trixie kneeled down, smiling at the young tapir.

“So you’re the birthday girl?”

“Uh huh! I’m going to be eight years old!”

“Oh my! That’s a very important birthday.” She mock gasped. “How about I show you a few of the tricks I’ll be doing? Would you like that?”

The child's grin said it all.

Iron Will couldn’t help but appreciate the size of the kitchen he found himself standing in. With its two wide countertops, a flat top stove, a burner stove, and two full ovens a half dozen chefs could work comfortably in the room by his guess.

Currently, however, there was only one creature in the room with him and his guide. A pegasus mare who was a pale peach color, darkening into a deeper red at the tips of her wing feathers. Her two toned light blue and dark blue mane, was done up in a neat bun. Her cutie-mark, a pair of hot peppers, spoke to some kind of connection with food or crops. She was pouring over a list of ingredients and dishes, slowly mouthing each line to herself.

“This is Cayenne.” Tesi explained, absentmindedly waving a hoof. “She’s in charge of the kitchen. Do...whatever you need to do. Just make sure that my little baby’s party is amazing tomorrow.”

“Of course.” He responded, sweeping into a bow.”Leave it all to us.”

Tesi swept back out the door, Iron Will turning his attention back to Cayenne. The pony was now aware of his presence, uncertainty clear in her eyes as she looked Will over. Kneeling down to look her straight in the eyes, he flashed his most comforting smile.

“Do you speak Equestrian?”

“Some.” She responded with a nervous shuffle of her hooves.

“Tesi.” He waved behind a hand towards the door. “And Velenta. Do they pay you?”

Her eyes immediately doubled in size as she took a few stumbling steps back. Rapidly shaking her head, she looked on the verge of panic.

“No! Good! They good!”

Undeterred, Iron Will took a step forward to follow her, this time placing his wide hands on the pony’s shoulders.

“I am not here to hurt you. I’m here to help you. Tell me the truth. Do they pay you?”

Cayenne’s eyes

“Nao.” She shook her head. “They are…meus mestres.”

Kassa. Iron Will mentally reached out. What does meus mestres mean in tapirian?

My masters, last time I checked.

“Right.” He rumbled, “We’re going to get you out of here….”

“NAO!”

The forcefulness of her objection made Iron Will take a step back. Her eyes were wide and crazed while she looked madly about the room, like she was expecting some creature to burst through the door.

“Nao.” She insisted again. “T-the foals….”

“How many are there?” Iron Will frowned. “How many ponies like you and how many foals?”

“T-twelve and four.”

Trixie…we have a problem.

Iron Will’s words echoed in Trixie’s skull. It took everything she had to maintain her smile and concentration as she plucked a bit from the ear of the calf. She laughed and clapped her hooves together, beaming at the trick. But the two foals looked maintained their sullen expressions.

They were slaves too.

And the way they seemed to stick to the side of the daughter like glue told Trixie that they were her slaves. No doubt the “good” ambassador had collected a few families so that he could give his child her first other beings to lord over. Not to mention, keeping them hostage would help keep the parents compliant. If it was good enough for Corona….

Northern Lights…have you found anything?

No records in his office. Looks like he’s too smart to leave a bill of sale around.

Then find us a way out. We’re getting everypony out today. Will, have your friend gather up any other slaves-

Trixie. Kassa interrupted. We aren’t prepared for this! We don’t have even the hair of a plan to get more than one pony out of here.

Then we come up with a plan Kassa! They won’t leave without their foals, and if we just grab them, then I guarantee their parents will be gone by the time the Guard gets here!

There was silence on the mental link.

The party. He responded after a moment. We actually do it. And we use yer show to sneak everypony out.

Trixie considered that. That could work. But there’s still the question of how we get them out once I make an illusion big enough.

The tree! Northern Lights practically shouted.

Trixie spared a quick glance to the large plant in the right corner of the yard. What about it? I can’t hide them in the thing.

There’s a hole in the wall behind it. I can see it from the office window. Kassa, see if you can get the grand high jerk to move the stage.

“Oh, ambassador!” The lion grinned, pouring on the charm. “I vas just thinking. About ze stage. It is just no good ver it is.”

“What?”

“Vell, with ze building behind it, it just looks so stern and serious. But perhaps if we move it to under ze tree.”

“The tree?” He deadpanned. “Why?”

“Cause we will hang so many nice lanterns and decorations in ze branches!” Kassa grinned, clapping his paws together. “It shall be a festival of lights and joyous...magics!”

“Oh! Daddy, daddy! I want the magics!”

“But pumpkin-”

“I WANT THE MAGICS!”

Kid’s got a set of lungs on her. Trixie thought, observing the way every creature flinched away from her pint sized rage.

“Okay, okay. Whatever you want my dear!” He looked to Kassa and Trixie with a very insistent glare. “Right?”

“Of course.” Trixie smiled back. “So, we have the job?”

Velenta looked at his daughter, who glared back up at him. With a sigh and a roll of his eyes, he nodded to Trixie.

“Yes. You got the job. Make sure you’re here at noon tomorrow.”

“Of course.” Trixie grinned all the wider. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Author's Note

Lunaverse Trixie certainly slipped into the role of being the mastermind pretty easily eh?

Slavery has been illegal in Equestria for as long as Celestia has been in charge of the country. So the good ambassador really is playing with fire here. But for some creatures, it's all about what they want, and damn the consequences.

I gave a little bit of the Skitchverse geography in this chapter, so now I'll add a little bit more in the notes for all the Lunaverse readers. Lions hail from the nation of Regula, which is far to the south and west of Equestria, but on the same continent. It's part of a larger political union known as The United Kingdoms along with the zebra nation of Zebrica and the elephant/rhino kingdom referred to as the Ivory Coast. Lions, while not well known to most Equestrians, still have a positive reputation due to the United Kingdoms being steadfast allies of Equestria. The flavor of Regula is largely based off of 1920's Ethiopia.

Tigers are from across the sea to the east, hailing from the Inj subcontinent. While it used to be defined by squabbling kingdoms it is currently ruled over by the Merkhan Empire, or as it's known to most the Raj of Inj. To most in Equestria, they picture a distant, exotic land of porcelain cities rising from the depths of rain chocked jungles, with a caste system that would make the most determined Canterlot bureaucrat go cross-eyed. Thusly, tigers are viewed as exotic and mysterious in Equestria. The Raj was largely inspired by the Mughal Empire of India.

The Empire of Tapira is the super power of the southern continent, and another one of Equestria's allies...nominally. While Celestia is personal friends with Emperor Placido the II, the nobility and military are decidedly not a fan of either one. There is some question on whether or not the jungle nation will be experiencing a military coup in the future.

Lunaverse Chapter 2

“Drink up.” Carrot commanded.

Trixie, Carrot and Drops had fallen back to the small cottage that rested on her farm. The farmer had quickly set to digging out a bottle of tonic from a small chest. Trixie carefully tilted the bottle to her lips, greedily gulping down the liquid within. As its refreshing coolness rushed down her throat, the vice like grip of the hangover began to release, clarity returning to her mind.

“I...needed that.” She sighed. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem Trixie.” Carrot smiled back. “Besides, we kind of need you lucid, rather than punch drunk.”

Drops frowned, pawing a hoof at the floor. “I’ve still never seen you go off like that. You sure that it was just a hangover.”

Trixie was about to respond to that when there was a knock at the cottage door. Carrot trotted out of the room, leaving Trixie alone with Drops, who wouldn’t stop giving her a questioning eyeball. She smiled back, doing her best to act natural, even though she was starting to get the sensation that the pegasus had a feeling that something was wrong.

Carrot soon returned, with three other ponies in tow, two of which- thank Celestia- she actually knew the names of. She recognized Lyra Heartstrings from the sting to bring down Bayou Runner; the unicorn’s spell songs had been invaluable. The other face she recognized as Ponyville’s teacher, Miss Cheerilee. The gray coated pegasus was new though, and her bubble like cutie-mark was going to make guessing at her name tricky.

“Hey girls.” Is what she actually said, doing her best to play it cool. “I guess you’ve heard about what’s happening with the farms?”

“Kind of hard to miss it when Rose runs into the middle of town yelling about ‘the horror’ before fainting.” Lyra deadpanned.

...If that’s this universe’s version of Roseluck, I am so going to write her a letter and tease her about that when I get back. Trixie mentally smirked.

“They’ve left for now.” The gray colored mare sighed. “Saw them falling back towards Whitetail Wood. Guess breakfast is over.”

“Got to assume they’ll be back for lunch.” Trixie sighed, rubbing her forehead. “I mean, there’s a chance that this was their only chow fest, but somehow I doubt that.” She groaned, flopping her head against the desk. “Resistant to magic. I could end this in five minutes if they weren’t resistant to magic!”

“So, punching was your fallback plan?” Drops deadpanned.

“Punching is a solid fallback plan.” Trixie grumbled. “Not ideal but….” She trailed off with a shrug. She tapped her hoof on the table. “...Who wants to go to Whitetail Wood with me?” Everypony blinked at her comment, so she continued along. “I want to see what they’re up to. Always a chance that this could be a part of something else.”

“I’ll go!” Drops and Carrot declared at the same time. Trixie blinked, as did the rest of the ponies that were present.

“What?” Carrot frowned. “I’ve been in the Everfree. Whitetail Woods is easy enough.”

“And I’ll make sure there’s no problems.” Drops nodded.

“See?” Trixie nodded. “We got this. How about the rest of you gather the farmers together and tell them what’s happening, we’ll go check out Whitetail.”

Lyra and the others looked unsure at first, but a nod and a gesture from Drops seemed to convince them. “Don’t worry. We can handle things with Trixie.”

Trixie grinned. This was going well so far.

Trixie was no stranger to the wilderness. During her brief visit to Ponyville back in her reality, she had ventured into the Everfree as part of a convoluted prisoner for information exchange that had...not gone well. And back in Neigh Orleans, she had become intimately familiar with many of the bayou’s more dangerous monsters during her time with her grandpappa.

Compared to both of them, Whitetail Wood was almost a paradise on Equis.

The birds were happily singing on this beautiful morning, the warm sunlight streaming through the branches. Insects occasionally buzzed to and fro, and the summer flowers were in full bloom.

“This isn’t a bad walk through the woods to foil some jerk’s attempt to ruin Ponyville, eh girls?” Trixie beamed.

She paused, expecting to hear a response from Drops and Carrot. What she experienced, however, was the sensation of being tackled from behind. Snout shoved into the dirt, the hooves that held her down were like iron.

“So,” Drops growled right in Trixie’s ear. “I don’t know who you are, but you’re not Trixie.”

“W-what?” Trixie sputtered, trying to not eat soil while doing so. “Of course-”

“No! You’re not! My friends know better than to call me Drops!”

“It was just the hangover talking!”

“Alright then.” She snorted. “What are our names. Our full names.”

“...Waterdrops and Carrot Bunch?”

“That...isn’t close.” Carrot blinked.

“Uh huh.” Drops deadpanned. “Not to mention, your magical aura is the wrong color. Trixie’s is blue, like Princess Luna’s. So, where’s Trixie, who are you, and are you working with the goats?”

“I attacked the goats!” Trixie shouted, squirming against Drops and her freakish strength. “Look, I’m not working with them! I have an explanation if you’d just give me a chance!”

“Let her up.” Carrot said, trotting around to Trixie’s front. Drops hauled her back to her hooves, but didn’t let go. Carrot looked right into her eyes, and nodded. “So, what’s your story?”

“I may not be your Trixie.” She explained. “But I am a Trixie. It’s...complicated, involves magic and I think some kind of hopping between realities.”

“So where’s our friend?” Drops growled. “And why were you pretending to be her?”

“Hey! You two were the ones who came asking for help! And I’d be a pretty poor guest in your reality if I let my double’s home town get wrecked! And I guess your Trixie is back in my world? It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“I want the whole story.” Drops demanded. “Because we’re going to go back to Ponyville and then go get the Princess-”

The snap of a branch cut through the forest, Drop’s admonishment dieing out. Carrot waved a hoof towards one of the trees, the whole group scrambling behind it. A moment later, two goats broke through some nearby bushes, looking around for the ponies that had been there a moment before. Upon not seeing anypony or anything upon first glance, they began to trot around the area.

Trixie, Drops and Carrot quickly darted behind another tree while their backs were turned. The goats began to chat with each other in their bleating tongue. Trixie frowned, really wishing that Kassa was with them. The number of languages that lion spoke was scary sometimes.

“You swear that you’re not with them?” Drops hissed in her ear again. “That you’re not some kind of Discordian shape shifting bandit?”

“No! I swear!” Trixie whispered back. “I’d never do anything to hurt Ponyville!”

“Shh.” Carrot admonished.

The two goats finished poking around, though their hearts were obviously not in it. Looking more bored than anything else, they exchanged a glance, bleating out a few sentences to each other before trotting back the way they came.

“Always nice when the laziness of creatures works out in your favor.” Trixie smirked.

“Okay.” Drops frowned. “We’re going back to Ponyville to sort this out and then we’ll deal with the walking stomachs.”

“No!” Trixie shook her head. “Not until we find out what they’re up to.”

Drops flared her wings, her glower twisting into an out and out snarl. “You’re not in any position-”

“Drops, Rainy...whatever your name is, you’d agree that Ponyville needs to be protected, right?” She was still garing daggers, but nodded slowly, so Trixie very quickly continued with her point. “I want to help! Let me help!”

“Fine.” Drops growled. “But I’m keeping my eye on you.”

“What’s your plan...uh...Trixie.” Carrot asked, nervously running a hoof through her mane.

“Sneak over there and see what we can find.” Trixie explained, quickly resuming her low crawl through the woods.

She lead the way, quickly sneaking her way through the forest, Drops and Carrot right behind her. The goat’s tracks were easy to follow. They weren’t making any real effort to hide their presence in these woods. She was also quite sure, despite not looking, that Drops was still glaring at her.

After walking a bit longer, the sound of goat bleating reached their ears. And not long after that, after coming over a slight hill in the woods, they found the goats in question. Scattered about a small clearing, most of the rabble was asleep, content looks on their faces from their full bellies.

Save for one.

A great gray goat paced the edge of the the heard, his face scrunched up in thought. After a few passes, he turned and walked deeper into the depths of the forest.

“Follow me!” Trixie whispered, quickly trotting around the edge of the herd and tracking the leader as quickly as she could, without giving away their position.

“Trixie.” Carrot Top hissed. “Slow down! We can’t sneak as well as you!”

“Fine.” She frowned, slowing down slightly so that they could catch up with her. But the goat’s great hooves left heavy tracks in the ground which were quite easy to follow and he hadn’t gone all that far from the rest of his herd. Low crawling behind one of the trees, Trixie peered around its edge.

He had stopped before a great oak tree and was rummaging around in a large hollow in the trunk. It took only a moment for him to pull what looked like a note of some kind from its depths.

Please don’t eat it. Please don’t eat it. Trixie thought to herself. Goats being magically resistant was new on her, but their ability to eat anything was a well known bit of trivia back in her reality. But after reading the correspondence, the great leader goat snapped the bit of paper down with one smooth motion before trotting back towards his fellows.

“Crud.” Trixie cursed. “So much for finding out what that said.”

“Well, he’s obviously working for somepony.” Carrot Top frowned.

“Yeah.” Trixie agreed, giving a small stone a kick. “Though with a dead drop like that, I’d bet that our goat’s benefactor is hiding things from him too. Maybe I can pick up a trail-”

“No.” Drops firmly shook her head. “We’re going back to town, and you’re going to tell us the whole story.”

“But-”

“The whole story.” Drops finished with a glare that brooked no argument.

“Okay, okay.” Trixie sighed. “Whatever you say.”

Upon reaching Ponyville again, Drops and Carrot dragged Trixie straight back to Carrot’s place, the former sitting on her while the latter went to go and collect the rest of the mares from before. Taking a seat in the living room, she did her best to make small talk with her grumpy guard.

“Can I ask what you actual name is?” Trixie asked, leaning back on the sitting couch.

“Raindrops.” The angry mare glowered.

“Dang.” Trixie winced. “Missed it by that much.”

Raindrops rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe that this has happened twice now.”

“Wait...your Trixie has been replaced twice?”

“More being tangled up in other universe...junk.” She frowned even deeper. “I swear, she is one of the unluckiest ponies in existence.”

“Well, nice to know that there are some constants in the universes, I suppose.” Trixie sighed, flopping back onto the couch.

Raindrops glared back at her, but didn’t say anything else. Trixie began to summon little spheres of multicolored light, tossing them into the air and catching them again on her hoof. Raindrops watched her fool around, rolling her eyes at the display of illusionary light.

“Do you have to do that?” She grumbled. “It’s distracting.”

“Gotta pass the time somehow.”

Raindrops snorted, maintaining her angry glare as Trixie kept playing with her illusions. The two of them weren’t waiting too much longer before the door clicked open again, and the whole gaggle of ponies from before trotted into the living room. Cheerilee walked right up to Trixie, grabbing her head and looking right into her eyes, her own face scrunched up in concentration. “Hmmmm. I don’t know Carrot Top, she sure looks like Trixie to me.”

“Pleash leggo of my face.” Trixie muttered.

“Well, she’s not our Trixie.” Raindrops glowered.

Trixie glared back at her, beginning to get tired of her attitude. “Look! I didn’t try to switch places with your Trixie, alright? Stop treating me like the villain here!”

The bubble marked pegasus took a seat next to her, gently patting her foreleg. Slumping back in her seat, Trixie sighed. “Sorry. I’m just frustrated. I don’t even know all of your names, but you know me...kind of.”

“It’s okay.” The gray colored mare nodded. “My name is Ditzy Doo.” She motioned to each of the other ponies in turn. “This is Raindrops, Lyra Hearstrings, Carrot Top, and Cheerilee. How about you tell us your story?”

“Alright.” Trixie frowned, sitting a little higher in her seat. “Well, as you all have worked out, I’m Trixie, but I’m from another universe. I was born and raised in Neigh Orleans....” She paused, tapping her chin with a hoof. “Actually, I’ll skip over most of the boring stuff in my life and cut straight to the events that got me here.”

“It all kind of began when, with the help of the Element Bearers of my universe, we took down a corrupt noble slash crime lord by the name of Bayou Runner.” Trixie continued a slight grimace crossing her muzzle. “He smuggled magical items throughout Equestria and beyond. So, once he went down, everypony that wanted a piece of his operation dove on what was left. Which left me and my team to clean up the mess.”

“Your team?” Raindrops raised an eyebrow. “You have a team?”

“Well...maybe not so officially declared.” Trixie shrugged. “They’re more a collection of like minded creatures who are tired of seeing Neigh Orleans fall to corruption while the rest of Equestria is fine.”

When everypony else in the room exchanged wry glances and smirks, Trixie raised an eyebrow. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing.” Cheerilee smiled. “Go on.”

“Well, one of the pieces we...acquired was this magical sextant. The best that I could work out about it from what books I had was that it was called the Sextant of Worlds. So...I started to examine it closer with my magic and that’s when it activated. And then I woke up in your friend’s living room.”

“So, where’s our Trixie?” Lyra frowned.

“Well...I think she’s back in my universe. I saw something blue shoot past me going the other way.”

A pointed stretch of silence settled over the room. Trixie did her best to keep her expression neutral as she took in the reactions of her alternate’s friends. Raindrops still looked angry, but Trixie was starting to get the feeling that was the mare’s default state. Carrot Top looked more unsure. She kept glancing from Trixie to the rest of her friends, but at the very least she didn’t seem as immediately ready to throw slings and arrows her way as Raindrops was.

Lyra and Cheerilee both seemed to be curious, though in completely different ways. Lyra stared, her eyes searching for any small inconsistencies in Trixie’s appearance. Cheerilee was rubbing her chin, mulling over the exact implications of the switch. Ditzy’s expression was...comforting. Almost motherly in the way she radiated a sense of "everything will be okay".

“So,” Cheerilee eventually spoke up. “How do we get her back?”

“Easy.” Raindrops pointed out. “We tell Princess Luna. She’ll be able to track her like last time, and we go and find her. She’s our friend, and I don’t want to leave her in a strange reality.”

“Hey!” Trixie shouted, stomping a hoof. “My reality isn’t strange!”

“The fact that we’ve had to deal with this twice in our lives is!”

“And how is this my fault?” Trixie shouted back, before realizing what she said. “...Don’t answer that! The point is that I couldn’t have seen this coming, and your Trixie isn’t really in danger...probably.”

“Probably!?” Raindrops shouted.

“That’s enough!” Ditzy interrupted with a flare of her wings, giving a stern glare at both of them. “Trixie...why do you think that?”

“Because my friends are smart creatures.” Trixie pointed out with a jab of her hoof. “I’m sure they’ll pick up on what’s going on. I’m also friends- long distance admittedly- with the Element Bearers, who have connections with Princess Celestia. There’s plenty of ponies that can help her, assuming she can’t just use the sextant!”

She looked around the room again. “I mean...she’s another me right? I hope she’s good with magic?”

“She’s the Element of Magic, actually.” Carrot Top nodded.

Trixie blinked at that, but then straightened up a little more, puffing out her chest and grinning as wide as she could. “Really? I’m the Element of Magic in this reality?”

“Okay.” Lyra rolled her eyes. “She’s still a Trixie.”

“Hey!”

“Come on.” Raindrops shook her head. “Let’s get in touch with Princess Luna.” She eyed the hatless and cloakless form of Trixie. “I guess we’ll have to go and see her directly, unless our Trixie left her enchanted hat behind.”

“I did not see a hat.” Trixie shrugged. “But I think the more important question is, ‘What are we going to do about the goats?’. Again, I don’t want your Trixie’s home town to be wrecked when she gets back. This isn’t the time to leave.”

“Canterlot’s only a few hours away by train.” Raindrops countered, her wings twitching in annoyance. “We have the Right of Approach, which will let us go right to her, and let her know something’s wrong.”

Trixie considered that, flopping back on the couch. Taking a deep breath, she squeezed her eyes closed and thought. “But what if that’s what they want? What if they have somepony watching the train, and then the minute we’re gone, they swoop in and do whatever they want to Ponyville?”

“But we can’t just not do anything!”

“And I’m not saying that!” Trixie countered. “But we need to fix this first!”

“We need to tell Princess Luna!” Raindrops snarled.

“Stop!” Ditzy Doo interrupted. “Why can’t we do both? I’ll take the train to Canterlot. The rest of you can deal with the goats in the meantime.”

Everypony was quiet for a moment.

“Fine.” Raindrops sighed. “I guess that’ll work.”

“So, what’s your plan alt-Trixie?” Lyra smirked.

“The goats- or at least their leader- is getting orders from somepony else. They’re going after the food, but there has to be something else going on here….” Trixie motioned a hoof towards herself. “Tell me what’s been going on in town? Anything weird happened before the switch?”

“Well…” Cheerilee began. “One of the goats came into town a few days ago. Said that his name was Horn Harm and claimed that he wanted to move in. Then he ate a bunch of food without paying and one of the books at the library. Our Trixie said he had to pay the fines, which he did. Then he left.”

“He was obviously scouting the town out then.” Trixie frowned. “I’m going to assume that they got the money from this same benefactor that left the note.” She waved her hoof again. “Go farther back. Any big events that might have caught somepony’s attention?”

“What, you mean aside from the fact that this is the town where the Elements of Harmony live?” Raindrops frowned.

“Yes. Lay it all out for me.”

“Let’s see.” Ditzy began. “Aside from Corona showing up, we had a parasprite attack, a phoenix attack, ursa minor attack. Then there was the time we all got cursed into being drunk and wrecked up the place….”

Trixie opened one eye. “Well...nice to see that Ponyville remains the center of weirdness in Equestria in this reality too. Like I said, always nice to have some constants when world jumping.” She rubbed her forehead. “I’m guessing all that stuff got repaired properly?”

“Yup.” Lyra nodded. “The Royal Emergency Management Ministry picked up the tab on the last one.”

Trixie opened her other eye, quickly sitting up. “Run that by me again?”

“The REMM was specifically set up to handle those kinds of large scale disasters.” Lyra shrugged. “Why?”

Trixie frowned, rubbing her chin. Her version of Equestria had a similar organization. Financial support for disastrous situations. That would be a heck of a tempting target for certain ponies.

“Just a hunch running around in the back of my head. It’ll depend on what their next move is.”

“Speaking of which.” Carrot Top frowned. “I should go and get the Farmer’s Union and Applejack together. Maybe we can form some kind of posse to keep them out of the fields.”

“Come on Trixie.” Ditzy smiled. “You can walk me to the train station.”

Ponyville’s was warm and inviting, much like the one she had visited in her reality and much like the pony that was currently at her side. Of course, that wasn’t the only reason she was in a good mood as they walked along.

Ditzy had a daughter, and she was downright adorable. The little unicorn hurried along ahead of them, eager to meet the princess. They had picked her up on the way to the train station at Ditzy's request. Trixie couldn’t fault her for that. The foal would probably be safer on the train on the way to Canterlot than in Ponyville right now.

Not that she was going to fail in her goal to stop whatever was going on here. She’d just feel much less nervous if Dinky wasn’t here. If something went wrong…

Her double and her friends were gathered around the fresh grave, the rain pounding down as the small coffin was lowered into the ground. Princess Luna and her guards flanked her keeping sharp spears aimed at her.

Not that it mattered, considering the heavy iron manacles that were locked around her fetlocks.

“You and your world shall pay for causing this death.” Luna declared, her voice as cold as the northern wastes. “That I promise you…”

“Trixie.”

Ditzy was gently poking her side, a bemused smirk on her muzzle. “Ignore the worst case fantasies.”

“Your Trixie has them too?”

“Everypony has those worst case moments. I’ve had more than a few myself.” Ditzy commented, her good eye swiveling locking on Trixie. “I’m more surprised with how well you’re taking this ‘other reality’ thing. It was a bit harder for us to wrap our heads around when we hopped worlds.”

“It probably helps that I kind of came pre-warned.” Trixie shrugged. “My Equestria had the existence of alternate universes kind of foisted upon it and not in a subtle way either.”

“That sounds like a story.”

“Well...I wasn’t there for it. Not...most of it, since the battle took place in Canterlot.” Trixie mused, her mind wandering back to the night in question. “But this was so big that there was no way to not see it.”

Ditzy said nothing, letting Trixie continue with the tale. “I was at the Green Garden with Bayou Runner and the rest of his boys. We were all sitting at one of the big tables that lined the streets, celebrating another one of his Tartarus cursed acquisitions.”

“You worked for him?”

“I infiltrated him.” Trixie corrected, gritting her teeth. “Infiltrated. It’s a very fine distinction!”

“Okay, so you infiltrated. What happened?”

“Things went absolutely mad.” Trixie said, pausing mid step. “Just...one second it was Luna’s normal star patterns the next it was this...web...of energy streams crackling across the sky. It was like watching cracks form on an egg shell.”

“Everything descended into pure chaos. Ponies panicking, diving for cover, running as fast as they could. And then, just to freak everypony out a little bit more, it stopped a few minutes later with no explanation. We wouldn’t find out the truth of the matter until a few days later when Princess Celestia made an announcement to the world. There were other universes out there. And not every creature from them was friendly.”

Ditzy focused both her eyes on Trixie for a moment, frowning deeply. “See, that sounds frightening.”

“I guess? I mean, aside from this,” She waved a hoof at the town around them. “We’ve only had the one incident. I think that the number of items that let creatures travel between worlds is small. Thankfully.”

Ditzy winced.

“It’ll be okay though!” Trixie smiled. “I’m sure we’ll be able to set everything right!”

A slight smile creeping back across her muzzle, Ditzy nodded as they reached the train station. It was a spitting mirror of the one from her Equestria, Trixie noted. Ditzy marched straight up to the counter, quickly purchasing a ticket for her and her daughter.

“Please help keep Ponyville safe. I’ll be back with Princess Luna as soon as I possibly can.”

“Ditzy.” Trixie firmly, but gently, interrupted. “I will not let anything happen to this Ponyville. I promise you.”

“Thanks Trixie.” Ditzy nodded, before stepping onto the train.

Trixie watched the train, and the gray coated pegasus disappear over the horizon, before turning and heading back towards the farms.

Carrot Top looked out over her farm. The earlier goat attack had lost her a few carrots, the furrows and hoof prints from the scuffle still visible in the dirt. At the moment it was nothing she couldn’t recover from. But if their next strike was a bit more successful….well, she might be having to scramble to make ends meet again.

“Cheer up!” Cheerilee smiled, with a bump to her side. “We’ll take care of this.”

She and Lyra had joined Carrot Top in her vigil, while Raindrops had flown off to do a bit of aerial recon.

“Yeah.” Carrot Top smiled back. “It’s just a lot to take in. Though…” She smirked a little wider. “I’m not sure whoever is behind this knows just what they’ve stirred up! All of the farmers seem united in a desire to stop this about as quickly as possible.”

“Can’t blame them.” Lyra interjected. “A pony will always defend their livelihood.”

Carrot Top nodded, staring off into the distance for a moment. She fully intended to make sure that her farm would be okay, and then make sure she’d get her friend back. “Girls?” She asked, a thought suddenly occurring to her. “Do you think this other Trixie is telling the truth?”

“I think so.” Cheerilee frowned. “I mean...it’s a really far fetched story to try and trick somepony with.”

“And our own trip isn’t exactly public knowledge.” Lyra pointed out. “So I don’t think they’d have the means to try and trick us with that anyway.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Carrot Top shrugged, her eyes locking on two figures coming up the road. “Speak of the pony.”

Alt-Trixie was cantering down the road. Trixie’s tail was swishing and twitching with nervous energy as she rushed through the gate and came to a skidding stop next to the rest of the group.

“Have they shown up yet? Any signs of them?”

“Not yet.” Cheerilee answered. “But Raindrops should be back from her scouting run soon.”

“There she is!” Lyra declared, pointing her hoof skywards.

Carrot Top smiled as her jasmine coated friend came in for a smooth landing, her features grim as she trotted forward.

“They’re on the move.” She said. “But they aren’t spreading out like last time. Now they’re just one big angry ball that’s barreling right this way.”

“What?” Carrot Top blinked. “Why?”

“You’re one of the small farms I’m guessing?” Trixie interrupted.

“You know-” Carrot Top began with a grimace, only to pause and then quickly correct herself. “Yes. I’m one of the smaller farms.”

“Okay...good news, bad news time. The good news is that I think I worked out what they’re up to.”

Carrot Top was about to open her mouth to ask what the bad was, when the sound of dozens of charging hooves on a road reached her ears. Turning with the rest of the group, her eyes went wide at the full herd of goats bearing down upon them.

“The bad,” Trixie answered anyway. “Is that we need to last long enough to act on it.”

Author's Note

So, yeah, Carrot Top and Raindrops had Trixie pegged almost from the beginning as being "off", as many of you in the comments guessed. Now I'll be interested in seeing who can work out what the bad guy's plan is ahead of time!

Skitchverse Chapter 3

Trixie didn’t know how Pinkie did it.

As she sat at the table, slaving over a yet another sun cursed paper lantern, she resolved that she would never plan another party again in her life. Rubbing her forehead, she glanced towards the outburst that flowed from the kitchen.

She, and the rest of her inherited crew of ne'er do wells, were currently inside a restaurant. It was owned by a friend of her double’s family, an older earth pony with a neatly trimmed snow white beard, whose name was also the moniker of the restaurant; Jambalaya.

They had come to the restaurant after it closed for a place to work and prepare. While the chef did make an overly large production about imposing on his “hospitality” he had let them in to set to work. And while, she, Northern Lights and Kassa worked on making a massive pile of party decorations (the lion had proven to be scarily knowledgeable of such things), Iron Will had joined the old stallion and his son in the kitchen.

Trixie had a bad feeling about Jambalaya's kid, Rare Find. She was convinced that he was infatuated with her...or more accurately, the other her. She could see it in his eyes, the way they nervously darted her direction whenever he thought she wasn’t looking. She was also becoming increasingly convinced that Kassa was onto her. He had caught him staring intently at her once or twice.

Those thoughts were interrupted by another deep, angry cry from the kitchen, “Damn it, Jambalaya!”

With a roll of her eyes, Trixie slid off of her seat, cracking the stiffness out of her back before trotting into the kitchen. What she saw was a pair of chefs currently locked in a supreme contest of wills. Iron Will had a knife in hand, and was brandishing it at Jambalaya like a school pointer.

“This is an ambassadorial party!” The minotaur growled. “Your po’colt sandwiches won’t cut it! What I have here,” He emphasied with a jab of the knife towards several trays of hors d’oeuvres. ”Are slow roasted mushrooms, stuffed with pine nuts, sun dried tomatoes and given just a sprinkle of lemon juice!”

“There’s gonna be foals at this party aren’t there?” Jambalaya fired back, unconcerned with the cutlery. “You really think they give two tail shakes about your pine nut filled mushrooms!” He motioned to a stack of fried mushroom po’colts. “This is Neigh Orleans signature sandwich boy!”

Iron Will glowered armed crossed across his chest. But then he raised an eyebrow, a thought occurring to him. Jambalaya raised an eyebrow of his own, the pony and minotaur pointing to each other.

“Sliders!” They said at the same time.

“Well, that’s one more crisis averted.” Trixie deadpanned. “How’s the cake coming?”

“Smooth as butta.” Rare Find grinned from his corner of the kitchen, where he was icing an impressive four layer cake with the delicate precision of a jeweler. “This’ll impress those tapir right quick.”

“Anyway,” Jambalaya spoke up, motioning to the sandwiches. “These weren’t for the party anyway. Ya’ll need energy if we’re going to finish this tonight.”

The rumbling in Trixie’s stomach agreed. And the sandwiches did look good, though they could all stand to have more toppings. Trotting back out to the dining room with the others, she threw herself back into her seat, eager to get something to eat.

The sandwich that Jambalaya presented her had an intriguing looking blue colored spread on it. She took a bite, the rich mushroom flavor washing across her tongue, with just the right amount of salt and batter to give it a crunch. But then the flavor profile changed, and it became a mix of citrus, mint and freshly cut grass. Blinking, she took another bite. This time the mushroom flavor transformed into freshly plucked daisies and roses.

“Like it?” Kassa asked, balancing his own po’colt in a claw.

“Yup.” Trixie nodded. “Love the spread.”

“Yeah, ya sure do like that poison joke spread.”

Trixie froze, her mouth full of mushroom and...poison joke? She was eating poison joke!? Kassa smiled from his seat, lightly tapping a claw off the tabletop. “So…’Trixie’,” the sarcasm dripping off those words was pronounced. “Mind filling us in on who you really are?”

Trixie slowly swallowed, then nervously licked her lips. “Well, I am Trixie...kind of. I was going to tell you, really. I just got caught up with what we were doing.”

Northern Lights glared back at Trixie, while Iron Will just crossed his arms, that very sharp looking knife still clutched firmly in his hand. For his part, Kassa loosely pressed his paws together.

“For what it’s worth,” He frowned. “I believe you.”

“Really?” Trixie blinked.

“Trixie, I’m a grifter,” Kassa smirked with an almost insufferable smugness. “Reading creatures is what I do. If we didn’t think that you were sincere in your desire ta help, we’d have ditched ya at the manor, used ya as a distraction, and gotten everypony out in the chaos.”

“Oh, thanks for that.” Trixie groaned, throwing her hooves up. “Glad that I at least came across as trustworthy enough!”

Kassa shrugged. “What we do is dangerous. You can’t blame us for being careful.”

Trixie pouted, but didn’t argue the point. Mostly because she couldn’t come up with a good counter to a vigilante’s group justifiable paranoia. She also mentally kicked herself for getting wrapped up in the task and not bringing up her state earlier.

“Anyway,” Iron Will interrupted, waving a hand for her to continue. “You were going to explain where you came from?”

“I’m from another Equestria!” She quickly explained. “I’m not exactly-”

“Ha!” Northern Lights grinned, punching the air. “Pay up! I said alternate universe!”

Trixie blinked as she watched money change hooves. “You...you bet on my origins?”

“I thought it was amnesia.” Iron Will commented.

“I’m going to guess the Sextant of Worlds was involved somehow.” Kassa hummed, now drumming his claws on the table. “It is kind of right in the name.”

“Really?” Trixie frowned. “That brass thing in the office? It didn’t look magical at all.”

Northern Lights loosely tapped the edge of her plate. “It was when we swiped it from Classy Clover. Trixie specifically said that it was, though she didn’t know what it did.”

Trixie hummed, tapping her chin. “Maybe it broke? Or maybe it needs to recharge?” Then she paused and rubbed her forehead. “Okay...how is the fact I’m from another universe not bothering you at all?”

“This world has a history with the idea,” Lights shrugged. “Some bastard tried to drain the world’s magic and trapped some other poor bastard here. So...I can’t say that I’m ‘not bothered’. The fact that we’ve had two of you world jumpers show up now? Is this going to become a regular thing around here?”

A helpless shrug was the only response Trixie could give to that, though she did empathize with the pegasus. Two times getting thrown around time and space was officially two times too many. Stars above, once was one time too many!

“Well, Miss Trixie,” Jambalaya spoke up. “Ah have to ask what yer gonna do now.”

“I’m not going to ditch you now,” Trixie quickly clarified with a shake of her head. “This ‘ambassador’ needs to go down. But I could use some help getting back to my home when this is done.”

“Not much we can do,” Iron Will frowned, leaning back in his chair. “We aren’t mages.”

“But you could go to Ponyville!” Kassa perked up. “Not only is it where the Element Bearers live, but one of them is the personal student of Princess Celestia and the human that got trapped here. They’d probably be more than happy to help get you home.”

“Probably?”

“Probably nothing!” Jambalaya slammed his hoof on a table. “They helped our Trixie and they’ll help you. I guarantee it.”

The old stallions mood was infectious, and a smile quickly grew on Trixie’s face. Clapping her hooves together, she sat a little taller. “I appreciate the vote of confidence. Though….” She tilted her head slightly. “I do have to ask how Neigh Orleans got like this. I mean, it wasn’t perfect by any means but things here seem...extreme.”

“To answer that question,” Kassa began with a flourish of his paw, his accent shifting to one of class and style. “We have to go way back, to when Equestria and Prance were two separate kingdoms.”

“Ugh…,” Northern Lights rolled her eyes. “Not the professor voice. That’s your worst character!”

“Hush. I have a story ta tell.” He dismissed, dropping back to his native accent for a moment. But he quickly recovered, moving on. “Anyway...the story of Neigh Orleans began during one brutal Prench winter. The coldest on record in fact. It devastated the crops that year, causing many ponies to starve. The country and nobility- already wobbling from the invasion of King Sombra a few years before- basically collapsed into anarchy.”

“Oh yeah,” Jambalaya nodded. “That winter gave pony kind the legend of the wendigo. One of them, at least.”

“The people of Prance came to the decision to merge with Equestria. It still had plenty of food, being further south. And even in those days, Celestia’s compassion was legendary. Thusly, Prance became part of Equestria.”

“I’m sensing this is where the but comes in?”

“Of course! There will always be those who disagree about these things. One of those ponies was Resounding Neigh. He said ‘To Tartarus with Celestia and what she wants!’ and stormed south to...here, basically. L’etouffement Mire.”

Trixie’s eyebrow threatened to disappear into her mane. “Who in their right mind decides to found a city in the middle of a place called The Choking Mire?”

“A mad pony, that’s who.” Iron Will snorted. “But mad ponies can still get things done.”

“He and his followers followed the river right to where the wetlands give way to the sea and set to work. It wasn’t long,” Kassa continued, “before the ramshackle settlement began to attract more creatures.”

“By advertising his settlement as a free city, with a hooves off government,” Northern Lights added. “He was able to attract a lot of settlers...though some were of questionable quality. It wasn’t long before everypony was talking about Neigh’s Orleans.”

“Pirates from the southern isles, political dissidents and rebels from half the known world, and criminals unwilling or unable to work within the confines of Equestria.” The lion picked up again, ticking each group off on a claw. “That last group is the most important, by the way. They’re the ones who burrowed into the burgeoning industry and trade of the city like ticks and didn’t let go. Neigh, while mad, wasn’t a complete idiot. He had picked the location for specifically because it could serve as a port and trade hub with .”

Trixie had been mentally running over her own timeline’s history during Kassa’s story. While there were some similarities- mostly in Neigh Orleans being founded as a more southern based port- the presence of Resounding Neigh had definitely sent things running in a different direction. She made a mental note to look into the name when she got back home, if only for her own personal curiosity. But there was a question that was still in the back of her mind.

“But Neigh Orleans is part of Equestria now. Things must have changed.”

“Oh, they did,” Kassa nodded. “Eventually, Manehatten happened. More specifically, its own waterfront received a massive renovation project from the crown. And as the years marched on, it slowly began to eclipse Neigh’s old creation. Neigh Orleans city council eventually gave up being a free city and came crawling back to Equestria.”

“Which be exactly what Celestia planned, iffin the conspiracy types getting drunk in my restaurant are tellin’ the truth.” Jambalaya shrugged.

“Yeah. And I’m Celestia’s long lost hidden child.” Northern Lights snorted. “I love those Tyrantlestia theorists. She could give everypony free cake and they’d curse her for not adding in ice cream. Thank the sun they’re a very small bunch of loud mouths.”

Opting to not bring up how such an offer would be reacted to back in her reality, Trixie instead turned her attention to another question. “Wouldn’t Celestia have known about the crime families and such? Couldn’t she have done something about them?”

“Well, she did. About the most blatantly obvious ones at least. Most up and left- last I heard they had a new free city out in the Badlands. The rest learned to be more subtle. The city guard got corrupted by the various crime families almost as soon as it was founded. So reports of how bad things were down here either never made it back to Canterlot, or were discredited.” Kassa explained, the disgust evident in his voice.

“Of course, once Trixie got the Element Bearers involved, things began to change.” Iron Will pointed out. “Once you’ve faced down a mad alicorn and a world raiding warlord, I suppose crime bosses don’t make you shake.”

“So, how did you all come to work with my other half?”

“Jambalaya told Trixie about us for starters.” Northern Lights explained. “For an old stallion, he pays attention.”

“Everycreature always thinks they ain’t being listened to in a restaurant.” He grinned, evidently proud at that.

“We’ve all had run-ins with the same type of folks that made Trixie’s life rough.” Kassa sighed. “So, when we were approached about helpin’ turn this city around, we went for it.”

Trixie looked at the assembled creatures, nodding. “Well then, let’s get to it!” She grinned. “Princess Celestia is counting on us, right? Then let’s take a corrupt ambassador down!”

With a happy cheer, the group threw themselves back into their work, pushing deep into the night.

Staring into the mirror, Trixie adjusted the deep purple jacket she had found in her double’s theatre. It matched the dark blue undershirt she had found, both pieces of clothing oddly familiar to her. Though she supposed that it made a certain amount of sense that the two of them would have similar tastes in clothing.

It was the morning after their all night preparation session and she suppressed a yawn, fixing her signature star studded cloak into place with a flourish of magic. Everything was ready and the same feeling of nervous energy that had sat in her stomach before the Grand Galloping Gala had returned. Which was good. That feeling helped keep her alert.

Quickly trotting down the stairs, she met the rest of the group, including Jambalaya and his son for some extra help. Carts were loaded with prepared food and decorations, all for the sake of maintaining the cover until the exact right moment.

They set off without a word, everypony running over the plan in their heads. Trixie knew her part. She just hopped that Iron Will would be able to handle that tiger. She was really uneasy about the tiger that looked like he could break Raindrops in half with a swipe of his paw. In fact, she really wished that Raindrops was here right now. Or that any of her friends were. Facing danger without her friends just felt...wrong.

“Is the tip off in place?” She asked, if only to focus on something else than her nerves.

“Made the drop off myself.” Iron Will nodded. “We got two hours until he shows up.”

“I’ll go right into the show when we get there then. The rest of you need to move fast.”

“We got it.” Northern Lights nodded. “Don’t worry.”

But Trixie couldn’t exactly banish those feelings as they drew close to the wrought iron gate, a small army of servants arriving to help unload when they rang. The tiger was there too, of course, glaring down at them as they entered.

“Proceed to the party grounds and unload. Do not deviate.”

“Excuse me.” Iron Will interrupted. “Zinc Saucier requires access to the kitchens to finish off some dishes. Like we said before.”

The tiger’s lip curled back into a snarl, revealing those very sharp teeth. “You will not leave the kitchens then. Are we understood?”

“Completely.” Trixie nodded.

With a curt nod, their guard stalked towards the rear of the building, Trixie and company trotting along behind. True to the verbal trickery that Kassa had worked, the stage had been moved under the great willow tree that grew from the corner of the estate, rows and rows of pillows for seats arranged before it.

She immediately pulled herself onto the stage, while the rest of the group split off towards their own objectives. Sparing a glance towards the security head, she was relieved when the tiger disappeared inside the building. One less thing to immediately worry about. The ambassador’s staff bustled all around them, setting up the lanterns that they had worked on all last night. As she set up the tricks that were- once again- borrowed from the stores of her other self, she wondered which ones were slaves and which ones weren’t. Northern Lights would work that out though.

The foals and calves were beginning to shuffle out of the building and onto the grounds now. In this case, spying which ones where the slaves was a bit easier. They were a bit more nervous, taking in their surroundings with wide eyes that didn’t exactly believe what they were experiencing. They were probably also, unused to being around so many creatures.

The manor was teeming with other ponies and tapir. Most likely friends and the families of friends that Valenta had invited to schmooze with while the “help” dealt with the foals.

Yeah, well, we’ll ‘help’ you, you bastard. She bitterly thought as she faced the crowd, and vanished with an invisibility charm.

The staff had unloaded everything in short order, and with the lanterns hung amongst the willow tree branches, she was ready. Channeling, she casually snapped off a pair of spells; an echoing ghost sound mimic of a firework explosion and a scintillating sphere of color that danced among the tree limbs and shone through the lanterns.

“Fillies and gentlecolts!” She exclaimed, working through a routine she had done a hundred times before. “Come one! Come all! Come and see the greatest show in Equestria! Today, to honor a very special birthday girl, come and see the astounding magical power of the one- the only- Great and Powerful Trixie!”

With a flash of sparkling blue smoke, Trixie let her invisibility charm fall and stepped forward. To the outsider, it appeared that Trixie had just stepped right out of the shimmering cloud. The effect was immediate, as every foal and calf immediately stampeded towards the stage, eyes wide and amazed.

Beaming like the sun inside, Trixie launched into the show.

“Get those vegetables back on the grill! Low heat! We ain’t trying to dry them out here, just warm them back up.” Jambalaya barked.

The old stallion had seized control of the kitchen almost as soon as he arrived, falling back into a skillset that had served him well over the years. Of course, Iron Will had his own opinions on this.

“I’m supposed to be the chef in charge.” He frowned, snatching the knife back from the earth pony. “You’re going to blow our cover.” He half hissed-half whispered.

“And don’t you have things to do?” He whispered back. “Get in touch with that Cayenne mare. Do what you have to do. I’ll keep the food flowing.”

Iron Will sighed, but conceded the point, scanning the bustling kitchen for the pepper marked mare that he had spoke to before. It didn’t take long to isolate the pony in question. She was by the interior doors, being lectured to by Tesi. With a few short strides, he crossed the cavernous room, and clapped a hand on Cayenne’s back.

“Your pardon, my grace, but I need to go over the course arrangement with Cayenne here.”

“Hmm? Oh, yes, of course.” The matriarch half nodded, attention obviously split. “I’ll leave the preparations to you then. I have important guests to attend to.”

With that, she swept off, leaving Will and Cayenne alone. Cayenne squirmed, looking up into Will’s face with eyes full of fear. “I...we can’t do this.” She whimpered. “They’ll catch us. Sell families in pieces! I-I…”

She began to gasp, nerves threatening to overtake her. Dropping to one knee, Iron Will lightly grabbed her chin looking directly into her eyes. “That will not happen. I am giving you my Iron Will guarantee that you will be free.”

“They’ll try to stop you.”

“If they try to block, we’ll show them we rock!

The phrase was from his series of motivational speeches; which was his day job when he wasn’t running around, playing hero. But Cayenne raised her head, the minotaur’s words lifting her up.

“Okay.”

“Good. Now, tell me which foals are yours, and pass the word to the others. We’re getting out of here.”

Northern Lights twitched her wings again, flicking against an itch that she just couldn’t shake. Before joining Trixie’s band, she was a thief. ...One could argue that she still was a thief, just a thief that was now pointed in the proper direction. A weapon aimed towards ponies and other creatures that inflicted misery upon others.

But those years of swiping goods had provided her with a nagging sixth sense about when things were about to go south. It was always an itch-slash-twitch that was right at the base of her pinion feathers. Every time she had felt that, a job had gone south. And she was having that feeling again.

So, she wove through the crowd, pretending to be keeping an eye on the festivities, her sharp eyes taking in every face. That tiger was stalking around too. They passed each other a few times during her rounds, exchanging glares with each other, before he vanished elsewhere. But she had been able to work out one thing really quickly.

Valenta wasn’t anywhere in sight. Which meant he must be inside. Was he meeting with somepony? With a snort, she crept towards one of the many back doors of the manor house, sending a mental command to the rest of her team along the way.

I can’t see Valenta. Bad feeling. I’m checking the house.

I don’t think that’s a good idea. Kassa’s voice echoed in her mind. This is going to be close enough as is-

Bad feeling Ka. I’m checking things out. Besides I’ve done this already.

One of the doors swung open, a servant trotting off to do something or another. That moment was all she needed through, and Lights was inside before the door snapped shut. Darting through the hallways, she kept to the plush carpets to muffle her hoof beats. Said halls were oddly empty with everypony holed up outside, or in the kitchens. It was only when she reached the front foyer and the main staircase of the manor, did the sound of voices reach her ears.

She swooped up the stairs with a few beats of her wings, the voices becoming louder as she banked around a corner, towards a pair of double hardwood doors. They were closed tight, but the broken bits of an animated discussion still found ways to leak through.

“Armed rebellion…..dangerous proposition….support?”

The first voice was Valenta’s, speaking with an animated vigor. About treason, apparently. But it was the second voice that sent a chill down her spine.

“Big request….buisnesspony, not….bloody private arms dealer! Want...stuff...gonna have ta pay.”

The thick Trottingham accent. The way he almost spat the words, like he was always angry. She knew only one pony in the city that spoke like that. Without another word, she spun around and bolted back the way she came.

We need to move! Fisher Stonecup is here!

It was a tense mood that had settled across the ambassador’s grand conference room, the end result of two titanic wills clashing against each other. They sat on either side of the grand mahogany table each backed by their retinues, though Fisher’s entourage greatly outnumbered Valenta’s one tiger.

The room had been designed to impress and intimidate with its decor. A detailed and ostentatiously designed map of the Empire hung on the wall opposite the double entrance doors, stretching almost from floor to ceiling, with the clear intent to shock anypony who entered the room with the sheer grandeur and power of the Tapirian homeland.

Not that Fisher Stonecup cared one bent jangle. He was here for one reason and that was to make a big pile of gold. A power vacuum had come to the underworld of Neigh Orleans, and he had every intention to become the new kingpin of the city. And the ambassador’s desperation was a prime opportunity. Casually tipping his crisp, freshly blocked, black bowler hat back with a hoof, he motioned to one of his his assistants.

Candy Canes sashayed forward, the white coated unicorn already with cigar and lighter suspended in her magic. With a flick, she lit the cigar and passed it over to her boss. The crime lord took it and gave it a few slow puffs, letting Valenta grow all the more impatient. She returned to her position behind his seat, maintaining her silent vigil slash glare at the ambassador.

“So,” the diminutive sandstone colored earth pony growled through a cloud of smoke, “ya gonna pay up? Or do my lads and I up and take a walk?”

Valenta fumed. Stonecup smiled. The poor ambassador was obviously quite used to giving orders and seeing them obeyed. But all of his diplomatic bluster was less than useless here and Stonecup knew that. The ambassador’s bully boy, however, looked much more incensed at his behavior. The tiger stalked forward, holding a paw up and slowly extending his claws.

“I suggest you watch your tongue,” he growled. “The ambassador deserves respect.”

“Oh my, aren’t you the tough one?” Stonecup chuckled back. “Red Claw, is it? I suggest that you should step off before you get hurt.”

To emphasize his point, he rubbed a hoof against a simple looking silver necklace. A loud bang echoed from the large steel crate that had been rolled into the corner of the room by his lads. Red Claw eyed the box carefully, returning to the side of his employer and resolutely placing himself between him and it.

“Now,” Fisher smirked, “you want something that’ll give you your little rebellion a kick? What I got in that box will fix ya up right quick. But you’re gonna have to pay the fee that I have named.”

Valenta almost pouted at that. “And you are sure it is what you say? I have heard all the legends about the swamp since arriving-”

“I assure you ambassador.” Stonecup interjected, cutting a possible speech off at its source. “It is Old Stonehoof.”

“And how can I be sure you didn’t just grab some random zombie and called it Stonehoof?”

Stonecup motioned to the steel box. “Take a look yourself, ambassador, and then call me a liar.”

With a snort, Valenta dropped out of his chair and made for the crate, bodyguard lock step alongside him. The steel box was tall- it had to be to contain the shambling zombie within- forcing him to rear up on his hind legs and slide the little observation window open with his trunk.

The sharp gasp that followed made Fisher smirk all the wider. Valenta stumbled back, almost tripping over himself in the rush to get back to his seat, his trunk like nose quivering with what Fisher guessed was fear.

“Fine,” He eventually managed to spit out. “I shall accept your offer. But can we please wait to settle up until after the party? I’m missing my daughter’s birthday.” He slid back out of his chair, trotting to the window. “The magician is already doing her act.”

“Magician?”

Stonecup joined the ambassador at the window, which gave a commanding view of the rear grounds. True to the tapir’s words, a pony stood on the stage, wielding both illusions and sleight of hoof tricks to entertain the growing audience. Of course, who the pony was, was the actual concern in his mind.

“Ya hired Trixie Lulamoon? Are you completely nuts?”

“What do you mean?”

A dark laugh shook Stonecup’s body. “You mean you ‘aven’t heard? She’s an agent of the crown, mate! If she’s ‘ere, she’s ‘ere to take ya down!”

“That’s a load of junk.”

“Is it now?” Stonecup countered. “You’re going to tell me that Bayou Runner’s fall was just a coincidence?”

“Of course not! But that was a matter between two beings. Why do you assume that Trixie is now an agent for Celestia? Do you have any proof?”

“She took down Bayou Runner with the help of the Element Bearers! That’s a bit more than a coincidence in my book.”

“Except that Runner’s ponies almost did serious damage to Ponyville. The Element Bearers would take interest in that.”

“Fine,” Stonecup shrugged. “If you’re so convinced you’ll be fine, then who am I ta tell you otherwise. But consider what you do around ‘ere. If Celestia was to find out about your slavin’? If Placido was ta find out about this little coup of yours? You’d be finished.”

A nervous shuffle was Valenta's only reply, so he pushed on. “I’d suggest you do somethin’, but that’s just me. But, for now, I think that we’ll be going.” With a wave of his hoof, he turned to leave. “Come on everpony.”

His body guards immediately sprung into action. Two strong stallions slid handcart under the large steel crate, wheeling it towards the double doors without a word. Candy pushed them open, the whole group marching resolutely out.

“Wait!”

Valenta had managed to wrench himself away from the window. The gravity of the situation seemed to be occurring to the ambassador all at once. Worry etched the lines of his face, his dark eyes darting around the room. “We had a deal! You owe me your beast!”

“I don’t see bits in my hoof.” Stonecup grumbled. “And I don’t really care to get involved anymore. Good luck mate.”

His group said nothing as they left the ambassador sputtering in indignation, the weight of the crate thunking off of each stair during the slow descent to the ground floor. Once they had worked their way back to the foyer, however, Candy Canes spoke up.

“Shouldn’t we do something about Trixie, sir? If she knows that we’re here-

“We can easily claim that we were ‘ere for other business. Sides, why get our hooves dirty?” Stonecup grinned. “I get the feelin’ the good ambassador will be doing that for us. And we should be long clear before the guard show up.”

“Of course, sir.”

Red Rose. Iron Will’s voice echoed in Trixie’s head. Light pink mane and tail, dark pink colored coat.

Got her. She responded, eyes locking on the foal in the second row. Anypony else? I have no idea who Stonecup is, but this can't be good.

That’s the last one. Do your thing.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie will require volunteer’s for this next trick!” She declared.

Already enthralled by the show, the hooves of every child in the audience shot up, a few particularly eager ones stretching to try and reach the sky. Keeping a wide grin on her muzzle, Trixie began to point into the crowd.

“You! And you! You too!” She called out again and again, summoning each of the identified foals onto the stage; ten in all. Clambering onto raised platform, they looked up at her with wide eyes and even wider smiles, their life situation forgotten for the moment. Though, she couldn’t help but notice that Valenta's daughter was sitting in a deep pout at not being called forward.

“Now,” she continued, beginning to call forth her magic. “Watch and be amazed as Trixie makes all of these brave young fillies and colts…disappear!”

The crowd- which had a fair share of adults in it at this point- gasped, a few clapping already at the thought of the trick. A smile began to cross Trixie’s muzzle, only for it to vanish just as quickly. One of the manor houses doors had swung open, Valenta’s bodyguard already stalking towards her, muzzle twisted back in a snarl. Trixie suppressed the desire to gulp at the razor sharp fangs, rushing her spell along as quickly as possible.

The tiger was picking up his pace now, beginning to break into a run as he wove between the crowd. Trixie grimaced, a confused murmur washing through the crowd as her magic reached it’s peak. With a flick of her head, she unleashed a one-two punch of magical power. The first spell was an illusionary curtain that sprang from floor to ceiling. It was a misdirection, showing her bolting away from the stage in a blind panic. The second spell woven was one of her standards; invisibility but altered to hang like a sheet. As the audience bled away, she threw her magic out again, gently herding the small crowd of ponies towards their escape.

“Hurry!” She whispered to them.

“But,” Red Rose began, “what about my momma!”

“My friends are getting her out!” She whispered again. “We need to go!”

That seemed to be all the convincing they needed, stampeding for the gap and squeezing through one at a time. As the last one vanished popped through the gap in the towering wall, Trixie threw herself through. Larger than a foal, she was forced to squeeze through wincing as the stone scraped at her flanks and tore at her coat. She was half way through the gap when an enraged roar tore through the air behind her.

“I will wear your hide for a cloak!”

Trixie yelped, squirming all the harder. A paw slammed down on her cloak, pinning it to the ground. With another cry, she threw herself forward, pushing through the pain that raked her sides. Cape snapping off of her neck, she popped out the other side of the gap. Head swimming and breathing hard, her eyes wandered over the foals, brain doing a quick count. All ten stood in the short alley between Valenta’s manor and some other noble’s. A relieved smile crossed her muzzle. Sure, she had ruined her double’s shirt (she’d have to leave a note or something) but they had gotten the foals out fine and Kassa should be leading the-

A bone shaking roar tore from the grounds. Trixie’s eyes bugged out as the bodyguard sprang into view, sailing over the edge of the wall with a surprising amount of grace. Landing with a heavy thud, he raised a his front paws, a snake like sway settling into his feline figure.

“I shall offer you one chance to surrender.” The tiger growled. “Return the foals and walk away.”

“Never.” Trixie glared back, keeping a defiant look on her face. In reality, she was already mentally screaming to Iron Will for help. “I won’t let you keep one more pony in bondage!”

The tiger sprang forward, claws neatly sliding out as part of his strike. Instinct flared within Trixie’s core and she flung herself to the side, the strike raking across the cobblestones where she had been a moment before with a horrible grinding noise. She sprang into action, already weaving a spell from her position on the ground, a sphere of light appearing at the tip of her horn. With a grimace, she let it fly, just as her attacker twisted about to face her. The brilliant globe exploded in the tiger’s face, eliciting another roar as he clutched at his face with both paws, stumbling back.

“RUN!” Trixie shouted to her charges.

They had been cowering together in a tightly packed ball since the last roar but Trixie’s cry seemed to spur them into action. They turned and scrambled down the alleyway, Trixie right behind them. Another roar split the air as the tiger recovered from the assault on his eyeballs. The rapid flurry of paws on stone came swooping up on her, the tiger’s large size and long strides closing the distance with frightening speed. With seconds to spare, she channeled again, two illusionary copies appearing with a poof of blue smoke.

She could see the main street up ahead and if they could just-

A shadow suddenly engulfed her and in the next heartbeat a mass of orange and black came slamming down upon her form. Stars exploded across her vision once again as her breath was blasted from her lungs. Her mind struggled to work out what had just happened through the haze. She’d swear that she had just been body slammed by the sun cursed thing, which considering his size probably wiped out the illusions at the same time.

Stupid, clever cat. She mentally groaned.

The world turned upside down, a paw neatly scooping her up and slamming her onto her back with one smooth motion. The tiger’s leering face was monstrous, a half snarl of anger, half grin of triumph as his other paw came slicing down through the air. Yelping, Trixie channeled, throwing another burst of light and twisting to the right at the same time. She could feel the impact run through her body as the paw slammed into the street, sending spiderweb cracks radiating through the stone. So, she was stuck fighting something at least as strong as Raindrops. Great.

In desperation, she jabbed her horn into the tiger’s soft underbelly. It wasn’t a strong jab, by any means, but his body still instinctively recoiled. Not wasting a moment she squirmed away. Rolling back to her hooves, she once again called illusionary copies forwards, all of them moving at once. The tiger growled, eyes shifting between the illusions, his nose flaring.

Scent…. Trixie realized.

Like a coiled spring, he kicked off, pouncing right towards Trixie, her illusions ignored. She desperately backpedaled, trying to get away from the incoming strike. But as the tiger’s golden eyes burned into her, she was quite sure that she was going to die.

But the impact never hit home, as a blur of steely blue threw itself from the wall. A different roar- one of pain and anger- escaped the tiger as face met stone.

“You try to murderize and I pulverize!” Iron Will declared. He had squared his body to the hulking feline, fists raised as he almost bounced on his hooves.

For the first time since Trixie had met the creature, the tiger looked shocked. Blinking in confusion, he pushed himself up. “Do you….who talks like that?”

Iron Will’s response was to deliver a brutal cross hook to the face. The strike snapped the tiger’s head to the side but he quickly recovered, body once more swaying like a snake. With a blur, he launched forward, raking a claw across Will’s muscled chest. The minotaur struck back, his hands closing around the offending paw. Pivoting his whole body, Iron Will swung his opponent at the wall in a truly fearsome show of strength.

Much to Trixie’s horror, the tiger didn’t even flinch, instead rolling with the attack. As his body impacted against the wall, he kicked off from the wall, sailing over Iron Will. Bringing his claws down the minotaur’s back, he smoothly transitioned into a sliding sweep, knocking Will’s hooves out from under him.

The impact of Will hitting the ground and the accompanying cry of pain knocked Trixie out of her shock. “Will! Eyes closed!”

Horn blazing, a few sparks- red, blue and green- flew from its tip, streaking their way into the melee. Trixie’s aim was true, the explosions detonating right next to her target’s ears. The flurry of flashes and bangs sent the tiger reeling, Iron Will rolling back to his hooves.

With his opponent stunned, he rushed forward, fists flying with rapid fire jabs like a swarm of bees. Already trying to blink the light out of his eyes, the tiger threw himself into a series of desperate twists and ducks, managing to dodge a few strikes with impressive flexibility. But Iron Will pushed forward, keeping the pressure on with his furious assault.

Trixie rushed to the right, muzzle scrunched in concentration, casting another set of illusionary sounds. Dropping them behind the tiger’s head, she detonated them one at a time, attacking with repeated strikes of sound. Roaring again, he grabbed at his sore and battered ears, giving Iron Will another opening.

“Try to make me loose,” he grinned, drawing back. “I blow my fuse!”

The uppercut lifted the tiger into the air, eyes rolling into the back of his head before he crashed to the ground like a dropped sack of potatoes.

Rushing to Will’s side, Trixie took in the rakes across his form. “Are you okay? Those look bad….”

“I’ll be okay.” He grinned, giving a her a thumbs up. “Iron Will has taken worse punishment in his life.”

The sound of hooves and the metallic clash-clang of armor came rumbling down the alley, Trixie looking up to find herself staring down five ponies in neatly polished chainmail barding, and a sixth in glimmering golden plate mail. Trixie winced slightly, taking a step back from the gold bedecked pegasus, who was looking...distinctly exasperated. She assumed that this was Frolicsome Meadowlark, judging by his timely arrival.

“Well, this has gone about as well as I hoped.” He sighed, rubbing the side of his head. “Okay,” He waved a hoof at his squad. “Arrest them.”

“Yes sir!”

“What?” Trixie blinked. “Why?”

“Cover. To. Maintain.” He declared with great certainty. “Arrest them, and get the foals. We’ll sort everything out down at the station.”

“What about the ambassador?” Trixie glowered, giving the approaching guard a shifty glare.

“We found him already.”

Trixie blinked as shackles were attached to her legs and she was slowly lead to a collection of waiting wagons. Arrested. She was being arrested! She-

“Unhoof me at once you reprobates! I have diplomatic immunity!”

-couldn’t keep the grin off her muzzle at the sight of Valenta who was also shackled in chains and sporting a very large black eye. His trunk was pointed directly at Northern Lights as he continued to rant.

“And I want to press charges! She assaulted a member of the diplomatic corps of Tapiria!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Meadowlark drawled. “Try that with somepony who doesn’t know what diplomatic immunity actually means.”

“THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!”

“Sorry, I’m not paid to listen to complaints.” Meadowlark snorted. “Get in the damn wagon.”

Trixie's grin grew all the wider as she climbed into a different one. Watching the ambassador freak out was entertaining, at least.

An hour later, Trixie found herself cooling her hooves in an interrogation room. She was crowded around a low table with Northern Lights, Iron Will and Kassa.

“...and once I lead the parents out of the grounds, I lead them straight to the rendezvous point.” Kassa explained.

“What about Jambalaya?” Iron Will asked, rubbing at the bandages that now criss-crossed his coat. “Wasn’t he still in the kitchen? Kind of lost track when I went after Trixie.”

“Probably just walked back home during all the chaos.” Kassa shrugged. “We did kind of leave things a mess there.”

“Heh.” Northern Lights grinned. “That was pretty wild!” She flopped forward, stretching out and popping her wings. “And another one down. Nice work filling in there, other Trixie.”

“Oh, so I’m other-Trixie now?” Trixie commented, raising an eyebrow. Least it was better than Lulamoon.

Before Lights could respond, the door swung open and Frolicsome Meadowlark came trotting in, still locked in his perpetual frown, pulling the crested helmet from his head. His eyes roamed over each of them in turn, before the frown finally cracked, sliding into a smile.

“Well done. All of you. Valenta cracked like a walnut once I threw all his victims in front of him.”

“Really?” Trixie asked. Considering his body guard, that result seemed far too easy earned.

The guard captain shrugged. “I pointed out that some of his ‘workers’ had been taken from Equestria and just how angry that would make Celestia. I then pointed out how even his own government didn’t want to save him. Political isolation.”

Trixie found herself nodding. It was a sound strategy and one that Placido had been doing his best to work towards, even before contacting her other half. Still, there was a question that came to her mind….

“What about us? You said something about maintaining our cover?”

Meadowlark nodded. “In exchange for not being thrown into the deepest, darkest hole we can find and serving out his sentence in a normal prison, he’s agreed to let rumors slip that your attack was based on a personal grudge. Should be enough to help muddy the waters on the whole ‘agent of Celestia’ thing.”

“And the families?”

“Reunited and under our protection. We’ll be helping them get settled in new homes. Everything’s going to work out, I think.” He paused for a moment. “Anyway, you’re free to go.” He smirked. “I’ll be in touch.”

Trixie walked back through the streets of Neigh Orleans. The group had gone their separate ways upon leaving the station, mostly to recover from the results of their efforts. Especially Will, thanks to those claw marks.

It had been...fun, admittedly, to be able to pull off a little bit of underhooved trickery to take down a corrupt noble and be unequivocally thanked for it. It was an interesting little diversion, admittedly but now it was time to be thinking about how to get back to her world. As she approached alley way entrance to her double’s theater home, she considered just waiting here for Luna to find her. She had, in fact, been able to track Trixie through time and space before. And she had to assume that her other self would have told her friends about what happened. And-

Trixie paused. The back door was hanging slightly ajar. She was quite sure that she had closed the thing when she had last left the building. With a frown, she tapped into her magic again, cloaking herself in invisibility and inaudibility before sneaking into the building.

She could already hear some kind of argument brewing as she hit the base of the winding metal staircase. Two voices, both male, one with an oddly familiar tone to it. Taking the stairs two at a time, she landed neatly in the hallway, before creeping towards the open door to the office. Peeking within, she found herself watching a very odd standoff.

A camel was sitting in front of the desk, each foreleg raised. She found her eyes were drawn to the outlandish gear that was strapped to his form. A jacket was pulled tight across most of his body, square shapes seemingly woven into the material. Even stranger were the contraptions strapped to each limb. Six metal tubes, lashed together almost like a collection of miniature cannons. He had them trained on a two ponies and another minotaur.

The minotaur was a towering black furred creature, easily the size of Iron Will, though a little bit slimmer. His long, flowing beard had been twisted into a series of braids, glittering coins and trinkets threaded throughout. His own collection of miniature cannons were strapped in bandoleers that strained across his well muscled chest. Two of them, covered in runes that were obviously magic in nature were pointed back at the camel.

But it was the last two figures that almost made Trixie want to groan in frustration. The first, was a unicorn mare, white coated and lavender maned, with a black envelope for a cutie-mark. And then the stallion; brown coat, reddish mane and a red X for a cutie-mark. Easily the last two ponies that she would have wanted to see in this alternate timeline.

Zizanie and Duke Greengrass. Though, she supposed that he might not be a duke in this universe, Luna willing. And he held the Sextant of Worlds in his hooves, carefully in the process of attaching some missing piece to the spyglass portion.

“Equestrian…put the sextant down,” the camel declared. “And let me do what must be done.”

“What? Let you destroy it?” Greengrass snorted. “I will not indulge your race’s mania for destroying all things magic.”

“Magic is the root of all pain and suffering! And that thing was created by a monster worse than most!” The camel growled. “It should be destroyed, like everything else he made!”

No, no, no! Trixie winced. That thing might be my only way back if Luna can’t find a way here!

Admittedly, it was probably unlikely that Luna couldn’t find her way to this reality. Maybe. Really, she still had no clue about the mechanics of her arrival here. Having the sextant just made sense. Plus there was part of her that really objected to what the camel wanted to do on the sheer principle of the matter. Magic, the root of all evil? What, were earth ponies evil for using their magic to help grow food faster? Also, Duke Greengrass with a magic item like that? Not something she’d allow in either world. Nothing for it.

Stepping just slightly into the room, she extended her magic forward, wrapping it around the Sextant. She had just finished grabbing it, when Zizanie’s eye twitched.

“Intruder!” She shouted, firing off a burst of magic.

The burst slammed against Trixie’s enchantments, the lot of them vanishing in a puff of blue smoke. And as her spells fell apart, the room descended into complete chaos. The minotaur kicked the desk over, using it for cover as his cannons roared, slugs of some kind buzzing across the room. The camel jumped backwards, impacting into Trixie in the process. Dragged along by his bulk, she maintained her magical death grip on the sextant, bringing it along for the ride.

It was at this point that the strange camel realized what he had just bumped into and twisted his head about to peer at her.

“Release the sextant!”

“Nope!” Trixie declared, yanking the device through the air and to her side. “Kind of need it!”

“Zizanie! Get it back!”

Trixie scrambled for the steps, as the unicorn came bounding out of the room, neatly vaulting over the camel with her own horn glowing. A bolt of magic crackled through the air, just barely brushing against Trixie’s flank as she scrambled down the stairs.

“Stop her!”

“And where do you think you’re going!”

“Fool! Stop getting in my way!”

Kicking her way out the door, Trixie ran as fast she could, with the sextant clutched in her aura. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her towards the Neigh Orleans train station, hoping that there would be one there when she arrived.

She needed to get to Ponyville.

Author's Note

A lot of Iron Will and Jambalaya's interactions were totally based on Eliot Spencer and Alec Hardison from the TV show Leverage. There's just something very amusing to me about the arrangement of the phrase "Damn it, " and then the character's name.

I also did some boxing research to determine Iron Will's style. He is what we call a Swarmer. Basically focus on getting up close and unleashing a hail of strikes in rapid succession. It's the same boxing style that Joe Fraizer fought with. ....Or so Wikipedia says at any rate.

And we see the Skitchverse versions of two Lunaverse antagonists. Duke Greengrass and Zizane should be fun to use! I never got to write them back when they were still major Lunaverse players, so this is my chance *and* excuse! MWA HA HA HA HA!!!

.>...Umm...yes. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and there will be more!

Lunaverse Chapter 3

“Casse toi vous etes des idiots!”

Trixie spat her Prench curses as the first line of four goats broke one side of Carrot Top’s fence, not wasting any time as they pounced on a row of plump and juicy looking carrots. She had already mostly worked out what the plan was and a key part of it was to do as much damage as they possibly could to the farm. And as another line of four slalomed between their eating friends, charging straight towards the farmhouse itself, she realized just how much of that they could do. Nothing for it then.

Their magic resistance was a pain to deal with but she doubted that it was full proof. Time to play the numbers game. With the familiar tingle of her magic rushing through the core of her horn, Trixie flicked a blinding sphere of light towards the back row. Before she had even finished seeing how successful that blast was, she did it again, aiming for the front. And then again for the back row and again towards the front. She unleashed a hail of magical power upon the goat’s horned heads, pulling deeply from her wellspring of power.

Many of the spells failed, shattering in a flurry of sparks, unable to find purchase on their magic eating nature. But others managed to punch through. The successful spells burst amongst the goats, eliciting panicked bleats as a few toppled to the ground in surprise.

Raindrops chose this moment to crash right into one of the goats that had resisted Trixie’s first round of efforts. Wings beating hard, she lashed out with a hoof, catching one across the muzzle. The punch sent the goat flipping over and into one of his companions, Raindrops already throwing herself into another group.

While the first two lines of goats struggled to deal with the enraged pegasus within their ranks, another group of three came smashing through the fence from the left hooved side of the field, lowering their horned heads at the group.

Turning, Trixie hurled another volley of light blasts at them, sending the spheres whipping over Cheerilee’s head. The teacher was rushing to meet this next group with a wide smirk on her face, Carrot Top at her side.

With surprising grace, Cheerilee grabbed the horns of one, swinging around to its side and yanking it to the ground with one smooth motion. Carrot Top grunted as she pushed against another, wincing while trying to push the goat back.

The melodious notes of a lyre rose to join the discordant sounds of the fight, Lyra plucking away at her instrument. Back in her reality, Trixie had watched Lyra put a whole group of thugs for hire to sleep with a well placed lullaby. But this version of the mint green unicorn took a different tact. With each strum of the strings, waves of sound skittered along the ground, kicking up clouds of dust into the eyes of their attackers, sowing additional confusion.

A smile began to cross Trixie’s lips, only to fall away at the sound of glass breaking. Another group of goats had broken one of the windows, and were starting to climb their way into the house.

“Non!”

Horn lighting up again, Trixie once more unleashed a flurry of spells. This time loud bangs of sound joined the brilliant flashes. She didn’t slow down, throwing spell after spell at the group. And she had no intention of stopping until she saw some results.

“ON YOUR LEFT!” Cheerilee shouted.

Turning again, Trixie saw the massive, grey colored billy from the Whitetail the moment before his horns impacted into her side. The wind was blasted out of her lungs, the world turning into a topsy turvy mess as she was propelled through the air with a flick of his shaggy head. Trixie had time to register just how strange some things looked upside down- the shocked look on Cheerilee’s face in particular- before she landed, bounced once, stopping snout first between a pair of carrots.

Head swimming, Trixie could barely make out the sound of Raindrop’s shouting. Pushing herself back to her hooves she almost fell again, legs quaking, threatening to give out from under her.

“Fils de pute.” She cursed. Shaking the cobwebs from her mind she quickly turned her attention back to the battlefield.

Raindrops had thrown herself at the massive goat, the two locked in a grapple that the pegasus was surprisingly holding her own in. Face screwed up in determination and hooves set firmly against the goat’s shoulders, she slowly pushed forward, wings beating to give her more leverage. But the goat fought back with the whole of his body weight, making Raindrops earn every inch.

The rest of the group was struggling to contain the rest of the herd, which was mostly ignoring their efforts. Lyra was still trying to use her magic to blast gouts of dirt into the goat’s eyes. While it was neatly side stepping their magic resistance, the fact that it seemed like the whole tribe was here was severely undermining her efforts. Even when she blinded one, another one would just swoop in and swipe another carrot, or smash another part of the fence.

Carrot Top looked on the verge of tears as she tried to push yet another goat away from her farm, while Cheerilee was grappling with another pair of them, still staying light on her hooves to twist and slide around their swings.

A familiar slow, burning sensation swelled in Trixie’s breast, her tail taking on a furious twitch. If this group of marauders wanted to do things the hard way, then so be it. Years of infiltrating a criminal organization had made Trixie more than capable of playing things the hard way.

Snatching up a section of the broken fence in her aura she bolted towards the three that were trying to climb into the house again. Giving the wood a little twirl, she cracked it across the back of the lead’s leg, sending him falling backwards. Tapping into her magic, two more blasts of light were smashed into the faces of their friends, the heavy chunk of wood swishing through the air right behind them.

The fury of the attack made the bucks turn and run, sprinting off into the distance. She turned again, back towards the rest of the battle, throwing herself into a stumbling charge. One foot away from the rest of the goats, she channeled again, sending out a massive flurry of sparks. Once again, the logic was simple. Overwhelm the resistance. Play the numbers. Again and again she threw the sparks and flashes of light forward, swinging the section of post at those who weren’t staggered by the illusions.

Through the chaos, there was the occasional blur of magenta as Cheerilee attacked as well. Then Carrot Top stepped forward beside her, using her own section of broken fence post to prod dazed and confused members of the herd away from the fields. Pushing forward herself, Trixie grinned as the goats grew more and more confused, their previous discipline falling apart. Which was a very good thing, as a splitting headache was beginning to set in at the base of her horn.

A deep, commanding bleat rang out, the herd turning as one before vaulting back the way they came. The leader left a moment later, giving up on his shoving match with Raindrops to chase after his herd. The farm was quiet.

Trixie blinked a few times before looking around at everypony. “Is everypony okay? Anypony hurt?”

Cheerilee’s response was to lightly poke her in the side, eliciting a fresh wave of pain. “Are we okay? Are you okay?”

“I’m...fine…,” Trixie spoke through gritted teeth and watery eyes. She was, really. “We need...to go after them! They’re going to attack another farm!”

“After a hit like that?” Raindrops said. “You’re lucky to be on your hooves!”

Another ache flowed down Trixie’s horn. The illusionist peered at the two jasmine colored pegasi, her body swaying on her hooves. ...Why were there two? That...wasn’t good. And just like that her legs did give out, her vision swimming.

“Carrot Top! You…,” she blinked a few times, fighting to stay conscious. “Don’t trust any-anypony to fix your farm…. Not unless you know them!”

“What?”

“Just don’t do it! It’ll...make sense. I just...need to take a little nap…then I’ll explain.”

And then the world faded away.

Carrot Top gasped as the alternate version of her friend collapsed to the ground. Lyra was already at her side, hoof to her neck, checking her pulse. “Unconscious…. I think she almost over channeled. Stars above though, she was...intense.”

“Now what? If she’s right, some other member of the Farmer’s Union is about to get hit.” Raindrops frowned.

“I’ll stay here with her,” Carrot Top supplied with a nod. “She’ll need some ether to help recover anyway.”

Cheerilee nodded. “Okay. Come on girls! We’ll drive them out of here!”

With her friends setting off after the goats, Carrot Top carefully hefted Trixie onto her back before surveying the damage. Truthfully it was less than it could have been. While great sections of the fence had been torn away, they had managed to contain the uprooting to one field and she was only down one window on the farmhouse. She’d be able to recover with a filed disaster claim.

Carrying her charge inside, she carefully laid Trixie down on the couch before trotting into her kitchen to dig out a bottle of ether. Keeping a bottle or two mixed up was something that was almost becoming rote. Considering some of the things they got up to these days, it only made sense to have an insurance policy.

Plucking one of the small blue bottles from it’s hiding place in the same cupboards where the bowls were kept, she trotted back to the couch. Carefully lifting Trixie’s head she slowly administered the magic restoring fluid, letting the unicorn reflexively swallow the potion a bit at a time. Once the last drop passed Trixie’s lips, Carrot Top tucked a pillow under Trixie’s head before turning her attention towards cleaning up the broken glass from the attack.

She had just finished with this task when there was a knock on the door. Considering the knocks with a frown, she wondered who it was. Cheerilee and the others couldn’t be back yet. Not unless they lost the herd somehow. Frown still on her muzzle, she trotted over to the door and pulled it open a crack.

A trio of stallions were standing before her door. The biggest one was a deep, muddy brown colored earth pony, his short mane and tail a mossy green. A gatsby cap was perched askew on his head, a broad grin- perhaps just a little too wide and friendly- crossing his muzzle. He was flanked by a slate grey pegasus with a storm cloud mark and a light tan earth pony with a mud puddle for a cutie-mark who also had very wide grins on their faces. Carrot Top blinked, looking from pony to pony before asking the most relevant question.

“Can I...help you?”

The lead pony smoothly pulled something from a pair of saddlebags on his back, presenting the square slip of paper.

“Afternoon! Ah happened to notice that yer farm took a bit of a hit here. Just offerin’ a bit of assistance.”

The distinct Neigh Orleans accent stuck in Carrot Top’s mind but she took the card to read anyway. Simple blocky letters spelled things out clearly, Bayou Runner Construction and Renovation.

“We do good solid work and we charge a bit less than other outfits. I believe in honest work and honest prices. I bet I could repair all of this for twenty percent less than my competitors.” His eyes roamed over the farm for a moment, “Say...sixty bits?”

“I see.” Carrot Top frowned. “Are you...new in Ponyville?”

“Well, I was on my way to Canterlot for some business and was passing through. Couldn’t help but notice the damage.”

She supposed that made sense. Ponyville did sometimes see visitors heading north towards Canterlot. And the offer was tempting to the constantly bit strapped mare. Disaster payments were paid on on the value of what was broken, plus a percentage for labor. If an individual pony could cut the cost of the repairs, then they could conceivably wind up with a few extra bits in the box. But Trixie’s words echoed in her mind. They just...showed up, right after the goat attack. Proposing to fix the damage that was just done. It all seemed far too convenient.

Giving a pleasant smile, she shook her head. “Thank you, but I don’t think that I need your services.”

There was a brief moment where Carrot Top could have sworn that she saw an angry twitch in his eyes. But as fast as it was there, it was gone and his grin was all the wider.

“Not a problem! Ya’ll have a nice day now.”

With that, the three trotted off, further down the road without a care in the world. Carrot Top watched them go until they disappeared out of sight. Frowning, the farmer began to close the door, before pausing, a thought running through her head. Trixie was sleeping soundly on the couch and the battle had moved on. She'd probably be okay for just a moment.

Taking a deep breath, she galloped towards one of the other farms.

Cheerilee found herself wondering as she galloped along with her friends, following the herd’s trail. Sometimes it seemed like Ponyville had perhaps done something in the past to lay a curse down upon it, with all the wild things that kept happening to the town. Though a group of goats raiding the farms for food was almost downright normal.

The lush rows of grapevines that belonged to Green Grape’s vineyard were coming into view now, where another fight was already underway. This time the goats had split into two groups. One was rampaging through the rows of vines, alternating between ripping whole sections down for a snack and fighting the small collection of ponies that Green Grape had pulled together to protect her farm.

The other half had just decided to tear into her house, breaking as much as they possibly could. Throwing things through windows, kicking in doors, running into the depths of the house where even more cracking and shattering sounds rose. ‘

Raindrops growled, “I’m already tired of this. They’re just going to keep running ahead of us the minute we try to stop them!”

Lyra frowned, rubbing her chin with the back of a hoof. “Can’t we use that though? If they’re just going to keep on running we can eventually run them out of town, right?”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Cheerilee nodded. “Even a better chance if we focus on their leader. This looks like an old school wandering tribe.”

“Let’s get to it then!” Raindrops nodded, shooting forward with a flap of her wings.

Rushing forward they shot directly towards the main house where most of the noise of destruction was coming from. The large grey leader of the tribe came into view as they passed the smashed in doorway, standing amongst the shattered wreckage of the living room. Green Grape was there as well, brandishing a rake at the goat. Jabbing the pointy end at his shaggy hide, her face was screwed up in frustration and anger as the massive goat kept sidestepping her strikes.

“Get out you reprobate!”

A hole was kicked in her wall in response, which was more than enough for Raindrops. With another flap of her wings, she threw herself right into the hulking goat, her forelegs locking around his great grey neck.

He reared up with an angry bleat, thrashing his body about to try and throw the pegasus from his body. Cherilee swooped around from the side, lashing out with a kick at his rear legs. Said limbs buckled from the kick, his body beginning to waver, the extra weight form Raindrop’s presence throwing him even more off balance.

Grinning wide, Green Grape swept her rake at the goat’s hooves. With another bleat, he hit the floor, Raindrops maintaining her grip on the way down. But even as he fell, the old goat continued to lash out with his curved horns, swinging his head at any pony that drew close.

One of those great horns clipped Raindrops, sending her toppling back. Rolling across the floor, she came to a stop against the couch, only to roll back to her hooves and charge back into the fray. She and Cheerilee lashed out at once, while Lyra scooped up a bunch of broken furniture pieces from the floor to propel at him. The combined strike sent the goat tumbling towards the front door.

That seemed to be enough for the Tor’s leader, for he quickly sprang to his hooves and bounded back out into the vineyards, summoning his host with a deep cry.

“After them!” Cheerilee shouted, pointing a hoof at the fleeing goats before giving chase.

Raindrops and Lyra galloped after her, only to be joined by Green Grape and her rake a moment later. And as they followed the goats over the hill, towards another farm, the chase had begun.

At the next farm it was mostly the same. Red Onion, as furious as he could grow when his produce was threatened, found his fields and home assaulted by the strength of the tribe. Fences were torn down, crops uprooted and damage unleashed against the farm house. And while Raindrops, Cheerilee and Lyra once more attacked the leader, the whole group got up and tore off again, leaving the ponies to keep up the chase.

Cheerilee was beginning to huff and pant as they approached Boxxy Brown’s cherry orchards, the rows of trees and their bright red fruit already visible on the horizon. It was becoming increasingly obvious to the school teacher that this tribe was quite used to the rigors of living off the land and had stamina to spare.

“Sun above!” Lyra panted. “We can’t keep this up!”

“I’m open to suggestions.”

“It doesn’t help that there’s only three-” Raindrops began.

Green Grape quickly corrected that statement. “Four!”

“And five!” Red Onion added.

“Fine! Five! Five of us against two dozen goats!”

Lyra spoke up again, voicing one of her own hidden hopes. “Well, maybe Boxxy’s managed to get enough workers together?”

Cheerilee winced as a line of farm workers and Boxxy now came into view, arranged in a ragged line before the tall cherry trees. Six more, plus their own five, against the two dozen goats. She didn’t like those odds.

Right before the lines met, the goats split around Boxxy and his workers, charging deep into the trees before making for the farmhouse and the barn. With a snarl and a flap of her wings, Raindrops soared higher letting the warm spring thermals carry her above the goats. With another, deeper frown, she tucked her wings back and dove straight for the leader.

The impact sent the two tumbling end over end in a tangle of limbs and wings. Raindrops quickly scrambled back to her hooves, facing down the great goat with flared wings and an angrily thrashing tail.

“No more of this! I’m done with you and your band! Back off!”

The great goat leader actually smiled as he dipped his head towards the pony that opposed him. “Very brave, pegasus. Tell Blackhoof who keeps denying his tribe forage this day?”

“Raindrops. And I know this is about more than just food! You’re damaging everything! And I saw you eat that note in the woods!”

Blackhoof’s eyes narrowed slightly, a hoof idly pawing the ground. And then, without another word, he charged right for Raindrops. The pair immediately locked up in another grapple, strength matching strength.

It was at that point when the lines of ponies and goats collided under the cherry trees hooves and farm tools lashing out at each other in a disorganized mess. While the pony defenders attempted to corral the herd and force it back off the farm, the goats used their superior numbers to break through the lines, and attack the buildings, forcing the ponies to scramble to reform their containment line.

As this back and forth pattern repeated itself, Cheerilee found herself growing more and more frustrated. Taking another swing at one of the goats that was trying to rip a window shutter off the farmhouse, she cursed under her breath, wishing that they had more ponies here-

“Nope!”

That deep voice preceded the sound of even more hooves pounding their way through the orchard. Another group of farmhands, with Big Mac at the lead, slammed into the fray. The big red stallion forced his way through the goats, falling into step besides Cheerilee with a nod.

“Not that I’m complaining,” Cheerilee smirked, “but how’d you know we were here?”

Throwing his body into another goat, Big Mac sent him stumbling away before providing his answer. “Carrot Top paid us a visit. Figured you could use our help. Just followed the damage.”

“Well, alright then! Let’s run them out of here!”

With the arrival of Big Mac and the Sweet Apple Acres crowd, the goats finally began to give actual ground. Shoved, jabbed and poked, they began to be forced off the farm, but this time in the direction the Equestrians wanted. Away from the farms and towards the wilderness that surrounded Ponyville.

Blackhoof and Raindrops circled each other in the middle of the melee, each one a coiled spring as they jockied for position. Raindrops struck first, throwing herself against Blackhoof’s legs. The goat slid back but then gave an angry bleat and reared up, before bringing his hooves down in a brutal strike.

Raindrops caught the strike with her own hooves, grunting as she strained against Blackhoof’s efforts. For a moment the two were locked in an even hold, neither able to force the other to give an inch. But then there was a blur of magenta as Cheerilee nimbly sprang on the goat’s back, throwing her hooves over his eyes.

Blinded and confused, Blackhoof let loose another angry bleat, returning to thrashing about in a desperate attempt to remove the Element of Laughter from his body. Taking advantage of the confusion, Raindrops lashed out with another kick, catching him in the underside of barrel. Blackhoof hit the ground again, Cheerilee jumping clear. The goat leader scrambled back to his hooves and then ran, joining his herd as they retreated off into the wilderness.

A happy cheer rose from the pony lines as the last of the goats vanished from view, the farmers mostly happy to see the threat to their fields gone. But for Lyra, Raindrops and Cheerilee a question was stuck in their mind.

If this was the first round, what was going to be the encore?

Trixie groaned, the waking world returning to her with an annoying slowness, horn aching in protest. She could feel a hoof under her neck, a cool bottle being pressed to her lips.

“Drink up,” Carrot Top’s voice commanded. “You’re still pretty weak from that near over channel.”

Not needing much encouragement, Trixie inhaled the liquid, ignoring the truly vile taste of the mixture. Relief quickly flowed into her horn, the ache fading before it finally began to completely release its grip.

“Can you sit?”

Trixie nodded, pushing herself into an upright position on the comfortable couch. Shaking the remains of the cobwebs from her head she sighed, looking at Carrot Top with a slight smirk. “This is turning into a bad habit with us, you realize.”

Carrot Top chuckled, shaking her head slightly. “Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but you’re the pony that keeps incapacitating herself.”

“Yeah...got me there. Still worth it if your farm is okay.”

Carrot Top got to her hooves, trotting into her little kitchen where the sound of a kettle was whistling away.

“Okay enough. It’s...not much damage. The local emergency fund might be enough to cover it, actually.”

“Good.” Trixie nodded.

“Somepony visited while you were unconscious by the way. They were offering to do repairs. It was the strangest thing too. Almost like you called it.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow, feeling even more alert than she was a moment ago. “You didn’t take them up on their offer did you?”

Carrot Top returned from the kitchen, a pair of teacups balanced on a tray. “No, I didn’t. I’m guessing you knew they’d show up? All part of this plan?”

“It hit me just before the goat herd showed up. I’ve seen this scheme in play before.” Trixie shook her head, “It’s a simple idea really. And totally takes advantage of actual laws meant to protect ponies.”

Carrot Top blinked, tilting her head slightly. “What do you mean?”

“It’s like this,” Trixie gingerly lifted one of the tea cups in her magic. “You have a piece of property that you want, but the owner isn’t interested in selling. So, you throw a wrench into the works. Arrange for some ‘accidents’ to happen. Do damage to property. So on and so forth.”

“What, then they agree to sell?”

“...Mmm. Not really. You only let your target know you were behind it if you’re doing a straight protection racket thing. You know, the whole ‘Boy, it would be a shame if something happened to your house here.’ kind of thing. In this case, the goal is to not let them know you were behind it.”

Carrot Top took a sip of her tea, motioning with a hoof for Trixie to continue. “Why’s that?”

“So that you remain ‘clean’ when you approach your mark offering to repair the damage. You offer cheaper rates than the competition or better service...whatever you need to get them on the hook. Then you drag out the repairs, and bleed your target dry. Then they can’t pay you. Which is when you put a contractor lean against the property. Once they default, you just take the property for yourself.”

“You can do that?”

Trixie idly swirled her tea. “Oh yeah. Technically, it’s all legal...assuming the laws are the same between worlds.” Frowning, she considered the matter. It very much seemed like the plan she had seen done before. “Yeah...I have to assume they are since he’s pulling this scam. The point is, contractor liens are there to protect the contractors. The shady part is where you’ve basically manipulated events to ensure that your mark failed. I saw Bayou Runner pull this trick once. He wanted to control an auction house in Neigh Orleans so he’d have first pick of all the antiques and possible magic that passed through it.”

“Oh! That was the other thing that was odd. You won’t believe this, but the pony who was making the offer was also named Bayou Runner.”

Trixie promptly spit out the tea that she had just taken a drink of, fixing Carrot Top with a disbelieving stare.

“What? I thought that your world was used to the idea of alternate realities?”

“That’s not what I’m doing the double take about! Bayou Runner is dangerous! And if your version is even close to my version, this whole town is in really deep trouble!” With that, she was up, already staggering for the door, “Come on! We need to find him and put a stop to this!”

“Trixie! Hold on!” Carrot Top threw herself between Trixie and the door, glaring the unicorn down. “You’re not in any state to go running off after somepony!”

“You don’t understand! We need to stop him!”

“Raindrops, Cheerilee and Lyra already went after the goats and Ditzy will be back with Princess Luna by tonight at the latest. We can tell the other farmers to not take his offers. But you’re not running off to get hurt again!”

Trixie grit her teeth, muzzle twisting into a snarl. “Carrot Top, get out of my way! I won’t let him hurt anypony else! And he will hurt other ponies unless I take him down!”

“You’ll take him down? Trixie, you sound like a mad mare-”

“HE KILLED MY MOTHER!”

Carrot Top jerked back for a moment, eyes wide with shock. Trixie stood her ground, teeth still clenched in fury. Taking a deep breath, Carrot Top leaned forward again, putting a hoof on the side of Trixie’s neck.

“Trixie...this isn’t your Bayou Runner. This one...he didn’t kill your mother. You’re just assuming that he’s as vicious as yours was.”

“He’s still trying to steal ponies livelihoods.”

“And that will be stopped. But have some context! You over channeled and got rammed by a goat. You can’t just go...running after him!”

Trixie pouted, flopping back on her haunches. There was a great deal of her that wanted to argue back, to point out to Carrot Top everything that Bayou Runner had done back in Neigh Orleans. But the farmer had thrown a point back into her face that she couldn’t ignore. This wasn’t her Equestria and this wasn’t her Bayou Runner.

“Fine. I guess we can regroup and wait for Princess Luna to show up. But then-”

“Then, we’ll probably do what Princess Luna wants to. No offense, but I think that getting our Trixie back is more important. Again, no offense.”

“I...understand,” Trixie sighed. “Your world does need its Element Bearer more than it needs Bayou Runner gone.”

“I still think he’ll go to jail in the end Trixie. We’re not helpless here.”

“Fine,” Trixie huffed. Scuffing a hoof along the floor, she paused, then sighed and nodded towards the door. “Look, I’ll meet you back at ‘my’ place, okay? I need to take a walk and...clear my head I guess.”

Carrot Top gave a rather deadpan look. “Trixie. You’re not going to run him down in the street or something.”

“Nope.”

“Promise?”

With another sigh, Trixie placed a hoof against her chest, before tracing a circle shape. “Promise. I will not run Bayou Runner down in the street.”

“Okay,” Carrot Top nodded. “We’ll meet you back at ‘your’ place once we meet Princess Luna.” Smiling softly, she patted Trixie on the back. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you back home.”

Those words danced around in Trixie’s mind. Carrot Top obviously meant them. She obviously had a real connection with her own double. A friendship strong enough to claim the Elements of Harmony. There was a spike of jealousy, brief and intense, in her own heart. She had a team, sure. But how close of friends were they, really? And her relationship with her own Element Bearers...well, that was more of a long distance letter kind of affair. These mares...well, they had something deep. And that was admirable.

“I know Carrot Top,” she smiled. It was a broad, genuine smile. “You’re all good ponies. I trust you. I’ll see you back at “my” place.”

Trotting out the door, she quickly began to head down the road and back towards the center of Ponyville. She had every intention of living up to her promise to Carrot Top. No running down Bayou Runner in the middle of the street.

That didn’t rule out following him though.

The Ponyville plan was turning out less than idea from Bayou Runner’s point of view. Neatly snapping up most of Ponyville’s farms was turning out to be harder than he first anticipated. Blackhoof’s herd had done less damage than projected, a few of the farms emerging completely unscathed. It seemed that the locals had put up more of a fight than he thought, actually driving the herd away. And after a few hours of walking from farm to farm, making offers, they had come away with very few bites and bits. Which lunch had chipped away at.

As annoyed as that left him Runner found himself forced to admit it was- at least partially- his own fault. Of course Ponyville would be a tougher nut to crack compared to some of his other conquests. This town sat right on the edge of the Everfree. It was the home of the Element Bearers. Plus, all the stories about some of the strangeness that already surrounded the community?

No. The more he had considered the situation, the more it was evident that he had vastly low balled the ability of this town to recover from a disaster. If, in the end, there were no bits to be made here, then that would be entirely on his own head.

This was why he, Muddy Waters and Stormfront were currently wandering the town itself, trying to see if there was something to salvage here.

“What about that place?”

Muddy gestured towards a building that looked like it had been built from cotton candy and gingerbread as they passed it, the smell of freshly baked breads and sweets wafting from an open window.

“Not quite in the mood to become a baking magnate, Muddy.” Bayou drawled, sparing a dismissive glare at his hired muscle. “The Apple Trust has power to spare. That’s what I was shooting for.”

Stormfront ruffled his wings, gazing up at the late afternoon sky. “We could take another shot at it boss. Tap the Everfree or maybe have some ‘ringers’ sent out way?”

“I’d love to, if the Oaton connection hadn’t completely dried up. Ain’t no way we’ll be able to drop a fire drake in on this one. Now, finding somethin’ in the Everfree….”

What little research he had done on the town indicated that something like that had happened in the past. Still, the odds of them being able to find a suitably large monster again….

The sharp blare of a whistle, and the grinding rumble of steel on steel announced the arrival of a train to the village. A cloud of smoke and steam rose over the roofs, revealing that they had wandered closer to the train station than Bayou Runner had realized.

But it wasn’t the expected ensemble of disjointed hoofbeats, signalling the arrival of travelers and tourists, that approached down the street. Instead, it was the clipped and rhythmic cadence of heavy horseshoes on dirt. Further down the street the few ponies that could see into the next one gasped, dropping to their fetlocks with bowed heads. The disappointment Bayou Runner felt before returned and then doubled as he did the same, knowing exactly what was coming. For while Bayou Runner had been born in Neigh Orleans, he conducted business in Canterlot. It had been good feeding off the broken remains of the ponies ruined by the Night Court’s fighting. But there, he had gotten used to both the sight and sound of the Night Guard.

The Shepherd of the Moon, the Caretaker of the Sun, the Mistress of the Star Beasts, the Sovereign of the Three Tribes and Ruler of the Land of Equestria, and final nail in the coffin that were his plans, Princess Luna Equestris swept into view, flanked by a quartet of her armored Night Guard. The monarch’s expression was dour, borderlining on furious as she strode down the street, sparing a few perfunctory nods to her subjects. Passing by Bayou Runner without a second glance, the earth pony raised an eyebrow at the collection of ponies that hurried along behind her.

The element bearers, minus Trixie Lulamoon but plus a small unicorn foal, were following the princess.

Her presence with the princess pointed to some kind of “official business” going down. Briefly, his mind gnawed at the question of “What?” before he pushed it aside. Really, it was irrelevant. No matter what they were going to be discussing here, it meant that plan was shot. Pulling off something under the muzzle of Princess Luna was downright insane and he’d have no part of it.

Rising with the others once Luna passed he gave a resigned snort. “Time to pack it in. We aren’t going to make any money here.”

Lost in thought and annoyance at what happened, Bayou Runner failed to notice the pony that began to follow him towards the train station.

“Well...she’s gone.”

Princess Luna sighed, pushing down the desire to massage her forehead and curse in front of her Night Guard. After a knocking on the door unsuccessfully a few times, Cheerilee had taken it upon herself to slip in via a window and search the house. With the alternate Trixie not inside, the princess of the night glanced towards the last pony that had seen her.

“Dame Carrot Top, what exactly did this Trixie say to you before you parted ways?”

“Well,” She said, nervously shuffling her hooves. “She told me about Bayou Runner’s plan. Or what she had worked out about it anyway. Then she wanted to go after him right then and there. I thought I managed to talk her out of it,” a deep frown crossed her face. “I mean, she promised. Circled her heart and everything.”

That description triggered a distant memory in Luna’s mind. Something from the days immediately post her rise to the throne. “Can you show me the gesture?”

Nodding, Carrot Top placed her hoof to her breast, before tracing a simple circle in her fur. Luna frowned, the icy tendrils of fear that had been creeping through her body since Ditzy came running growing all the more pronounced. “I see….”

“Princess...what’s wrong?”

It was Lyra that had asked the question, but all of the element bearers were looking to her, their expressions various stages of concern.

“While most of Equestria was happy that I had taken control after my...wanderings,” Luna began. “It wasn’t universal. Even back then, there were still cults and secret societies that thought Corona was the true ruler of Equestria. One of them went by the moniker of the Golden Ring.

They were…,” she trailed off for a moment, ruffling her wings while she thought of the right way to explain the group. “Academics, I suppose? At least the core of the group. It was mostly made up of ponies from major cities. The hold outs, really. But that gesture?” She repeated it, frowning a bit deeper. “That was their secret gesture of greeting.”

Raindrops snorted, flaring her wings. “So, what...are you saying that her story isn’t true? That she’s some kind of Corona spy?”

Luna considered that. It had been in the back of her mind since Carrot Top mentioned the circling of the heart, truth be told. It seemed unlikely at first…. But then again, her previous arrival to Ponyville to hop between worlds hadn’t been the most subtle thing she had ever done. It wasn’t past the realm of possibility that her sister had somehow found out what happened before and was trying to trick them, even now.

Ditzy shook her head. “I don’t think that’s what’s going on. I mean...we all talked to her. She may not be our Trixie, but I don’t think that any of us could argue that she is a Trixie. Besides...wouldn’t there be easier tricks to pull than ‘I’m from an alternate universe!’?”

“Either way, I’m guessing she probably went after Bayou Runner.” Cheerilee said.

“Despite her beliefs, she has no proof of any wrongdoing.” Luna sighed. “And based on what Dame Ditzy told me, she’s more than willing to engage in acts of questionable legality to see a target locked away.”

Lyra idly tapped her chin. “How are we supposed to find her though? I’m guessing she’s chasing Bayou Runner, but where would he go-”

“His address!” Carrot Top exclaimed. “He gave me a business flyer with his address! It was in Canterlot!”

Luna blinked. “Do you remember it?”

“439 East Cornflower Street.”

It took Luna a few moments to consider the options. It seemed logical in her mind that Bayou Runner was most likely not still in Ponyville. She had, again, not been subtle about her arrival and if the business pony had been working covertly under her muzzle (a fact that angered her as much as the Night Court’s corruption), he most likely did it by staying quiet. Most likely, he would return to Canterlot. And Trixie would most likely follow.

The path was clear then.

“Captain,” She began, turning towards the leader of the small Night Guard squad. “Collect some volunteers from Ponyville and search Whitetail Wood. Find the tribe and bring them to justice or their leader, Blackhoof at the very least.”

“By your command, your highness.” He bowed, before trotting off.

“The rest of us shall fly ahead to Canterlot, and intercept Trixie at the train station.”

“Fly?” Carrot Top winced.

“Yes…,” Luna smirked. “I’d suggest holding on.”

Trixie peered over the seats in front of her, wrapped in the best invisibility charm she knew. Bayou Runner and his omnipresent muscle sat four rows ahead, chatting with each other. Most likely about how they were going to screw yet another pony out of their home and livelihood. Their bags rested on the floor in front of them, probably full of information, secrets and bits, assuming that this Bayou Runner was anything like hers.

She moved closer, slipping a few more seats forward, ears twitching. It was easier to make out the conversation at this point.

“Really,” Bayou Runner began. “At this point, it’s all about hunkering down and consolidating what we have. Now that the night court has up and wrecked their reputation, we can’t use their own corruption as a shield anymore.”

Muddy Waters blinked, as slow on the uptake as ever. “Boss...are you saying that we should actually go legit? I don’t want to do construction.”

Bayou Runner rubbed his forehead. “No, we aren’t going completely legit. We just need to be careful what we go after. I want to take a look at some of the prospects once we get back to the office.”

Now that was something Trixie would be able to work with. She’d follow him back to the address he gave Carrot Top, find evidence of everything he’d done and then present it to this universes’ Princess Luna to make sure he went down-

Princess Luna. Who was probably going to be very annoyed that she wasn’t there and who could probably make it back to Canterlot before her, assuming alicorns here were as powerful back home.

May have not thought this one through all the way. She mentally cursed, running through her options as quickly as possible.

Just walking out the train doors wouldn’t work. A skilled mage could easily see through an illusion and if the princess of Equestria wasn’t an amazing spell caster, she’d be shocked. And as the princess would probably be waiting at the train station, that really only left one option to avoid being caught.

Frowning, Trixie cast her gaze towards the spire of stone that rose in the distance. She would have to climb the mountain.

Author's Note

And Trixie is off the rails! ...While somehow being on the rails....

Anyway, she's quite ready and willing to take down alternate Bayou Runner. This Equestria obviously needs help dealing with this sleeping threat in their midst!

....Assuming that Princess Luna doesn't catch her first. :twilightsheepish:

Skitchverse Chapter 4

It had been the familiar clatter of the train rushing over the tracks that had eventually dragged Trixie off to sleep but it was a bone rattling bump in the tracks that jolted her awake again. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she took a moment to mentally curse the fact she had spent two days cooped up and sleeping on a train, rather than in her own house with its soft bed. The cool metal of the Sextant of Worlds remained clutched close to her barrel, locked quite thoroughly in her grip.

Grumbling, she straightened in her seat, stretching to work the stiffness that came from sleeping in a seat out of her joints.

“Should have gotten a private cabin,” she said, more grumbling to herself than anypony else. That was something that had been forgotten in the mad rush to make sure that this universe’s Greengrass or that camel hadn’t followed her. So a normal seat it had been. “Least they didn’t throw me off the train.”

With this morning’s- Trixie glanced out the window. Correction. That looked more like sunset, than sunrise. She’d probably wind up in Ponyville after dark, presumably after this universe’s Element Bearers were already asleep. Like normal and sensible ponies. Still, at least she could confirm that Neigh Orleans was just as far away from Ponyville in this universe as hers. About two and a half days by train. Give or take a few hours.

Rubbing the final remains of sleep from her eyes, Trixie examined the Sextant of Worlds again. The piece that Greengrass had added to it seemed to be a sight of some kind, which seemed...strange. Trixie was, admittedly, no sailor. But she was pretty sure that sextants didn’t have a little metal sight on the telescope end of the device.

“Maybe a focus for magic?” She muttered, horn lighting up for another examination.

There was no evidence that the sight had at one point been a separate piece. No line, no mark of it being melted into place. If anything, it looked like the magic had just neatly fused it into one piece. The arc scale was odd too. Where on a normal sextant, the numbers marking the degrees of elevation were on this one there were...hatch marks and swirls? They looked vaguely Naqhan or Saddle Arabian, from what little exposure to those languages Trixie had. A camel had been trying to get it. Maybe it was from his land originally? That would make sense.

The item’s aura was powerful though, having sprung back to life at some point since her last examination. The fact that it was intact again seemed the most likely explanation there. Still….

With an exasperated groan, Trixie rubbed at her forehead again. The lack of sleep over the last few days had taken its toll. It felt like a thick blanket had been wrapped around her head. For a moment, she considered looking through the eyepiece, to see if there was anything else she could work out about the thing. But in the end, decided against it. If it activated again who knew where she’d end up. No. Right now, what she really needed was Twilight Sparkle’s analytical mind...or at very least a safe town to hide in until her own friends could track her down.

With another sigh, she adjusted in her seat slightly, and waited for the train to carry her the rest of the way to Ponyville.

True to her previous guess, it was late night by the time the train pulled into Ponyville’s familiar looking train station. Though this one had more electric lights, neatly designed to blend in with Ponyville’s natural architecture. There were also...guards?

Two white coated stallions stood at either end of the platform, dressed head to hoof in the distinctive armor of the Royal Guard, but gold. Naturally. A quick peek with her magic confirmed that they had similar enchantments on their armor to give a unified appearance. They were watching the town very intensely, spears resting against their sides.

Trixie actually perked up at this. If the Royal Guard was here, then that probably meant that one of this universe’s princesses was here as well. With any luck, that would let her expedite things quite a bit.

Trotting off the train, she gave a slight nod to the guards and started down the short flight of stairs-

“Hello Trixie.”

The voice, husky, female and suddenly at her side, made her jump. It was a decision that she instantly regretted, as she landed and promptly went tumbling down the few stairs.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” the voice said. “Didn’t mean to surprise you.”

You totally did that on purpose. Trixie mentally cursed. Hauling herself back to her hooves, she looked back up at the platform.

The mare seemed to be another guard, though not royal like the other two. Her armor was more that of a local, town guard, being simple chain mail. Her coat was a light grey color, while her mane and tail were a silvery blue. But the pale orange slit eyes, tufted ears, bat like wings and obvious fangs in her wide grin reminded Trixie of the disguises that the Lunar guard wore. Picking up her spilled hat, she used the opportunity to peer through her disguise to the pony beyond.

Nothing changed.

That was what she actually looked like.

Trixie’s brain ground to a halt for a moment, yet another bolt of strangeness rattling her. The strange pony frowned at that, slowly waving a hoof in front of Trixie’s face.

“Trixie? Are you alright?”

Buck it. I am too tired for an explanation right now.

“No, I’m fine. Just pretty tired from the trip. Is one of the princesses in town?” She nodded towards the Royal Guard.

“Ah. No. We had a little bit of a disturbance here a few days ago. Shapeshifter got into town and gave everypony a scare. The Royal Guard is just giving us locals some support. Which does remind me….”

Dipping her snout into the simple and rugged looking guard saddle bags draped across her back, the bat like guard pulled a short rod from its depths. Casting a slight green glow from its form its dark wooden form, Trixie could already feel the tingle from its magic in the base of her horn. With a flick of her batlike wings, the guard landed next to Trixie, slowly sweeping its light across her body. Trixie watched the examination with a raised eyebrow.

Some kind of shapeshifting detection magic?

When Trixie didn’t change into some kind of horrible creature, the guard seemed satisfied, tucking the rod back into her bags.

“Alright Trixie, you’re clean. Going to be in town for long?”

“Not really, no. I’m just here on some business.”

“Have a place to stay then? I do have some extra room at my place. I’m sure that Scootaloo would be happy to see you again.”

“I’ll be fine. I just want to get some rest. ...Which way was the inn again?”

The guard gestured with a wing down one of Ponyville’s many streets. “That way, two blocks and it’s on your right, next to Berry Punch’s. Don’t go past it.”

Trixie nodded. “Thanks.”

Smiling, the guard nodded, returning to the platform with another flap of her wings. Walking into one of the many masses of shadow cast by the bulk of the building, she took up a defensive stance to keep watch. The shadows almost seemed to grow darker around her body for a moment, before she faded from view, lost in the darkness.

Shoving down the urge to blink at that, Trixie set off again, following the directions. No princesses it seemed, so she’d settle for talking to Twilight tomorrow. After sleep, when her head was clear.

Besides, there was no chance that Greengrass would be able to follow her. He had no idea where she went.

“Definitely Ponyville.”

Zizane opened her eyes, giving her mane a casual flick.

Greengrass nodded from his seat. He had long learned to not question the unicorn and her intuition anymore. As a member of the cursed Discordian bloodline she- like all her kin- had odd abilities. The power that each Discordian inherited from their mad sire was different, as was perhaps fitting for somepony with some of his power. In the case of Zizane, her power revolved around chance and probability. She could literally predict the odds of what could happen...with an admitted margin of error. It did make the certainty of her statement...uncharacteristic, however.

“And you’re sure of this? Absolutely?”

“It’s practically screaming in my head when I think about her. ….Also, it makes logical sense. She’s gone to the Element Bearers for help in the past.”

“Fair.”

“If we’re going after national heroes, I’m raising my prices again.”

That comment came from Blackhoof, who was sitting in the corner. A towel from the train was laid out on the floor, the minotaur’s meticulously maintained collection of firearms spread out on its surface as well as the tools to maintain them. Greengrass rolled his eyes.

“We won’t be fighting the Element Bearers. It’s a matter of stealing what we need, not taking it by force. When we arrive in Ponyville, play it cool. We’ll get the lay of the land and then decide what we’ll be doing from there.”

Smirking, Blackhoof quick drew one of his freshly cleaned firearms, giving the weapon a flourish like spin. “Easiest gig I’ve ever taken. Whatever you want to do boss.”

Greengrass sighed. Hiring the mercenary had cost him most of his family’s remaining funds, most having already been drained by the search for the Sextant of Worlds. But as soon as he got his hooves on it…. He allowed himself a slight smirk. Yes, with the sextant, he would be able to finally reverse the flagging fortunes of his family.

And if Trixie got in the way again...well, he’d deal with that. He had dealt with worse than a self important magician.

Trixie woke the next morning, to the light rata-tat of hooves on her door.

“Miss Trixie,” the pleasant, if entirely too chipper mare's voice called, “breakfast is being served in the common room. Don’t sleep in too late, or you’ll miss it.”

Flopping over in bed, Trixie blinked the sleep out of her eyes and then rolled out of bed. A good night’s sleep had done wonders for her mind and her mood and now she was ready to find a way home.

“...After some breakfast at least.”

One muffin and some juice later, Trixie was walking across Ponyville, the sextant held tightly in her magic, trying to work out where to find Twilight Sparkle. The library seemed like a logical choice. She lived there in two different realities, why not a third? Turning to head that direction, Trixie noted that there were still a few guards scattered around town, keeping a watchful eye on Ponyville’s citizens. For their part, Ponyville’s ponies seemed rather calm about the whole situation. A fact that Trixie wasn’t entirely sure what to make of. Were the ponies of this Ponyville less high strung, or more cynical?

Continuing to mull over that question, she didn’t hear the mare addressing her until she was halfway down the street.

“Trixie! Good to see you in town again!”

Turning, Trixie found herself face to face with a very pale yellow coated mare. Her two toned reddish mane and tail matched the rose cutie-mark that stood out on her flanks. Trixie recognized the pony as Rose, one of the flower ponies that seemed to exist in a near constant state of panic back home.

This Rose seemed to have just come from a bout of shopping. A pair of bulging saddlebags were thrown over her back and she was somehow balancing a full basket on her head, full of her namesake flower.

For somepony who lives in Neigh Orleans, she sure seems to know a lot of ponies from Ponyville. “Good morning Rose.” She nodded.

Rose smiled back. “Good morning! What brings you into town?”

“I’m here to see Twilight, actually. I need her help on something.”

“Oooh, I’m sorry,” she winced. “You actually missed her by a few days. Got some kind of message from Princess Celestia, shipped out for the land of sand and camels with the rest of the Element Bearers and Skitch-Sketch.”

Who? I didn’t see anypony with that name in that book.

The surprise must have registered on her face, because Rose tilted her head ever so slightly under the basket. “Trixie?”

“Sorry...that just throws me off a bit.”

Humming for a moment, Rose seemed to be thinking, before pulling her collection of flowers off her head and shoving it into Trixie’s chest. “Here, help a mare out and carry this back with me to my place. I’m sure we’ll be able to think of something.”

Without waiting for a response, she began to trot off again. Trixie blinked before cantering after her, hurriedly tucking the sextant into the basket and floating the whole mess along behind her. Rose seemed quite cheerful as she lead the way, humming a happy little tune to herself.

As they approached Rose’s house, Trixie could see that the flower theme was very much in full force. Roses, carnations, violets, daffodils and many other kinds of flowers that Carrot Top could probably name filled the front yard in three different rings radiating out from the house. Rose strode through the forest of flowers, throwing the door open for Trixie.

“Can you put the roses on the kitchen table?”

Half listening, Trixie nodded, her mind more drifting towards what her next move was going to be. Maybe she’d head to Canterlot and try to petition the princesses directly? Or maybe it was time to wait?

Putting the roses down, Trixie raised an eyebrow at a large cork board that hung on the kitchen wall. Pictures of ponies were spread all across it, bits of colored string running from picture to picture, and even pages of notes. Gulping slightly, she took a half step back, a bad feeling settling into the pit of her stomach. The front door suddenly slammed closed.

“Who are you?” Rose said, her voice having gained an angry hiss to it. Frowning, Trixie faced her. The earth pony was crouched low, stalking towards her, tail thrashing with visible anger. Trixie opened her mouth to explain, to let Rose know that she wasn’t a threat….

But a shocked scream was what escaped her mouth instead. Rose’s form was suddenly swallowed by emerald green flames. For a moment, Trixie thought that she was on fire but then the flames burst away, revealing a monster.

It was roughly the size and shape of a pony, but that was where the similarities ended. Instead of a furred coat, it’s body was wrapped in a flawless, armored black shell, almost like a bug. Continuing that metaphor were the wings, four great dragonfly shaped affairs that buzzed and thrummed threateningly. Bizarrely, it still had Rose’s mane and tail, though a curved, spike like horn poked through the former. Its eyes, vertically slitted, were just as angry as Rose’s had been.

“Who are you?!” It snarled again. It still had Rose’s voice, but now that voice had an oddly echoing quality to it.

Trixie did the only logical thing she could. Her horn glowed and she vanished.

Shapeshifter, shapeshifter, shapeshifter! She mentally cursed, quickly casting her inaudible charm as well. All she needed was to make for the door and then warn-

The creature dove forward, wings buzzing like a giant wasp. Its hooves moved fast, following a familiar pattern that Trixie had seen Raindrops use more than a few times in the past. The first one caught her on the shoulder, spinning her to the side the second strike passing through the air where she had been a moment before.

Rubbing at her bruised shoulder Trixie blinked, a realization settling in. It wasn’t actually seeing her. Like the tiger, it was sensing or smelling her somehow. It also wasn’t letting up, calmly stepping to the right and unleashing another flurry of Iron Hoof strikes. Scrambling backwards, Trixie slipped back into the kitchen, bumping into the round wooden table. The basket of roses wobbled slightly, striking Trixie with a sudden inspiration.

Grabbing roughly a hoof full of roses in her magic she now rushed to meet the giant bug pony. Ducking under one of the punches, Trixie wadded up the collection of flowers and jammed it right in the creature’s snout. Giving a rather surprised yelp, it toppled backwards, furiously rubbing at its snout. Not waiting, Trixie bolted for the front door.

She was just about to it when the door suddenly swung open. The door’s edge caught her right on the tip of the nose, the impact sending a dull, throbbing wave of pain through her snout and right to the base of her horn. Falling back, she clutched at her nose, the concentration of her spells broken.

The pony in the door was an earth pony with a hot pink coat, yellow mane and pair of cherries for a cutie mark. A pair of similarly decorated saddlebags were draped over her back, a few loose bits of paper peeking out from under the flap.

“Rose, I got those-”

Trixie jumped forward again, throwing a leg around the new pony’s neck. “Get the guard!” She shouted, pointing a shaky hoof at the armored bug pony. “It’s the shapeshifter!”

The new pony didn’t move. Trixie blinked, looking to see what her problem was. The new arrival was frowning slightly, but seemed far too calm considering the existence of a bug pony in the house. She tilted her head slightly to regard Trixie a flash of green energy rippling across her eyes.

Scrambling away from her, Trixie’s eyes went wide as the new pony likewise burst into emerald colored fire. Now another one of these bug ponies was facing her down, wings thrumming as it slowly advanced. Gritting her teeth, Trixie tapped into her magic, snapping off a bright flash of light into the creature’s face.

Hissing angrily it flinched back, opening up a slight gap between it and the door frame. With a deep breath, Trixie lowered her head and charged forward. A shiver ran down her spine at the sensation of the creature’s thick shell sliding against her coat. But then she was free and back out into the streets of Ponyville. Behind her, she could already hear the angry buzz of two sets of wings rising into the air. Her invisibility and inaudibility charms were quickly reapplied. They might be able to generally sense her, but she had a plan.

Bolting right for the town center Trixie began to weave her way around any ponies she passed on the street, sometimes drawing quite close, in an attempt to throw them off her scent. So far they were still on her tail. The shocked gasps from the ponies she had passed told her that, but the bug ponies hadn’t dive bombed her yet either.

Drawing close to the town center now, Trixie could see that it was heavy with ponies now, most of them frequenting the many shops and restaurants that lined the wide circle. But there was also Lyra, this universe's Lyra, playing near town hall a small crowd having formed around her. A carmel colored pegasus, the red of her mane and tail repeated in the tips of her primary feathers, hocked copies of the morning addition half a dozen paces from her. And across the square from her...a guard!

He was a massive stallion, easily the match of Big Macintosh in size and muscle tone, but with a slate grey coat and decked out in chainmail armor. His weapon, a powerful looking halberd, was easily at hoof, resting against a bale of hay at his side. Grinning to herself, Trixie picked up the pace, making a beeline right for him. She only spared a slight glance behind her at the sound of the bugs buzzing into the square.

They scanned the area, their slitted eyes searching for some clue to Trixie’s location among the crowd.

“Oh no! It’s happening again!”

Trixie wasn’t sure who among the dozens of ponies present shouted that, but the effect was immediate. The crowd immediately flew into a blind panic. Some ponies bolted for other streets, while others dove for cover in the surrounding buildings. Lyra was looking around, wide eyed, but her hooves remained on her lyre, horn glowing.

The hulking guard immediately plunged into the crowd, bellowing at the top of his lungs to attempt to restore order.

“Everypony calm down! Rose! What the hay is going on here?”

And now he was in on it too. Cursing, Trixie changed direction, running down one of the smaller alleyways between two of the buildings, even while summoning another illusion. On the street furthest from where she was, a copy appeared for the briefest of moments, before its horn glowed and it vanished again.

Hoping that would send the bugs and their agents the wrong way, Trixie debated her options for a brief moment.

Need to get off the streets, hide for a little bit and let them chase the wrong trail.

The building to her right had a window facing the alley. Hopping up on low wooden box, she pushed the window up with a hoof and scrambled inside. Pausing only to close it behind her, Trixie rushed out of the small kitchen into a large circular room, the wall shelves filled with what looked like art supplies. There was a set of stairs leading up, which she took, to slide into a bedroom and under the large bed in the corner. There she ended her spells. No need to overtax her magic at the moment. She crouched like a foal hiding from a thunderstorm, waiting for the sounds of panic to die down outside.

What am I going to do now? Trixie mentally grumbled, tapping a hoof against the floor. The Element Bearers are gone...unless that was a lie? And now they have the Sextant of Worlds and my way home! Ugh! Everything since coming here has just gone straight into the sun! And...why does this section of the floor sound hollow?

Loosely tapping that section of floor again to confirm it, Trixie couldn’t help but wonder what an artist- at least the downstairs seemed to hint at that- would be hiding in a secret compartment under her bed.

Those thoughts were quickly shoved aside at the sound of approaching hooves. Three sets of them. Most likely the bug ponies and their guard having tracked her down. Cursing under her breath, she prepared to strike with another spell and run the moment she had an opening.

Hooves entered the room now white, brown and...black?

“Oh s-”

The bed was upended with a mighty crash, a thick, black muscled hand closing firmly around Trixie’s horn. Growling, she reached for her magic, intending to show this minotaur exactly why that was a mistake. Her efforts made her captor chuckle, before calmly reaching up with his free hand and flicking Trixie right on the snout. It hurt, disrupting her spellcasting efforts which made Trixie all the angier

“Put me down you walking carpet!”

“Oh, calm down. I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, chuckling again and turning Trixie to face Greengrass and Zizane.

“Not if you tell us what we want to know.” Greengrass said.

He sounded just as insufferably stuck up in this reality as her own, with a smile to match. Trixie, really, really hoped that he didn’t have any noble rank in this universe. Sure, his lack of power wouldn’t help her immediately, but it would make her feel better.

Trapped as she was, she had a chance to see the room in greater detail. In many ways, the small room- shaped like an orange wedge on its side- was a normal Ponyville bedroom. But in other ways it very much wasn’t. The walls had been covered with drawings all depicting strange, towering buildings made of glass and metal or more of those strange naked bear things that her friend Lyra had become once and there was some kind of grey...square...thing in the corner. She also noticed- in a moment of her brain latching onto a random detail- a collection of empty liquor bottles on one of the bookshelves.

“How did you find me?”

“Oh, yes, let me just reveal one of my aces in the hole. Should I tell you about my ‘evil’ plans as well?”

Trixie fumed, shooting a glare at Greengrass and Zizane that she dearly wished could blast them right through the wall.

“Where’s the Sextant of Worlds?”

“I don’t have it anymore.”

“I can see that. Where is it.”

“Oh, is this where I explain my ‘evil’ plan now?”

Greengrass rolled his eyes and nodded to Zizane. Smirking with confidence, the unicorn’s horn began to glow, a gesture matched by her eyes a moment later.

“I know it’s probably here somewhere. Who would be better to watch over an item like that than your world walking friend,” Greengrass said.

Trixie blinked for a moment, before she was able to recall something that had come up during the conversations with Kassa and company. That this universe was somewhat familiar with visitors from beyond. And she had somehow picked that exact building to hide in.

“Don’t play dumb. Your previous exploits made the national papers. Everypony pays attention when a crime lord is locked up.”

“There,” Zizane said, pointing a hoof towards the hollow point of the floor. “I’m pretty sure it's in there.”

Trixie blinked again. The Sextant of Worlds was back at the bug pony’s house, forgotten in the chase. So what was she….

“If you would my dear. I’m going to keep an eye on Trixie.”

With a nod and another one of those infuriating smirks, Zizane trotted over to the spot on the floor, the minotaur helpfully (or not) turning Trixie so that she could watch. It didn’t take her long to run her hooves across the grain of the wood and find a seam. Finding the opening to the compartment, she stepped back, slipped her magic around the edges and flipped the top off. In the grip of the minotaur, Trixie could clearly see a thick metal box resting in the hole.

“Interesting. Very, very interesting,” Zizane said after a moment or two of observation. Reaching forward, she grabbed the sides of the box and lifted.

A truly brilliant flash of light seared Trixie’s eyes as a crackling bolt of lightning roared forth from the hole, washing over Zizane’s form. The unicorn gave a rather pitiful sounding squeak before toppling over, the box spilling from her hooves, the lightning fading in the next moment.

Again, Trixie’s elevated position gave her some insight. There was a line of string running from the underside of the box and into the hole, where it then passed through a strange looking device of brass and glass. There was a distinct resemblance between it and the miniature canons on the minotaur’s waist, the still smoking tip angled so that it would blast whoever lifted the box and thusly pulled the string.

Another flash of light was right on the heels of the first, however. And when this one faded, there was some...thing now standing between them and Zizane. Trixie truly struggled to wrap her mind around what she was seeing.

The thing was huge and if it could have stood upright in the room, it would have towered over Greengrass’s thug. As it was, its winged, bipedal form had to crouch to fit in the room, the tips of its dragon like wings scraping the ceiling. It’s muscles looked like they had muscles, all covered in reddish scales, save for the parts where bony spikes and horns poked through. And the eyes. Its eyes just glowed with power and malice.

“Boldly you sought the power of the planes,” it said in a voice so deep, Trixie swore that it rattled the glass. “But now, you will pay the final price for your arrogance.”

With a bone chilling roar, it surged forward, the dagger like claws on its hands extended to rend and tear. But even as it pushed off, Trixie was noticing things that didn’t click right in her head. The claws on its feet made no mark on the floor or no sound as it pushed off. Its wings didn’t move from their original position even though they logically should have. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, patches of its scaly skin looked almost sketchy, like they came from a drawing, rather than off a real creature.

All signs of an illusionist that hadn’t entirely mastered their craft yet.

Greengrass seemed to have realized something was up as well, having placed a hoof on his thug’s arm to keep him from firing his guns. The monster hadn’t taken more than a step before it froze in place, confirming Trixie’s feeling that it was an illusion. Greengrass then took a step forward, whether to check on Zizane or grab the box, Trixie wasn’t sure, when a second magical flash rolled through the room.

This illusion was of a pony, a unicorn to be specific. Her coat was leaf green, mane and tail sky blue, save for the strip matching her coat that ran through both. She glared into the room with intense amber eyes, that didn’t really look at anypony in particular. Then, she sat back on her haunches and crossed her forelegs.

“Hello. You can call me Skitch-Sketch. Sorry about the dramatic appearance of my friend here,” she said, motioning to the scaled beast. “If you’re seeing this illusion then it means that you didn’t speak the passcode to deactivate mine and Twilight’s spell. Which means that you shouldn’t be here.”

“It also means that you’re probably here for reasons that you shouldn’t be. Aiming to find the way I got back to Equestria after I left? Want to take a little trip to other universes for adventure or power or whatever?”

She jabbed a hoof at the towering beast again. “Consider smiley here one of the many reasons why you just turn around and go home. It’s…,” she sighed for a moment, rubbing her forehead. “Look, it’s not safe out there. This is a Pit Fiend. It is what’s known as a devil and is one of the most powerful of them. A pure manifestation of evil, it exists only to corrupt mortal spirits and tear down anything that’s good or benevolent. Back before the first civilization rose and their creators were just nomadic hunter gatherers, these things were fighting an eternal war against another race of pure evil, the demons. And they are just one of the horrors that live in worlds beyond this one.”

Shaking her head, she ploughed on. “I know that you’re thinking that you’ll go out there and do amazing things. And maybe, if you get really, really lucky, you will. But what’s a lot more likely, is that you’ll end up dead on some world you’ve never heard of before, from something you’ve never encountered before. And even if you do get lucky….”

She trailed off for a moment, staring down at her own hooves, almost like she was seeing them for the first time. Then she sighed again. “It’s a dangerous business, going out your door. You wake up one morning and...you don’t even recognize yourself in the mirror anymore.”

Eyes going wide, Greengrass ran through the illusions for the box. The illusion of Skitch didn’t react to the pony running through her, instead looking up from her hooves. Her eyes seemed desperate, almost pleading. “That thing will give you nothing but trouble. So, if you came here looking for adventure, go away. If you came here trying to find a way home, cause you’re trapped here? Go to town hall and tell them. There are protocols in place. We’ll...well, we’ll do what we can.”

Greengrass strode back through the illusions, with the box firmly clutched in his grip. “Well,” he said, smiling broadly, “good news for you Trixie. I won’t need the Sextant of Worlds. I found something better!”

“A box?”

“Well...yes. But inside this box must be the device The Collector used to come to Equestria in the first place!”

“Ugh! Why do you even want to go to other universes anyway! They sound horrible!” Trixie exclaimed, trying to squirm out of the minotaur’s grip.

“You’re...kidding, right?” Greengrass blinked. When Trixie didn’t respond, he shook his head. “The Collector attacked the whole world with magic and technology beyond anything we’ve created so far! If we could get our hooves on even a fraction of that, we could turn Equestria into a superpower that nopony could ever challenge! And then even Princess Celestia and her vaunted ‘morals’ won’t be able to stop me from reclaiming my family’s glory!”

Trixie smirked. “So, was that your ‘evil plan’ that you weren’t going to tell me? And don’t you care about Zizane? She could be dead for all you know!”

Almost as if on cue, Zizane came stumbling through the illusionary form of Skitch-Sketch, rubbing at her forehead. “What...hit me? I remember reaching for the box-”

“Lightning, my dear. But it seems that you’re okay now. We have our prize.”

“Great,” Zizane said.

Trixie thought she still looked a little cross eyed. Greengrass was examining the case closer with a bit of a frown.

“Seven locks? Paranoid, that’s for sure. Look around for a key. There has to be something here.”

“Oh, one more thing….” The illusion of Skitch had spoken up again and was shooting a furious glare across the room. “If you came here, trying to get your hooves on that device for some personal gain? Hope that I don’t find you. Because if I do? I will take you down. And you won’t get back up again.”

Greengrass rolled his eyes.

“Oh, and one more thing!”

Greengrass was now gritting his teeth.

“When the illusion was summoned? It also sent an alarm spell, courtesy of Twilight Sparkle, straight to the guards. I’ve been rambling to keep you busy,” she said, before laughing. “So, if you’re wondering who the schmuck is? That would be you.”

A door slammed open downstairs, the minotaur dropping Trixie to face down what might be coming his way. Landing with a soft “oof” Trixie jumped back to her hooves and charged right at Greengrass.

“Give it!”

“Out the window!” Greengrass shouted.

Zizane rolled backwards shoving the window open with a free hoof. Then she toppled backwards out the window. Trixie took a step forward, intending to give chase or at the very least, see what happened to her.

A canon like bang roared through the room, something striking her in the back. The impact smashed her to the floor, a numb sensation quickly engulfing her legs. Groaning, she wondered what had just hit her, when there was a click, followed by a loud bang.

And Trixie blacked out.

Author's Note

Been a little bit since I updated this one eh? Better late than never I suppose!

For those Lunaverse readers not familiar with the Skitchverse and the odd appearance of Rose and Cherry Berry compared to the Changelings in the show, that's because they are a seperate sub-species. Venexian Changelings are more individualistic than their swarm based relatives, as evidenced by their more unique appearances, even when in their normal forms.

But what of Trixie I hear you ask? Well, to find out what happened with her, you'll have to keep reading, now won't you? :pinkiehappy:

Lunaverse Chapter 4

Trixie grunted, slowly reaching for a ledge that precariously jutted from the mountainside, just above her head. Running her hoof along the edge of the protuberance she felt for any cracks or other instabilities that would send her tumbling back down the side of this very stupid mountain, in this stupid alternate universe, where nothing was the way it was supposed to be!

Hefting herself up with another, more strained grunt, she winced as a gust of wind cut across her body, threatening to rip her from the mountainside. It whipped and tore at her mane and tail, blowing the former back into her own face and making both even more unkempt and messy than they already were from the effort of climbing. Climbing that she wouldn’t have been stuck doing, if she hadn’t been stupid enough to poke at a random magic item!

The point was that Canterlot’s mountain wouldn’t be this hard to climb back home. ...Probably. Sighing, she peered up at the spires of the city that was and wasn’t familiar at the same time. The pictures of Canterlot back home all showed a city accented by gold, as was thematically appropriate for a city watched over by a solar monarch. What spires Trixie could make out from her position on the slope were mostly the same, but with silver accents in place of golden ones. And somewhere in there, was this alternate version of Bayou Runner. And she was going to find him.

“Have to get there first though,” she muttered to herself, giving the steep grade the stink eye. “...I might have picked the wrong switchback to get off at.”

Grumbling to herself once more, Trixie resumed her climb.

“Hate...flying…”

Cheerilee nodded sympathetically as she rubbed her friend’s back. Carrot Top’s hooves were wrapped tightly around the sturdy metal of one of the rubbish bins that lined Canterlot’s main train station, while she retched the contents of her stomach into it. In Cheerilee’s experience, letting Carrot Top work the sickness out of her system was really the best option. At least now with her hooves back on solid ground, she’d most likely recover quickly.

For her part Princess Luna was apologetic offering up a warm smile. Though the effect was somewhat muted by the very non-descript unicorn form she was wearing as a disguise. “My apologies Carrot Top, but this truly was the fastest way to get ahead of the train.”

“It’s okay...ugh...Princess...I understand.”

Raindrops paced on the far left of the platform, wings twitching, tail swishing while Ditzy sat near her completely calm. Lyra was on the right hoofed side, getting ready to block Trixie’s access to that end of the platform. They had been waiting for a few hours so far, so Cheerilee looked up at the one of the large station clocks, frowning slightly.

“The train should be here soon. Are we going to try and talk her down? Or just grab her?”

“Endeavor to make her see reason,” Luna answered. “I shall intervene should she do anything rash.”

Cheerilee nodded, her ears swiveling towards the tell-tale screech of train brakes grinding against the tracks. Giving Carrot Top one last pat on the back, she trotted over to take up her spot on the platform. As the train rolled into the station with a blast of steam and noise, she was already scanning the windows for any sight of Trixie.

It was a smallish group that filed out of the cars, maybe half a dozen ponies in total all focused on their own problems and tasks for the day. But no sign of Trixie. Scanning the small crowd, Luna’s horn glowed softly a slight tingle of magic washing out across the chamber.

“Well, I can say that she’s not hiding invisibly,” she said.

“Excuse me,” Dtizy asked, turning to the group of commuters. “Did any of you see a blue coated unicorn with a silvery mane on the train?”

A pink coated mare took a nervous step forward, nodding. “We did, actually. She got off at the switchback at the base of the mountain.”

“Wait,” Lyra blinked, “is she...actually climbing the mountain? That...so is not our Trixie.”

“It does seem that my student’s twin is quite,” Luna said, trotting forward while the confused passengers left. “Shall we say driven. I must assume she’s heading straight for her target.”

“Should we go down the mountain and get her?” Cheerilee asked. “She could get hurt climbing.”

“While that is true, this Trixie seems dead set on confronting Bayou Runner. If we swoop down upon her on the slopes, she might try to run which might result in the same end result. We must find Bayou Runner, and intercept her there.”

Carrot Top managed to pull her head out of the rubbish bin. “...I know where his offices are. He gave me his card.”

Lyra rubbed her chin with the back of her hoof. “If Trixie is climbing her way up, we have plenty of time to get there ahead of her and stake things out.”

Luna nodded. “Agreed. Carrot Top, if you are feeling well enough could you tell me the address?”

“Of course.” Carrot Top smiled, before her stomach churned again.

It was going to take Trixie an hour to scrub the grime and sweat out of her coat from that climb. But at least now she was walking the streets of this alternate Canterlot. While she had gotten to see Bayou Runner’s address on that business card he left Carrot Top, she wasn’t familiar enough with the layout of the city to know where that was. So, when in doubt, find a local.

That goal had lead her to wander the streets of shops and restaurants in the section of the city she had found herself in, looking for somepony who might be able to give her directions. And while she had been able to find an elderly stallion willing to do just that, she had found herself even more delayed by his wandering- often pointless- stories that he punctuated his directions with.

As it turned out Bayou Runner’s offices were situated on the corner of an intersection between two broad avenues. The building’s design was simple but it displayed its wealth in subtle ways. Flower boxes containing vibrant specimens that Trixie didn’t recognize jutted out under window frames of dark wood, while dark marble had been set above the double entrance doors in a crescent moon shape. National pride, Trixie presumed.

She observed it from a little bit back, in the shadow of an upscale chocolate shop across the way. Or at least, she tried. The carefully arranged towers and piles of confectioneries did look distractingly delicious and the smell was enough to remind Trixie that it had been quite a while since she had eaten last. Her stomach rumbled in protest at that thought, practically demanding to be sated after the journey up steep slopes and over jagged rocks.

Trixie forced herself to ignore the pangs of hunger. Even if she didn’t have more important things to worry about, there was a distinct lack of local currency in her non-existent saddlebags. Instead, she focused her mind on the job at hoof.

She’d bet those same non-existent bits of hers that this Bayou Runner kept two sets of books, if for no other reason than to keep track of who he swindled. Meticulous planning and record keeping was one of his talents, after all. It was one of the things that had helped her version stay crime lord of Neigh Orleans for as long as he had. Though in this case, they’d probably be more analysis on potential marks than altered financial records. When your whole game was using legal loopholes to get what you want, there wasn’t much point to skimming bits off the top.

Not that I’d put that past him, Trixie thought, images of shoddily remodeled homes, more death trap that domicile danced through her head.

“Hello Trixie.”

Trixie blinked. Then she turned around to face the magenta colored earth pony that had somehow managed to sneak up on her. Cheerilee smiled and waved back, having just stepped out of the chocolate shop.

“So! Are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?” she asked, in a tone far too chipper for Trixie’s liking. And if Cheerilee was here, that meant the others had to be here, hiding someplace nearby. And since those “others” included this universe’s Princess Luna, Trixie took the only option that made sense.

She ran.

Not that she made it far. A midnight blue magic aura plucked her from the ground before she had made it three paces. Trixie thrashed impotently against the grip of the magic, the ethereal aura stronger than any kind of net or binding. In the end, all that she managed to do was flip herself over, which left her with a fine view of Princess Luna and the rest of the Element Bearers filing out of the chocolate store.

“You were hiding in a candy store? Really?” Trixie said, glowering at the five ponies and one alicorn with all the displeasure she could muster.

“Of course,” Luna answered with a sagely nod. “It provided us a most excellent view of the streets and a rare opportunity to indulge a little bit while we waited.”

Trixie pouted all the harder.

“Was it a nice climb at least?” Ditzy asked, putting on a sympathetic smile.

“Oh, yes, it was the greatest climb of Trixie’s life!”

Luna ignored the outburst, trotting away from Bayou Runner’s, with Trixie bobbing along in tow. “Come along. We shall return to the castle and prepare to follow the threads of magic to this world our Trixie got dragged to.”

“But what about Bayou Runner?” Trixie asked. “You can’t just leave him-”

“I will be doing nothing of the sort. He will be investigated within the confines of Equestrian law and dealt with accordingly.”

“You mean the way you’ve dealt with him so far?”

A slight ruffle of Luna’s wings was the only outwards sign of distress as she trotted onward, though she did pick up the pace.

“Look Trixie,” Raindrops said, glowering at her. “I know that you think this is important, but it’s our friend that’s in your world! We can’t just leave her there while you chase down a random pony!”

“He’s not random! He was behind that attack on Ponyville!”

“To be fair, he’s hardly alone on that,” Lyra said. “After Corona…,” she trailed off before giving a shrug.

Trixie clenched her teeth. “I feel that none of you are taking this seriously.”

“We just think that Princess Luna will be able to handle the situation,” Carrot Top said.

“By the sun! Just give me a day!”

Luna stopped. “A day?”

She hadn’t entirely been expecting that to work, but plunged ahead anyway. “One day. That’s all I need. I’ll hoof deliver a confession to you.”

A sharp hiss of breath escaped Luna’s lips, the princess grinding a hoof against the cobblestones of the street. Then, before anypony could react, her horn glowed and the world suddenly shifted. The wide open streets of Canterlot were gone, having been replaced by a smaller office setting.

The red color of the walls and collection of homely trinkets would have almost been inviting if not for the deep frown and hard glare on the alicorn’s face. Dropping Trixie onto a cushion, Luna swooped around to the other side of the simple mahogany desk, glaring daggers all the while.

“Would the rest of you please wait in the hall while I have a...conversation, with Trixie please.”

Trixie hadn’t even realized that Luna had managed to drag the whole of the group along with her teleport. The element bearers, still reeling from the shock of the sudden teleportation, filed out of the office without complaint. Trixie almost wanted to demand that they stay to back her up in the argument that was sure to come, but she also knew better than to try. So, she locked eyes with a princess and prepared to do battle.

“Is this some manner of game for you?” Luna asked.

Her voice was even, but icey. So, this was already off to a great start.

“Princess, I would never make something like this a game,” Trixie answered, focusing on one of the random twinkles in Luna’s mane, lest she lose her nerve.

“Your actions could have fooled me. Climbing the Canterhorn on your own? Did you actually have a plan? Or were you just- to borrow the pegasus phrase- ‘winging it’?”

It was more that than anything else, truth be told. Not that Trixie had any intention to let Luna know that.

“I have a plan.”

Luna didn’t seem convinced as she raised an eyebrow so high that it threatened to disappear into her mane. “Be that as it may, this isn’t your place to use it. Bayou Runner, whatever his possible crimes may be, is a citizen of Equestria and is entitled to a fair investigation and a fair trial. And whatever authority my alternate sibling gave you, it is not relevant here.”

Not true. At least technically. While the official task she had been given was to help clean up Neigh Orleans by going after criminals that the guard couldn’t, there was an underlying order to help ponies in Equestria as a general rule. Trixie was quite sure her Celestia would consider that rule to apply to this Equestria as well. Though pointing that out to this Princess Luna probably wouldn’t help. Still, she wasn’t in the mood to roll over and give up yet.

“With all due respect Princess what, exactly, are you going to investigate?” Trixie said, sitting a little higher and puffing out her chest in a challenge. “Most of what he’s doing is legal. The goats that he hired for this job could be miles away from Ponyville by now and I have to assume that- since he’s never been on your radar before- he’s hidden his other crimes very well.”

Luna’s glare didn’t leave her face. “Any other points you’d like to address?”

“My point is, that all of that could take months. Months that Bayou Runner will spend, continuing to run the same cons. I’m asking for one day to solve the problem!” Trixie slammed her hoof on the desk to emphasize her point. Then she sighed and slumped back. "Besides, Princess Celestia, my Princess Celestia...she'd be pretty disappointed if I didn't do anything to help an Equestria in need."

“I will not have a citizen of Equestria put away through acts that are themselves illegal!” Luna snapped back, her desk shaking as her hoof impacted off the surface. “Trixie and her friends did not put so much effort into exposing the Night Court, only for us to turn around and use underhooved tactics against those ponies we dislike! What would your Celestia feel about stooping to that level?”

Trixie clenched her jaw. Now her dander was raised. “Illegal acts? What in Equis are you talking about? Do you think so little of your student to tar me with that brush, or are law enforcement stings just not a thing in this universe?”

The angry sneer Luna shot back across the desk could have probably peeled paint off the walls. “Even assuming that you had the ability to go after Bayou Runner,” she hissed, “there is still the matter of our Trixie trapped in your universe!”

“She. Will. Be. Fine,” Trixie emphasized with a few more hoof taps against the desk. “My team wouldn’t let her be in danger and one day isn’t going to hurt her.”

Luna seemed ready to shout for a moment but then she simply sighed and slumped in her seat. “Truly, you share my own student’s penchant for stubbornness when she’s latched onto an idea.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from a fellow Trixie!”

“...Assuming that I would allow this...what exactly would you need for a sting?”

“Well, for starters?” Trixie smiled. “I’d need a disgraced noble.”

Few ponies would suspect that a Duke of Equestria would be living in a small house on one of Canterlot’s lower rings, but that was where Greengrass found himself these days, reputation still effectively destroyed from the last Grand Galloping Gala. Admittedly, it was not how he had pictured his career ending, with Trixie Lulamoon having managed to get one over on him and the whole of the Night Court. Truth is a Scourge was quite the potently potable potion. While his other estates and lands remained firmly under his control, there was no real reason to flaunt what wealth he still had. So, now he worked on his garden and lived in the smallest of holdings.

While it might not have been what he initially wanted from his life, he had made a certain peace with it. At least this way he didn’t really have to worry about dealing with the likes of Trixie. That mare would probably never fail to drive him up the wall.

A knock on the door disturbed his mental wanderings and he slid off his low sitting couch, shoving the book he had been reading aside, to see who it was. After all, almost nopony knew that he lived here. He pulled open the door.

“Greengrass,” Trixie smiled. It was a shark like smile, wide and hungry.

He slammed the door closed. There was another knock- promptly ignored- as he stomped back to the couch. There wasn’t much of a question as to how Trixie had managed to find his home. Obviously her friend Raindrops had decided to tell Trixie where he lived. And undoubtedly that screeching harridan of a mare would now dedicate herself to ruining what peace he still had. He had just settled back down into a comfortable seat when a fresh round of hoof pounds, louder this time, echoed through the house.

With a deep sigh, he got up again and nearly galloped to the door, angrily yanking it open with a curse on his lips.

“Damn yo-”

The curse died in his throat at the sight of Princess Luna Equestris, Sovereign of the Three Tribes, Mistress of the Star Beasts, staring down at him. Behind the princess was Trixie and the rest of Element Bearers. Greengrass blinked, dumbfounded for a good few moments before he remembered to throw himself into a bow, remembering that he was very much on the outs with Equestria’s ruler.

“Princess? I...I’m surprised to see you here. I...how can I help you?”

“May we come in?” Princess Luna asked, with a slight nod of her head. “We have something important to speak with you about.”

“Yes. Of course.”

Stepping aside, he could only watch in disbelief as the princess and the Element Bearers pushed their way into his living room. Princess Luna took a seat before the couch looking regal, but perhaps with perhaps the slightest undercurrent of agitation, in the way she shuffled her wings. Trixie looked smug- as always- as she settled down next to the princess.

Trixie’s friends seemed much more mixed in mood. Raindrops and Lyra were annoyed, while Cheerilee seemed bemused by everything going on around her. Ditzy and Carrot Top were clearly nervous, their eyes flitting around the room like it was a Timberwolf den. There was clearly something going on between everypony present.

“Greengrass. I have a question for you, and I wish you to answer it honestly,” Luna said.

“Yes Princess,” he answered back, giving a slight nod. “What is the question?”

“When you suffered your loss of support, what happened to your property? Do you still have your estates?”

So, that was it. Trixie had somehow managed to talk Luna into taking whatever else she could get her hooves on from him. Would she ever be satisfied? Or would she insist on continuing her plans for revenge until he was a true pauper on the street? For a moment, he considered lying, but no doubt that would only make the situation worse. Besides, it wasn’t as if he had anything to lie about in this instance.

“I still have some. Might I ask why?” he asked.

Trixie seemed quite excited at that news. “Because, we need your help to do a sting on a corrupt construction company.”

Not the answer that he had been expecting. Not at all. “And...you want one of my properties to do this?”

“Exactly!” Trixie said.

There was something odd going on here. For everything that he had done to Trixie and her friends, Greengrass found her oddly chipper attitude about the situation unnerving to say the least. There should have been some more hatred there. Or some amount of aggravation. Instead, Trixie just charged ahead with another question.

“Any of them in Canterlot?”

“One is,” Greengrass nodded. “It was the first I bought when I moved here to take up my duties with the Night Court.”

Trixie’s smile grew even wider, nearly predatory in the way it seemed ready to swallow her face. Greengrass, for probably the first time ever when talking with this infuriating blue mare, was feeling very uncomfortable being in the same room as her. Wordlessly, he looked to Princess Luna for help. The princess looked back with a resigned stare. So, no help from there.

“Very well...you may use my estate for whatever you need-”

“Oh, we need you for more than that!” Trixie said, still looking at him like a griffon would a piece of meat. Now the previous uncomfortable sensations had grown and Greengrass was seriously considering the positives and negatives of jumping out the nearest window.

“What...else do you want?”

“You need to go and have a conversation with our corrupt builder.”

Everypony needed construction work done. Everypony. From princess to pauper. This was an inherent truth of the world. Bayou Runner had been stacking bits in towering piles based on that simple fact. Born in a squalid little flat in Neigh Orleans’ red light district, Runner had started out renting a slightly less squalid one and then slowly and surely working his way towards Canterlot. That was where the real money had been.

Bayou Runner’s was both one of the many things that had come from that real money and proudly displayed others.

Though now, as he looked at this month’s profit and loss statement, he realized that something had to change. For a long time, the Night Court’s malfeasance had been the perfect cover for his own. But now?

...Well, if Bayou Runner had even a shred of honesty in his body, those days were over. Everypony was walking on eggshells. Luna was watching. The whole property flipping game- especially with the way he got his property- just wasn’t looking viable anymore. Dropping his pencil back to the desk, Bayou Runner sighed and stared at a point on the ceiling. Time to plan the exit strategy, it was just the question of what to move onto. Legitimate construction was still an option. Always government contracts to angle for, after all. He had heard that the new province of Nulpar needed roads.

Before those musings got much further, the doors to his office swung open and Muddy Waters poked his head in.

“Hey boss? There’s somepony here that wants to speak with you. Some noble type. Says his name is Greengrass.”

“Greengrass...Greengrass,” Bayou Runner muttered, wracking his brains for a face or cutie-mark to put to the name. It came soon enough though. Brown coat, reddish mane and a seemingly meteoric rise to the top that had come to a sudden stop.

If Greengrass was coming to see him, then he was looking to either buy or sell and considering the nature of his sudden stop- supposedly insulting Princess Luna at the Grand Galloping Gala- the latter was more likely. Still, always a chance to make more bits. And if he was as desperate as he could be, then there was a chance to make money.

Sitting a little straighter in his chair, Bayou Runner adjusted his gatsby cap and hurriedly waved a hoof. “Well, send the good Duke in then.”

Muddy Waters nodded and pushed the door fully open, letting the noble sweep past him. Greengrass was nearly the perfect mirror of the various pictures of his that had appeared in the papers over the years. Nearly. There was a strain obviously weighing him down however. A slight hesitation in the steps he took, an equally slight droop of his head and ears. He was trying to hide it, but something was eating Greengrass. The earth pony mare at his side was unfamiliar though. With a light pink coat and a deeper red mane, she glared overtop a pair of black framed glasses, a clipboard carried in one hoof.

Secretary, or warden? Bayou Runner wondered to himself, while putting on his warmest smile. “Duke Greengrass! Welcome to my humble little office. How can my organization be of help to you today?”

“I’m interested in selling a property of mine. And I’m not a Duke...anymore.” He nodded towards his companion. “I hope you don’t mind my assistant Notary observing? She’s been helping me settle some of my affairs.”

“Not at all. Not at all. Now, what might I be able to help you liquidate?”

“Mister Greengrass has an estate,” the assistant began, pushing her glasses up her snout. “The first one he bought when starting his duties in the Night Court. As that is no longer possible….”

“I wish to divorce myself of assets tied to painful memories,” Greengrass finished. “I know that you more specialize in construction, but Canterlot land is valuable. At the very least, I imagine you could flip it for a decent profit.”

“Hmm. So, were you looking to sell direct or...?”

“I’m having an auction. Tomorrow night.”

That caught Bayou Runner’s attention. Not exactly the normal way he had ponies offer property, to be sure, even if he did include his usual means of...motivation. Yet, a private auction would be a way for a pony to get a good deal of funds directly into their own pockets and possibly side step the tax ponies, depending on how one played it. Perhaps Greengrass was getting ready to run for some reason?

“So, you’re here to offer an invitation?”

“Well...yes, basically.”

Bayou Runner looked from ex-duke to his secretary and smiled. “I need to think about it, but if I decide to show up, I’ll be there tomorrow. Address?” Once Greengrass’ secretary scribbled it down he flashed another smile. “Thank ya kindly. Have a good day now!”

As the pair left, pushing the double doors to his office open, Bayou Runner motioned to Muddy Waters and Storm Front. Storm casually kicked the doors closed after they entered before giving Bayou Runner a questioning eyebrow raise.

“Follow them?”

“Follow them,” Bayou Runner nodded, steepling his hooves. “I don’t know if Greengrass is trying to run game on me or not. But it wouldn’t exactly be outside his usual way of working. Find out what he’s up to but don’t hurt him. Even if he is trying to pull a fast one on us, I’d rather use him.”

“Can do boss!” Muddy Waters said, popping his neck. “You don’t have anything to worry about from some washed up noble.”

Author's Note

The original plan for this chapter was to include the entirety of the con against Bayou Runner. But upon further examination, I realize that might make it a little long and unwieldy so, split in half it will be.

Bayou Runner is one of my favorite villains that I've made. Kind of a corrupt, Boss Hogg type but with just enough charm that he can get ponies to do what he wants. Something that served him well while the Night Court's shenanigans acted as a nice cover.

We'll see if Trixie and the rest of the Lunaverse Element Bearers can pull their con off next chapter!

Skitchverse Chapter 5

She wasn’t dead. Every inch of Trixie’s body felt sore, like she had just been beaten by the hooves of a hundred stampeding ponies. But she wasn’t dead. With a groan she rolled over, letting one foreleg drape across her eyes in an attempt to block out the light that filtered into....wherever she was. Wherever it was, the bed it had was insanely uncomfortable. The mattress felt like it was a thin blanket, at best.

Wait a minute. Shape shifters. Bug ponies. Greengrass!

She sat bolt upright. A failing tangle of limbs, spilling off the edge of a thin, rectangular bunk. Landing on her back, the impact- and the cold stone floor- did a lot to shock the rest of the confusion out of her system. Groaning and flopping over, she looked up at the room that she had found herself in. Three sturdy stone walls surrounded her from the left, right and behind. The cot she had tumbled off of was set on the back wall but otherwise the room was completely unadorned. And straight ahead was a row of sturdy looking bars.

Jail.

She had been thrown in jail! Attacked by shapeshifters and she was the one being thrown in jail? Growling under her breath, Trixie pushed herself upright, a few silvery strands of her mane flopping over her eye. Patting her mane down, she could feel that it was disheveled and that her hat was now missing. And her cloak! Inconveniently, the loss of both items meant that the lockpicks she carried around for just such an emergency were also gone.

Winching at the aches that coursed through her body with every movement, Trixie shuffled towards the bars. Whatever those little stingy balls from the minotaur’s hand cannons were, they’d probably leave bruises.

“Definitely bruises,” she muttered reaching the bars and peering into the hallway beyond. To her right, it seemed that there was another cell. To the left was another cell and down at the very far end an opening into another room. There were clearly ponies moving around in that room. She could hear the clatter of hooves on wood and the low mumbling of voices.

“Hey!” she called, banging a hoof against the bars. “Guard! I demand to speak to whoever is in charge!”

The talking stopped, started then stopped again. The sound of hooves approached an earth pony mare stopping in front of the cell door a moment later. Taller than an average pony, sturdy looking muscle rippled under her dark brown coat, a cutie-mark of a spiky wooden barricade on her side. Her deep green eyes were intense, glaring at Trixie from under a short cut stone grey mane.

“Up and around I see,” she said, reaching for a keyring at her side. “I was wondering how long we’d be waiting.”

“Shapeshifters and corrupt ponies running around your town and you lock me up in here?” Trixie frowned.

“We intend to have a conversation with you about your friends,” the guard said, as the door slid open. She casually, almost dismissively motioned down the hall. “After you. Oh, and I’d suggest you don’t try to run or anything. You really don’t want to make my brother mad.”

Trixie followed the guard’s hoof. A large stallion, with similar colors to the mare in front of her, was blocking the end of the hall. Though, on second thought, large was something of an understatement. This pony was easily a match for Big Mac in the size department, though Trixie wasn’t sure which one would be the stronger of the two. He was also holding a door open, his gaze clearly telling Trixie that she was expected inside.

Opting to go with an explanation and hopefully get some answers herself, rather than running again Trixie stiffy walked into the room. A low table, and an uncomfortable looking stool to sit on. An interrogation chamber. Sinking onto it with a sigh she steepled her hooves and stared at the guards who filed in after her. But they weren’t alone. One of those bug things stalked in behind him and...a wolf.

The wolf was wearing a dark purple vest overtop a white dress shirt- which was a good look, Trixie did admit- and had a pair of glasses perched on the end of his snout. Trixie quite past the point of being surprised at the racial makeup of this Equestria. The large stallion guard sat down opposite her, the mare at his side, having collected a clipboard and pencil before entering. While they got situated, the wolf produced his own notebook and took a seat in the corner. And the bug creature thing? It...she...whatever, paced back and forth, eyes locked on Trixie. It was a tight fit in the room now, as the stallion cleared his throat.

“Ponyville Guard, interrogation record, one hundred thirty five,” the stallion began, his partner quickly scribbling away. “Subject ‘Trixie Lulamoon’. Interrogating officers, Bulwark and Barricade of the Ponyville Guard.”

“Roseluck,” the bug pony said with a buzz of its dragonfly wings, “of the Equestrian Intelligence Service.”

“You’re a spy?” Trixie practically shouted. The idea of Corona with her own group of shapeshifting spies was enough to make Trixie’s coat want to crawl right off her body. She didn’t care that Corona supposedly didn’t go mad in this world. What pony would be okay with their ruler having a group of shapeshifting spies under their hoof?

The wolf cleared his throat, peering at Trixie over his glasses. “Well, just so everything is official. I am Doctor Wolf, Ponyville’s resident therapist. I will be observing the proceedings and providing psychological advice if needed.”

“So, you’re here to see if I’m crazy?” Trixie said, frowning. She could read between the lines.

“I’m afraid that such color commentary would be unprofessional Miss Lulamoon.”

“Getting back on topic,” Bulwark interrupted. “Can you explain why you were in the residence of one Miss Skitch-Sketch?”

“Because I was hiding from her!” Trixie answered with an accusatory hoof jab at Roseluck. “She just changes into some kind of monster and the natural reaction anypony would have is somehow my fault?”

“What’s your fault, is that you are not Trixie Lulamoon!” Roseluck snapped, slamming her forehooves on the table. “Trixie knows that I’m a changeling! She wouldn’t even have reacted to me in my natural form!”

“Look, I’ll cut straight to the chase here,” Trixie hissed through gritted teeth. “I am Trixie Lulamoon, but one from another universe. I was in my home, minding my own business when I got dragged- magically- to your version of Neigh Orleans. I found out that your version of Trixie was fooling around with some magic item that swapped us somehow and I came here to speak to Twilight Sparkle for help. And that group that attacked me? They wanted it for some reason! Now, since Twilight and the Element Bearers aren’t in town I demand to speak with somepony that can actually help me get back home, if you please!”

The interrogation room was quiet, save for the rapid writing of Barricade. Bulwark looked over at Doctor Wolf who seemed...amused. He shrugged. “While I’d say that she sounds frustrated, rather than suffering from any mental issues, I can still conduct the interview if you wish.”

“Do it,” Roseluck said, eyes burning. “We came up with these procedures for a reason.”

“Oh, come on!” Trixie almost shouted.

Doctor Wolf adjusted his glasses again. “Don’t worry Miss Trixie. I’ll make this as painless as possible.”

Trixie was starting to wonder if long, pointless interviews were the way the universe tried to mess with her. Back home, she had dealt with more than a few “interrogations” during her attempt to speak with Viceroy Night Light before the Grand Galloping Gala. All of them arranged by her political rivals.

Doctor Wolf was at least more pleasant to speak with than the Canterlot guards had been. Before anything he had shooed the guards and bug ponies out of the room, insisting that Trixie was entitled to privacy considering that they might be broaching personal matters.

While she wouldn’t admit it out loud, Trixie did appreciate it. It was what made this interview feel like less of an interrogation. Doctor Wolf asked his questions, nodding slowly to himself as he listened to the responses, before jotting down a note or two on Trixie’s responses.

The questions themselves ran the gamut, though a great deal of them centered around how Trixie was feeling and what she had been doing before arriving in this Equestria. But he also inquired about her family situation, her relationship with her friends, and other matters of her life.

Eventually though, he stopped. Whatever arcane truth he had attempted to glean from the questions answered to his satisfactions. Walking over to the door, he lightly knocked.

“You can come back in now. I have my diagnosis,” he said. The frown returned to Trixie’s face as the guards and spy filed back in.

It was Bulwark that spoke first, cutting straight to the chase. “Well doc? What do you think?”

“It is my opinion that Trixie is not suffering from any mental illness. While clearly...frustrated,” he said with a smile, “I see no evidence of outright delusions. And the fact that Miss Sketch’s device was stolen does add credibility to her story.”

Roseluck nodded. “Okay...everypony. I’m officially invoking the Mirror Mirror Protocols. Consider all of this officially classified.”

Barricade groaned, letting the pencil clatter out of her mouth. “Really Rose? Do we have to go full paranoia on this? Can’t we just write Canterlot? I’m sure they’d send somepony along to deal with the problem soon enough.”

“We have another case of a pony from another universe coming into ours! This one is almost a duplicate of a pony we all know and some other pony we have no clue about has ran off with The Collector’s universe jumping device! These are exactly the kind of situations that these protocols were written for.”

“Hey!” Trixie interrupted. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here!”

Roseluck ignored Trixie, instead keeping her glare focused on Barricade. “Look, ‘Cade, I know you don’t want to fly off the handle here. But this is the second time now. And a pony we know is stuck in some other universe-”

“Which, isn’t Tartarus or anything!” Trixie shouted.

“Even so, we can’t just leave our Trixie there!” Roseluck almost snarled back. “You and I are going to go to Canterlot and resolve this.”

That was the first good news about her situation she had heard yet! But her elated mood came crashing right back down to earth when Bulwark spoke again.

“There is the matter of that lot that ran off with the device. What are we supposed to do about them?”

“Greengrass and Zizane are their names. I know them,” Trixie said, tapping a hoof on the table. “Or...well, these are your versions of them at any rate. They were talking about taking all the magic and technology they could from other universes to make Equestria a superpower or something.”

Roseluck’s wings buzzed the air a few times in thought. “Hmm. To do that, they’d have to have some kind of contact with the nobles in Canterlot. Can’t give that stuff to the government without the government being aware.” She then smiled, giving Trixie a calculating look. “Well, that just makes Canterlot a doubly good option, doesn’t it?”

“...Does that mean I’m not under arrest anymore?”

“Nope,” Roseluck answered. “Technically speaking, the law considers you a refugee of a sorts.”

“In that case, can I have my hat and cape back?” Trixie frowned. Her stomach chose that moment to growl, almost punctuating the question. “And maybe get something to eat? How long was I out, anyway?”

“Four hours or so. It’s a little bit past noon now,” Barricade answered. “You were pretty lucky that minotaur was using concussive runes on his guns. You’ll just walk away with some bruises.”

“Yeah. I worked that out,” Trixie glowered, motioning towards the bruises that were already pushing through her coat in some places. She felt a cool hoof on her back a moment later, Roseluck having come around to her side of the table. Despite her still rather frightening appearance, she was giving a friendly smile.

“Sorry that I freaked you out Trixie. I just realized that you weren’t the Trixie I knew and jumped to conclusions.”

The apology sounded genuine, even if she had admitted to being a spy not ten minutes ago. Still, when in Roam and all that.

“It’s alright Roseluck. I jumped to conclusions too. You can repay me by telling me where a pony can get a good sandwich in this town.”

Roseluck looked up at a clock hanging on the right wall. “Let’s go back to my place. It’s going to be about another forty five minutes before the next train to Canterlot and I could use a bite myself before we leave.”

Following Roseluck out of the guard station, Trixie had one large question dominating her mind.

What the hay does a bug pony thing eat anyway?

The answer turned out to be tomato soup. Roseluck- who had returned to her pony form on the way over- stood at the stove, carefully stirring a great pot of the stuff while Trixie watched from a small table in the corner. Though with that question answered, other ones were already kicking around Trixie’s mind.

“Roseluck...if I’m not prying to much, can I ask you something?”

Leaving the soup to simmer for now, Roseluck turned to face her. “Let me guess. ‘Why do I walk around as a pony when everypony knows I’m a changeling?”

“Pretty much.”

“The long and the short of it is that independent changelings have only existed for around fifty years or so. And there are centuries of stories about how we kidnapped creatures to feed on their love before then.”

Suddenly, Trixie was wondering what was in the soup again. “You eat love?”

“Technically speaking we eat the ‘thaumaturgical energy created by the emotion of love’,” Roseluck said, rolling her eyes and twirling a hoof. “To quote every bestiary about us ever written at least.”

“So, the soup?”

“Love energy lasts longer when cut with normal food.”

Turning back to the stove and row of shelves above it, Roseluck popped one open and removed what appeared to Trixie to be a giant seed pod. Slightly larger than a foal’s hoofball, it was a pale green color, save for the pinkish light that seemed to swirl around within. Trixie realized she was essentially looking at bottled love.

With a flash of green light, Roseluck was a changeling again a pale green glow dancing around her horn as energy was pulled from the pod and fed slowly into the soup. Trixie watched this with a some apprehension a wrinkle in her snout.

“Is that going to be safe for me to eat?”

“Yes, now hush,” Roseluck chided, beginning to ladle some into a bowl.

Trixie was still skeptical as said bowl was placed before her. At the very least it needed a little something extra. “I don’t suppose you have some sprouts I could add to it? Maybe some sour cream or peanut butter?”

Roseluck gave Trixie a deadpan stare that she was quite familiar with at this point. “Eat the soup Trixie.”

Trixie rolled her eyes and took a big spoonful. The tomato flavor exploded across her tongue, rich and creamy but with a half dozen other flavors that Trixie was quite sure Roseluck hadn’t actually put in the soup running underneath that. Onion and sour cream and carrots and cheese….

“Okay...how did you do that?”

Roseluck winked. “It’s made with love.”

Trixie eagerly gulped down more of the soup, draining it as quickly as she could. Roseluck tore into her own just as quickly and soon enough pony and changeling were sitting over empty bowls.

“So...you’re a spy?” Trixie asked, not wanting things to lapse into an awkward silence. She was also feeling oddly more charged for some reason. Perhaps a good meal had been what she needed?

“...Retired, technically,” Roseluck shrugged. “I’ve been playing the game for a long time.”

“You don’t look that old,” Trixie said with a chuckle. “Though I imagine being a shapeshifter has something to do with that?”

“Pretty much,” Roseluck smiled. Returning to her pony form in another flash of green fire. She motioned towards the door. “Shall we?”

Trixie nodded, trotting after her, sticking close. “I have to admit, you seem rather laid back considering the circumstances. Aren’t you more worried about whatever that thing they took from the house is?”

Roseluck shook her head, “Not really. I know how many defenses Skitch put on that thing.”

“Just how many are there? I already saw the lightning gun and the illusionary threat.”

“Well, there are the keys for one. Seven, each divided up between her and the Element Bearers. Then the device itself is code locked.”

“What now?”

“It’s a fancy future technology term for the fact you need to input a number based code into its interface in order to access the device’s functions. The code in question is Skitch’s address...back in her home universe. Not exactly easy information to get. And even if you get past that, she worked out how to change the language settings on it, and set it to one that she speaks and that doesn’t seem to have an Equis analogue.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow as they wandered through the Ponyville streets. “Sounds like she’s got it set up so that she’s the only one who can use it.”

“Pretty much. The princesses seem to be okay with that, so I am too.”

After walking for a few minutes they came to the Ponyville train station, still a near complete mirror of the one in her own Ponyville. “You know,” she mused, “it’s kind of weird that the train station is one of the odd constants in the different Ponyville’s I’ve been to.”

“Maybe the different universes really like consistency with their trains?” Roseluck smirked.

“So, who are we going to talk to once we reach Canterlot?”

“I’m going to try to cut right to the chase and go right to Princess Celestia. I’ve done enough spying for her that I think she can give me one meeting.” Trixie shuddered a little bit at that. Something that Roseluck picked up on almost immediately. “You don’t like that, huh?”

“Sorry...I know that your Celestia isn’t the same as mine but...the idea of Celestia with shapeshifting spies still kind of creeps me out.”

Roseluck flinched away from that comment but to Trixie's surprise didn't press for more information on her Celestia. “Well...if it's any consolation, the Equestrian Intelligence Service does have strict rules about what they can and can’t do. They just aren’t running around, watching everypony all the time or something.”

Trixie shrugged as they clambered up the stairs to the platform. “If the way your Equestria is run works for you, then I’m glad. Things are just...weird...when you’re seeing new Equestrias.”

“If half the things I’ve heard about worlds outside mine are true, I never want to visit,” Roseluck said, giving Trixie a sympathetic smile. “No offense.”

“None taken.”

Soon enough, they were rattling along the rails towards Canterlot in a private cabin. As Roseluck settled down into one of the plush seats, she fixed Trixie with a stern gaze. “Alright Trixie. Run over what happened in Skitch’s place for me, and don’t leave out any details. Especially on the group that attacked you.”

Trixie nodded. “So, I had just dove into the building to get away from you and your friend….”

It was late afternoon by the time the train pulled into Canterlot, Trixie having spent most of the trip going over her story with Roseluck. Trixie had to admit, the mare was very, very thorough. She constantly asked questions in the middle of Trixie’s descriptions of events, asking for more detail on the physical appearances of each of the players, what was specifically said, which directions they approached from and even what they were carrying.

“Well, I can say for sure that the camel you encountered back in Neigh Orleans was a member of the Pure Legion,” Roseluck sighed as they shuffled off the train in Canterlot.

“Those two words never go well together,” Trixie frowned, nervously fidgeting with her cloak.

“They don’t in this case either. The Pure Legion are the magic hunters and breakers of The Republic of Dromedus. If one of them was after the sextant it must have belonged to one of their ancient magi.”

“Is it going to be safe back in Ponyville?”

Roseluck’s brow furrowed in thought. “I’m pretty sure,” she said after a minute. “The Pure Legion would have to be pretty desperate to wander that deep into Equestria. Princess Celestia has made her distaste for their goals and tactics clear. I’m more interested in the pony that was leading the other group.”

“Greengrass?” Trixie blinked, as they began to work their way through the crowded Canterlot streets. “Well...I can’t say that you’re exactly wrong. If yours is anything like mine, then he’s a scheming, conniving jerk.”

“Obviously. But there’s something else. It’s the name. I swear that I’ve heard that name somewhere before.”

“He’s a duke back home. Is he nobility of some kind?”

“Maybe? That sounds like it could be right. Then again, the fact that he was getting his own hooves dirty tells me that he doesn’t have noble resources....,” she trailed off before shaking her head. “It’ll come to me. I just need to think about it more.”

Trixie nodded, turning her attention to the city as they walked. Dominated by white and gold, it was the brilliant reflection of day to her Canterlot’s more mysterious night. The ponies seemed mostly the same though, the crowds perhaps a little more cosmopolitan than she was used to seeing. There were camels, goats and diamond dogs mixed amongst the ponies walking the streets without comment and as they drew closer to the castle, she caught glimpses of griffins and a few big cats. If one included the insect ponies like Roseluck, this was quite a diverse Equestria.

But before she could ask Roseluck about that, they were drawing close to the castle gates. Trixie hung back, deciding to let her guide lead the way and- perhaps more importantly- talk with the guards.

Roseluck strode right up to the guards flanking the gate, their golden armor glittering in the clear fall sun. Nodding to them, she flashed a warm smile “Good afternoon gentle stallions! My name is Roseluck. I need to speak with Princess Celestia about an urgent matter.”

One of the stone faced stallions raised an eyebrow. “What’s the nature of this...urgent matter?”

The disbelief was clear in his voice, verging on sarcasm. Trixie fumed. She really was getting fed up with delays at this point. But Roseluck simply smiled and gestured towards her. “We have a friend from out of town.”

“I don’t see-”

“Really, really, really out of town. We have ourselves a mirror, mirror situation. Understand?”

The guard looked to Trixie with a look of growing comprehension. “Ah. I see. Well, I believe that Princess Celestia is currently in a meeting with some of her advisors. You might have better luck talking with Princess Cadance or Baron Max.”

“Baron Max? Mounty Max?” Trixie asked. She had heard the name from Carrot Top and Cheerilee.

“Why...yes,” the guard blinked. “He’s been put in charge of the new department.”

Now it was Roseluck’s turn to blink. “What new department?”

Thusly, Trixie and Roseluck found themselves walking through one of the castle’s many corridors in its east wing.

“So, you know Baron Mounty Max?” Roseluck asked.

“Only by reputation,” Trixie answered. “In my universe, he’s probably the newest member of the Night Court. Nuplar was only made an official province a little while ago. ...In terms of provinces at least.” She puffed out her chest, holding her head a little higher. “Not to boast, but I’m responsible for creating the province.”

Roseluck’s stare was perhaps the most deadpan one Trixie had seen in her life. “Uh huh.”

“I’m serious! Princess Luna assigned me to do something with a new bit of land we got. And since none of the other provinces wanted it, a new one got made and...I kind of named it.”

“What’s it called?”

“Nulpar. Kind of a shorted mashup of nulle part. Prench-”

“For nothing,” Roseluck smirked. “Cute. What’s your Baron Max like?”

“Really idealistic from what I’ve heard.”

“I hope that carries across universes. This is his office,” Roseluck said, motioning to one of the many doors lining the hallway. A pair of golden nameplates were set into its front, the first bearing the Baron’s name. The second, smaller one, read...A.R.M.O.R.

“A.R.M.O.R?” Trixie blinked.

Roseluck tilted her head at the nameplate. “...Well, it’s obviously an acronym. Not sure what for….”

“Won’t find out staying out here.”

Trixie strode forward and pushed the door open into a small office. Much like some of the offices that she had been in back in her Canterlot, it was a central room, with a door on either side wall, each leading to other rooms that were part of the office. A neatly maintained desk dominated the middle of the room, an elderly female goat sitting behind it. She peered at Trixie over a thin rimmed pair of glasses before smiling.

“Good afternoon dearies. How can I help you?”

“I’m here to see the Baron,” Trixie answered. “I’m from another universe and require assistance to get home.”

“In that case, why don’t you have a seat? The Baron is currently in a meeting….” A burst of angry shouting erupted from beyond the right hooved door. “...And will be a little bit,” she finished, as if nothing happened.

Trixie and Roseluck exchanged a look as the other office door burst open. A stern unicorn stallion with a pale green coat, dark green mane and bushy mustache stormed out. His cutie-mark was a sturdy looking hammer flanked by a pair of stars. The dark grey jacket that he wore was probably neatly pressed at one point, but was currently ruffled and disheveled. Trixie immediately recognized the pony with a sense of dread. Archduke Bobbing Fisher.

A grey coated, brown maned earth pony stallion was right on his hooves, his green vest still neatly pressed. The soaring mountain peak he had for a cutie-mark identified him as Baron Mounty Max.

“Fisher! Be reasonable!” he shouted.

“Me be reasonable? You and the princesses are the ones who are leaving one of the most powerful devices that ponykind has ever seen in the hooves of a civilian! Anything that powerful needs to be under the jurisdiction of the military!”

Mounty rolled his eyes. “So, are you going to nationalize the Element Bearers too? Or is this offer only good for former humans?”

“If it’s what it takes! And I do not appreciate the insinuation that I am tribest-” Fisher began, only to finally notice the presence of Trixie and Roseluck. “...I’m sorry...and you are?”

“Here to see the baron,” Trixie answered, leaving it at that. She had no desire to give a different version of Fisher any leverage.

“What-”

“Archduke Fisher, if you don’t mind, I would like to discuss whatever business these mares have without you breathing down their necks!” Baron Max snapped, waving a hoof towards the door. “If you have a problem with how I decide to run this office, please take it up with the princesses.”

If looks could kill, Trixie was sure that Max would have instantly burst into flames from the glare that Fisher shot his way. But the archduke gave the stiffest of bows before storming out of the office.

Once he was gone, Baron Max sighed, almost visibly deflating. “I’m sorry you both had to see that. Fisher is...dedicated to Equestria in his own way I suppose.” He gave a quick bow. “Baron Mounty Max, at your service. Were you here for some government help or were you looking for assistance from A.R.M.O.R?”

“A.R.M.O.R.,” Trixie answered, pointing to the room Max had just left. “Can we?”

“Oh! Yes, of course! Mrs G, let me know if we get anymore visitors please.”

“Of course.”

Following Max into his inner office, Trixie and Roseluck were greeted by a room that looked like Discord had just blown through it. Files lay scattered across his desk and almost threatened to burst from the drawers of the many cabinets that lined the walls.

“Pardon the mess,” Max said, motioning to the pair of sitting pillows. “The side effects of running a new department out of an existing office. How can Alternate Reality Monitoring and Operational Response help you?”

“...Somehow I was expecting…more,” Roseluck muttered, taking in the mess with a raised eyebrow.

Max winced. “To be fair. We’re really new and as you saw, there is some debate over how much it’s needed.... Anyway, I’m guessing that since you need A.R.M.O.R’s assistance, you’ve found evidence that we’ve made contact with another universe?”

Roseluck nodded and motioned to Trixie. “I decided to make it easy and bring the evidence with me.”

Trixie waved slightly and quickly launched into her explanation. “Trixie Lulamoon, though I prefer you call me Trixie. I’m from another universe, got dragged here by accident and really, really need to get back as soon as I can. My Equestria will be in trouble without its Element of Magic-”

“Element of Magic?” Max perked up. “Ahh! You must be from the Lunaverse then.”

Trixie stared at Max. “...Luna is the ruler of my Equestria...but...what?”

Max winced again, suddenly realizing his mistake. “Well, it’s your universe’s informal name. It’s code name is P-002. We...uhh...have a file on it….”

“...WHAT?”

Author's Note

Before anyone asks, yes that A.R.M.O.R reference is quite an intentional one. As Skitch said when she suggested it "If we ever make contact with earth again, the right people will get it."

Baron Mounty Max is originally from the Lunaverse, having featured mostly in Talon and Thorn's Climbing the Mountain and Climbing the Mountain 2. Having to build up Equestria's newest province in that universe, in this one he has to build up a new government agency. Poor Max, always stuck having to climb some metaphorical mountain.

The code name for the Lunaverse follows a simple formatting. The P in it stands for "Pony", referring to it's largest group of sapients in it. Other dominant race universes have their own letters. H for humanoid, for example. The numbering refers to the order in which it was filed, with the Skitchverse itself being the 001. Nice and simple isn't it?

Lunaverse Chapter 5

“We’re being followed, right?” Cheerilee whispered.

She didn’t turn to check. Fighting down the urge to itch at her coat was taking almost all of her willpower as it was. Whatever Other-Trixie had dug up to partially bleach her coat was itchy. Very itchy.

“I haven’t looked, but I would assume so,” Greengrass whispered back. He glanced at Cheerilee, waiting a moment before asking a question. “Care to explain what’s going on with Lulamoon?”

While Princess Luna hadn’t told them not to discuss Other-Trixie’s origins, Cheerilee didn’t feel particularly inclined to spell that out for Greengrass either. “She’s just feeling a bit...intense, about Bayou Runner.”

“That seems far too simple an explanation. She seems...off.”

Cheerilee mentally frowned. Other Trixie must have been less careful than she thought she was being if Greengrass was picking up on the differences in her behavior. Thankfully, Cheerilee had a way to deflect the issue for now.

“Oh, I don’t know. We used a crazy complex plan to truth poison you to spill your plans. This is a complex plan to make a pony admit the truth. Is it really that out of character for her?”

Greengrass frowned, but had no answer to that, so onwards they walked. After winding their way through many streets, they came to their destination. An “abandoned” warehouse on one of Canterlot’s mid levels. In reality, it was a supply depot for the city watch, easy borrowed on an order from Princess Luna for this little sting of theirs.

Other Trixie was waiting outside, almost lurking in the shadow of the building. “Did you send the message?”

“Yes, we did,” Greengrass frowned. “Am I free now?”

“Oh no Greengrass,” Trixie grinned. “I’ll need you at the auction tonight. Once we have everything squared away with Bayou Runner, then you can go back to wallowing in your failure.”

“Now that was uncalled for.”

Trixie shrugged. “Maybe. Just be there tonight. Eight o’clock. Understand?”

“Fine,” Greengrass sighed. “The sooner we get this over with the better. Shall we prepare Notary?”

“Actually,” Trixie interrupted, holding up a hoof. “I’ll need your assistant's assistance. Come on Notary.”

Cheerilee followed Other Trixie while Greengrass peeled off on his own. They looped around the back of the building, slipping in through one of the side doors. Cheerilee closed it behind her, before taking a moment to make sure that it was securely locked. She began to ask Trixie and question, only for Trixie to cut it off with a raised hoof.

The rest of her friends were waiting in the middle of the warehouse floor. They were engaged in a game of cards apparently having started a game to pass the time while they waited for her and Trixie to return. They all looked up, Trixie once more holding up a hoof to cut them off. Her horn immediately began to glow, illusionary forms of ponies sitting and listening attentively springing into existence around them.

“Now we can talk. Quietly though.”

“You’re pretty sure that we were followed,” Cheerilee said.

Trixie shrugged. “I mean...if you were in control of an underhooved, backstabbing organization, wouldn’t you follow up on a disgraced noble that came to you with an offer you can’t refuse?”

“...I suppose I can’t argue with that.”

“So...what’s the next step?” Raindrops asked.

“Princess Luna should be handling the other end,” Trixie frowned. “Cheerilee, you’ll be with me at the auction as Notary. Raindrops, you’re strong and scary-”

Raindrops glowered at that comment, but Trixie plowed on ahead.

“-so I need you to deal with Night Shade. He’s Bayou Runner’s magical support and a complete coward.”

“Sooo….”

“You’ll need to get him alone and intimidate him.” Trixie said with a nod. “And don’t be afraid to rough him up a little if you need too.”

Ditzy gasped. “Trixie!”

“Shh!” Trixie shushed back. “I said to talk quietly!”

“Trixie!” Ditzy hissed a bit more softly this time. “You can’t just have Raindrops beat up a pony as part of this!”

“Yeah!” Carrot Top added. “I mean, we’re in Canterlot! I know that your city is...different...but we can’t do that here!”

“Look, I know what I’m doing here! Night Shade just needs a little pressure-”

“No, Trixie,” Raindrops practically growled. “I am not going to beat up a pony for you, no matter how much you look like my friend. I will scare him. And that’s it.”

Trixie glowered. “You’re not making this easy for me. The sooner we get rid of Bayou Runner, the sooner we can get your friend back. My team follows my lead.”

Cheerilee shook her head. “We're not your team though. Just like you're not our Trixie. You need to understand that.”

The frustration on Trixie’s face was clear as the day, but she sighed and moved on. “So, anything else we need to do?”

“Yes,” Trixie nodded. “Ditzy?”

“So, they’re in on it together.”

The news really hadn’t come as a surprise to Bayou Runner. Something had smelled off about Greengrass’s offer from the beginning. You really couldn’t trust a snake after all. He would know, after all. Though why Greengrass was getting involved in the scheme was a larger mystery. Didn’t seem like there was much for him to actually gain here.

Lulamoon’s interest was clear though. Luna’s student wanted another feather in that ridiculous wizard’s hat of hers. The details of how she had undermined the Night Court were still scattered and somewhat contradictory. But what he did know, was that Lulamoon clearly had intents to climb the ladder and that she didn’t have any qualms with taking down the corrupt to do so. Just what Canterlot needed, a crusader.

“Boss?”

He looked up at Muddy Waters. “Sorry Muddy. Just thinking about what to do about our little friend.”

“Can’t rough her up,” Storm Front observed. “Too close to the princess. Also, Equestria kind of needs the Elements of Harmony still.”

“Ugh. Corona,” Bayou Runner shook his head. “Never thought I’d be factoring in the actions of a second ancient alicorn into my business plans.”

The auction was clearly intended to be a trap of some kind. Attacking Lulamoon was right out, but if he didn’t show up, she’d just try again later with a different angle. That left only one real card for him to play. Wreck her plot and leverage the knowledge to extort her silence. After all, Luna might look the other way when it came to helping root out corruption in her court. But going after a poor business pony for personal gain? That wouldn’t do.

He glared over at the form of Night Shade, who was nervously waiting in the corner. The white coated unicorn always did seem somewhat foolish with the fluffy pompadour he kept his mane in and his near constant bouts of cowardness. Still, he was a skilled unicorn, especially when it came to analysing and detecting magic. He had all the tools he needed.

“Right. Here’s what we’re going to do….”

Eight o’clock came faster than a pony could realize. But by the time the hour came, Bayou Runner was ready. Muddy and Storm were left back at his office. Just in case Trixie had another angle and because they weren’t exactly presentable for a high class affair. On the off chance this was a real auction of course.

Greengrass’ manor house was on the second highest level of Canterlot. This was the ring of the nobility. Night Court members, their support staff and family, and other hereditary nobles all made this ring home. The buildings practically glowed with their opulence. White marble, dark blue colored roofs and silver trim were the order of the day.

The house itself was on the smaller side for the quarter. Only two floors- though they were large enough to hold half a dozen rooms each- that were set back into the mountain itself, hedged in by an immaculately maintained yard. Definitely the kind of property that belonged to somepony just starting out in the Night Court. Which was a little odd, considering the high rank Greengrass had managed to achieve before his fall. Still, he had to start somewhere and so far, there seemed to be some possibilities here.

Striding for the front gate, Bayou Runner adjusted his bowler hat and jacket collar. Night Shade followed along, looking ready to pass out as always.

“Calm down Night Shade. You’re jumpier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rockin’ chairs.”

“I...s-sorry sir.”

Past the gate and the gardens, there was grumpy looking jasmine coated pegasus guarding the front doors with a clipboard tucked in her wing. She looked them both over as they drew near, her frown growing even deeper.

“Name?”

“Bayou Runner and my assistant Night Shade.”

The pegasus flipped up her clipboard. “I have Bayou Runner, but no assistant. Did you inform the duke you’d be bringing one?”

“...No. Why is that relevant?”

“Well, we weren’t expecting him. So he’ll have to be subjected to a random security check.”

Bayou Runner’s eyes narrowed. “If you’re targeting him, then it’s not random, is it?”

“I’m just doing my job sir.”

“Why is this even needed?” Bayou Runner frowned.

“Greengrass has made some enemies. This is for his protection.”

It was clear from her body language that she had no intent on backing down. While it was annoying, getting into a brawl with her wouldn’t serve his goals here at all. So he nodded. “Alright.”

“Would you please step inside then?”

They did just that, coming into the wide entrance foyer. Double hardwood doors were at the far end of the hall, while four smaller ones- two on each- lined the sides. Greengrass was waiting by the former and quickly approached Bayou Runner.

“Glad you could make it.”

Bayou Runner nodded. “Anypony else show up yet?”

Greengrass’ eyes flicked to the great double doors at the end of the hall. “A few. Turnout could be better, if I'm being honest. Trust seems to be thin on the ground right now.”

Bayou Runner raised an eyebrow. “Am I hearing this right? The great Duke Greengrass admitting difficulties?”

The tension in Greengrass was clear as the day. He sagged a the question, but Bayou Runner could see the way his muscles tightened under that fancy jacket of his. The way his ears drooped and the corners of his mouth twitched down, ever so slightly. He appeared to be a broken pony. A pony being dragged down by the weight of his new lot in life. It was a look that Bayou Runner knew very, very well. When a pony gave you that look? That was the time to strike.

“It's been a bad year,” Greengrass answered. “Now, if you'll follow me….”

“In a moment,” Bayou Runner said. “After my stallion goes through your security.”

The pegasus began to lead Night Shade towards one of the side rooms, when Runner held up a hoof. “I want to watch. Just to make sure you aren’t trying anything.”

Greengrass’ guard froze, looking to her employer for help. Night Shade did the same. Bayou Runner ignored him, instead looking towards Greengrass, watching his reaction. The duke frowned, rolling his eyes as he did.

“I really don’t have time for your paranoia, Runner.”

“Now, Greengrass, considering your reputation-”

“Let’s talk about your reputation instead,” Greengrass snapped back, storming towards him. “Let’s stop being coy with each other, shall we? Do you really think that you could engage in your property rigging shenanigans in Canterlot without me knowing about it?”

Bayou Runner took a step back, raising one eyebrow. “Assuming I believe you, why didn’t you do something about it? You’ve never struck me as the sharing type.”

“Well, you know, I was planning to do something, right before my career was destroyed! But I didn’t last as long as I did in The Game without being careful. And I’m not going to stop, just because you’re constantly looking over your shoulder. You’ve won without firing a shot and whatever you can extract from Canterlot is yours. But I am not going to budge and will get some respect before I slink away, never to be seen again!”

He finished his rant with a petulant little hoof stomp, in a near perfect imitation of a spoiled foal.

My, maybe he’s more broken than I realized. Bayou Runner thought. “Alright,” he nodded. “But I wait at the door and listen. Just to make sure you’re not trying anything.”

“Fine,” Greengrass nodded. “Can we just get on with it?”

Runner followed Night Shade and the guard pegasus to the side room, pausing just at the door as it snapped closed behind them. Cool wood tickled his ear as he pressed it against the crack between door and frame.

“State your name for the record please,” the guard grumbled.

“N-night Shade.”

“Occupation?”

“Mage and advisor.”

And so on the questions went, running down the basics and then into the details. Bayou Runner was forced to admit that they were basically the same questions that he’d ask in a similar situations, largely focusing on who Night Shade had spoken too over the last few days. Greengrass must have been looking for somepony in particular. After maybe ten or so minutes, the door opened again and the pair came trotting back out.

“Your pony is clean,” the pegasus smirked. “Poor little thing is a bit of nervous nellie.”

“Yeah, he’s like that. Now, come on.”

The manor’s ballroom was of decent size at least. The long rectangular room sported a polished marble floor and a hardwood stage against the right wall. The left wall featured a raised balcony for making pronouncements from, as was the rage in Canterlot, thanks to Princess Luna. A few tables had been set up around the room, each containing their own refreshments. Slightly over a dozen ponies milled about the room in their best dress, lightly chatting with each other. Bayou Runner moved through the crowd, noting that more than a few of these high rollers seemed to be wearing last year's fashions. Of course, it was the presence of one mare in particular was the more immediate concern.

Trixie Lulamoon was casually loitering near one of the tables, sipping some manner of mixed drink. She had forgone her iconic star studded hat and cape for a neat purple vest. Bayou Runner was gobsmacked.

“Not even bothering with hiding it, is she?”

“And now you know why my humiliation is complete,” Greengrass sighed.

“Should I-” Night began.

“Scan her.”

Night Shade’s horn glowed as he cast out a spell detection charm. “Doesn’t look like she has much of anything.”

Greengrass sighed. “Well, I suppose I can take some small comfort in that at least. Go ahead and mingle. I’m going to get this farce started.” With that, he trotted off, heading for a door set into the wall just under the balcony.

“Any other special guests I should be aware of?” Bayou Runner called after.

“Just one,” Greengrass called back. “And you’ll know her when you see her.”

Bayou Runner could only raise an eyebrow and wonder exactly what Greengrass meant by that. So he helped himself to puff pastry and listened to the idle chatter amongst his fellow buyers.

“M-my daughter is getting ready to step into the Night Court. This wouldn’t make a bad first home for her.”

“It’s quaint. But it could use some work. I’m thinking a complete gut and overhaul.”

“Tear it all down and make a park. The common pony will love that! Plus, I’ll get a tax write off for the trouble….”

“Hmm,” Bayou Runner grunted. Rolling his eyes up to the balcony as a trio of ponies stepped out onto it. There was Greengrass, of course. And the Notary mare from before. But Princess Luna’s presence was thoroughly unexpected. Soft mutterings rippled around the room, his fellow bidders clearly as surprised at her presence as he was. Reasons for Luna’s presence churned in Bayou Runner’s mind. Perhaps she was here to keep tabs on Greengrass? It wasn’t entirely outside the realm of possibility and would neatly line up with why the disgraced duke didn’t bring it up. But it was just as likely that there was something else going on here, so Runner kept his mouth shut and continued to watch.

Fluttering her wings ever so slightly, Princess Luna cast an imperious gaze down upon the assembled ponies, but said nothing, instead allowing Notary to speak.

“Welcome mares and gentlestallions to tonight’s auction for this historic upper ring property. We shall begin our bids at twenty thousand bits.”

A flurry of bids immediately rang out, the price jumping in leaps and bounds. Bayou Runner hung back, throwing out a bid every now and again to stay in the mix. All the while he watched the other bidders, looking for subtle cues and other hints at their motivations. A flick of a tail or ear here, a casual scratch of the head or neck. Ponies weren’t really as guarded about their body language as they thought they were. Night Shade hung back a little more to give himself a wider view of the ballroom, and to keep an eye on the balcony. Every time he looked at Princess Luna, he seemed ready to pass out again.

Now the bids were beginning to slow, hovering around the two hundred thousand bits range. The price wasn’t entirely out of the range, considering where the building was, though doubts continued to flicker around the back of his mind-

“Surprised that you aren’t pushing things a little harder.”

Lulamoon had slinked over to him while he was distracted, still the cat the swallowed the canary with that smug smile plastered all over her muzzle. A glass of some kind sparkling wine floated near her head...or perhaps it was some other kind of alcohol that just sparkled because of her magic. Either way, it was the perfect garnish to her smug attitude.

“Ahh, Miss Lulamoon-”

“Trixie,” she interrupted, eye twitching slightly. “Just Trixie. I hate Lulamoon.”

Runner rolled his eyes. “Why are you even here?”

“I’m here to buy a manor! Considering all that I’ve done for Equestria at this point that I think I deserve one.”

Bayou Runner rolled his eyes. “Glad to see that you’re staying humble. So, why are you over here, bothering me?”

“Because, I’m wondering why you’re here.”

“Well…,” Bayou Runner sighed, rolling his eyes towards the roof. “This is a piece of real estate. I was thinking that I’d buy it and then sell it again. Hopefully at a profit, since that’s my job.”

Trixie chuckled, leaning in a little closer. “Oh, come on now. The Great and Powerful Trixie isn’t a fool. You know as well as I that this auction is far too above board compared to the usual business you conduct.”

So...blackmail, or an attempt to get in on the ground floor? Well, there was an easy way to figure that out.

“You’re fishing.”

Trixie chuckled, absentmindedly swirling her drink, her insufferable smile growing all the wider. “Please. You think that the likes of Greengrass and the rest of the corrupt lot didn’t tell me about all the rumors and rumblings they were keeping tabs on.” She paused just long enough to take a swig of her drink before pushing forward again. “Did you really think your operations were unknown to them?””

Blackmail it was then. Bayou Runner could already see the pitch coming. It was one he had made more than a few times in his own career after all. He spared the barest of glances towards Night Shade. He stood with one foreleg crossed over the other and ears slicked back. While it might seem the casual stance to anypony else in reality it was one of the many prearranged signals the two used to communicate in these situations. This particular one was very important, considering the pony he was talking to.

Illusion magic in play. Be on guard. Then he yawned, rubbing his forehead while slightly nodding his head towards the balcony.

Of course, Bayou Runner thought. Why not use “Princess Luna” to help make your point?

Runner was quite sure who was behind it too. Trixie Lulamoon the great hero of the working class ponies was finally preparing to step into the void she created. And what better way to solidify her position than by offering Princess Luna another corrupt pony on a platter. Well, two could play the royal favor game. All he had to do was bait the hook.

“Fine. What do you want?”

Trixie glanced up at Princess Luna. “Not going to discuss it here. I’m sure that Greengrass has a bolt hole we can hide in to discuss business.”

A smile played through Bayou Runner’s mind. “Follow me Miss Trixie.”

As they wound through the crowd and back towards the front doors, Night Shade fell into step beside Trixie with a slight nod of his head. He lead the two of them back to the little side room where Greengrass’ thug had done her little interrogation. Once they slipped inside, he kicked the door closed.

“So, Miss Lulamoon-”

“Trixie. I hate-”

“I know what you hate and I know what I said,” Bayou Runner hissed. “And I also know that I want you to get to the damn point!”

Trixie swirled her drink again and downed it in one smooth motion. “Fine. I am moving up in Canterlot society and you’re going to fund that climb, starting with this manor. And you’re going to accept it and,” she jabbed him in the chest, grin growing almost predatory as she did, “smile while doing it. Or I’ll walk out there and tell Princess Luna about all the horrible things you’ve done. And you know what? She’ll believe me. Because without me and my friends, there won’t be anypony to stop Corona.”

Bayou Runner simply looked at Night Shade. Night Shade nodded back. Bayou Runner smiled, slowly turning his head back towards Trixie. “Well, let me explain something to you Lulamoon. I know full well that ‘Princess Luna’ out there is just an illusion. So, I’ll give you a point for at least trying to play the con. But I’ve been running the con since you were just a brainless little filly.”

He advanced, jabbing Trixie in the chest. “I’m better than you and I’m better than those fools in the Night Court! I’ve been swiping property from ponies under Luna and her blind collection of sycophants for almost a decade now! And I’m not going to take lip from some spoiled little brat who thinks she can play with the adult ponies.”

Trixie recoiled slightly, but then put her facade of bravado back up. “Luna will listen to me.”

“Luna never stopped me before, and she won’t stop me this time! And considering your reputation in Canterlot as is, it will be much easier to destroy. To say nothing of whatever precarious situations your friends are in financially! So, turn around, leave, and let me do my business!”

As his rant petered out, Bayou Runner found himself breathing hard at the sudden burst of sheer venom he had spat at Trixie. At least until he heard a female voice, cool, collected and meticulous from his immediate left.

“Well...I think I have enough.”

Light warped and shimmered around a space in the chamber, as Princess Luna appeared. Bayou Runner found himself eeping slightly in surprise despite himself. He almost didn’t believe it. He couldn’t have gotten fooled so easily.

Reaching out he pressed a hoof against Luna’s chest, finding it quite solid and non-illusionary. Finding his mouth suddenly quite dry, he looked up into Luna’s eyes. Somehow, despite the neutral expression she was wearing, her eyes were as cold as the icy reaches of the north.

“Thanks Night Shade.”

Thanks? When did the Princess of the Night just say “thanks”? Eyes narrowing, now he glared right back at Luna. “Night Shade...unless you want me to tan your damned hide, I suggest you drop this trickery right now!”

“But…”

He lashed out with a hoof, cuffing the unicorn upside the head. “Princess Luna” flared her wings, but didn’t move forward or try to otherwise stop him with. And as Trixie’s eyes began to nervously dart between Night Shade and Luna, a horrible smile crossed Bayou Runner’s muzzle, a sense of giddy glee swelling in his stomach.

“Do it, Shade.”

Whimpering, Night Shade channeled. A puff of blue smoke burst on Luna’s body, followed by a dozen more as the complex, interwoven illusions collapsed at once. Where Equestria’s only monarch stood a moment before, now a wall eyed, gray coated pegasus mare stood instead. She blinked in shock, recoiling from the Bayou Runner.

“Well, ain’t this something,” Bayou Runner chuckled. “Lulamoon, I think you’re cooked. And I aim to do the cooking here.”

Burning with anger at the clumsy attempt at blackmail, Bayou Runner reared up, preparing to give both these ponies the beating of a lifetime. At least, that was the plan. In reality, he didn’t get much further when a glittering blue aura enveloped his body and slammed him against the door. Another invisibility spell faded away and a second Princess Luna now appeared, behind the gray pegasus, her horn glowing.

“And now I really have had enough.”

Bayou Runner was pretty sure this Luna wasn’t an illusion. He suddenly found himself yanked forward, coming nearly snout to snout with her. As angry as the illusion had appeared, the actual princess was somehow even worse. Somehow she seemed even larger than normal, the room colder and darker under her gaze.

From behind him, he could hear Trixie chuckling now. “What was it you said? You’ve been conning since I was a foal? See, I was counting on that. So I gave you the perfect con to foil, to distract you from what I was actually doing. This is what we call a sting.”

The mention of “sting” made Runner’s mind grind back into action. There had to be a way out of this…or at least a way to lighten the punishment that was coming his way.

“You’ll need more collaboration than just the word of a former assistant.”

“No,” Luna said, her voice snapping across Bayou Runner like a whip. “I watched you try to extort a pony right in front of my eyes. For that alone, I could lock you away for quite some time, never mind the attempted assault! And while you could drag out the dozens of other charges with all manner of tricks and chicanery, you aren’t going to do that. You are going to confess to your crimes and not waste everypony’s time.”

“And before you think about arguing about that,” Trixie added. “Your offices should be getting searched right about now. So...there should be a bit of evidence backing up your confession.”

With that, Bayou Runner could feel the fight drain out of him. To oppose Luna further at the moment would only make his current situation worse. So, he nodded once and let Princess Luna haul him away. As the remains of everything he had built collapsed around him, he could only ask himself one question.

Where had it all gone wrong?

“You know, I’m surprised that went so well,” Cheerilee mused.

After seeing that Bayou Runner and his minions had been safely locked away, Trixie had joined Princess Luna and her alternate’s friends in the courtyard of Canterlot Castle. The guards had seen to it that there were no ponies wandering in our out of the area while Luna prepared her magic to walk between worlds. Trixie regarded the ponies this universe’s version of herself had befriended, all currently wearing star metal armor that Luna had forged for them due to their service to the crown. They were completely unneeded in Trixie’s opinion, but Princess Luna had decided to send her guards for them anyways. Though, she’d have to ask her Princess Celestia for some armor in the future. Still, her success with Bayou Runner- without even really needing to use the whole of her plan- had left Trixie in a good mood. Despite the annoyed glares that still occasionally came from Princess Luna.

“Was there really ever any doubt?” she asked. “I told you that I know how Runner thinks.”

“It was still a risk.” Raindrops grumbled, her armor lightly clinking against itself as she stomped a hoof. “What if I hadn’t been able to strong arm Night Shade?”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “Then I’d have come up with some other plan. You’re telling me that you’ve never had to improvise in all the adventures you’ve been dragged into?”

“Well...yes,” Ditzy frowned, nervously flicking her tail. “But that hasn’t always worked out the best for us either. Like when Lyra got kidnapped by Grogar.”

That made Trixie’s jaw drop. “Wait...you tangled with Grogar? The Ram of Darkness? The Scourge of Tambelon?”

“Huh...I guess he’s a bit more well known in your universe,” Lyra mused. “...And a ram, I guess.”

“What, he’s not a ram in yours?”

“He’s some kind of goat. ...Though it was hard to tell what kind with all the dark magic he was using.”

“No…,” Trixie frowned back. “He’s a ram! His horns curve around and everything!”

“Sheep aren’t sapient though!”

“They are in my universe!”

“...Why?”

“Why not!”

Luna interrupted the growing argument with a cough. “While this is a riveting conversation, I’ve located the thread of the magic Trixie used to travel here. I’ll be able to take us to her universe with my spell now.”

“Let’s get going then,” Trixie nodded. “The sooner we go, the sooner this can all get back to normal.”

Princess Luna made a sweeping gesture with her wing. “Everypony gather close then. I’m sure you remember how disorientating the trip can be.”

“Oh, I remember,” Carrot Top pouted, before trotting to Luna’s side all the same.

As Luna began to channel the magic for her spell, Trixie watched with interest. The sensation of being transported by the Sextant of Worlds had been sudden and shocking. More of a sudden jolt than anything else. Princess Luna by contrast was slowly weaving the threads of magic around the group, forming a kind of arcane basket to carry them all. Hopefully, it would make for a smoother trip.

The magic reached its crescendo, the basket becoming an arcane bubble around them. Then Princess Luna’s horn glowed a little brighter and the world fell away.

Princess Luna hadn’t cast this particular spell many times. In fact, there had been less than half a dozen instances in the whole of her long, long life where she had felt the need to slip between the cracks of realities. Despite that number being low, she was quite familiar with how the spell felt. There was something about the process that was unmistakable, a sense of lightness that settled over the body as one slipped out of one reality and into another. Based on what this other universe’s Trixie told her about her home universe, Luna wasn’t expecting this trip to be anything out of the ordinary. It would take a matter of moments, as the spell instantly whisked them between worlds.

So when she was suddenly yanked out of the spell, she whinnied in a mixture of surprise and fright. In the next moment, she found herself tumbling onto a sturdy stone floor. Without a moment of hesitation, she sprang back to her hooves with a flap of her wings. Sliding into a defensive stance with her head low and wings flared, she eyed her surroundings.

The chamber that Luna found herself in was large and circular. Rows of stone seats- not unlike an ancient Roaman senate- were arranged in four tiers, the highest tier of the lot consisting only of three overly ornate looking thrones. One of them looked frighteningly familiar, with its tall, lanky construction and deer like antlers set at its top. All of the seats were situated around a central space of empty floor, which in turn rang an open hole in the stone. Luna spared it a quick glance and could see what looked like the whole of Equis and a little bubble of light floating towards it. Trixie and her Element Bearers still stood within, seemingly unaware of her absence.

“What manner of trickery is this?” she muttered to herself.

“Consider this, an inspection, Princess.”

Luna spun towards the voice, a feeling of dread growing in the pit of her stomach. She knew that voice. Despite its relative feebleness it was still one she knew all too well. A cloaked figure, wiry and emaciated, had taken one of the seats while he peered down at her.

“Tirek,” she spat, the name bile in her mouth. “I see you blight this universe as well.”

Tirek flipped back his hood, smiling smugly despite the heavy iron chains bound to his wrists. “You wound me princess. I have more of a reason to be here than you. This universe already has a Luna. Please turn around and return to your own universe.”

Being addressed by the lord of Tartarus like a Canterlot bureaucrat was surreal enough to make Luna burst out in laughter. “I will do nothing of the sort! One of my ponies is on your world and I shall not leave her! Especially not with you as the gatekeeper, you loathsome, lying backstabbing monster!”

“Mmm…” Tirek smiled. “Loathsome I may be…” He threw a hand forward, a crackling beam of green magic leaping forth. It struck Luna in the chest, blasting her across the chamber. Her impact shattered a few of the stone chairs into dust and as she rolled back onto her hooves, Tirek’s laughter echoed in her ears.

“But here...I am a god.”

Author's Note

IT LIVES AGAIN!

Yeah, I wandered away from this fic for....quite a while. I know it's bad, but in my defense....

*POINTS*

Look over there! *RUNS AWAY!*

Skitchverse Chapter 6

“WHAT?”

Trixie’s exclamation hung in the air, but her mind was racing with questions. Just how much of her life had this pony been watching? How many embarrassing moments had she peeked in on voyeuristically? What, exactly, was this Skitch-Sketch planning?

“I want to see this file!” she demanded, slamming her hooves down on the edge of the table.

“Of course,” Baron Max smiled. A quick spin of his chair turned the baron towards one of the file cabinets. A thick blue colored folder was produced from between others of red, orange and blue. Trixie couldn’t help but notice that the red and orange folders greatly outnumbered the blue ones. She roughly yanked the file from Max’s hooves when he offered it, shaking it once in her magic aura before flipping it open.

She hadn’t been entirely sure what to expect before she started reading it and remained somewhat confused as she pushed through the pages. The broad strokes were all there and correct. Her arrival in Ponyville, the Longest Night festival, meeting her friends, finding the Elements of Harmony and their adventures beyond.

But for a document written by some cross world peering pony, it got a lot of the details wrong. Applejack was described as being much more antagonistic and borderline ruthless towards Carrot Top, for example. And Trixie knew that jealousy on behalf of Carrot Top had played a role in that relationship. The Night Court was also portrayed as a bit more corrupt than she had experienced as well, though Trixie still stood by the necessity of the sting she and her friends had done to oust its worst members.

Speaking of the Grand Galloping Gala, that’s where the file just...stopped. Halfway into the retelling of those events, the file just ended. Well, for the most part. Tucked under the last page of the file was a sealed envelope. Flipping it over to the front, Trixie raised an eyebrow at the six names scrawled on the front; her and her friends. Slowly, she ripped the envelope open and unfolded the letter within. The letter’s hoof writing was neat, though there were a great many crossed out lines and words.

Dear Mane Six, Lunaverse Six, Trixie and her friends,

If you’re reading this letter, it’s because I can’t be there to talk to you in person. Most likely it's because I’ve gotten dragged away on business of some kind. I hope that it’s important business too, because I really didn’t want to have this conversation via fucking letter.

I know that all of this must be scary and confusing. That you must be wondering if you’re just copies of the “originals”, or if my reality controls yours, or if we’re watching you. So, let me clarify a few things right away.

Yes, I am the pony that’s been watching you, listening to you aware of the events of your reality...kind of. My running theory at the moment is that my home universe acts kind of like a radio receiver and that creative types are basically tapping into others when they dream. We don’t control your reality and we’re not stalking you. And if what I’ve been experiencing in this reality since coming from my own holds true, my reality will have gotten a lot of details wrong.Think of it like people ponies sharing rumors. The further from the source you go, the more jumbled the telling.

But the broad strokes tend to hold true from what I’ve seen. And if there’s one thing I’m quite sure of? You six are not copies. You’re not some cheap knock offs of the ponies from this universe. You are you’re own mares, the sum of your own life experiences and skills...and the multiverse is a little brighter place because you six are in it.

Your admirer, Sincerely, With Greatest Respect,

Skitch-Sketch

Trixie blinked. The letter was a bit more heartfelt than she had been expecting. She...had to admit, it was nice to know that she had a fan in another universes. Nice to know that her friends had a fan as well. ...Her friends that she wouldn’t be seeing again until she helped get Skitch-Sketch’s device back.

Pushing the file from her mind for now, she passed it and letter back to Mounty Max. “While I’m still not entirely sure how to feel about all of this, it isn’t why we’re here. Skitch-Sketch’s device has been stolen. By a pony named Greengrass.”

“Oh dear,” Baron Max frowned. “We’ll need to get on this immediately! If Archduke Fisher hears of this, he’ll try to use it as a justification to demand control of the device, even if we do get it back!” He rubbed his chin in thought before tapping a hoof against the desk. “Greengrass...that name sounds familiar. Do we know if he’s part of the Day Court at all?”

“Day Court,” Trixie said, her face locked in a deadpan stare. “Of course there’s a Day Court.”

Roseluck rolled her eyes, leaning forward to place her hooves on the edge of the desk. “I don’t know for sure, but I have this nagging feeling that he is. And that I might have crossed paths with him in some capacity before. I wanted to check in with the old mission records at the EIS.”

Baron Max nodded. “Good idea. I’ll write a letter helping explain the situation, just to help speed things along. Then I’ll ask around and see what the other court members know.”

Trixie nodded, already wandering towards the door. “At least we have a plan then. Let’s get to it!”

She hopped out of her chair, brimming with a nervous energy to hunt down this world’s version of Greengrass. But she had barely taken one step forward when Roseluck pressed a hoof against her chest.

“Woah, hold on a second,” Roseluck said. “I might be able to get into my old stomping grounds. But even with Baron Max’s letter, you don’t have security clearance. The EIS isn’t just going to let you wander around there. You need to wait here.”

“I’m not just going to sit around and wait!”

“Then go help Baron Max pump the court for information. But there’s no way somepony from another universe is going to waltz around our intelligence HQ.”

Trixie glared at the disguised changeling. “...You’re not going to budge on this, are you?”

“Not an inch.”

“...Fine,” Trixie sighed, turning towards Baron Max. “Who do we need to talk to?”

The halls of this Canterlot castle ended up being just as labyrinthine as the ones she had walked back in her own universe, just more brightly decorated. As such, Trixie found the layout not completely alien to her. They were near what would have been the court chambers in her version of the castle. She had rarely seen their interior, as she had yet to climb enough ranks in the Night Court to have reason to venture within. But she was intimately familiar with the hallways outside said chamber and these ones were doing a good impression of the latter.

Junior court members, their assistants and the assistants of the more powerful milled around as she and Baron Max approached. But before they could walk much further, Trixie stopped, placing a hoof on Max’s withers.

“Baron, what would you say my double’s reputation is around the Day Court?” she asked, the beginnings of an idea percolating in the back of her mind.

“Well, I can’t say that she’s exceptionally well known. A few of the court are aware of her exploits in Neigh Orleans however.”

Trixie nodded and began glancing about for a room she could duck into for a moment. Many meeting chambers were considered and then summarily rejected. To high of a chance that there’d be some nobles discussing tax reform or farm subsidies within. But upon a few more moments of searching, she found a room that would suit her needs. A broom closet just a little ways down a side hallway.

“Go on ahead. I’ll catch up.”

Max’s right eyebrow was raised in confusion, but he nodded and set off, quickly trotting for one of the groups milling about amongst the mass. Trixie immediately slipped into the broom closet and set to work weaving a proper enchantment for the information gathering session.

She opted to go as nondescript as possible. Blending into the crowd of pencil pushers would be the key here. One illusion dyed her coat a dull beige color, while another set to make her mane and tail both a mousey brown color and a style so straight that one could be forgiven for thinking it was trimmed with a slide rule. Her star studded cape was hidden underneath the image of a boring white dress shirt. One invisibility spell was saved for herself, however, as she slipped back out the door.

Once Trixie was outside the broom closet, she let the spell end. An assistant in a hallway wasn’t that odd. An assistant coming out of a broom closet was a little more so. Or even worse, would probably lead to questions and assumptions about her making out with some “cute” stallion in there. She shuddered slightly at the thought, before setting out again.

Nopony paid her much mind as she moved through the gaggle of assistants and nobles. She looked like just another pencil pusher, after all. She walked slowly and deliberately through the crowd, her ears twitching towards the chorus of conversations that floated around her. Most were the discussions of bills and other bits of legislation that she would have expected. Small talk and other bits of daily chatter were woven amongst the more important topics.

While no discussion of missing world hopping devices was among them, Trixie didn’t let it bother her. If there were any conspirators lurking around here, it would take a bit more work to tease information out of them.

Baron Max was a few pony clumps ahead of her, talking with a pony that she both recognized and immediately regretted the presence of. The white coat, the long blonde mane and tail, the air of smug superiority that he radiated even when engaged in casual conversation.

“Blueblood,” Trixie hissed through clenched teeth.

Of course he would be here! She just couldn’t go anywhere in this crazy alternate universe without running into doubles of ponies she knew! Stopping just short of their conversation, she strained her ears.

“...can’t say that I’ve heard anything about that,” Blueblood drawled.

“Come now Blueblood. You’re one of the most connected ponies at court. Surely you’ve heard some rumblings.”

“Baron Max. I’m not so foolish as to interfere with the Element Bearers and their human. Nor would I be as foolish to invest my fortunes with a pony that would.”

Max glowered back. “Skitch-Sketch isn’t ‘their human’, Blueblood.”

“...My apologies. You’re right, of course. But believe me when I say, that no ponies have approached me about stealing Skitch-Sketch’s little device.”

With that, he turned and headed away, Max sighed and headed to another group. While Max may have taken Blueblood at face value Trixie didn’t believe him at all. So she followed him. Blueblood’s path took him away from the court chambers and towards the dozens of other offices and meeting rooms that served it. Seemingly picking one at random, he slipped inside. Trixie moved quickly, weaving three spells in quick order.

A copy of her current illusionary form walked on down the hallway. At the same time, she wove both an invisibility and inaudibility charm over herself and dove through the door before it closed. Scrambling as fast as she could, she slid under the massive meeting table that Blueblood paced around.

What are you waiting for? Trixie thought.

The answer turned out to be a few more ponies. The first one was painfully familiar as Archduke Fisher was back. His companion was a new pony though. A sturdy looking mare with a light grey coat and a cutie-mark that was a lump of coal. Her black mane was cut short and tucked under a well blocked bowler hat. She had a cigar clamped firmly between her teeth and wore an expression that conveyed and extreme distaste with the world around her.

Blueblood nodded. “Fisher, Coal Black. You wished to speak with me?”

“We did,” Fisher said, nodding back. “We wished to extend our previous offer again.”

Blueblood rolled his eyes and huffed. “Again? For the last time. I am not interested in stealing that pet human’s toy! Based on the last contact we’ve had with another world, why on all of Equis would would you want to do that again?”

Coal Black chuckled around her cigar. “Yer kidding, right? We’ve all heard the rumors about what that human dragged with him! Technology and magic the likes of which we’ve never seen! The way I could overhaul my mining operations-”

“Then talk to the ex-human and offer her a pile of bits for whatever she knows about the mining technology of her home. I understand that there is very little of her not for sale.”

Fisher frowned. “I thought she worked on some kind of electronic boxes? Computators?”

“Ask. Her,” Blueblood growled. “Sweet Celestia are you two being dense! How do you think the princesses are going to react to this?”

“Celestia is too stubborn ta listen to reason,” Coal Black growled back. “We get the tech, or magic, or whatever, show that it works and then she’ll come around!”

Blueblood looked from Coal Black to Fisher. “...You already stole it, didn’t you?”

“If we did, I’ll remind you that we have plenty of dirt on you,” Fisher calmly declared. “And that you would be wise to stay out of this if you’re not going to pull on the damn rope.”

There was a poignant pause before Blueblood responded. “...When your insane little venture ends with both of you in jail? I’ll enjoy adding what’s left of your tiny little empires to mine.”

Coal Black flicked her tail and snorted. “Forget it. Let’s just get this shindig done with. Then we can get Celestia on our side.”

As the pair turned to leave, Trixie found herself stuck in a mental dilemma. She could try and stop the pair right now, that wouldn’t lead her to the missing device. Also, there were two of them and Coal Black looked quite capable of cracking bones if she wanted to. No...this would need a bit more subtly. ...And another pony.

Blueblood lingered after the others left, his expression hard to read. After a moment or two of silent compensation he began to leave as well. Trixie jumped into action, throwing her aura against the door. Blueblood whirled about, his own horn springing to life.

“Who’s there?” he hissed, gaze sweeping the room.

Trixie let the spell fade as she emerged, enjoying the confused expression on the face of one of her rivals...alternate though he might be.

“You’re that mare from Neigh Orleans...Lulamoon. ...What are you up to?”

“I’m going to cut to the chase Blueblood. I’m not this world’s Trixie.”

“...This is about to get annoyingly complicated isn’t it?” Blueblood groaned. Kneading the side of his head, he shot Trixie and angry glare. “You’re tied up in that theft?”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Kinda. But I’d like to get home and you’d clearly like to not be dragged into this very, very stupid plan. And the sooner that Fisher and his friends are dealt with, the sooner that gives us both what we want.”

“And thusly, you want me to get involved with Fisher in some manner of undercover operation?” Blueblood sighed.

“Are you going to try and tell me that it wouldn’t work?”

“I’m going to tell you that I’m not interested in getting involved. I don’t need the kind of reputation that comes from being a moral crusader.” He moved towards the door again, pressing his own aura against Trixie’s. “Assuming that what you’re saying is even true. It is quite a coincidence that you show up immediately after that conversation.”

“You can’t just up and walk away from this,” Trixie said, bringing her own logic to bear. “They have the device. They have a pony who can chance her way past its defenses. But since she doesn’t actually know what she’s playing with, who knows where she might open a door to.”

Now Blueblood hesitated. The hook was in, so Trixie started reeling. “I understand not wanting to be directly involved. But if you’re anything like my Blueblood, you know everypony in court. You know how they think. And you know where they’d steal away with a toy like that.”

“...I am going to write down some addresses,” Blueblood said, trotting back to the table. “If I don’t trip on the way out of here and break my neck, you can assume these are all the locations that Fisher and his friends like to use for covert meetings.”

Trixie grinned as Blueblood wrote. A Blueblood that knew when to be practical and strike a deal? She’d take it. She also took the list the moment Blueblood finished writing it.

“There,” he sighed. “Now let us never see each other again.”

“With pleasure,” Trixie said, tucking the list into her cape. Without a moment’s hesitation, she charged back out the door. She was one step closer to getting home!

“I should have known that Fisher would be involved,” Baron Max sighed. “He’s been demanding control of that device for months now. I just thought that he’d have more sense than to do...something like this.”

“My Fisher is just as big of a pain in the flank, so I can’t really say that I’m surprised.”

Trixie and Max had returned to the Baron’s office to pour over Blueblood’s list. Already it was a mixed bag of locations, half of them being mine offices and manor houses outside of Canterlot and some of those being quite a distance away. The world jumping device could potentially be on its way to any one of them and there wereas a good two dozen addresses on the list.

Dragging the conversation back to that conundrum, Trixie waved a hoof at the list. “You know your Fisher though. Where do you think he’d want to take that thing?”

“His manor back in Rushia would be the obvious choice,” Max said, pointing to an address. “I was there for a charity event once. It’s built like a fortress. Massive vault in the basement.”

“They said they were planning something though. And it sounded like it was going to be happening soon so they could show things off to Princess Celestia.”

Max’s goat assistant peered over Trixie’s shoulder. “I don’t think they’ll go far. Celestia’s been working night and day recently. I doubt they’d be able to pull her away from the capital.”

“Sounds like I missed something big.”

Roseluck casually strolled back into the office, slipping into place around Max’s desk without further comment.

“Right, here’s what I found out,” Trixie said, before quickly launching into a full explanation of what she saw. Roseluck took the story without comment, her face scrunched up in thought. “...which leaves us trying to figure out where they took the thing.”

“Well...I think that what I discovered might be able to shed some additional light on the matter,” Roseluck said. “As it turns out, I had heard of Greengrass before. Cherry Berry and I worked together on a case investigating his father and the family mining concern.”

“Oh dear,” Max sighed. “I think I can see where this is going.”

“I can’t,” Trixie frowned.

“Has anypony told you about the Age of Nightmares yet?” Max asked.

“No...but I did manage to read a little bit about them before coming here. Not sure what they had to do with mines though.”

“It specifically has to do with the collapse of the diamond dog holds in Equestria,” Roseluck answered. “Right at the tail end of the Age of Nightmares, just after Princess Luna’s fall, the holds under Equestria’s soil came under attack from...something...in the depths.”

Max nodded, taking up the story. “The refugees came with a warning and a command from High King Ruffaford. To seal the holds from the outside and let nopony in, to keep whatever was there from getting out.”

“The effects on Equestria’s mining industry were catastrophic. Overnight, it became the most tightly regulated industry in the land. Survey teams have to scout out potential sites to make sure proposed shafts won’t tunnel into old diamond dog workings.”

“Plus, there are equally strict quotas on the amount of minerals that can be extracted. And Princess Celestia makes sure they’re enforced. It doesn’t matter if the vein keeps going on. Once the quota is hit, you stop digging and let earth pony magic gradually promote the build up of new deposits,” Roseluck said.

“The rock farmers certainly were happy though!” Mrs Gobhar chirped.

It took a moment for Trixie’s mind to get past the idea that rock farming was actually a thing in this Equestria for the implications of Roseluck’s investigations to settle in. “...He was trying to buck the regulations, wasn’t he?”

“Ever since Elkienhiem’s mining industry took off, Equestria’s has been agitating to get back to digging. It’s been a thousand years since the fall of the holds after all. Certainly whatever was down there can’t still be there! Or so the argument goes,” Roseluck said. She chuckled, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Of course, the arrival of Princess Luna kind of blew a hole in that argument. At the time though, Greengrass’ father was trying to get the results first and then ask for forgiveness later. Gotta give him extra points for being gutsy enough to dig back into Mt. Canterhorn. Right under Celestia’s nose.”

“Asking forgiveness later seems to be a running theme with this group,” Trixie sighed. “But how does that help us find where they’re going?”

“Well, here’s the thing. Those workings that Greengrass’ father began to dig out? They’re still there,” Roseluck said. “Quiet enough to be a place where a bunch of ponies could hide, but also sturdily built enough that if something went wrong, it’d keep the damage minimized. I say-”

But whatever Roseluck was going to propose was interrupted by a loud booming sound, high overhead. Trixie immediately rushed to the office window, Max and Roseluck squeezing in beside her a moment later.

The trio could see a multicolored streak shoot across the sky, diving straight towards them and Canterlot castle. As the light arched overhead and past their field of view, Trixie thought she recognized a familiar silhouette at its head.

“Princess Luna!”

Author's Note

This chapter really did take me too long to write.

*hangs head* I am sorry.

....Anyway! For our Lunaverse readers, the Diamond Dogs are very much modeled off dwarves, cause dwarves are objectively the best fantasy race. So there!

It should be noted that the collapse of the Equestrian holds was not repeated in those diamond dog holdings outside the borders. The theories as to why this is the case are many , though so far no one's been able to come up with an actual answer.

We'll see what Greengrass, Fisher and Coal Black are up to when the split chapter structure merges back together for the finale. Next time, we'll pick back up with the Lunaverse side and see how they arrive in the Skitchverse!

Lunaverse Chapter 6

Dark magic seared its way across ancient stones, high above a world that was both familiar and alien at the same time. Princess Luna corkscrewed through the air, dodging another blast from the dark centaur known as Lord Tirek. She had lived a very long time and seen a great deal in that lifetime, but this would go down in her personal history as one of its stranger moments.

“You won’t be able to dodge me forever ‘princess’,” Tirek drawled. “You are in my world now and this chamber is as much a prison for those who dare encroach upon our reality.”

“How fitting that I be greeted by another prisoner then. It seems that chains suit you Tirek. In my world or any other!”

A trio of blazing stars were summoned with a thought and sent screaming Tirek’s direction. The centaur was forced to scramble to avoid the impacts, resulting in a trio of near misses. But Luna smiled and with a second flick of magic made them detonate. Roaring blue flames filled the room, the magical blaze swallowing every bench, seat and centaur.

There was a certain and undeniable thrill to combat. Especially in situations such as this when she could cut loose without having to worry about harming any innocents. The likes of Tirek could certainly handle her rougher magic.

As the flames faded, Luna landed on the opposite end of the wide stone stadium. Unfortunately, Tirek still stood, though smoke poured off of his body. Fury was etched into every inch of his craggy, weathered face, a sneer twisting his lips to show off a mouth full of fangs.

“FENRIER!” he bellowed, the whole room shaking.

A howl echoed through the air. Deep and bone chilling, the shadows in the room grew deeper and darker. It was a darkness profound enough to make Luna’s coat stand on end. Her ears twitched towards the sound of claws scrabbling on stone coming from her right and she whirled about throwing up a sparkling shield of magic. Something massive slammed into it a moment later, forcing her hooves to slide back across the stone of the arena from the sheer momentum of the strike. The darkness parted revealing a massive black furred wolf. Like Tirek the beast was chained, the links affixed to a dark iron collar clamped around his neck. As he pushed forward against Luna’s spell, the links of the chain creaked and groaned as if they'd threaten to give way any moment.

“Fed! Bite! Rip! Tear!” the wolf roared. Foam flew from his jowls, while thick ropes of drool dripped from rotten yellow rangs. “Sweet pony meat! Eat the moon! EAT THE MOON!”

“At least you’re keeping your goals realistic,” Luna grunted.

With a burst of extra magic Luna whipped the offending wolf towards Tirek. The two collided like a pair of out of control trains, but Fenrier quickly sprang back to his paws and came charging across the ranks of benches again.

“Eat, eat, eat, eat, EAT!”

Luna summoned more of her stars, six of them this time. The stone of the chamber had proved sturdy enough to weather her last blasts unscathed. A rare opportunity was at her hooves to cut loose, without having to worry about hurting her little ponies. Three stars were sent whipping towards Tirek, three more towards the onrushing wolf. This time, when the pair tried to dodge the blasts, Luna wove a second enchantment and split each group of three into six. Screaming through the air, they impacted into Tirek and Fenrier with bone splintering force. Fenrier was sent catapulting across the chamber, impacting off an ornate crystal throne at the top of the far side, before rolling down one of the wide staircases with a whimper.

Triek, by contrast, had managed to remain upright. Though the strain of resisting the spells was clear on his form, with legs locked and arms outstretched.

“Get up you fool!” he snarled. “We’re running out of time!”

Raising an eyebrow Luna wove another spell to trace the flow of magic within the chamber. The stones themselves glimmered with magic that would have been blinding to any kind of mortal pony. Tirek’s magic snaked across that arcane power like black rivers of oil and formed a crisscross pattern over the opening in the floor.

“My, aren’t we desperate to keep me contained here?” Luna chuckled.

She summoned more magic aiming a blast straight for the center of Tirek’s web. Tirek moved to intercept, his own hands crackling with dark magic. But again, Luna spit her spell, letting her beams zip around Tirek’s own dark counterspell, before they impacted into his initial enchantment. All at once, the strands of magic began to unwind, snapping apart in bursts of oily black smoke.

“World walking witch!” Tirek yelled.

Magic. Dozens of magical signatures began to appear in the room. Dozens upon dozens at that. Luna looked around as creatures began to appear along with the bursts of magic. Alicorns, wolves, big cats, elephants, yaks, tapir, dragons and more. Each one crackled with power and each one seemed confused at the tableau arrayed before them. The chamber immediately exploded into hundreds of voices, each owner trying to shout over their fellows to demand an explanation. For Luna, it was like being suddenly thrust into a particularly harsh session of the Night Court.

Tirek was trying to slink off into the crowd in an attempt to look inconspicuous. A massive white wolf had pinned Fenrier to the floor. All the other creatures in the room kept shouting at her. Then three massive peals of sound washed over the chamber. Iron striking on iron.

“Order! This chamber will come to order!” a strong sounding stallion yelled.

Slowly rotating in place, Luna peered down at the stallion who had shouted. He was a sturdy looking alicorn with a black coat and an ashen gray mane and tail. He was stern as an ancient mountain with a crag like frown crossing his muzzle. It took Luna a moment to realize that he was also wearing the black robes of a judge. The bench before his seat was one of the largest in the chamber and featured an iron gavel block upon its surface. Luna watched as he slammed his right hoof against it three more times, calling the crowd to order.

“I said, ORDER!” he finally bellowed, the Royal Canterlot Voice echoing through room.

Mercifully, the cacophony of noise fell to a murmur, then the murmur fell to silence. The dark alicorn, finally looking satisfied, turned his stony glare to Luna.

“Now...who, exactly, are you.”

“Princess Luna Equestris. The same question to you.”

The alicorn spread his forelegs wide. “Thanatos, judge of the dead and overseer of this divine council. An explanation is required for your presence, for you are not our Princess Luna.”

A stack of papers appeared with a flash of magic and Thanatos began to magically sort through them. “Though, if I were a gambling pony, I’d suspect that it had something to do with the magical transport that left this world recently.”

Luna nodded. “You would be correct. My world’s Trixie Lulamoon, our Element of Magic, switched places with yours. I have come to reclaim her and return yours.”

The crowd erupted into another chorus of shouts and arguments.

“No outside gods!” an ancient looking goat with a beard of vines and flowers bellowed. “Let her mortal catspaws do the work!”

“Open your eyes!” a dark brown alicorn mare, with mane and tail the color of freshly harvested wheat snapped back. “She is not divine! Not like we are!”

“Throw her back anyway!” an ancient dragon, scales black as midnight roared. “Throw them all back! When have outsiders brought our world anything but pain?”

“Arrogant fool!” a massive wooly mammoth trumpeted. “”If you were so damn worried about outsiders, you could have blocked the humans!”

“That would have been divine interference and you know it, you senile old elephant!”

“Order!” Thanatos shouted again, slamming his hoof down again and again until things finally went quiet once more. “Now-”

There was a flash of light from behind Luna and Thanatos rolled his eyes.

“Ahhh. Discord. How nice of you to actually show your face!”

Luna’s heart pounded in her chest and she whirled to stare at the lord of chaos. The draconequus sat at one of the three highest points of the chamber in a mismatched throne that fit his mismatched body. For whatever reason, he was wearing a dark suit for clothing and dark glasses. The latter he was peering over the rim of to stare down at Luna.

“Normally, I’d be fine with letting this august body handle its own problems, but then a little bird told me about this other Luna that arrived and I just had to see what it was all about.”

Luna glowered back at Discord. “You have power in this reality? What spore of madness has infected this world?”

Discord waved a dismissive paw. “I’m practically retired these days. In fact, I was out on vacation when your presence so rudely snatched me away from the casino floor!”

“You. Gambling?”

“If you must know, I’m thinking about buying the place.”

“Your extra dimensional galavanting about is not the concern of this council,” Thanatos dryly commented, cutting across the impending argument. “We are here to discuss this alicorn before us.”

Luna ruffled her wings. “I do have a name Thanatos. There is no need to discuss me in such a dismissive manner.”

“Don’t take it personally honey,” a icey blue coated, blonde maned alicorn called out. “Thanatos is just a bit naturally grumpy. Comes with being the lord of the dead.”

“Can we get on with this!” Tirek shouted. “This pony, this paltry excuse for a goddess is trying to infect her presence upon our world! If you intend to let her set hoof upon the prime, then I demand equal consideration!”

A great white wolf snarled from his seat. “Silence, cur! You shall never walk the prime again after what you did!”

Luna’s mind raced. She was caught between a host of self proclaimed gods, many of them clearly engaging in power plays of their own. One had to step carefully in a situation such as this. It was time to play the diplomat.

“With all due respect to this council, having ponies from our respective worlds swapped does neither of us any good. My word is denied the protection of its Element of Magic and your world is cursed with an extra.”

A mighty golden dragon chose that moment to speak. Her voice was haughty but smooth as silk, and nearly every inch of her massive form was bedecked in glittering jewelry. “Cursed you say? That is a bold claim. One could argue that as your Element of Magic is in our world it would belong to us by rights of salvage.”

Luna smiled beatifically at the dragon, nodding her head slightly. “Perhaps. But is this council familiar with what happens when two Elements of Magic come in close contact with each other?”

A low murmur rippled through the crowd of gods. Thanatos banged his hoof again before fixing Luna with a curious stare. “Do you have relevant evidence for this council?”

Luna nodded and began to weave a spell. Above her head, images began to dance, playing out the relevant events from her last visit between the worlds. The meeting of Elements, the damage to them and the mad monster that was released from the conflict. She let the actions of the self proclaimed Anthesis play without comment, watching the expressions on the faces of the council for their reactions. By her estimation, roughly a quarter of the assembled group were now decidedly uncomfortable at the idea of a similar creature running amok on their world.

“All that I ask is for temporary passage to collect my student. I will not stay long and it will save you the trouble of dealing with the worst case scenario.”

The response of the council was to look towards Tirek. The centaur spread his arms wide, his chains clinking against each other. “My stance is clear. If you allow an outsider, an alicorn at that, to walk the prime and intrude upon the domain of a native god, I will challenge for the right to intervene upon the world.”

Thanatos sighed. “A vote it is then. All in favor of granting the exception?”

A chorus of hooves and hands were raised, Luna counting them as quickly as possible.

“All opposed.”

Another round went up, this one including Thanatos himself. A tie.

A chorus of groans filled the chamber while Thanatos massaged his temples. “All present prime gods will now cast the tie breaking vote.”

“Well, well, well,” Discord said. “Isn’t this an interesting situation!”

His tone was infused with a mixture of mirth and mockery as he appeared on the chamber floor next to Luna. Luna found herself staring at him in shock.

“A prime god? What manner of title is that?”

“Oh, don’t worry your pretty little head about it Lulu. All that you know is that for this particular situation, I am the master of your fate!”

He began to circle Luna, tucking his arms behind his back as he spoke. “My fellow members of the divine, what we have before us is quite the unique situation! Another Princess Luna, come to our doorstep begging for one of her little ponies back.”

Luna’s wings flared and she dropped into a defensive stance. She was not going to be mocked or lectured to by one of the worst monsters in Equestria’s history! Discord noticed her change in stance and...smirked! He smirked at her while peering over those inane glasses of his! But then he looked up and past her, his expression shifting to a glare. Taking the barest of moments to follow his gaze, Luna realized that he was glaring at Tirek.

“...I propose a compromise,” Discord said. “The issue, as I see it, is that Luna’s domain over the moon due to her alicorn magic. She is, by her presence, infringing upon our Luna’s realm.”

The smile was back now. “So, I propose that Luna give up her alicorn magic for the duration of her stay here. It will be returned to her when she leaves with her precious little element bearer.”

Luna reared up, snorting in defiance at the mad god. “I will not give you even a scrap of my magic Discord!”

Discord held up his paw and talon. “So judgemental princess! Jumping to conclusions, aren’t we? There’s no need for that. I don’t need, want or will be handling your magic.”

He pointed a talon towards Thanatos. “He will.”

Thanatos blinked. “I will?”

“You are a stickler for the rules par-excellance!” Discord replied. “If there is a single being here that can be trusted to guard Lulu’s magic, it’s you.”

Thanatos lightly tapped his hooves together for a moment, before peering down at Luna. “The council’s vote on Discord’s proposal?”

This time, seventy five percent of the council voted yes. Luna grit her teeth. The longer she dithered here, the greater the chance Trixie could be hurt on this world.

“Fine!” she spat. “But Discord stays far away from me while I hoof it over.”

Discord blinked back to his throne while Thanatos’s horn began to glow. Luna felt a distinct tugging sensation as her alicorn magic was pulled away from her, manifesting as a ball of sparkling midnight before the god of death. Her mane lost its ethereal nature, falling back into a light blue. Thanatos summoned an iron bound chest and tucked her magic within.

“Passage is granted, Princess Luna. Go in harmony and collect your element bearer.”

“With pleasure,” Luna responded.

And before the council of gods, she was engulfed in a bright light.

The next moment, she was soaring over the gold and purple spires of Canterlot, this universe’s Trixie and the rest of her universe’s element bearers at her side. They were wrapped in a prismatic bubble of magic as they streaked right for one of Canterlot’ castle’s many gardens.

“Uhh! Princess!” Carrot Top shouted. “Maybe we should be slowing down now?”

Luna flared her wings, the strain of the descent pushing against them as they came to a gradual stop. A few gardener ponies that had been working in the garden before their arrival scrambled for cover as the bubble of magic skidded across the grass before falling apart as they finally came to a complete stop.

As they did, Carrot Top immediately scrambled for one of the nearby bushes, her face as green as its leaves.

“That...was an interesting landing,” Cheerilee said, shaking her head to clear its dizzyness. “Everypony okay?”

“I’m fine!” Lyra called, trotting over to Carrot Top.

“Okay over here,” Raindrops said.

Ditzy sounded off next. “Same here!”

“Trixie is also okay!” Trixie said, even if she was stumbling a little.

“We should find one of this world’s princesses,” Luna said. “The sooner we get royal help, the sooner we can find our Trixie-”

“INVADERS!” somepony screamed.

It was one of the gardener ponies. “Invaders! We’re under attack!” she screamed, running for a nearby door.

The rest of the gardeners proceeded to promptly panic and began bolting in every which direction. It took a moment for Luna to realize what they were panicking about, aside from their sudden appearance. Her element bearers were wearing their starmetal armor, just in case they landed somewhere hostile when they arrived.

“Wait!” she shouted, but it was too late. She could already hear the sound of armored hooved rushing their way. “Everypony behind me!”

They fell into place, eyes glancing towards all the entrances to this little courtyard. It sounded like the guards were coming from all directions.

“Trixie, is there something about your word that you didn’t tell us about?” Raindrops growled. “It sounds like a small army is coming our way!”

“What? No! I mean we did kind of air drop into the castle. Probably every guard in the place saw us coming!”

“Let me explain,” Luna said. “I’m sure that once-”

“Halt!” a familiar mare’s voice said.

Luna blinked, finding herself at a loss for words when Princess Cadenza came galloping into the garden. Armed at that. An impressively sized warhammer bobbed in her sparkling aura, its crystal head shaped vaguely like a heart.

“Cadenza?”

The pink alicorn blinked back. “...Luna? What are you doing here? I-”

Then she shook her head, glaring at Luna with the best war face she could manage. “You can’t be Luna! I literally saw her at the airship docks with Celestia twenty minutes ago! If you’re a changeling, this is officially the worst invasion ever!”

“Princess Cadance!” Trixie shouted, stepping in front of Luna. “We’re not changelings! It’s me! The Great and Powerful Trixie! ...Remember me? I accidentally gave Skitch-Sketch a cursed amulet? You helped get it off of her?”

Cadenza...Cadance, slowly lowered her hammer. “...I remember that.” She frowned, not taking her eyes off of Luna. “Would somepony mind giving me some context here?”

“I’m from another universe,” Luna began. “My world’s Trixie and yours got switched-”

“Princess Luna!” another familiar voice shouted.

Luna turned her head to see Trixie, her Trixie, galloping across the grass. Her friends rushed to meet her, the six mares almost collapsing into a joint embrace. They were followed by Baron Mounty Max of all ponies...or this universe’s version at least, and a rose maned, yellow coated mare.

“We were so worried!” Ditzy said.

“Seriously Trixie, you really need to stop making trips like this,” Lyra chuckled.

“This one wasn’t my fault!” Trixie declared.

“We know,” Carrot Top said. “The other Trixie told us.”

“Hey! I’m not ‘the other Trixie’!” the other Trixie exclaimed.

Princess Cadance dismissed her hammer with a slight flash of magic, a wide smile now playing across her muzzle. “Awww! Now that’s just adorable!”

Luna bowed her head to the other princess. Of all the ponies she was expecting to meet while here, the alternate version of her daughter hadn’t been one of them. “My apologies for the sudden entrance. I was going to ask for your assistance in finding my student, but it seems that the matter has resolved itself.”

“Oh, it’s alright.” Cadance smiled. “I suppose we should be a little more used to ponies from other worlds dropping in, all things considered. Though where are my manners. There’s no need to just stand around here talking. Can I offer you all some refreshments?”

Luna smiled back. “While I would normally be happy to take you up on the offer, it would probably be best for us to get going-”

“Actually princess…I can’t,” her Trixie said.

“...Why not?” Raindrops asked.

“There was a slight...incident.”

“You let somepony steal The Collector’s world jumping device?” this world’s Trixie shouted.

They had all moved to a sitting room within the castle for this part of the conversation. Trixie had explained everything that had happened to her since arriving in this world while Cadance had requested some tea and snacks be brought to him. She hadn’t spared any details either, going to great lengths to detail the ambush in Neigh Orleans and then the second fight in Ponyville.

Trixie winced slightly. “I didn’t let him, he knocked me out!”

“You let my theater get ransacked!”

“It would have to be Greengrass,” Lyra huffed. “Why wouldn’t an alternate version of him be a thorn in our side?”

Raindrops glowered at the teacup in front of her. “Because that’s our lot in life.”

“I actually find it oddly comforting that there are certain constants between universes,” Cheerilee said.

“Either way, I have to get it back before Greengrass and his lot open a portal to someplace dangerous!” Trixie exclaimed. “I’m not going back until I fix this.”

“Until we fix this,” Ditzy forcibly interjected. “We’re not going to let you face this alone.”

She pulled Trixie into a hug, that was quickly joined by the rest of her friends. Cadance watched the group embrace with a soft smile before giving a slight cough to bring the discussion back to the current topic.

“I have a few guesses who Greengrass might be working with. As I understand it, Baron Max has been dealing with many a request to nationalize Skitch’s device,” she said, nodding towards him.

The Baron nodded enthusiastically. “Bobbing Fisher has been quite insistent.”

Luna frowned. “That hardly fills me with confidence. If your Fisher is anything like mine, he has dozens of properties all over Equestria he could spirit the device away to.”

“Greengrass seemed pretty insistent on coming here though,” Trixie said. “There has to be something here that made taking it to Canterlot a risk he was willing to take.”

“Well, that, I can answer,” Cadance said, staring down into her teacup. “The old mines under Mt. Canterhorn. They’re isolated and sprawling. Good place to conduct a test without anypony seeing it. If the test was successful, they could present their shiny stolen technology or magic to Princess Celestia quickly, before the rest of the Day Court could mount an objection.”

She shrugged. “At least, they could if Celestia and Luna hadn’t left the city a few hours ago.”

“Really? Why?” Luna asked.

Cadance sighed. “An old enemy rose in the Republic of Dromedaus and our Element Bearers went to deal with him. But then they called for aid, trapped in a fortress along with a division of the Dromedan army. So, Celestia and Luna took an airship and some of our own forces to relieve them.”

“That’s odd timing,” Cheeilee mused. “Think that was part of the plan?”

“I doubt it. We had no idea the element bearers were in trouble until Spike’s letter arrived. Celestia grabbed her personal forces and just went.”

“Sooo...that leaves us to search a winding group of tunnels underneath Canterlot,” the local Trixie said.

“Wait, this is going to get confusing,” Raindrops said. “We need to sort out or Trixies again.”

“She’s Lulamoon!” Trixie declared, pointing towards her local counterpart. “I get to stay Trixie!”

“Really? Even though this is her home universe?” Ditzy asked.

Trixie, or Lulamoon shrugged. “If it’s that important to her, I can go by my family name.” She held her head high and pressed a hoof to her chest. “The Lulamoons are some of Neigh Orleans most famous performers!”

“So that’s what...two different versions of you that have taken to your last name better than you now?” Raindrops asked.

Trixie glowered. “...Don’t we have a crazy pony to chase down?”

Cadance grinned. “Indeed we do! And I just might have a way to help find them faster.”

Roseluck, who had been quiet until now, spoke up. “What do you mean Princess?”

“Oh, we placed a tracking spell on the device. Just in case.” With that, she drained the rest of her tea and stood. “Shall we?”

In the depths of Mount Canterhorn a conspiracy unfolded.

Zizane sat in the corner of the ancient mineshaft, tapping away at the strange device she and Greengrass had managed to steal. It was quite a fascinating little black box. Centuries more advanced than anything on the planet, with the capacity to let anypony whisk themselves away to worlds uncountable. Zizane’s imagination crackled with the possibilities that the human had been hiding away from ponykind. All she had to do was crack this password and then they’d be in.

The threads of fate danced and wove around her as she kept tapping away at the numbers. She could feel herself getting closer as possibilities were struck out and her odd bloodline magically seeked the correct answer. Onwards and onwards she tapped, even as Greengrass paced a few feet away from her.

“Hurry Zizane! The clock is ticking on us now. Duke Fisher and his fellows will be here any minute!”

“Patience Greengrass. I’m only brute forcing my way through what could be thousands of different ciphers.”

Greengrass sighed, looking around the vast chamber. Unmined crystals still studded the walls, a reminder of what was once a vibrant industry. He couldn’t wait to unleash whatever technological marvels they’d collect upon Equestria and turn it into a power the world would be envious of.

As he mulled over the possibilities, his ears flicked towards the sound of approaching hooves. A moment later Duke Bobbing Fisher lead a group of nobles and fellow conspirators into the chamber. Greengrass recognized a few of them. Countess Shining Star with her striking silvery coat and hawkish features was heavily invested in Equestria’s railroads. Hollow Sword...made swords and was tied into Equestria’s military. Duke Far Reach mostly focused his efforts on external trade and was probably eager to see who he could strike deals with in these other realities. He wasn’t entirely sure why Count Copper Coin was here though. Perhaps he had been roped into the conspiracy by somepony else. But the unquestionable heavyweight of the little group was duchess Puissance. Her collection of assets made her one of the richest ponies in Equestria and gave her punching power far above that of her noble station. Greengrass was sure that she was here for personal reasons. There had been rumors for years that she and Celestia had a personal dislike of each other and that Celestia had been keeping Puissance from climbing the noble ladder. He wouldn’t put such actions past that worthless cow. Celestia allowed far too much of her personal feelings to dictate policy.

All of them came with a collection of their guards and retainers. They were going to be needed to collect whatever treasures might be revealed in the worlds beyond the portal.

“A pleasure to see you all,” Greengrass nodded. “Soon we will all be sharing in the riches of this little endeavor.”

“If you say so,” Fisher growled. “Though I’m noticing a lack of portals at the moment.”

“Zizane will have that worked out soon enough.”

“I’m still not entirely sure about trusting a Discordian with something this important,” Puissance frowned.

Zizane spared a glance the duchesses way. “If you want to find some other pony that can try and read a language that doesn’t exist on this world and guess a password that exists in the brain of one pony, be my guest.”

“Hmmph,” Puissance grunted. “Mouthy little one isn’t she?”

“Please. No need to argue. We all want the same things here,” Greengrass said. “Just have your ponies ready to move once we open a portal up.”

Trixie trotted along aside her friends, now bedecked in her armor as they plunged deeper into the depths of Mount Canterhorn. This universe's’ Cadenza took the lead, her horn glowing softly as she followed her tracking spell. Princess Luna was just behind them, alongside Baron Mounty Max, who couldn’t stop himself from peppering the princess with questions and Roseluck marching along in her natural changeling form. A group of hastily gathered up guards brought up the rear, marching along in stony faced determination.

“Fascinating! It seems that both of our griffin kingdoms went through a similar decline, but ours has gone through more of a recovery so far!”

“Just how many questions are you going to ask anyway?” Lyra asked.

Baron Maxed shrugged. “As many as I can get away with I suppose. It’s kind of my job to know as much about these other worlds as possible.”

“Speaking of which, what’s our worst case scenario if they’ve already managed to open a portal by the time we get there?” Luna asked.

Baron Max licked his lips. “They’ve opened a portal to some inescapable hell realm, thusly allowing elder gods to leak into this reality and kill us all.”

There was silence for a few long minutes at that.

“Seriously?” Cheerilee exclaimed.

“You asked me what the worst case scenario was! Skitch-Sketch painted quite the vivid picture of doom and darkness from some of these alternate realities.”

“Did this pony tell you any good things about other realities?” Raindrops growled.

“Well...she told me about all of you, for one. It really has been amazing to meet you all by the way! I never thought I’d have a chance to meet another group of Element Bearers!”

Trixie was about to comment on that when Princess Cadance stopped suddenly. “...We’re getting close,” she whispered. “We need to be quiet from here on out.”

“On it!” Trixie whispered back, already beginning to channel. As she completed her spell, a wave of magic pulsed out from her, wrapping around the assembled group. Trixie nodded, motioning for them to continue.

Onward they pressed, now following a slight downward incline towards what appeared to be a large open chamber. Trixie found herself wondering just how deeply these workings went. Mount Canterhorn was a mighty peak to be sure, but just how much mining had gone on here to create such winding tunnels and vaulted chambers.

As they came into the edge of the large chamber, she could see that they had come in from above, standing on a ledge that overlooked the floor. Below were the conspirators in all their glory. Lead by Greengrass they clustered around Zizane in a loose semi-circle as she continued to tap away at the strange little device in her hooves. She could make out this universe’s Bobbing Fisher and Pussiance among the assembled ponies.

No matter where you go, there you are I suppose, Trixie thought. ...Though I suppose I can take some enjoyment in taking them down for a second time.

They were just about to spring into action when Zizane gave a cry of triumph.

“I’m in!” she crowed. “Mares and gentlestallions, we are in!”

“Excellent!” Greengrass cheered. “Now, follow your instincts and pick us a world rich with technology or magic!”

Princess Cadence had had enough. In one smooth motion, she jumped from their perch above the cavern, dispelling Trixie’s spell and conjuring a ramp of glittering crystal for the others to follow her on. Landing hard behind the group, she opened her mouth and declared the reality of the situation with all the power of the Royal Canterlot Voice.

“HALT! YOU ARE ALL UNDER ARREST UPON ORDER OF THE CROWN!”

Everypony whirled to face Cadance as everypony else thundered into the chamber, the guards immediately moving to block the other exits. But to Trixie’s horror, Zizane’s hoof still brushed against the controls and a crackling bolt of energy lept from the tip of the device. A swirling portal, about as tall as your average minotaur appeared in the air next to Zizane, humming with eldritch energy.

Trixie gulped, wondering just where that portal went.

Death had come to the World’s Edge Mountains.

Grey Seer Quiksquit peered out across the wide avenue of the dwarf-thing’s mighty citadel. The thought of the glory and power that would be bestowed upon him for delivering the city into the paws of Skavendom made the ratman twitch with glee.

From his position on the gnawed wooden platform of his screaming bell, he could see the battleline arranged before his forces. The dwarf-things had formed up around the wide set of stairs that ran up to the jewel studded gate that blocked the way to the rest of their fortress. If the his forces could break through here, the fall of the city the dwarf-things called Karak-Eight-Peaks would be assured! They had to move fast though, the filthy greenskins were also attacking the dwarf-things from above. He had no intention of sharing this city with the orc and goblin-things!

Pointing his staff at warlord Kriktail of Clan Mors, Quicksquit chittered out commands. “Take forces and move-quick to the right! Flank-surround dwarf things! Use warpflame throwers! We paid many warp-tokens for them!”

The black furred skaven bared his fangs back at the grey coated wizard. “Yes-yes! I know what to do!”

Quicksquit snorted and turned his beady red eyes back towards the lines of dwarf warriors. He chittered again and gave the command to advance! The multitude of skaven warriors surged forward, scampering across the stone floors as fast as their their legs could carry them! Quicksquit’s own unit of black furred stormvermin grunted as they pushed the wheeled platform of his screaming bell forward. The bell ringer set to striking the massive magically enchanted instrument. Torpid waves of magic rang out from its bronze form, bolstering his forces. There were so few dwarf-things compared to his mighty verminous hordes!

But then something caught his eye.

A swirling portal had appeared just to the left of the dwarf lines. The dwarf-things hadn’t reacted to it at all and that made Quicksquit nervous. Just what were the dwarf-things doing? Were they summoning help? Was this some kind of strange rune magic of theirs? No! He wouldn’t allow his glory to be undermined by stupid dwarf-things and their stupid tricks! Reaching into the pockets of his robes Quicksquit drew out a trio of small, green rocks. Warpstone. Raw dark magic made manifest in the world. Quick as a flash, he gulped them down, fur and whiskers tingling like mad as raw magic energy flooded the whole of his being. Chittering with glee, Quicksquit threw his staff forward, sending tendrils of dark magic towards the portal. The magic ripped the portal open even further, making it large enough for whole regiments of skaven to march through. Waving a paw, Quicksquit ordered some of his forces through.

“How long do these portals tend to stay open?” Raindrops asked, eyeing the swirling blue light.

“Usually, a few seconds after somepony steps through,” Baron Max answered.

Trixie peered over Lulamoon’s shoulder. The device had been yanked away from Zizane at this point, while Princess Cadance’s forces began to restrain the guards Greengrass and his fellow nobles had brought.

Ditzy frowned. “I really don’t like this. Who knows what’s on the other side of that portal. Isn’t there a way to shut it off?”

“Maybe?” Lulamoon answered. “There’s a button here that’s flashing red, but nothing’s happening when I push it!”

The portal chose that moment to surge in size, easily doubling, then doubling again so that it now stretched across the back wall like a garish painting.

“Okay, I really don’t like this now!” Ditzy exclaimed.

Lyra’s ears flicked towards the portal. “Uhh...does anypony else hear that?”

Everypony froze, straining to hear what Lyra had picked up on. Soon enough they could all begin to hear a chorus of high pitched squeaking noises coming their way. A moment later, a horde of rats came bounding through the gaping maw.

They weren’t normal rats either. They were massive! Each one easily the size of a dog. They were marked and brutalized as well, covered in scars, stitches and tumorous growths.They rolled out from the portal in a brown wave of frenzied chittering and squeaking. I bipedal rat creature emerged from the portal behind them, dressed in cracked and dirty looking leather armor. Squeaking with just as much of a cheerful glee as its charges, it cracked a whip in a wide arc across the giant rats backs, urging them forward.

Lulamoon shrieked in a mixture of fear and disgust as the wave of rats rolled over her. She could feel their pale little feet and tiny sharp claws ripping and tearing at her, their teeth nipping and biting at any soft parts of her body.

Trixie fared better, the enchanted armor Luna had provided turning away most of the frenzied rat scratches. She pushed forward, grabbing Lulamoon and pulling her from the living tide of ratflesh.

Cadance summoned her hammer to her side and rushed forward, shouting for her guards. “Royal Guard, to me! Equestria prevails!”

The guards charged into combat alongside their princess. “Equestria prevails!”

As more bipedal rats pushed their way into the chamber and battle was joined one thing was certain.

War had come to Mount Canterhorn.

Author's Note

This fic is back and moving into the end game!

And let the lesson of this chapter be "Never open a portal when you don't know where it goes.". In this case, Zizane and company kind of accidentally opened a portal to the Warhammer Fantasy universe. Specifically during the initial fall of the dwarf hold of Karak-Eight-Peaks, during the so called "Time of Woes".

So, can a bunch of ponies stem the vermintide? We'll find out in the next chapter and the finale!

Finale

Lulamoon was engulfed in a sea of absolute chaos.

The bipedal rats swarmed through the gaping portal in what seemed like an unending flood. They swung rusty looking spears, swords, maces and daggers and brandished ramshackle shields with reckless abandon, chittering and screeching like they were welling up from the depths of Tartarus itself. The only thing that was keeping their position from being completely swamped were the twin efforts of Princesses Cadance and Luna.

Cadance had summoned living crystal from the ground, both blocking the exits to the chamber and forming a partial dome over their own position so that the rat creatures could only attack them from the front. She stood in the center of the royal guard line, swinging her crystalline warhammer in mighty wide strokes, bashing whole groups of rats aside with each stroke. Princess Luna however…

She was a dervish in the sea of matted brown fur and filth colored clothing. She lashed out with magic and bucks with equal measure, smashing the rat beasts to the floor in great piles, incinerating groups of them with starlight and firing glittering shards of silver right through their bodies. Lulamoon noted that the lunar princess was not holding back, slaying with reckless abandon as the swarm desperately tried to drag her down.

Yet more still flowed through the portal, backed up by more of those dog sized giant rats.

“Baron Max!” Trixie shouted above the din. “Some information on these things would be appreciated!”

Lulamoon’s double and her friends hadn’t pushed into combat yet, hanging back with Baron Max and the stupid noble ponies that had put them in this current mess.

“They’re called the Skaven!” Baron Max shouted back. “Race of underground tunnel dwellers that use arcane science to make horrible weapons and monsters. According to Skitch’s files, they’re a manufactured race by their world’s dark gods. Completely devoid of normal pony virtues-”

“Weaknesses Max! What can we do against them?”

The baron’s face screwed up as he wracked his brains for a moment. “...Fear! They’re cowards outside of large groups, but maybe a good shock will help disrupt them!”

Trixie grinned, looking to Lulamoon. “Fear, huh?”

Lulamoon grinned back. “You have sounds down. Follow my lead?”

“Of course!”

Lulamoon nodded and looked towards the ceiling of the chamber, an idea springing to mind. Channeling her magic, she threw a spiderweb pattern of cracks against the ceiling. Then, weaving a second spell right on the hooves of the first, she had the cracks spit and grow larger, a scaled claw pushing through the breaking stone.

Trixie added her own magic, weaving the sound of the stone splitting and deep, bellowing roars to the mix. Both watched as a ripple of hestitation rolled across the mass of skaven, so they poored on the magic even more. Now the roof of the cavern came apart, and a purple scaled dragon burst through, bellowing his fury to the assembled mass.

Now a foul stench filled the air and the chittering squeaks of the rat creatures became decidedly more panicked. More than a few turned literal tail and ran back through the portal, massively thinning the ranks and sowing confusion amongst those who remained.

“Take this!” Carrot Top shouted, tossing a pair of clay pots at the largest group that remained. Lulamoon raised an eyebrow as they shattered, sending thick strands of yellow glue across the skaven and locking them in place for Princess Luna.

“That’s a nice trick!” Lulamoon said, giving the earth pony a wide grin.

“I got a lot more where that came from!”

Turning her attention back to the battle and the illusionary dragon, she had the illusionary creature take up position ontop of the crystal dome. Maybe if they were lucky, they could use its fearsome appearance on the next group through.

“What do you mean, horse-things? Explain-explain!” Grey Seer Quicksquit snarled at the foolish underling lying prostrate before him.

“Horse-things! Like the ones the man-things ride! But small-tiny and bright-bright! Fight strong-strong! Have dragon-thing!”

Quicksquit extended a paw, green tinged warp lightning leaping forth to flay the worthless coward to ash. He turned his attention eastwards, to where the embattled dwarf-things raised their shields against a fresh round of charges from Warlord Kriktail’s forces. Clanrats broke themselves upon the mighty shield wall, as the dwarf-thing’s guns spat death back into the ranks.

No-no! Stupid dwarf-thing allies were ruining the plan! Stupid horse-things were ruining everything! Gripped by raw fury and frustration, Quicksquit bit down on his own tail hard enough to draw blood. He had to think-plan. Risk going into battle himself? No, not yet. Let the forces he had spent so many hard earned warp tokens on deal with the tiny-small horse-things!

“Send rat ogres!” he screeched. “Send warpfire throwers! Send poison wind globes! Kill-slay tiny horse-things! For the Horned Rat! Yes-yes!”

Trixie wasn’t so proud as to deny that she screamed when the next wave came charging through the portal.

Monsters were at the lead. Hugely muscled beasts, easily as tall and strong looking as a minotaur, but with a horrible mixture of that and a rat. Even worse, like the giant rats from before, they bore the markings of crude experimentation upon their forms. Stitches and scars, ugly brands, glowing bits of green stone literally hammered into their flesh and in some cases whole limbs replaced with oversized blades.

A dozen of the brutes charged across the floor with great loping strides, utterly heedless of their illusionary dragon, driven on by whip cracks from leather clad skaven. Carrot Top threw another round of her glue traps at the oncoming monsters, but she was only able to slow a few before the train of muscle and fur crashed into the lines of the Royal Guard.

Trixie could only watch as ponies were smashed aside, armor crumpling like paper under the hammer blows and wicked claws. Even Princess Cadance stumbled backwards for a moment from the wild swing of a particularly large brute that she blocked with her weapon.

Trixie’s mind raced. “Carrot Top! Itching powder!” she shouted, even as she channeled and let loose a flash of light right in the massive rat monster’s eyes.

Carrot Top’s next pots smashed across their muscled forms even as they clawed at the bright lights bursting in their eyes.

“Take out their packmasters!” Baron Max shouted! “Rat ogres are practically mindless without being directed!”

“On it!” Cheerilee and Raindrops called out as they rushed forward.

Cheerilee slipped between the rat ogres, rolling, twirling and flipping past their now clumsy swings. One of the packmasters swung his whip at her as she came in, but Cheerilee ducked under the swing and lashed out with a sweeping kick. As the packmaster fell, Raindrops dropped on him from above with all four hooves, making the rat slump into unconsciousness.

The other three guiding the rat ogres chittered in rage and piled in, swinging their rusty blades wildly. Cheerilee lightly sprang over one and gave him a hard buck, sending him sprawling into his companion. Raindrops, by contrast just powered through, letting the starmetal armor Luna had gifted her turn the blades aside as she tackled the free one to the ground.

“Damn it!” Duke Bobbing Fisher shouted. “We have our personal guard! Unbind us and let us help!”

“I will point out that this is all your fault!” Trixie snapped back at him.

“Save the accusations for when after we’re not in danger of being swept away by vermin!”

“Damn,” Cadance cursed, her horn glowing for a moment. “Don’t make me regret this Fisher!”

The bonds on the nobles and their bodyguards fell away and the quickly grabbed their weapons, Bobbing Fisher hefting his own mighty warhammer from the weapon pile.

“Come on you louts! Fight like your lives depend on it! Equestria prevails!”

The guards (and Fisher) pushed into the battleline, swinging weapon and hoof at the disoriented rat ogres to a fresh cry of “Equestria prevails!”.

“Well, I’ll give Fisher some credit in this reality,” Trixie grumbled.

“If they help us get out of this, I’ll give him a hug,” Ditzy said.

Trixie nodded, only to turn her gaze back to the portal and the fresh round of horrors that it vomited forth. They were the strangest contraptions that the skaven had dragged forth yet. Working in pairs, one of the rats hauled a large wooden cask that some manner of hose was attached to. The hose ran to a brass barrel...nozzle, thing that had an odd looking lever connected to it, held in the hands of another skaven. Six of these strange teams scuttled their way, raising the barrels in the direction of the Royal and personal guard.

“Barrels! Plug them!” Baron Max shouted, clear panic in his voice.

Cadance grit her teeth and channeled, whipping bolts of crystal at the strange machines. They slammed their way into the barrels, the skaven chittering in fear. Trixie found out why a moment later when one of the overeager skaven yanked the lever on his contraption, not realizing that the crystal had actually managed to hit home.

The reservoir that the other one was carrying exploded with the sound of a mighty thunderclap, green colored flames rolling outwards from the shattered remains. The other machines immediately caught fire as well, their carriers now running about in an absolute panic. Their own reservoirs exploded a moment later, sending more waves of green flames over the skaven that were trying to push their way into the chamber now.

The horrid stench of burning fur now filled the air as inflamed skaven ran every which way, the flames eating away at their forms.

“This is monstrous!” Ditzy gasped, flinching away from the carnage playing out before them.

“We can’t beat them on a war of attrition!” Baron Max said. “They literally breed like rats!”

“We are open to suggestions!” Princess Luna shouted.

“Take out their leaders!” Max said. “Skaven backstab and squabble for power all the time. If you take them down, the army will melt away as all the sub commanders squabble for power!”

“I’ll handle that!” Luna said.

“Are you sure?” Cadance asked.

“I know magic to transport between worlds myself!” Luna said. “So if the portal closes behind me, I can find my way back myself!”

“Look for grey coated ones with horns! Or the biggest, blackest furred, best armored ones! Those tend to be the leaders!” Max called out.

Cadance nodded. “Good luck!”

Princess Luna turned and galloped through the portal, vanishing into the rippling blue swirls.

Had the circumstances not been so dire, Princess Luna would have enjoyed seeing another way to travel between worlds. Her own spells were largely instantaneous, just a cast and then one was somewhere else.

Whatever was behind the device though, had constructed a marvelous looking tunnel of swilrling blue light that she raced along at speeds faster than she could normally run. And just beyond the walls of this swirling blue tunnel, she could vaguely make out...bubbles? ...Other worlds perhaps? In the end, whatever they may be, she couldn’t focus on that right now. In the next moment, she burst through the other end of the portal and into the scene of another battle.

The chamber she was in now was massive, with a high vaulted ceiling supported by carved stone pillars. It was a high enough roof that she was able to soar high to get a full look at the battle playing out below.

A collection of stout homids had formed up around a winding set of stone stairs, leading up to a mighty pair of metal reinforced timber doors that had been literally studded with gems. They were fighting hard, decked in sturdy armor that glinted under the torches and glowing runes that lit up the massive hall.

The skaven force was truly massive. Almost beyond number in fact. They moved in three mighty columns, the center and the right throwing themselves upon the homid lines, while the left lingered outside the portal, now unsure of the new player on the battlefield.

It only took Luna a moment of analysis to realize that the homids were in serious trouble as well. Though their armor was tough and shields strong, the skaven tore great holes in their lines with gouts of that green flame. Other rats threw green glass spheres that shattered and released a toxic seeming smoke. Homids collapsed to the ground, hacking and choking on a poison wind.

The wanton slaughter on display turned Luna’s stomach. She was no stranger to the idea of war, but these skaven brought a new level of mechanical detachment to the dirty business. Even when their own were caught in a stray blast, they seemed to care not, instead just continuing to cackle with their deranged glee.

She angled her wings, banking low over the homid lines even as she began to channel. The magic of this world was sluggish at first, almost stagnant as she pulled upon its threads. Especially around the homids, it was quite stubborn to move. Yet she was an alicorn, even with part of her magic suppressed and it soon began to answer her call.

A mighty wall of wind sprang up over the heads of the squat homids, howling with fury as it blew the glass spheres back into the lines of the skaven. She immediately wove another spell, calling small stars of arcane power to her, before sending them hunting for the fire flinging machines. Soon bursts of green flame were tearing through the rats. Satisfied with her effort, Luna banked again, shooting back towards the column outside the portal.

There! A grey furred skaven with spiraled horns growing from his head! He stood on a rickety wooden...almost chariot. It was a raised platform that supported a stone arch, from which hung a mighty bronze bell. She could feel the dark magic radiating from the bell itself, washing out over the assembled skaven with each torpid pulse of its discordant chimes.

Folding her wings back, Luna dove.

Grey Seer Quicksquit saw the horse-thing fling magic like a seer and cursed.

Grey Seer Quicksquit then saw the horse-thing charge right for him.

Grey Seer Quicksquit saw anger and death in the horse-thing’s eyes.

“Protect-help me, fools!” he shrieked as he dove behind the bell for cover.

The horse-thing slammed into the edge of the screaming bell like a cannon ball. The whole construct was knocked off its wheels, Quicksquit’s world turning into a topsy-turvy ball of motion and splintering wood as he was spilled from his glorious platform like so much garbage. Even as his paws hit the ground, Quicksquit scrambled for cover again, shoving stormvermin aside to get away from the angry horse-thing.

But even as he ran, he wove magic of his own, shrieking incantations of worship and curses of blasphemy against the horse-thing to the Horned Rat. And as the magic settled on the stormvermin around him, the black furred killers began to twitch, foam flicking at their lips and the intent of death in their own eyes.

Yes-yes! The Death Frenzy would see to the horse-thing!

Back across the portal, another monster pushed its way into Equestria.

A mighty brown furred skaven stood on the back of a hulking rat ogre, bedecked in brass armor, that still managed to look battered and stained. He clutched a massive sword in one hand, brandishing it at all around him. A fluttering banner on a pole was lashed to his back, crude icons daubed on its yellow surface. The creature was so muscle bound that it seemed to walk in a constant hunched stance. Not that it stopped the beast from thundering right into Princess Cadance as she was blocking a volley of poison spheres. She was hauled up in its mighty claws, the monster bellowing its fury right into her face while ropy strands of drool dripped from its fangs onto her muzzle.

Cadance responded in the only way that was appropriate when seized by a massive monster. She fired a chunk of crystal right into its face. The monster roared in pain, dropping the princess back to the ground. The skaven riding it kicked the rat ogre forward, urging it to stampede forward.

It did just that, its hands and feet hammering across the floor. Trixie’s eyes went wide as she realized what the rider was doing. It blazed right past the crystalline dome and threw the whole of its body into one of the walls Cadance had used to block the exits. A massive crack split right down the middle of the wall. The rider lashed out with his sword, turning the crack into a shatter and again to turn a shatter into a gaping hole.

“It’s going to reach the city!” Roseluck shouted over the din, even as she kept lashing out at the skaven around her.

As monster and rider pushed through, Trixie galloped after them. “We got this one!” Her friends fell into place alongside her and they galloped after the monster. A tide of skaven raced after them, just as eager to get through the gap and follow their leader. But Cadance channeled again, crystals bursting from the ground around their paws.

Trixie and her friends shot through the gap in the wall, another channel from Cadance closing it up behind them. The monster would be up to them.

Luna spun and twirled blades of enchanted moonlight through armor, fur and flesh. The skaven swarmed around her, these black furred ones clearly stronger and more skilled than the others she had encountered so far.

Cleaving through the skull of one black rat she whirled about to face another three. But as she turned the sensation of heavy blades hacking at her ran down her right flank. The skaven were relentless, striking at her from every direction, with a speed that was almost supernatural at this point. She could see the dark magic infusing their bodies, pushing them far beyond their normal limits. So much so in fact that she was watching some of them die around her, their hearts just giving out from the strain.

Yet their efforts had produced results, as bleeding wounds criss-crossed her body. She felt tired and drained in ways she hadn’t felt in a very long time...if ever. Clearly, she had not gained back her surrendered magic, despite passing from the world she had just been in. Whether something had gone wrong or she was facing a betrayal, she did not know. She also didn’t know what would happen if she fell here. In her home world, she’d be whisked back to the moon to heal. But in a strange land, without some of her magic? Perhaps she was facing true death?

Though not if she had anything to say about it.

Calling more magic to herself, she plunged forward through the ranks of black furred skaven, her eyes locked on the one behind this magic.

“You wouldn’t think that a thing that large could move that fast,” Lyra said, as she and her friends galloped through the winding tunnels.

They could hear the monster ahead of them, it's heavy footfalls, claws scrabbling on stone and the bellowing shouts of its rider acting like a beacon to follow in the winding tunnels of Mount Canterhorn.

“We have to stop it before it leaves the mine grounds!” Ditzy shouted. “If it gets into the city proper, who knows how much damage it could cause!”

“Judging by its claws and his sword...a lot,” Raindrops snarked.

“When we catch up to it, I’ll work on keeping both of them disoriented. Carrot Top? Hit it with glue and itching powder, then pass out some buffing droughts if you can,” Trixie rapidly muttered. “Cheerilee, see if you can get the sword away from the rider. Raindrops?”

“Hit them till they stop moving?”

“Yup.”

Raindrops nodded grimly. “I can do that.”

Their galloping took them all the way back out of the mountain tunnels and into the wide (but empty) yard that once saw active workers in another era. Now it contained an infuriated rat ogre and a wicked skaven warlord. Said warlord was staring around at the city around him in what seemed to be a mixture of awe and contempt.

“Hey ugly!” Trixie shouted.

The skaven twisted about to glare at them. Trixie channeled sending a rolling sphere of glittering light towards the pair. The moment the first spell left her horn, she wove another and summoned multiple copies of Raindrops. They immediately flew in three different directions, swooping and flying around the rat ogre. It bellowed in response swinging and swiping wildly at the illusions. The rider screeched in fury, yanking on the crude reins to try and get it to move away from the illusions and towards Trixie. But then Carrot Top’s itching powder shattered across the the rat ogre’s back.

Roaring even louder now, the ogre thrashed and clawed at its body, throwing the skaven off its back. The skaven warlord pushed himself back to his paws, reaching behind his back and unhooking a shield from its straps. Chittering furiously, he slammed his sword against his shield a few times before pointing it at Trixie in a challenge.

“Not on your life buddy!” Trixie shouted back.

While she doubted that the skaven could actually understand her, the intent clearly translated across cultural and language lines. It screeched again and charged, almost dropping to all fours as it bounded across the ground with frightening speed. Cheerilee moved to intercept from his right side, galloping almost as fast. But the skaven whirled about, lashing out with his sword in a flurry of strikes. The first one slammed Cheerilee across her side, knocking her off her hooves. Then he followed up with an over the head smashing chop. Cheerilee threw herself into a roll to avoid the impact, then sprang up and and lashed out with a spinning kick. The warlord snapped his shield up, Cheerilee’s hoof rattling off the wood and metal.

The sound of music filled the air as Lyra joined the fray. The unicorn lightly plucked at her lyre’s strings, sending little daggers of sound whistling at the skaven. The bolts ripped into the warlord’s armor, slashing at its straps and knocking a few pieces loose. Turning about, the skaven charged at her slamming his shield into Lyra’s chest. As Lyra stumbled backwards, the warlord followed up with a brutal upwards slash. Trixie’s heart leapt into her throat as the edge of the sword squealed against the starmetal of Lyra’s armor. The tip of the blade passed just above Lyra’s ear, slicing off a chunk of her mane and just barely avoiding carving into her head.

Raindrops dropped in from above, smashing her forehooves down on the skaven. With Raindrop’s strength, the strike bowled him over. She wrapped her forelegs around his neck, pulling him into a choke hold. He fought back with equal fury, flexing every muscle in his body he thrashed and kicked like he was possessed.

“Gah! Somepony help me with this thing!”

“Coming!” Ditzy shouted.

But even as she ran to help, the rat ogre bellowed and charged. Frustrated with its lack of ability to hurt the illusionary Raindrops, it barreled forward swinging left and right as part of its frenzied charge. Lyra dove to avoid one of the swings, but the swipe clipped her side, sending her flying across the grounds.

“Lyra!” Cheerilee cried.

Raindrops threw herself off the back of the skaven as the rat ogre tried to take a swing at her. But as the skaven picked himself up from the ground, Carrot Top struck. All of her remaining glue bombs- four in all- tumbled through the air, smashing against rat ogre and skaven alike. The ropy strands of glue stuck fast to both, practically binding the two together into a cocoon-esq packet of sticky rats.

“Get em!” Trixie shouted, moving to channel another spell.

Raindrops swooped back in now, hammering her hooves against the rat ogre’s exposed head. Once, twice, three times she punched the rat ogre, its head snapping back and forth from the strikes. On the third strike though that the creature’s eyes rolled into the back of its head and it slumped in the glue, tongue loling out of its mouth.

Raindrops turned her attention towards the skaven, who was struggling against the strands of glue. She dove for him, hooves outstretched. The skaven chittered defiantly, managing to rip one of his arms free of the glue, a new weapon clutched in his clawed hands. A miniature hand cannon.

Ditzy scooped up a rock and whipped it at the gun. It impacted against the side of the barrel with a crack, just as it fired with a rush of green smoke and Trixie yanked at it with her magic. A glowing green bullet streaked just past Raindrops left ear. Her hooves impacted into the skaven’s head a moment later, blasting him into unconsciousness.

For a moment all was quiet, save for the heavy breathing of the ponies that had just gone through the battle.

“...Are there any chains lying around?” Cheerilee asked. “We should chain them up, just to be sure.”

Raindrops took to the air, scanning the old equipment for a moment. “Nothing there...but the gate was chained up when we got here!” She flew over to the gates grabbed the long length of chain, wrapping it around the glue gunked skaven.

“Come on!” Trixie shouted. “Let’s get back to help the others!”

Luna galloped after the seer.

The unit of black furs lay dead behind her, either struck down by her hooves or dead from the spell that had turned them into such a spiky ball of death. She was still battered and bleeding profusely, but the seer needed to die to end all of this. He scampered across the floor of the cavern, glancing over his shoulder at the onrushing alicorn. His target was another unit of rats that had advanced forward from the dark tunnels. There was a whole another wave of the vile creatures welling up from the depths of the mountain.

This time they were accompanied by some strange looking wheel shaped devices. They were the most bizarre things Luna had seen in her life. Two large wheels seemed to make up the sides of the body, giant rats running within them, almost tumbling over each other to push the things forward. Three prongs stuck out from its construction, sickly green lightning dancing around them. She could just make out a skaven sitting in an odd seat at the center of the contraption, centered just ahead of some manner of generator. Another skaven stood on a platform on the back of the device frantically pumping some other lever.

The seer waved his staff above his head vanishing in a puff of smoke and reappearing at the head of one of the advancing units. Luna grit her teeth and began to channel, dragging up the magic from the stones around them to forge into another spell. Again, it felt like pushing a boulder up hill as the magic was sluggish and slow to respond. The spell began to take shape against the roof, blue crackles and swirls clashing and thundering as the power built up.

As her spell built up, a bolt of lightning lashed out from one of the rumbling wheels to sear Luna’s side. Gritting her teeth through the pain, Luna pushed a little more magic into her spell to finish it off. A massive glowing comet now dropped from the ceiling, landing in the middle of the skaven and detonating. The explosion was massive, sending the rat beasts flying every which direction.

The seer chittered in response, chittering furiously as he wove another spell. Extending a clawed paw, he unleashed another crackling bolt of green lightning. The magic washed over Luna again, tearing at flesh and coat with equal abandon. Luna pushed forward under the flow of lightning, inch by inch she advanced on the seer, until she was inches away from the creature.

She grabbed the squealing mage in her magic, holding the body in place before grabbing his head in a separate aura. With a strong wrenching motion and a sickening snap sound, the grey seer went limp in her grip. Far behind her, she could hear the portal snap shut, the seer’s magic no longer holding it open. The skaven near by who hadn’t been struck down by the magic squealed in fear and began to recoil en masse. They were just on the edge, another push just might do it.

But despite her determination, Luna’s legs buckled and she slumped to the stone. She had never felt such exhaustion in her life. It was like she was weighed down by a hundred iron weights. The skaven, sensing weakness, swarmed forward swinging with their swords and spears. Pain tore through Luna’s body as the skaven were dead set on sending her to the grave. She tried to channel, but the pain was just so much at this point.

“Khazukan Kazakit-ha!” came a thunderous cry.

The armored homids she had seen before came barreling into the skaven lines. Their hammers and axes lashed out with a furious vengeance, smashing and hacking all about them. The skaven fell like wheat before the scythe, dark gore soon slick upon the stones. That was enough to break their nerve and the skaven turned and bolted for their lives.

One of the homids, dressed in armor a bit more ornate than his fellows pointed to Luna and said something in their guttural tongue. A moment later, Luna felt herself effortlessly lifted by four of the homids, each one taking a corner of her body. With that, they began to back towards the gate again.

But even as they began to move, Luna could begin to feel a dark presence seeping into the world around her. A roiling cloud of shadow had appeared behind the fleeing skaven, growing bigger and darker with each passing moment.

A massive bipedal form began to emerge from it, almost a skaven made massive. It towered over its fellows and even the rat ogres from before the shadows clinging to its body as it advanced, a wicked looking glaive clutched in its claw like hands. It’s face was more skull like than the other skaven, with four twisted horns and glowing red eyes that shone with malice.

As it charged, Luna could only wonder why her magic hadn’t returned yet.

In another world, a thief was running for his life.

Creeping Step cursed the day he bartered his soul to Tirek. Sure, it had turned him into a world class thief. ...But it had left him a world class thief eternally in debt to the lord of Tartarus. As he hurried through the endless stacks of Thanatos’ bureaucratic records of the dead, he could hear the hammering of hooves coming from every direction.

“Damn lawyers!” he snarled, ducking down a little side corridor. “Only Thanatos would turn the souls of dead lawyers into his personal strike force!”

Even wrapped in supernatural darkness as he was, he knew that they’d find him sooner or later. He had to get out here with Luna’s magic before they caught him. The heavy iron cask was stuffed into his enchanted saddlebags already. Now he just had to escape.

Peeking around another corner, he could spy one of the magical portals leading out of Thanatos’ realm at the end of the hall. He took off at a gallop, diving through the portal with a dozen ponies on his tail.

He blinked on the other side of the portal, finding himself not in the depths of Tartarus, but in an ever shifting landscape of chaotic bits of land and chaos.

“What in Discord’s mismatched horns..?”

“Speak of the devil and he shall appear!” a gleeful voice exclaimed from behind him.

Creeping Step swallowed hard as he turned to see the lord of chaos in all his glory. Before he even had a chance to react, Discord snapped his taloned claw and Creeping found himself dangling upside down. Discord casually waggled a talon, shaking Creeping back and forth and spilling the contents of his saddlebags loose.

“Gah! What do you want?!” Creeping exclaimed.

“Oh, don’t play coy with me little pony. You know what I want,” Discord answered.

“No!” Creeping Step shouted, grabbing the cask and trying to pry it back from Discord. “Lord Tirek will skin me alive if I don’t return with it!”

“Your horrible choice in negotiations are not my or anyone else’s problem,” Discord deadpanned, easily yanking the cask away from Step. “I mean, really. I’m almost personally insulted that you chose to strike a deal with Tirek over myself.”

“You were a statue!”

“That just means you’d have to work for it a bit more!” Discord declared with a snake like grin.

With another snap of his talons, the cask blew open and Luna’s magic went streaking away. Discord watched it go with a grin. While he didn’t particularly care for the alicorn, he wasn’t about to let Tirek get anymore power than he already had. Besides...that Luna had a date with destiny involving her worlds incarnation of his handsome self.

And he wasn’t about to let a race of jumped up vermin ruin that show!

The giant skaven creature tore through the front rank of the homids, cutting them down as easy as they had been cutting down the skaven a moment before. Still, despite the fury of the attack, they didn’t give an inch of ground, instead raising their shields higher as they hacked at the beast’s legs.

Luna struggled to rise into the air and help. Something had to be done. Despite the stubbornness of the homids, the monster was going to tear them apart without help. Not to mention that she’d then be helpless against the beast itself. She had to...she had to…

Power surged through her all at once as her magic suddenly returned to her. Wounds knitted closed, the aches and exhaustion were banished all at once and now she was brimming with power again.

Now she rose into the air with a single flap of her wings, shooting straight for the monster with her horn glowing with power. It roared back at her, bearing its razor sharp yellow fangs.

“Die-die moon-thing!” it shouted in a voice that spoke in multitudes.

“I think not!” Luna fired back, wrapping the whole of her body in shimmering moonlight and magic.

Her hooves plunged into the chest of the creature and she thrust all of that magic deep into its body. It roared in pain as the shimmering magic tore through its form and set the whole thing alight. Luna followed it up with bringing more magic to bare, firing glittering miniature stars through it over and over again.

“You will pay-die!” it screeched again.

With that, it fell apart into shadows, leaving the hall empty save for the few skaven that were now fleeing for their lives. This battle was done.

Luna examined the homids for a moment they were taking on a defensive stance, clearly unsure of her attentions. Luna nodded to them once, cast her spell and vanished away from this strange world and its strange inhabitants.

Cadance slumped on the now quiet field of battle. The skaven were either dead or unconscious and restrained. With a sigh, she let her crystal walls fall.

It wasn’t long before she heard the sounds of approaching hooves, Trixie and her friends galloping into the chamber a moment later.

“Is everypony okay?”

“We have some wounded,” Cadance answered. “But it could have been much worse than it was.”

“I’m not seeing a portal,” Lyra said. “I guess that Princess Luna succeeded?”

Princess Luna appeared with a soft pop.

“Princess!” Trixie exclaimed. “You’re alright.”

“After a fashion, yes. And I see that you are likewise unhurt.”

“Thank the stars for your armor,” Cheerilee said with a smile.

Cadance allowed herself a small smile at seeing the bond that existed between this other Luna and her subjects. “We should leave. I need to get more guards down here to finish cleaning up the aftermath. And you all have to get back to your universe.”

Trixie eyed Greengrass and his fellows. “And what about them?”

“Don’t worry. We’ll take it from here. Your work is done.”

Goodbyes were exchanged, perhaps with a greater sense of urgency than might normally be done. Princess Luna had no desire to trespass upon this universe with her full power. So they gathered in the same garden they had arrived in to leave.

“Thanks for helping out my world,” Lulamoon said to her double.

Trixie smirked back. “Apparently, I could say the same for you.”

“Ehh. I just took down a crook. You’re the Element of Magic here.”

“I still appreciate it.”

Luna began to channel her spell, so Lulamoon took a step back and waved to her double. A moment later the seven ponies vanished, whisked back to their world. Lulamoon sighed, glancing over at Princess Cadance.

“I don’t suppose you could help me get a train back to Neigh Orleans?”

Cadance chuckled. “Of course Trixie. Of course.”

Author's Note

And we come to the end of this little story. In the end, the story became a little more rushed at the end then I would have preferred, but I was ready to put this one to bed.

Princess Luna's interference at the Battle of the Jeweled Stair is a bit of an active "What if?" right now. While the routing of that skaven army could swing the whole fight in favor of the dwarfs, Eight Peaks was under attack from two directions at the time of the battle. Perhaps I'll answer the question if I come back to deal with the fallout of this fic in the future.

Now for a short epilogue to wrap it all up.

Epilogue

A few days later, Roseluck idly waited on Ponyville’s train platform. It was evening, going onto night. Soon enough the sun would slip under the horizon and the moon would take its place in the sky. Roseluck didn’t mind though and waited on, a newspaper waiting at her hooves.

Eventually a train came chugging into the station, screeching to a stop with a hiss of steam billowing from its stack. The doors swung open and ponies began to file out. It was a small and scattered group, mostly a few travelers coming to Ponyville for their own reasons. A little while after that though, seven ponies and one dragon came shuffling out from one of the tracks.

Fatigue was evident on all of them. Twilight was wobbling as she stepped onto the platform, Rarity’s mane was frizzled and unbrushed, Rainbow Dash was practically leaning on Applejack, Fluttershy looked ready to fall asleep on her hooves, while Spike was curled up on her back. But perhaps the oddest sight was Skitch-Sketch, who had a white shock right through her mane where her normal green stripe was.

“Welcome home everypony,” she said, before nodding to Skitch-Sketch. “What happened to your mane?”

Skitch glowered at her before answering succinctly. “Fucking mummies.”

Rarity’s head snapped towards her friend, as if she was ready to reprimand her for language. But then she sighed and hung her head. “What she said darling. It was quite a harrowing adventure.”

“Clearly,” Roseluck said, picking up the newspaper. “‘Exalted Eight Vanquish Ancient Mummy Lord’. You’ve made all the newspapers. I do have to wonder about the name though…”

Twilight snorted. “Don’t blame us. We didn’t come up with it.”

“Well, we had a bit of an adventure ourselves while you were gone. We got visited by a Mane Six from another world.”

Skitch-Sketch visibly drooped at that news. “Aww.”

“Really?” Twilight asked. “Who were they?”

“Trixie Lulamoon, Lyra Heartstrings, Ditzy Doo, Raindrops, Cheerilee and Carrot Top.”

“Awwww!” Skitch-Sketch groaned. “I missed a chance to meet the Lunaverse Six? I repeat, ‘Fucking mummies.’!”

“You know those ponies?” Applejack asked.

“...Kinda. I read a bunch of their stories about the same time I was watching yours. They’re from a universe where Princess Celestia went crazy instead of Luna, and she’s been ruling Equestria for a thousand years.”

“What?” Twilight exclaimed. “How was that supposed to have happened? It makes no sense!”

“Yeah, Skitch. That sounds really crazy,” Rainbow said.

Skitch-Sketch shrugged. “It’s...complicated. Come on. Let’s go to Berry’s. We can relax a bit and I’ll tell you the story of the world that hates the sun.”

Author's Note

As it turns out, Skitch-Sketch and company were in another fic the whole time!

DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!

A fic that I will get to...in the future! And it will involve mummies!

Prologue

Classy Clover was agitated tonight.

From his position on the upstairs balcony he had a commanding view of the large crowd of creatures mingling on the ground floor of his Neigh Orleans manor house. The house was almost packed to the bursting point, full of most of the city’s movers and shakers among the nobility and the guard. It was the kind of party that carried an undertone of desperation. Ponies laughing, talking and dancing to forget their problems.

Since the arrest of the Neigh Orleans kingpin, Bayou Runner, the city had been scrambling to find a new social order. It was a process that was all the more chaotic by the fact that most of those same ponies were also scrambling to get their hooves on what was left of his hidden cache.

It was a legend among the nobility of the city. A collection of magic items and artifacts gathered from across the world. The thought of it almost made Clover want to salivate. But then, Bayou’s own stupidity had cost him. His stupidity and his feud with the Lulamoon family. A sigh escaped the earth pony’s lips, a hoof snatching a glass of wine from a passing servant born tray.

Trixie Lulamoon.

One failed assassination attempt had caused her to run off to Ponyville. And another failed attempt had brought her, the Elements of Harmony, and their pet human turned unicorn back with her.

“And now he’s in prison.” He frowned, staring at the clear white wine, idly swirling it in the glass.

“Why, Clover, is something eating you?”

Glancing at the light blue mare that was sashaying his direction, he took a sip of his drink. Dry. Just how he liked it.

“Just thinking about how our city is changing, Jangles.”

Falling into position next to him, she tittered, snatching the wine from his hoof and throwing the whole glass back in one smooth motion. Clover rolled his eyes. Pushy as always.

“Please.” She smiled, placing the glass on an empty tray that another servant trotted past with, “One stallion goes down and you’re convinced that all of us will follow?”

“Celestia is angry.” He observed, “Stop looking at what happened to Bayou Runner as if it occurred in isolation. The Collector showed the world that there are very dangerous things out there. Do you really think we’ll be able to continue as we were? Celestia will move to protect the things she views as precious.”

“This city wrote the book on corruption.” She countered, “Celestia and Cadance remain bound by Equestria’s laws and Luna wouldn’t dare give the world more fuel for their fears that she’s somehow still Nightmare Moon.”

“She has agents. Including-”

“Don’t even start.” She snapped, “Trixie Lulamoon is not some hidden avenger for the crown! Bayou Runner became too blatant, Lulamoon got her revenge. Nothing more.” She bumped her flank into his, “Come on. I thought that this was supposed to be a victory party? You got some of Runner’s cache, right?”

“One part of it, at least.” He nodded, eyes flicking towards the hallway that contained his office, “Perhaps-”

“Excuse me, sir?”

It was one of his servers. The poor pegasus mare looked rather upset.

“There’s a lion at the bar. He’s demanding that he speak with you, and upsetting the other guests.”

Kneading his forehead, Classy Clover sighed. “Alright, I’ll go deal with him. Pardon me Jangles.”

Taking his leave, he worked his way downstairs and through the crowd, into his manor’s drawing room, pausing just past the door to observe the contents. He had just finished renovating it, complete with a shiny, new bar constructed out of the richest Tapirian mahogany. And sitting sideways on one of the low stools was indeed, a lion.

He was a younger one, dark brown mane and tawny coat neatly groomed. A dark green sash was slung diagonally across his chest, both a lieutenant’s rank insignia and the army patch of The United Kingdoms (the lion kingdom of Regula, specifically) stitched onto it. He was radiating boredom and annoyance as he pounded a paw on the surface of the bar, the ponies in the room giving him a wide berth.

“Bartender! Another Mint Julep!” He demanded, in a cultured accent that spoke to an upper class background of some kind. Among the Regulan noble houses, there was a certain amount of cultural pride tied up in becoming an army officer.

“Charming.” He muttered, trotting forward, “Excuse me, si-”

“Ah ha!” The lion roared, twisting about and throwing a leg around him. A very undignified yelp escaped Clover’s lips as he was yanked to his side, “The man of the hour and just the pony I wanted to speak with! Come,” He beamed, showing off his fangs, “Let me buy you a drink.” Holding up his other paw, he waved the bartender down, “Bartender! Two Mint Juleps!”

“It’s my alcohol! Unpaw me, you drunken lout!”

“Drunk? Please. This is only my third Julep.”

“Who,” Clover hissed through clenched teeth, “Are you?”

The lion grinned, pulling him closer before leaning his head down and whispering in his ear. “You can call me Eyob. Lieutenant Eyob. I am here to discuss a business proposition that should be of interest to you. So...sit down, and have a drink.”

Glowering, Clover sunk into a seat, glancing at the bartender. “Whiskey. Straight.”

Twenty minutes later, Clover was feeling a bit better. Eyob had explained every aspect of his plan, down to the exacting detail. So, at the very least, he wasn’t a madcreature. But his offer...dangerous business.

“So, that’s the proposal.” He nodded, swirling the remains of his Julep, “You want anything from my side of the continent, you deal with me. Magic, goods that you’d prefer to not pay Equestrian tariffs on, whatever. ”

“Why should I take the risk at all? This city isn’t as open to illicit trade as it was. The sun is on the rise.”

“This city is going to be fighting for a new identity in a post Runner world. You either play the game, or you get left in the dust.”

Clever Clover sighed, idly tapping a hoof against the bar top. The gears slowly turned in his head, as he worked out the possibilities. Eventually, he shook his head.

“I’ll think about it. Lots of risk on my part.”

“Suit yourself.” The lion shrugged, pushing himself away from the bar, “Don’t take too long though. Plenty of other creatures in Neigh Orleans. I’ll be staying at the Continental Hotel, room 515. If you change your mind.”

Following suit, Clover headed back upstairs to his office, considering the offer all the way. On one hoof, the lion had a point, but there was still the inherent risk that came from playing under Celestia’s scrutiny. Plus, there were the other players in the city to consider. Fisher Stonecup and Ruby Shores weren’t ponies to trifle with. Reaching his office, he shook his head. This really would require some thought.

Pushing the door open, he froze. The painting of his father had been removed from the wall, the hidden safe behind hanging open, a note of paper the only thing within. Bolting over to it, he picked up the note with a shaking hoof.

Shape up.

With a snarl of rage, he tore back out of his office and down the stairs, rapidly scanning the crowd for any sign of that damned cat. But it was wall to wall ponies. Growling again, he rushed over to one of his guards working the door.

“The lion. Did he leave?”

“Yes sir. He just left.” He frowned, “Is there a problem?”

“Get Copper Coin and Shiny Blade. Follow him. Beat him senseless, and haul him back here!”

Kassa Sharpclaw casually walked through the streets of Neigh Orleans, a wide grin on his feline face, and a slight wobble in his steps as he put Clever Clover’s mansion far behind him.

“Nice booze, at any rate.”

Nice booze that maybe he had too much of. Six drinks...or was it seven? Things had kind of turned into a blur during the “negotiations” but at least enough so that everything was nice and swirly. His ears flicked towards the sound of hooves click-clacking on the cobblestone. Three sets of hooves, approaching from behind.

“Fantastic.” He hissed under his breath, suddenly breaking right and tearing down an alleyway. The clatter of hooves rushed after, the alley turning into a blur as Kassa rushed onward, weaving past boxes and other stacked trash in an attempt to lose his pursuers. Left, right, right, left, he ran, the back of Neigh Orleans’ various buildings only so much alcohol hazed motion. And then he came to a dead end.

“Damn.” He winced. In his alcohol induced stupor, he must have missed a turn off back to open streets. Slowly turning, he found himself face to face with three strong and angry looking ponies. Three angry ponies who seemed utterly unafraid of the fact he was a lion.

“Gentlestallions!” The roguish smile that had saved his hide so many times before played across his muzzle, “Certainly you have better things to do than hassle an old drunk?”

“Nice try. Our employer,” The lead one growled, a particularly angry looking stallion with a jagged scar over one eye, “Wishes to have a conversation with you. About something you might have helped steal.”

“We were just discussing business. If some other creature….”

“Don’t play me.” The bully calmly responded, stepping forward with his fellows, a slight cloud of mist coiling about their hooves, “You show up, and then the bosses new acquisition vanishes?”

“Coincidence.” Kassa assured, holding up his paws, eyes flicking to the mist for the barest of moments, “Now, how about I go ahead and buy you some drinks.”

In response, two of the ponies charged, slamming him up against the wall. Grunting as the air was rushed from his lungs, Kassa smirked as the mist billowed into full clouds of cover.

“Very well!" He beamed. "You brought this on yourselves.”

A large shape loomed in the fog, a sudden sharp yelp echoing through the confined space a moment later. Kassa smiled at the two ponies who had him pinned and the confused expressions on their faces. Before they could react, a pair of strong hands clapped around their forelegs, yanking them back into the fog. Kassa calmly adjusted his uniform, while cries of surprise and pain reached his ears. The fog faded away a moment later, revealing the scene of carnage.

The three ponies lay scattered about the cobblestone street, laying fully unconscious at the hooves of a disgruntled looking minotaur.

“Ya’ll think you could have cut that any closer?” Kassa pointedly asked, dropping back into his native Neigh Orleans accent while picking his way past the punched out ponies. “They were quite fit on breakin’ me in half.”

Iron Will shrugged. “You didn’t follow the escape path we laid out.”

“Ah tried! Ah’m just a little...tipsy right now.” Glancing towards two ponies who approached, he raised an eyebrow at the azure coated one leading the way, “Trixie...next time ya’ll have me work a mark, can ah choose a plan that doesn’t involve me gettin plastered?”

Trixie shrugged. “Classy Clover likes to discuss business over drinks. And Northern Lights needed the time to crack the safe.”

The light lavender pegasus rolled her eyes, carefully balancing an ornate looking brass sextant upon one hoof. “Tell ya what Kassa. Next time, you can crack the safe.”

“My dear pony!” He gasped, pressing a paw against his breast in a gesture of mock wounded dignity. The mock upper class accent was back in force, “I am an actor, a thespian and a gentlecreature!”

“You’re a grifter.” She smirked back.

“And yer a thief.”

“You bet your tail I am.”

“Alright, alright.” Trixie interjected, tapping a hoof against the cobblestones to bring order back to the conversation, “I’ll take the sextant back to the theatre, see what I can deduce about it while we’re letting the heat die down. Meet back there in three days and we’ll discuss our next move.”

“Good.” Kassa nodded, “That’ll let me clean this dye out of my mane.”

“Still can’t believe that we did all of that to steal a sextant.” Northern Light’s observed.

“It’s a magic sextant.” Trixie pointed out, “It does magic things.”

“And do you know what those magic things are?”

“Not yet.” Trixie waved a hoof, “I’ll work it out though. But for now, we scatter. Now scatter!”

After a mutter of agreement from the group, they went their separate ways, melting back into the depths of the city.

Meanwhile, in another corner of the multiverse…

Trixie Lulamoon, Element of Magic, knight of Equestria, official representative of the Night Court of Luna, had a headache coming on. She shot a truly venomous glare across her desk at the goat that was absentmindedly chewing his cud, like he had no idea just how rude it was.

She looked back down at the petition he had shoved onto her desk. The hoof writing was atrocious, a sloppy mess of scribbles that were trying to pass for letters. Wrinkling her snout, she shoved the paper back across the desk.

“I’m sorry Mister…” She glanced at the page, “Horn Helm.

“Horn Harm.”

“...Right. Horn Harm. But I can’t accept your petition to overturn the mayor’s decision.”

The goat glowered.

“Why not?”

“Because she hasn’t done anything wrong.” She frowned, “You helped yourself to the still growing crops of several farms, without paying.”

“That’s just foraging.”

“...You ate a book at the library.”

“Good fiber.” He nodded sagely, as if it was a self evident statement.

“Look.” Trixie sighed, “You still owe the farmers the money for their produce, and you still owe Twilight Sparkle to replace the bo-”

“Stop oppressing my culture you ethnocentric witch!”

“Another, Berry.” Trixie growled.

“Bad day?” The mulberry colored bartender asked, carefully pouring a glass of bourbon.

“I just got accused of being speciesist.” She sighed, grabbing the glass of booze like it was her last life line, “All because I told a goat that he’d have to face the responsibilities for his actions.”

“You’re not the first pony to come in here today and complain about Horn Harm.” She sighed, “So, what did you do?”

“Threw him out of my office and told him to pay his debts or he’d wind up in prison. He dropped a bag of bits on my desk and stormed out.”

“And he wants to live here.” Berry Punch sighed, “You ever get the feeling that Ponyville just attracts the crazies?”

“Thought about it. Just not sure what that says about the rest of us.”

Both mares shared an appreciative chuckle, Trixie taking a sip of her bourbon.

“Still...something’s bothering me.” She mused, swirling the drink, “Just something about that goat struck me as odd.”

“Really?”

“Just a feeling.” Trixie shrugged, “It’s just hard to believe that somepony would be that...purposefully thick.”

“I’ve met some very thick ponies in my life. I imagine it applies to goats as well.”

“I suppose so.” Trixie frowned, “Either way, the problem’s handled for now…for now.”

Horn Harm trotted through the depths of Whitetail Woods, eager to put the town of Ponyville behind him. The town had a great deal of potential, so many ponies with so much food and sweets and riches. Coming to a clearing in the depths of the woods, he rejoined his herd, twenty five odd goats lazing about the open patch of ground, waiting for his report. The largest of the herd, and thusly it’s de facto leader, stomped forward, his gray fur making him resemble an animate boulder.

Blackhoof snorted as he approached, shaking his great shaggy head, his one broken horn adding to his scarred and elderly appearance. “So, Harm, tell me of this Ponyville. Can we live off its fat for a while?”

“Its farms are very rich. And it’s full of ponies who are neighborly and that like to help. Not much in terms of town guard either. The Night Court Representative could be a pain though. She wasn’t impressed by my claims of cultural heritage.”

“No matter. Most of the tribe can’t speak the pony tongue anyway. We shall feign ignorance and enjoy their largess!”

A cheer rose up from the assembled goats, visions of earth pony grown produce dancing through their heads.

“We shall wait a few days. Let them forget Horn Harm’s presence, and then we’ll sweep in! Food and forage for all!”

“Food and forage for all!”

Two days later, back in the other universe….

Trixie glowered at the bronze sextant sitting on her desk, nestled between stuffed files. So far, it had defied most of her attempts to identify it. At least with the books she had at her own disposal, and her own analysis of its magic aura revealed conjuration and nothing else. The sole reference she had been able to find was a name, tucked away in Bayou Runner’s catalogue of his collection.

The Sextant of Worlds.

She could send the item along to Princess Celestia as is. The princess could probably work out its purpose on her own, or have other ponies track that information down. But, on the other hoof, she had been trusted with rooting out corruption in Neigh Orleans and this was tied to a case.

Corruption.

Neigh Orleans was still a veritable sea of the stuff. New ponies and other power players moving in, with only her team, Medowlark and the small group of reformed city guard holding the line. Still, she had sworn an oath to the princess and, at the moment, that oath meant figuring out what this sextant did. Picking it up, Trixie trotted over to one of her office windows and gazed up at the star studded night sky. Raising the instrument to her eye, she lined the telescope portion towards one of the twinkling points of light. She did a double take at the sight that greeted her eyes.

She was staring at herself.

The Trixie in the eyepiece was in some manner of home, trotting back and forth in a comfortable looking living room studying a book. It didn’t seem to Trixie that her other self was in Neigh Orleans...at least from what she could tell. But the twin’s resemblance was uncanny. A perfect copy, right down to the cutie-mark. She peered around the edge of the sextant, seeing the wall of her theater’s office, the window and the night sky. But looking back through the eyepiece and she could see the other Trixie again.

“Amazing.” She breathed, a smile beginning to creep across her muzzle, “I must be looking into another universe.”

The existence of alternate universes had become public knowledge in a very direct way a few months ago, when the human known as The Collector attacked. His attempt to drain all of the power from the princesses (and any creature else of power) was probably the closest Equis had come to destruction since Nightmare Moon. And he had used another human as a pawn, trapped her as a unicorn and trapped her in this universe. And Skitch-Sketch (as she had taken to calling herself), had helped Trixie get revenge on Bayou Runner, along with the Element Bearers.

Perhaps this Sextant of Worlds could help her? Trixie always paid her debts.

“Alright. Just a little deeper of a look.” She muttered, pushing her magical examinations deeper into the item.

A tingling shock ran down her horn in response. With a shocked yelp, she tried to let go of the sextant. It refused to move. Frowning, she tried to just cut her magical grip entirely. But that also refused to let go, the glow of the aura actually washing back off of the sextant and over her own form. She yelped in shock as the energy began to lift her from the floor, her legs failing for some kind of purchase.

“Oh, come on!” She shouted in frustration, wondering just what trap she had triggered.

Meanwhile...

Trixie frowned, angrily flipping the page of the borrowed book, searching for information that would make the nagging voice in the back of her head shut up. She hadn’t been able to get that goat out of her mind for the past few days. Her experiences dealing with the politics of the Night Court, and Duke Greengrass in particular, had taught her that paranoia was sometimes very useful.

And right now, that sense was telling her that something bad was about to happen. And then she started to glow blue. Tome toppling from her magic grip, Trixie bucked and kicked as she rose into the air, the glow growing brighter and brighter around her.

“What’s going on?!”

The light that held her in place coiled up, then surged skyward, dragging the pony along in a chaotic surge of motion and noise. Ponyville, and its surroundings turned into a blur as she rushed away from the buildings and her home. Something blue shot past her, going the other way. Another city scape blurred into view, but she could barely make out the details before she impacted into another building and mercifully, blacked out.

Author's Note

My first inter-AU crossover! Wooo!

To all the readers of the Lunaverse, welcome! And hopefully this little crossover will be entertaining to all of you. To the readers of my own universe who haven't started reading the Lunaverse...well, why haven't you? It's good!

Anyway, not much else I have to comment on this chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Trixie groaned, flopping over onto her stomach, a fuzzy feeling under her barrel. The pain that lanced through her head reminded her of every hangover she ever experienced, but worse. Opening one eye, she scanned her surroundings, wondering where the chaotic mess of light and movement had deposited her. It was an office. A plush red rug covered the floor, the back of a wooden desk rising past her view, a bronze sextant resting next to her hoof. Confusion marring her features, Trixie pushed herself upright, and continued to examine her surroundings with a raised eyebrow.

Open files and books were scattered across the desktop in a haphazard mess. The results of some manner of late night study session, Trixie guessed. But the city out the window looked familiar enough at least. Trixie would recognize the skyline of Neigh Orleans anywhere. A few bookshelves were thrown up against the walls, a small collection of books haphazardly thrown into one, while the other seemed to be groaning under the weight of all the files crammed upon its shelves.

Frowning, Trixie turned her attention back to what was on the desk. A few books on magical constructions rested atop an open file. Pushing the books aside, she quickly scanned the latter. The pages contained a collection of facts on a tapir- an important sounding one, based on the title alone- Ambassador Velenta, and a collection of details on his supposed crimes.

Slave trafficking.

Trixie shuddered. She had never heard of this creature, or the slave trade being connected to Neigh Orleans. At least in the current day and age. So what was going on? That answer was partially answered when her eyes fell upon a photo that rested on the edge of the desk. It clearly displayed a younger version of herself, dressed in her purple star studded cape and hat- though both seemed a little large on her frame- and beaming like the noonday sun. An older mare, similarly dressed, stood beside her; a mare that Trixie only recognized from old photos and descriptions.

“Momma?” She gasped.

The photo was wrong. The version of herself in it was in her early teens and her mother had died when she was very, very young. Unfamiliar names. Unfamiliar history. Trixie groaned.

“I swear, if I’m in another universe again….”

The last time she had been shunted between realities, she, another her, and two Twilight Sparkles had accidentally caused some kind of nihilistic magic...thing, to come into being. And she wanted to avoid something like that happening again. Her eyes roamed towards the picture again. Obviously, this universe had a Trixie as well. Maybe she was behind her own arrival to...well, wherever exactly in Neigh Orleans she was. Sighing, she trotted for the door and peeked out into the hallway beyond.

It was short. Little more than a walkway that lead to a spiral metal staircase that coiled down to the floor below. Another door, bearing the words “Meeting Room” on its surface sat on the other side of the hall. Ignoring it and heading to the staircase, she took the steps two at a time, landing neatly in what was obviously a theatre’s backstage. The stage was to her right, the employee entrance doors straight ahead, and the dressing rooms off to her left.

“Hello?” She called out, scanning her surroundings for any sign of life, “Other Trixie? Anypony?”

Silence was the response. In fact, if the electric lights hadn’t been on, she’d have sworn that the theatre would have been closed for the night. “Great.” Trixie groaned, “I’m on my own.”

All things considered, she wasn’t sure if this was better or worse than how her last jaunt between worlds had gone. At least last time she had caused enough trouble right out of the gate to catch the attention of that world’s Element Bearers. Her thoughts drifted back to the books on magic items on the table upstairs and the ancient looking mariners device that had been resting on the floor. Perhaps she could find some answers there.

Whirling about, she charged back up the metal staircase, hooves loudly clanging against the metal. Skidding back into the office, she dashed around the side of the writing desk and snatched up the sextant. Tapping into her magic sight, she started to examine the device.

It was gray, dull, and magically dead.

“Merde.” She swore, dropping it on the desk. The two tomes on magical items and artifacts still rested there, the only other immediate lead she had, “I suppose I’ll have to hit the books...and hope.”

Trixie swore as she pushed herself to her hooves.

“Stupid, stupid, STUPID!” She snarled, rubbing at the bump on her head, “I should have known better to just start poking at a magic item I hadn’t even identified yet! Because then I set it off by accident!”

Swearing again, she examined the room she found herself in, already recognizing some parts of it from her extra worldly spy session. It was a small, but cozy looking living room. The carpet under her hooves was clean, but rather simple, and an empty fireplace was set into the wall before her. What stood out on the wall to her left, however, was what really grabbed her attention.

Painted in a stylized, storybook manner, it depicted the familiar story of Celestia’s and Luna’s conflict, and subsequent banishment of the moon princess. Save for the fact that the details were completely reversed, showing Luna triumphant with a sun and moon balanced on her wings.

“Everything that is or could be.” Trixie muttered.

Her stomach churned. Her first hoof in another reality and it was one where the mare who had trusted her with so much had gone evil.

Great. She thought. Well...might as well see what else is here.

Trotting through the rest of the building revealed a few more important details to her. The office- set diagonally from the living room- was full of documents and other effects that indicated some kind of administrative position. The other, and perhaps more important fact for Trixie at the moment, was the fully stocked liquor cabinet.

“Alright.” Trixie nodded to herself, trotting upstairs with the bottle of bourbon and a glass suspended in her aura, “If the other me is even half as good with magic as I am, I’m sure she’ll be able to work out what happened.”

Stepping into what she worked out was a guest room, she flopped down into the bed, slowly pouring herself a glass of delicious, delicious bourbon. “So. The smartest thing to do is not to panic, and just wait for her to figure out how to undo the process.” She took a long drink of the amber colored alcohol. “And if she hasn’t in a few days, get in touch with this universes Element Bearers and Princess Luna and move on from there.”

She topped the drink off again, smiling at her own infallible logic.

“No need to panic.”

The sunlight streamed in through the window, calling Trixie back to the waking world. The Element of Magic groaned again, straightening up and pulling her head away from the book she had turned into a pillow. She stretched, popping the aches and pains out of her spine, all the while cursing the random slings and arrows that had dragged her here.

The books had not been helpful. One had just been a ledger of items. Useless for her. The other book had listed a bunch of magic items, but none of which seemed like they were going to be useful for jumping between worlds. And the other books in the office were novels that, while looking like they’d be entertaining reads, were useless to her plight.

She had found a bag of golden bits tucked away in a drawer, however. The sun insignia stamped into the burnished metal indicating that she was either in another benevolent Celestia universe, or one where Corona had taken over everything.

“Really hope its the former.” She sighed, staring out the window at the rising sun.

A creaking sound reached her ears, echoing down the short hallway. Trixie frowned as she trotted to the office door, straining her ears for more signs of movement.

“Trixie?” A deep male voice shouted, “Ya here?”

Great. Trixie thought. Guess I should play along for now. Don’t want to freak anypony out like last time.

“I’m in the office!” She shouted back, rushing back behind the desk. Soft hoof falls- very soft hoof falls, in fact- approached, and Trixie turned to shuffling around the files in an effort to look busy. Looking up as the hoof falls entered the office, her jaw almost dropped at what greeted her eyes.

A large male lion had just strode into the room.

WHO LET A LION INTO THE BUILDING! Stars above, let that thing be trained! Please let it be trained. Where’s the pony that let it in?

The feline glanced down at the desk. “Lookin’ over the next job we were gonna do?”

The lion is talking. Of course its talking. Trixie thought, smiling all the while. “Sure is.”

“Slavers.” He snorted, before flashing a grin full of very sharp fangs, “Ah’m gonna enjoy taking this guy out. The others here yet?”

“Not yet.” Trixie responded, “The whole crew arriving today?”

“Yeah. Iron Will and Northern Lights should be here soon enough, providin’ that they didn’t decide ta be lazy today.”

The door creaked in the distance again, a pair of voices calling out this time.

“Trixie?” Another male voice shouted, “You here? Kassa shown up yet?”

“Office!” Trixie shouted, quickly wrapping a volume enhancement enchantment around her throat.

A few moments later, two more figures stepped into the office. A minotaur and a pegasus pony. She knew the minotaur, Iron Will, by reputation at least, from the whole sequence of events revolving around Raindrops and the crazed “doctor” Crane. The pegasus wasn’t familiar, though the shimming aura mark on her flanks would have to make her Northern Lights.

“Alright boss.” She chirped, “Don’t we have a slaver to take out?”

“Right.” Trixie nodded, “Head on over to the meeting room and I’ll be right there. Just need to go over the last few details.”

Nodding, the strange menagerie crossed the hall and disappeared into the other room. Trixie quietly closed the office door, and groaned, slumping to the floor.

“They’re expecting me to lead them in some kind of crazy plan. What in Luna’s name has the other me been doing? I should come up with some kind of excuse, focus on getting home. If Corona pulls something while I’m stuck here….”

But, one word kept blazing in her mind. Slavers. Beings that sold other beings for a profit. And she was Dame Trixie Lulamoon, knight of Equestria. No matter what, or which version of Equestria she found herself in.

With a sigh, she turned to the file, horn glowing. “I should at least take a look…”

Across the void of time and space, Trixie awoke to the sound of thunderous hoof strikes on the door. Groaning, she flopped out of the bed, sending the empty bourbon bottle skittering across the floor with a clang that sounded far too loud to her ears. Swearing again, she stumbled down the stairs, cursing the hangover, the magic sextant, and herself for downing the entire bottle of bourbon without stopping to consider the ramifications.

“I’m coming! Sun above, I’m coming!”

She threw open the door, blinking blearily at the pony on the other side. A jasmine coated, cyan maned pegasus stared back with an expression that Trixie would normally call “cross”.

“Can I...help you?” Trixie asked, blinking against the angry morning light.

The pegasus raised an eyebrow ever so slightly.

“Trixie. We have problems at the farms.”

“What kind of problems.” She raised a hoof to shield her eyes.

“We got goats.”

The hangover was still slicing into her brain like a crazed knife wielding pony, by the time the raindrop marked pony had lead her to the farms outside Ponyville. The first one they came upon was a carrot farm, where four goats were resolutely munching away at the rows of produce, plucking carrot after carrot from the ground. A yellow coated, orange maned earth pony was doing her best to make the goats go away.

“Please! You can’t just eat my whole crop!" She moaned. "I’ll be more than happy to sell you all the carrots you want!”

But the goats ignored her, and continued to eat away.

“It’s like this all over the farms.” The pegasus frowned, “This massive group of goats just...showed up and started helping themselves. They won’t react to anything anypony says and just keep eating.”

“And?” Trixie blinked.

The jasmine pegasus stared at her for a moment.

“You’re the Night Court Representative here. I know you got a bad hangover but can’t you...do something?”

“Right.” Trixie nodded, reaching a hoof up to adjust her hat, only to realize that she wasn’t wearing it. Sighing, she stomped on over to the goats, “You all there! As the duly appointed representative of the Night Court of...Luna, I require you to vacate this town, and return to your town of origin, or the nearest convenient one!”

The four goats looked up and stared at her for a moment. Then they returned to grazing.

Trixie frowned.

“I said, move out!”

They continued to eat.

Frowning deeper, she tried shoving the lead goat out of the way, pressing her hooves against his side. “I need you,” She grunted, “To move along! There’s plenty of produce to eat at the market! Providing you...PAY!”

The goat took a step forward, forcing Trixie to topple snout first into the dirt. Another stab of pain drilled through the side of her skull as the goat gave her a light kick, just to rub salt into the wound.

“Please, stop!” The farmer shouted, desperately running from goat to goat, “I’ll go broke if you eat all my stock!”

The statement echoed in Trixie’s mind like the roar of cannon fire. No money, no way for her to keep her farm. Destitute. Homeless. A low growl escaped Trixie as she forced herself upright again. Shaking the remains of earth from her mane, a snarl of absolute rage twisted her features.

“To Tartarus with this!” She snapped, “I have a splitting headache and am not in the mood!”

Rearing onto her hindhooves, she channeled, weaving a spell across the field. A cascading series of blue smoke puffs washed over every growing carrot, the vegetables vanishing. Satisfied with her efforts, Trixie landed back on all fours, a smug smile crossing her muzzle. The goats paused in their repast, turning their gaze towards the unicorn for a moment. Then, as one, they turned and went right back to eating, Trixie’s invisibility spell not slowing them down, even for a moment.

Trixie stared, her mind grinding out what just happened, and trying to make sense of it. She was an illusionist and a damn good one at that, and these marauding goats had seen right through her efforts and continued eating the poor mare’s crops.

“Fine.” She growled, dearly wishing she had her hat, so that she could push it forward in a suitably dramatic manner, “You want to do this the hard way? We’ll do this the hard way!”

“Trixie?” The jasmine colored pegasus blinked, “What are you doing?”

Trixie decked the lead goat right on the snout. It toppled backwards, bleating in shock, and tumbling into one of its fellows with a tangle of legs. One of his friends let loose a bleat of war and charged, lowering his horns with the full intention to bowl Trixie over. Trixie took a step back, kicking a clod of dirt into the onrushing goat’s eyes. He stumbled, horns gouging into the dirt. Trixie pounced on him in an instant, repeatedly slamming her hoof into the goat’s side, aiming for the kidneys.

“Get off this farm!” She snarled, “She’s not going to lose her livelihood because you sorry walking stomachs don’t understand the concept of paying!”

“Trixie! Lookout!”

The jasmine pegasus body checked one of the other goats that was rushing in for an attack, sending it tumbling away. The yellow coated earth pony gaped, but quickly threw herself into the fight as well, pinning the goat that the pegasus had just body slammed to the ground. The two that had previously thudded to the ground got back up, circling the group. Jasmine flared her wings, resolutely taking a stance to block their attempts to get to their friend. The goat that Trixie was grappling with began to buck, trying to throw her off his body, but she latched on like tick.

“Get. OUT!” Trixie yelled, kicking out with a hind hoof.

The goat bleated again, toppling forward as Trixie rolled free. With another bleat, the goats tore off rushing off into the distance and out of sight. Jasmine and Yellow spun about, a mixture of anger and confusion dominating their features.

“Discord’s mismatched horns Trixie!” Jasmine raged, “What was that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you go off on somepony that way!”

Trixie blinked, grinning sheepishly. “I may...have had a little too much to drink last night. And they started it by trying to eat the farm bare on their own!”

“I just…” Yellow blinked, “I’ve never seen you fight like that before.”

“Neigh Orleans fighting.” Trixie shrugged, offering that as an explanation, “Look, isn’t this happening at the other farms too? We need to stop them!”

Without waiting for a response, she tore off down the road, and towards the next farm.

Trixie flipped the file closed.

There was really no question now. She had to help this team that her other self had pulled together.

This Velenta character was a piece of work, everything that Trixie had despised about the worst aspects of the Night Court, if not somehow worse. Money and influence to intimidate those around him, and a seemingly inherent sociopathy that allowed him to treat creatures like so much market stock. It was all there in the files, if one could read between the lines. Never enough to bring to trial, and always dancing just out of hoof-reach. But what had really pushed Trixie into her decision, was the letter that the tapirian emperor had included.

The hoof writing was elegant, but shaky. Like the writer had been choking back either rage or sadness, though Trixie couldn’t say for sure which.

Trixie Lulamoon,

Princess Celestia has spoken to me of your efforts in Neigh Orleans, and your dedication to seeing that what happened to you, does not happen to other creatures in that city. It is with a heavy heart that I ask you to assist an old man, who’s failed to do the same for some of his subjects.

The nobility of my homeland hangs onto the old traditions, and they fought me on emancipation from day one. I suspect that Velenta is part of a ring that takes tapir and ponies from the lower income areas of Tapiria’s large cities, and now he drags the lands of my ally into this?

If you can stop him, I would consider it to be a personal favor. It would help me break the rings at home. Please. Help ensure that this...institution...dies its final death, before I do.

- Emperor Dom Placido II “The Magnanimous” of Tapiria and Her Creatures

“All right old man, you got Dame Trixie to help you this time.” She smirked.

Casting her photographic memory charm, Trixie picked up the file folder and trotted across the hall. The team looked up from their seats as she entered, dropped the folder on the edge of the table, and sank into her chair.

“Alright everypony.” She nodded, keeping her head held high, “We have an ambassador to take down. Let’s get to work. Do we have any plans on the table already?” She asked with an imperious wave of her hoof.

“Not yet, no.” Northern Light’s frowned, “But that’s mostly because you haven’t told us anything aside from the fact we’re going after a slaver. We need details.”

“Oh, right.” Trixie grinned, letting her spell fill in the gaps, “Sorry. Getting ahead of myself here. The slaver in question is an ambassador. A tapir named Velenta.”

The shocked expressions from the table told her how well that statement went over.

“So, if we screw up.” Kassa drawled, tapping his claws on the desk, “We’ll cause an international incident.”

“Which is why we can’t screw up. Besides, since half of this intel came from the tapir emperor, it’d be a small incident at best.”

“Oh, okay.” The lion shook his head, “So long as its a small incident, we’ll be fine.”

“There won’t be an incident! We can handle this. Now,” She shuffled through the files, “According to my intelligence here, Celestia and Placido think that he and some others in his ring shuffle their slaves around. Mix them in with paid servants so that everything looks normal.”

“Then we find one of them and get them out.” Iron Will nodded, “Tip off Frolicsome Medowlark. He’ll have all he needs to take em out!”

“But how do we get in?” Northern Lights interrupted with a hoof slap on the table, “I mean, I can sneak in, but the rest of you? Trixie can’t make everycreature invisible for the duration.”

Betcha I could. Trixie thought. But it would be kind of restrictive. Better if we could waltz in somehow….

Something suddenly occurred to her, fueled by the spell, and her own memory. Quickly flipping through the pages, she found what she was looking for.

“He has a young daughter.” Trixie smiled, tapping the page, “Who’s having a birthday tomorrow.”

“And?” Northern Lights blinked.

“And this party will be graced by the show stopping presence of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie shouted, jumping up from her seat, “And her talented assistants!”

“This is gonna be one of those plans that’s gonna wind up with me embarrassed, aint it?”

“Maybe.”

“Trixie! STOP!”

The unicorn glanced behind her as she ran. Her hooves chose that exact moment to find a rock a dip in the road that sent her crashing to the ground for the second time today.

Gravity in this universe hates me. She bitterly thought, staring up into the clear blue sky.

Jasmine and Yellow’s heads suddenly filled her field of vision, both looking deeply concerned. Jasmine spoke first as she helped drag Trixie back to her hooves.

“Trixie. What’s gotten into you?” Jasmine frowned, “You’re acting like...well...me, I guess. We’re your friends. Talk to us.”

Fantastic. All the ponies I had to find here, and I run into my twin’s friends. She mentally cursed, while keeping an apologetic expression on her face. Gotta try and feel out their names at least. Raindrop and carrot cutie mark. Worth a shot.

“It’s...I just had a bad night last night Drops. And then these goats started wrecking Carrot’s farm. I just...I got angry.”

Technically the truth, with some details left off, admittedly. Drops glared at her, her tail twitching.

“I can understand that.” Carrot frowned, not objecting to the given moniker, “But you can’t beat up every goat in Ponyville!”

“I can try.” Trixie frowned, “They’re resistant to my magic. If I can’t magic them away, then hoof to hoof combat seems like my only other option.”

“Trixie.” Drops frowned, “You're smarter than this. And if you keep attacking them, sooner or later they’re going to gang up on you and stomp you into the ground.”

Trixie clenched her teeth, rubbing the side of her still aching head. “Stupid hangover. I just can’t think straight!”

Rolling her eyes, Carrot poked Trixie back to her hooves. “Alright. Hangover remedy fist, goats second.”

Author's Note

Emperor Placido the II is based on the historical Pedro the II of Brazil and was responsible (with the backing of Celestia) for outlawing the slave trade. But, as we see here, there are some hold outs that continue to try and keep the old ways alive, and Neigh Orleans corruption makes it a good place to sneak under the radar.

Meanwhile, in the Lunaverse, Ponyville is having to deal with a wandering goat tribe or "tor". While most of the goats of Equestria are law abiding citizens, this tribe is obviously content with taking what they want from whoever they want.