Chapter 11-Dirty Trick

Dirty Trick:

“Trixie! I swear this is the last time! Where are you?”

The blue mare looks up from her book she has been reading for the past hour in the middle of the library floor. So far it had been a slow morning however from Twilight’s little outburst from the kitchen Trixie could tell that the cease fire between the two had already ended. Trixie sighs as she puts down her book ‘torture and you’ she was reading “And I was just on the chapter on psychological interrogation. What does Twilight want from Trixie now?”

Trixie watches in slight amusement as a flustered lavender mare trots up the Trixie carrying a white carton in her telekinesis. Twilight stomps to a stop fight in front of Trixie as she pushes the carton into Trixie’s face “Trixie? What is this?”

With the slightest flick of her horn Trixie magics her hat back onto her head, sparing just enough effort towards glancing over at the other unicorn to look interested. “…and here Trixie thought that you were the smart one.”

Not even bothering to rise from the pillow she is sitting on Trixie squints as she looks at the object in front of her “Well, Trixie may not have a college degree like some lavender dimwit but from her limited knowledge Trixie supposes that that object is a carton of milk.”

Twilight stuttered in embarrassment “But….. I know what it is Trixie! What I want to know is what is it doing here?!”

Trixie blinks “Well perhaps it’s because you brought it from the kitchen? Wow a college degree doesn’t count for much these days now does it?”

“NO! I mean YES! I mean arrrggghhhh!” Twilight raises her hooves to the heaven in exasperation before calming herself down “Look my question for you today is this. After you ate your breakfast, which left a mess all over the table, did you leave the milk out again or not?”

Trixie taps her hoof to her chin “hmmm hhhhhh…… Trixie is going to guess by your angry behavior and her infallible memory that the answer to question is answer number one. That I Trixie Lulamoon committed the unforgivable sin of leaving the milk out!”

Twilight nods, ignoring Trixie’s sass in favor of actually getting somewhere in this argument. “Very Good Trixie. Now as for question two……” Twilight leans forward into the blue mare’s face “Why did you think that it was a good idea to leave the milk out again and not clean up after yourself in MY house?”

Trixie inspects her hoof nonchalantly “now that is an easy question! The answer is as simple as your mane style; Trixie saw no problem in it! You were going to get milk for your coffee this morning no? So Trixie just left it out so you didn’t have to get it! You should be thanking Trixie’s thoughtfulness, not condemning her.”

“…….and the mess?

“Trixie was just too busy to bother with such trivial tasks.” Trixie picks up her book “Trixie is a big thinker, not a maid, and her time it too valuable to be spent cleaning simple messes.”

Twilight face hoofed at the blue show mare’s flippant attitude “Look Trixie I know that you are used to living on your own but your manners are atrocious!” Twilight sighs “And you’re living in somepony else’s house now so you have to show some consideration for other’s property and feelings, not just your own.”

Twilight turns to leave reaching the halfway point between the kitchen and Trixie before the blue mare gets out a snide comment “Well at least my manners are not as bad as your taste in organization….”

Twilight stops dead in her tracks, her fur bristling as she turns around to face the blue mare behind her “….what did you say?”

‘Bull’s eye!’ Trixie thinks “You heard Trixie! I mean what kind of pony in their right mind uses the LCC method of organizing books? It’s a sham.”

Twilight growls, this time Trixie has gone too far. “The princess herself uses the Library of Canterlot classification system….”

“Yes, yes the Princess uses it! That’s such a quaint argument!” Trixie rises to her hooves “I mean the princess eats like what forty pounds of cake a day, does that mean Trixie should as well?”

“The princess has a higher metabolism than the average pony!” Twilight argues “And don’t change the subject! The LCC is the perfect form or literary organization for every library! There’s’ no problem with it!”

“And I am telling you now Twilight your trust in the library of Canterlot calcification system will only lead to your own downfall, everypony knows that the Dewy Decimal system is far superior.”

“And that’s why I’m telling you are being completely illogical, the princess herself has used the LCC system in the royal archives for over a thousand years. Compared to that track record the DDC barely holds a candle.”

And once again the two residents of Golden Oaks Library, one Trixie Lulamoon: stand Agent, and Twilight Sparkle: Princess Representatives prepare for their mutually shared talent of arguing. Through a Library is normally a place where one might hear the quiet sound of pages turning, any place where the two unicorns gathered would quickly become a place of conflict between the two self-righteous mares.

Preparing for yet another intense argument the blue showmare adjusts her hat. “And once again you cannot hold true to the changing of the times. It is clear from looking at the various libraries NOT in canterlot that the Dewy Decimal system is the logical choice. Your LCC may be an organization standard in the narrow minded corridors of canterlot, but the rest of the world sees the superiority of Dewey’s methods. ”

“The LCC is far better suited for the research intensive and studious minded ponies that often frequent libraries.” Twilight retorts “though I wouldn’t expect a hard headed stuck up pony like yourself would blaspheme against a system that has aided scholars for thousands of years!”

“How dare you! And you dare to call Trixie illogical!” Trixie fumes “You have just proven yourself that the LCC is not the best kind of organization system for this library.” Trixie stamps her hoof “The Great and Powerful Trixie can see that The LCC is only suited for scholars and bookish nerds like yourself who are too set in their ways to see the truth. The Dewey Decimal system is far superior and more appealing to the masses than your outdated models. Or are you so sheltered and alienated from the common pony that you can’t even realize that?”

“You want to debate who is more illogical, hunh miss ‘wheels can’t be trusted’.” Twilight remarks with venom “You went into a thirty minute rant that wheels are dangerous and destructive, all before breakfast despite the fact that your wagon rolls on them.”

“WHEELS ARE DANGEROUS. Any pony with half a brain can see that they are a resource that must be used as sparingly as possible. That is why Trixie places three charms on each of her wheels to protect others from their untapped wrath.”

“What? That is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard!” Twilight remarks with exasperation, just as a sly grin crosses her face “…..Though I suppose that I should have expected such an antiquated belief from some pony that never went to magic college!”

“You’ve crossed the line Sparkle!” Trixie buts heads with the lavender unicorn “Normally Trixie would resort to violence, however Trixie is feeling merciful today. So for the last time let me state my demands. Purchase more cheesy crackers, stop Belittling Trixie’s obviously superior talents, and rearrange the entire library to accommodate to the much more superior Dewey Decimal system instead of your outdated library of Canterlot calcification system that only serves to infuriate the local populace!!”

“And I have a demand for you Great and Powerful Trixie, stop being such a stuck up freeloading jerk! Your snoring wakes the dead, you’ve left out the milk Celestia knows how many times, and you are consistently rude to any pony that you meet.” Twilight shouts over her adversary adrenaline rushing through her veins as she pushes back against Trixie’s despotism with sheer physical force. “I’m letting you stay in this library to repay a debt and because I respected your abilities, but if you keep acting like a savage slob all the time then you can find somewhere else to sleep!!”

Both mares stare each other down eye to eye, horn to horn magic to magic each one staring down the other with a malice and pride that could shake mountains. However the first to break this epic stalemate is Trixie who simply shrugs off her glance with a superiority complex and a level of emotional control only an experienced performer could pull off.

“Humph, this is getting Trixie nowhere, arguing with you is a complete waste of time.” Trixie remarks as she turns away from the purple librarian trotting up the stairs to the treehouse without a single word more.

Stomping up the stairs Twilight recovers from her self-induced rage just in time to see Trixie open the door to her room. “Trixie, come down here! I haven’t finished talking.”

“Yes Twilight but Trixie has finished Listening.” The showmare states with finality “Now if you can excuse me I will be taking a nap in MY room and will not be disturbed.”

Trixie slams the door with her fury sending a vibration through the entire treehouse as the lavender mare stares dumbstruck and infuriated at Trixie’s’ door. Unsatisfied with the conclusion of their argument both mares simultaneously growl in primal fury expressing their deep frustrations with the other.

“URRRRRRRR!! Why do you have to be so stubborn Trixie?!?”

“URRRRRRRR!! Why do you have to be so stubborn Twilight?!?”

Casting a simple noise proof charm on the door so that she won’t have to hear the sound of one annoying purple pony’s obnoxious voice, the Great and Powerful Trixie breathes in and out. An old trick but a good one for frayed nerves and soaring tempers.

Trixie counts back from ten with every slow breath in to calm her nerves from her recent spat with the Librarian. “Ten…….. Nine……… eight………seven……… six………five……… UGH! Twilight Sparkle! Why do you have to be so infuriating! Why can’t you simply see that Trixie is right?! URGH!” The blue mare kicks a nearby bookshelf sending a book falling onto her head with a loud thump.

Rubbing her head the caped showmare once again attempts to calm her raging temper as she rubs her sensitive head. “Do not lose your Cool Trixie, that is only what Twilight Sparkle wants.” The showmare removes her hat and throws it on her bed “Just think through the situation like you always do.” Trixie paces to her left “Pros and Cons of living in the library with Twilight. Pro: free room and board. Well relatively free room and board”

Trixie pivots as she paces to her right “Con: Annoying roommate. Pro: location in the center of town, allowing easy access to any part of ponyville”

Trixie turns again this time to the left “Con: Really annoying roommate. Pro: Access to key pieces of intelligence in gathering pieces of the Red Stone and monitoring Twilight sparkle Con……” Trixie falls to her plot in exasperation “…….. Con: Really REALLY Annoying roommate AKA: Twilight sparkle.”

The blue showmare sighs falling to her rump as she realizes her base problem is also her means of shelter and her mission. Celestia had assigned her to not only watch Twilight for anything suspicious, but also to protect her from any Danger. But why of all ponies did it have to be HER?! Why did fate have to be so cruel that it would have her protecting the very pony she despised the most? True Twilight was talented and considerate at times, but she was so pig headed and naïve. How she managed to not die while facing down dangerous stand users was beyond the showmare comprehension. How could she expect to complete her mission when she kept trying to befriend every pony she met?! How could Twilight Sparkle be so smart, but so incredibly stupid at the same time? It was infuriating!

“I mean FRIENDSHIP?! How dumb could you get? Everypony knows it’s’ every mare for….. OW!!” Another book falls on Trixie’s head causing the mare to wince in pain as the slighter heavier book rebounds off her head. “Trixie thought that that was the last time a book would get the better of her!” Trixie looks up to see the very bookshelf that she kicked falling right on top of her hundreds of pounds of literature threatening to crush her flat.

Reacting with reflexed honed over hundreds of life or death battles the mare’s stand Magic Mare leaps out in an instant stopping the collapsing bookshelf before a single book can slide off the shelf. “Ha! Take that fate! You will have to try better than that if you want to stop the Great and Powe…… OW!” a small spurt of Blood falls from Trixie’s hoof as her stand’s hoof is injured, the feedback causing Trixie’s own hoof to open up and bleed. The bookshelf quakes as Magic Mare winces from the pain, however Trixie re-exerts her control over the stand moving the bookshelf back into place.

With the shelf now firmly on the floor Trixie extends her hoof looking at the small but painful gash on her arm. “Humh. That was odd, and this wound………… it’s not a paper cut or a wound you would get from a bookshelf.” Trixie’s eyes scan the room as she applies her twenty-twenty vision with the aid of her stand. “In fact it looks more like a form of bite than anything.”

Finally Trixie’s eyes catch something as she looks up to see a dark shape hanging from the chandelier it's’ vacant white eyes reflecting ambient light in the shadows. Trixie prepares to call out and readies her stand to strike only to once again feel a book falling on her head. Trixie turns sharply this time just as she sees the same bookshelf that she stopped a second ago falling towards her again. Yet this time Trixie is far too slow as the entire bookshelf falls on her burying her under a mountain of letters and pages.

……………..

Meanwhile on the ground floor of Golden oaks library, a very distracted Unicorn rereads the same passage over again. Twilight was doing what she always did when she felt flustered, reading. However the Blue mare had a way of buzzing in her brain like a fly in her ear and Twilight found it very difficult to focus on what she was doing. Suddenly a loud Crash echoed through the library as the lavender mare sighs in defeat. “Ugh now she’s’ wrecking the guest room too. Well I had better go up and stop her before the great and angry Trixie destroys something of real value.”

Building up a familiar magic charge in her horn, Twilight Teleports up the flight of stairs unceremoniously landing on her hooves at the door t Trixie’s room. Clearing her voice Twilight knocks “Trixie! Open up. I know that you are angry about the ‘wheels’ comment, but destroying the library is not going to help.” Hearing nothing significant from inside Twilight knocks again.

Meanwhile on the inside of the Door The great and powerful Trixie, thanks to her own noise proof charm fails to hear Twilight’s voice, or her knocking. As she pulls herself out from the ruins of the bookshelf as she flings several of the books off her back. “That didn’t just happen. Somepony please tell Trixie that she didn’t just lose to a bookshelf.”

Trixie shakes off the damage as she clears her mind, noticing the wound in her hoof is still bleeding she uses a minor healing spell to patch the wound, stopping the bleeding and leaving a small but significant scar the only sign of her damage. Scanning the room Trixie spies her hat on her bed and reaches to pick it up with a hoof. Hearing a clunk from above Trixie removes her hoof just in time as a flaming chandelier falls from the ceiling landing right where her arm was half a second ago. “What the…… this is no coincidence! Whoever you are show yourself! The Great and Powerful Trixie demands it!”

A snide and winy laughter fills the room as Trixie’s’ head begins to spin, “Oh we don’t think that you are any position to demand anything Trickles. Not after the little gift that we gave you….” Trixie’s head continues to swim as she takes a knee on the floor catching her suddenly laborious breath.

Twilight finishes her knocking as she stares at the door in front of her “Alright Trixie enough playing around, I’m coming in.” Twilight’s telekinesis grabs the door handle turning it sharply as she charges …… right into the closed door. Sliding to the ground after her failed attempt to open the door with her face Twilight picks herself up groggily “Uh. way to lock the door Trixie…….”

Twilight blinks in confusion “Wait this is odd, Trixie never locks her door.” Twilight resumes her frenzied knocking “Trixie! Why have you locked the door? Open this door right now!”

Twilight nearly considers teleporting inside when she hears the familiar click of the lock as the door opens from the inside. Opening the door is a not very great Trixie, her hat is missing she is covered in several books and her mane appears to be a complete mess. However what Twilight notices first is the fact that her room is a complete mess.

Twilight gapes as she sees her priceless bookshelf demolished and her books are lying unceremoniously on her floor.  Trixie’s bed has scorch marks over it and is currently filled by her flaming chandelier. And most disturbingly there is a small but non cable train of blood on the floor as Twilight notices a small blotch or Red on Trixie’s right hoof.

“Trixie? What’s going on? Why are you bleeding and why is the bed on fire?”

Trixie pants heavily as she takes a shaky hoof out of the door “Twilight…… Just….. Leave…….”

“What? You Trash my library and you expect me to leave? What has gotten into you Trixie!?”

Extending her hoof Trixie gives the mare a weak but attention grabbing slap across the face “Twilight you idiot….. We need to leave….. It’s an attack…… by……” Trixie swoons forward landing in Twilight’s outstretched arms.

Twilight looks down at the heavily breathing mare as a pit of worry begins to fester in her heart. She had never seen Trixie this weak, not even during their fight and the fact that anything could bring the mare so low worried Twilight more than anything. “Trixie I sincerely hope that this is a joke to get back at me for saying that you didn’t go to college.” Twilight extends her hoof placing it over Trixie’s forehead. What Twilight feels leaves no doubt to Trixie’s condition.

‘But she was just fine a second ago.’ The lavender mare thinks to herself  ‘and no illness works that fast unless it’s a……’ Twilight gasps as she looks back at the wound on Trixie’s arm “…..Poison? Trixie what happened to you? What’s going on?”

Trixie raise her gaze to look wearily into Twilight’s eyes “You…… idiot…… we need to run……. Stand…… it’s crawling in the walls…….”

Twilight’s ears immediately perk up at the mention of Stand, she eyes glancing side to side in an attempt to locate this mysterious attacker. Seeing nothing Twilight quickly deduces that she and Trixie are at a distinct disadvantage fighting a stand that they themselves can’t locate. And worse than that, Twilight looks down at the blue mare in her hooves, from Trixie’s condition she needs to get her to a proper doctor as quickly as possible.

Twilight feels the mare’s head again and checks her pulse wishing that she could properly diagnose Trixie’s afflictions. Potions and poisons were never a strong area for twilight, as the art of advanced poison making was regulated by the Equestrian government. Besides Zecora being one of her best friends and a Zebra shaman had always been there to help her with her potions. However despite her lack of experience in anatomy, the signs Trixie is giving her tell her that the blue mare is not faring well.

Flinging the blue mare in her back (and struggling a bit against her weight) Twilight trots down the stairs “Don’t worry Trixie. I’ll get some help.” upon reaching the front door Twilight grabs the handle and yanks on the door learning from her last mistake of trying to open doors with her skull. However Twilight struggles in vain as she looks to see that some pony has nailed the door shut completely from the top and bottom.

“Oh Come ON! Can this get any worse?” Hearing a snapping rope Twilight looks up to see a large heavy box of books swinging on a long rope towards her head. Conjuring a quick shield Twilight blocks the attack causing the box to fall to pieces from the shock of the recoil.

“As if I had to ask……” Twilight looks around the room “Great, now how will I get out of here when the door is locked?” Twilight spies the back door through the kitchen, several windows and the upstairs balcony, all of them promising exits in their own right. “If I had to guess I’d say that every door and window in the library is booby trapped so there is no real easy way out of this.”

Twilight wracks her brain as she considers her situation, she is under attack and being held hostage in her own library by a rogue assassin of some kind and she needs to get Trixie to a hospital. All the doors and windows are booby trapped and it’s not as if she can just teleport out. The assassin had probably placed wards around the library to prevent that. “…….. But I just teleported up the stairs which means……”

Concentrating a small burst of magic as not to hurt herself should the teleport fail, Twilight conjures up magical forces beyond a normal unicorn’s comprehension. With expert precision Twilight and her passenger to jump through space landing completely unharmed a four hooves away. Twilight blinks in skepticism “Wow, I can’t believe that worked! This assassin must be an idiot if he expected to trap two magically adept unicorns without sealing their teleportation.” Twilight builds up a much larger charge in her horn this time as the glow of her magic fills the room “Well you know what they say one pony’s incompetence is another pony’s blessing.”

The spell is nearly complete as several voices speaking in unison call out from around the library “Not so Fast Twilight Sparkle! We wouldn’t leave if we were you! That is unless you value the life of your little filly friend there!”

Twilight horn glows slightly less as she places the spell on hold searching the surrounding room for her prey. “SHE IS NOT MY..…. Never mind just who are you and what do you want?”

Directly in front of her Twilight watches as a strange shape crawls out of the wooden floor in front of her, the wood rippling and bending as the small figure crawls out of solid ground. Taking the shape of a sickeningly yellow mouse its tail completely missing and its hole filled ears twitching every which way. Its milky white eyes and gaunt appearance make it all the more terrifying and other worldly as the mouse smiles evilly at her with its yellowed crooked teeth.  “Now then allow me to introduce myself. I am one of many and believe me when I say that we are many. This is the stand Dirty Trick, and you have been watched by us for quite some time.”

The rat paces across the ground as it circles around the lavender mare “We could have finished you and your little mare friend any time we wished however we have an objective at this point that is of far more importance of your filthy lives.”

“And that would be…..” Twilight circles around the rat as well trying to get to a more advantageous position to defend again the stands’ attack should it strike.

“I and talking about the objects that you call ‘strange stones’ the objects currently locked in that safe of yours under this library.”

Twilight catches her breath as she realizes that the stand was telling part of the truth, if it knew about the strange stones then it had been watching her and Trixie. Twilight shudders subconsciously at the image of being watched by the creepy rat thing in front of her but retains her cool. “And you just expect me to hoof them over to you? What a great plan. Let’s ask the unicorn nicely to hoof over an object of immeasurable power; I’m sure that’ll work.”

“Oh you will hoof over the stones to us!” The rat crawls up a nearby bookshelf staring down at the mare from above “You have little choice in the matter. You see before I bit that mare’s stand I coated my jaws with a rare and powerful poison. Needless to say if you chose to take her to a hospital she would not survive the night.”

Twilight yells in rage as she fires a beam of powerful magic through the wall right were the stand was. Yet Dirty Trick slips through the wooden shelf as if passing through water, completely missing the blow. “Well it seems some pony doesn’t have a lot of patience so I will cut to the chase, I have the antidote to the poison that is killing Trixie and you have the strange stones, so let’s make a trade shall we?”

The chuckling of rat’s echoes off the walls as the mare can almost feel the wretched beings circling her. “The deal is simple you hand over the, what is it you call them, the strange stone pieces. And in exchange I’ll give you the antidote to the poison that I injected into Trixie!”

The stand lounges on the bookshelf like a tiger staring at its prey as Twilight struggles with the dilemma before her “it’s not like you have any other choice.” The stand remarks. “Without another stand to fuse with you are completely helpless before me, so you might as well give in now and save me the trouble.”

Twilight lowers her head looking at the ground beneath her in deep thought. a lesser pony would think that she was considering giving up, of surrendering to save her friend’s life. However any companion of Twilight could tell you that if there is one thing Twilight was bad at, it was throwing in the towel and giving in, especially when a friend’s life was on the line.

“Heh, you may have been watching me for days, but you still don’t seem to know anything.” Twilight raises her head her eyes brimming with newfound confidence “My stand may work well with others, but you seem to forget that I’m the private student of Princess Celestia Alicorn of the sun, and I don’t need a fancy offensive power to crush a rat.”

Turning to the mare on her back Twilight watches as Trixie breathes in and out with laborious breaths “Don’t worry Trixie, this will be all over soon. I’ll finish this guy and get the antidote…….. In ten seconds flat!”

……………….

“……..and another thing Pinkie! You can’t just expect .........”

“Um Dashie? Are you okay?”

“………..”

“Hello there! Earth to Dashie! IS ANYPONY HOME!?!”

“………..Twilight just used my catchphrase…….”

“Really? How did you…..”

“Dashie sense.”

“…….You have a Dashie sense?”

“No I can just tell when someone uses a copyrighted trademark.”

“That makes sense! So what are you going to do about it Dashie?”

“Same thing I always do. Crash into her library scattering all her books in a thousand different directions the moment she finishes reorganizing them.”

“Wait you crash into her library on purpose? Ha! I knew crashing into her library wasn’t an accident! You’re way too good for that Dashie!”

“Well the first time was sort of an accident, but after that I just liked messing with the egghead….. Anyway where was I? Oh yeah, you can’t just expect something to be a good cupcake ingredient just because……”

………………

Twilight takes a cautionary step towards the evil rat like stand her horn blazing with fury as she prepares to strike at a moments’ notice. Suddenly with a flick of her horn Twilight slings another of she spells trapping the rat in a bubble of force. As the rat struggles to escape from its new confinement Twilight flings the creature into the air manifesting her stand in an instant the mare pounds the Rat with a single powerful punch that connects perfectly. The rat falls to the ground as Twilight raises her own hoof crushing the rat flat against the ground with her bare hoof as she grinds its body against the hardwood floor. A second passes, then two yet the mare doesn’t feel any resistance from the creature she is pressing into the ground with her hoof. Twilight raises her hoof seeing no sign of the Rat stand under her hoof. Taking advantage of the Unicorn’s surprise, The rat leaps from beneath the ground it’s teeth outstretched to bite and fill Twilight’s veins with its’ deadly poison. However the mare is too fast and Twilight jumps back onto the table in the middle of the room blasting away at the rat with a bolt of her magic.

The rat vanishes beneath the ground as the bolt hits the ground which rippling like water as the rat swims through it. A feral hissing fills the room as Twilight looks around to to see not one, not two but three rats all as ugly as the first peering at her, their heads sticking up from under the ground. “Hsssssssss! Fool You cannot harm us! And even if you could my stand does not inflict damage to my main body when it in injured! Hsssssssss! Do you get it now filly? Your little stand cannot harm me! Surrender the stones.”

Twilight however retains her confidence as she looks at the stands around her “That may be……. There are many stands that don’t transition damage to their main bodies.”

Twilight raises her stand its hoof pointed right at the main rat “however I learned something from Rarity’s’ stand which also doesn’t convey damage to her main body. My stand’s attack isn’t a physical one it’s purely mental, and so it can affect even stands like yours since a stand is a manifestation of a pony’s psyche!”

Twilight laughs with bravado as she tries to get the scheming rat to back down “amazing isn’t it? What I once thought of as a weakness turns out to be a golden strength. Now I’ll make a demand of you Dirty Trick, give up the antidote and I’ll let you leave here with your mind still in one piece.”

The rats stare at Twilight as they attempt to stare down the confident mare before them. After a few seconds their ears twitch as all three sink back into the walls of the library. “You seem to have spirit little filly……. But spirit can’t’ help you against us.”

Twilight here's another snap of chords as she feels a weight press down on her back pushing her flat against the table. Twilight struggles against the force holding her down until she looks above her just in time to see another swinging book trap swing right where her head was a mere second ago. Twilight turns to see Trixie lying on top of her pressing her against the table, her face strained but serious. Twilight opens her mouth to say something however Trixie presses her hoof against her mouth silencing the mare as Trixie scans the room for signs of the Stand. Confident that she can see no more traps the blue show mare lights her horn casting a translucent bubble over the table as she breathes a sigh of relief. “Whew now that’s better…….. Another…… successful plan from….. Trixie…….”

Twilight looks around her at the barrier as she taps her hoof to the translucent shield “A sound proof bubble? Trixie what is the point of this? We’re in plain sight!”

“You, imbecile do you think….. Do you think that the great and Powerful Trixie would just lie there……” Trixie coughs into her elbow as if she is struggling with every breath “…….while you did all the work? While you were, flinging spells like a mad mare……. I was watching, learning and I learned something important about the stand while you were panicking.”

“I was so not…..” Twilight is interrupted by Trixie’s hoof again.

“Listen well Twilight…… we don’t’ have much time before the other stand catches on……..” Trixie breathes heavily in and out as if catching her own breath as she continues. “First, I noticed the stand…. There are three of them……. Can travel through solid objects like the library and a hoof……. But not magic like stands and shields…… it’s probably how he caught us by surprise.”

Twilight rolls her eyes “No duh Trixie I already figured that out.”

Trixie smirks at the lavender mare’s attitude “Yes but you missed the most important part of the stand. if it can travel through solid objects…… how can it find its prey?” Trixie taps the barrier exhaustion leaving her voice as she stares with a focused gaze out to the library proper. “The answer is sound. If you haven’t noticed already, all the rats blind, so it finds its prey and makes traps biased on vibrations sent through the air…… and the ground.”

Twilight eyes widen at Trixie’s logic as the lavender mare thinks through Trixie’s’ words carefully. With flawless logic Twilight analyzes her claims as the filters through the list of possibilities to determine of Trixie is telling the truth. “Trixie…… that’s amazing if its’ true! But are you sure? What if he can attack us right now? We’re sitting ducks here.”

“It’s the job of a stand agent to be able to quickly analyze a stand’s powers. So yes….. I am sure.” Trixie takes a single book off the table in her telekinetic magic “Watch.” Throwing the book out of the shield the heavy tome lands on the ground with a thud. Not a second later several sharpened pencils and broken scissor blades fly out from the shadows imbedding themselves deeply into the book itself.

Trixie adjusts her posture kneeling down on the table “The stand can only hear us……..that means as long as this Sound proof bubble surrounds this table, we have time…… time to plan and counter attack the target.”

Twilight scans the room looking for any sign of the enemy and his tricks “Well I can’t see him anywhere. Plus we’ll know if he tries to come from underneath since he can only come through one of the four table legs on the floor since they are wider than the body of his stand. If I had to guess, because the user seems cowardly and because he can’t locate us till we make a move he’ll simply wait to strike us from somewhere we can’t attack.”

Twilight turns her gaze to the mare next to her as she sees the Great and Powerful Trixie breathing heavily, and from what Twilight can tell Trixie is not in the best of states. “But…… But we can’t let this turn into a waiting game, if we do they’ll have the advantage. That means that we simply have to make the first move and counter attack when he pops up his ugly head.” Twilight manifests her stand moving its hoof closer to the blue mare “maybe if we combine stands than we’ll be able to boost your power and …….”

The blue mare slaps the hoof on Twilight’s stand away with her own hoof “Don’t worry about Trixie! And keep your pathetic stand away from her!”

Trixie glares at the floor as she scans for sign of the stand. “Besides didn’t you hear him? Destroying his stand has no benefit! So combining our stands wouldn’t help us win!” Trixie narrows her gaze out the window “If we are to win, we need to find the real user and beat him to a pulp before he can defend himself. That is the only way we can win.”

“But Trixie! You’ve been poisoned! We need to beat the user now! Before your poison spreads!” Twilight begins to tear up “otherwise….. otherwise…….”

Twilight looks upon the face of a dead mare walking as Trixie does something a dying mare could not possibly do, Trixie sighs in flippant disappointment “Twilight you imbecile……. Don’t you get it? Didn’t you hear the user’s claim about HOW he injected me with his poison?” the blue mare looks accusatory at Twilight “I thought that you could see through tricks like Trixie’s? Or was that a bluff said casually during our last match?”

“Trixie……. What are you talking about?” Twilight moves closer to the blue mare “What trick are you…….”

“WHERE ARE YOU BRATS?” A loud hissing voice resonates from the walls as he mares snap to attention “where are you? How can I not hear you? Is this some kind of trick? Did you find out how I find my opponents? Clever girls but not clever enough.” Twilight and Trixie look around as the sound of scurrying from the walls becomes impossible to ignore. Both mares press their backs together as they prepare for an imminent attack.

 “You think that you little brats can hide from me well think again!” Dirty Trick yells “It’s true I usually locate my prey by sound but if I can attack the whole area where I know my prey is, I don’t even need to know exactly where they are.” Twilight and Trixie continue to watch the room for any sign of attack peering at every dark corner and shadow as the mares prepare for an attack. Suddenly a small cold object lands on twilight’s back who almost leaps three hooves into the air in shock.

“Twilight stop jumping around! You need to stay inside the barrier!”

“It was an attack Trixie! The stand attacked me with……” Twilight raises her hoof as another drop of clear liquid lands in front of her, the drops becoming more and more frequent as they continue to fall down like rain. Looking up both mares see drops of liquid falling from holes in the ceiling more and more holes are made by the second. “….Great. Now he’s tearing apart my ceiling. Now there’s no way that I’m getting my deposit back.”

“But still…. “Twilight extends her hoof catching a drop of the mystery liquid in her palm “What is this? Is this water?” Twilight extends her hoof sniffing the unknown clear compound “No it’s not water, it smells like….. like……”

“Gasoline.” Trixie finishes, her eyes growing wide. Both mares look around the library in a blind panic as they realize that now they are surrounded in a potential holocaust of fire. “Twilight whatever you do don’t panic or try and leave the soundproof shield! He’s trying to force us out into the open!”

“Hear that?” Dirty Trick laughs “That, my friends is the sound thousands of gallons of highly flammable gasoline raining down from the ceiling! Now all I have to do now is light it and you will all burn to death along with your precious books!”

Twilight raises her hoof in righteous fury “No! Not the Books! You Tartarus forsaken monster!” “

Trixie face hoofs at Twilight’s list of priorities “Twilight….. Focus please.”

“Ha Ha that is right! The only way to save yourselves is agree to my demands and open this safe right now.” Twilight and Trixie watch in fascination as the safe itself comes up from the ground bobbing on the floor like a cork in water. “See look how nice I am, even brought the safe up from the basement so you won’t have to leave your little friend to hand them to me. If only I could move through the safe then I could have just finished you off, but no I had to do things the hard way.”

Twilight watches the safe rise and settles on the floor in fascination as a practical thought passes through her mind. “Wait how did you even find the safe?”

“In case you were wondering how you found the safe…..” The stand says as if reading Twilight’s mind “it was behind a false bookshelf, I mean talk about a cliché hiding place.”

“…. I knew I should have moved it somewhere safer.” Twilight looks at the safe and then around the library proper.

True if she gave up the stones to this stand user she might never see them again, they would disappear she and her friends would never get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding them. On the other hoof, what choice did she have? The stand was right if so much as a spark was lit the entire library and the two of them as well would go up in flames and the user would take the safe away and open it elsewhere. And Trixie, Twilight looks back at the showmare, Trixie was obviously trying to put on a brave face but if she didn’t get the antidote soon, then there was no question that she would die. Even if they succeeded in defeating their opponent it would be a shallow victory, is she lost a friend, even one like Trixie. Twilight’s mind is wracked with indecision as she considers her only two options, give up the stones, or lose a friend.

Twilight looks at the mare beside her, then to the safe her thoughts running a mile an hour. Suddenly the unicorn makes up her mind and with a flick of her horn Twilight dispels the sound proof barrier. Trixie watches the barrier fall apart around her however her complains are cut off by the strong voice of the lavender mare. “All Right Dirty Trick, you win. I’ll give you the stones but only if Trixie gets the antidote first.”

Trixie Gapes “Twilight! What are you doing?”

The stand laughs “what she is doing is her only real choice! And a wise one it is! Now then Twilight open the magical safe for me.”

“Not so fast Dirty Trick.” Twilight states “Antidote first!”

“It seems that you have overestimated your position Sparkle.” The stand speaks as if surrounding her “You forget that I can kill you with a thought by lighting the library on fire. Rest assured once I have the stones I will have no need for either of you and I swear on my stand itself that I will give you the antidote that you so crave.”

Twilight narrows her gaze at the safe as she prepares to utter the password to open its door only to be stopped by Trixie’s strong hoof “Twilight what are you thinking you idiot! Trixie told you not to worry about her.  You do know that if you do hoof the stones over to him there is no assurance that he won’t try and kill us after?”

Twilight looks back at the blue mare “Don’t you think that I know that? I’m literally giving up something that has no value, something truly priceless.” Twilight looks down at her hooves in shame. “But I have to do this I have to take a chance if it means saving your life.”

Twilight raises her eyes looking at Trixie with a look of resolve “No matter how important the stones are, they’re not as valuable as your life Trixie. That’s why I have to take this chance, because I can’t abandon my friends even for all the strange stones in Equestria.”

Trixie looks at Twilight staring at the mare before her as Trixie begins to understand Twilight’s concern for her. Trixie turns her head away from the lavender mare as she pouts “…..Fine but only for one second.”

Trixie’s’ sudden change of mood and a slight blush cause the lavender mare no small amount of confusion “What? Trixie what are you…..”

“Do I have to say it? Mind link!” Trixie blurts out “If we mindlink for even a second we’ll know what the other is thinking, and you’ll understand the Great and Powerful Trixie’s powerful Plan.” Trixie manifests her stand its hoof outstretched towards the unicorn in a display to trust. “So hurry up and let’s get this over with!”

Twilight raises her stand’s hoof as Trixie manifests her stand both raising her hooves only inches from each other “Alright, are you sure Trixie?”

“Just do it before Trixie changes her mind! And no that is not a telepathy joke!”

The two stands touch for an instant their hooves melding into each other as two very different minds connect in a way that few ponies could ever know. In the space of a wink, these two ponies who had once despised and looked down on the other learn more about each other than they could in a full hour as their minds mesh on an intricate level. Then as quickly as it began the meld ends, the strands separate as both mares look at each other in a new light, as if they have only met each other for the first time.

“Trixie…..” Twilight stares at the mare before her “That is…… some plan.”

Trixie boasts “OF course it is! The Great and Powerful Trixie thought it up! However….. Trixie was also impressed with your concerns for her.”

The showmare blushes slightly as she tries to whisper the next words under her breath ashamed to be heard making a heartfelt profession. “Trixie was greatly surprised to find your concerns for her were not ….. forced, I am surprised that…. I mean…..” Trixie fumbles with her words “Trixie is surprised that your concerns are genuine.”

Twilight smiles warmly at the mare before her as a loud grating voice interrupts their moment “Enough talk! Are you hoofing over the stones to me or not? Because if you aren’t…… well I can promise you that things will be getting a little hot around here!”

Twilight snickers as she gravitates the safe over to the table with her telekinesis placing the large safe on the table directly in front of Trixie and her “Sorry about that Dirty Trick I’ll get you the stones right now.” Twilight clears her throat “Password 123.”

The safe beeps “Password accepted!”

The door flies open with a steely creaking as Trixie grasps the box inside housing the Strange stones just before hoofing it over to Twilight. Twilight picks up the box in her magic nods once to Trixie, the blue mare nodding affirmatively to her as Twilight throws the box on the ground in front of the table.

“There. Here’s the box that the strange stones are keep in.” Both mares watch as the box vanishes into the ground dragged by the stand Dirty Trick “Now it’s your turn Dirty Trick, give Trixie the antidote.”

The mouse like stand raises its head from the ground as a diabolical grin crosses its muzzle “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” The stands Dirty Trick bursts out laughing at the mare’s scorn “Don’t worry it’s not that I never planned to give you the antidote, it’s just that no antidote exists for the poison I injected into Trixie. HaHaHaHaHa, you fools!”

A blast of magic nearly engulfs the rat in front of Twilight Sparkle only for the foul creature to slither underground again. “Fools! Now I have the Strange stones! Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to trust strangers?”

The voice of the stand surrounds the two mares on all sides mocking them all the while. “You dumb stand users with your fancy shmancy powers think you are all invincible aren’t you? You think those with your flashy abilities makes you cooler than the rest of us? Well you’re not! I beat the two of you with my stand power, That proves that my stand Dirty Trick is the best!”

The ditch rat stand reaches out from the ceiling with its head and strikes a single match holding it above the two mares “And Now that I have everything that I need there is no reason to keep you all alive. Given that you and your little mare friend are doomed to die anyways be a good little filly and Burn. To. Death!”

Both mares try to extend their auras to catch the match with their telekinesis however both fail as all the gasoline in the library combusts in a fiery explosion. The two mares gasp in terror as the entire library is engulfed in unholy fire as the heat of the flames close in around them.  They grow, consuming over a hundred years of combined knowledge as the raging fire feeds off every book of history, nonfiction and smutty romance novel alike with heartless destruction. Twilight would doubtless be panicking to save such a collection of priceless knowledge if it were not for the fact that all her magic was going into keeping herself from going up in flames. The stand Dirty trick watches in glee as the two mares try vainly to keep the flames from expanding but slowly lose ground as the fire expands ever closer towards them. Finally having seen enough to know that there is no escape for the two mares the stand nods, and slithers through the library leaving the two mares to their fates.

………………

A safe distance away three large rats slitter on the ground completely unnoticed in the chaotic situation as the ponies within earshot of the library begin to panic from the copious amounts of smoke spewing out of the library. Somehow despite the Lavender mare’s propensity for strange explosions and fires the Towns ponies know, perhaps instinctively that the large fire beginning to rage out of control in the library is anything but routine. Quickly joining in in an effort to save the library from burning to ashes, a group of fire-ponies arrives on the scene ready to save the two mares trapped inside. The Fire brigade, a separate department of the weather patrol, are trained to combat fires by use of wind and rain and drawing on their elite training begin to douse the flames with water filled rainclouds. But even these brave stallions and mares were obviously having trouble with the raging inferno. Despite the aid of the nearby ponies attacking the fire with mud and dirt to save Twilight Sparkle and Trixie, the blaze only climbs higher, threatening even the tallest leaves of the treehouse. Yet the fire seems only to expand at their efforts as a nasty and buck toothed pony sneakers in glee at the fire consuming the library.

The pony in question, if one could call such a gangly, dirty, yellow-grey coated creature a pony sits off to the side of a nearby alleyway. His unremarkable brown eyes survey the damage the fire is inflicting on the home as his broken laughter goes unheard by the frantic ponies trying to put out the fire. His untidy brown mane and cutie mark of three turnips as well as his horrendous teeth alone were capable of conveying to a blind pony how stereotypically backwater he was. That and his dirty cut off shirt, rusty antiquated tool belt and garish green baseball cap that could only be thought of as fashionable at a moonshining convention only made it more difficult to ignore his blatant oafish nature. And if this dark figure lurking in the shadows wasn’t obviously evil enough he was rubbing his hooves together while cackling like a cliché supervillain who had just stolen a pile of used toys from an orphanage.

“Hu-uck! Hu-u-uck! Huck!”

Well maybe cackling like a hillbilly supervillain would be more appropriate, if such an oxymoron could exist. And speaking of morons…..

“Heh what a bunch of dopes!” the pony obscured by the shadow of the alley says “All it took was a little lie and they just hoofed over those stones to me! And to think that I was worried when they heard they had stands! Not to say that ah was afraid of a bunch of fillies……. It’s just that Ah’ve never had to kill stand users before.”

The sickly pony grins like a demon as three rats slip through the wall next to him carrying a box on their shoulders. The pony grins with crooked teeth, as he picks up the box rising to his hind hooves as he raises the box to the heavens. “But in the end it was me, Hayseed Turnip Truck , Who got the stones from them!

The dirty stallion snickers as he revels in his victory “Huck Huck! And the rest of the gang said I was ‘a no good rat’! Making fun of mah…. I mean my country accent! Making me do all the hard jobs, even when I’m the best thief in the gang!” The stallion stops. “Well second best….. but that filly doesn’t count! She can turn invisible for crying out loud! How can I compete with that?!”

Shaking his head the earth pony dismisses his anger and suspicions, while laying the box on the ground. His stand fades into the aether as he looks at the box before him, smiling at his imminent recognition. “Well joke’s on you guys! Ah’ve got no country accent no more, after taking that discount speech therapy class and all! And even the boss will have to admit how fancy ah am now when he sees that this ‘Rat’ came back with….”

The pony throws open the box “……Nothing?” Hayseed gasps in dismay at the lack of contents in the box.  Sure enough the box contains nothing but a single folded sheet of paper.

Hayseed stares at the box a minute or two before throwing it to the ground in a rage. “What is this? Is this ah trick?! That there’s just a piece of paper! Oh I knew that I shouldn’t have killed them so quickly!”

The pony growls as he stamps his hoof on the ground “Well That blaze wasn’t too big. If one of them may still be clinging to life, it’ll probably be that blue one. Once I’m done with her she’ll wish that she never lied to me! Huck! Ah’ll make her tell me where the stones are, one way or another!” The pony kicks the box with his hoof letting out a yelp of pain as he clutches his injured hoof rubbing it as the single piece of paper falls to the ground.

Hayseed, having finished nursing his hoof, opens his eyes sees a small amount of writing on the paper as the gears in his tiny head begin to turn. “Wait a second yawl, that there’s something written on the paper……. It must be the location all the stones are hidden at!” the Rat-like pony grins in realization “Hayseed ya clever hunk you, they hid the location of the red stones are on this here paper! And ah thought that I had lost the stones for a second there.”

Hayseed grins of the second and last time that day, completely sure that he has finally won in his game of wits. In fact the country hick is so enraptured in the single piece of paper that he is completely oblivious to the two looming shadows falling over him from behind. He waves behind him without even looking as he stands engrossed in the paper in his hooves “Whoever yawl are get out of my light! Now lets’ see the paper says ‘look behind you’, what does it mean? Is it a message of some kind? Or maybe……. it’s one of those there secret codes or a……”

DOOOOO JJJJ AAAA!!

With a single straight punch from a star spangled stand the earth pony goes crashing into a trio of garbage cans at the end of the alley his body groggily propping himself against the wall as he looks behind him to see who would dare attack him.

“Or maybe….. Just maybe it’s a warning. After all the Great and powerful Trixie does not enjoy sucker punching a pony, even one as distasteful as you.” The blue showmare complete with magician’s hat and cape stands cracking her hooves as she blocks off the yellow earth pony’s’ retreat.

Hayseed Turnip Truck’s eyes grow side as a lavender unicorn walks out from behind the Blue mare “No fair Trixie! You said that I got the first punch! That guy singed my library! If it wasn’t for the fact that I shelled out the alchemical ingredients for the complex flame proofing spell the day I moved in, all my books would have been ashes by now!”

Trixie smirks at the lavender mare as she savors her small victory “First come first served Sparkle.”

Not wanting to stay around for a very savage beating the earth pony turns tail to run only to find his way out cut off by a large brick wall. Only now does the stand user remember that he is literally in on a dead end street. If only he could use his Dirty Trick to slip him through walls, but his power didn’t work on him, and besides his stand couldn’t possibly compare to the speed and strength of Trixie’s Stand, let Alone Twilight’s. Unwilling to accept the fact that he is trapped Hayseed paws at the walls looking around for anything that would offer him escape from the two advancing mares.

Trixie continues to crack her hooves as she continues to advance on the panicking pony “hey bookworm, what’s that analogy that applies to Rats? Trixie forgot it.”

“You mean trapped like a rat?” Twilight smirks playfully “Yeah I can see how a brainless stuck up pony like you would forget such a simple quote”

“Well Trixie just couldn’t help but think about how apt the quote is here.” Trixie cracks her neck “What with cowardly rat of a pony being trapped like one.”

“Well for once Trixie, I would agree with you wholeheartedly.” Twilight illuminates her horn as she advances on Hayseed.  “This is a pretty ironic fate for a pony who uses a rat shaped stand, especially when he looks so much like a rat in the first place.”

Hayseed Turnip Truck’s mind stalls as he tries to dismiss the horrible illusion in front of him “B-b-b-but, you’re…. you’re both dead! How did you escape that inferno! There was no way out!”

Trixie taps her horn “Uh, we’re both unicorns, duh.”

Twilight rolls her eyes at Trixie’s simplistic explanation of the magical forces “…….And being magically adept unicorns we’ve both mastered short range teleportation, all we had to do was teleport out once the library caught fire.”

Hayseed scoots farther back against the wall his mind frantically trying to find a way out of his present situation “But that’s impossible! Even if you could escape how would you ever find me?”

“Fool!” Trixie scoffs as she rises to her back hooves “There are no animals on earth that cannot be tracked. It matters not how fast an animal can run and hide, it will never be as smart as a pony like Trixie. Stand agents such as Trixie are adept at inspecting and studying landscape, the direction of prevailing winds, as well as the habits and tracks of our prey. It was a simple matter of applying Trixie’s great and Powerful…..”

Trixie is cut off as Twilight smacks her upside the head “Or the Great and Powerful Twilight could have just used a tracking spell on the box……..”

“……..That works too……” Trixie straightens her hat “But do not mock Trixie! Had she not switched the box with the stones in them for a fake using her stand you would have had to hand off the real strange stones. It was Trixie’s switch, not your tracking spell that lead us to victory.”

If a pony had exceptional hearing they might be able to hear as Hayseed Turnip Truck’s heart fell into his stomach, his pulse belying the sudden intense fear that is coursing through his veins. “Oh! that’s right I have the antidote to your poison Trixie. Huck Huck Huck, see I lied when I claimed there was no antidote to the poison you were injected with.”

The stallion reaches behind his back pulling a small vial out from his ratted tool belt. “So all ya have to do is let me go and I’ll give it to you, no harm no fowl. I’ll leave forever you will never have to see me again Honest!”

Trixie turns her face unreadable as her eyes lock onto the pony before him. “Oh that’s right the poison that you tried to inject Trixie with, the one you have the antidote for.” Trixie smirks as she adjusts her hat. “Well Trixie appreciates the offer but it is completely unnecessary. You see you never poisoned me in the first place so Trixie does not need an antidote.”

The vial falls from Turnip Truck’s grasp, shattering on the ground as Hayseed Turnip Truck’s mouth gapes in complete bafflement. “Uhhhhhh…….. What?”

“It is easy rat brain.” Trixie smirks “your stand bit Trixie’s stand, not Trixie herself and a stand cannot be poisoned. Your poison might have been able to kill me but stands can’t be poisoned, so Trixie did what she does best, she acted. Trixie pretended to be poisoned to lure you out of hiding, an easy task for a mare of such show stopping talents as Trixie.”

Hayseed blinks “what?”

The blue showmare fakes a swoon, dramatically continuing her long monologue. “It was all fowls play to fake Trixie’s ‘sudden illness’ to lure you out, to make you think that she was weak. All the while I was watching, biding my moment for the perfect time to strike.”

“Oh by the way Trixie.” Twilight interrupts “Remind me to pay you back for making me think you were dying and forcing me to carry you when you were PERFECTLY FINE!”

Trixie smirks as she sticks her tongue out at the lavender mare. “Have you seen your flank Twibright? You were in desperate need of exercise anyways. And now that we have this little hayseed exactly where we want him the only question is…” Trixie cracks her hooves as she turns back to the cowering stallion “…how to inflict as much suffering as physically possible without killing him!”

“W-W-Whaaaat!?” Hayseed continues to press himself further against the wall as if his cowardice alone would allow him to push himself through a brick wall. “W-W-Wait a minute! There aint no reason to be hasty…..”

Thinking on his hooves the stallion reaches into his tool belt pulling out a large bag of coins that he throws at the advancing mare’s hooves. “You like Money? I was paid in advance for my services! It’s all yours! One thousand bits! Surely yawl can be mature and forget all of this…… Purty Please?”

Twilight manifests her stand its hooves poised to strike as she steps over the bits on the ground “no amount of apologies or wealth can make up for your actions…..”

Trixie manifests her stand “….. After all, we never had any intention of forgiving you in the first place.”

“You fool, what you owe……” Twilight raises her hooves.

“……..Can’t be repaid with money.” Trixie finishes.

DOJA! DOJA! DOJA! DOJA! DOJA! DOJA! DOJA! DOJA! DOJA! DOOOOO JJJJJJJ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! OOOOOOOOOO RRRRRRR AAAAAAAAA!

Hayseed is only able to whimper vainly as two powerful stands proceed to beat him within an inch of him, life each blow assaulting his body and mind like a battering ram against a pillow fort. The wall behind him cracks from the force of their combined blows as if finally collapses sending the pathetic pony spiraling through solid stone his broken body landing in a puddle of mud as the dust settles on Hayseed Turnip Truck’s game of wits.

………………..

Thirty minutes later the two mares find themselves in the slightly charred library once again with an ‘honorary guest’ dressed in a nice comfy pair of shackles. After sending the fire ponies away claiming that it was just another of her famous experiments gone wrong the two ponies had set about repairing the damage that had been wrought to their residence. Thanks to Twilight’s enchantments not a book had been harmed and no major damage had been done to the building, however there were still traps to disarm and various cosmetic damages to be addressed inflicted by Hayseed's malice. Despite their newfound tolerance for each other the two mares were still thoroughly bored by the mundane tasks, and not even pleasant conversation between the two could alleviate them from the repetitive nature of their tasks. So when their prisoner awoke from his pleasant slumber over a tank filled with (illusionary) sharks, and the library was wracked by his girly screams the two fillies gleefully left their mundane tasks for something more exciting, namely torturing a certain yellow pony.

“NNNNNNNN NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! OHSWEETCELESTIAGETTHEMOFFOFMEADON’TWANTTODIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! A’LLTELLYOUANYTHINGYOUWANTTOKNOWJUSTLETMEOUTOFHERE!!!!!”

Twilight smiles at such a sudden success as she levitates Hayseed off of the rope hanging him from the ceiling “See now that wasn’t hard was it?” Twilight pats the shivering wreck of a pony as she turns to face Trixie “And you said that piranhas were better.”

“Very well Trixie concedes that sharks are better for intimidation, but Piranhas are far fiercer than sharks!” Trixie grabs the shivering wreck pulling him to winning an inch of her blaring eyes “But Trixie is still going first.”

Twilight begins to pout “But I was supposed to go first! The bet was how long he would last and I guessed ten seconds, while you guessed twelve so I won Trixie. Besides I read up on interrogation techniques in ‘torture and you’ just so I could…..”

“Silence Sparkle! Trixie has real experience in interrogation and real questions to ask.” Trixie turns her head away from the lavender mare to look at the sickly yellow pony before her. “It is obvious that some pony hired this assassin, and Trixie intends to find out who, even if she has to do it……” The Blue showmare presses the pony’s face to the glass tank his eyes bugging out as the illusionary sharks smile menacingly at him “……piece. By. Piece.”

Hayseed takes on looks at the sharks and one look at the pony who wants to throw him to said sharks, before making perhaps the smartest decision in his life. “I’ll tell ya anything! Anything!”

“Trixie appreciates your cooperation, All right then first question of the day….” Trixie pulls up a small depleted vial from Hayseed Turnip Truck’s personal effects waving it in his face.  “The poison that you put on your stand…. The one you tried to use on me…. Trixie has determined that it is a poison for subduing ponies not killing them. Why would you use this kind of poison if your intentions were to kill myself and Twibright?”

Twilight looks at shock at the vial that Trixie is holding in her magic “What? Trixie are you sure?”

“Yes Trixie is positive.” Trixie turns around as she throws the vial to Twilight who catches it effortlessly. “It’s not something a bookworm like you would know but this is a fake death syrup, used by magicians for ages to slow vital signs to fake death or survive in enclosed spaces where oxygen is sparse.”

Trixie grabs Hayseed by his throat pressing his already battered body against the glass wall. “So talk, why were you trying to subdue me? You attacked me first to try and make it so that you could capture me? So why? Who put you up to attacking us? Who is responsible for your actions? TALK!”

Trixie’s anger burns as she continues to press the pony further into the wall with every question her eyes fill with a silent fury that threatens to boil out of her control. However in response to Trixie’s potent intimidation Hayseed begins to laugh his backwards nasally laugh as he holds what little knowledge he has over the unicorn’s head like a guillotine’s blade. “Hu-uck! Hu-u-uck! Hu-u-uck! You really don’t know do you, Trixie Lulamoon. It doesn’t matter if yawl beat me there’s no way yer gonna survive anyways! Do ya think that I’m the only one after yer life!? Wroooong!”

Trixie pulls the pony off the glass wall throwing him harshly to the floor “Explain to Trixie! Who is after her life!? Is it part of Trixie’s work as a stand agent? Who are you working with? ANSWER!”

Hayseed continues to chuckle through Trixie’s accusations like a mad pony “ya may be tough an all, but even I’m not that stupid, ah know what happens to those that betray the bosses’ secrets! But if you really wanted to know all the details, just ask that bandaged pony!”

Trixie flinches at the mention of the bandaged pony her face turning white as a sheet. Hayseed seeing the fear in her eyes rants on “The reason I was after your life wasn’t just because yawl had the stones! It was because this pony promised two hundred thousand bits for your capture! There’s a bounty on your head! One thousand bits alive, Trixie Lulamoon!”

In an instant the blue mare’s stand lashes out snapping Hayseed Turnip Truck’s leg like a matchstick. Obviously not expecting this level of violence from the showmare, Hayseed screams as Trixie presses her own hoof into his shattered leg accentuating his screams with labored breathing. “TELL. ME. WHERE. HE. IS.”

Hayseed continues to bawl as he tries to crawl away from the crazy mare with his arms shackled and only one good leg “A-A-A-A  D-D-D-Don’t k-k-k-know! A-a-a-and even I-I-if I did, ah’d never tell you! No pony betrays Melodia or the boss and gets away with it! He’ll skin mine alive! ”

Trixie extends her hoof to crush his other leg, her patience running shorter by the second.  “You’re lying! You know where the bandaged pony is! You’re hiding him from Trixie!” The mare swings down with her stand’s full strength her blow snapping against Turnip’s chest with a resounding thud as her stand prepares to strike again. “And if you won’t talk, then Trixie will just have to beat the truth out of you!”

Trixie swings her hoof once again to strike but finds her blow stopped by the lavender mare’s own stand. “Trixie stop!” as the two stands make contact Twilight and Trixie’s minds flow together for a single second as Trixie becomes aware of the extent of her actions. The blue mare shudders as she looks at the writhing pony on the floor sobbing his eyes out, realizing how close she was to ending him. And what frightens Trixie more than her sudden loss in composure is the fact that somepony watched her in her darkest moment. The mare before her, Twilight Sparkle, watched in her indulgence of violence at her sudden display of brutality with a wordless expression that conveys her fear of the showmare.

Suppressing her emotions once more, Trixie withdraws her stand and turns her back on the two ponies in the basement “Turn him over to the local police, and get him out of my sight. Trixie’s done with this hayseed. ”

Twilight watches dumbstruck at the blue mare climbs the steps of the basement. “Trixie, where are you going? We need to talk about this!”

Trixie stops at the door frame to the library proper as she turns her head towards the lavender mare beneath her, her face filled with sorrow and regret “Yes Twilight but Trixie has finished Listening.” Twilight’s heart sinks as she hears the same line again, this time she can’t help but feel the pain in Trixie’s voice. “Now if you can excuse me I will be taking long walk to cool off and will not be disturbed.”

Trixie slams the door behind her with such force that the door bounces off the basement’s lock chain leaving a wide open door as the only evidence of Trixie’s sudden departure. This single opening, as if by coincidence creeks open just enough so that a single streak of light illuminates the lavender unicorn below.

Twilight had thought that perhaps she and Trixie had become a little closer, that the blue mare had opened herself up just a little more through their unexpected life or death struggle. Now as she looks at the empty doorway at the top of the stairs Twilight can only bring her hooves together in a futile prayer for the showmare’s soul. For in looking into the blue mare’s mind, Twilight had seen a depth of sorrow, despair and overwhelming hatred that would have crushed a lesser pony like dust. She had seen her loneliness in the orphanage she grew up in, her focused rage towards everything, and her distrust of everypony she had met in her short life. But more than that, the last time they touched Twilight had actually felt a part of Trixie that she normally had kept buried deep in her psyche, her shame. Twilight had felt Trixie’s festering hatred of herself for letting her parents die, her inability to pass the magical exam that Twilight had passed so easily, and her failure to bring down the bandaged pony that was still as free as a bird. Her self-hatred and loathing had shocked the lavender mare to the point of tears as the blue mare had left without a single word to drown in her own boiling rage that threatened to consume her.

Twilight had thought that Trixie was so easy to figure out, that she put on a big act for attention, and to be adored. However it ran deeper than that. Trixie didn’t become a braggart who brushed her ego at every opportunity because she wanted attention, she just couldn’t stand hating herself any more than she already did. More than her longing for her parents, her longing for justice, Trixie wanted to be respected, to be a pony that changed the world, not a puppet pulled by the threads of fate. Trixie wanted to have pride in herself because deep down she believed she wasn’t a pony worth being, and she hated it more than she ever could that bandaged stand.

Twilight had thought that living together would have allowed her to polish up Trixie’s social faults, that they had become real friends, and not just comrades or friends of convenience.

Now Twilight could only look out at the empty door praying to any higher power that would hear that she would be able to reach Trixie before it was too late.

Twilight had thought that she and Trixie had become closer……..

Now Twilight couldn’t help but think of how far away the blue mare is is………