“Well, it looks like all of the Knights of Harmony have kept their promises,” said Nyx as she, Twilight, Starlight, and Spike entered the Castle Library.
“Yes,” agreed Twilight. “Sunset found the green ornament that sprouted the Chest of Harmony, Lightning Dust freed Amber Aldis from Sombra’s Glacier…”
“With a little help,” Spike interjected.
“Right. Of course,” grinned Twilight. “And Spitfire’s helped Snowdrop adjust to modern day Equestria.”
“That just leaves Trixie to find Smokescreen,” said Spike, chuckling slightly.
“Why’s that funny?” asked Starlight.
“Well…”
“You know,” Starlight went on, “Amber Aldis still isn’t free. She’s stuck in that enchanted comic book of yours.”
“It’s an enchanted manga, actually,” Spike corrected.
“Oh, whatever. Lightning’s still trying to get Amber out of it,” Starlight went on. “She’s not technically done upholding her vow yet. And another thing. Spitfire hasn’t done much to get Snowdrop used to her second life. The Map wouldn’t have called Applejack and Pinkie Pie to Cloudsdale if she had.”
“What’s your point, Starlight,” asked Twilight.
“My point is Trixie’s not as far behind as you think.”
“The thing is,” said Twilight, “when Trixie made that vow at the knighting ceremony, she was still under the effects of the Blue Giant vegetables. I think she was expecting to find Smokescreen before they wore off. But it’s been so many moons since I gave her and Sunset their knighthoods.”
“Yeah. So it looks like Trixie’s in over her head by now,” said Spike.
Nyx nodded, remembering Trixie’s pitiful attempt to stand in for Twilight as the bearer of the Element of Magic.
Starlight huffed crossly. “Well if Sunset, Spitfire, and Lightning are allowed to have help keeping their vows, then Trixie should be too.”
“No need to get defensive,” insisted Twilight. “We’re not saying Trixie’s incapable of handling tough tasks.”
“We’re not?” asked Spike and Nyx together.
Twilight gave them both a stern look. “No. We’re not. But Smokescreen can turn into a cloud of smoke. And you know Trixie’s mostly just a performer.”
“Well, you know what they say about stage magic,” said Starlight. “It’s a lot of smoke and mirrors.”
“And I’ll bet Trixie’s got plenty of mirrors,” Spike said in an undertone to Nyx, who tried not to giggle.
“I’m gonna find Trixie and help her catch that stallion,” decided Starlight.
“No need for that,” came a voice from the other side of the door.
A stream of fireworks shot into the Library, bursting into stars every colour imaginable. And strolling into the room, looking more triumphant than ever before, was Trixie Lulamoon.
“For at long last, the Great & Powerful Trrrrrixie has done what she set out to do upon earning her well-deserved knighthood,” she announced. “It is my pleasure to inform you all that thanks to me, Smokescreen had been found and caught.”
Starlight was delighted. Twilight, Spike, and Nyx were looking sceptical until green flames billowed from Spike’s mouth. Out came a letter from Princess Celestia. Spike and Twilight quickly looked it over.
“It’s true,” said a wide-eyed Twilight. “Princess Celestia says Smokescreen is now in custody at Canterlot Castle… and that Trixie caught him.”
Starlight leapt into the air excitedly. “Congratulations, Trixie! I knew you’d pull it off! Even without Blue Giants.”
“Oh, yes. A pony like me can still be Great and Powerful even without the aid of magic enhancers,” grinned Trixie. “The capture of the AWOL Smokescreen had nothing to do with power boosting vegetables. It took quick thinking and skill to bring him to justice.”
“Please tell us how you did it,” Starlight magiced some popcorn into the Library.
“You’re in for a treat, my friends,” said Trixie theatrically. “For my tale is a tale of hardship, suspense, mystery, and a battle of wits the likes of which you’ve never heard.”
And this is the story Trixie told them…
Every stop Trixie made on her tour of Equestria would be punctuated by a search for a good hiding spot; not to conceal herself, or course. But to take the opportunity to pounce on an unsuspecting Smokescreen should he be in the area. And of course, Trixie was often ask a few ponies she met on her travels if there was any word on mysterious clouds of smoke drifting around. Soon enough, the Penitence Tour had come to a successful close, and Trixie knew she now had to come up with a different approach to carrying out her mission. She sat by Delamare Breakwater East End Lighthouse in Horseshoe Bay watching the light stretch across the ocean and contemplating her next step.
“Perhaps I should consider where a pony who can turn to smoke could camouflage himself,” she pondered.
She took out her map of Equestria and poured over it by the light of the lighthouse. She came across a name she hadn’t seen on there before.
“The Smokey Mountains!” she exclaimed. “Of course! Smokescreen would blend right in in a place like that.”
She placed a banana sticker by the name printed on the map so she wouldn’t forget. Even though she was sure Smokescreen must be there, she didn’t wish to rule anything out, and carried on looking over the map. For a moment, she considered Manehattan, as the smoke pumping from the chimneys of their many factories must be ideal to hide in for her target. But Manehattan was densely populated, whereas the Smokey Mountains appeared to only contain two farms. There was only one other possibility Trixie could find.
“Maybe he went to the Dragonlands,” she considered. “After all, he used to fight dragons. He might be living in or around a volcano. No one would see him there if he turned to smoke.”
She put a banana sticker on the bottom righthoof corner of her map.
“That’ll do for now,” she said, tucking her map away. “Now, which place shall I try first? A small mountain range in my safe, comfortable homeland? Or a hostile wasteland in a land ruled by fearsome, ferocious beasts?”
She settled on the Dragonlands in the end, as she was closer to there than to the Smokey Mountains.
Trixie’s wagon required little to no modifications to make it seaworthy; all she really had to do was turn it upside down and it would float. So off she sailed, away from the land she loved and towards a land that would no doubt scorn her presence. It was a blustery night, and the sea was choppy. Trixie was doing her best not to get seasick. She began to wonder if she should have waited until the waters were calmer, but she soon remembered that she wanted to travel by night so as to avoid being spotted by any dragons. But it seemed this precaution was ineffective. From inside her wobbling wagon, Trixie could see a bright red light glowing from out in the open water. It filled her quarters and seemed to heat the place a little. Trixie knew the worst must’ve happened. She opened the trap door, which was now a hatch, and poked her head up to see the source of the light. A ring of fire was surrounding the wobbling trailer, seeming to float on the water along with it, and encircling Trixie in its hot confines. And entering the circle, beating its wings furiously making the water even more wavy, was a large black dragon.
“Who are you?!” he hissed.
Trixie gulped.
“I-I’m…”
She thought the usual way she addressed herself might sound like a challenge.
“I’m Trixie.”
“Are you looking for dragons to battle?!” demanded the dragon.
“No! I’m no fighter! I’m just an entertainer!” Trixie insisted.
“Are you?!” the dragon snarled with and air of disbelief. “Well then… entertain me!”
“W-What?”
“Or would you rather admit you’ve come to take on me and my fellows?!”
“No, no! I am an entertainer! Watch.”
Trixie’s first course of action would have been to bring out her fireworks, but she wondered if a dragon who could breathe fire would be impressed by that. Also fireworks might attract the attention of another dragon, who might not be so patient as this black one. So she pulled out a deck of cards.
“Pick a card,” she said.
The dragon glared.
“Uh…” Trixie put the deck away. “So… what happens when a minotaur runs around a tree at the speed of light?”
The dragon clenched his fists. Trixie knew there was only one thing for it. She dug her hoof into her cape, fished for every firework she had, and flung them out at the ring of fire surrounding her and the black dragon. There was a sizzling sound for a moment, and then colourful rockets shot into the air above them, bursting into thousands of stars that joined the ones in the sky, creating what looked like new and dazzling constellations, and casting beautiful reflections on the dark water.
The black dragon watched, astounded. “I’ve seen a volcano spew gallons of lava, I’ve seen an inferno bring down a forest… but never anything like this. Very well. I believe you, Trixie. I am Smolder.”
Trixie sighed with relief.
“Have you come to put on a show in the Dragonlands?” asked Smolder with a raised eyebrow.
“Uh… no,” said Trixie. “I’m looking for somepony.”
“The only pony I know of who ever set hoof in dragon territory recently is a rogue who liked to challenge dragons to battles,” said Smolder. “The story is he could turn himself to smoke, and therefore couldn’t come to harm in combat with a creature that can breathe fire.”
“That’s Smokescreen!” exclaimed Trixie. “That’s the pony I’m looking for!”
Smolder eyed Trixie suspiciously. “Why would a performer want to find a duellist?”
“I was given a knighthood, and I made a vow on it to catch Smokescreen,” Trixie explained. “You see, he endangered several ponies in a school, and now he’s on the run.”
Smolder nodded. “Well, I can say without doubt that Smokescreen could not be in our land.”
“Why not?” asked Trixie.
“Because we’ve been have earthquakes, and the volcano has been spewing smoke, hot ash, and sparks all over the landscape,” said Smolder.
“Well then Smokescreen could be in the Dragonlands,” said Trixie. “He could hide himself in the volcano’s smoke as a cloud of smoke himself.”
Smolder shook his head. “I’ve been told that while this pony was capable of turning into a cloud of smoke, he could not mingle with other sources of smoke.”
“Really?!” exclaimed Trixie.
“It seemed even in the form of smoke, he needed to breathe,” nodded Smolder. “He couldn’t remain hidden for long in the mess our volcano has created.”
Trixie beamed. “Wow! Thanks, Smolder. Well, I guess I’ll be going back home now.”
Smolder said nothing. He slapped the sea with his tail. The wave put out the ring of fire he’d made, and Trixie’s upturned wagon was now drifting towards Equestria. She turned to wave goodbye to Smolder, who waved back and flew towards his own home.
Trixie went to sleep inside her trailer, and when she next woke, she found her wagon had washed up on a beach close to Baltimare. She went to find a café for some breakfast, and tried to think of another place to hunt for Smokescreen. Now that she knew that he couldn’t blend in with a source of actual smoke, her second port of call, the Smokey Mountains, was a write-off. Unless…
“What was it Starlight said about the Smokey Mountains?”
Trixie had heard brief versions of the stories of every mission the Cutie Map had sent Twilight Sparkle and her friends on, right up to Twilight’s and Rainbow Dash’s mission at the Wonderbolts compound. Starlight had told her that she’d read one of the books Twilight had packed for her and Fluttershy’s trip to the Smokey Mountains. Although it didn’t have a lot of information on the place, it did say there were rumours of a rare gemstone with the same colour and shine as solid gold buried in one of the mountains.
“But would Smokescreen want that?” Trixie asked herself.
Trixie knew that Smokescreen’s motive for staging that illegal task for Twilight’s entrance exam during the school for gifted unicorns’ staff strike was to help Sunset, who he was friends with, and who felt threatened by Twilight’s abilities. Now that Twilight and Sunset were friends, Smokescreen simply wanted to avoid answering to Princess Celestia. So it seemed unlikely that he’d want to find a rare gemstone… yet Trixie couldn’t get her mind of the rumour.
“He had that egg before Sunset went to him to ask him to sabotage Twilight,” Trixie pondered. “He must’ve had something in mind. Would he try it again? And if he did, he’d probably use the caves beneath Canterlot to carry out whatever it was.”
So she decided to go to Canterlot. She finished her breakfast and returned to her wagon. That was when she found that it had a wheel missing. It was nowhere to be seen. It must’ve come off during the night out on the ocean.
“And ponies give me stupid looks when I tell them I hate wheels,” growled Trixie. “Well, it looks like I’ll have to take a train to Canterlot.”
She had earned plenty of money during her penitence tour, and so she could easily afford to pay to have her wagon stored somewhere in Baltimare while she was away. My mid-afternoon, her immobile wagon was in a shed, and she had boarded a stopping train heading west. It had taken her a long time, as she’d only slept half the night, and it was in a rocking wagon. She decided to take a nap on the train. She was so tired, that she fell asleep as soon as she lied down on her seat. Then at one point, someone prodded her awake. It was the train’s guard, who asked her what her stop was so he could wake her when they arrived. Trixie was still barely awake, and in her half-insensible state, she told the guard that her stop was the Smokey Mountains. The guard replied that the closest terminus to the Smokey Mountains was in Tall Tale, and that he’d wake her when they got there. Trixie went back to sleep. Soon she was having a pleasant dream about a dry salted snack smothered in a creamy product derived from a sort of nut. And then the realization of what she’d said to that guard crept into her mind, and she bolted up in her seat.
“I meant Canterlot!” she bellowed.
Author's Note
Inspired by a random thought that occurred to me while I was writing Surrender Dragons. I held off using the idea in favour of the feather arc from my last batch.
As if the embarrassment of everypony in the coach looking at her as though she was a lunatic wasn’t bad enough, Trixie was told that the train had already stopped in Canterlot. They were already on their way to Tall Tale.
Looks like I’ll HAVE to visit the Smokey Mountains, Trixie thought, kicking herself for her mistake.
And as the sky outside the train reddened, Trixie decided she’d take in the scenery for the evening, and possibly ask one of the farm’s she’d heard about if they’d put her up for the night since she didn’t have her wagon to sleep in. When the train reached Tall Tale station, Trixie looked towards the south. She could see mountains, but none of them appeared smokey at all. The only vapour she could see was a small patch of evening mist hovering over a stream.
“Did I get the place wrong?” she groaned.
A quick question to the porter confirmed that those were indeed the Smokey Mountains she was looking at. She felt stupid for thinking Smokescreen could have been hiding here if he was able to blend in with other sources of smoke, but she made her way to the mountains all the same. The closer she got, the more features of the mountains caught the setting sun’s rays, and the more picturesque they became. Trees were flourishing, and there was quite a lot of wildlife about. Soon, she found herself between the two tallest mountains. She could make out farm dwellings atop each one, and all along the hillsides sat fields of flowers and crops.
One of the fields had been dug up. On the mountain to the left, Trixie could see a crater in the brown earth surrounded by ruined white roses. She made her way to it. The hole was so deep, it penetrated the mountain’s rock, and Trixie spotted a pocket watch that appeared to be made of emerald at the bottom. She lifted it with her magic and took a closer look.
“If found, send to Driblet, 25 Parapet Road, Canterlot,” the inscription on the back read.
Trixie thought. She’d heard that name before. It might have been in another story Starlight regaled her with about a Cutie Map mission.
“Ah, yes!” she remembered at last. “Rarity found Driblet stuck in her collapsed attic in the freezing snow, beyond help because she was a recluse with nopony to rely on.”
She looked around nervously. Had any of the farmers heard her? If they saw her, would they think she’d vandalised their white rose garden? She had to fix it in case they did. She magiced the heaps of soil lying around back into the hole, and raked the earth as nicely as she could. She’d made flowers appear out of thin air with her magic before, but never any specific kinds. She tried it anyway, and sure enough, pretty white roses blossomed all along the field. Trixie didn’t have much time to admire her handiwork, as she had to back away in case any of the farmers spotted her.
Trixie had decided against spending the night here now that she had two reasons to go to Canterlot now. She wanted to go into the caverns beneath Canterlot, and she intended to pay this Driblet pony a visit. She had some questions about why she had gone all the way to the Smokey Mountains from Canterlot to dig up a garden.
“As if I need to ask what she was doing,” she said to herself as she made her way back along the creek, which no longer had mist hanging over it. “Starlight told me she has an extensive gemstone collection. There’s no doubt she’d heard the rumours about that solid gold gemstone in the Smokey Mountains and came to try and find it. And since she only dug one hole, I’ll bet my hat and cape that she found it on her first try.”
Before she even got to the station to catch the evening train, Trixie knew she wouldn’t even bother with going to the address engraved on the back. She’d go straight to the authorities with this incriminating piece of evidence. Soon, she boarded the eastbound train. She was so invigorated by her new directive and the fact that she’d already slept on that first train, that this time she didn’t nap in the coach as they traveled across the country. She wasn’t likely to miss her stop now.
The two missions Trixie had in Canterlot ran through her mind so many times during that train ride. At one point, a thought occurred to her; would these two missions overlap?
This does seem a little suspicious, Trixie thought, looking at the emerald watch. Driblet used to be a shut-in. Starlight said that she’s not only friends with Rarity and her sister now, but Rarity’s store manager, Twilight’s old classmate, and Pinkie’s favourite restaurant cook too. And those three live in Canterlot with her. So now that Driblet has ponies to keep tabs on her, would they have alibies for her? Did somepony try to frame her knowing she collects gems and thinking she’s still a loner who wouldn’t be able to defend herself against any accusations of illegal activity?
And if somepony was trying to frame Driblet, Trixie was sure she knew who it was.
“That was no evening mist over that river,” she said to herself. “That was Smokescreen. He must’ve dug up that solid gold jewel just before I go to Tall Tale. He’ll be off to Canterlot, just like me. I’m not too far behind him. I’ll catch him out yet.”
The train arrived in Canterlot. Trixie headed straight for where Twilight had told her the entrance to the caves were. The way down into the cavern was steep, and there were several ledges that would be treacherous to climb back up. Trixie did her best not to let her hooves echo as she dropped down to each ledge, using her hat and cape to muffle the sound. Eventually, the ground levelled out, and Trixie put her hat and cape back on. The light from the cave entrance above was getting dimmer, and the path ahead was dark. Trixie did her best to cast a spell that would light her horn just enough to allow her to see her way through, but not bright enough to give her presence away. On she went through the cave. There was the odd gemstone fragment lying around; Trixie was sure there were still heaps of gemstones in these caves, just like the last time she was here. And she knew they had to be larger now if Smokescreen was collected more for his unknown plan. She same to a fork in the tunnel. The path to the left appeared to go on for yards, and the other looked like a dead end. Trixie ventured right, increasing the light from her horn a little. Something tinkled beneath her along the way. She stopped, hoping nothing fell out of her cape pockets. It was only the smaragdine watch she’d found in the white rose garden.
Is this even really Driblet’s? she wondered, levitating the questionable trinket in front of her face. Or did Smokescreen just make this thing to leave at the scene of the crime and lead the farmers right to her?
Something flew out of the darkness towards Trixie. She spotted it at once, and shot a spell at the object with all her might. The emerald watch was in the line of fire and broke into thousands of shiny green pieces. But the object zooming towards Trixie got hit as wall, and as it shattered into thousands of golden fragments, she knew it had to be the gemstone from the Smokey Mountains. A cloud of grey smoke appeared from the darkness ahead. Quickly, Trixie took a deep breath, grabbed her hat, and covered her nose and mouth with it, forming a seal around her muzzle. Not even a second later, she was surrounded by smoke.
“I don’t know how you found out I was at the Smokey Mountains,” growled the familiar voice of Smokescreen, “but you’re not gonna catch me now!”
Trixie, holding her breath, eyes stinging a little bit, reached into her cape pockets. She grabbed her supply of smoke bombs and threw them all around her. They all burst and ejected large plumes of slightly lighter smoke than Smokescreen could turn into. Trixie heard Smokescreen’s cough echo all around her. The dark cloud of smoke backed away from her, but the light clouds remained. Trixie did her best not to breath until she’d backed away herself away from the dead end and the smoke her bombs had produced. When she was away from the smoke and could breathe again, she took her hat off her face and looked into the tunnel ahead. She could see the silhouette of a stallion in the smoke. He was stuck on the wrong side of the smoke cloud, cornered in the dead end. But Trixie knew he was going to make a run for it, and she knew just what to do. She reached into her cape again, grabbing the object she’d hoped barely a minute ago hadn’t fallen out.
The outline of Smokescreen the unicorn became larger as he darted through the cloud of smoke towards Trixie. When he’d clear the smoke, he lunged at Trixie, his horn alight. Trixie dodged his stunning spell. It hit the stone wall behind her, rattling the tunnel, and threatening to collapse the caves. Trixie reached out to her attacker, holding a small black object; formerly part of Queen Chrysalis’ magic-sucking throne, which had a number of holes in it when it was intact, this fragment was about the size and shape of a metal nut. Trixie quickly crammed it onto Smokescreen’s horn just as he was about to cast another stunning spell.
“What is this?!” yelled Smokescreen, reaching for the black object stuck on his horn. “It’s stopping my magic from…!”
Trixie tackled Smokescreen before he could grab the throne fragment, wrapping him up in her cape and stuffing her hat over his muzzle. Smokescreen was subdued.
“Success!” bellowed Trixie.
And she ran back, leaving Smokescreen to struggle, to climb out of the cavern and alert the Royal Guard.
“And that,” Trixie finished dramatically, “is my story of how the Great & Powerful Trrrrrixie succeeded in capturing Smokescreen, thus making good on the promise I made upon receiving my knighthood.”
She took a bow. Starlight, Twilight, Spike, and Nyx stared at her. She grinned at them.
“You made that up,” said Twilight.
Trixie nodded. “Did you like it?”
Spike and Nyx laughed.
“You really are the theatrical, aren’t you?” grinned Starlight.
“Can’t help it,” shrugged Trixie. “I love to put on a show.”
“You had me fooled for a while, Trixie,” Twilight admitted. “The way you struggled to amuse that dragon, fell asleep on the train and missed your stop, and discovered Smokescreen’s plan out of dumb luck sounded pretty plausible.”
“I’m impressed you remembered all that stuff I told you about the missions the Map sent Twilight and her friends on,” said Starlight.
“Well, I don’t remember everything,” said Trixie casually. “Some details stuck with me, but not a lot.”
“But you still managed to incorporate those minor details as plot points,” said Starlight. “Still impressive, I’d say.”
Twilight looked at the letter again.
“This doesn’t look like a forgery,” she said. “You did catch Smokescreen, though, didn’t you?”
Trixie nodded, not looking very triumphant.
“Why couldn’t you just tell us how it really happened?” asked Spike. “I’m sure it was just as exciting as that version you just told us.”
“I got Discord to help me,” said Trixie.
Twilight, Spike, and Nyx groaned.
“What?” snapped Starlight. “Like I said, there’s no reason Trixie shouldn’t have help with her knighthood vow like the others did.”
“I promised him I’d have a pig race with him tomorrow if he brought Smokescreen straight to Canterlot,” Trixie explained.
“It really sounds like you haven’t done anything, Trixie,” said Nyx. “Did you even try looking for him at all this whole time.”
“Of course I did!” barked Trixie. “But a pony who can turn to smoke could hide anywhere. In or out of Equestria. And Discord wouldn’t have bothered to use his bizzare magic to catch Smokescreen if not for me. He’s only around to help deal with threats, and Smokescreen isn’t really a threat. He was just trying to avoid the charges for trying to sabotage Twilight’s exam.”
“So all that stuff about you suspected he would try whatever he’d been planning again?” asked Twilight.
Trixie shrugged. “They’ll get the whole story out of him soon enough. If he was planning something, it’s not gonna happen now.”
Twilight, Spike, and Nyx were glad when Starlight opted to spend the rest of the day with Trixie. They couldn’t wait to tell the others about that fanciful story she gave them. They had dinner up in Rainbow Dash’s mansion, and there was a lot of laughter at the table.
“Trust that hammy gloater to come up with all that!” cackled Rainbow Dash.
“This is so much more ridiculous than that Ursa Major bluff,” chuckled Scootaloo.
“At least she admitted it was all made up this time,” put in Apple Bloom with a giggled. “How embarrassing would it be if she kept insisting it was all true after y’all called her on it?”
The laughter continued.
“I’m actually surprised how up front she was about it all being made up,” grinned Fluttershy. “Even I’d like for ponies to think I actually wowed a ferocious dragon, or saved a pony from being framed for a crime, or had a battle of power and wits in a cave below the capitol city.”
Twilight, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Pinkie Pie stopped smiling for a moment.
“Me too,” nodded the sniggering Applejack. “I bet I could come up with a tale just as epic, bone-chillin’, and suspenseful about a worm I plucked outta a red delicious.”
Everypony was laughing again, and for a while, Twilight, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Pinkie Pie had forgotten what Fluttershy’s comment had made them think of. But that evening when everypony had gone home, they all remembered; and it made them curious and a little concerned about the safety of Canterlot. And since they all had friends in Canterlot, they all ended up writing letters to venture their suspicious; Twilight wrote to Moondancer, Rarity to Sassy Saddles, Sweetie Belle to Driblet, and Pinkie Pie to Saffron Masala.
The flying pig Discord gave to Trixie the next day was completely incorrigible. It wouldn’t obey Trixie’s commands to fly where she wanted, and took her all over the place. Eventually, dizzy and exhausted, Trixie couldn’t stand it anymore and decided to jump off. She hit a bunch of pylons and rolled through the doors of a building, landing flat on her face on a smooth wood floor.
“Table for one?” she heard a voice say.
She raised her head and saw a fat waiter.
“Father, don’t you know who that is?!” exclaimed another voice.
Saffron ran up to Coriander as Trixie stumbled to her hooves.
“That is the pony who saved our city,” she beamed.
Trixie gave her head a shake. “Uh…”
“Suffering sock suspenders, you’re right! It is her!” she heard someone to her left shout.
She looked among the many tables and spotted one where three mares she didn’t recognise were sitting and looking at her with delight.
“Come join us, Trixie!” called the only earth pony in the group.
Trixie did so once she regained her balance.
Trixie soon learned that these were those Canterlot ponies Starlight had mentioned; Saffron, Sassy, Driblet, and Moondancer. She took her hat off only to realise it was one of the orange cones she’d hit when she’d jumped off her flying pig.
“I must’ve hit a construction zone,” she grunted.
“That was an entrance to the caves beneath Canterlot actually,” said Driblet. “They’re reinforcing them.”
“Huh?”
“We all got letters from our friends in Ponyville last night asking us about the state of the caves below us,” said Moondancer. “And as it turns out, they’re very unstable. Liable to collapse, in fact. And if they did, then the whole city of Canterlot would crumble and tumble down the mountain.”
Trixie was shocked. “I never thought of that!”
“You didn’t?” Sassy raised an eyebrow. “But weren’t you the one who made our Ponyville friends think of it?”
Trixie tilted her head.
“Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and Sweetie Belle all said you told them a made up story and part of it was about a battle in those caves,” said Saffron. “So thanks to you, our city will be safe.”
A cocky grin spread across Trixie’s face. “Well, as the Great & Powerful Trrrrrixie always says, life imitates art.”
“Say, I heard you gave me a small part in your story,” said Driblet.
Trixie nodded.
“How did you know I have an emerald watch?” asked Driblet. “I’ve never shown that to anypony.”
Trixie’s eyes popped. “I had no idea!”
Author's Note
Don't ask why Twilight gave Trixie a knighthood and then stopped trusting her. That's the nature of fanfic writing.
