"Welcome to Rarity For You," came a gentle and friendly voice. The pony it belonged to came into view with a smile to match her voice. It was Coco Pommel. Dashing out ahead of her was a small animal wielding a serving tray. Above them, distant thumps of heavy electronic music somehow added to the ambience.

Trixie felt a smile coming without thinking about it. The sight brought back good human memories. He had seen that episode, but... "Didn't you have a cold and they hired some--pony else?"

Coco tilted her head softly. "Oh, well, yes, for the first week. That didn't mean Rarity had... How do you know about that?"

Bumping in around her, Don nodded curtly. "Hey, get my mare a cape. She really wants one. It better be a good one too."

Coco's eyes widened at the sight of Don Keyworks and nodded as she forced her eyes back to Trixie. "Of course! I knew there was something missing. Are you looking for a cape just like the one you usually wear?"

Trixie stepped forward, but stopped as she almost bumped into the bowl being offered to her by a quiet animal. She lifted it in her magic. "Thank you." The carrot had been good. How bad could the soup be? She sniffed it once, getting a teasing of herbs and salt. A full sip revealed a cooling and refreshing broth. "Mmm."

She hadn't expected the visit to Equestria to be so... gastronomic. "Where was Trixie? Ah, yes, a cape. If you have one just like she usually wears, that would be ideal."

Coco gestured up at a rack against the wall. There were countless capes and cloaks hanging there. "As it turns out, Miss Rarity saw this need coming. Some ponies love to dress as you, ma'am. You have fans."

Trixie felt warmth building. "Of course she does! She is Great and Powerful..." A little voice nagged at her. She hadn't earned that reputation. "She will take one of her own capes then. She trusts this will be free of charge?"

Coco reared back a little in surprise. "What?"

Trixie raised a hoof, waving it in a slow circle. "When is the last time Trixie was paid for the use of her likeness?"

"Um..." Coco took a step back, growing uncertain. "I mean..."

Trixie reached with her magic, snatching one of her capes free of the rack. "Don't you worry. The Magnanimous and Kind Trixie will accept one cape as payment and wish you a fine day." She fastened it around herself, clasping it onto the large jewel in the front. She felt... complete. She was Trixie!

Don's leg came down, pulling her closer and ruining the moment. "You look better. Alright, let's blow this stand. We got things to do."

They left the startled mare behind. She glanced aside at the butlered serving animal beside her. "When did Trixie learn anything about business?" The animal squeaked in reply.

Outside, stepping towards the sidewalk, the Don let out a laugh. "I didn't see that coming. I thought you'ze were a magic pony, not one with a sharp tongue."

"I am a mare of many talents." Trixie's words were full of confidence, even as she slipped away from the hold. "Now where are we going?"

"Where we planned to go for in the first place." He gestured at a taxi, already flagged down by one of his two minions. "It's time we give you your proper test."

They left the densest, richest, parts of Manehattan. Unlike the quiet industrial and storage section they had started in, it become a little more... squalid. The buildings were a touch muted in colors. Things were just that splash more worn down. Ponies wore clothes that looked like they weren't fresh from the cleaners or plucked off a rack moments before.

Trixie decided it didn't have much of a chance of being featured on the show anytime soon. Still, it felt, somehow, more real. Those were ponies that had to work for a living. They had lives, and fought for them. Trixie smiled with her thoughts. How many of them had dead end jobs they dared not quit, no matter how much they might despise it? They were like...

Trixie shook her head. "Like she was, not is."

"What's that?" Don glanced over at her.

"Nothing, Trixie is thinking to herself." Trixie waved it away. She was Trixie, no longer... whatever his name was. She would never push a shopping cart around or help some random person get their bags out to their car. She would never have to force a smile while an idiot rambled at her, keeping her from doing her stupid job.

Still, she felt empathy for the working class of Manehattan. They were still there. Did ponies have nicer dead ends than humans had? She hoped that was the case. No cute colorful pony deserved to have that color ground out of them.

The taxi came to a halt in front of a squat apartment building. Don flipped him a coin and hopped free. "Home sweet home. C'mon, I'll show you around, Tricks." He ascended the steps quickly, his minions close behind.

Trixie followed a short distance behind. As she entered the building, the noises of foals playing street games and carts rolling past went quiet, muffled by the thick brick walls. The door closed itself, a large spring attached to keep it wanting to be closed.

They were crammed into a small elevator. Trixie turned up her nose a little. "There is no room."

Don waved her forward. "Don't be like that. We can fit in one more mare."

"Just tell me what floor to be on," sighed out Trixie, sitting on her haunches there.

"Fourth," he barked as the doors slid shut. She could see the little arrow above the closed door sliding slowly towards the four.

It struck her then. She could run. She could run and maybe never be found. She'd be free to be Trixie!

She would also be... a coward. She would also be broke and alone. She would be a big fat liar on top of that. No. She was many things as a person, but she wasn't dishonest. If she said she'd be there, and she had in asking what floor it was, she would be.

She reached with her magic and jammed the up button.

The elevator descended back towards the first floor and opened, no mobsters inside. She could still run...

She walked onto the elevator and pressed the four button. "Let's do this." She would not flee from an engagement. Was that how Trixie should act? She doubted it. As the elevator chimed and the doors slid open, she stepped out, her steps stiff and awkward.

She had expected a hallway of doors. It was not. She stepped out into a massive suite that looked like it occupied the entire floor of the building. There were many ponies. Some were pretty mares, others were rough-looking stallions. Some drank, some danced, and others played cards. "Trix!" called a voice. It was Don Keyworks, waving at her from beside a sizable map. "Over here."

Trixie hurried over, her hooves silent on the plush carpeting beneath her. Maybe her boss wasn't as small as she was starting to believe. As she trotted, she passed what looked like a roulette table. The mare standing at the end of it shone her horn and it began to spin, to the cheering of the players around it.

"You have a very nice... place here," Trixie noted as she came into easy conversational range. "It is more than Trixie was expecting."

Don brushed off imagined dirt. "As if I'd have anything less, but we could have more, so much more. That's part of why you're here. Protection rackets only take you so far, get me?" He turned to the map and slapped it with a hoof. "Your test will be a heist, a small one. This is just a test, right?"

Trixie tensed. She really was being asked to break pony laws. She was going to be a bad pony... "Trixie is not... sure..."

Don waved it off. "I paid good bits for you, Trixie. You just worry about getting things done. You'll get paid, promise." He cracked a smile. "Besides, we're not bad ponies." Trixie tensed, had he somehow heard her thoughts? "Nopony gets hurt, my number one rule. Besides, we're only taking what they got too much of anyway. You can think of us like some kinda Robin Hood or somethin', right boys?"

"From the Rich, to the poor," agreed one of his minions with a firm nod. "Ain't no harm we get to keep some of it while it moves."

"Yeah, see? We're good ponies. You saw those ponies. We'll make their lives better." He made a broad gesture. "You'll be their hero, and for what, making some rich jerk sad they have to give up their second ivory back scratcher?" He turned back for the map. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, small thing, get you warmed up." He tapped at the map. "Should be easy, for someone as Great and Powerful as you are. There's a big convention in town, and it ain't one of those fun types. Bunch of business-types hobnobbing and talking about more ways to get bits out of the mouths of honest ponies."

Trixie felt a frown coming on, thinking about business people. They hadn't done anything to her, specifically, but it was all too easy to throw some of her hate at them. They had fancy cars. They had jobs worth having. They looked down on her whenever they had to go past her to or from the grocery store. Stupid business people... "What's the plan?"

"Easy." He pulled up another map in his mouth. A minion took it without prompting and had it hung up quickly. It was the interior view of a building schematic. "They'll be fleecing their own, they do that. Ponies need tickets to get into the 'premium' events and shows, and all the biggest wigs want in, so they'll be paying. Bits at the door, stored here." He tapped at what looked to be a small office. "The room's locked tight, of course, but that's where you come in, my lovely blue beauty."

A new mare came at a hurried pace, scowling at Don. "What's this I hear about you walking around town with a new mare under your--" She cut herself off, seeing Trixie. "There you are! You step off my Don! He's mine, you hear!" Trixie barely had time to step back once before the mare was in her face, shoving at her chest forcefully. "Damn mares think they can just show up and bat their lashes at him, and he encourages, that rat bastard, but he's my rat bastard!"

Trixie pointed past the new mare at the map. "Trixie was just learning about her job?"

"Job?" The mare spun around towards Don. "She's a working mare?"

Don laughed and threw a leg over the irate mare, pulling her in close. "Exactly. You're the only mare for me."

"And don't you forget it," she grumbled, but seemed to be calming just as quickly as the storm had come on. "So what does she do?"

"We were just going over that." He reached up with his free hoof, leaning on his mare, who only seemed to enjoy the contact. "As I was sayin', it's locked up tighter than a drum. You, magic mare, will either unlock it, or get past it. Do your magic, get in there, get the cashbox, and get it back here. Ideally will be at the end of the first day, when they've done most of their ticket sales."

Trixie felt her heart slowing, the moment of attack passing. "Will she be working alone, or will there be others there?" She glanced around the room and the many theoretical helpers it held.

"We'll keep an eye on you, but this is your job. You make it work, or not. If you need a stallion, you walk up and ask, tell 'em the job's one I gave you, 'cause it is." He rolled the same hoof at Trixie. "I'll be disappointed if you just force your way in. No one gets hurt. We get our cash, they get to be a little less rich."

Author's Note

Mission get! We also get to meet the still unnamed mare of the Don. She's a real treat, isn't she? Her hasty entry may have knocked some papers off the tables, so sorry for any resulting typos.

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