Celestia Gambit

Celestia, immortal goddess and co-ruler of the Kingdom of Equestria was keeping a low profile. You would think that this would not be easy to do as she was a six foot tall alicorn with a brilliant white coat and pastel rainbow hair that streamed out behind her regardless of what the wind was doing. But that, as one of her friends was fond of saying, was exactly the nature of disguise. The more flamboyant you normally were the easier it was to go unnoticed.

For this occasion all she had had to do was to remove her royal jewels, braid her mane and tail, wear a dress that covered her wings and flank (a gift from Twilight, made by her friend Rarity) and walk with a less regal posture and everypony just assumed that she was unicorn, if maybe a particularly stunning one. anypony that might suggest to their friends that the tall, white-coated unicorn was in fact the Sun Princess they would be silenced with the answer: 'No, Celestia has big wings, a big flowing mane and goes around everywhere flanked by guards you foal'.

Life was so much easier where you understood how ponies thought.

She trotted through Canterlot Park until she found what she was looking for: a colourful travelling wagon parked under some trees. There was a stage setup next to it but this was empty. Even if she had not been warned in advance of her friend's visit, the fireworks last night would have been a clue. She climbed the steps and knocked on the door of the wagon.

“Who disturbs the Great and Powerful Trixie while she is resting?” a voice called from inside.

Celestia smiled; it was always good to hear the voice of a friend you had not seen in a long time. She used her magic and dropped her voice to a low rumble. “I am a fearsome usra major come to get you,” she growled back through the door.

There was the sound of movement from inside and the top half of the door opened to reveal an enormous blue pointed hat covered in stars and other symbols. Under the hat was the head of a light blue unicorn pony mare. When the unicorn saw who it was she broke into a smile.

“Pifft, the Great and Powerful Trixie has vanquished far more powerful foes than you.”

Her horn glowed and the bottom of the door opened to reveal the rest of the unicorn under a cloak of the same pattern as the hat. The cloak had been arranged in such a way as to not hide the mare's cutie mark, a wand against a pattern of stars.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie gives you leave to enter.”

Celestia smiled and entered the wagon. Inside was surprisingly spacious with plenty of seating spaces and a cosy bed tucked away in one corner. The walls where covered in posters for 'The Great and Powerful Trixie's magic shows'. Celestia took a seat and watched the blue unicorn close the doors.

“It has been a long time my little pony,” she said when the door was again locked. “How are you?”

The unicorn threw her head back “The Great and Powerful Trixie is Perfect as always.”

“I am sure she is. But how is my friend Trix?”

The unicorn lowered her head and relaxed, her whole body seeming to change subtly as she did so. “I am well too Celestia,” she said with a smile. “Sorry, sometimes it is hard to get out of character.” There was a glow from her horn and the hat and coat levitated themselves onto a stand by the door. “Can I get you some tea?” she said while walking over to the small kitchen. “Do you think we will be waiting long?”

Celestia nodded “Yes please Trix, two sugars. The Mayor should be along soon, she is usually very punctual.”

“Yes, she always was.” Trix replied from where she had her head in a cupboard. “I half expected to see Winged Sword with you. Is he not joining us?”

Celestia shook her head. “No, even in disguise he is a bit too conspicuous. He is standing guard outside an empty room in the palace.”

Trix chuckled “you where always good at the art of misdirection Tia”

Celestia was just relaxing on one of a set of cushions spread around a small central table when there was another knock on the door. Trixie's head shot up. “Who disturbs the Great and Powerful Trixie while she is resting?” she called out.

There was an audible sigh from outside. “I am a cute and cuddly ursa minor and if you do not open this door this instant I will tell everypony within earshot how you fled from Ponyville after Twilight showed you up.” A glow surrounded the doors and they opened to reveal a brown coated earth pony wearing a pair of saddle bags. Celestia smiled - although these two ponies where old friends Trix's showy nature had always upset the more staid earth pony. The Mayor of Ponyville walked in, closing the door behind her. “Your Highness,” she said, bowing to Celestia.

“Your Mayorness.” Celestia said back, bowing her head in a slightly mocking imitation of the Mayors. “You are well, your journey from Ponyville was not too tiring?”

The Mayor took a seat on one of the cushions. “No your Highness, the roads are much clearer now that the smoke from the dragon has dissipated.”

“Yes I saw that.” Trix said from where she was using her magic to heat tea. “I assume that we have our new friends to thank for that? Tea your Mayorness?”

The Mayor sighed at the repeated mockery. “Yes please Trix.”

“How did you guess that I had sent Twilight to deal with the dragon?” Celestia asked as three cups of tea levitated themselves onto the table.

“Because it is the sort of thing that you would do Tia.” Trix replied coming round and joining the other two ponies on the cushions. “You would send Twilight and her friends up the mountain to deal with the dragon in order to assess how well they could cope...while at the same time having a backup plan in case they failed.”

Celestia smiled inwardly. She liked Trix although she did not get to see her much as she would like as Trix's 'work' took her all over Equestria. Trix was a strange pony; she was nearly as good at magic as Twilight, but she was not nearly as studious, preferring instead to experience things. She was a pony of the world and that gave her an interesting view on things.

”Could we have not just dealt with the dragon through more formal diplomatic channels?” the Mayor asked. “Instead of risking our new friends. I know they are supposed to be learning from these sorts of things but it was a big task for what are still quite immature ponies.”

Celestia shook her head. “Our treaty with the dragon clans is not that detailed. Anyway it is vital that the bearers of the Elements of Harmony learn to work together under these sorts of circumstances. It all worked out well; I received Twilights report on her and her friend's adventures with the dragon yesterday. According to her report Fluttershy managed to persuade the dragon to roost elsewhere.”

Celistia put emphisis on the phrase and gave the Mayor of Ponyville a look. From what she remembered of Fluttershy she was a naturally timid pony, very good with animals of all kinds but she could not really believe what she had read in Twilight's report about her bullying the dragon into leaving.

The Mayor smiled into her tea. “Yes, although Fluttershy may sometimes be afraid of her own shadow she can be surprisingly resolute if she is pushed or her friends are threatened. Some ponies whisper about her stare which, if you believe the town gossip, has the power to turn you to stone and freeze your blood.” She smiled again. “Not that anypony does. But I can well believe that Fluttershy persuaded the dragon to roost elsewhere. You would never get her to admit it though.” She looked at Trix. “Presumably you will be telling everypony in your next shows that it was you that vanquished the terrible dragon.”

Trix raised her nose in the air and resumed her previous manner “Please. The Great and Powerful Trixie was enthralling the ponies of Canterlot last night with the tale of how she single hoofedly defeated the dragon and sent it fleeing with its tail between its wings.” She lowered her noise and her manner softened. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has a reputation to maintain after all”

That was Trix's talent, Celestia thought, she was a show pony. She could put on a show and make ponies believe - for a little while at least - that the Great and Powerful Trixie had performed all those feats and that was what she was good at. But the persona of Trixie hid a cunning mind that, while she was performing, would take in everything around her; the strengths and weaknesses of everypony in the audience and far more besides.

“I am sure the ponies of Ponyville would have liked that as much as they liked your story about the ursa major,” the Mayor said. “I am sorry I did not get a chance to see you as you passed through but you did have to leave in a hurry.”

Trix chucked at the recollection “I thought I saw you in the back of the crowd but I was busy performing.” She took a sip of her tea. “Where did those two foals find an ursa minor anyway? I was slightly worried for a little bit there till Twilight showed up.” She looked at the Mayor. “If those things regularly rampage through Ponyville I have new respect for you and your town.”

“Surely you could have handled it?” Celestia asked.

“Of course,” Trix said dismissively. “But that would have revealed that Trixie is more than an empty show pony...and I like it when ponies do not suspect me. Anyway it all worked out for the best, with Twilight demonstrating her power and learning quite nicely.”

Celestia had received a full report from Twilight on the visit of 'The Great and Powerful Trixie' to Ponyville; apparently it had been very eventful. Celestia turned to look at Trix. “So Trix, what do you make of our new little ponies?”

Trix levitated her cup of tea to her mouth and took another a sip before placing it carefully back on the table. “She has a lot of power that Twilight of yours,” she said “and she knows how to use it. If she had decided to she could have given me a run for my money.”

“I already knew that Trix,” Celestia sighed. “I have the entire facility of the School for Gifted Unicorns to tell me how powerful she is - some of whom she suspended from the ceiling during her entrance exam. I want to know more. You see more.”

Trix thought for a while. “Well she is modest and shy - maybe a bit too shy. I made foals of some her friends one at a time but she did not step up and challenge me - even with Spike pushing her to.”

Celestia looked worried. “She did not care for them? We need them to be as close friends as possible. They really need to care for each other.”

Trix shook her head. “No. In fact I think she cares a great deal for their opinions, too much maybe. When it was needed she stepped up and saved the town from a rampaging menace; she just did not want to look like a braggart. She was more worried about their opinions of her than she was of her own humiliation.” She thought some more. “Something some of the rest of the group have no problem with.”

Celestia was very relived at this. That was one of the potential problems with magical unicorns - unicorns whose special talent was magic rather than those who just used a little magic in their other talents. They tended to let the magic go to their heads and went a special kind of insane where they believed that they could do anything - and sometimes tried. This was probably part of what had happened to Sun Dancer.

She tried to stop her train of thought but the memories came flooding back. Sun Dancer had been a powerful unicorn. Maybe more powerful than Twilight and she was tough. All ponies had to be in those times; Equestria was still recovering from the banishment of Nightmare Moon and all ponies had to be self reliant. But Sun Dancer had believed that Celestia should be more forceful in her attempts to restore control. Celestia and her had argued a lot; Sun Dancer asserting that as Celestia and Luna had originally used their magic and the Elements of Harmony to build the balance of the world after defeating Discord, the best way to restore it would be for Celestia to use the Elements again and either restore her sister or, in concert with some of the more powerful unicorns, rebuild the world.

Celestia had argued against it. She did not believe that she could use the magic of the Elements again to restore the world without her sisters' help and she had tried before to use them to rescue Luna and failed. Sun Dancer had made some good points however - especially about the need to find the then lost Elements of Harmony. Celestia had sent her and a group of ponies to try to find and recover them.

Deep in her heart Celestia had hoped that with the Elements back in her possession she and her new pony friends could work out a way to restore her sister. But a few months later Celestia had felt a pressure, a tug, on the magical connection she had with the moon and the sun. Celestia tried to stop her thoughts there, but as they always did when she thought of Sun Dancer they were drawn to that last horrific memory. Seeing her shattered, broken body laying on the steps of the old palace, her unnatural wings twisted and shattered. The petrified, useless Elements of Harmony lying round her.

“Your Highness?”

The worst part of that memory was Sun Dancer's foal, a little filly called Sunset, standing between the broken bodies of her mother and father, newly appeared cutie mark still glowing.

“Celestia?”

Equestria had not always been the peaceful and harmonious place it now was, and it was with the help of good ponies like Trix she kept it that way.

“TIA!”

Celestia realised that she was being shouted at. She jerked her head up, dragging her mind back to the present and the two ponies sitting at the table with her.

“Daydreaming Celestia?” Trix asked with a slightly worried grin.

Celestia took a sip of her tea to steady herself and to banish the memories. “Let's just say I was lost in the past. What where you saying?”

The Mayor cleared her throat. “I was saying that Twilight and her friends seem to be getting along well your Highness, everything seems to be going according to plan. But I am worried about the next steps.”

“She must be tested Mayor,” Celestia said forcefully. “We need to know how she reacts under pressure.”

“Surely we already know that from the battle with Nightmare Moon?”

Celestia shook her head. “That was different. She barely knew herself then. Now she has experienced what she can do.”

Trix nodded in agreement. “We need to see how she reacts with a real problem; how she will respond and just as importantly, how her friends will react to her response.”

“But surely we have seen that from her actions in the face of the ursa or the dragon?”

“No, that was something she was even unknowingly prepared for. Ursa may be uncommon but they are not unknown and she had planned for the dragon. We need her reaction to an unexpected threat. We need to be sure she - that they - will not crack under pressure.”

Trix smiled over her tea cup. “You are just worried about the effect on your town Mayor.”

“They are ravenous beasts.” The mayor actually sounded a little panicky. “This could be very serious if it gets out of hand!”

Celestia smiled at her old friend. “Do not worry, we will have a backup plan in case things get out of hand.”

“I am sure that after all the skill and power she showed handling that ursa Twilight will be more than a match for a simple swarm of bugs,” Trix suggested. The Mayor just gave an uncertain shrug.

Celestia looked at the ornate clock hanging on the wall. “I must get going before I am missed.” She stood up followed by the other two ponies. “It was very good to see you again Trix, even if it was just briefly. Will you be in Canterlot long?”

Trix raised her head and took on her other persona. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will be enthralling the ponies of Canterlot with the tales of her magnificence for the next week.” She lowered her head and became Trix again. “Will you be able to come to any of them?”

Celestia imitated Trixie's manner. “The Royal Princess can not attend as she has important affairs of state to see to.” She returned her voice to normal. “But Tia and Wing might find time too take in a show or two.” She gave her friend a little kiss on each cheek. “Goodbye my little pony, I shall see you when next you roll round to these parts.”

“Goodbye Tia,” Trix said in response. “I will look forward to it.”

Celestia turned to her other friend. “And Mayor, I will see you in Ponyville soon. I trust you will have everything prepared?”

The Mayor nodded. “I have left the planning for your 'official visit' to Miss Sparkle. Zecora and everypony else is ready.”

Celestia nodded. “Well then, let's see what happens.”