Sunset was leaning against her motorcycle, staring at the journal as it glowed in her hands. She knew she should have responded days ago, probably before she went for her run as Flanksy. But what would Twilight say? More bullshit advice about finding her family, or maybe an 'I'll be there in spirit' speech? Something useless that wouldn't help anything. Sunset didn't blame her, she was a princess, and there was definitely work to be done in Equestria that was much more important than a pen-pal going through a fight with her friends. Friends that that princess had put in charge of her no less. But... she needed Twilight to help with her research. Sunset groaned, opening the book and looking over the messages.

Sunset, did it work? I hope so, either way, I'm going to keep the journal on me until you respond, so write me when you get the chance.

Sunset it's Twilight, are you okay? It's been a full day so I know you could have read my message. You're okay, right? Please tell me the girls figured it out and you just went to a slumber party or something. I really hope you did. If I don't get something by tomorrow I'm heading over. Heck, if you respond I might. I'm getting worried.

Sunset, I'm heading over tonight at nine. Even responding won't stop me so try to send someone to grab me. We obviously need to talk, and I'm really hoping we'll get the chance. I'm closing the castle for the day, so respond as soon as you read this. Please?

Sunset sighed. Of course Twilight would worry, it was who she was, and now she was stopping whatever duties she had to come to check on her. Perfect. Sunset reached into one of her pockets, pulling out a pen. She tapped the journal a few times before finally setting the tip against the paper.

Dear Princess Sparkle,

No, it didn't work. Sorry about the delay, I just threw myself into my work when they decided to cut ties. I do have a few requests if you're coming over no matter what though. Can you grab me a more advanced alchemy book, my old bank account in Canterlot should have the bits, and I think I already gave you the info. That and my normal pack of alchemy equipment. A golden mortar and pestle costs so much here it's not even funny.

Sunset stared at the journal for a moment before words began forming over the page.

Be at the portal at nine. We're going to talk.

Sunset blew out a quick burst of air before snapping the journal shut. She turned to Trixie, who had been marveling at Sunset's bike the whole while. "You know, Trixie has never seen your bike at school."

Sunset shrugged and tossed her helmet over her head. "No reason to invite people to mess with my stuff. Plus it kept people from finding out where I live." Sunset tossed the journal in her saddlebags, before straddling her bike. "I don't like people I don't trust knowing where my house is. Now get on, we've got places to be, right?"

Trixie paused. "Well, we still have some time, where are we going?"

Sunset smiled, placing the key in the ignition. Giving it a solid turn the bike roared to life, the small, Neighponese engine letting forth a banshee's shriek. Sunset's grin turned feral. "You wanted a ride? I can give you a ride to curl your toes, hop on." She felt Trixie get on behind her, and the bike shifted as Trixie grabbed the sissy bar behind her. Sunset grunted. "You'll want to hold on to me Trix, you might get sucked off the bike if you sit up straight."

As soon as Trixie leaned forward and tentatively wrapped her arms around Sunset's body the bike surged forward. Some people listened to music while they rode, and those people also had a tendency to follow traffic laws. Sunset did neither, gunning it out of the parking lot as fast as she could. With a small yelp, Trixie leaned into Sunset as the tires on the bike screamed across the pavement.

A thirty-minute ride for Sunset meant she had time to take the long way to the hospital. Which was basically driving to the town outskirts, where cops were a lot less frequent. It also meant curving roads with which to lean and speed to her heart's content. After fifteen minutes Trixie calmed down enough to stop her attempted murder of Sunset by strangulation and was instead enjoying the ride, as adrenaline pumping as it was. They didn't talk, instead, Sunset enjoyed her speed and movement, letting her own form of therapy do its work.

At four Sunset pulled into the hospital parking lot, killing the bike with a small grin on her face. Trixie took a moment to get off, shaky legs slowly calming down as she took a few steps side to side. Sunset took off her helmet, flicking her hair free as she moved to her saddlebags. "So Trix, you enjoy the ride?"

Trixie took off her own helmet, shaking her head back and forth like a dog. Her face was wary, fitting with the fact she had never been on the same bike as a daredevil. "Trixie will get back to you on that." She held her helmet out to Sunset. "Though Trixie will admit, it was fun. Just a bit more intense than she was expecting."

Sunset laughed, pulling out her bag and throwing it over shoulders while stowing the helmets. Locking the bike, she turned to Trixie with a neutral smirk. "Fair enough, I'll take it easy after the show, no need for the theatrics if it makes you too uncomfortable." Sunset turned to face the hospital. "Well, lead the way Trix, we got work to do, right?"

***

Setting up Trixie's illusions didn't take the full hour. In fact, it only really took about thirty minutes, and while getting done early was all well and good for the show, it meant Sunset was bored. Trixie was now in the back, getting the schedule right and working out the details of tonight, leaving Sunset alone to sit in the corner. She watched as acts began to funnel through the door, carrying equipment needed for their sets. She saw Vinyl walk by with a laptop under the crook of her arm, head bouncing to a beat her headphones were probably deafening her with.

She watched with interest as Vinyl walked up to the stage and sat in a simple chair, waiting for someone to notice her. Sunset enjoyed looking at the calm mute girl, it was always a pleasure to see how she worked with her disability. Maybe having her magic crippled left her with a sense of kinship, one broken girl to another. All Sunset knew for sure was she made sure Vinyl never suffered under her rule. Although Octavia did, even if she wasn’t too harsh on her, compared to everyone else. Sunset flinched at the memory, reminding herself that it still happened, and returned to looking at the door.

The next person to go through the door was someone who made Sunset try to hide in her seat. Flash Sentry and his band were all coming in, instantly making Sunset consider reaching into her bag. While she didn't have a full invisibility potion with her, she did have a background potion shoved in the main pocket. She managed to stay her hand however, and instead tried to look as nonchalant as possible. That was lesson two in politics; if you look like you belong, ponies never questioned the who or the why. Sunset winced, correcting herself that people never questioned the who or the why. Seven years and she still fell into bad habits.

Regardless of her vocabulary, she was proven correct, as no one looked twice at the girl sitting calmly in the back of the room. Sunset took a small measure of satisfaction from that. She watched as Flash looked at the speakers and nodded, gesturing to his bandmates before talking to them. She could tell from his body language he was fine-tuning the set they would use as she had seen him do it before, with her own guitar practice with him coming to mind. As soon as she thought that she buried it, reassuring herself that her past wasn't today, for better or worse.

She turned her attention back to the door. The safe, non-memory inducing door. And then a flash of Rainbow colored hair completely ruined any illusion of the door's safety. Sunset didn't even take the time to confirm who the hair belonged to, diving into her bag and pulling out her background potion. She popped the top off and slammed it down, trying her best to look normal while still chugging the drink like a frat boy.

She felt the spell snap into place around her, burning through her reserves at the exact same amount they naturally refilled. She enjoyed the feeling of utter anonymity for a moment before relaxing. Unless one of them started to look specifically for her she was safe, and she could take comfort in that at the least. She grabbed her phone and shot a message to Trixie, telling her not to mention that she was here to anyone, before settling back in her chair. She looked at the door and flinched. It was all of the Rainbooms, not just one of them. She saw Rainbow Dash wearing a tired grin, scanning the crowd, causing sweat to bead on Sunset's forehead, but after a moment Rainbow was distracted by something going on outside and ran through the door.

Sunset let out a breath she didn't realize was held and looked as Trixie began to scan the crowd. It took her a few passes before she noticed Sunset, who shot her a cocky grin that was only slightly weakened by her strained expression. Trixie nodded and smiled, before walking over to the stage's edge and messing about with her large show-bag. Sunset took the remaining free time to get some work done, pulling out a well-used burner phone and thumbing the contacts open. After a few key taps she opened her texting app, sending a few messages as she tapped into her information network. She smiled at the names on the list, some were people she considered something close to friends. Soarin who ran with her, and Thorax who helped her get an ID. Some were less well-defined, such as Discord, who despite being the school's janitor, was incredibly smart. He figured out she was doing something illegal and assumed she was helping Andromalius. Luckily, the seemingly insane janitor thought that the notion of the demon queen of Canterlot High helping the demon vigilante was hilarious, and used his unassuming job to feed her info with surprising regularity.

She glanced at the little tidbits she had gotten. The Changelings were apparently still open, but now requiring several more verifications before the location of a business was revealed to a customer. The shattered remnants of the Diamond Dog gang had just had yet another power struggle, meaning they were still a non-issue. Again, Sunset noted. All the other crumbs were basically useless, but she still saved them, since you never knew when a single bit of info was the difference between a successful ambush and limping up a fire-escape to get patched up by a grumpy nurse. She paused when she thought that. The nurse had been an exceptionally good ally, and it was Christmas. She pulled out her current main phone and made a note to look into what to get her for the holidays.

When she finished all that, she saw the stage lights turn on, as a veritable horde of children began to funnel in. Sunset blinked, unaware of how much time had passed, but noticing the curtains were drawn and all the acts hidden away somewhere out of sight. Sunset leaned back and checked the spell that was keeping her invisible to anyone not in the know. Sure enough, it was still burning in her gut. If it was still there after a few hours it might cause some problems, but for the moment it was fine. She watched the curtain open to an empty stage, causing there to be a few hushed whispers before a small flash of light forced everyone to look away. As soon as Sunset was able to look back at the stage, Trixie was there. Seated on a chair that hadn't been there before, her flashy outfit reflecting the lights like the night sky. "Greetings to the wondrous children who have decided to be graced by the presence of the Great and Powerful Trixie. I hope none of you minded her entrance. Trixie was having a wonderful tea in England, and simply lost track of time.” As she spoke her hand seemed to shimmer in place before a teacup appeared on in her grip to a few gasps.

Trixie calmly took it and had a sip, letting out a content sigh. "But now that Trixie is here she believes it is time to begin her fabulous show." Trixie stood, reaching into her cloak and pulling out a small red ball. "Now then, for most of Trixie's tricks she requires an assistant. So is there someone here brave enough to join Trixie on stage?"

Sunset smiled as children raised their hands, and Trixie scanned the crowd before she frowned, though it was clear to Sunset that she was also fighting down a smile. "No, this won't do. Trixie could never select one of you over another." She raised a hand to her chin, thinking, before smiling. "Ah, Trixie knows how to fix this. She'll let the magic decide." She reached her left hand into her cloak and pulled out a large purple cloth. She flicked her wrist twice, each time making the cloth ruffle in the air. Then she gave a confident smirk, and with the third flick of her wrist the cloth jumped from her hands and seemed to sail through the air into the crowd, before dropping squarely on a small girl in the crowd. Trixie bowed at the gasps, before gesturing to the girl. "Well then, magic spoke. Trixie requests you join her on stage child."

The little girl walked forward, moving with an obvious limp, while Trixie smiled warmly as the girl made her way up. "Welcome to Trixie's favorite place in the world. The stage." She threw her hands in the air, causing glitter to fly from her cape. Trixie leaned down, looking the girl in the eyes. "So little one, Trixie can't have a nameless assistant, what's your name?"

The little girl stared at the airborne glitter for a moment, before shaking off the glamor. "I'm Milk and Honey."

Trixie frowned. "Nope, That is not a suitable stage name. Never fear, however, Trixie can fix this easily." Trixie flicked her hand, and a small cue card seemed to materialize in her grip. "Read this."

Honey looked at the card before a smile plastered itself on her face. "I am the magnificent and humble Honey!"

Trixie nodded. "Excellent. Now Trixie can truly start the show." She grabbed the ball in her hand and bounced it on the floor. She caught it, and when she showed her hand to the crowd it held two balls. "Now Trixie can get the simple tricks out of the way first." She grabbed the second ball with her other hand, before passing it to Honey. "Now, Trixie's magnificent assistant will hold this ball tightly in her hand." Honey did so, closing her small hand around the ball. Trixie bounced the ball she held a few times, before throwing it as hard as she could to the ground. It never hit, seeming to disappear as it would have hit the ground.

Trixie smiled, before looking to Honey. "Now then, open your hand Honey." Honey did so, and two balls fell from her open palm, prompting Trixie gave a half-bow. "And thus, Trixie and her assistant do the impossible. But do not worry. Trixie would never leave you with such a simple trick. She has one more before letting the others take the stage." She moved to the back of the stage and reached one hand behind the curtain. With a single pull a small cage with black plastic wrap placed beside it came out. "Trixie will enter this cage, and Honey will wrap it fully in the plastic. Then, she will stomp her foot twice."

Trixie moved simply, getting into the cage, which only allowed her to sit. As soon as she shut the door Honey grabbed the wrap. As Honey covered the cage in plastic, Trixie simply smirked. With the cage fully covered, Honey stepped back and stomped twice, and as soon as her foot hit the ground a spark shot from the cage, before the plastic became engulfed in fire. Everyone stared with bated breath as the plastic melted, before gasps flew from the crowd as the cage was revealed to be empty. Suddenly Trixie's voice called out from the crowd. "TRULY, TRIXIE IS THE WORLD’S GREATEST MAGICIAN!" The crowd shifted as Trixie walked up to stage, and gave a final bow. The audience began to applaud, but Trixie held out a hand. "Now now, Trixie can't take all the credit. Honey?"

Honey walked up, as Trixie whispered something in her ear. After a moment they both took a large bow, and the crowd clapped in earnest. Sunset looked on, and never even realized the smile on her face.

Author's Note

Edited by Kitkataddel posted 1/26/19