Trixie Searches For Magic

Chapters

Of the Mountains
Showtime
The Hero Has Arrived
First Lesson
How to Succeed at Everything
Backstory
The Strange Beasts
Second Lesson
Kept Promises
What Would Twilight Do?
Showdown
Fearsome
Something Completely Different I
Something Completely Different II
Third Lesson
Worm
Crystals
Heartless
Fourth Lesson
Luck
I Am
What Was Learned
Terror of the Nuckelavee
What Can Trixie Do?
The Great and Powerful Trixie

Of the Mountains

To say that the ones who had just been defending the village in the valley from the Nuckelavee were surprised at Trixie’s sudden arrival would be putting it lightly. Not to mention their sheer confusion at the fireworks display she had put on right after her wagon landed. A horrible monster was minutes away from destroying their village when all of a sudden a flying wagon landed on it, crushing it, and then out popped some weird unicorn wizard.

Trixie as well was starting to get a little nervous, the fake grin she had plastered on her face was getting a little difficult to keep up. She had a lot of time to plan her arrival when she was flying through the sky thanks to Discord and she had made certain that she would give a grand first impression wherever she landed. So what was up with these ponies, oh, and griffon, just standing there gawking at her? Anyone should be amazed after seeing that! Where was the applause?

Perhaps they have never seen one as majestic and overwhelmingly amazing as I? Trixie thought to herself. Maybe I’m just too good.

Trixie glanced out of the corners of her eyes to see just where she was, upon only seeing the nonindicative mountains that enclosed this entire valley she had to wonder just where in the world Discord sent her to. Her jaw began to tremble a bit from keeping up her large grin and if no one else said anything soon she was going to sorely lose her patience.

“Who are you? Did you do that on purpose?” One of the ponies across from her asked, the male earth pony.

Uh oh. Trixie tried not to sweat. I can’t let them know that I have no idea where I am or what’s going on. If these are the first people I’m meeting here I need to show from the beginning that I am truly great and powerful, not the type of pony who is helplessly thrown across the world in her wagon, I can’t let my reputation be sullied right from the start. Better lie and puff things up.

“Of course I did that on purpose! And like I said, I am The Great and Powerful Trixie! Unparalleled magician from Equestria.” She proudly stated.

The male earth pony suddenly ran up to her and prostrated himself before her. “Thank you! Thank you so much, you’ve saved all of our lives, Great and Powerful Trixie! We can never repay you for this.”

Okay, now I’m just confused. Trixie scratched her head. “Um, thank you?”

“How did you get your wagon to fly like that and crush the Nukelavee?” The other stallion said as he came up to her. “I must admit I am simply amazed.”

Trixie coughed and gave a small laugh. “Well that’s easy, it was magic that made my wagon fly.” The question of what in the hay was a “Nuckelavee” she felt was better not to ask. Trixie also briefly glanced back to make sure those rockets Discord had created were gone, who knows whatever happened to things he made when they were done fulfilling their purpose.

“It must’ve taken some power. You called yourself the Great and Powerful Trixie, did you not? I suppose you must be quite the hero. Do you commonly vanquish monsters?” He asked.

It would be easy for her to explain the truth right now. But Trixie’s ego ballooned at the word “hero”. She could (and probably should) say she was just a traveling performer but these people didn’t know her. Traveling hero had a nice sound to it too. Why not just perform as a hero while she was here? After all she was trying to do something new and different so maybe she could start like this. What harm could it do for her to act a little more like Twilight or Starlight rather than her real self? And not a single pony liked to brag about themselves as much as Trixie.

“That is correct. Trixie is perhaps the greatest of Equestria’s heroes.” She smiled.

Now I just need to figure out where I am and what just happened when I landed here…

“Well you got here just in time then.” The old griffon said as he came over to her wagon, looking it up and down. The last pony, the unicorn mare, also followed him along. She was giving Trixie something of a suspicious look.

“Yes… here.” Trixie said. “I have never been to this place before, does that village I can see in the distance have a name?”

“The first ones to live here were some griffons who knows how long ago, they called it East Glade.” The griffon shrugged.

East and griffons? Am I in the Griffon Lands?

“Look, forget about all that.” The earth pony said, getting up off the ground and happily taking Trixie’s hooves in his own. “Please come visit the village, everyone is going to want to meet the hero that saved them. And we have to reward you somehow, we’ll throw a feast, or a party, or something!” He frantically shook her hooves back and forth.

“Yes, well-” Trixie disengaged herself from him. “The Great and Powerful Trixie would be more than happy to join you.”

“Great!” He shouted in glee. “My name is Vector by the way. And this is Coil, Gizzard, and Daylight Gleam.” He motioned to each of the others in turn.

“Pleased to meet you.” Trixie smiled at them.

Daylight Gleam hummed to herself and ran an appraising eye over Trixie. “Hmm, so you’re not going off to deal with another monster after the Nuckelavee? If you’re a traveling hero then didn’t you come here in the first place to take care of it?”

“No, no, that was hardly the only reason.” Trixie was not exactly quick-witted but she was fairly good at lying her way out of a situation. “Trixie also came here for other reasons. The Nuckelavee merely gave me an excuse. I plan on staying here for a good while if I’m being honest. You see I wanted to learn more about this place, the ponies of Equestria know nothing about it and I also came to perhaps learn a new spell or magical power that will help me on my heroic quests.” She just went on and on.

“Not just the ponies of Equestria, even most griffons don’t know anything about this place.” Gizzard said. “These mountains go for too far past east of Griffonstone. This valley is close to the end of the mountain range and the ocean but most “adventurers” lose heart well before they come this far, thinking it’s just endless mountains this way.”

Aha, so you did send me into the mountains east of Griffonstone? I wonder what’s out here.

“I see. Well, I can just leave my wagon here for the moment and we can head on to your village then.” Trixie said.

“Yes, we should get back and let everyone know things are okay.” Vector nodded and began walking away from the wagon, leading Trixie and the others to the small village in the distance.

Coil gave Trixie a small smile and followed Vector. Gizzard also gave her a nod of appreciation. Daylight Gleam continued to intently look at her and her gaze was putting Trixie off a bit.

I get the feeling that that pony suspects that I’m not telling the truth. Oh well, might as well enjoy my party. I just wish I could figure out what a Nuckelavee is…

The village was not even half the size of Ponyville. A small series of buildings all arrayed around a relatively large town square with a couple of farms right on the outside of the village. At the moment no one seemed to be out working so Trixie and the others walked down the simple dirt road that went right down the middle of the village unmolested.

“Where is everyone?” Trixie asked.

“Hiding inside their homes and other buildings. It’s what we told them to do when we learned the Nuckelavee was coming.” Gizzard said.

Trixie grinned. “Well they’ll all be happy to know that things are once again safe, thanks to The Great and Powerful Trixie.”

“Yes, thank you.” Daylight didn’t seem entirely sincere when she said that.

Vector on the other hand continued to gush over her. “Everyone is going to be so excited, we were really worried about that monster. I’m sure the mayor will be happy to throw a huge celebration in honor of you and your heroic deeds.” He was practically bouncing with joy. “Oh, right! And by the way, what were those sparkly exploding things that came with you?”

“Huh?” Trixie furrowed her brow at him. “You mean the fireworks?”

“Yes! I’ve never seen anything like those before!” Vector nodded enthusiastically.

“They’re fairly common.” Daylight said.

“Yes, fireworks are used for parties and celebrations in Equestria. Among other places I suppose.” Coil explained.

“Maybe to you but I’ve never seen anything like them.” Vector said. “Gizzard and I were born and raised here, not like you two.”

The old griffon nodded. “I’ll say. I’ve never seen anything like those fireworks either. They weren’t like your magical bombs at all, Coil.”

“Oh, so you’re not all from this village?” Trixie chimed in. And if the locals had no idea what fireworks were she could probably put on a few good shows here.

Daylight Gleam shook her head. “I’m from all over. Only came here recently myself.”

Coil gave a small but proud smile to Trixie, pushing up his glasses. “I was originally a teacher and scientist from Canterlot but I wanted to learn more about the potential magic and science to be found outside of Equestria.”

Kind of similar to me then. Trixie thought.

“Heh.” Daylight Gleam chuckled. “Yeah and you ended up out here where there isn’t anything but the occasional horrible monster.”

“Everywhere gives the opportunity for study and invention.” Coil shrugged before turning to Trixie. “I have my own little home slash laboratory a little ways away from the village, closer to the foothills of the mountains. I’d love to show you around it sometime.”

Before Trixie could respond Vector spoke up again. “There are a number of others not born in the village here right now. It’s actually kind of strange now that I think about it, everyone just converged here all at once for some reason or another. Normally we would go years without seeing any outsiders, but even aside from the three of you now there are one or two others hiding out in the village. Like that crazy cultist who wandered in a month ago.”

Daylight groaned. “Ugh, don’t even mention that weirdo.”

Gizzard grunted and continued from where Vector left off. “Yeah. Strange times. Thanks to that griffon a few years back we normally wouldn’t be so kind to strangers either, but once the village learns you defeated the Nuckelavee I’m sure they’ll be fine with you.”

Trixie was a little lost now. “What do you mean you don’t normally like strangers? Why?”

“Well a few years back...” Vector started, grimacing at the thought of it. “Some griffon from Griffonstone came here. In a single day he pillaged the entire village, set homes on fire, stole food and valuables, attacked the ones who tried to stop him, and then just flew away east towards the ocean by the end of it all. For years that was our only contact with outsiders. Daylight and Coil can tell you that they didn’t exactly receive a warm welcome here at first, they had to win everybody over. I don’t think you’ll have that same problem though.”

“Thank you for warning Trixie at least.” She said. They had made it past the small farms that covered the ground outside the village and were now walking down the scant rows of buildings to reach the square. A thought came to Trixie about something else that had just been said. “Ocean? So there’s an ocean if you keep going east?”

“Yes.” This time it was Coil who spoke up. “A huge ocean from what I can tell, possibly the same body of water that wraps all the way around to the west of Equestria, becoming the North and South Luna Oceans. I haven’t traveled the way myself but I theorize you can get to it by going south of the Griffon or Dragon Lands and just heading east along the waters.”

“Trixie had no idea there was an ocean like that over here.” She said.

“Most on this side of the world don’t.” Coil shrugged. “Hay, most ponies never even leave Equestria.”

Trixie smirked. “Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie loves to travel, I have always been special in that way compared to most ponies.”

“You keep switching between third and first person.” Daylight flatly stared at her.

The blue unicorn coughed and waved her off. “Whatever.”

“Speaking of the ocean there’s a ravine on the other side of the village too. At the bottom of it a river runs right to the ocean, but it’s a sheer drop down about a hundred feet.” Vector said. “We’ve got a bridge that goes over the ravine but all that’s over there are more mountains.”

Trixie didn’t have any more questions for now, and there wasn’t anything else that really caught her attention about this village, it looked rather poor off and there wasn’t a modern building in sight. Most places in Equestria were still pretty old-fashioned but this went straight off into behind the times. And Trixie would know what with all of the different places she had been. Not only was the village and most of the buildings in it fairly small but a lot looked dilapidated and damaged. Some had doors halfway off the hinges or roofs with missing shingles or holes in them. If Trixie had had the choice she probably wouldn’t have come here for her mission.

But as it was the five of them had now made it to the town square. It at least was made of paved stones and had a well in the middle, so it had that up on some towns Trixie had been to that left their ground and roads as dirt or grass. And Trixie noticed that there was something else above the well, a large brass bell.

Vector happily strode up to the well with a bell and yanked on the rope hanging from the bell, ringing it loudly several times. Trixie had to wince as the powerful sound rang in her ears, her teeth clattering from it.

“Trixie hopes she doesn’t have to hear that much more.” She said, covering her ears.

“It’s only used for important notifications!” Coil had to nearly shout to make sure Trixie heard him.

Vector stopped ringing it and instead started yelling. “Everyone! It’s alright, the Nuckelavee is dead! It’s safe to come out now!”

Slowly doors and shuttered windows began to open. Griffons, ponies, and… some things that looked like ponies but weren’t that Trixie didn’t recognize, started filing into the square. The crowd was murmuring in disbelieving whispers. One fat mustachioed griffon waddled up to Vector, an expectant but also wary look on his face.

“Is it true? You stopped that monster?” He asked Vector.

“It’s true, the threat of the Nuckelavee is no more!” Vector yelled.

Gasps of shock and relief radiated out from the crowd. There was a split second of silence and then a deafening cheer broke out from the villagers. There was a good hundred of them and their combined voices were even louder than the bell, much to Trixie’s discomfort.

“Hooray for the heroes!” The portly griffon yelled, raising a fisted talon into the air.

“Hooray!” The crowd yelled.

Vector motioned for everyone to calm down, a bashful smile and embarrassed blush spreading on his face. “Slow down everyone. I have to be honest and give the credit to the one who really deserves it. The four of us out there were in a lot of trouble when our reprieve literally fell from the sky.” He pointed to Trixie. “That is The Great and Powerful Trixie, a wandering hero and magician from Equestria. She’s the one who stopped the Nuckelavee and saved all of us!”

You know, keeping up this ruse might end poorly for me… eh, it’s too fun to pass up. Trixie thought and then flashed her most winning and showy of smiles. “No need to thank me. Although I wouldn’t mind at all if you did.” She tilted her hat back and pushed the curl of her mane out of her face, more grateful than ever that she was wearing her costume. It really fit the persona she had on right now.

The villagers murmured in surprise, Trixie could see a lot of apprehension on their faces. There were some children in the crowd who looked torn between whether they should stare in awe or hide behind their parents. Finally the large griffon came up to her as well.

“Excuse me, Miss Trixie, but is what Vector’s saying true?” He asked her.

“It is indeed.” She puffed out her chest and stood as tall as she could.

“Well then, as Gabriel, the mayor of East Glade, there is clearly only one thing to do.” He grasped her hoof and raised it in the air. “Hooray for Trixie!”

With Gabriel’s blessing the crowd was more than happy to cheer for her as well, just like they had done for Vector and the others. The loudness returned in full force and made the blue unicorn worry she was about to go deaf if it continued for much longer.

Vector walked up beside Gizzard. “Guess we were right that she’d get a warm welcome unlike the others.”

The old griffon nodded. “Now we can really start to celebrate, no?”

Trixie spent a good deal of time being accosted by villagers and basking in the glory after that. She lied or exaggerated her way through any questions and managed to enrapture the children courageous enough to come and meet the new hero with her bombastic personality. Trixie was good at acting special and amazing and she knew it. She just chose not to remember how this had occasionally come back to bite her in the past.

While the celebrating started to really get more festive, with some even dancing around in the middle of the square, Trixie continued to explain the extraordinary way of how she totally intentionally defeated the Nuckelavee to any villager that asked.

“Well you certainly had an easy time winning the hearts of the villagers.” Daylight Gleam said as she sidled up next to Trixie while there was a lull in the ones wishing to speak with her.

Coil was also standing behind Daylight and keenly listening in to the two of them, giving a friendly smile to Trixie and trying to ignore the raucousness around him.

The blue unicorn grinned at her. “But of course, Trixie is the greatest at winning others over.”

“Uh huh.” Daylight wasn’t exactly convinced about that. “Well I’m just as grateful as any of them that you saved us but I wouldn’t exactly say you’ve won me over just yet. Sorry if this is rude but you come off as a little… silly to be a hero.”

Trixie frowned and was about to say more about how great she was when a voice cut between the two of them.

“So from the sound of things it seems like you arrived at just the right time.”

The heads of the three outside ponies turned to look at the new arrival. He was an earth pony, a bit on the large side, with a coat the same ashen gray color as the mountains surrounding the village and a deep brown mane and tail. It gave him a very bland and forgettable appearance. Trixie being Trixie she just naturally thought that, since she was the exact opposite of bland and forgettable.

Daylight smiled at the newcomer. “Hey, almost forgot to see where you were. We’ve gotta thank you just as much as Trixie, you were right about exactly when and where the Nuckelavee would come from.”

“Yes.” Coil nodded. “Thanks to you our traps stalled it for just the right amount of time, even if they weren’t able to hurt it.”

Trixie tilted her head at the earth pony (not entirely happy at having her spotlight stolen). “Trixie is lost here, who is this?”

The unknown pony stepped up to her and extended a hoof in greeting, giving her a warm smile. “Harlequin Black, at your service, Miss Great and Powerful Trixie.” He bowed his head slightly.

“Well thank you.” Trixie smiled and shook his hoof, more than appeased by his bow. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is always happy to get the respect she deserves.”

Daylight Gleam rolled her eyes at that. “Anyways, thanks again Harlequin.”

“Please, don’t mention it. Trixie deserves all the credit.” He said. “I’ll be going back to my shack now. You should all get to know each other better.” He gave a friendly grin and waved goodbye to them, retreating through the crowd.

“He’s kind of weird.” Trixie said as he left.

“In my opinion you’re the pot calling the kettle black right now.” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her. “But yeah, he’s actually an outsider to East Glade too. Don’t know when he came here though.”

“He’s the one who learned the Nuckelavee’s path and warned us about what happened to the village south of us.” Coil explained to her.

“Trixie sees...” She trailed off as three young griffon’s no larger than foals ran up to her, practically jumping up at the blue unicorn.

“You’re the hero that stopped the Nuckelavee?!” The biggest and oldest looking one shouted at her.

“Um, y-yes, that’s Trixie!” She backpedaled away from the overexcited griffons.

“Are you staying here for much longer? What kind of hero stuff do you do?” The next oldest asked her while the other two continued to shoot rapid-fire questions at her that kept drowning each other out.

Before Trixie could respond, Gabriel flapped down behind the three young griffons and scooped them up in his talons. “I told you boys not to bother her.” He scowled at them before giving Trixie an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Miss Trixie, my sons got a little excited.”

“That’s alright, Trixie has a lot of experience dealing with excited children.” She assuaged his guilt. Then something caught her attention, those not-ponies she had seen in the crowd, one of them was walking towards her. She, whatever she was, was leaner than the average pony and her faded yellow coat shimmered a bit in the light. Trixie squinted at her and saw what looked like a pattern of fish scales all across her coat, and unlike normal pony ears she had large webbed ears. Her eyes were deep black surrounded by a milky white. Her mane was seaweed green in color and short and spiky while her tail was hairless and ended in a large horizontal fin.

She leaned her head in close to Daylight Gleam and whispered in her ear. “Psst. What’s that?”

Daylight looked at where Trixie was looking and spotted the creature. “Oh, right. That’s Senax, she’s a merpony. She says they come from the ocean to the east.”

“Merpony?” Trixie furrowed her brow. “Like a hippogriff?”

The white unicorn shrugged. “I dunno, ask her.”

The merpony approached Trixie and gave a deep bow, something Trixie would never get tired of, before raising her head and smiling gratefully at the blue unicorn. “I am Senax. As leader of my small tribe of merponies I must thank you for saving our home.”

“Don’t mention it.” Trixie tossed her mane back. “I mean unless you really want to.”

Senax giggled. “I do. We merponies were scattered to the far ends of the Grand Ocean ages ago, only a hundred years in the past did my predecessors find East Glade and settled here. I don’t know what we would do if anything happened to it.”

“Uh huh.” Trixie said, not even trying to hide the face that she hadn’t been paying attention. She was too distracted by all the fishy bits of Senax. “Are you like a hippogriff or something?”

The merpony smiled awkwardly and shook her head. “No, we are aware of the hippogriffs but we lack the ability to transform like they do. However, we can breath underwater.” She turned her head to the side to show Trixie the gills on the side of her neck.

“Ooh, cool.” Trixie said.

That got another giggle out of the merpony. “Thank you. I hope to introduce you to all of my tribe sometime soon but for now they’ve all gotten caught up in celebrating. Please excuse me for now.” She closed her eyes and bowed to the “hero” again before walking away.

Hmm. This may not have been my first choice but I know I can find at least one way to show up Twilight now. Trixie thought as she watched the merpony leave.

For the rest of the day and well into the night the celebration continued, Trixie got to know the villagers and their home better while they cheered for their new hero. She almost felt bad. By the end of it all Trixie had been offered a room in the same small hovel that Daylight Gleam used and she graciously accepted the offer. She would set out and ask around to find any new and special magic at some point (certain that with all the other brand new stuff she had never known about before there had to be unusual magic here too) but for now she wanted to milk this love and glory for all it was worth. Tomorrow morning she would lug her wagon to the village and show East Glade that they didn’t know half of what The Great and Powerful Trixie could do!

Showtime

Right at the edge of the mountains to the northwest of East Glade, where one would go if they wanted to head back to Griffonstone, stood Coil’s laboratory. It was actually a lot bigger than Trixie had expected it to be after seeing what the other buildings in East Glade looked like. This lab was sizable compared even to a lot of buildings Trixie had seen in larger towns of Equestria. It had a long rectangular body in back with a gable roof and then a half sphere jutting out of the front who’s roof went up into a high cone. The combination gave it a weird and uneven look but Trixie didn’t really care about that kind of stuff. In fact she could really understand something being made to stick out for the sake of sticking out, a showmare like her knew the importance of grabbing attention. The paint job was a bit more standard though, white walls with a verdant green for the roof, it almost blended right into the mountainside even with their relative lack of vegetation.

The reason Trixie was at this lab in the first place and not pulling her wagon into the middle of town just yet this morning was because Coil had waylaid her just as she woke up and was coming out of the shack she had shared with Daylight Gleam last night. He must’ve really been interested in showing the new amazing hero his laboratory. Obviously he saw Trixie’s greatness and knew she deserved the tour as soon as possible.

I’d expect nothing less from ponies who have only just for the first time been exposed to my magnificence. Trixie thought to herself. Finally I’m getting the respect I deserve.

So now the blue unicorn walked around the lab of the other blue unicorn looking around at every bubbling beaker and numerous vials containing all sorts of random chemicals and substances. Even just in the front spherical part of the building Coil’s lab was overflowing with everything a cliché scientist and inventor would have stuffed in their laboratory. Desks were covered in zoos of glass tubes and bottles that were a part of any number of experiments the glasses wearing unicorn was working on and the floor was littered with crumpled up pieces of paper and blueprints to things Trixie was completely lost on.

“You’re pretty busy in here.” Trixie said as she poked a glass beaker full of some bright orange liquid.

“It is my passion after all.” Coil happily stated as he walked alongside her. “Er, could you also not do that? A lot of these chemicals are quite volatile and flammable.”

“Uh huh.” Trixie half-listened and turned her head to some diagram on the wall that was filled with so much math and equations it made her head spin just looking at it. She coughed. “Ehem, The Great and Powerful Trixie must admit that even she is not a math wizard.”

Coil gave a hearty laugh. “Nothing wrong with that at all, for most of my life I struggled with the practical application of magic. And you wouldn’t believe how many experiments of mine blew up in my face as a teenager. But I chose to keep chugging along and eventually I became a professor at a prestigious Canterlot University.”

Trixie almost had decided to share with the unicorn her own series of failures before remembering that she was supposed to be the ultimate hero right now. His story was one she could relate with but to the ponies of this village she must act like failure was a foreign concept to her. The Great and Powerful Trixie must be as perfect to her new idolizers as she is in her own head!

“Well Trixie can certainly appreciate your determination.” She said to Coil. “And she is glad that there’s another pony from Equestria here to talk with.”

“Thank you, it’s an honor to be able to speak with you and show you around my laboratory as well.” Coil said, guiding her around some kind of electrical device where two tall prongs had a current of fizzling yellow electricity constantly running up and down between them.

As with everything else in here Trixie had no idea what it might be for. But she wore a plastered and detached smile on her face as she took it all in, trying to give the suggestion that she was pleasantly enjoying what Coil had to say and show to her. Naturally though what he was saying was pretty much just going in one ear and out the other with her and she had to keep shaking her head to stop herself from aimlessly wandering off every time something new caught her eye.

What did keep getting her notice (since it was impossible to avoid) was the huge iron door that blocked off this section of the lab from the large rectangular section in back. It looked like it slid open but there were two big bars foisted up on the door to keep it from moving.

“So Coil, what’s back there?” Trixie had to ask after staring at the door for a while and completely ignoring the other thing Coil was trying to show her.

“Hm?” He followed her gaze. “Oh, right. That’s my auxiliary lab. I’m sorry but I have a number of special experiments and some dangerous machinery back there so I can’t really show you it. I made the magic bombs that we used as landmines to try and stop the Nuckelavee in there. But enough of that, have you been to Canterlot lately? What’s the current big thing in the worlds of science and magical innovation?”

I don’t know, ask Twilight. Trixie blankly stared ahead at him. “Hm, well… I usually don’t find myself in Canterlot that much. After all as a traveling hero I’m needed elsewhere. Princess Celestia takes great care of Canterlot without me.”

“Right, right.” Coil nodded along. “Obviously you’re busy in more destitute places like the one the two of us find ourselves in right now!” He cheerfully smiled.

Well he technically wasn’t wrong about her usually being in more out of the way places. It’s just the why that he was mistaken about.

“You know if you’re about done showing me around, Trixie has to go get her wagon and bring it into the village. She wanted to get ready for this afternoon.” She told him.

“Get ready? What do you mean?” He asked as he placed a foamy beaker down on the nearest table.

Trixie grinned and flourished her cape. “You said that these inventions and experiments were your passion? Well The Great and Powerful Trixie also has quite the passion. Not only is she a traveling hero of peerless accomplishment but she is also a traveling stage magician who leaves every pony and creature that sees her shows in a state of awe and wonderment!”

She paused for effect, standing on her hindlegs while holding her forelegs out in a grandiose display.

“I see… so you put on magic shows?” Coil tilted his head in puzzlement.

“Precisely!” Trixie lowered herself.

“And you want to put one on for this village then?”

“Precisely again! The Great and Powerful Trixie thinks they deserve to see her at her most glorious, especially since they missed her conquering of the terrible Nuck-a-la-vee.” She tried saying it as best she could.

“Well I think that’s a splendid idea actually.” Coil said. “The villagers could certainly use all the levity they can get, and a fun show like that may help win over any that might still be averse to you. If there even are any left after hearing you saved their lives.”

“Trixie agrees. And she is a performer at heart. She simply must put on a show wherever she goes!” Trixie exclaimed.

“If I might suggest something?” Coil interrupted. Trixie blinked and looked slightly annoyed but allowed him to continue. “I would make sure to use a lot of fireworks during your show. As Vector and Gizzard made apparent the ponies that have lived in East Glade their whole lives have never seen anything like them. They’ll be a hit for sure.”

Trixie rubbed her chin with a hoof. “Hmm, I believe you may have a point there. I’ve often used fireworks as attention-grabbers anyways.” She grinned again and reached into her robe to pull out a smoke bomb. “Huzzah! Trixie has decided that this will be a show for the ages! Farewell, Coil! I shall see you again in the town’s square!”

She threw the smoke bomb onto the ground where it exploded, making Coil cough and wheeze as it filled up the room. His horn lit up with an orange glow to make the cloud dissipate and when he looked around Trixie was gone and the front door was swinging in the breeze. He walked over to it and looked outside to see the showmare galloping off in the direction of her wagon.

“Please do not throw anymore smoke bombs in here!” The bespectacled unicorn yelled after her.

The Great and Powerful Trixie pulled her wagon into town where all the ponies, griffons, and merponies that saw her looked on in wonder and puzzlement. The children were just as enraptured, Trixie always was good at getting kids on her side, and they began following her along as she walked her way right back into the middle of town where that well and bell stood.

Unlike the first time she had come here there were already plenty of villagers out and about and they all gave her a wide berth as she lugged her wagon into the center of them all. The adults were more or less happy to see her if not confused as to what she was doing but Trixie said nothing to start with. She would set up and make her wagon and “stage” good and ready before announcing just what it was she was doing here in the middle of East Glade.

“Great and Powerful Trixie, what are you doing?”

Trixie looked down beside her to see the three sons of the mayor walking along with her. She flashed them a sparkling grin. “It’s a surprise.”

“Ohhh.” All three said at once and then ran back through the crowd. Trixie could see them excitedly talking and whispering in the ears of all the other young ones in the square.

The blue unicorn began to unload several things from her wagon in preparation for the show. The only downside was that right now she didn’t have a stage to set up on, she’d simply have to perform on the ground in front of the wagon. Naturally Trixie preferred to be on a raised platform that others had to look up at. Being eye-level took away that extra little bit of show magic. And she couldn’t exactly do her tricks on top of her wagon’s roof either.

“Causing quite the scene here, you know?” Gizzard’s voice said from behind Trixie.

She pulled out and set down a box of fireworks before responding. “Trixie is well aware of all the attention she gets. She’s simply that kind of pony.” She looked back to see that Vector was also standing there with Gizzard, the look on his face one of excitement no different from the children of the village. “Is something wrong?”

“Actually I’m just looking forward to whatever surprise you’ve got up your sleeve.” Vector smiled at her.

“A deck of cards, but that’s not important.” Trixie said, yanking a large blue and purple curtain out of her wagon that she could put up as a backdrop. “I guess you heard from the kids?”

The earth pony nodded while Gizzard continued to look over her things.

“Well-” Trixie continued. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told Coil earlier, since this show is more for the ones who didn’t see me arrive. In addition to being the greatest hero of Equestria I am also the greatest magician of Equestria and my true calling is putting on magic shows.”

Vector gasped. “So you’re going to give East Glade a show?”

“That’s right.” She replied. “A show you’ll all never forget!”

“When will you be ready?” Vector asked. The earth pony actually giving a small hop in anticipation, causing Gizzard to look at him as if he lost his marbles.

“Oh, just in a little bit. I’ve performed so many of these shows I could get set up blindfolded.” She said. “Hm, that wouldn’t be a half-bad trick either.”

Trixie was right that it wouldn’t take much longer, but by that time already it seemed like the whole town had heard about or seen what was going on and was now gathering in front of her wagon. The mayor’s sons had spread the word to every child in the village and now a throng of the young ones sat front and center before the large curtain Trixie had thrown up, eagerly awaiting whatever she was going to do. Vector and Gizzard were patiently waiting for her but most of the other adults were still muttering amongst themselves, some clearly concerned with what this “hero” was up to.

So naturally Trixie started things with a bang to get the attention of everyone in the village.

Another huge smoke bomb went off right in front of her curtain, but this smoke was mixed with a sparkling powder to give the smoke an extra shine and glimmering effect. It glittered all over as the crowd looked on in amazement, the children were excitedly asking for more already while the adults were now fully glued to the show and all of their little conversations had come to a halt.

As the smoke settled a shadowy figure could be seen standing in front of the curtain.

“Thank you for coming! And now prepare to be stunned by The Great and Powerful… Trrrrixie!” She yelled and blasted away the last vestiges of smoke with her magic, revealing herself in all her glory.

The children cheered for her while even a lot of the adults smiled and clapped along. This was truly what Trixie lived for.

Unfortunately without an assistant (or manticore) Trixie couldn’t do a number of her favorite and more impressive tricks and she wasn’t sure if she should do anything like bringing up a member from the audience and stuffing them in a trunk either. The villagers might not appreciate that. But Trixie was still Trixie and she had more than a deck of cards up her sleeve and a rabbit in her hat. She knew every magic trick in the book and then some.

The blue unicorn showed off her best card and rope tricks, she made objects disappear and reappear at will and even changed the color of her own mane, showing a level of “magic” unlike anything the villagers had seen before. She pulled off her hat and revealed a bouquet of flowers inside that themselves contained a string of rainbow scarves tied together in a seemingly impossible length. The showpony then jumped inside a trunk on her own and wrapped it in chains with her magic from the inside while levitating a bunch of swords over it. When the trunk was clearly impossible to break free from Trixie stabbed the swords inside it while all the people watching gasped in horror and fear.

Only for Trixie to come walking out from behind the curtain, safe and sound. A simple teleportation trick but a very fun and showy one. The cheers from the crowd proved how much they loved it.

Now if only I had Starlight here to saw in half… Trixie couldn’t help but think of how she could make the show even better.

As her parlor tricks and sleight of hoof continued she happily watched the crowd’s reaction to everything she did. She saw Daylight Gleam and Coil both in the audience too and even the uptight white unicorn looked like she was enjoying herself. But as she scanned over the others there was one pony who didn’t seem to be liking the show. He was an earth pony with a violet coat and short brown mane wearing a long gray robe that covered his entire body. For some reason he was just frowning in disapproval at Trixie.

But she wasn’t the type to let one upset audience member throw her off. Since in the past she was well used to entire upset audiences. And the showoff unicorn continued her tricks as if nothing bothered her.

I believe next time I’ll have plenty of willing volunteers here for my tricks. Trixie thought as she dropped herself upside down into a tank of water while wrapped in a straight jacket. “Racing” against time to figure a way out of it before she drowned.

The show continued on until Trixie had near exhausted her extensive list of one pony tricks and devices. She didn’t want to overwhelm the audience and she most certainly didn’t want to keep going until they got bored or used to her pattern so she was going to wrap things up soon. There were only so many times a pony could escape from certain death before it got stale. So she decided to end things the same way she began them. With a bang.

“Now feast your eyes on this!” She yelled, her horn imperceptibly glowing and lighting the fuses of a row of fireworks hidden behind her curtain and wagon.

A dozen fireworks shot into the air, although they weren’t as impressive as they would have been if it was night they were still more than enough to awe creatures who had never seen them before. They exploded in fiery displays of starbursts, hearts, flowers, and one gigantic one in the shape of Trixie’s own face. Because of course she would use one like that.

The denizens of East Glade sat in stupefied wonder as the fireworks went off. Even the normally rambunctious children were silent as the last embers fizzled out.

And as the grand finale ended the crowd cheered in applause. The Great and Powerful Trixie basking in the appreciation and excitement her show had brought them. Oh yes, she could get used to being here.

Trixie had finished cleaning up later and was now thinking if she should just leave her wagon here or take it back outside the town. It was kind of in the way a little bit here but she didn’t really want to keep bringing it back and forth every time she wanted to put on a show. Maybe next time she could just have them come out to her? Daylight Gleam was here chatting with her too.

“That was quite a show you put on. I’m actually impressed.”

“Oh? Did you doubt The Great and Powerful Trixie?” Trixie raised a disapproving eyebrow at her.

“Yeah if I’m being honest.” Daylight nodded.

Trixie snorted. “Pshaw. Well now you have seen just an inkling of how great I truly am.

“Well I did really enjoy the show, it was a lot of fun.” Daylight shrugged. “I’m still not sure about you all the way though.”

“Then Trixie will just have to prove herself to you. I’ve already won over the rest of the creatures living here.” She smirked in self-satisfaction.

Daylight was about to respond when the crunching of hooves on ground made her turn her head, Trixie following along with her. The white unicorn immediately frowned at the one who was approaching and Trixie was also somewhat apprehensive as she saw the violet earth pony from earlier walking towards her, although now he was wearing a friendly smile on his face.

“Go away, Wool Dye. No one wants to hear more of your crazy preaching.” Daylight said to the pony.

“Now, now, you don’t speak for our newcomer.” Wool Dye said, that smile not leaving his face. It actually made Trixie a bit uneasy knowing he had been glowering at her through her whole show. “Hello, Miss Trixie. I have traveled from my home village to spread the word of true happiness and harmony to others.”

Trixie tilted her head in confusion while Daylight Gleam rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“This is the cultist we mentioned yesterday.” Daylight said. “Just ignore him. He says he preaches “equality” and “harmony” but he wants everyone to ignore their special talents and abilities. He says in his village unicorns don’t use magic, pegasi don’t fly, and everyone keeps their Cutie Marks covered at all times and willfully go against their calling.”

“It’s the only way to make everyone truly equal and happy.” Wool Dye narrowed his eyes at the interrupting Daylight before facing Trixie with a kind and open expression. “Which is why I wanted to speak to you in particular. Your dress, your way of speaking, that show you put on, it screams individuality and ego. You’re just the type of pony who needs to learn about equality the most. Without it you’ll never be truly happy and you’ll keep bringing sadness to all those who watch your shows and despair about how they can’t do what you do!”

“Excuse Trixie?” Trixie wrinkled her nose at the weirdo. “Trixie brings nothing but joy to those who watch her shows! Barring the few instances where she’s been ran out of towns. But it was clear today that everyone watching loved her! And I, being as Great and Powerful as I am, would never give up how special I am. To deprive the world of my greatness would be an unparalleled crime!”

“I don’t totally agree with that but I think she’s more right than you.” Daylight glared at Wool Dye.

Wool Dye’s smile dropped off his face for good this time. “You all have no idea what sad and empty lives you’re living. I and my village are trying to bring you onto the right path.” He pulled a book with an equal sign on the cover out from his robe and held it in front of their faces. “Hear the Word of Glimmer and be freed.”

“No thanks.” Trixie scoffed. “Trixie hears plenty of words of Glimmer from her best friend.” She pushed his hoof away and strolled over to the tongue of the wagon and hitched herself up. “The Great and Powerful Trixie shall now be returning her wagon to where she landed. You’re welcome to come join me, Daylight.” She smiled at the other unicorn before turning to Wool Dye and frowning. “Er, you can stay here.”

“Thanks, Trixie.” Daylight smirked at Wool Dye. “And sorry about that, looks like you’ll have to go fishing for like-minded nutjobs elsewhere.”

“Tch.” Wool Dye clicked his tongue. “I’ve tried to help East Glade but none of you have appreciated my efforts. Try not to regret it when you wake up one day lost and confused about your purpose in life but I’m not around anymore!”

Trixie couldn’t help but laugh at the absurd pony. “Fat chance of that happening.”

Beyond the village, past the ravine, past the farms on the other side, into the foothills of the mountains to the east of East Glade that themselves were the last bastion of land before the hundred foot cliff that overlooked the Grand Ocean, two griffons lay hunkered down peeking over the edge of a hill. One had a pair of binoculars in his talons and was watching the village of East Glade. The other held a bronze spiral horn to his ear glowing with magical runes and pointed the open end at the village to listen for anything drifting up from there.

Both griffons were ragged and dirty. But more than just that they were disfigured with mere stumps where their wings should be. The binoculars holder had his head nearly bare of feathers and the rest seemingly about to fall out while the other was thin and sickly looking.

“What was that?” The one with the binoculars said as he lowered them, continuing to look at the village with a flabbergasted expression on his face. “Who was that unicorn? What were those things she fired into the sky? I’ve never seen anything like them.”

“I didn’t hear much.” The listener said, taking the horn away from his ear. “She’s some kind of traveling hero and magician. She must have just made it to East Glade.”

“I don’t like it.” The watcher shook his head. “That magic was crazy, how’d she keep escaping from those traps and summoning those endless scarves?”

The listener also shook his head. “Don’t know. She must have immense magical power. I’ve never seen an East Glade unicorn capable of anything like that… and those things in the sky, I think I heard them say they were “fireworks”. That hero has control over fire itself or something.”

“It’s scary.” The watcher gulped. “Goliath is going to be mad...”

“Yeah.” The listener nodded. “We need to get back to camp and tell him right away.”

The Hero Has Arrived

The last mountains of the east were a treacherous grouping of high peaks that spiked towards the sky like the teeth of a dragon. They created a labyrinth of narrow valleys, passes, cliffs, and canyons that made it impossibly treacherous for any creature on foot to travel through alone unless they were already well familiar with the mountains. At the peaks that tapered off into near needle-like points huge birds of prey made their nests and at the bottoms of the lowest canyons massive stone worms carved out new caves. And between them all manner of other beasts called these remote mountains their home. No sane pony, griffon, yak, or anything else would choose to live here. These mountains were a terror that the denizens of East Glade almost never entered, they created a constant threat and fear in the villagers hearts that one day the monsters living inside of them would come out.

“Goliath!”

A cheer rang out from deep within the mountains. To find the source one would have to travel through the twisting canyons and unclimbable rock walls while avoiding the beasts hiding just out of sight, waiting for the perfect moment to strike any unaware traveler. Deeper and deeper into the center of these mountains that were even more dangerous than the rest of the far east.

“Goliath!”

Again, louder now. The cheer had come from a small plateau in the heart of the mountains that had been cleared of any predators. Now it was filled with dozens of manic ponies and griffons that looked grimier and scarier than they would look even if they had been lost in the Everfree Forest for a month. It was true that no sane creature would live here.

“Goliath!”

They raised their hooves and talons and yelled again, the dozens of them surrounded a pyramid of stones twenty feet high that a single gigantic griffon stood on top of. His feathers were a dark brown aside from around his head where they were midnight black. But his plumage was torn and ragged all over his body as if a manticore had just got done chewing him up and spitting him back out. And most noticeably of all about him were his missing wings, the two appendages ended in deformed stumps that extended not more than half a foot from his body.

The gargantuan figure also was holding another badly beaten griffon in his right talon, gripping him by the neck and holding him in the air for all to see.

“Goliath!” The crowd cheered.

“I! Still! Command!” Goliath himself roared, his voice like rocks grinding together. With a heave he tossed the other griffon down the pyramid where he pitifully rolled off the sharp boulders before stopping in a painful heap at the bottom and groaning in pain.

His underlings cheered in wordless honor at his victory.

“He was an idiot to challenge Goliath.” One of the pegasi down below whispered to another griffon comrade as they both looked at the figure of the broken griffon at the bottom of the pyramid.

Like Goliath and the two scouting griffons these two also had missing wings. In fact every griffon and pegasus here had missing wings. Some were left with stumps while others just had painful looking scars along their sides.

Goliath stalked his way down the pyramid of rocks, pouncing off of them halfway down and landing on the ground with a thunderous shake. His band of followers stood quietly now, waiting for what he would do next. But the colossal griffon just stood there. His eyes facing a narrow ravine that led onto a path leading to the plateau from the outside of the mountains.

“Gibble and Gouge are returning.” Goliath said. He chuffed a breath out of his beak and sat before the pyramid. All the while the other griffon who had fought him continued to lie behind him in agony.

The others heeded what Goliath had said and watched the ravine. Sure enough in just a moment they could hear the scrambling of sharp talons over the rocky ground and the two griffons who had been spying on East Glade earlier came out. They hustled across the plateau towards Goliath, the ranks of other griffons and ponies parting to give them a straight path. Both of them were winded but they didn’t slow until they had reached Goliath, upon which they fell to their knees and held their heads low in reverence of their mighty leader.

“And? What of East Glade?” Goliath questioned his newly returned scouts. “Did the monster lay waste to the village like with the other?”

“No, Goliath.” The binocular user raised his head and fervently shook it.

A malicious and hungry smile broke out on Goliath’s face. “Good. Then we can continue using that village for our needs.”

“But there’s something else, sir.” The one who held the Horn of Listening said, daring to speak out of turn.

Goliath’s smile settled back into an intimidating frown and he looked down at the two scouts with an unconcealed impatience. “What?”

“There was a new pony at the village. She must have just arrived yesterday or maybe the day before, I don’t know.” The listener told Goliath.

“And so what?” The larger griffon stared them down. “One more pony is no issue, they’ve been arriving more and more often over the past year.”

“This one is different!” Binoculars said. “She’s a unicorn and she wielded magic like we’ve never seen before. No unicorn native to East Glade could do what we saw her doing. She was even able to shoot exploding balls of fire into the sky!” There were a few gasps of fear and widened eyes as the others listening in heard this. A superstitious bunch it seemed.

“That’s not all either...” The horn holder nervously muttered.

Goliath slammed a talon down on the ground between them, earning startled shrieks as the two leapt up. But as much as their instincts were telling them to run away their fear of Goliath was far too great and they merely stood there frozen in fear as their leader growled at them.

“Enough, you miserable cowards. Tell me everything before I make Galleon look good compared to you.” He nodded back at the crumpled up griffon behind him.

“Y-Yes sir!” Both scouts said at once before the one with the horn continued. “I believe I heard her and the villagers saying she was a hero. A traveling hero who’s just come to East Glade.”

There was muttering throughout the ranks of the others now. A pony calling themselves a hero coming out here? And one who can ostensibly use powerful magic? They were worried that such a thing could possibly be true and what it might mean for them if this unicorn was perhaps here for them.

“A hero you say?” Goliath let the words roll around on his tongue for a bit before letting out an impossibly dark and raspy chuckle. “Hahaha… hero? Did East Glade call for her? Maybe they need to be reminded of how things are between us. No pony or griffon or even a dragon will get away with calling themselves a hero here. Let us see how heroic she thinks she is after seeing me.” He looked down at the two scouts and grabbed the Horn of Listening from the one scout, tucking it beneath his stymied appendage on his right side. “Gibble, Gouge, take a group and bring this “hero” to me. But not only that. Be sure East Glade knows that they can’t hope to rid themselves of us, burn a house or two while you’re out there, steal what you want. Just so long as in the end I have that “hero” by the neck.”

By next morning The Great and Powerful Trixie had wheeled her wagon to a respectably private distance from the town. Not quite as far as it was when she had first arrived here but still slightly outside the farms that covered the outskirts. It would give her the space she needed from any curious village-dwellers or over-excited children. Funny to think how Vector and Gizzard had been worried that she might not be well received by the villagers but now she had to go out of her way to make sure she wasn’t swamped by them. Such is the life of a peerless performer who captivated all though.

Trixie would still any day choose attention over no attention.

Now she was taking inventory of all her things inside the wagon, she still had a massive amount of fireworks (although she was down one box that she had given to Daylight as a thank you gift for letting her spend the night), but she’d need to get more water from that well or something if she wanted to do another water tank trick. And she wouldn’t be able to just do the same tricks next time she put on a show here if she stayed long enough for that, so she’d have to switch out some of the stuff she used with other tricks in her wagon.

“I really wish Starlight was here.” Trixie said to herself as she held up a framed picture of her best friend, reminding her of the first time they had performed the Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive together. “Can’t really do something like that here now. Darn, that trick would kill!”

The blue unicorn sighed. “Trixie is kind of losing track of things, I didn’t come here to put on shows in the first place, that’s just a bonus, Discord must know about some kind of magical thing out here right? I should start looking for it and then I can go back to Equestria and rub it in Twilight’s face! And better myself… even though I’m already perfect.”

It didn’t occur to her at this point that wandering off into these mountains alone was probably not the best idea. But then Trixie was never one for really thinking ahead in the first place.

She smirked as she opened up her wagon and stepped out to begin her own little jaunt.

But she didn’t get very far as she first saw Coil and Vector off doing something in the distance around where her wagon had first landed. Curiosity getting the better of her, Trixie decided to saunter over and see what they were up to.

“Excuse, moi. But The Great and Powerful Trixie could not help but notice the two of you here,” She said.

“Oh, hello Trixie,” Vector greeted her with a smile. “We’re just cleaning up everything we had set up to deal with the Nuckelavee.”

“After this I was going to take everything back to my lab.” Coil told her.

“I see.” Her interest already waning, Trixie’s gaze wandered off to the mountains to the east past the ravine. “Hmm, since you’ve been here all your life, Vector, and you seem like the type to research lots of stuff, Coil, maybe you know if there’s any special magic around here?”

The two stallions shared a glance with each other before Coil looked back at Trixie.

“Well I’ve heard about some things but mostly just strange and magical beasts.” The scientist said.

“I just know that weird stuff happens in these mountains.” Vector shrugged. “Sorry, but growing up here you kind of learn to not get too curious about things.”

Trixie frowned. That’s not exactly what she wanted to hear. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is lucky that she is no normal pony then. She will surely be able to conquer and explore any part of these lands that she wishes, no beast is a match for Trixie. I have even effortlessly defeated Ursa Majors in the past.” That familiar lie came ever so easy to her.

“That’s quite impressive, those bears grow to quite the size,” Coil said, his eyes glowing with wonder.

The magician coughed. “Yes, yes they do. Either way I have decided that I will search through those mountains over there and uncover whatever hidden secrets they might have!” She pointed to the eastern mountain range.

Vector paled and his face dropped in horror. “W-Wait, those mountains?!” He pointed along with her.

Trixie raised an eyebrow at his sudden change in behavior. “That’s what Trixie said.”

“That’s a bad idea.” Vector warned, shaking his head. “There’s worse than just monsters up in those mountains.”

“What do you mean?” Trixie was puzzled.

Before Vector could respond a shadow passed overhead. The three looked up to see Gizzard gliding down in a wide circle above their heads, making sure he made his descent slowly to make it easier on his old wings and legs. He still was panting hard as he came to a stop, skidding across the dirt and almost tumbling onto his face.

“Gizzard? What’s the matter?” Vector asked as he steadied the sheriff.

The old griffon had to huff and wheeze a few times before he could catch his breath. “I… be-because… the Nuckelavee is gone, I started flying my normal rounds again...” He finally took a deep breath and calmed himself down. “We’ve got a problem. I saw some of Goliath’s minions coming down from the mountains.”

“You could see them?” Vector asked, looking into Gizzard’s faded eyes.

“Yes I could see them! My vision isn’t that awful yet!” The old griffon angrily barked at him.

“But why?” Coil interrupted. “They’ve been mostly leaving us alone for the past few months.”

“I don’t-” Vector started before suddenly stopping, and all three of the others turned to stare at Trixie.

The showpony’s eyes shifted between the three of them as she furrowed her brow in annoyance. “I feel like I’m missing out on something here.”

“It must be because they saw Trixie. That’s the only thing that’s changed.” Coil muttered, stroking his chin.

“Okay so who is they? Who’s Goliath? Can someone please answer Trixie?” She angrily asked them.

“Goliath is an evil griffon that leads a band of pillagers up in the mountains to the east.” Vector started telling her. “For the most part he leaves East Glade alone as long as we give him food from our farms and other stuff every now and then. But sometimes he’ll just attack and terrorize us out of the blue too. We’ve never really been able to stand up to him...”

Now this was normally the time when Trixie would run off to find Twilight or Starlight to deal with things. But for obvious reasons that option was unavailable. And furthermore her ego and the respect and admiration she had been getting from the villagers of East Glade was filling her mind with a lot of silly notions. She really didn’t want anyone to find out how much of a fraud she was.

“An evil griffon who terrorizes your village you say?” Trixie puffed up her chest. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will not stand for such a thing! I shall help you.”

The Great and Powerful Trixie was starting to believe her own lies.

“Thank you, Trixie!” Vector said, nearly hugging her before catching himself. “But whatever we do we should start running back to the village now, they might already be in danger!”

Meanwhile, shortly before Gizzard had made his way to those three, Gibble had spotted him with his binoculars while he and Gouge led their party of ten others down the mountain pass towards East Glade. With a dozen ragged and dangerous ponies and griffons in total they were more than confident they could handle the task given to them by Goliath. The villagers of East Glade never put up a fight and just how much could this “hero” really do?

Gibble lowered his binoculars and turned to Gouge. “That was Gizzard and he definitely saw us too.”

“That old bag of feathers should just kick the bucket already,” Gouge said. “He’ll probably try and stop us or something, instead of using their bridge let’s go north up the ravine a bit and cross over on our own.”

“Right.” Gibble agreed.

Their band slunk along the outer edges of the eastern mountains, running parallel with the ravine before Gibble and Gouge had decided they had made enough distance and cut over to the ravine, by now out of view of any village dwellers. The ravine itself though was thirty feet wide and impossible for any of them to jump over, down a hundred feet below a raging river streamed forth towards the ocean, the ravine curving eastwards only slightly further north from where they were.

“Bring up the harpoon and rope.” Gibble said to the other marauders.

From in back came a wingless pegasus carrying a large metal harpoon with a thick rope attached to it. He gave it to Gouge who quickly heaved the harpoon with startling strength across the width of the ravine. The sharp end impacted into the ground on the other side and stuck there, with a few tugs of the rope Gouge was sure it was secure.

“Alright, tie this down over here and we can head across.” Gouge said to the others.

It was a simple enough affair, the ponies and griffons used the rope to climb or shimmy across and by leaving it up like this they’d even have a second escape route if the villagers tried cutting them off from the bridge or something. Gibble and Gouge didn’t think they’d have the guts to try anything of the sort though.

And now this attack party had a straight path to attacking the village and finding the hero. The farms on this outer edge of the village happened to have a few rows of corn and that made it easy for the evildoers to sneak down them and begin their assault before any of the villagers could see them. Normally they’d probably just steal some corn and other food and be done with things, but not today.

“Just attack whoever we see first and cause a ruckus, bring that unicorn to us.” Gibble whispered to the others as they quickly made their way through the corn.

And at that moment Daylight Gleam was standing outside her small shack that happened to sit at the northern edge of the village. And about to have a very unfortunate turn of events. She was holding the box of fireworks Trixie had given her with her magic and looking at the thing with mild annoyance.

“What am I going to do with fireworks?” She sighed. “I can’t just get rid of them though… I’ll give them to the mayor’s kids.”

The white unicorn shrugged and started to walk into town when a sudden rustling behind her caught her attention. Looking over her shoulder she saw Gibble jumping at her just in time to let out a small shriek before he fell on her, knocking her to the ground and putting a grungy talon over her mouth. She lost control of her magic and the box of fireworks tumbled to the ground with her while the rest of the attackers came out. Gouge picked up the box she had dropped while Daylight glared at the griffon holding her down, she could blast him with her magic and that’d take care of him real quick but she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to deal with all the others.

“Where’s the new pony? The one calling themself a hero? We’re taking her back to Goliath and if you help us get her maybe we’ll just take your stuff instead of burning your house down with it.” Gibble threatened and slowly moved his talon so she could speak.

“What are these anyways?” Gouge asked as he opened up the box and looked at the fireworks inside.

Daylight turned her glare to him. “Those are fireworks, be careful, they explode.” And then she shifted her eyes back to Gibble. “I don’t know where Trixie is and I don’t know why Goliath wants her. She just randomly showed up literally out of the blue. You don’t need to worry about her.”

“That’s for us to decide.” Gibble growled at her. “So Trixie huh? At least we know her name.”

Gouge meanwhile was holding and inspecting one of the fireworks. “So these are fireworks? They explode? Are these the things she was firing into the sky with her magic? That’s incredible.”

The white unicorn resisted the urge to roll her eyes at their ignorance.

Gibble leaned down to peer deeper into her eyes, trying his hardest to intimidate her before telling her what was going to happen to now. “Guess what? You get to be our hostage, so long as this Trixie comes quietly nothing bad will happen to you or East Glade, got it?”

She was about to tell him where he could shove his suggestion when they were interrupted.

“Ahhhh!” A village griffon screamed.

Daylight, Gibble, and the others all looked up to see a female griffon that had been walking through the village who happened to chance across their little encounter. She screamed in terror and ran off, yelling how Goliath was attacking East Glade.

“Did none of you decide on who the lookout was?” Gibble asked the others in exasperation.

“Uhh...” The others shuffled about awkwardly. “Well it’s not like you told us to do that.”

“It’s obvious that you should!” Gibble yelled.

Since they were all distracted Daylight took the opportunity to get out of this situation. Her horn lit up and she blasted Gibble point-blank with a bright blue beam of magic, completely knocking him off of her. The unicorn quickly got up and ran deeper into the town, following the screaming griffon.

“Ugh!” Gibble groaned as he landed hard on his back, rubbing his face in pain.

“Should we get her?” Gouge asked as he walked up to his comrade, safely holding the box of fireworks tucked under one arm.

Gibble stood back up and shook his face. “No, forget her for now. That hero’s gonna come now anyways so tear this place apart! Grab anything that isn’t bolted down!”

As the thieves got to work, Trixie, Vector, Coil, and Gizzard were close to the one bridge that East Glade had made that went over the ravine and connected the village to the east mountains. Beyond it was a simple carrot and turnip farm and nothing else after that but flat wilderness and gray dirt until one reached the foothills of the mountains. They had decided to not worry the other villagers, that was Vector and Gizzard’s decision, and instead had decided to face Goliath’s approaching forces on their own. Trixie being here was a big reassurance to them. Despite that sentiment possibly being a very wrong one to have.

“I don’t see anyone,” Coil said to Gizzard.

“Look, they were coming this way, I’m telling ya,” Gizzard snapped at him.

“Perhaps they all ran away when they saw The Great and Powerful Trixie?” Trixie smugly put forth. But then quickly thought to herself: Actually I kind of hope that’s what happened.

“We can hope so.” Vector said. “But I wouldn’t count on it. Goliath scares his lackeys more than anyone else.”

“Are they planning something? I’ve never considered Goliath’s group to be smart but he’s not exactly stupid either,” Coil said.

Almost immediately after those words left his mouth the four of them heard the screaming.

Vector’s ears perked up and he turned his head to the noise. “That’s coming from the north side of East Glade! They must have snuck over there somehow, let’s go!”

He ran off with the three others right behind him. Trixie was… in-between excited and worried. The screaming had gotten her mind to start catching up with her earlier declarations and she was beginning to remember that despite her bluster she was not exactly much of a hero. Better than most ponies? Of course. But a hero like the Twilight and Starlight she normally relied on for serious things? Nope. She was hoping that whatever threats there were to this village they wouldn’t be enough to test her fraudulent claims.

And if they were she could just run away. No skin off her bones.

While they were running through the village a bunch of other villagers were panicking, the screaming griffon had spread the word and Trixie could see Gabriel trying to calm everyone down and Senax shepherding the other merponies to safety. They had to take care not to trample anyone else while they moved against the crowd, and Trixie almost ran head first into Daylight Gleam.

“Daylight!” Coil said upon seeing the mare. “What’s going on?!”

“It’s just some of Goliath’s stupid thugs! They came right from the north farm and attacked me. They’re here for Trixie!” She said, her eyes darting to the magician.

“Then Trixie shall deal with them herself!” She said instantly without even thinking about it.

That tendency to speak before thinking (and sometimes never thinking after) could and has caused some problems for her.

Daylight was about to sarcastically respond when a pillar of flame shot up from the far northern end of the village, causing most of the other villagers to scream in terror and run away even faster while the five others stared at the new beacon. A simple nod between them was enough for them to run off towards the chaos.

As they got there...

“Well. My house is on fire. That’s great. That’s what I wanted to happen today.” Daylight flatly stared at the burning building and the long plume of smoke heading up into the sky.

While that was happening every other thug aside from Gibble and Gouge were busy yanking out stalks of corn or rummaging through pilfered chests from the nearby houses to see what they could grab from East Glade on this most latest of outings. The two lead griffons were standing beside Daylight’s burning house, right in front of the short way leading back to the farm.

“So you’re the hero we saw,” Gouge said to Trixie. In all honesty he was a little worried but not nearly as worried as he would be if they had to go back to Goliath empty handed, so he was doing a decent job of hiding his fear.

“You’ll be coming with us. Goliath wants to show you and East Glade what happens to “heroes” who think they can challenge him.” Gibble snickered.

Trixie raised a confused eyebrow at the two of them. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has no idea what you’re talking about but she is here to defend the good people of East Glade. So stop what you’re doing right now!” She pointed her hoof at the griffons. The other thugs behind them actually did happen to stop what they were doing, now realizing their target was here.

Do I sound heroic enough? Is Vector and everyone else going to buy it? She thought.

“Or how about this?” Gibble said. “You hurry up and come with us right now and we don’t beat all of you black and blue. If you hadn’t noticed it’s twelve against four. I’m not even counting the old guy.”

Gizzard growled at him and stepped forward but was held back by Vector.

“There is no way we’re letting anything like that happen,” Daylight Gleam said. “I may not have been here for too long but I’m not letting you have your way with East Glade and I’m certainly not letting Trixie fall into Goliath’s clutches.”

Trixie smiled and stepped in front of Daylight, motioning her back. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is happy you are so concerned for her, Daylight. But you needn’t be worried. After all I am the hero here and I should be protecting you.” She grinned and pointed her horn at the attackers. “Now feast your eyes on the magic of The Great and Powerful Trrrrixie!”

With a sparkling glow Trixie fired a pinpoint beam of magic at the binoculars hanging around Gibble’s neck, he squawked as the magic hit them and turned his spying tool into an ornate porcelain teacup, which quickly fell to the ground and shattered.

“That was but a warning!” Trixie bluffed. “If you do not retreat now The Great and Powerful Trixie will turn all of you into teacups!”

These rowdy griffons and ponies were ruled by fear, they knew well to listen to their flight-or-fight response from living in these dangerous mountains their whole lives and were superstitious about any strange magic because of all the downright weird things that occurred in this part of the world. Even though that fear of Goliath was ever present in the backs of their minds and usually overruled anything else they couldn’t quash the sudden new fear that erupted in their bodies at seeing a pony use “powerful” magic they had never seen before and threaten them with such a cruel fate. And she held herself so confidently and acted in such a heroic way that they weren’t used to. The denizens of East Glade were pushovers but here this hero was standing up to them.

She scared them. And unlike Goliath she was right there.

So they listened to their instincts and ran away in fear. Even the formerly composed Gouge was broken at this point, he ran with the rest of them, still holding the box of fireworks.

“Wait you morons! Gouge, even you?” Gibble called after them. He glared at Trixie before he had to follow his comrades, lest he become a teacup just like his treasured binoculars.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Daylight muttered. “Is this just my fault for not fighting back against them enough before Trixie got here? Is this karma? If I made a stupid obtuse threat instead of just using normal magic would they have been scared off by me too?”

Trixie and the others though were ignoring her, instead chasing after the fleeing raiders.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie will not allow you to escape so easily!” She called out as they ran.

“Didn’t you say you’d let us retreat?!” Gouged yelled back to her as he ran, the box of fireworks securely tucked under his arm.

“I said you should stop what you’re doing!” She answered. And then she noticed just what it was he was holding and her eyes narrowed at him. “Hey! You stole those fireworks didn’t you?!”

The five good guys chased down the dozen attackers all the way back to the rope they had used to cross the ravine. They were all crowding around the edge of the ravine and fighting amongst themselves to use the rope first. But Trixie had no intention of allowing that.

“I’m not letting you get away with my fireworks!” She fired a spell at Gouge that was intended to stun him.

However her aim was slightly off. The spell impacted the box of fireworks itself. Gouge and the others looked at it as the box began to sizzle and shake, he dropped it out of fear and it hit the ground, bounced once, and then all the fireworks packed away inside shot out of it, spinning and blasting off into the air.

Goliath’s minions shrieked in fear as the fireworks zoomed around them and even Trixie and the others looked on in worry.

Because they hadn’t been set up properly some of the fireworks doubled back around and collided with the ground around the minions, shaking and cracking the earth while the others exploded in midair and showered the thugs with sparks. Finally one last errant missile collided with the ground and exploded with just enough force to cause the whole fiery edge of the ravine to break apart, sending the ponies and griffons standing on it tumbling down and down to the river below.

The five defenders of East Glade looked on with mouths open wide in shock as the sounds of screams turned to splashes.

Trixie, ever aware of appearances, was the quickest to regain her composure. She coughed and raised her hoof into the air in triumph. “H-Huzzah! Trixie is victorious! That was absolutely what I had planned!”

The four others heads slowly turned to her… and then a huge smile broke out on Vector’s face.

“That was amazing! You’ve saved East Glade again!” He grasped her hoof and held it even higher. “Three cheers for The Great and Powerful Trixie, everyone!”

Gizzard and Coil were happy to join in. Daylight quietly cheered as well but she still had that same suspicious gaze on her face that said she knew Trixie perhaps wasn’t as great as she said. But either way they were all happy that at least some kind of hero had been here to save the day.

First Lesson

After announcing to the rest of the village that the day had been saved, Trixie once again got to be celebrated as the savior of East Glade. It stoked her massive ego and pushed any rational thoughts about how she wasn’t really a hero out of her head. So her earlier musings of if she should really keep this up were promptly forgotten. The spotlight was simply too much of a draw for her.

So as partial thanks she had been invited to the mayor’s home that night to have dinner with him, his family, and some other guests. He lived in what looked like the largest building in East Glade aside from Coil’s large laboratory up by the mountains but it was still something that would’ve been considered small for a mansion by Equestria’s standards. Right now Trixie got to sit at the head of the dining table as the guest of honor, something she relished, while Gabriel sat directly across from her. Daylight Gleam sat to her right, here for the night as something of a gift for losing her home, with Senax on her left. Trixie wasn’t sure why the merpony was here but she didn’t have anything against her so whatever. Gizzard was also sitting next to Senax and the rest of the table was filled up with the mayor’s family. His wife, Giselle, Trixie had only just met five minutes earlier and now she had been formally introduced to his children as well. His eldest was called Gabriel Jr., then Guyaven, and lastly Gower.

What’s with griffons and the letter “G”? Trixie had to wonder to herself.

“Are you enjoying your meal?” Gabriel asked her.

“Uh, yeah.” Trixie looked down at the plate of plain carrots and corn. She’d had worse on her travels before.

“Thanks for letting me stay here the night by the way.” Daylight said to their host.

“Least I could do, you’ve always been such a help to East Glade ever since you came here, Daylight.” Gabriel pleasantly smiled at her. “I’m not sure how much we’ll be able to rebuild that house but we’ll start trying tomorrow morning.”

“It’s good we were able to put out the fire so quickly. It wouldn’t have been possible if Trixie didn’t deal with Goliath’s thugs.” Gizzard said in-between bites of foods before a sudden coughing fit overtook him. Senax helpfully started to rub his back.

This probably would’ve been a good opportunity for Trixie to admit that she wasn’t quite what she seemed.

“You’re really amazing, Miss Great and Powerful Trixie!” Gabriel Jr. said.

And that praise pushed any common sense out of her big head.

“She defeated the Nuckelavee and she fought off all those evil griffons and ponies!” Guyaven nodded along with his brother.

“And she did it all on her own!” Gower added at the end.

Daylight snorted and glanced at Trixie. “I’d call you out on that but it is sadly somewhat accurate as to what happened earlier today...”

“Yes, well, this is Trixie’s job after all. Like I said, I’m the greatest and most powerful of heroes.” She grinned proudly, having no problem with the lie.

“Um, speaking of those griffons...” All eyes at the table turned to Senax, who had quietly spoken up. “The reason I asked to be a part of this dinner tonight is because I wanted to ask you something, Trixie. When you fought those invaders earlier today did you notice if any of them was carrying a horn?”

“A horn?” Trixie looked at her in confusion.

“Ah, so that’s what you were wondering about, Senax.” Gabriel said.

Trixie looked around the table, everyone seemed to understand what was going on except for her again. “What are you talking about?”

Senax sighed. “I suppose you would’ve remembered if you had seen it. But a year ago Goliath stole from me a magical horn that’s an heirloom of us merponies. You see, ages ago merponies lived in the ocean to the east under the rule of the great Ponyseidon. However something happened to us, our city on the bottom of the ocean became lost and the merponies were scattered to every corner of the seas, lost and separated. The Horn of Listening is one of three magical items that once belonged to Ponyseidon, and it was the last thing my tribe in particular had to connect us to our long lost home. I need to get it back from Goliath.”

“Trixie sees...” She didn’t really but she at least knew how to act understanding. “One day Trixie will likely have to fight this Goliath, what does the horn look like.”

“It’s a spiral horn that was created from some kind of undersea creature, plated in bronze, with magical runes along its sides that glow when it’s being used.” She told her.

“Well, Trixie will certainly try and retrieve it for you.” Trixie placed a hoof to her chest and smiled in reassurance.

“Thank you, it really would mean the world to me and my people.” Senax smiled but it was a bit of a sad one.

Gizzard coughed again but this time it was intentional. “Right, right, how about getting things back to a bit of a more positive topic? There are kids here after all.” He glanced at the three boys of the mayor, who glared at him for being referred to in such a way.

“Actually after what happened today there was another reason I wanted to ask Trixie here for dinner.” Gabriel somewhat bashfully rubbed the back of his head. “I am grateful and wanted to treat you but there was a different, special, reason for all of this.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow at the mayor. “What is it?” She took a drink from her glass of water.

Gabriel clapped his talons together and bowed his head. “Would you please teach the unicorns of East Glade magic so we can defend ourselves?”

She almost spat out her water. Thankfully she caught herself, that wouldn’t look good for her image of a flawless hero who didn’t worry about anything.

“You want Trixie to what?” She asked incredulously after gulping down the water.

“We don’t have many unicorns here but there are still a few, and if they could do magic like you then we wouldn’t need to rely on you to keep getting us out of trouble. I know you wont always be around.” Gabriel said. He briefly looked to Daylight Gleam. “I actually had been considering asking Miss Gleam to do this too, but then you arrived.”

“What about Coil?” Trixie asked.

“He’s more a scientist than a fighter.” Daylight answered that for Gabriel. “He’s pretty knowledgeable about magic but not the best when it comes to actual spells and stuff.”

Trixie looked around at the others at the table, it seemed they were all engaged in whether she would say yes or no now. The problem was she had no idea how to teach others magic. She hardly had any idea on how to properly use magic half the time. She was a showoff who relief on bluffs and sleight of hoof. Illusions not actuality. But the villagers here didn’t know that. They thought (thanks in no small part to her own boasting) that she was quite possibly the most powerful magician from Equestria. So why wouldn’t they ask her to teach them? And how could she refuse without either telling the truth and ruining her reputation or just coming off as a jerk and ruining her reputation.

So really there was only one answer.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie would be happy to teach your unicorns magic.” She stoically said, at least attempting to give off an air of quiet power and ability as if she hadn’t almost spit up her drink right before upon hearing the request.

“Wonderful!” Gabriel cheered.

Gizzard and Senax, and especially Gabriel’s kids, looked happy as well. Daylight just regarded her with the same cool look she always did.

“Are you sure about this?” The white unicorn whispered to Trixie.

“But of course, how could I refuse? And who better to teach unicorns magic to defend themselves with than the traveling hero who has conquered all manner of beasts and villains.” Trixie nonchalantly replied.

As Daylight shrugged and went back to eating it was then that Trixie realized that she had come here in the first place to learn new magic for herself. And now here she was accepting an offer to teach others magic. Oops.

“Okay, so you’re the unicorns of East Glade?” Trixie looked over her new charges.

There were four.

It was the next morning and Gabriel had already made sure that the magic lessons would proceed as quickly as possible, the few unicorns of East Glade were gathered up and brought outside the wagon of their new teacher. Trixie was not exactly impressed by the offering. There was a stallion and mare about her age and two young colts who looked like twins. Daylight Gleam, Vector, and Gizzard were also watching over things. Vector in particular wanted to see what kinds of amazing things Trixie would be teaching.

Trixie also wanted to see what she would be teaching.

The four unicorns nodded with big happy smiles on their faces. How proud they were to participate in this, to learn and study under the village’s hero.

“My name is Speckle Wood.” The unicorn stallion said. A lime-green pony with amber eyes and a deeper green mane and tail. His Cutie Mark was that of a campfire.

“I’m Gold Embrace.” The mare said. As her name implied she was a golden pony with a platinum blond mane and tail and a Cutie mark of a golden ring. “And these are my children, Gold Box and Gold Fortune. They’re twins.”

“Trixie had figured as much.” She looked down at the colts, they definitely had a resemblance to their mother but their coats were a darker gold that almost looked brown and their manes were similarly a much dirtier blond than hers. The two of them didn’t have Cutie Marks yet either. “So just what can all of you do? How much magic do you know?”

The unicorns stopped smiling and kind of looked between each other, frowning and shrugging. It was not reassuring to Trixie.

“Er, I can lift things with my magic?” Speckle Wood said. “Like books and small boxes and stuff.”

“I use my magic whenever I’m cooking. You know, stirring the pot, chopping up vegetables, that kind of thing.” Gold Embrace told her with a fairly airheaded looking smile back on her face. “My kids sometimes play catch with a rubber ball using their magic, right?” She looked at them.

“Yep!” The two colts cheerfully said in unison.

“That’s… great.” Trixie’s face scrunched up in worry.

Now I know how Starlight felt when she first started teaching me… not that I’d ever admit that to her. Trixie did her best to keep any sweat or hesitation from showing. I have no idea how to teach these ponies magic. Do I just lie some more and make a bunch of stuff up? I’m good at that, right?

Trixie paced back and forth in front of the other unicorns. “Alright. The Great and Powerful Trixie will try to teach you what she knows of magic. However. I did not plan on doing something like this and thus have no study tools or books on magic with me, so we will be starting from the most basic of basics.” She stopped and stared at them, tilting up her head and trying to look imposing.

The four unicorns looked at her with somewhat blank looks on their faces.

“So what does that mean?” Speckle Wood asked.

Trixie searched around on the ground and finally saw what she wanted. “These rocks!” She picked up four rocks the size of apple cores in her magic and flung them at the hooves of the other unicorns. “Pick them up in your magic, let me see how easy it is for you!”

The unicorns did as instructed, effortlessly lifting up the rocks.

Okay now what… Trixie faux rubbed her chin as if she was contemplating how the unicorns were doing. “Good, good, now we’ll test the limits of your magic!” Trixie turned and pointed into the distance at the mountains far away to the north. “Throw those rocks as far as you can with your magic!”

I have no idea what I’m doing.

The unicorns at least didn’t question her order at all. All four of them stepped forward into a line and threw the rocks as hard as they could. Trixie and the other observers watched to see just what sort of distance the village dwelling unicorns could get. Of course Trixie had no idea what would constitute a good result. She didn’t even know how far she could throw one of those rocks. But she still acted like this was some sort of standard test.

Gold Box and Gold Fortune were only able to throw theirs a few feet, understandable considering their age and the fact they didn’t even have their Cutie Marks yet. Speckle Wood got a good distance on his, it was actually far enough that Trixie had trouble making out the small rock with her eyes. But Gold Embrace was able to throw hers the furthest, it sailed over the spot where Speckle’s landed.

Trixie flashed a grin at the other unicorns. “Thank you! Now The Great and Powerful Trixie has an accurate measure of your magical ability!”

Vector clapped for her.

The blue unicorn graciously smiled at him before turning back to her new students. “Don’t be discouraged if you aren’t happy with how far you could throw the rock, you all did perfectly acceptable and I will teach you whatever I can.”

“Thank you, Miss Great and Powerful.” Speckle Wood said.

“Er, right.” Trixie now started to wrack her brain to try and figure out what she should have them do next. “Sooo, do any of you know how to use actual spells or create shields with your magic?”

A series of shaking heads were her answer.

“Trixie thought not, but that’s okay.” The showpony resisted the urge to sigh in defeat. “I suppose for now then we’ll focus on drawing out your magic and seeing just how much you can generate. So bring out your magic! Push and strain as hard as you can! Really make those horns glow as bright as possible, call forth magic like you’ve never called forth before!” Trixie yelled.

The training went on as Trixie continued to pull random ideas out of her head that at least seemed like actual lessons and training. Luckily for her none of the village unicorns were any the wiser to her suspicious methods and the one person around who could probably see through what she was doing hadn’t spoken up about it. Soon enough she had managed to tire out the four other unicorns and Trixie took that opportunity to call it a day, reassuring all of the ponies of a job well done. When asked when the next lesson would be, Trixie experienced a flop sweat and told them to take it up with Gabriel before any of them noticed her nervousness. They pleasantly said goodbye and Vector and Gizzard went back to the village with them.

So now Trixie was relaxing after those lessons and was preparing to make plans for the next show she would put on in East Glade when Daylight came up to her.

“Wow, those sure were some special lessons. I had no idea that’s how you measured someone’s magical ability.” The white unicorn narrowed her eyes at the blue one.

“That’s because you are simply out of touch with Equestrian unicorn training regimens.” Trixie replied without missing a beat.

“Oh, I see. Training regimens. Not things you totally made up as you went along.” Daylight nodded sarcastically.

“Yes. Exactly.” Trixie glared at her.

They locked eyes for a moment. Piercing blue ones boring into Trixie’s purple ones before Daylight finally gave up and just sighed, shaking her head as she turned around and went to walk back to the village as well. “I guess it’s fine as long as you mean well. The ones who actually live here needed to learn how to protect it from someone someday. They need the help and I don’t have any idea how to teach magic either.”

“Trixie has an idea of what she’s doing!”

In the dangerous mountains past the ravine that Goliath and his band called home there was a dark cloud hanging over the plateau that they used for a base. Not literally, just in the minds of all those who looked at the malevolent and glowering form of Goliath as he stared down the horrified figures of Gibble and Gouge and the other failures who had returned with them.

The griffons and ponies from the advance party were mangled and wet from their tumble into the ravine and the cold rushing river that sat at the bottom of it. It had taken them quite a while to get out and return here without any of their gear and their disfigurements taking away their ability to simply fly out. Thankfully for them they had managed to scale the cliffs before they had been washed too far out into the ocean… but now that they had returned here and thrown themselves on the mercy of Goliath some of them were thinking they should’ve taken their chance with being lost at sea.

“You… what?” Goliath quietly asked of Gibble and Gouge. Even with him being quieter though his deep and crushing voice still sent chills down their spines, maybe even moreso than normal.

“We… we couldn’t bring her to you.” Gibble said.

Goliath’s talon came flying down and smashed his head beak first into the ground. “OBVIOUSLY!” He continued to grind Gibble’s face into the dirt. “Why! How! How were you unable to bring a single pony to me?! How did you end up thrown into the ravine like a bunch of pathetic fools?! Could it be you were so cowardly that you couldn’t even face a worthless pony calling themselves a hero?! What did she do that made you run away in fear?”

“S-She threatened to turn us into teacups and break us!” Gouge said, trying to relieve Gibble of Goliath’s wrath.

The huge griffon’s head turned to stare at him incredulously. “Are you mad?”

“No! She really did that! And she turned Gibble’s binoculars into a teacup to prove it!” Gouge pleaded. “And she fired magical fireballs called fireworks at us, that’s what threw us into the river, it wasn’t our fault I swear! She was just too powerful! East Glade truly brought a hero to protect them!” He got on his knees in begging form to try and make Goliath understand.

“A true hero...” Goliath muttered, lifting his talon from Gibble’s head. “Did you get her name?”

“T-Trixie.” Gouge said. “She called herself The Great and Powerful Trixie.”

Goliath backhanded him in the face and knocked him to the ground. “Hah. Great and Powerful? I’ll show her what those words mean.” He looked out across the dozens of other griffons and ponies. “We attack East Glade tomorrow. But the hero is mine alone.”

How to Succeed at Everything

Trixie and Daylight Gleam slept in hammocks inside Trixie’s wagon the night after Trixie’s first “lesson”. Neither of them were thrilled with the arrangement but Daylight didn’t want to impose on the mayor or any of her other friends and the hut she had been living in was still being rebuilt. So she came to shack up with someone she didn’t feel guilty at all for imposing on.

Now they were waking up in that cramped interior after an uncomfortable night of sleep, all the boxes and tools Trixie had stuffed inside her wagon made the space for sleeping very small even if it was just Trixie alone. She had learned her lesson about sharing this wagon with someone else on a trip when she and Starlight attempted to travel to Saddle Arabia together. But Daylight made the convincing case that it was partially Trixie’s fault that her place got burned down and that it wouldn’t do well for her reputation if she refused a pony in need.

Daylight struggled to roll out of her hammock, jostling and bumping up against Trixie as she did so, before the white unicorn finally escaped and fell to the floor of the wagon. The crash made some boxes fall over onto her and completely woke up Trixie.

“What are you doing?” Trixie asked as she leaned over her hammock and looked down at Daylight with groggy eyes.

“Trying to get out of this pigsty...” Daylight muttered, kicking away one of the boxes.

“Hey! Be careful!” Trixie frowned at her. “Don’t go kicking around my stuff. And one of those boxes has my Super Mega Deluxe Trixie Special Firework inside it.”

Daylight raised a perturbed eyebrow at her. “Your what?”

The magician rolled her eyes. “My Super Mega Deluxe Trixie Special Firework. It’s a big firework that makes a pattern of my face when it goes off. I used one at the show, remember?”

“Vaguely.” Daylight said as she looked across the boxes strewn about the floor.

“Well anyways I have one left and it’s in here somewhere. And if you accidentally set it off in here that’s goodbye to the wagon.” Trixie told her.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Daylight said as she stood up, using her magic to place the boxes back where they belonged. “Hopefully that was the only night I have to spend in here though, the villagers can probably get my place fixed up by the end of the day.” She yawned and glanced at Trixie. “So what are you going to do today then? I don’t know if Speckle Wood and the others have talked to Gabriel yet about more lessons.”

“Trixie was planning on exploring.” The blue unicorn replied. “That’s actually what I was going to do earlier before those gross mountain-dwellers attacked. I did come here to look for new kinds of magic after all.”

Daylight frowned at her. “Where were you planning to explore, then?”

“I know what you’re thinking.” Trixie also slightly yawned. “I didn’t know what was in those mountains to the east before, so now I’m thinking of heading up north from the village a little bit.”

“You know I still have to recommend against that.” Daylight grimaced at her bunkmate. “There’s a lot of weird stuff that happens out here. Ponies go missing, monsters no one has ever seen before show up, it can be hailing in one spot and scorching fifty feet away, random bursts of magic pop up every now and then. This really isn’t the place to just go out on your own and look around. You ever hear the phrase “curiosity killed the cat”?”

Trixie grinned at the unsure unicorn. “Yes, and I can tell you that that is a phrase I have never put much meaning towards.”

Daylight Gleam facehooved and groaned. “I can tell.”

The two unicorns headed into the middle of East Glade shortly after that. Trixie was pulling her wagon with her, she had decided she would put on another show sometime soon so she was bringing it back into the square to get ready as quickly as possible. Trixie was getting lots of friendly and gracious looks from everyone, it did a lot to fan her ego. She waved back to the ponies and griffons she saw, happily grinning to the kids who were certainly looking forward to any new show from her.

“You’ve done a good job of raising morale here. Before you arrived the village wasn’t exactly what I’d call sad but it wasn’t as lively either.” Daylight said to her.

“Obviously they’re just energized from my show and epic victories over evil.” Trixie smugly replied.

Daylight just groaned and didn’t bother to respond any further. She found the blue unicorn impossible to deal with.

Trixie naturally took that silence as a sign of victory and grinned harder at her “friend”.

The two of them then spotted some familiar faces. Trixie deigned to leave her wagon in the middle of the square by the well so it wasn’t blocking off any paths in or out of the place and she and Daylight walked over to the others. Vector, Coil, and Gizzard were all here along with Senax and another merpony Trixie hadn’t been introduced to. She could pretty much pass for Senax’s sister though, the only difference was her… fur? Scales? Had a slightly greener hue and her spiky mane was a hot pink color instead of Senax’s seaweed green.

“Well if it wasn’t the talk of the town herself.” Coil greeted Trixie with a friendly smile.

“And me.” Daylight stared flatly at him.

“Of course, of course.” He chuckled at her annoyance.

“Don’t be upset, Daylight. Everyone can’t help but be overshadowed when around me.” Trixie said without a hint of sarcasm.

The white unicorn did her best to keep from exploding, a vein bulging out of her forehead. “So, what’s everyone doing here then?” She ground out through clenched teeth.

“Nothing much really, we just all found ourselves here.” Coil shrugged.

“Actually I did come here for more of a real reason.” The other merpony standing next to Senax said and then looked to Trixie. “Miss Great and Powerful Trixie? I wanted to ask you to dine with me and the others of our tribe. Senax said she mentioned this to you?”

Trixie was surprised but quickly hid it. “Uh, yes, she did! And The Great and Powerful Trixie would be happy to accept your offer miss…?”

“Vahar.” The other merpony happily smiled. “I’m so glad! Everyone else will be ecstatic too. Does tonight work for you?”

“Tonight is fine, Trixie hadn’t made any definite plans on anything yet.” Trixie said. Again she was kind of pushing her original mission here to the side but the merponies offered a lot to her and she knew that they had knowledge of some ancient magical artifacts too. The exploring and her next show could wait, it wasn’t like she was on a tight schedule or anything either.

“I hope you like carrots.” Senax grinned at her too.

The two merponies excused themselves after that, going back to their homes to prepare the dinner in Trixie’s honor, just leaving the four ponies and Gizzard to chat. At least until Daylight also excused herself from the group to go check on the progress of her house. Vector continued to ask Trixie a variety of questions about her magic “training” and what else she would be doing around here while Coil attempted to get a word in about what sort of adventures and journeys she’d gone on back in Equestria.

Gizzard however was quiet the whole time, he just kept looking up into the sky for some reason every few seconds. And as much as Trixie loved to talk about herself she couldn’t ignore her curiosity any longer.

“You looking for something, Gizzard?” Trixie asked him.

“Hm? Oh.” Gizzard did a double-take and had to blink a few times before he registered who was talking to him. As if he had forgotten that the others were there. “Not really, no, my grandsons are up patrolling the sky right now.”

Trixie’s eyes widened a bit in surprise. “I didn’t know you had grandsons.”

“Hn, two of them. They insisted to take care of watching over East Glade for the next few days. Said it was to give me some time to rest.” Gizzard scowled. “Bah! I aint that old yet!” As if to counter what he had just said the griffon suddenly went into a coughing fit. Hacking up his lungs for a moment before managing to stop. “Me and my big beak… anyways, they’re keeping up a tighter watch than just what I did. Everyone’s concerned that Goliath might come here soon to get back at us. You.” He stared at Trixie.

The faux-hero for her part merely smiled. “And The Great and Powerful Trixie shall be ready for him when he does attack. You all saw how easily I dealt with the others, this “Goliath”, leader he may be, is surely no match for me.”

The orange earth pony of the group couldn't help but worriedly grimace. “Yeahhh, the thing about that is that Goliath really isn’t like other griffons.”

Trixie scoffed. “His name starts with a G doesn’t it?”

“That’s tradition.” Gizzard muttered and looked away while Coil snickered.

“Be that as it may.” Vector continued. “He’s a violent and dangerous griffon who we’ve only managed to appease thanks to them having no interest in farming or gathering food for themselves. Please be careful, I know he’s going to come after you and East Glade soon thanks to that earlier scuffle.”

“Vector has the right of it.” Gizzard nodded. “We-”

Whatever Gizzard was about to say was cut off by a high-pitched whistle from above.

They, and the others in the square for that matter, looked up to see a fairly young griffon rushing through the sky. Trixie saw that he was coming right for their small group and she backed up a bit to give him room. The griffon landed in between them, panting and sweating frantically, and wheezed for a second before opening his beak and practically yelling in Gizzard’s face.

“Gramps!” What had to have been one of Gizzard’s grandsons said. “I saw them! I saw them coming right now!”

“Hold on for a second!” Gizzard grabbed him by the shoulders and tried to shake a little sense into him. “How many? Goliath?”

The grandson nodded. “Not just some, there were a lot. It looked like Goliath and everyone he has with him. They’re coming down from the mountains heading straight to the bridge.”

The other villagers in the square, who had obviously seen Gizzard’s grandson fly down here in a hurry and were listening in, now started to panic just like they had the last time. Gizzard just sighed and shook his head while Vector and Coil tried to calm some of the nearby ponies and griffons down.

“Well I guess that’s it. Moment of decision I guess?” Gizzard said while looking at Trixie.

Now Trixie at this point could’ve slowed down for a second and remembered that she had defeated those earlier thugs by pure luck and bluffing. And defeated what was a horrible monster also by pure luck. She could’ve thought about this and realized that she still wasn’t exactly a hero like her friends were and that she might be in a bit over her head. However her pride, carefree attitude, and ignorance were doing a good job of ruining any chance for common sense to prevail.

“Have no fear! The Great and Powerful Trixie is here!” She shouted loud enough for everyone in the square to hear her. “Do not worry, citizens of East Glade! For I shall protect you again!”

Trixie’s voice had a powerful effect on the villagers, just that short speech helped more than anything Coil or Vector could do to calm them down. The confident grin on the hero’s face assuaged their fears and Trixie could hear them begin to talk back and forth with each other about how surely they would be okay with The Great and Powerful Trixie here to defend them.

The blue unicorn motioned to her friends and Gizzard’s grandson, beckoning them to follow her. “Come now, we shall go meet this Goliath head on. If he refuses to leave you alone then he will have to face me!”

They did follow after her as she began to walk to the bridge. Vector fully believed in her but he was still worried since he knew what Goliath was like and she didn’t.

“He certainly wont back down.” He told her. “I’m certain it’s going to come to a fight, we’ll help you in any way we can.”

“Yes, don’t forget you’re not doing this alone. The rest of us might not be heroes but we’ve all fought to keep this village safe in past situations.” Coil reminded her.

“Thank you.” Trixie smiled at them. “But you don’t need to worry. After all this is the reason I’m here.”

Well not really. She thought. But they don’t need to know that. This is going to be great! I can save the village, have everyone fawn over me some more, then I’ll have no problems exploring the mountains and then I can put on some even better shows and go home to rub it all in Twilight’s face! Perfect!

Meanwhile on the path from the eastern mountains that led down to East Glade, Goliath led his band of violent thieves and pillagers. There was no hiding out or running around somewhere else to get the drop on the village. Goliath wanted East Glade to know he was coming. Gibble and Gouge quietly walked behind him, both of them sporting fresh wounds and bruises from their earlier treatment at his claws. The large carrot patch they walked through was left untouched for now as they would want to take all of their spoils after dealing with Trixie.

Goliath kept his piercing eyes on the town and the Horn of Listening tucked under his wing stub. His large and frightening eyes could make out the townspeople running about from building to building, some of them coming right up to the far side of the bridge. He smiled in eagerness, happy that they weren’t just hiding. It would make things more fun if they fought back or foolishly tried to reason with him.

He didn’t see anyone that matched the description of that “hero” yet though.

Instead as he got closer he saw the mayor standing alone in the middle of the bridge. Everyone else that had the courage to come out was crowding around on the village side.

Goliath licked his beak as he reached the bridge, motioning for his subordinates to stop he stalked out along the creaking boards of the bridge by himself. Acting like a lion getting ready to pounce on its prey.

The mayor was shaking and clearly terrified but to his credit he didn’t run away. The sweat cascading down his feathers was something he couldn’t help though.

“Well. If it isn’t my favorite chicken to knock around.” Goliath said as he stood in front of the mayor, completely dwarfing Gabriel.

Gabriel was slightly too frightened to speak up so Goliath continued.

“I came here for the… hero. Where is she? I’m going to crush her beneath my talons.” He threateningly wrung them in front of the mayor’s face.

While that was going on Daylight Gleam stood amongst the crowd of villagers, silently stopping Speckle Wood and the other unicorn trainees from doing anything stupid.

“Where is that obnoxious unicorn?” Daylight whispered under her breath. She uneasily watched Gabriel confronting Goliath. Daylight had the desire to help but knew from a couple of prior experiences that she couldn’t take the large griffon in a fight, and he wasn’t even alone either. The whole lot of them had come to East Glade.

Finally Gabriel found it in him to speak to Goliath. “We’re not letting you boss us around anymore.” He gulped. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is here to help us and she’ll defeat you. Y-You should just leave, Goliath.”

The giant, fearsome griffon looked down at the mayor like a rowdy child that had just been told no by its parents. “Do you have a death wish?”

To the villagers close enough to hear him ask Gabriel that a fresh wave of fear broke out over them and Daylight debated just attacking him now.

“Go away-” Before Gabriel could finish his sentence a large talon was clamped around his shoulder, the sharp digits digging into his skin.

“No more talking.” He lowered his head to glare right into Gabriel’s eyes. “The hero. Where?”

“Make way! Do not fear, The Great and Powerful Trixie is here!”

The crowd began to part and Daylight and Gabriel both looked back to see Trixie coming to help them, her head confidently held high and a smug grin on her face. Goliath looked up to see the blue unicorn clad in her robe and hat and sneered at her. The villagers were standing in awe of her, happily moving aside to allow her through while the brigands behind Goliath who had confronted her earlier nervously shuffled about.

And as Trixie walked to the front-line right before the bridge she finally got a good look at Goliath.

And froze.

She luckily stopped right in front of anyone besides the mayor so none could see the sudden bead of sweat that fell down her forehead (to all behind her it just looked like she had halted in preparation for her confrontation with the evil griffon). The grin was still on her face but her eyes told the truth, wide in fear and realization.

Trixie has made a terrible mistake. She thought. Because looking upon a gargantuan, battle-scarred griffon, staring her down with murderous eyes, that gave off an aura of “I want to eat you”, finally reminded her that she was not really a hero despite her lies and exaggerations. It was the Ursa Minor all over again. How was a unicorn that couldn’t beat a burlap sack supposed to deal with this?

The Great and Powerful Trixie was not especially good at remembering all her lessons.

“So you’re the hero of East Glade?” Goliath growled at her with his deep and intimidating voice.

“That is correct.” She automatically replied without thinking.

A dark chuckle rose from Goliath, he lifted up Gabriel and threw him over Trixie’s head and into the crowd. She could hear some surprised squawks and screams from behind her as the crowd either scattered out of the way or bunched up to catch him. Honestly she wasn’t sure which happened. And she wasn’t about to tear her eyes away from Goliath to check.

“I’m going to enjoy showing you what happens when anyone crosses me.” He grinned and looked back over his shoulder at his lackeys. “Do what you want with the village, I’ll be taking my time with The Great and Powerful Trixie.”

A few evil grins and laughter rippled through the attackers and they slowly began to walk forward across the bridge. Every step they took the citizens of East Glade took a step back, quaking in fear and waiting for their hero to do something.

The blue unicorn hadn’t taken a step back yet. Instead she gulped (another thing thankfully unseen by the villagers) and loudly shouted. “The Great and Powerful Trixie shall defeat this evil thug! But she needs something first! So cover for her!” And then she turned tail and quickly began running back into East Glade, straight for her wagon.

Okay, fun while it lasted, time to get out of here. She thought as she pushed her hooves to the limit. The villagers thankfully did get out of her way though, trusting that she had something up her sleeve.

“Coward!” Goliath yelled and ran after her.

Daylight Gleam saw Trixie running and shook her head in exasperation. “Liar...” She muttered.

But the white unicorn jumped in Goliath’s way all the same, knowing she’d have to fight now anyways. Coil joined her too and the two unicorns put their magic together to create a strong honeycomb shield that blocked the middle of the road. The advantage they had was Goliath’s lack of wings and his anger clouding his head.

However Goliath had a better advantage: brute strength.

The gargantuan griffon tore through the magical shield with a defiant roar as if it was as flimsy as tissue paper. Both Coil and Daylight were knocked aside, Vector going to help Coil up while an unfortunately timed coughing fit handicapped Gizzard from also doing anything.

And so Goliath charged after Trixie. No other villager was stupid or courageous enough to try and stop him.

“Trixie will have to put her journey on hold, this is certainly the time for me to go.” She panickedly said to herself as she ran down the street back to town’s square. Not a thought was in her head anymore about the villagers.

“Come back here! I’ll tear you limb from limb!” Goliath yelled from behind her.

Luckily he didn’t seem to be gaining on her just yet but his voice sent a fresh wave of terror through her and she nearly screamed trying to make herself go faster.

Trixie was soon able to see the empty square in front of her with her wagon standing right in the middle. And the fresh smile she had at knowing she was almost there instantly fell as another realization hit her.

How am I going to outrun him while pulling my wagon along?

It was unthinkable to leave her wagon behind. But she also really didn’t want to get torn to pieces by a griffon that looked like he ate dragons for breakfast.

Any more debating on the matter was thrown aside as Trixie again heard Goliath scream at her.

“There you are! There’s no place for you to hide anymore!” She could hear his bounding steps reaching her.

“Gah!” She yelped and darted to her wagon, instead of tying herself to it though she ran right inside of it and slammed the door shut, the sudden heavy motion causing all of the junk and tools inside to fall all over. Boxes of ropes, scarves, and fireworks all emptied their contents onto the magician.

“I’ve got you!” Goliath said as he reached her wagon. The griffon was far too large to go inside the wagon but he was able to easily tear the door off its hinges and stick his huge head inside. His sharp and angry eyes looking over the interior for his prey.

Movement from under the stuff caught his eye and Trixie peeked her frightened head out just in time to see the large griffon grin at her and reach a talon into the wagon to grab her.

“Hahaha, you’re mine you pathetic hero.” He mocked.

“No way!” Trixie exclaimed in fear and panic-fired a bolt of magic at Goliath.

He actually swatted it aside like it was nothing, the sparks of the magic scattering to the floor of the wagon. “Hah! Weak coward!” His talon again moved forward to get her like an inexorable force, utterly impossible to evade or stop.

Trixie grit her teeth and closed her eyes. Save me, Twilight!

A sizzling sound and the smell of smoke reached both the ears and noses of the two in the wagon.

“What?” Goliath looked down to see a lit string sending off sparks as it sped into the back of a large, cylindrical object pointed at him.

Now what Trixie saw when she opened her eyes was her Super Mega Deluxe Trixie Special Firework about to fire.

“Uh oh.” She pulled her hat over her face while Goliath raised a confused eyebrow at her.

“Too scared to even look at-” He didn’t finish as the spark finally made its way down the lit fuse and ignited the firework. A blast of uncomfortably hot sparks bathed Trixie for a second while her special firework shot right into Goliath’s face.

“AGHHH!” The griffon yelled as he was blown backwards and out of the wagon, where the firework promptly exploded in his face in the middle of town’s square, creating a huge pattern in Trixie’s face and catching his feathery body on fire. “Gahhhh!” He screamed in agony as he rolled around, temporarily blinded and in immense pain but succeeding at putting out most of the flames. Unfortunately for him though he didn’t notice that the Horn of Listening was also knocked away while he rolled on the ground, it bounced a few times and came to a stop a couple feet from the well.

Coughing, Trixie emerged from her wagon. She was smoking and covered in a bit of soot but otherwise unharmed. A number of other villagers were also crowding around the streets that entered the square, watching the whole thing while the rest of the fighting went on around the bridge.

“You-You little!” Goliath yelled as he tried to fight his way back up and attack her but the firework had taken its toll on him. He was barely able to open up one eye to glare at her. “D-Don’t think this is over, s-something like this is nothing! I’ll be back for you and everyone else here!” He wheezed and turned around, half-running and half-limping away from The Great and Powerful Trixie while a small flame still danced on top of his feathered head.

The unicorn was a bit too stunned to move or do anything right now.

“Did I just… win?” She asked herself.

It took a few minutes but Daylight, Vector, the Mayor, and everybody else soon filed into Town’s Square. Daylight walked up to a shocked griffoness who was staring at Trixie.

“What happened?” She asked. “We were fighting those other guys and then there was an explosion and Goliath comes running out down the bridge? Did Trixie do that?”

“Y-Yes.” The griffoness responded. “She used one of her magical fire missiles on him, he was so scared and hurt that he ran away right after… it was incredible. The fire even made her face when it exploded!”

As the “truth” of what happened made its way through the villagers they ecstatically realized that they had just won and their hero had made Goliath retreat all by herself.

“A cheer for The Great and Powerful Trixie!” Gabriel yelled.

The citizens of East Glade were more than willing to listen and agree. A deafening cheer went up in celebration of the hero, one that even Daylight Gleam wholeheartedly took part in. Every grateful pony, griffon, and merpony were all raising their hooves or talons in the air in appreciation of their savior.

This noise snapped Trixie out of her funk and her eyes quickly darted back and forth. Realizing she was supposed to be the perfect hero she composed herself as best she could and gave a grin to her audience.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is victorious again!” She yelled, causing a fresh wave of cheers. Trixie managed to keep on her mask of confidence and elation as she stood there waving to the villagers but her common sense hadn’t been overwritten by the glory this time. Much more quietly she nervously chuckled and spoke to herself. “Ehehe, I need to get out of here.”

Backstory

Since Trixie was uncertain about how to mention to the villagers that she was going to leave (abandon) them she found herself again staying longer than she wanted to. Everything about this situation kept tearing at two parts of her. Glory and self-preservation. And neither one was winning out so she was at a bit of an impasse at the moment. Which is why she had still gone to the dinner that Senax and Vahar had invited her to.

Of course since there was a bit of a bigger celebration to have now she was joined by Daylight, Coil, Vector, and Gizzard as guests of the merponies. The merponies lived in one long building at the western edge of East Glade, it unfortunately would’ve been the first target of the Nuckelavee if Trixie hadn’t stopped it. There weren’t many merponies living here, only about a dozen or so, Senax had claimed that their numbers had been dwindling for years. Which there wasn’t anything they could really do about with no other merponies living in this part of the world to their knowledge.

The guests and merponies now sat at a long dining table, with Trixie and Senax sitting together at the head, getting ready to eat their dinner. It was mostly carrots and carrot dishes. Merponies liked them the most out of any vegetable for whatever reason.

“This has really turned out to be quite the occasion,” Senax said to the table, getting the attention of the other merponies and guests. “Not only are we hosting the pony who saved our village but we get to celebrate the return of the Horn of Listening.”

Oh yeah. Trixie thought, remembering that the Horn had been recovered earlier today after Goliath dropped it.

A series of cheers and hoorays rang up from the other merponies and Vector and Gizzard even clapped along with them.

Senax smiled. “Yes. Finally the treasure of our hearts that connects us with our long lost home has been returned. I’m sure Ponyseidon is smiling down on us.” She turned to Trixie. “This is all thanks to you, Great and Powerful Trixie, one of the three magical items now is back where it rightfully belongs. I already have it safely hidden away again.”

“No need to thank Trixie,” She said with a grin, her words hardly matching her face and inflection at all.

“You know I’ve heard you mention Ponyseidon’s three magical items before,” Daylight spoke up. “Just what are the other two? Do you know where they might have gone off to? Sorry if this is a little invasive, it’s just the old treasure hunter part of me acting up.”

“Trixie must admit she’s also interested in any sort of magical item,” Trixie nodded along. After her experience with the Alicorn Amulet though she hoped that they weren’t as dangerous as that.

The merpony leader shook her head. “I don’t have any problem answering your questions. But I’m not sure how much I can actually answer either. In addition to the Horn, Ponyseidon also left behind his Trident and a Necklace. If they had any sort of title or name though I don’t know them.” She shrugged.

“Oooh, so what could they do?” Trixie asked with a mouth half-full of carrot.

“Well, with his Trident he was able to control the currents of the sea. So no enemy was able to get to our city on the ocean floor thanks to that. And the Necklace...” She blushed. “I’m sorry, whatever it did has been forgotten to time. As for where both of the items have ended up we have no idea either, it’s likely another tribe of merponies took them when we were all scattered.”

“I’m still sorry to hear about that, I hope one day you and your people can return to your ancestral home,” Daylight said to her.

“Yes, it would be quite the wonderful thing if the merponies could all find each other again,” Coil agreed.

The other merponies at the table gave a spectrum of true and sad smiles. Some of them thankful to hear the supportive words but others reminded of just how impossible that likelihood was. No idea where their old city was, no idea where the other tribes were, and all of them had been born here in East Glade too. It was essentially their true home now and they were connected to it, there were probably quite a few or even most that wouldn’t leave it even if they found a way back to their ancient city.

“Thank you,” Senax offered a half-smile. “That’s a complicated issue for us though and this is supposed to be a night of celebration. Let’s eat for now.”

Not wanting to tread on their host, Daylight and the other guests complied. Trixie was pretty much ambivalent the whole time anyways so it was easy for her to go back to just eating. It was a nice meal and it was easy for them to get back into a happy mood considering the recent events. Not just the merponies but everyone at the table and in East Glade had a lot to be happy for tonight.

“Oh yeah, Trixie,” Daylight Gleam suddenly said to her in the middle of the meal. “I wanted you to know that Harlequin Black offered to fix the door on your wagon, he’s taking a look at it now if that’s alright?”

Trixie frowned at the thought of her poorly treated wagon. It wasn’t just the door that needed fixing but the entire insides that had to be cleaned out from all the soot left over by her firework. Not to mention her robe and hat that had also been nearly blackened. Still, a start was a start.

“That’s fine by me,” She shrugged. If someone else was willing to do it for her why not let them?

Daylight smiled at Trixie. “You know speaking of that I really have to hoof it to you. I thought you were just running away but you really got Goliath with that super mega firework or whatever it was called. I totally wasn’t even thinking about that, you really surprised me. You’re still kind of weird but I guess I’m sorry for doubting you and everything.”

“Ahaha...” Trixie nervously laughed. “There was nothing to it, The Great and Powerful Trixie always has an ace up her sleeve.”

They were going to go back to eating when Trixie decided to question Daylight on something she had said earlier.

“So, Daylight? You said you were a treasure hunter?” Trixie asked. She figured it would only be polite to actually get to know the others here, they knew a lot about her anyways even if it wasn’t all true.

The white unicorn nodded. “In the past. I sort of retired from doing that not too long ago. Me and my two friends explored all over, got into quite a bit of trouble, and looked for any treasure we could get our hooves on. Well on our last little adventure together we managed to get so much treasure that my two friends decided to unofficially retire and got married. A couple of things happened to me after that and I’ve ended up on my own now,” She paused. “I just like discovering new things. Even if it can sometimes be troublesome.”

“You know now that we’re talking about it I can’t remember asking what specifically brought you here, Daylight,” Vector said.

“I just sort of told you I was an explorer when I arrived, remember?” Daylight told him. “But actually I kind of came out this way on the request of a friend, looking for someone they knew. And one thing led to another and I’ve ended up staying here for a lot longer than I thought I would.”

“Did you find who you were looking for?” Trixie asked.

Daylight Gleam’s eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch as she took a slow sip of her water and turned a carrot over in her magic before responding. “No, I haven’t.”

Trixie shrugged, not picking up on her change in expression. “Good luck then.”

“Can’t imagine who you’d be looking for out here,” Gizzard mentioned in-between huge bites of carrot cake.

“There’s also someone they wanted me to look for up north so I’ll be going there next. Whenever I feel like leaving East Glade,” The white unicorn took another deep gulp of her water.

Trixie went back to eating for a second. She looked down the table of merponies, trying to remember their names. Senax and Vahar had introduced them all earlier but that had all gone in one ear and out the other. Most of them were in their own little conversations anyways and shyly turned away whenever Trixie’s strong gaze met theirs. Finally her look up and down the table brought her eyes to the other Equestrian, Coil.

“Hey Coil, what about you?” Trixie asked.

“Huh?” The frizzy-haired unicorn perked up. “What about me?”

“I mean, why did you come here?” Trixie rolled her eyes.

Coil frowned. “Didn’t I tell you? I wanted to study magic and things that couldn’t be found in Equestria. If you’re asking for why I came to East Glade specifically it was essentially just random chance, this is where my hooves carried me,” The unicorn got a wistful look on his face. “I had grown rather tired of the university anyways. Too stuffy. I wanted to really experience magic and the outside world.”

“You’ve been a great help ever since coming here,” Vector smiled and put a hoof on Coil’s shoulder.

“Far more than the last outsider who showed up before them,” Gizzard spat out, his eyes narrowing as he glared down at the table.

Silence overtook the natives of East Glade who were eating at the table. Senax, Vector, they all looked angry after what Gizzard had said.

“Er, what’s the matter?” Trixie asked.

Coil coughed to get her attention. “You recall when we first met? Gizzard and Vector mentioned a griffon from Griffonstone who attacked East Glade.”

“Ohh...” Trixie did remember now. What was with this village and getting attacked by evil griffons?

“Godfrey. That was his name,” Gizzard spoke up again. “A violent brute who flew down here one day, claiming he was searching for adventure and fun. Well his idea of “fun” was ransacking the village and beating up anyone who tried to stop him. He stole our food, he set fire to some of our houses, he broke my grandsons wings when they confronted him.” Gizzard clenched his talons, shaking. “And we all just felt so helpless. He was strong, and fast. And he just laughed the whole time as if he didn’t have a care in the world. No matter how we pleaded with him he just ignored us, he tied Gabriel up and hung him upside down from the bridge too when he left. Looking back on it I think we’d even have to call ourselves lucky, he could’ve done way worse if he wanted to.”

“That wasn’t really the end of it either,” Vector cut in. “After he got tired of East Glade he flew right into the eastern mountains where Goliath lives. Normally going into those mountains would be a death sentence for any outsider, but that’s not what happened.”

Now Trixie was confused. “How do you know nothing happened to him? What if he just ran into Goliath?”

Vector sighed. “The thing is we know for a fact that he did meet Goliath. The problem is that he fought with and beat Goliath.”

Trixie’s jaw dropped. “Wait, hold on. You’re saying some griffon actually beat up that huge monster?” She couldn’t believe it herself after seeing the horrible griffon.

“As best as we know,” Vector nodded. “Cause a couple days after Godfrey left East Glade, Goliath came down and attacked us too. He had scars and bruises all over his body like he had just gotten out of a bad fight. And there was only one person we could think of that could do anything like that to him.”

“And because of that, Goliath took his anger out on us,” Gizzard said.

“For all we know Godfrey is still out flying east over the Grand Ocean,” Senax chimed in.

“It was a few years ago now,” Vahar said. “I hope the horrible things he’s done have caught up with him, there’s no justice in the world if someone like that can just do whatever they want without consequence. Godfrey was a vile griffon, almost as bad as Goliath himself. And unfortunately because of him we reacted… unfairly to new arrivals after that.” She shot an apologetic look to Coil and Daylight Gleam.

“You don’t need to apologize,” Daylight said.

“Yes, it’s truly not a big deal,” Coil agreed.

Now this conversation had taken another negative turn, most probably wanted to get back to their meal and try to lighten things up but Trixie’s curiosity continued to get the better of her.

“Uh, I’ve been meaning to ask,” The blue unicorn raised a hoof. “But what’s up with Goliath anyways? Why doesn’t he have wings? And I think those other griffons I saw the other day didn’t have wings either.”

Vector nodded, rubbing the top of his head in thought. “Right, we hadn’t really told you much about Goliath since things keep coming up. Obviously you know he likes to prey on East Glade, but in the past he’s never done anything too extreme. He wants things to stay “normal” between us so he can do whatever it is he does in those mountains. I think he just likes lording over his underlings and taking out any monsters that try to move in on his territory.”

“As for his wings we’re not entirely sure,” Gizzard shrugged. “Maybe he was born that way or lost them in an accident. But when it comes to the other griffons and pegasi serving under him… well, Goliath happens to hate anything that can fly thanks to his own problem. So he...” Gizzard’s face was a disgusted grimace. He stopped talking and made a snipping motion with his talons.

Trixie’s cheeks puffed out and her face went green, the contents of her stomach threatening to vacate her body. “Urk! You-you can’t be serious?”

The others at the table only nodded.

“That’s just… horrible!” The Great and Powerful Trixie exclaimed. “Just how could anyone do something like that?!”

“Goliath is a beast in griffon form,” Gizzard said. He raised his glass and took a long, slow drink.

Silence reigned again for a moment, Trixie was worried that she had ruined the mood.

Vector sighed, the orange earth pony looked between Gizzard and Senax. “I’m beginning to think that maybe this whole place is cursed with misfortune. Do you remember that mountain expedition a few years back?”

All the locals groaned at being reminded of whatever this was. Trixie, Coil, and Daylight were lost though.

“Mountain expedition?” Daylight asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Vector nodded. “This happened maybe about a year before Godfrey came here. A pony from Equestria came to East Glade, said he was a mountaineer. There were a few other ponies with him, maybe ten in total? That were also mountain climbers. He said they came out here to climb the tallest mountains that the Griffon Lands had to offer.”

“It was not a good idea,” Senax exasperatedly stated.

“Quite,” Vector continued. “Into the mountain range a bit north of East Glade is a snowy mountain noticeably taller than any of the others that surround it. That’s the one they wanted to conquer. We warned them of the various dangers of the area but they were having none of it. They said they had climbed plenty of dangerous mountains in the past and that was that. So after staying in town for a few days getting ready they set off for the mountain. And that’s the last we heard of them.”

“The thing is they promised they would come back to let us know that everything had gone okay,” Gizzard sighed. “Obviously it didn’t.”

“For self-evident reasons we never went to go look for them. I am a bit ashamed to admit that though,” Senax explained.

“Nothing good could’ve come from it,” Gizzard said. “That whole mountain is probably haunted or something.”

“I still feel bad for them though,” Senax said.

Vector hummed to himself, swirling around his glass of water. “Yeah. If it wasn’t for all the dangerous and, er, hungry monsters out there I’d have suggested we could at least go find them to give them a proper burial. But as it stands...” He let himself trail off.

“Do you remember that they asked if anyone from the village would like to join them on their expedition?” Gizzard snorted. “Maybe they figured there were some mountaineers living here too.”

“I do remember that,” Senax nodded. “Thankfully no one took them up on that.”

“Actually that’s not true,” Vector said. He furrowed his brow as if just now remembering something important. “There was that mare. That weird mare who just walked in from out of town one day? I can’t believe I forgot about her, she just arrived maybe a day or two before the mountaineers. She went with them, didn’t she?”

Gizzard scratched his chin. “I vaguely recall what you’re talking about. I think I remember a pony who came from… can’t remember where, but she was all smiles right? Guess she did go off with them cause I can’t think of ever seeing her again after that.”

Vector shrugged. “Weird things happen out here.”

So the meal that was supposed to be a happy celebration had unfortunately kept taking somber turn after somber turn. Trixie was thinking she could announce that she was putting on another show to raise everyone’s spirits but she wasn’t sure if she was actually going to do that or not. The showpony was still struggling with whether she should slink away in the middle of the night or not.

“I actually have some good news to mention,” Daylight Gleam suddenly said, getting the attention of the table as they all turned to look at her. “Harlequin Black told me earlier that Wool Dye has up and left the village. So we don’t have to deal with him anymore.”

The villagers and Coil too all gave sighs of relief.

“Finally,” Vector muttered. “I didn’t want to be impolite or kick him out or anything but he was really getting on everyone’s nerves.”

“That was the weird cult guy, right?” Trixie asked, only barely remembering.

“Yeah,” Daylight said. “The one who talked to you after your show.”

Trixie looked around at everyone who was elated to know he was gone. “I suppose there’s some story behind him too?”

Daylight shrugged. “Sort of? You remember that book he had? Well he claims that it just magically fell out of the sky one day and the ponies that found it started a whole village and cult based off it, they’ve been living by whatever crazy stuff is inside it ever since.”

“Weird,” Trixie said. Oblivious as ever.

“At least that’s a positive note to get this celebration back on track,” Vector said. “Let’s get back to eating, shall we?”

Trixie, Senax, and the others couldn’t agree more. Any other negative or worrying thoughts were pushed out of the diner’s heads and the feast resumed. The only conversation to be had after that was pleasant chitchat and Trixie got to enjoy the wide variety of carrot dishes prepared in her honor.

The Strange Beasts

Night in this part of the world could be quieter than anywhere else. So out of the way, so sparsely populated. When it was quiet in a place like this it was quieter than the grave. On some nights, however, any number of strange occurrences could happen that would shatter the peacefulness.

A month ago a magical storm hit East Glade right as the clock struck midnight. No one knew what it was aside from the fact that black clouds suddenly spawned without any warning and rained down purple lightning bolts across the village.

A year ago a few hours before dawn, large transparent creatures that walked on six legs who couldn’t be touched migrated through East Glade. Whenever their bodies came in “contact” with a building it left a layer of frost behind that was colder than any normal ice.

Three years ago an impossibly bright and gigantic rainbow arched from north to south without any warning over the entire mountain range. At night.

And five years ago strange balloon-like monsters appeared in the sky. They were the size of a house and spherical with dozens of thin tendrils dangling from their membranes. Since it was so dark out it was difficult for the villagers to make out things like what color they were at first. But these balloon creatures didn’t merely float around doing nothing for long. Maybe they were communicating with each other, maybe they were roaring at something, whatever it was, powerful vibrations that shook everything in East Glade were emitted by these creatures. Low, ear-pounding shockwaves came from the floating balloons. Windows cracked and shattered, houses were shaken to their foundations and some of the more dilapidated ones fell apart, ponies and griffons trembled down to their very bones.

It was hard to tell how many of them there were in the sky. They seemed to nearly block it out entirely but again it was pretty dark and they kept moving past one another, making it difficult to see their true numbers. Whenever they vibrated and created their thunderous bellows their flesh rippled in response too. No mouths or anything like that could be seen on the creatures so it was anybody’s guess as to how they were making this noise. Something inside them was rumbling to create the vibrations.

With each shudder of their skin they changed color slightly. Going all across the color spectrum from blue to yellow to red and everything in-between. It would’ve looked pretty were it not so devastating to the village right below.

One could only imagine what it would’ve been like closer to those creatures. Getting hammered by the shockwaves point blank as they all vibrated and roared around each other.

The balloon creatures stayed in the sky above East Glade until the first light of dawn, at which point they disappeared entirely. Not a trace of them was left and if it hadn’t been for the destruction and pain they left behind you would’ve never known they were there. Horrible headaches and migraines followed every villager for the next day and joint and muscles pains lasted for well over a week thanks to the vibrations.

But that was the only time those creatures had ever visited East Glade. After that time five years ago they were never heard from again.

Currently the sun had dipped over the horizon a few hours ago, the last bits of light had now well disappeared from East Glade and Gizzard with his grandsons were flying up and looking out over everything to make sure Goliath wasn’t planning a night attack on anything. Everything looked okay so the three griffons returned to the ground and prepared to retire for the night as well. If there was any commotion during the night it would wake the whole village pretty quickly.

Coil was in his lab, tinkering with something or another, Daylight Gleam was in her newly rebuilt home getting ready for bed. Vector was talking with one of East Glade’s carrot farmers about something. Gabriel was actually talking with Gold Embrace about when the next magic lesson would be, and Senax and her other merponies were quietly returning to their home.

The night was ready to be as peaceful as most others in East Glade. The air was cold and calm and the sky was completely cloudless, letting anyone who looked up get a full view of the large moon and the glittering stars.

Vector left the carrot patch he had been conversing in and made his way over the wooden bridge that spanned the ravine. Each step of his hoof made a clopping sound on the hard wood, the normally light sound instead seeming much louder due to nothing else being in the air to drown it out. The sound reverberated slightly in his ears and he winced at it, hoping that he was still stepping quietly enough to not wake up anyone who was sleeping in any of the houses close to the bridge.

Normally he wouldn’t be out so late at night either but things were just so busy lately he had a lot of stuff to check up on for the mayor.

I hope The Great and Powerful Trixie puts on another show for us soon, that first one was so spectacular! He thought to himself. Vector had by far become her biggest fan in the village.

He finished his way across the bridge and politely waved to a griffon heading into his home. Things had been nicer around here since all the outsiders had started arriving. Everyone was a bit more cheerful now and there was something like… hope? In the air. However Vector was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the loose pebble in front of him until he tripped over it.

“Woah!” He cried out as he fell to the ground. “Oof!”

Vector wheezed uncomfortably for a second, catching his breath after the unfortunate plunge. He quickly glanced back and forth to make sure no one had seen such an embarrassing scene and sighed in relief when it looked like no one was around. Vector was lucky it was so dark and late out and not during the middle of the day, he would’ve had to deal with quite a bit of laughing and teasing otherwise.

The moment he took another step towards his house a crushing blast of air hit him from above. Like the shock of an explosion without the heat that came with it it rattled his bones and almost forced him to the ground. He had enough strength where his knees only buckled greatly but it still cracked the dirt beneath him and caused him to gasp and sweat in exertion.

“W-What’s going on?!” Vector barely managed to force out.

The earth pony looked around him to see the houses and other buildings of East Glade shaking and dust being blown from the ground by the force of the air pressure. Already he could hear screams of terror and pain coming from the other villagers. Lights flickered back on in houses and some ran outside to see what was happening, where the shockwaves hit them harder.

In a few more seconds the shaking and high-pressure air beating down on all the village was gone and a sweaty Vector checked to see if everyone was okay.

“Is everyone alright?” He called out to the ponies and griffons around him.

Some of them were pretty shaky in responding and others were looking over the damage to their homes but so far it didn’t seem like anyone had been harmed too bad. Vector’s teeth were still chattering in his mouth and a few griffons looked like they were having headaches now but for the most part everyone was fine.

“What was that, Vector?” One of the griffons asked as he came up to him.

The earth pony shook his head. “I’m not sure. Hopefully that was all and it won’t happen again.”

“Ahhhhhh!”

Both Vector and the griffon heard the scream of another pony and turned to see a villager staring in open-mouthed terror at the sky, pointing a hoof up at something.

Now that Vector thought about it he should’ve noticed that it had become even darker all of a sudden, as if something was blocking out most of the light from the moon and the stars. As his eyes drifted up to follow what the pony was looking and screaming at he saw why.

“Oh, I remember these things.” He gulped.

The strange balloon beasts had returned in full force. Their dark violet skin rippled and slowly faded away into a lighter magenta color while their dozens of thin tentacles hung loosely beneath their voluminous bodies. Perhaps fifty in total floated malevolently in the sky above East Glade, the villagers now all remembered that they were the generators of those powerful shockwaves and vibrations and it was impossible to tell when more would come. And impossible for them to do anything about it.

Vector was sure that single wave wasn’t going to be the end of it though. Now that he recognized the balloon monsters he remembered how they assaulted the village for hours that night five years ago.

“Everyone stay indoors!” He shouted to the other villagers. Honestly not sure if it was the right call or not. If their house came down around them… but most couldn’t handle taking the power of the shockwaves directly. There was nothing more he could do.

“Vector!” A new voice sprang up.

The orange stallion looked to see Daylight Gleam running towards him.

“What’s going on? What the hay are those things?” She asked him, confusion written plain on her face since she had no prior knowledge of these creatures.

“I’m sorry, these things showed up once about five years ago. We don’t know what they are either but they kept emitting those shockwaves all through the night and nearly destroyed the village,” He explained to her.

She frowned. “Let’s hope they don’t stay for as long this time then.”

They both looked up to watch the balloon creatures, looking for a sign of what they might do next. The skin on their bodies kept shifting from magenta to a hot pink color and then a solid red. Both ponies knew that didn’t bode well for them. With a low rumble the creatures skin rippled again and a series of new shockwaves came from the sky like the wailing of a banshee.

Daylight quickly used her horn to create a powder blue dome of magic above her and Vector to protect them. She winced and had to strain when the powerful blast of air hit her shield but the magic was able to hold and protect them with only a few slight cracks appearing in it. But she didn’t know how long or how many times she could keep that up.

“What do we do to stop these things?” Daylight asked Vector.

“I don’t know! They just left on their own last time!” He helplessly told her.

The white unicorn looked up at the undulating beasts, watching them again shift from red to a bluish-green and then settling on a deep forest green. If it was anything like last time it probably meant they were getting ready to make noise again.

“Are they communicating with each other like that?” She asked to nobody in particular. “Maybe it’s mating season.” It sounded somewhat incredulous to her but the theory held as much water as anything else she could think of.

“Well if you want to try figuring that out be my guest, but I don’t know if East Glade can take a few more hours of this,” Vector said.

And not a moment too soon as the vibrating of the creatures skin reached its peak and an all new shockwave was generated from the dozens of them. This time Daylight’s protective shield failed her and Vector and the two were blown across the street, crashing into the wall of an old, abandoned house. The vibrating didn’t stop there though, the heavy air kept pounding down on the two ponies, making them grit their teeth and hold their hooves over their ears to try and block out as much of the oppressive sound and shaking as they could.

It didn’t do much though, both of their ears were ringing and their skulls rattled around in their heads like someone had forced a metal bucket down on them and banged on it with a pipe.

“We need to find some way to hurt them and get them to stop!” Daylight yelled while the vibrations buffeted her and Vector.

“How?!” Vector yelled back. “No griffon can fly up and reach them while they’re doing this and it’s too dangerous to try when they’re paused!”

“Ugh, I dunno! My magic can’t reach from this distance either, I’m not that good at offensive spells,” Daylight complained, squinting to look up at the balloon monsters.

The vibrating stopped as the beasts seemed to rest again. All of them floated and bounced around each other, constantly letting in little slivers of moonlight before obscuring them just as quickly. Their green skin kept gently rippling and Daylight worried that any change in their color would mean another barrage. She tried thinking of any way to stop them but she couldn’t levitate, any energy beams wouldn’t reach far enough, same with anything she threw, and there wasn’t really anyone else around who could help her.

The pony furrowed her brow as she saw the green skin fading into a light-brown and then a reddish-orange, it was happening again.

“I’ll just try and shield us as best I can, I think that’s all we can hope for,” She told Vector.

Vector steadied himself in the slight reprieve they had before the next shockwave came. “I’m going to check to make sure everyone is okay.”

“I don’t know if that’s really such a good idea. You should stick with me,” Daylight frowned at him.

The earth pony shook his head. “No can do, I have to see how the villagers are holding out.”

Daylight Gleam was going to retort and try to convince him to keep as safe as possible when a different sound from the loud vibrations reached their ears. It sounded like a high-pitched whistling noise as something shot through the air. The two ponies looked up to see several bright specks flying towards the balloon creatures.

“Are those...?” Daylight looked at the streaking objects in surprise

In the next second the whistling stopped and the objects exploded in a dazzlingly bright array all across the sky.

The balloon beasts seemed just as surprised by the fireworks, their movements became erratic and their skin shifted into a wild tie-dye as the heat and brightness from each explosion rocked their bodies. More and more fireworks kept shooting up at them too, not allowing the creatures any sort of rest. The balloons continually bounced into each other and let out low wails that sounded frenzied and scared to Daylight and Vector down below.

“You’re kidding me,” Daylight couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Vector on the other hand was looking at the impromptu fireworks show in awe. “It’s her. It’s Trixie! She’s saving us again!”

One by one the balloon creatures started to blink away from this world as more fireworks went off. Hopefully traveling back to wherever they came from for good.

Earlier that night...

The Great and Powerful Trixie had stealthily pulled her wagon up onto a ridge slightly south of East Glade. Her mind had been made up, she would be leaving East Glade sometime very soon. However she didn’t feel quite right just abandoning all of them without notice. After all they were such big fans of her and were wowed by her amazingness far more than most others she had performed for were. Even if it might not have been wholly for her skills as a magician.

So she felt she owed it to East Glade to at least give them a parting show. And there was no better idea she could think of than a late night fireworks extravaganza!

“Right, this is going to be great,” Trixie said to herself as she surveyed her work.

Several lines of fireworks had been set up on the ridge, most of their fuses tied together so she could send a bunch out at once. Trixie knew the villagers would especially love this, they had only seen her fireworks before in the middle of the day, seeing them at night would be a whole new experience for them. You just couldn’t even compare what a fireworks show at night looked like to one during the day.

And then tomorrow night I can quietly get out of here. She thought as she finished up with the fuses.

“I hate leaving without having anything to show for the trip though,” Trixie frowned as she looked at her arrangement of fireworks. But a quick thought back to Goliath and almost being torn apart made her shake her head to get any of those reconsidering thoughts to disappear. “Leaving. Definitely leaving.”

She then smirked though. “But first, my greatest use of fireworks ever!”

Trixie lit up her horn for some extra light and walked to the first line of fireworks, their fuses all tied to one spot. “I wonder if I should fire off a spell or something first to get their attention before I light the fuses? How many of them are asleep already?”

Before she could think anymore about it though a deep pulsating vibration struck the ridge she was standing on. Because she was a bit further away from the village it wasn’t as powerful but the sound still rattled her brain and shook things enough that it felt like she was in the middle of an earthquake. The unicorn held her hooves to her head and screamed in discomfort.

“What in Tartarus is going on?!”

Trixie held on until it finally stopped, the groaning unicorn then looking around for what might have been the source of that sudden annoyance. Seeing nothing she shrugged and chalked it up to the random strange things that occurred out here that everyone in East Glade seemed to like talking about. She had her fireworks to get back to anyways.

“Better make sure none of them fell over or anything.”

She went to checking up on things but didn’t get very far when another shockwave hit, taking her completely by surprise again.

Trixie grit her teeth and reflexively tried to create a bubble around herself to block out the noise… but the hammering of the shockwave in her ears caused her spell to falter and her magic wildly shot out from her horn in a shower of sparks.

“Agh! Stupid magic!” She yelled as the vibrations continued all around her.

The blue unicorn fumbled around incoherently until the noise from the unknown balloon beasts finally abated once more. She shook her head to make sure her brain hadn’t fallen loose and sat down.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is starting to get annoyed...” She mumbled as she rubbed her forehead.

But as she sat there a very familiar sizzling sound caught her attention.

Trixie perked up and looked at her fireworks, seeing the dozens of tied together fuses lit and sparking towards the set-up rockets.

She sighed. “Well, it’s what I was going to be doing anyways.” Considering she was unexpectedly sitting in the middle of them right now though she felt it pertinent to put up a successful bubble shield around herself this time.

Now only a few short hours before dawn, Trixie wheeled her wagon back down closer to East Glade. The unicorn was thoroughly exhausted after the unexpected experience and the cleaning up she had to do. She planned to sleep straight until noon today and then she’d be well rested for her sneaking off later. Trixie though should have learned by now that the world doesn’t care about her plans.

Once she got in view of the town it seemed like every villager was already awake and running right towards her.

“Did they like the fireworks that much?” She asked herself.

“Trixie!” Vector called out to her from the front. “That was incredible, Miss Great and Powerful Trixie! You saved us from those monsters!”

I did what now?

The villagers crowded around her all drowning each other out in their praise of her and thanking her for getting rid of some so called “monsters” that Trixie was completely unaware of. The unicorn was totally flabbergasted but she did her best to act like she knew what was going on and just flashed her normal smile and accepted all the thanks she was getting.

“Er, thank you, thank you.” She nervously waved to them all.

“Just when I think you can’t do any more for East Glade you keep surprising me!” Vector told her, Daylight, Gizzard, and many of the others right there with him. “I honestly have no idea what we’d do without you.”

“He’s right, Miss Great and Powerful!” Gold Embrace told her, jumping up right into Trixie’s face. “I can’t wait for you to teach us more magic so we can defend East Glade as well as you!”

Trixie gulped. “Yeah...”

“East Glade really needs you,” Vector said with the most honest possible smile on his face.

“You do… don’t you,” Trixie slowly said. The noise from the crowd had faded away for her, whatever the others were saying no longer registered in her mind. Trixie was only thinking about that last thing Vector had said. It was the truth wasn’t it? They did need her. She didn’t need to be here for herself. She no longer wanted to be here even with all the wonderful praise that boosted her ego. But if she left them, what then? What would happen to East Glade? Trixie hardly considered herself a true (and certainly not a selfless) hero, she had merely been acting like one. But now that she was here and the truth of the situation really settled in for her… she couldn’t just leave them could she? There’s a lot she would’ve done for Starlight, since she was her best friend, but how much was an admittedly selfish and egotistical pony like herself willing to lay on the line for what still mostly amounted to strangers?

I may be self-absorbed but this is something Starlight definitely wouldn’t approve of… Trixie thought as she made up her mind again. I guess I can act like a hero for a little longer. Still need to find some new magic after all.

She looked out at all the cheering and smiling ponies and griffons of East Glade, they looked about ready to start tossing her up in celebration.

And the perks aren’t bad either.

Second Lesson

Now with an appropriate amount of downtime and a slightly renewed vigor and willingness to help East Glade, Trixie had coordinated with Gabriel and her “students” to set up another day of magic lessons. Speckle Wood, Gold Embrace and her twin colts, had now joined with Trixie inside the mayor’s house. It was the largest building in East Glade after all and was just the right kind of place for the kind of lessons she had in mind for today. She wasn’t going to just randomly test their magical strength or anything like that, now she was going to channel a bit of Starlight.

Just like before the same peanut gallery had come to watch things. Vector was as supportive as ever but even though Daylight had warmed up to her considerably Trixie knew she still had some suspicions about her teaching ability and magical prowess. Gizzard was keeping watch as the sheriff, if he saw anything useful come out of these lessons maybe he could make a place for Speckle Wood or Gold Embrace the next time East Glade was in danger. Coil was absent though. Trixie figured that with his history there wasn’t really anything exciting for him about her teaching typical magic like this. Like Trixie herself he’d probably much prefer seeing and studying some strange, unique magic that was native to here instead.

“Since The Great and Powerful Trixie is still without any teaching materials for more battle-oriented or defensive spells she will instead be teaching you something very simple and practical today.” The magician told the other unicorns while they stood in Gabriel’s living room.

“What is it?! What is it?!”

The chorus of children rang out as the mayor’s kids rushed right up to Trixie, joined by Gold Box and Gold Fortune too. The five practically jumped up and down at her, overly excited to learn what she would be teaching.

“Calm down already!” Trixie said and used her magic to grab the three young griffons and push them back to the couch where there parents sat while Gold Embrace ran up and grabbed her kids. The mother profusely apologizing the whole way. Trixie raised a blue hoof to her mouth and coughed. “Right, as I was saying-”

She used her magic to carry a bucket that was full of a number of rocks gathered from outside in front of her. “I am going to have you practice transformation spells. Now, follow me!”

Trixie took them all over to Gabriel’s dining room table and placed the rocks on top of it (she could clean it later). The rocks themselves were no bigger than a saltshaker and just what Trixie wanted for her lesson. She grinned, this kind of thing was her specialty now and she was sure that not only could she wow the others with her transformation skills but she was also certain it was something she could teach.

“Allow me to give you a demonstration of just what it is we’ll be doing,” She said and lit up her horn. “Teacup!”

She fired her magic at the nearest rock and turned it into a particularly fancy and perfectly made pink teacup.

“Ta-da! A perfect transformation!” Trixie exclaimed.

Naturally Vector was the first to start clapping for her while her four students ran up to the table to get a better look at the teacup Trixie had created. They had never seen magic used in such a way, to change one thing into something completely different? For unicorns who had only used their magic for the simplest sort of telekinesis this was almost unreal.

“That’s awesome, is this really something we can do?” Gold Fortune… or maybe Gold Box, asked her. Whichever it was, both of the colts were looking up at her in hope and wonder.

“Of course it is with me as your teacher,” Trixie smugly responded.

As if to prove her point she looked to the next nearest rock on the table and fired another transformation spell at it, turning it into a teacup as well.

“We’ll be practicing all day to do that,” She told them.

“You sure seem fond of making teacups,” Daylight Gleam said as she walked over to the table as well, a sly smirk on her face. “One might think that that’s actually all you can turn something into. But that couldn’t be the case, right?”

Trixie coughed, a sweat threatening to break out on her face. “Of course not! Teacups are simply very practical and useful to have, these will be a thank you for the mayor and his family for letting us use his house when we’re done.”

“Right, that’s true, but I think just for demonstration’s sake you should make something different. Don’t you?” Daylight was clearly baiting her but Trixie couldn’t refuse in this situation.

She frowned and went to the next rock. “Very well! All of you now watch me again!” She hesitated slightly on what she wanted to turn it into, biting her tongue while the pink magic along her horn shimmered brightly. Finally she got it. “Alright, wine glass!”

Her sparkling pink beam of magic fired out from her horn and transformed the rock.

Into another teacup.

Silence reigned for a second as the ponies and griffons in the room first stared at the new teacup and then slowly turned their heads to Trixie as if waiting for an explanation.

Luckily for Trixie she was quick on her hooves when it came to this kind of thing. “I said wine glass but I changed the spell at the last second to show you how fast I can be with my magic. And now Gabriel has three teacups, one for each son.” She levitated the teacups over to him for him to hold onto. “Ta-da!”

Again Vector was naturally the first one to start clapping.

“Wow! I don’t know much about magic but that’s some pretty fast spell work isn’t it?” He obliviously smiled at the blue unicorn.

“Yes, it is, isn’t it?” She tossed her mane back as if she had made some great accomplishment.

“Sure was,” Daylight was glaring at her with a forced smile and a twitching eye.

Oh lighten up. Trixie thought as she turned away from the white unicorn to her students. Now what’s the best way to teach them how to do this? What did Starlight say about transforming things again?

Before things could continue though, Gabriel Jr. ran up to his father and grabbed one of the teacups. “The Great and Powerful Trixie made me a teacup!” he proudly showed it off to his two younger brothers.

“Hey, no fair!” Guyaven shouted at his big brother and snatched his own teacup, followed shortly by Gower. “She made teacups for all of us!”

The three young griffons started waving their teacups and shouting with each other, each one trying to prove that their teacup was the “best” despite the trio of cups being identical. The mayor just sighed and exasperatedly lied back on his couch, Trixie didn’t envy him for having to deal with three hyperactive kids all the time. Giselle did her best to calm them down but it was apparent that that ruckus would be going on in the background throughout the entire rest of the lesson.

“Miss Trixie?”

Trixie felt a tug on her robe and looked down to see Gold Box… or possibly Gold Fortune, looking up at her with wide eyes and a bright expression on his face.

“Er, yes?” She asked the colt.

“Can you make teacups for us too?” He pleaded, hooves clasped in front of him. His brother came up and did the same thing.

The blue unicorn fought to avoid rolling her eyes or sighing in annoyance. “Of course. But only after the lesson today is over.”

“I’m sorry, teacher.” Gold Embrace said with a faint blush dotting her cheeks. She put a hoof on her colt’s shoulders and pulled them away from Trixie.

“No need to apologize, Trixie is great with children,” The boastful mare said. “However we do need to continue our lesson. I’ll teach you as best I can on how to transform objects.”

Speckle Wood turned out to be the best at this sort of thing. It was a tough going though since this was a far cry from anything they were used to doing with their magic. Speckle Wood was at least able to turn some rocks into the shape of a teacup but couldn’t actually make any of them porcelain. Gold Embrace and her kids weren’t so lucky with the lesson, at best making misshapen rocks with only the suggestion of something like a handle or cup in them.

“You’re doing perfectly fine for your first time,” Trixie tried to say. “Why don’t you try with something a little simpler and just make a normal cup or bowl?”

“But we want to do what you did!” Both of the young colts said at once.

Trixie’s chest actually swelled with pride and she giggled. “Now, now, I am The Great and Powerful Trixie and I’ve been studying and practicing magic all my life. It’s flattering that you would like to be able to perform magical spells with the same potency that I can but you’re still young and new at this. Don’t let it get you down.”

The lime-green unicorn with a campfire Cutie Mark took that moment to speak up. “Uh, not that I’m not grateful that you’re teaching us this but will learning how to turn rocks into teacups really help us protect East Glade? I thought that was the whole point of this.”

Trixie rounded on Speckle Wood with a strong gaze. “Transformation spells are very useful. You can turn a weapon someone is holding into something harmless. And besides, you’re still learning how to really use your magic to its fullest potential. It’s better to start you out with something safe like this before moving on to anything… bigger.”

Speckle Wood frowned as he looked down at the floor. “I just want to be able to help. Last time they attacked us we still couldn’t do anything even after your first lesson.”

“There, there,” Gold Embrace came up to Speckle Wood and patted him on the back. “Like she said, we’re still learning. We’re not heroes like her who’ve been fighting monsters and evil for years.” She winked at her stallion friend. “Yet.”

“I guess so,” Speckle Wood sighed. He then looked up at Trixie with a more determined look on his face. “But next time Goliath or whoever comes here to start trouble I want to help!”

“Eh, don’t worry about that.” Gizzard suddenly said to Speckle Wood from the peanut gallery. “I’m always willing to have someone help out with protecting East Glade, how about after this lesson I can take you to meet my grandsons and we’ll show you what we do?”

The unicorn smiled. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

After that little conversation the lesson got back on track, for the most part. Despite Trixie not being a teacher she tried channeling Starlight and Twilight as best she could to get these unicorns more in tune with transformation. Back when Starlight was teaching her how to do this, Trixie was able to pick it up very easily. But she had far more experience with her magic and, if you asked her, was naturally far more gifted than most unicorns as well.

She thought about what Speckle Wood had said and how she had responded, the truth was she just had even less of an idea on how to teach that kind of stuff than this. Even though it would probably be immensely helpful to her in the future if she had one or two more unicorns backing her up whenever Goliath decided to come back.

Maybe it would just be better for Gizzard to teach more villagers how to fight normally. After all it’ll be years before Gold Box and Gold Fortune are able to help out anyways… Trixie mused.

Of course though if she made that suggestion to the mayor it might make it seem like she was worried and not the perfect infallible hero that East Glade thought she was. So Trixie was still somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place. Those things being her ego and common sense.

The rest of the day went by pretty well for them all though, Trixie had noted some marked improvements in her students transformation abilities. None came close to what she was able to do but it was a start. As evening rolled on by she said that was enough for now and they could find out another time that would work for them all.

“Why not just tomorrow? I’m sure none of us are going to be that busy,” Speckle Wood asked her.

Trixie chuckled and winked at him. “Actually that’s not the case. I have something special planned for tomorrow.” She looked out at all of the others filling up the room. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will be putting on a second magic show!”

That instantly got the attention of the mayor’s kids again and they came rushing up to her.

“Really?!”

“What are you going to do?!”

“Is it going to be even more amazing than last time?!”

They were joined by Gold Box and Gold Fortune too and Trixie had to do her best to fight off the wave of children before their parents came to calm them down.

“I can’t tell you anything yet, part of what makes my shows so great is my audience not knowing what I’m going to do,” Trixie told them.

“Are you sure that’s really the case? You seem the type to just make things up as you go along,” Daylight smirked at her.

Trixie got a devilish glint in her eyes and smirked right back at the other unicorn. “Funny of you to say that. Since you’re going to be the first to know just how much planning I’ve put into this show.”

Daylight’s smirk left her face and was replaced by a worried expression. “Er, why?”

“Everyone!” Trixie announced with a whirl, holding a hoof in the air in grand fashion. “Although I will not reveal the contents of my show to you just yet I shall be happy to excite you with the fact that things will be quite different this time around. Miss Daylight Gleam here will be assisting me and we will perform acts the likes of which you have never seen!”

As the others in the house cheered for the both of them and the excitement level went through the roof, Daylight Gleam glared at Trixie.

“I did not agree to that.”

“Come one, come all, once again, to the show of The Great and Powerful Trrrrixie!”

Trixie yelled out to the crowd of East Glade denizens as she finished setting up her wagon and everything for her show. They were placed in a corner of the town’s square this time and everyone had gathered to see just what Trixie would be doing in her second show. If anything the ponies and griffons were even more excited than the first time, now that they knew what kinds of things she was capable of and how she had just saved their village again for the umpteenth time.

“And introducing-” Trixie grinned. “My wonderful assistant, Daylight Gleam!”

The magician motioned to the white unicorn standing to her right in front of the curtain. Despite her looking incredibly uncomfortable and annoyed she did her best to wave back at the villagers while they cheered for her and Trixie.

“Today you shall be amazed by an all new assortment of tricks and illusions!” Trixie said to the crowd.

She wasn’t wrong. It had taken all last night for Trixie to prepare Daylight for this and the two of them had barely gotten any sleep but it paid off. Daylight’s natural talent with magic helped quite a bit too.

Just the night before Trixie had been speaking with her and learned something that would help quite a bit for her shows...

“I don’t think it’s fair that you just roped me into this willy-nilly,” Daylight said to Trixie while the two of them stood outside of Trixie’s wagon in the middle of the night, Trixie having explained to her all the stuff they would be doing at tomorrow’s show.

“There are so many things I can only do with an assistant or volunteers. Try to think about someone else for a change,” Trixie nonchalantly responded to the angry unicorn.

That of course only made her angrier.

“So-” Trixie continued, ignoring the steaming Daylight. “I know you’re pretty good with magic but is there anything special you can do?”

She wasn’t expecting much actually but she was in for a very pleasant surprise.

Daylight rolled her eyes in exasperation but she still lit her horn up… and then disappeared.

There wasn’t any poof either like she had teleported. It was like she suddenly just vanished.

Trixie’s jaw dropped in surprise. “You can turn invisible?! Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

“Because why would I?” Empty air said and then Daylight quickly appeared again with the slightest of flickers. “Besides it’s something I’ve only recently been able to do well. It’s just a stealth spell that I’ve been working on.” She pointed at her Cutie Mark. “My special talent involves light, I bend the light around me to appear invisible. I can also make a larger camouflage spell but that has some drawbacks.”

“Invisibility is a staple of Illusionism! Can you imagine how handy something like that is for magic shows?”

“No, because I had no interest in magic shows and never thought I’d be performing in one.” Daylight frowned at her.

Trixie just smiled back though. “Well congratulations, now you can put that magic to good use!”

“Good use, or your use?” She raised an unimpressed eyebrow at Trixie.

“Same difference.”

So now that it was the day of the show Trixie and Daylight were going to really blow the minds of everyone in East Glade. All of her favorite tricks she would normally perform with Starlight were back on the table (not counting the Manticore Mouth Dive) and Daylight at least had the professionalism to give it her all while the show was going on. Whether that meant being sawed in half or suddenly disappearing after being shoved in a box only to reappear inside the crowd, Daylight was proving to be an adept assistant.

Trixie didn’t have enough time to coach her on how to rile up the crowds like Starlight knew how, and she didn’t think the white unicorn would be too good at that in the first place, but thankfully you didn’t really need to do that with these villagers. They were still so amazed at every little thing and with every new trick Trixie showed them it was like performing in front of children for the first time.

Helped that the children of East Glade were there to loudly applaud everything.

And Vector.

“For my next trick I shall clone Miss Daylight Gleam!” Trixie said to the crowd.

This was an idea she had gotten from her time with the Alicorn Amulet, it was a tricky thing to pull off and you needed to be sneaky with creating a mirror image of the target pony so no one would realize too soon that it wasn’t really a clone. Daylight’s own light manipulating magic would come in handy here too.

Trixie threw down a smokebomb to temporarily obscure things and once it lifted there were suddenly two Daylight’s on the stage.

“Behold!” Trixie yelled out from in-between them.

Gasps of shock and surprise came from the audience before they quickly started cheering and stamping their hooves in approval. The “two” Daylight’s smiled and waved to the audience before Trixie threw another smokebomb on the ground. And once that smoke went away there was only one Daylight Gleam again.

“Thank you, thank you,” Trixie bowed in appreciation.

After that it was more rudimentary tricks the two put on, Trixie really wished they had a Manticore but beggars can’t be choosers. All the same the crowd still loved what the two did. There weren’t any fireworks to close out the show this time, Trixie had used them all up for her “farewell” show. It was disappointing but at least she had given them all the opportunity to see what fireworks looked like at night so that was fine.

Finally they finished their last trick, sticking Daylight into a locked up chest and swapping her with someone from the audience. Senax was a good sport about it, if a bit surprised.

Much to the crowd’s displeasure Trixie announced the show was over after that. It was also saddening to her, not many places could she go where she’d always get such a positive and supportive (and ego-boosting) crowd. She did get one last little piece of enjoyment when forcing the embarrassed Daylight to take a bow with her at least. Trixie wasn’t sure what would come next in East Glade but as long as she could keep doing stuff like this it would be worth it.

Kept Promises

Even a destitute place like East Glade had things like parties from time to time. Trixie learned that as the whole village had been setting things up today for a day of games and festivities. And it wasn’t even in her honor! Horseshoe and Cornhole courts were set up in the square, carts of carrots, cabbages, corn, and squash were loaded up and brought out for everyone, and much to Trixie’s surprise a few of the villagers pulled out a set of instruments and started practicing for a musical performance. She never would have expected something like that from East Glade.

“Normally this is a once a year thing but we decided to bump it up a bit for you,” Vector told Trixie as the two wandered in the middle of the square.

“How thoughtful,” Trixie said. It was good to know how much mind they paid her.

“Yeah, since we have no idea how much longer you might be here we figured we definitely wanted to at least be able to show you us at our best,” Vector nodded.

Even I have no idea how much longer I’ll be here… Trixie thought.

“Well it seems like I won’t be able to get to my original purpose in coming out here until after I deal with Goliath, so really I could be here a while. He ran away with his tail feathers between his legs last time he attempted to fight me, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was too scared to try anything for a while,” Trixie smugly said. Her ego and false heroic persona getting to her again

Vector chewed on his lip, not sharing her optimism. “He was certainly hurt and frightened after what you did to him. He definitely didn’t think anyone in East Glade could challenge him. But he’s not the type to stay scared for long. Goliath needs to appear strong to his horde, or they’ll likely revolt against him. And he has his own pride too, so coming back and proving himself stronger than you will be important to him.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is not worried. My job as a hero and slayer of monsters compels me to be victorious over anyone like Goliath,” She reassured him.

The earth pony smiled, it was impossible for him not to grin after her grandiose speech. “I know, I really have full faith in you, I just can’t help but be worried too knowing what Goliath is like. But it feels so… empowering and safe to have you protecting East Glade.”

I should probably stop raising his expectations. Eh, whatever. Trixie inwardly shrugged. I’ve handled things pretty well so far, I’m sure it’ll go fine in the future too.

“It also feels great to help people in need,” Trixie replied. “But enough about all that, this is supposed to be a day for partying right? Let’s have some fun!”

“Couldn’t agree more!” Vector said and led her to some of the games.

Trixie’s above-average magical ability gave her a good edge when it came to throwing horseshoes and beanbags so even for something as minor as these games she did a pretty good job at wowing and impressing the villagers. At least until Daylight Gleam beat her at Horeshoes and Vector beat her at Cornhole.

“I have very good hoof-eye coordination,” Vector told her.

Daylight just smugly grinned and silently flaunted her own victory. She knew something like that would greatly annoy Trixie.

“Laugh all you want, I’ll beat you next time,” Trixie said to the white unicorn.

“Are you sure you want to take that risk? The perfect hero doesn’t want to get even more embarrassed now, does she?” Daylight teased her.

“I’m going to make you eat those words!”

The festivities were in full swing soon after that as everyone enjoyed themselves. Senax and the other merponies had made a three-layer carrot cake that looked delicious and Gizzard and his grandsons were busy tying long streamers and lines of flags from rooftop to rooftop of the buildings that bordered the square. Right now East Glade looked a lot happier and more colorful than it normally did. Trixie was kind of peeved that she didn’t have a show or performance of her own to put on for this but it was likely the mayor and Vector didn’t want her to have to do anything for them, this was partly supposed to be for her sake so having her put on another magic show wouldn’t be proper.

“Normally when we put this on it’s not half as fun,” Vector said. “Most of the villagers would still be worried about something or another and we don’t usually take that extra step to really make it pretty. This party is already so much better thanks to you, everyone can just relax and enjoy themselves.”

It certainly seemed to be the case to Trixie. If someone had come in from out of town today they’d have a completely different view of East Glade.

“You know if I had known something like this was happening I would have made a smoke machine or lights or something for the party,” Coil said as he walked up to them, holding a carrot cupcake he had gotten from somewhere.

“That’s fine, this day should be more about the actual citizens of East Glade putting on entertainment,” Vector waved him off.

As he said that the musicians finally got their act started. Trixie had no musical knowledge or interest in it herself but she could still enjoy a good tune. The “band” looked to have five members, a guitarist, a banjo...ist, someone with a washboard, an accordion player, and a fiddler. Some of that didn’t seem right to Trixie but what did she know.

“There will be lots of dancing soon,” Gizzard said as he plopped down in between them all, just getting finished with his work.

“Ugh, dancing?” Daylight Gleam grimaced. “Count me out. I’ll stick with Horseshoes and eating.”

Trixie could agree with that sentiment. Dance, like music, held no real interest to her. The last time she had even been to a party she could think of where there might have been dancing was when she got her medal from Princess Celestia. Let Twilight and her friends have the embarrassing dancing and singing. Also she didn’t want to look silly in front of the villagers, it was bad enough that everyone saw her lose at Horseshoes and Cornhole, she wasn’t about to make a fool of herself.

She and the others deigned to watch from the sidelines for a bit as a number of the villagers got in a big circle and started dancing in the middle of the square. The music was fast and frantic and the dancing matched it, the party becoming a big hoedown.

“Trixie has to say that she’s surprised,” The magician said while they all watched.

“Me too,” Daylight nodded.

“This is pretty much the one occasion where you’ll see everybody in East Glade really let loose,” Vector said to them.

There was something nagging at Trixie though and she only just now realized what it was. “Where are all the kids?” She asked, noticing that despite the loud festivities none of the children of East Glade were running around.

“Oh, they’re at the mayor’s house,” Vector answered. “This will go on well into the night and things slow down a bit, and there’s alcohol so we don’t want the kids around that. All of the children have their own special little party in the mayor’s house.”

“Trixie sees,” She said and looked out around the partying ponies and griffons again. She saw Speckle Wood juggling some boxes with his magic to the delight of others, that brought a smile to her face too.

“Well I’ve had enough of standing around, ready to lose at Horseshoes again, Miss Great and Powerful?” Daylight asked Trixie.

Trixie scoffed. “No thanks, I’ll take my time to enjoy the other festivities. My magic is clearly meant for greater things than throwing a horseshoe around anyways. Oh but that’s perfect for you.”

Daylight rolled her eyes and didn’t rise to Trixie’s obnoxious bait. She left the others and went to play Horseshoes and Cornhole with anyone who was interested.

Now the typical group minus Daylight watched and listened to the band perform. Trixie couldn’t help but think how any performance she put on would have completely outdone this but she kept that rude thought to herself. She still surprisingly found herself tapping her hoof in tune with the music and looked at her companions to find them doing the same or moving their heads side to side. The music did at least perfectly fit what sort of celebration this was. Happy, loud, fast, almost chaotic as every member of the band seemed to be playing as if they were the centerpiece. Sometimes the guitarist would suddenly go into his own tune, strumming an entirely new song while the rest fought to keep up. Next up the accordion player would loudly mash his instrument right in the middle of the fiddler and banjo player going at it, creating a strange cacophony of sounds that somehow still sounded right.

Discord would probably appreciate it. That jerk.

“How long has East Glade been here anyways?” Trixie suddenly asked Vector and Gizzard out of the blue.

Both of them were a bit surprised to be asked that. They looked at each other for a second before Gizzard answered her.

“Huh, beats me?” He scratched the top of his head. “That’s a good question but Gabriel’s probably the one you want to ask it to. The merponies came here… couple hundred years ago if Senax tells it right. So East Glade was already going strong back then. It’s an old place.”

“Yeah,” Vector put forth. “Don’t really know who first settled it. Griffons from Griffonstone most likely.”

“I say, I’m somewhat surprised that you don’t have a greater knowledge of your own home,” Coil said to the two of them.

Vector just shrugged. “When you’re busy avoiding monsters and horrible weather calamities that come with no warning your whole life some things just get left on the wayside.”

“Actually I might be of assistance when it comes to the history of East Glade.”

“Gah!” Trixie yelped from the sudden unexpected voice right next to her. She jumped up and turned to see Harlequin Black standing no more than an inch from her. “Could you perhaps not sneak up on people like that?!”

“My apologies,” He smiled sincerely at her. “I merely couldn’t help but overhear you all.”

“So what do you know about East Glade?” Gizzard asked their new arrival. None of the others perturbed by his sudden appearance like Trixie.

“Oh, only what I’ve asked around about. But I can say that Vector’s guess was half right, it was actually a group of griffons and ponies that founded this town together several hundred years ago. Back then ponies and griffons almost entirely kept to themselves, but the two families that led the initial settlers here were a bit different. You see one family was a group of merchants from Equestria that dealt in textiles. The other was a griffon family of minor nobility from Griffonstone who purchased from them. It just so happened that the son of the textile merchant fell in love with the griffon family’s daughter on a visit. And she reciprocated his feelings quite warmly.” Harlequin Black told them all while his same old smile stayed on his face. “Now this was even more uncommon back then than it is now but luckily for our star-crossed lovers they both at least had the support of their families. So wishing to go someplace new where they could live in peace and not be bothered by others the two families used all the money they had to get everything they needed to make a totally self-sufficient village. And they brought others with them that were interested in settling a new location and they ended up coming here. That’s how East Glade was born.”

“Rather romantic,” Coil said.

Vector smiled warmly as Harlequin Black finished telling them the story. “It really makes me happy knowing East Glade’s founding has such a positive history to it. These mountains may not be the nicest place, I’d still even say cursed, but we can at least say our town is a bright spot.”

“Or at least it should’ve been were it not for Goliath and all the other misfortune plaguing us,” Gizzard said, giving Vector a bit of a flat look.

“Well, yes, but the history is bright.” He tried to reason.

“Yes, East Glade on its own would be a very nice town,” Harlequin Black agreed. “The founders just ended up choosing a rather unfortunate spot. They wanted someplace more out of the way and private than safe. That was their initial concern.”

“And then of course it just so happened that the merponies showed up here later on?” Coil asked.

Harlequin Black nodded. “Indeed. But you all already know about what happened to them.”

Gizzard rolled his tongue around in his beak, a dismayed look etched on his face. “You know it occurs to me that how rude we’ve been to outsiders in the past kind of goes against what this place was founded for in the first place. We’ve gotta fix that in the future.”

“I don’t think anyone would blame you for that kind of thing considering all of your troubling experiences with outsiders,” Coil said.

“Be that as it may,” Vector interjected. “I think Gizzard is right. We need to make up for those past mistakes.”

“Well just remember to treat the next traveler as great as you’ve treated Trixie,” Trixie told them. Then paused. “Or maybe almost as great, I’m special after all.”

After that. Harlequin Black quietly drifted back into the crowd and the others continued to chat together and enjoy the party. Gold Embrace decided to start performing with Speckle Wood and the both of them really wanted Trixie to watch what they could do, so she and her group went over to their performance. The two unicorn students seemed to be inspired by her entertaining self and that’s why they were doing stuff like juggling. Instead of just using their magic for everyday uses, now they were doing fancy stuff like that with it. Perhaps Trixie was giving them the wrong idea of what a hero used their magic for. Or even what a normal unicorn would use their magic for.

Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace were quite proud of what they were able to accomplish with their magic now though so Trixie figured it was a good idea to humor them and intently watch the show they put on. Like Trixie had thought it was mostly just them juggling or tossing things back and forth, but even that was impressive for the two of them and it was still an unusual sight to the others who lived in East Glade who weren’t used to seeing that many unicorns.

“The both of you have improved quite a bit on your magical control,” Trixie said to them after they were done. It was a bit of a lie though since she didn’t really know what they could do before but the two of them gladly accepted her praise.

“Thanks, we’ll get even better so we can protect East Glade just as well as you can.” Speckle Wood happily grinned at her, matched by Gold Embrace.

“Don’t be upset if that’s a little difficult to accomplish,” Trixie told him, patting him on the head and then wheeling around to face the others. “Alright! What else is there to do today?”

Trixie got her answer as the formally chaotic and loud music slowed down quite a bit. Now instead of the rowdy dancing that had been going on the ponies and griffons started pairing up and danced in a much slower and formal fashion. The calm, classical music floated out through the entire town square, it seemed like it was a signal for everything to get quieter as conversations hushed and ponies playing games paused to let the new ambiance take hold.

“We like dancing like this too,” Vector whispered in her ear.

It was no more enticing to her than the previous dancing had been though. And now it was too quiet, Trixie would’ve preferred some more noise. Maybe she could go back and play Horseshoes with Daylight.

Before she could do that, Coil sidled up to her.

“Care to dance?” Coil asked her.

“Excuse me?” Trixie looked at him as if he had grown a second head.

“This is quite a bit more my speed than the, er, “boogieing” from earlier,” He said.

“I’m surprised you even know how to dance,” Trixie told him, he really didn’t seem the type.

“One can’t stay in Canterlot for as long as I had without learning to at least ballroom dance a little bit,” Coil answered. “And now that the music and dancing has switched to slow it’s just the time for that.” He held a hoof out to her for her to take.

The magician looked down at it. “Eh, alright.”

Trixie shrugged and took it, Coil leading her to the middle of the dancers. She might as well see if she could have any fun dancing around. This adventure of hers was a place for all sorts of new experiences and if Coil at least knew how to lead she might not look that bad. At least hopefully not bad enough that Daylight would tease her about it.

“Just so you know though I have no idea what I’m doing,” Trixie told him.

“Don’t worry, just move with me.” He reassured her, making sure she had her hooves in the right spot before they began slowly twirling and moving with the music.

Naturally the two blue unicorns from out of town become the center of attention with their dancing, even if Trixie’s was noticeably amateurish. It was like that as the dancing continued into the evening and then the night, Trixie was a fast-learner and she wanted to prove she was naturally the best at anything she tried. She was happy that even something like this ended up being a performance for others. Daylight Gleam came to watch the dancing too and didn’t have anything bad to say, everybody was just enjoying the party.

Later at night now, Gabriel and his wife went over to the well in the middle of the square and rang the bell to get everybody’s attention. The dancing stopped and Trixie gathered with her usual acquaintances.

“Thank you, thank you, everyone for making this an even better celebration than it usually is!” Gabriel yelled out to everyone after the absurdly loud ringing stopped.

His words were met with cheer and applause, griffons clapping and ponies stomping on the ground.

“We couldn’t even have it were it not for our esteemed visitors!” He continued and gestured towards Trixie’s group.

Trixie was more than happy to wave at everyone around her and bask in the glory.

The mayor waited for the noise to quiet down again before he continued. “I know I’m going to be saddest most of all when The Great and Powerful Trixie has to eventually leave East Glade but until-”

“Somebody! Help!” A voice yelled from deeper within the town.

The crowd turned to see a brown mare with a graying mane running to the square from down a street, she looked haggard and beat up and was running full force like a Hydra was chasing her. As she got closer to them Trixie saw that she was a bit advanced in age and she couldn’t remember seeing her at the party beforehand.

“Fall Weather?” Gabriel said and ran over to meet her midway. “What’s going on?”

“I was… I was...” The mare was out of breath. “I was looking over the children… and then he came.”

“Who?!” Gabriel asked even though he probably already knew.

“Goliath...” Fall Weather choked out. “I don’t know how he snuck in without anyone noticing but, but...”

Trixie and the others had run up to her now upon hearing the name Goliath. Vector and Gizzard went to steady Fall Weather while Gabriel kept her talking.

“What happened? Are the children alright?” He asked her.

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and shook her head. “He took them, your children only, he took them.”

The villagers erupted in gasps of shock and Gabriel fell to his knees like a puppet with its strings cut. All the life and energy seemed to empty his body at once. Giselle was right there next to him too, talons covering her beak and tears spilling down her cheeks.

“T-That’s not all, he left me this,” Fall Weather showed them a crumpled up piece of paper she had been holding in her hoof.

Vector took it and opened it up so he and the rest of Trixie’s group could read it. The parchment looked like it had clearly been torn out of something in the mayor’s own house and the black ink that the note was written with was jagged and shaky looking, clearly the result of someone who didn’t have much experience with writing.

A fresh wave of uneasiness spread over those who read it:

Tomorrow at noon, have the hero tied up on the bridge. Have her alone. If you don’t you’ll never see your kids again.

Simple, to the point, and troubling.

What Would Twilight Do?

Back at the mayor’s large house the cadre of East Glade’s protectors stood around his large dining room table to discuss their plan to deal with Goliath and his latest act. It was past midnight and only a few hours until dawn and besides Trixie’s usual group, Gizzard’s grandsons were there along with Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace. Senax was there too, although she was certainly not going to be involved in any of the conflict she wanted to know what was going to be happening on behalf of the merponies she watched over. Gabriel and Giselle sat together on their couch, holding and comforting each other while the rest talked. The three teacups Trixie had made for Gabriel Jr, Guyaven, and Gower were sitting on a side table next to them.

At this point the only people in the room who knew the truth about Trixie were Vector, Gizzard, Coil, and Daylight Gleam. And they all wanted to keep it that way so the four were trying to dismiss their misgivings and act like Trixie really was a great hero. It helped that this was actually her plan. When she had been asked where the magical items she had went to retrieve were, Vector said they had hidden them away for safekeeping.

“What are we going to do, teacher? How are we going to defeat Goliath and rescue the children?” Gold Embrace asked Trixie.

The show pony grinned at her protege. “Have no fear, The Great and Powerful Trixie has come up with the perfect plan to achieve victory!” She briefly looked from face to face of the ponies, griffon, and merpony around her. “It’s something that everyone will have to work together on, and I only came up with it thanks to everything I’ve learned about this place, you all, and Goliath.”

“We’ll help you in any way we can!” Speckle Wood said, eager to prove his worth.

“Thank you,” Trixie cleared her throat. “Goliath wants me. His base is somewhere in the mountains to the east but he says I should be tied up on the bridge. So obviously he’s going to come and get me. From what Vector told me about him his pride would never allow him to just send someone else to take me, he’ll want to be the one to gather me personally.”

“So what does that mean?” Daylight asked her.

The blue unicorn nonchalantly shrugged.

“I’m going to be bait,” Trixie told her.

There were surprised and frightened looks arrayed on the others around the table. Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace both looked very worried for their teacher while Daylight and Coil just looked surprised.

“Wait, what?” Gizzard asked her. “What do you mean by bait?”

“Exactly what I said. You’re going to tie me up to a post and put me on the bridge,” She said. “You’re going to make it look like East Glade has sacrificed me to appease Goliath and no one else is going to be around. Just like he said.” The unicorn then gave them a scheming smile. “And while that’s happening you’re going to rescue the mayor’s kids.”

The mayor and Giselle perked up when Trixie said that, she glanced over at them and winked.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got this,” She said and then turned to Vector and Gizzard, pointing at them with her hoof. “Vector, Gizzard, you two know the eastern mountains where Goliath and his band live don’t you?”

“Pretty well, yeah,” Vector nodded.

“I fly a perimeter around them fairly often. Usually don’t go too deep though,” Gizzard replied.

“But do you know where their base is?” Trixie questioned.

Both of them nodded now. “Definitely,” Vector said.

“Great,” Trixie looked to Daylight now. “And Daylight, you mentioned you had a large camouflage spell?”

The white unicorn raised an eyebrow but still answered the question. “Yes. It isn’t perfect and can be pretty easily seen during the day if I move with it, but I can create a canopy of camouflage over me and some others if they stay close to me.”

“How many others?” Trixie pushed.

Daylight shrugged. “Ten maybe? Including me. I used to not be able to conceal that many but I’ve been practicing harder with the spell the past couple of months.”

“That’s perfect!” Trixie exclaimed. “And it’s alright if it’s easy to spot during the day, you’ll be using it mostly at night.”

Trixie leaped on top of the table. “You see, we’re not waiting around till noon for Goliath to come by. We’re going to take the offensive!” She looked and pointed up to the ceiling, trying to look as grand as possible. With a manic smile on her face she jumped to the head of the table so she could stare down at all the others. “We don’t have much time to waste! Daylight, you’re going to use your camouflage spell and take Vector, Coil, Gizzard, his grandsons, Speckle Wood, and Gold Embrace, and you’re going to go straight to where Goliath’s hideout is before dawn. And then you’re going to wait.”

“Wait for what?” Daylight asked her.

“For Goliath to leave on his way to get me. Once you see him go you’re going to head on into his base and get the kids back,” Trixie told them.

“Hold on, there are some holes to what you’re saying,” Coil said to her. “Even if Goliath isn’t there the rest of his thugs will be. Or what if they decide to go with him instead?”

“If they decide to go with him that’ll be even better, it will make things easier for you,” Trixie said.

“But then you’ll have to deal with not just him but whoever he brings with him,” Vector pointed out.

“That’s not important,” Trixie waved him off. “I have a plan for dealing with him and anybody else too. And besides, the same part of him that I think will make him want to come get me himself makes me think he’s gonna come alone too. To show he doesn’t need anybody with him to beat me.” She smirked. “And the good thing is he asked in his own letter for no one else on our side to be there, so he won’t get suspicious when nobody else is around. He’ll just think the “cowardly people of East Glade” gave in to him again.”

“So you still want the eight of us to deal with the rest of his minions then?” Gizzard asked her.

Trixie nodded. “Actually I don’t think you’ll have a problem with that at all. Knowing what you all can do and seeing what those guys are like, if it came down to a fight I think you’re more than enough to deal with the whole lot of them besides Goliath. But with luck I think you can just scare them away too, like how I did.” She looked at the four other unicorns gathered here. “How confident are you in your teacup transforming skills?”

Daylight grinned. “You think we can bluff them?”

“I know you can, they’re a bunch of scaredy-cats,” Trixie said, she then glanced at Gold Embrace and Speckle Wood. “Don’t worry if your teacups aren’t perfect yet, in fact that might scare those jerks even more. Just follow Daylight’s lead when you’re there, she’ll explain things.”

Both of the unicorn students were confused but nodded. Out of everyone here they now probably had the most trust in and respect for Trixie.

“As far as scaring our enemies go I actually have a few extra magic bombs I’ve made,” Coil said.

“Great, bring them with you!” Trixie said to him.

“So while we’re rescuing the children just what exactly are you going to be doing?” Vector wondered.

“Like I said, I’m going to be tied up as the bait,” She shrugged.

“But-” Vector started before Trixie cut him off.

“Don’t worry. It’s just gonna be a show and no one puts on a better show than me,” Trixie grinned at him. “Now you all should start getting on your way as soon as possible, I don’t know how long it will take you to get to where Goliath hangs out in those mountains.”

“It’s gonna be slow going no matter how far it is,” Daylight said. “I need to concentrate when using my camouflage spell, it’s complicated magic.”

Gizzard huffed. “It’s also a treacherous path and a dangerous place in general. Me and Vector know our way around it and most of the creatures that live there but we’ll still need to be careful. Luckily that camouflage spell or whatever should help us out with that too.”

“Not just the camouflage spell,” Trixie said and looked to Senax with an apologetic smile. “Er, Senax? I really hate to ask this of you but I was wondering if you might let us borrow the Horn of Listening? Giving it to Vector and them will let them hear anything dangerous and avoid it before it gets close.”

The merpony grimaced, biting her lip. It was obvious that to be asked such a thing was really putting her in a difficult position. But as she looked around herself at the imploring and pleading eyes of the others, and knowing the danger of the situation as well as what would happen to the mayor’s kids if this failed, there was only one thing she could say.

“Of course, I will retrieve the Horn for you. After all it would still be in Goliath’s clutches if it wasn’t for you in the first place,” Senax smiled as best she could at Trixie.

“Thanks, Senax,” Trixie told her, leaning down to pat her on her scaly shoulder.

Not missing a beat, the conversation continued.

“And in the morning or around noon once Goliath has gotten some distance we’ll drive off the others and rescue the kids...” Vector said to himself, as if mulling things over. “They outnumber us but without Goliath around to scare them into doing something I think you’re right that we can probably just get them to flee.”

“Have faith in The Great and Powerful Trixie’s plan!” She stated.

"It sounds like your plan relies a lot on luck, circumstance, and your own guesswork and hypothesizing,” Daylight flatly said before a small smirk appeared on her face. “Buuut, I think it sounds decent and it’s not like I have a better idea.”

Vector gave Trixie a small smile, despite his reservations and worried soul. “I’m for it too. Just please be careful with whatever it is you’re doing?”

Trixie chuckled. “But of course. The Great and Powerful Trixie always takes care of herself.”

That was something the four in the know now knew very well.

Feelings were good in the house of the mayor, even considering the situation there was an air of hope thanks to The Great and Powerful Trixie. Gabriel and Giselle both had tentative smiles on their faces and the ones who knew the truth of Trixie were just as excited as the ones who didn’t. Everyone really thought they could do this. The traveling magician finally hopped off the table and strode over to the mayor and his wife.

“Mayor, I’m going to need your help with some things too.”

His eyes widened in surprise and he shared a brief worried look with his wife before pointing a single talon at his face. “Me?”

Trixie gave him an honest smile. “Yes, you. Come morning, or at least sometime before noon, I need you to get everyone in the village away from the east side where the bridge is just in case. I don’t want any of the villagers put in danger so just evacuate them to the west side, around where Senax and the merponies are.”

“We’ll gladly house as many as we can in our home,” Senax chimed in.

“Thank you Senax,” Trixie said, looking over her shoulder and smiling at the merpony before returning her gaze to the mayor. “Also, I’m going to need you to introduce me to whoever’s a good carpenter around here.”

“What? Why?” The mayor asked in confusion.

“I’m going to need some help with the bridge and someone who can find a board to tie me to, and I’ll need some rope but I can get that from my wagon,” The magician said.

“Just what are you going to be doing on that bridge?” Daylight Gleam asked the smug blue unicorn.

Trixie flashed her her biggest and most obnoxious smile. “I’m going to be practicing my escape artist skills.”

The mayor rubbed his feathered head but just shrugged. “Well whatever you need I’ll be happy to get it I guess. Anything for our kids sakes.” Giselle nodded with him.

“All of us will work as hard as possible and do whatever you need of us, teacher,” Speckle Wood said.

“Right! We won’t let you down either!” One of Gizzard’s grandsons said while hooking his arm around the neck of his brother and pulling him in close. Trixie wished someone would finally tell her what their names were so she didn’t have to ask.

“You’ll have the support and wishes of those not fighting too. All of you,” Senax said to the gathered protectors. “May Ponyseidon look well upon you.”

There would be no rest for the ones going into the eastern mountains, they had to immediately get ready for their mission. Coil went back to his lab to grab the few magical bombs he had and Senax went to retrieve the Horn of Listening. Gizzard talked with his grandsons about what they could expect in the mountains and Daylight chatted with Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace about what Trixie had meant when she mentioned the teacups earlier.

Vector gave a last questioning look to Trixie, silently asking if this was really going to work. If she was really going to be okay.

And Trixie being the great illusionist, entertainer, and braggart that she was, effortlessly hid away all her own worries that she couldn’t allow others to see and simply returned his look with a smug smile.

Showdown

Across the bridge in the last little patches of farmland that constituted East Glade before the land became part of the eastern mountains, Vector and the rest of the strike force assembled. A mere hundred yards away the ashen colored ground started rising up into the foothills and beyond there was the lair of Goliath and the others. It was a dangerous mission they were undertaking but a necessary one to make sure the mayor’s kids were okay and that these violent thugs would never come back to bother East Glade again.

Since it had taken some time for everyone to get their things together it was only about an hour until dawn and even now light threatened to break out over the horizon. Daylight Gleam was going to have to work hard to keep her camouflage spell going for however long they needed it, and after a sleepless night like this it would be especially difficult. Vector was going to be the one directing them all since he knew the ground and trails of the eastern mountains the best. Gizzard would be holding onto the Horn of Listening to be on the “listen” out for monsters or members of Goliath’s band. Gizzard’s grandsons (who still unbeknownst to Trixie were named Gullet and Garry) were helping Coil carry his magic bombs and Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace were to function as backup right now in case anyone needed help.

Daylight Gleam still had misgivings about including the two novice unicorns on this mission but she couldn’t fault the logic in it. Their opponents knew little and less about magic and even the most minor of spells could work as a good intimidation factor against superstitious people like them. Not to mention that the effectiveness of the teacup threat was already proven. If anything else Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace could also help slightly maintain Daylight’s camouflage spell, just pumping a little extra power into it so she didn’t need to do it all on her own.

Truthfully all four of the ones who knew the truth about Trixie had at least some misgivings. Their formerly perfect hero turned out to be a fraud and now they were following a plan by her that was essentially thought up in about five minutes. But in a way knowing she was a fake and that she had still somehow lucked out and saved the village multiple times now by blind chance was reassuring in its own way. And regardless of the danger or lack of thought the fact was that something needed to be done.

Vector really wanted to believe in Trixie and if this turned out well he felt that even if he couldn’t go back to that childish adoration he had for her he could at least respect and cheer for her again.

He looked out at the other seven with him, things looked just about ready and they had only a little cover of darkness left. “Alright everyone, get ready. We’re heading into the mountains in two minutes.”

Daylight Gleam nodded to him and closed her eyes, attempting to meditate a bit and get herself ready for the long term spell she was about to put on. Coil, Gullet, and Garry were each carrying a magic bomb wrapped in cloth on their backs. The others had been a little worried about carrying those with them but Coil assured them that the only way these ones could go off was from his magic activating them. He had made them slightly different from the landmines they attempted to use to stop the Nuckelavee.

The night was deathly quiet out here.

“I think we’re all as ready as we’ll ever be,” Gizzard said as he walked up beside Vector, holding the Horn of Listening.

“Yeah,” Vector agreed. “Daylight?”

The white unicorn opened her eyes and nodded to Vector. “I’m ready. Everyone get close.”

Upon Daylight and Vector’s orders everyone got in close to the sunrise themed unicorn. They huddled up enough that they were all pretty much grouped in a ball and then Daylight activated her spell, a dome of powder blue magic came down over their heads before shimmering into nothing. It looked like there wasn’t anything around them but Daylight assured them that her spell was up.

“Looking from the inside out you can’t tell there’s a spell around us, but if you stepped out of the dome and looked back at us you’d only see the ground and air,” She explained to them. “When I start moving the dome though it’s noticeable that there’s something weird there. The air and everything gets distorted. Luckily at night it’s pretty much impossible to see that. Just keep in mind that since the dome moves with me at the center make sure you all stay close and don’t step outside of it.”

After her explanation they began moving, the journey to Goliath’s base might take well into morning depending on if they got waylaid by anything like monsters or sentries. And then they’d still have to wait for whenever Goliath chose to leave.

“I don’t think there will be any of them looking out for us at least,” Gizzard said as they approached the foothills. “They’re kind of too dumb and don’t think anyone from East Glade would ever come in and attack them like this.”

“Well they would have been right before today,” Gullet muttered, upon which Gizzard smacked him upside the head.

Their going was slow just as they had all known it would be. The sky with its slivers of sunlight peaking over the horizon gave them adequate vision and Gizzard had the Horn of Listening tilted up to his ear to hear anything that might be ahead of them. Vector, being the only one who had navigated parts of the mountains by hoof, directed Daylight.

“These mountains are a labyrinth and there’s only one path through them that will take us to Goliath’s base,” Vector whispered. “Other paths will take us off to nowhere or into underground caves where the stone worms live. You really don’t want to go there. Luckily I know where to take us.”

“Aren’t there all kinds of other monsters living here too?” Coil asked.

“Yes, lots. I think I’m the only villager from East Glade who’s been even halfway into these mountains. On hoof at least. Gizzard’s flown above them enough times, he’s the reason why we actually know where Goliath is,” Vector said. “Normally even knowing the right way in here I wouldn’t come but with Daylight’s camouflage spell and the Horn I think we’re pretty safe.”

“Can I ask how you did discover Goliath’s base?” Coil now asked Gizzard.

The old griffon coughed and nodded. “You can see it from the air, it’s a small plateau they hang out on nestled in the center of the mountains. Only one way to it from the west. Since they can’t fly or anything I was pretty safe in the air. Er, from them at least. Got chased by some giant birds a couple of times.”

“Well I hope your memory and mapping of these mountains is faithful,” Coil gulped. “I wouldn’t want to run afoul of the kinds of things that call this place home after a wrong turn.”

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll be fine. Perhaps it’s just Trixie rubbing off on me but I’m feeling very confident in our mission,” Vector said. Which was half true, but he wanted to seem strong just like she did.

The traveling into, through, and over the eastern mountains in the last hour of darkness before dawn took a quieter turn after that as no one wanted to possibly alert anything dangerous or distract Daylight from her spell. As she had told them the canopy of camouflage was just a visual spell, it wouldn’t do anything to block the noise they made or their scent. The white unicorn was doing her best to not feel fatigued but the lack of rest she had had before doing this would take its toll on her soon enough. She and Trixie hadn’t thought about how drained she would be for any potential fighting after performing this spell for hours. In the end she’d probably have to rely on the other unicorns quite a bit. That’s essentially what Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace were there for but they didn’t have the raw power nor the technical skill to aid in any great way, only enough to alleviate her burden slightly. And now that she thought about it Coil’s magical prowess was something of a mystery, she knew he was a great inventor but didn’t really know his capabilities aside from him telling her he wasn’t much for fighting.

By the time dawn broke they were only halfway to their destination and now the distorted air of Daylight’s spell would be easy for any person or creature with a sharp enough eye to see if they were paying attention. But there was nothing they could do about that except forge on and hope for the best.

Every now and then Gizzard would raise a talon to signal them to be extra silent and halt their progress for a second. Obviously hearing something around them with the Horn of Listening. But whatever beast he might’ve heard never came close and they were always able to resume walking shortly after. They counted themselves lucky. Walking on the edge of one of the mountains one only needed to look up to see dozens of holes dug into the side of the mountain, clearly unnatural, the villagers and outsiders both had no idea what might call those holes their home and they had no desire to find out.

“I’m starting to get a little tired,” Daylight whispered. “Gold? Speckle? Can you two put a little magic into my spell, I need to rest for a second.”

They did as instructed and the whole party sat around up on the mountain for a few minutes. They still had hours before Goliath was supposed to get the tied up Trixie at East Glade but they wanted to get closer to his base before he left. Since there was only one path from his place to East Glade they would eventually cross paths, the protectors would just have to lay low while he walked by and sneak in once he was far enough away. Hopefully his sharp ears and nose wouldn’t find them out.

Speaking of Trixie, the ones on this mission who had left her behind were wondering just what she had gotten up to when they left. She needed a carpenter for some reason. Daylight wondered if perhaps she was even still asleep right now. She frowned thinking that their fake hero probably got a good night’s rest while they all traversed these dangerous mountains.

Well, maybe that was being a bit unfair to Trixie. What she was doing with just throwing herself out there for Goliath was arguably even more dangerous.

Eventually Daylight had rested enough where they could keep moving with the camouflage spell on. Vector pointed them downwards in-between two of the mountains and the party made its descent. They had to be careful on this part not to slip or kick any rocks loose, Goliath would be the least of their worries if they made too much noise here.

The strangely warped dome of air that signaled where the East Glader’s were to any on the outside hit the bottom of the canyon, the walls of the canyon from here on out got steeper and narrower until finally becoming vertical and leaving only a small opening between the two mountains. The crevice to the east was barely wide enough for a wagon to pass through, with all of them crowded around each other it would be difficult for Daylight to work her camouflage magic in there, it would probably get even more warped by the canyon walls.

“That’s it,” Vector whispered, making them all stop. “Through there is the plateau.”

“So now we just wait for Goliath?” Speckle Wood asked.

“That’s right, we should just sit here and wait for him to go see if East Glade is really giving him Trixie. You should take this time to get a little more rest, Daylight.” Vector said.

“I will. Not having to move the thing makes this a lot easier,” The white unicorn responded.

“We could be waiting here for hours though,” Gold Embrace said. The mare a little nervous now that they were so close.

“Nothing we can do about that,” Gizzard told her. “Just keep calm. I’ll keep using this Horn so I can hear him coming first.” He sat down and did as he said he would, holding the Horn to his ear.

“He’ll probably leave a good hour before noon to arrive at East Glade on time,” Coil said. The professor glanced up at the sky. “I don’t think we’ll have too long to wait.”

“Good, I’m just… well I’m just nervous if I’m being honest. I wish Miss Trixie was here,” Gold Embrace said.

Speckle Wood, Gullet and Garry both nodded along with that sentiment. The others (who were supposed to be the more seasoned defenders of East Glade) didn’t say anything about that since they didn’t want Gold Embrace to think they were worried too. It was better to appear strong and confident.

Unfortunately they now had nothing to do but sit there and stew in their own thoughts while Daylight strained to perfectly keep her camouflage dome up.

Gizzard was sitting like a statue, his eyes closed so he could focus only on his ears. For a good couple hours he sat like that. His grandsons were trying to not make snide jokes about him looking like he had fallen asleep. But any comments they would’ve liked to have made died when the old griffon’s eyes suddenly snapped open and his talon clenched around the Horn. His pupils darted over to Vector and his beak opened up a fraction of an inch.

“He’s coming.”

It was all Gizzard needed to say. The rest completely clammed up and went as stock still as he was. The old griffon tucked the Horn beneath one of his wings and they waited until Goliath emerged from the crevice that led to the plateau. For once they didn’t need to wait long as the clacking of sharp talons on rock came to their ears, they could see a shadowy figure walking through that narrow canyon towards them. Large and familiar, the likes of Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace did their best not to sweat or falter now.

Soon the fearsome and angry Goliath emerged, his mauled feathers on his head still showing signs of how they had been burnt in his last encounter with Trixie. He seemed to be grinding his teeth and grumbling something to himself with each step. But that didn’t concern the protectors, they just needed to stay still and avoid him as he walked on by.

Please don’t let him somehow notice the dome. Daylight thought to herself.

Unlike her, Vector’s mind was completely blank, all of his energy was focused on willing things to go right.

Goliath shortly did walk right past them as he went into the wider part of the canyon and started climbing up the sloped rock. His sharp eyes and senses may have been able to pick them out if his mind wasn’t occupied with his his current goal but the grungy griffon only had thoughts of what he was going to do to Trixie when he got his talons on her.

The others held their breath and waited until he was well out of view after getting up the side of the mountain and disappearing to the west, upon which Gold Embrace let out a loud sigh of relief that probably would’ve given them away if anyone was closer.

“Alright, I think we’re good now.” Vector said, a relaxed smile on his face.

“Do you think that was the hard part?” Garry asked him. “We still need to do the actual rescuing.”

“Believe me, any part that doesn’t include Goliath is the easy part,” Vector answered.

“Whatever may happen on that plateau I’m going to make Miss Trixie proud,” Speckle Wood said. “Whether we have to fight them all or can just scare them off like she said, I know we can do it with her believing in us.”

Daylight nearly rolled her eyes but didn’t want to break the concentration on her spell. “Either way can we start moving again? I can’t do this forever.”

Gibble and Gouge impatiently sat at the foot of the pyramid of rocks that rested in the center of the plateau. Gibble’s beak was twisted at an odd angle thanks to Goliath’s anger and Gouge still had bruises on his face but even with that they would never think of betraying their leader. That would just make things worse for them. Both of them were in a fouler mood than normal, the reason for that was the three annoying children tied up on top of the pyramid of rocks behind them.

“Hey! Hey stupid! Yeah I’m talking to you!”

The two thug griffons sat there doing their best to ignore whichever one of the mayor’s kids was yelling at them. They had gotten good practice ever since Goliath brought them here.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is gonna beat all of you up!”

“You guys should just untie us so she goes easy on you!”

Hours they had listened to this and all for the simple problem of them not having any other rope or cloths they could use to gag them. Even when Goliath was still here the kids had dumbly insulted him and everyone else at the plateau, mocking them and warning them of how bad they were gonna get it when their rescuers came. Goliath had told them to shut up but they never stayed quiet for long.

Gibble was surprised Goliath wasn’t more… forceful with them but figured he didn’t want to permanently destroy the relationship they had with East Glade. And that would’ve been a good way to do that.

So as it was they were stuck babysitting three kids who were too stupid or ignorant to know fear. Meanwhile Gibble and Gouge most definitely knew fear and were not going to disobey Goliath’s orders of not hurting the three.

“You’re all a bunch of losers!” Whichever one that was blew a raspberry at the end of his insult too.

“Even Goliath ran away scared from Trixie!”

That last one stung, cause Goliath had taken his rage out on all of his underlings after that day. All the other minions on the plateau winced when they were reminded of that. Gibble and Gouge too were starting to get too annoyed by these constant remarks to continue ignoring the kids and they could tell that the rest of their comrades were getting antsy as well. Everything had been going downhill since The Great and Powerful Trixie arrived and now all of them were anxious, there was a foreboding atmosphere on the plateau among Goliath’s band.

Gouge sighed and did his best to block out any troublesome thoughts, just staring ahead trying to tune out the voices of the mayor’s kids.

“This is quite the day, isn’t it?” He said to Gibble.

“Hrn,” Gibble grunted. He in particular was still upset that his binoculars were transformed into a teacup.

Gouge rolled his eyes and returned to staring off at the canyon that led to the plateau. After about five seconds he raised a single eyebrow, something strange catching his attention.

“Hey, Gibble?” He asked his friend.

“What?” Gibble grumpily responded.

“Rocks aren’t supposed to just move on their own, right?”

The bent-beaked griffon scowled at his friend. “What are you talking about?”

“Well I’m just looking at the canyon and some of the rocks along the wall are all warped and moving like I’m looking at em through a bubble,” He pointed to where things were off.

Gibble followed his talon and saw the same thing, a warped pocket of air moving at the end of the canyon, right to their plateau. A lot of the others saw it now too, it was impossible to miss in broad daylight like this and without anything else obstructing their view on the flat plateau.

“What is that?” Gibble wondered.

And he continued wondering right up until a powder blue dome of magic shimmered in the air and disappeared, revealing the protectors of East Glade.

Gibble and Gouge squawked in surprise and shot up to their talons, the other underlings doing the same as the several dozen that made up Goliath’s forces all gathered in front of the large pyramid of stones.

“How did you get here?!” Gouge yelled to the eight invaders.

“Well that isn’t very important now, is it?” Vector said to him. “What is important is that Goliath isn’t here right now.”

Gizzard stepped forward, staring down his enemies with a piercing gaze. “We’re gonna give you the chance to solve things peacefully. Your boss aint here to make you do something stupid anymore. Give us back the mayor’s kids and you can just go off and do whatever you want, ya here?”

“No deal,” Gibble stepped forward too, not backing down from Gizzard. “We aren’t gonna do something suicidal like betray Goliath.” His eyes darted back and forth among the ones who had come to the plateau. “And it seems your hero isn’t here either.”

“She’s not the only unicorn who can use powerful magic,” Speckle Wood said, his voice almost cracked but he managed to hold his fear back. “I’ve been training under The Great and Powerful Trixie and she taught me how to turn things into teacups as well. Or if you don’t believe me perhaps you want to see a demonstration?” He threatened.

That got a number of the brigands to back up and begin muttering in fear, the ones who had been with Gibble and Gouge on that first excursion.

“Don’t be afraid, you cowards!” Gibble yelled to them. “They’re just ordinary unicorns from East Glade, there’s no way they can do the same kind of magic that hero could! Otherwise they would’ve tried defending the village before now!”

“You’re forgetting that Coil and I aren’t from East Glade,” Daylight Gleam said. She tried her best to appear not fatigued and was relishing this moment of talking since it allowed her to regain some energy. “We’re outsiders just like Trixie and can perform magic the likes of which you’ve never seen. Like Gizzard said you should just give up, this doesn’t need to turn into a fight.”

“Vector! Gizzard!” Gabriel Jr. yelled out from on top of the pyramid before Gibble and Gouge could raise anymore objections.

Now Gold Embrace almost ran forward at seeing them up there. “Don’t worry, sweeties! We’ll save you!”

“I think you’re all still forgetting how badly you’re outnumbered,” Gouge said. He shot a few glares at the less enthusiastic minions around him to keep them from breaking away. “No matter what there are dozens of us and only eight of you. If you really wanted the kids back you should’ve brought the whole village of cowards.”

It seemed the time for talking was over. The dozens of sordid, thuggish, griffons and ponies spread out in a semi-circle in front of the pyramid of rocks. The East Glader’s would have to go through them to rescue Gabriel Jr, Guyaven, and Gower.

Which was fine with them.

“Coil? Mind starting things off?” Vector asked the blue unicorn.

“Gladly,” Coil smiled and used his magic to toss the bomb on his back into the air.

It unfurled from its cloth to reveal a metal sphere with a red ring around the center. All eyes were on it as it fell to the ground and bounced off the densely packed dirt in-between the two groups. With a smirk, the normally violet light around Coil’s horn went black for a split second and the red ring flashed as the bomb was detonated.

A large explosion tore apart the ground and licks of fire and arcs of red lightning erupted from the blast-zone. The size of the explosion wasn’t enough to reach the brigands but it did startle and terrify them, many yelled and ran away from it as Gibble and Gouge tried to maintain order.

“Stop! Stop, you morons!” Gibble yelled. “Just attack them!”

Gouge meanwhile simply grabbed two of the wingless pegasi next to him and basically threw them forward, running right behind them into the smoke cloud that was made from the explosion and towards their attackers directly beyond it.

As the three made their way through the smoke they ended up confronted by Gizzard, Gullet, and Garry. The two grandsons dropped their bombs and grappled with the pegasi while Gouge ran right between them to tackle Gizzard.

But Gizzard was a seasoned fighter himself, he back-stepped out of the way and reached a talon under his wing to grab the Horn of Listening.

And swung it full force into Gouge’s face. The heavy thunk knocking the already bruised griffon out cold in one blow.

Gizzard even winced. “Better not tell Senax I did that...”

While Garry and Gullet continued to grapple with their opponents, a group of raiders had circled around the smoking crater and were coming at Gold Embrace and Speckle Wood. The two unlikely fighters shared a glance and nodded at each other before firing beams of magic at some rocks on the ground in front of the advancing raiders. The thugs stopped in their tracks as the rocks were transformed into an assortment of teacups. They weren’t perfect, some were misshapen, others still clearly rock and not porcelain, and none of them were as pretty or luxurious looking as the ones Trixie had made. But it was enough for these guys.

The thugs gasped in shock and backed away from the teacups as if they were venomous cobras. Their eyes fearfully looked at the two apprentice unicorns, worried that they would turn their magic on them next.

“You just get out of here unless you want that to be you!” Speckle Wood yelled, pointing his hoof at them.

It was a good thing for them that none of these thugs were smart or had any knowledge of magic.

Gold Embrace watched them all run away and turned to her fellow student. “Miss Trixie was right, we scared them away good.”

At the same time, Vector was fending off enemies from attacking Coil, who had gone to retrieve the other two magic bombs. Only for Vector to be confronted by a very angry Gibble that had gathered a few of the other more courageous brigands to put an end to this attack. Gibble leaped at the orange earth pony and tackled him to the ground, the two rolled over and over with each of them trying to overpower the other until finally Vector’s earth pony strength won out and he pinned Gibble to the ground, punching him right in the beak and twisting it in the opposite direction from which it was already crooked.

“Ow!” Gibble yelped. “That tears it!” The griffon contorted his hind-legs up to hook them under Vector’s belly and pushed out with his whole body to knock the pony off of him.

Vector fell back with a grunt while Gibble quickly got back up, the injured griffon scurrying back to the pyramid of rocks. Looking around him he saw that Gouge was out while a number of their forces had just run away or were caught in other fights or too scared to move in on the East Glade defenders. The griffon growled deep in his throat as he climbed up the first set of rocks and turned back to look over the battlefield.

“Alright, alright!” He shouted to everyone on the plateau. “Enough! You all stop fighting right now or you can say goodbye to these dumb kids!” He pointed back to the top of the pyramid without looking at it. “I don’t care what Goliath says anymore, these kids are through if you don’t get out of here right now!”

The assorted citizens of East Glade and its terrorizers stopped briefly, looking at the grandstanding Gibble. The smoke from the explosion had pretty much lifted at this point, only leaving a thin trail in the air from the middle of the burnt crater. Even slowed down it was still a chaotic scene in front of him with how many little fights had broken out in just a couple of minutes. But much to Gibble’s shock and confusion the seven defenders of East Glade just grinned at his words while his own comrades looked worried and were pointing at something behind him.

Before Gibble could threaten them some more, Vector yelled at him.

“Kids? What kids?” The orange earth pony smirked at the bent-beaked griffon.

“Huh?” Gibble dumbly replied before looking behind him and up to the top of the pyramid.

Which was devoid of the mayor’s three children. The ropes that had been used to tie them up were lying there in a pile as the only things left.

“Looking for us?”

Gibble’s head lurched to his right to spy the three kids safely standing on the ground already far away from the pyramid of rocks.

“B-But, what?! How?!” The befuddled griffon screeched.

A white unicorn then faded into existence behind the kids.

Daylight Gleam smirked at Gibble. “I might have had something to do with that.”

“Grrr, you…!” Gibble’s talons clenched around the rock he was standing on, sending cracks through it. “This isn’t over by a long shot, we still-”

“Actually, it is over,” Vector cut him off. “Coil? Would you care to end things this time?”

The blue unicorn adjusted his glasses and winked at the earth pony. “But of course!”

He heaved his second bomb into the air with his magic, arcing it well over the heads of everyone else on the plateau until it came down and landed right on top of the rock pyramid. The metal bomb bounced and shook for a few seconds before coming to a stop at the center of the peak. Gibble watched it intently the whole time with a blank expression on his face, too fed up to bother anymore.

With another blink of his horn Coil set it off and the pyramid was blown apart in a red explosion. Gibble was launched into the air and coincidentally came down right next to Gouge, both of them now unconscious.

This destruction of Goliath’s awkward throne and defeat of their remaining leader was enough to completely break the rest of the brigands. Those not injured too badly or out cold themselves all picked up and fled the plateau. Going any direction deeper into the mountains that wasn’t west. The terrifying magic, the strength of the outsiders and defenders, it was too much for these silly thugs who thought everyone in East Glade aside from the new hero was a coward just yesterday.

Vector wasn’t sure what might be happening with Goliath himself right now but unless the gargantuan griffon came back and searched through the eastern mountains for every single individual that just ran off it seemed his strength would be broken for good.

“That was awesome!” Gabriel Jr. said as he ran over to the rest of them with his two brothers and Daylight Gleam following along.

“Yeah, you totally beat those guys up!” Gower cheered for the defenders.

The rest of them all came together too now. The ponies and griffons of East Glade smiling in satisfaction. Gizzard looked around at what they had accomplished.

“We did do a pretty good job, didn’t we?”

“I’m actually surprised. Surprised but happy,” Gold Embrace said before reaching down and hugging the mayor’s kids. “I’m so glad you’re all okay.”

Vector grinned as the three of them squirmed and tried getting out of the unicorn’s embarrassing hug before he looked at Daylight. “How long do you think you’ll need to rest before you can use that camouflage spell again? I don’t fancy being attacked by monsters on our way out of here right after winning.”

She absentmindedly rubbed her horn. “A while. And then I’m going to sleep for an entire day when we get back.”

“I think we’re all just about running on empty,” Gizzard said. The exhaustion was easier to see in his old face now that the adrenaline of the fight was wearing off. “I wanted us to be able to go back to the village and help Trixie if she needed it. But that’s not happening now.”

“I believe in Miss Trixie,” Speckle Wood said. “She won’t need our help.”

For obvious reasons some of the others there weren’t sure about that but they kept their mouths shut.

Coil decided to break the awkward silence. “Well in good news I still have one magic bomb left in case we ever need it for something.” He grinned and smiled at the dangerous device on his back.

“Wait, hold on,” Gabriel Jr. said to grab the others attention. “Trixie isn’t here because she’s fighting Goliath right now all alone? That’s awesome!”

“More like scary,” Gold Embrace frowned.

Vector silently agreed. All in the know when it came to Trixie’s true self were wondering just what that blue unicorn had planned. Unfortunately they had no idea what was going on at East Glade since they left last night and didn’t have the time to return now. All they could do was hope for the best.

Meanwhile The Great and Powerful Trixie was tied to a pole.

“This might be the most self-embarrassing plan I’ve come up with in my life.”

The sun was shining directly over her head now. Noon. She had been tied up to this pole for well over an hour now just waiting for Goliath to come. Her stage had been set and while Trixie was certain of her impending victory she’d be lying if she said the prospect of facing Goliath again didn’t scare her at least a little bit. But she was currently more hoping that Vector and everyone else’s mission was going well.

I’m sure they’re fine. If those jerks could be scared off by a teacup then there’s no way Daylight and Vector and my oh so perfectly trained students can’t handle it. Trixie thought.

She shifted against the pole, the rope and her robe rubbing together in a painfully itchy way.

“Maybe a chain would’ve been better,” The magician grumbled.

From where she was situated facing the carrot patch just on the other side of the bridge and the eastern mountains beyond, Trixie would be able to see Goliath on his approach long before he actually got to her. Unless he jumped over the ravine or something but she doubted even a griffon of his size and strength could do that. And why would he? If he wanted to appear confident and fearless he’d just waltz right in like normal instead of hiding from the village or Trixie.

Of course though that meant she’d just be stuck there watching him the whole time and trying not to sweat.

Which is what she was doing now after seeing Goliath coming down from the foothills.

“Absolutely nothing to worry about,” Trixie told herself.

The huge griffon took his time coming to her, probably trying to make her as scared as possible. As he got closer though she could see that his head-feathers were still ragged and had singed ends. She couldn’t help but smirk seeing that. Let him get as angry about it as he wanted. When he made it to the carrot patch she could see the twisted and angry look on his face. It seems just seeing Trixie made him mad even though to his knowledge East Glade had acquiesced to his demands and he now had his prey served to him on a platter. That actually helped ease Trixie’s mind too. She was the one in control, not him.

She’d been in worse spots and pulled through. He wasn’t really scary.

Dealing with changelings, dealing with Starlight almost hating me… I should’ve realized long ago not to be afraid of Goliath after living through the rest of my life.

Trixie tried giving nothing away as the monstrous griffon walked onto the bridge, she glanced at each of his clawed talons as they clacked onto the bridge before returning to staring into his eyes.

“Well, looks like the village of cowards was more than willing to give up its hero,” Goliath’s deep voice growled into Trixie’s ears.

“Looks that way,” Trixie frowned at him. “So now what? You take me back to your lair and hold me hostage or something?”

The griffon grinned evilly at her. “Actually, I was planning on just throwing you into the river all tied up like this to be done with you.”

“Oh,” Trixie flatly said. “Well that’s kind of interesting actually.”

Goliath’s grin turned into a scowl. He lifted one of his talons up and brought his claws close to Trixie’s face. “And why’s that?”

“No reason, no reason,” Trixie nonchalantly avoided the question. “So what are you going to do with the kids after you take care of me?”

“I don’t see why you would care,” The villainous griffon said. Looking down at her in disgust. Obviously this creature couldn’t fathom why one would be worried about others. “But I’ll return them… eventually, to make sure that the villagers don’t get any more dumb ideas in their heads or think some hero can come and save them.” He chuckled. “East Glade is good for food and picking on. Why ruin that?”

Goliath pointed a single claw at her face. “Not that any of that concerns you. Since you’ll be long gone by then.”

To her credit, Trixie did a good job of keeping her cool. She even managed to grin at him. “Thrown into the river, right?”

He scowled again at the obnoxiously smug unicorn. Why wasn’t she terrified right now?

“That’s right. What’s so funny?” He narrowed his eyes at her.

“Well it’s funny because that’s the same exact thing I was planning on doing to you.”

The huge griffon paused. His face twisted in a confused and suspicious grimace for a second, Trixie was eyeing his talon pointing right at her face the whole time, before a sadistic smile broke out across his beak and the griffon began laughing. Barking almost. He guffawed on top of the bridge, the little nubs of his wings twitching in excitement.

“Gahahaha, I knew… I knew you were insane and stupid… but this is too much,” He rested his claws besides her and leaned down, getting eye to eye with her. “Maybe you’re forgetting who’s the one that’s tied up? Any last words?”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “You know, you’re not as scary as I first thought you were. Compared to everyone finding out I was lying to them this is nothing. The Great and Powerful Trixie refuses to be scared by the likes of you anymore.”

“Grrr.” Goliath growled, his talons clenching and clawing deep cuts into the wood of the bridge. His bloodshot eyes bulged out of his face and stared deep into Trixie’s. “You’ll regret that. Forget the river, I’m taking my time with you.”

“I wouldn’t forget the river if I were you,” Trixie smugly grinned. “Also I wanted to say that you’re not even as smart as you are scary. You really think East Glade would betray their hero? I am The Great and Powerful Trrrixie! My presence fills them with hope, they would never bow to you with me here!”

“An empty boast. They’d never risk angering me when I have that fat chicken’s kids.”

“Yeah, you said it. Good thing for us the kids are getting rescued as we speak,” Trixie told him.

“Lies!” Goliath slammed a balled up fist down beside her, cracking the wood. “They could never get in there and my worthless underlings would stop them if they did!”

Trixie raised an eyebrow at him. “You just called your underlings worthless.”

“I know-”

She cut him off. “Yeah, whatever. My friends are doing that right now while I deal with you. Your band of losers will never trouble East Glade again. All of this was my plan, even making you think East Glade had betrayed me.”

His whole body was shaking in anger now. “Even if what you’ve said is true that still leaves you alone here with me. Deal with me? What do you think you can do to me?”

Trixie snorted. “I just told you what I was going to do. You really are dumb aren’t you?”

That was the final straw. Goliath’s rage hit its breaking point and he raised a talon up to slash Trixie. It was then that Trixie’s horn lit up and she finally put all her planning into motion. Last night the blue unicorn had met with the griffon carpenter of East Glade that Gabriel had recommended and the two of them came out to work on this bridge. She had him cut and weaken the bridge’s supports, not by enough to actually make the bridge collapse with just a few people walking on it but enough where Trixie’s magic could easily snap the last bits of it and cause the whole thing to collapse whenever she wanted it to.

The planks and all the other parts of the bridge fell out from under them upon Trixie activating her spell and the hero and villain both began rapidly falling to the rushing river below.

“Graaah!” Goliath yelled while Trixie grinned.

“You lose, Goliath!” She told him.

With a growl he grabbed onto the pole Trixie was tied to, pulling her close to him.

“Idiot!” He said right into her face. “You’re still coming with me!”

“Hardly,” Trixie wasn’t worried. “You really don’t know anything about me do you? The Great and Powerful Trixie is the greatest escape artist in the world!” She slipped out of the rope with such ease it was like she wasn’t even tied down in the first place. Goliath dumbly looked at her in astonishment and with his shock, Trixie was able to tie the rope around his front legs before he could react, finishing up with a neat little bow.

“Y-You?!” Goliath roared, attempting to break his bonds but failing.

“I also don’t think you know what the magic of someone as great and powerful as me can do either,” Trixie gave him a last grin. “Teleport spell! Go!”

With a pink poof she disappeared in mid-air and Goliath was left to howl in anger until he crashed into the water, the planks of the bridge falling down around him as well and creating a huge splash. The monstrous griffon and the destroyed bridge were carried away underwater by the quick current, speeding towards the ocean.

Trixie watched this from the edge of the East Glade side of the ravine, right where the bridge formerly spanned. She tilted up her wizard’s cap and flourished her robe, milking the moment for all it was worth and wishing others could be around to see it. The greatest magician of Equestria, nay, the entire world, smiled heroically in victory.

“Heh, arrivederci.”

Fearsome

After a long afternoon spent waiting and backtracking the party that had gone to rescue the mayor’s children returned. They were greeted with a destroyed bridge, a smug Trixie, and a town roaring with joy and celebration. Gabriel and Giselle swept up their kids and hugged them so tightly others were worried they’d accidentally strangle them. In the hours they had been away but after Trixie had defeated Goliath their great and powerful friend had let the rest of East Glade know of her victory. The villagers were mostly ecstatic but the mayor and his wife were still waiting for their kids to return before they joined in on any sort of celebration, despite Trixie’s assurances that her friends would surely be victorious.

But now with everyone back safe and sound the entirety of East Glade could rest easy. Because not only was the mission a success but it meant that they didn’t have to fear or worry about Goliath and his band of raiders anymore.

Gabriel wanted to put on another celebration or at least have the ones who went on the mission over to his house for dinner or a more private party but everyone besides Trixie was beyond exhausted at this point. They were forced to take a rain check so they could catch up on some sleep. Daylight pretty much conked out immediately after they got back to the village and Vector helped her to her hut while all the others returned to their own homes. Their more personal celebration would have to wait for tomorrow.

So Trixie also retreated to her wagon (which to her surprise and joy had been fixed by someone and was now standing as it should be) and slept well that night, looking forward to tomorrow. She had done it. She had actually succeeded and she was sure everyone would praise her and shower her with adoration, even the ones who knew she was a fake would surely forgive her and love her again. No one else would know the truth and the trust and faith her friends once had for her would be restored. The Great and Powerful Trixie indeed slept well.

While at the river’s mouth leading to the Grand Ocean a torn length of rope was washed away by the current.

“I’m sorry about the bridge by the way,” Trixie said to Gabriel as she enjoyed the mayor’s party. Feeling it was only fair that she should apologize for that.

“You really don’t need to apologize,” Gabriel shook his head at her. “Fixing it will be no problem and what you did was well worth its temporary destruction.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” Trixie grinned. “I only wish you and the rest of the village had been there to see my triumphant victory, however your safety was my first priority.” Her shamelessness back on in full force.

The mayor was extremely grateful for all Trixie had done, but he excused himself from her so he could spend more time with his wife and sons. Despite the party being held in his house he really wanted to spend the time mostly with his family so he just let the protectors mingle with each other while they all relaxed. That left Trixie to chat with the eight others she had sent to rescue the kids and fight the “worthless underlings”. Senax had also been invited as a thank you for allowing them to use the Horn of Listening.

“I didn’t get to ask you too much about how it went, but how did things go?” Trixie asked Vector, now with all of them in Gabriel’s family room.

“About as well as could be expected. Better actually.” Vector smiled. “I don’t think we’ll ever have to worry about any of them coming to East Glade again. And it’s all thanks to you.”

That was what Trixie liked to hear. “Well it was a good plan if I may say so.”

Vector’s smile fell slightly and he looked around to make sure no one else was listening in. “You know I still don’t know how to feel about how much you lied to us, but thank you for helping in the end.”

And that was a bit more sobering.

“I… I’m sorry, I never meant to do anything like this,” This kind of sincere apology still got to her, she felt awkward saying this to Vector.

Just like with the mayor though, Vector was more than grateful.

“You don’t need to do apologize now. I mean you basically are as much of a hero as you said you were after everything you’ve done. And I’m glad you came here,” His smile returned and Trixie gave him one of her own. “Now I’m sure your students would love to tell you about how miraculously they performed at the battle as well.”

He was right about that. Speckle Wood was insanely proud of his small part and how he had handled himself and even Gold Embrace couldn’t help but be excited over how she had contributed. Trixie got a more than elaborate telling of everything that had happened while she was sleeping and dealing with Goliath. Of course her students were also more than happy to hear Trixie’s own story of how she defeated the foul griffon leader as well. Daylight and the others joined in to listen to her explanation, her excessively flowery and exaggerated explanation, and were all suitably impressed at how Trixie had handled herself.

“So that’s what you wanted the carpenter for,” Gizzard said. “I figured it had to do with the bridge when we saw it missing on the way back here, but I had no idea you put yourself on it when you collapsed the thing.”

“That escape artist practice gonna be useful for any future shows you do?” Daylight asked her with a grin.

“Perhaps. Maybe I can integrate my experiences into a new trick. Falling from high in the sky, helplessly tied down, only to escape the bonds at the last second and teleport myself to safety,” Trixie dramatically gestured and explained, she could already see it now in her head.

“I’m surprised you can teleport too. Even I can’t do that,” Daylight said. With perhaps the slightest tinge of jealousy in her voice.

“Me too,” Coil said. “Teleportation is a rare and difficult spell. Most unicorns can’t do such a thing.”

“Well as you all know The Great and Powerful Trixie is hardly an ordinary unicorn!” She smugly exclaimed.

Daylight Gleam rolled her eyes. “Yeah… just if you’re getting any ideas for your next show can you make sure not to include me in them this time?”

“That depends on how long I’ll be staying here, my second most great and powerful assistant,” Trixie told her. Of course Starlight was number one. “I still haven’t really accomplished what I set out to do here. I’ve just been getting sidetracked.”

“What do you mean?” Gold Embrace asked her. “Is there some other monster you came here to defeat?”

Trixie coughed. “Ahaha… perhaps, but I actually came here to study new magic to improve my shows and ability. I guess I never told you two that.” She finished, looking between her two students.

“Well it’s fine by me, you still saved our village just out of the goodness of your own heart,” Speckle Wood told her.

“Yeahhh, we’ll go with that...” Trixie awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck while Daylight glared at her and Coil fought to hold back his laughter.

Gizzard meanwhile was talking with Senax.

“You used our sacred artifact as a cudgel?!” She yelled at him, her flippered tail flapping around angrily behind her.

The old griffon had felt kind of bad about keeping that a secret. Yesterday he had returned the Horn of Listening to her and the other merponies (after inspecting it to make sure it wasn’t cracked or anything) and had been greeted with nothing but smiles and thank yous. It just made him feel too guilty. So he resolved to tell her about his improper use of their treasure.

“Well it was just kind of on reflex… and the thing is made really well, there wasn’t a scratch on it!” Gizzard tried to reason only to see Senax getting angrier and angrier. “Heh, don’t think I’ve ever seen you this mad before.”

Steam billowed forth from the merponies ears as she angrily tugged on her spiky green mane to let out her frustration.

“I’ll, um, just wait over here...” Gizzard said to excuse himself and avoid her wrath, going over to stand behind the dining room table where his two grandsons were arm-wrestling each other.

After Trixie’s own students finally gave her a moment of peace Coil decided to speak some more with her as well.

“You know I wish you could have seen my magic bombs in action,” The other blue unicorn said to her. “Brilliant explosives seem to be right up your alley after all. Hopefully I get an opportunity to use the last one for something and you can see it.”

“Be sure to notify me if anything comes up,” Trixie grinned, she liked the way Coil thought.

“Trixie! Trixie! Trixie!”

The Great and Powerful Trixie winced and turned to see the three children of the mayor running towards her, practically falling over each other to make it to her. It seems they had escaped from their parent’s embrace. The three little griffons jumped up and down ecstatically, each of them vying for her attention and trying to shove the others out of the way.

“W-What is it?!” Trixie asked as she backed away from the balls of boundless energy.

“So it was really your plan that saved us and you even beat Goliath all alone?!” Gabriel Jr. asked her.

“Er, yes, it was!” She put on a smile for them.

Now a normal pony might be annoyed at having to retell the same exact story but not Trixie! She loved getting to boast and dramatically act out her victory over Goliath all over again. Even most of the others here who had already just heard the story didn’t really mind getting it again since Trixie was such a good showoff. Aside from Daylight Gleam who just rolled her eyes and went to drink a glass of water with Senax, who was still miffed about the Horn.

“Have no fear ever again, for even if some new evil arises The Great and Powerful Trixie will vanquish it!” She finished, getting far too full of herself again.

“We’ll be there to help you again too!” Speckle Wood said, putting a hoof around Gold Embrace’s shoulders. “Our magic wasn’t perfect but I’m sure if we keep training under you we’ll get better in no time.”

I was hoping they wouldn’t bring up more training, why do they even care about that anymore? East Glade is safe! I’m not a teacher! Trixie went over in her head, not looking forward to the next time her students would come looking for lessons.

“Instead of all this talk about our big fight doesn’t anyone have something more positive to talk about?” Gizzard wondered. “Got any plans to put on another one of your magic shows? The whole village loves em.” He asked Trixie.

The three young griffons swiftly nodded their heads in the hopes that Trixie would say yes.

“No! No more shows!” Daylight yelled from the dining room table after overhearing this.

Trixie grinned. “Hmm, I hadn’t thought about it but it would be worth it just to annoy Daylight wouldn’t it?” She winked at the white unicorn.

“Ughh!” Daylight slammed her head into the table and covered it with her hooves.

At least the whole exchange got a giggle out of Senax.

For hours everyone in the mayor’s house chatted with each other, some of them wanted to talk about their recent heroics while others liked to think about how different things would be around East Glade now. Trixie was decidedly in the former category. Gizzard was in the latter considering his occupation as sheriff would require far less work with their major threat gone. His grandsons and Speckle Wood too were thinking about what they would do now, would they even have to fly their perimeters or be on the lookout for anything? Besides Goliath’s troupe most of the dangers faced by East Glade were random monsters that they could hardly ever do anything about.

“It’ll be a change around here. But definitely for the better,” Gizzard muttered.

“You’ll be able to rest your old bones?” Vector teased.

“Oh shut up, I ain’t that old!” He scowled at his pony friend.

“I don’t know grandpa, I think Vector may have a point. You got kind of tired on our way back here after all,” His grandson Garry said to him, earning a glare from his grandfather as Gullet snickered behind his brother.

“If you kids want me to show you just how good I’m still feeling we can take this outside,” Gizzard balled up his talon and threatened his grandsons with it.

Coil stepped between them to get the belligerent griffons apart. “Now, now, we’re supposed to just be celebrating here aren’t we? I’m sure some kind of monster will come around to fight sooner or later and then you can fight it instead. Besides, all three of you had a great showing in our fight at the plateau.”

Gizzard snorted. “Yeah you brats better do well to remember that.”

The others had been watching this clash with no small amount of amusement. Aside from Trixie who was still left out of the loop when it came to the two grandson’s names. By now it was night though and their little private party was winding down. Daylight was still tired, their hosts in all honesty wanted some private family time but were too polite to directly say so, Vector said he had some things he wanted to look at and Gold Embrace said she needed to go home to her kids already.

“They should be asleep right now but I want to check on them,” She said, apologizing and bowing her head repeatedly as she excused herself home. As she walked out the door she gave Trixie a smile. “I’m sure they’ll be excited to continue our magic lessons too.”

“Haha, I’m sure they will be...” Trixie smiled a smile that didn’t reach her nervous eyes and waved goodbye to the golden unicorn.

The rest filed out shortly after that and Trixie said goodbye to Gabriel and Giselle too, and the three kids of theirs that really didn’t want the magician to leave.

“Thank you again, Miss Great and Powerful Trixie, I really can’t say that enough,” Gabriel said to her as she walked out the door.

“Me too. You returned our babies to us, we’re forever in your debt. All of East Glade is,” Giselle said, a tear nearly coming to her eye.

Trixie blushed in… not quite embarrassment. Is it possible to blush in pride? That’s what she did. “Well it’s good for everyone then that I’ll at least be staying a while longer. But for now The Great and Powerful Trixie wishes you a great and powerful farewell and goodnight! Let us see each other tomorrow!” She grandiosely flourished her robe and walked into the night back to her wagon. Still on a kick for theatrics after no one got to see her defeat of Goliath.

While on the cliffs of the ravine a series of claw marks made their way from the water filled bottom to the top, right by the destroyed remnants of the bridge on the East Glade side.

Trixie hummed to herself as she walked out of East Glade, the peaceful night sky hanging overhead unobstructed by any cloud. The moon and stars shined brightly tonight and she could see the outline of her lovely wagon in the distance, a dark shadow cast by it on the opposite side from her thanks to the slanted light of the moon. She felt even better and more at ease than she had last night. Maybe it was presumptuous but now she thought that the rest of her time in East Glade would be even better than when she was acting all carefree and lying to everyone. It was just a good feeling she had.

“I really should put on another show for everyone. To celebrate.”

A smile blossomed on her face as she thought about that. But for now it was time to sleep, her wagon was right in front of her and she cheerfully walked up to the little ramp-

Squish~

The unexpected sound and feeling made Trixie glance down at the wet dirt under her hoof. “What the? Why’s the ground wet?”

It was difficult to see in the darkness but as she took another couple of steps she realized all the ground leading up to her wagon was wet. Which didn’t make any sense. She was pretty sure it had never even rained once the whole time she was here so far. Where did this water come from?

“Meh,” Trixie shrugged, not caring about something so trivial and took one more squishy step.

But at the same time the dirt squelched beneath her hoof a much louder step from the shadows behind her wagon smashed into the wet ground too and Trixie jumped in shock.

“Gah! Who’s there?!” She yelled in fright.

“I waited for hours...” A cold and gravelly voice said as heavy footsteps came out from the shadow.

Trixie froze and her pupils shrank to pinpricks as Goliath emerged from behind her wagon. The wet and pained looking griffon lumbered around it to come face to face with her. One of his back legs was limping badly and he seemed like he could collapse at any moment but his eyes still had a fire in them.

“B-But how?!” Trixie trembled and took a step back.

“I climbed,” He held up one of his talons for emphasis. “You should have used a chain.” A throaty laugh rose up from him as he stared down Trixie. “You… what did you say? That I wasn’t scary? So then why are you trembling right now? Oh… I know. It’s because you don’t have any plan to beat me here, it’s because you know how doomed you are...” His breathing even seemed laborious as he took another step closer to Trixie.

However even as tired and injured as he looked he was right, she had no idea what to do and she couldn’t help a base fear from erupting in her chest as a coldness took hold of her heart. She couldn’t defeat him in a fair fight and all that confidence she had back on the bridge was nowhere to be found here...

“T-The Great and Powerful Trixie is not scared of you. She shall be victorious yet again,” She tried to bluff as she took another step backwards.

Goliath leaped over her head with a sudden alacrity that she didn’t expect, she rounded on him with her horn lit up to use a defensive spell only to see him still standing there, not trying to attack her just yet. The powerful griffon turned around to glare at her once more.

“You’re. Not. Running. Away.”

Trixie gulped. “Well, sorry to correct you, but I am indeed running away.”

And she took off running full speed in the opposite direction. Goliath growled and chased after her, Trixie looked back to see that despite his injured leg he was still bounding towards her like it was nothing, either his anger and adrenaline letting him power through it or the injury not severe enough to matter. Either way that didn’t spell anything good for her. Especially since she was now running in the direction away from the village.

“Where do you think you can even go?!” Goliath shouted at her. “Just stand and fight and let me tear you to pieces!”

“Absolutely not!” She yelled back at him.

“There’s nowhere for you to run to out here!”

That was unfortunately correct. She was just heading south parallel to the ravine right now but eventually she’d hit the mountain ridge she had planned her fireworks show on if she didn’t change directions. But then she’d just be running across empty dirt still far away from East Glade or anything else. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no way to stop an evil gargantuan griffon from turning the hero into paste.

Don’t think like that Trixie! You’ve gotten out of bad situations again and again, surely you can defeat this jerk again, right?

Something impacted the back of her head and she went tumbling to the ground. “Ack!” She sputtered, her hat knocked off her head. Feeling a hoof through her mane it came back covered in dirt, he had thrown a talon-ful of it at her at high speed with his strength,

She had no more time to register this fact as two talons bigger than her head slammed down on either side of her and a griffon who looked every bit as full of rage as she did of fear stared down his prey.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is going to become my great and powerful dinner,” He opened up his sharp beak to terrify her.

It worked.

“Ahhh!” She screamed and blindly fired a beam of raw magic at his face. She may not have had the same level of output power as Twilight or Starlight but Trixie was still a darn powerful unicorn in her own right and an energy beam of her magic at point blank range hurt. Even for someone like Goliath.

He reared up on his backlegs and tried to shield his face but lost his balance and fell over onto his back. “Grr! Stupid magic worm!”

Trixie scrambled to her hooves and ran off again, but the mountain ridge was like an impenetrable wall only a minute away and she still didn’t have any better idea of what she could do. She tried to stop thinking about anything like that. That wouldn’t get her anywhere. She needed to just focus on dealing with Goliath with the means at her disposal… of which there weren’t many.

Even if I can concentrate enough right now to teleport up the ridge he’ll just climb up… Trixie was thinking as she came sliding to a stop right at the ridge. Might as well try, can’t do anything else!

The blue unicorn grimaced... and yelped as she felt something yank on her robe. She was roughly tossed to the side and rolled across the ground a few times before she came to a stop. Goliath had already caught up with her. The hatless hero looked up to see a panting and winded griffon staring down at her. The both of them now directly beneath the ridge and face to face once again.

“Why don’t you show me some of that courage from the bridge again?” His dark voice asked her.

“Why don’t you just go away already?” She scoffed back at him.

He took a single step towards her and lifted up his right front talon, splaying the clawed tips wide in front of her. “After you.”

A lot of thoughts would probably normally be going through her head right now if she hadn’t earlier been focusing on banishing anything useless from her mind, which was a lot of things when it came to Trixie’s mind, but instead she was just able to purely react once more and did the only thing she really could in this situation. Blindly shoot him with magic and hope for the best again.

As she unleashed all the power in her horn at once that she could though Goliath was ready for it. The powerful griffon swatted his talon forward and hit Trixie’s horn and beam right as it erupted from her horn.

“No more magic!” He yelled.

Trixie’s pink magic exploded against the mountain ridge next to them and she was knocked onto the ground again.

“Ugh!” With a wince and a cry of pain Trixie struggled to get back up, looking through squinted eyes at the evil griffon.

He stood directly over her, grinning sadistically as he finally knew there was nothing more for her to do.

This can’t be the end of The Great and Powerful Trixie! The magician thought, eyes wide and body shaking.

But as Goliath was about to claim his victory over Trixie a rumbling sound reached both their ears and the ground around them started to shake. The both of them looked to see the mountain ridge next to them crack and begin to break apart after Trixie’s magic impacted it, the entire thing ready to collapse on top of them.

“No!” Goliath roared, trying to back away.

Trixie wasn’t about to let him escape and terrorize East Glade again though, she saw her chance and used the very last bit of her magic to fire a beam at his injured leg, the griffon squawked in pain and fell to his knees, glaring at his nemesis with his big, evil eyes.

“You-” Whatever else he might’ve said was drowned out as the entire ridge and all the tons of rock it made up fell over them, the sheer volume blocking out all light from the moon and stars.

The Great and Powerful Trixie looked up at the last second to see a huge boulder coming right for her.

Always wanted to go out with a bang… She tightly shut her eyes and waited, hoping it would be quick.

The sound the ridge made when it collapsed was earth-shattering and it was felt and heard by everyone in East Glade. Who knows how many tons of that ashen gray rock came down in the landslide, more than enough to bury a house at least. Clouds of dust rose up in the darkness as rocks continued to shift and fall into place until eventually everything found its final resting place.

Trixie carefully opened up an eye, wondering if she was dead, before seeing the night sky above her and opening up both eyes.

“What the...” She wondered as she lied on her back, blinking down at her body and seeing it wrapped in a powdery blue aura. The collapsed ridge and pile of rocks no more than a few feet away.

“Are you… okay...”

The magician looked behind her to see a very tired looking Daylight Gleam with her horn lit up, panting from exhaustion. “I pulled you out at the last second...”

Gizzard then came down from the sky right next to them with Vector jumping off his back.

“Miss Trixie! Are you alright?!” Vector yelled as he tried helping her up.

Daylight canceled her spell and sat down, letting out a deep breath, and Trixie stood up on wobbly hooves to face her friends.

“How did you know I was in danger?” She asked them.

“Vector went to check up on the bridge to see if any of it could be salvaged, he saw the claw marks and knew Goliath must’ve climbed up,” Gizzard told her.

“I guess we got here just in time,” Vector said as he looked at the pile of rocks.

Trixie looked back too and grimaced as in the center of the rocks a single, unmoving, talon rose up. The rest of Goliath well and buried.

“I was lucky,” The Great and Powerful Trixie looked back at the three and smiled. “Lucky to have made such good friends here.”

Author's Note

End of the first half. More or less.

Updates will slow down for this story as I work to finish my other one. Expect new chapters in two weeks or so.

Something Completely Different I

In the week since Trixie had finally defeated Goliath for good nothing much of note happened in East Glade. The traveling hero/magician/fraud spent the first couple days after resting and getting her wits back in order, then she thought about what she would do now when it came to searching for new magic or anything extraordinary she could use for her shows or to rub in Twilight’s face upon her inevitable return to Equestria. But as everyone was very happy to tell her, the mountains and… everywhere around East Glade were still plenty dangerous even without Goliath and his band of evildoers around. So the next few days she was cooped up in her wagon, not wanting to put on a new show without any new routines to do and not having any monsters or anything else to take care of. The past week had been very peaceful out here.

For the citizens of East Glade they took the opportunity to celebrate the new days of peace. Another large party was held and the townspeople seemed even happier than at the previous one. Now they weren’t just happy and feeling safe because of Trixie, the greatest threat to them was gone because of her. It really was going to be a new age for East Glade. There were still other dangers to be sure but there wouldn’t be that ever present terror over their heads anymore.

Vector, Gizzard, Senax, the mayor, they all went about their lives like normal. While Gizzard felt restless not having as much work to do or things to protect the village against even he wasn’t about to say he didn’t prefer it to how things were.

As for the other outsiders they were quite enjoying this time of rest and peace too. Unlike Trixie. Daylight Gleam was debating on how much longer she should even stay in East Glade, truthfully there was no longer any purpose for her to be here and she had another person to look for in the first place. But she was fond of the village and didn’t want to go just yet, especially not while Trixie was still around to muck things up. The white unicorn just had a feeling that she should stay longer in the end. She wasn’t sure why. Coil continued his own inventions and study in his lab and had no intention of leaving without his work and research getting finished. After all unlike the others he had a set goal with real objectives and something he was actually doing here.

So suffice to say the past week Trixie had actually been pretty bored. That’s just the kind of mare she was. She needed action and excitement. Preferably not the life-endangering kind but still a lot more than the “farm from sunrise to sunset” kind. Along with shirking and talking her way out of teaching any more lessons she was simply left with nothing to do around East Glade since she had accidentally buried Goliath under a landslide.

But East Glade was still East Glade. It was a place where weird things happened and unusual magic popped up every now and then.

The current oddity happened to be a shining pillar of light that emerged in the mountains a short walk behind Coil’s laboratory.

He had no idea what it was or when exactly it appeared but he felt it pertinent to let everyone know about it as soon as possible. Coil had seen a lot of strange things in East Glade but this was new. Usually the strange occurrences around this village had to do with random weather phenomena or unknown/magical monsters. But a random pillar of light? That was different even for here.

“So… what is it?” Trixie asked as she looked at it.

The nearly blinding white light shot up in a cylinder before tapering off at the top to end in a point. Like a particularly thin mountain or a spear. The strange phenomenon stood in the middle of a clearing right before the northern mountains really started to rise up behind Coil’s lab. According to the villagers these mountains were still dangerous but not as bad as the ones to the east, Trixie recalled them mentioning that ill-fated expedition up through here a while ago.

“I have no idea, that’s why I called all of you,” Coil replied, his bespectacled face glued to the pillar of light.

It was the usual suspects that had come to gather. Trixie, Vector, Daylight Gleam, Gizzard, and of course Coil himself.

“Haven’t seen something exactly like this before,” Vector said, rubbing his chin. “Have you tried doing anything to it?” He asked Coil.

“I tossed a rock at it but it just went right through like nothing was even there,” Coil shrugged.

“Well does anyone else have an idea of how we might be able to figure this thing out?” Vector frowned and looked between the others.

Trixie coughed, taking a step closer to the light. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has seen quite a lot in her travels but this is new to her as well.” She reached a hoof out towards it but still far away enough that she wasn’t close to touching it. “It doesn’t feel hot or anything at least. It’s just kind of sitting here though.” Trixie frowned and lit up her horn, firing a beam of magic into the pillar.

Much like what the rock Coil said did the magic harmlessly passed through the pillar, nothing about either of them changing. And that was pretty much the extent of Trixie’s ability to help.

“Do you have any idea how dumb it was to just fire magic into another unknown magical phenomenon?” Daylight asked her as she walked up to the blue unicorn.

“Of course I do, I just didn’t care,” Trixie grinned at her friend. It was difficult to tell if she was actively trying to annoy Daylight or if she was just being herself.

“Ugh, whatever,” Daylight groaned and shook her head. “I’ll see if I can figure out what this is.” The white unicorn lit up her horn and aimed it at the pillar, no magic or spell that Trixie could see seemed to come from Daylight but the unicorn periodically frowned and furrowed her brow as if she was learning something about the light that Trixie wasn’t privy too. Chewing on her tongue, Daylight finally turned off her horn and regarded the shining pillar with suspicion. “Well I have no idea what this is. I’m not getting any sort of read on it with my magic, it’s like it’s not even there.”

“Well you’re just as useful as me now, aren’t you?” Trixie smugly grinned at her.

“You realize you’re insulting yourself right now too don’t you?” Daylight scowled.

The others now stepped up to join the two bickering mares. Coil at a loss for what this strange thing was and Vector and Gizzard concerned that it could pose a danger to East Glade.

“Maybe I should put a fence around this thing? Even if it aint doing anything right now I don’t want to take any chances or have one of the villagers come up here to it,” Gizzard said. The old griffon was scratching his headcrest in consternation as he looked at the light.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Vector nodded. “Hopefully whatever it is it’ll go away on its own. Or just not do anything.”

Coil though frowned at Vector’s words. “You know I’m not sure if I can share that hopefulness of yours. There are so many strange things that happen around East Glade I doubt this thing will stay completely benign forever. For all we know there could be some magical effect coming off of it right now and we could be in danger just standing near it or looking at it. And who even knows what might happen if someone actually touched it?”

The Great and Powerful Trixie then got an excellent idea.

“You’re right! We should find out what that does too,” Trixie said with a lightbulb all but appearing over her head as she reached a hoof forward to touch the pillar.

The moment her hoof reached the light Trixie was sucked inside the shinning pillar and it disappeared with a flash into the ground, leaving not a single trace behind. The four others could only stand there in shock and bewilderment at what they had just seen. All four of them with varying measures of concern and surprise on their faces. Slowly Daylight raised a hoof to her face and dragged it down, pulling on her eyelids in the fashion of a mare too tired and irritated to deal with the world anymore.

“Did that idiot really just do that?” She asked the others.

Trixie meanwhile was being flung around through a magical portal with all the grace of a brick tossed into a washing machine. The blue unicorn had no idea what was going on and couldn’t even hear herself think, all she knew was that she could feel a powerful magic around her, twisting her body and pulling her to some unknown destination. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced and it threw her stomach for a loop, thankfully since she wasn’t even sure if she had a physical body right now she didn’t throw up. But the intense feeling and kaleidoscope of colors that burst inside of her eyes didn’t abate until The Great and Powerful Trixie finally came to a full and complete stop onto some normal ground and grass.

“Ohhh… what was that…?” She weakly said, trying to get her bearings. It felt like she was waking up from a deep sleep and everything about her body just felt… wrong.

The blackness clouding her vision slowly faded away as she blinked her eyes a few times and brought her hooves up to rub them.

She frowned though as she felt the knubbly appendages awkwardly rubbing her eyes. “Why do my hooves feel so weird?”

As she opened her eyes and truly saw for the first time since going through the strange portal, Trixie took in a number of things.

First was that she apparently wasn’t only wearing her hat and robe but a dark blue sweater. Second that her forelegs ended not in hooves any longer but in… fingers? Third, as her wide and panic-filled eyes searched over the rest of her body, was that she was covered in even more clothes. Fourth (although it probably should’ve been sooner) was that her entire body had changed shape and form and she was no longer a pony or anything even close to it.

And with that, Trixie screamed. “AHHHHHH!”

Startled birds flew out of the trees around her and in the distance she could hear a dog barking from her outrageously loud outburst. Wincing, she looked around to take in the area.

And the fifth thing she noticed was that she was far from alone wherever here was.

Many strange bipedal creatures were in the area around her, that looked to be some kind of park filled with trees, paths, benches, flowers, and little ponds and streams. Trixie wasn’t sure what they were but she did instantly realize that for some reason she had turned into one of them. They had the same kinds of colorations as ponies but, as she also now noticed, didn’t have fur and neither did she. A few were staring at her while some just looked and shrugged, going back to their business. Quite a few more didn’t take notice of the odd sight or scream at all.

“What is going on...” The blue “unicorn” wondered aloud. “Where am I? What am I? How come everyone here wears clothes all over themselves?”

Trixie unsteadily got on all fours, it was awkward with the size and shape of her limbs and how they connected to her body but she steadily walked forward a few steps on the grass. And then paused as more realization hit her.

“Err...” She looked around her, something clicking too late in her head about how all of the other creatures were standing on their hind legs.

She stood up, wobbling quite a bit, and tried her hardest to not fall over. With a measured breath she exhaled and took a single steady step. Her foot came down on the grass and since she didn’t collapse or slip or anything she considered that a win. Trixie grinned and continued on, taking awkwardly big and slow steps like a kid wearing oversized shoes.

Her destination for now was the pond only a short distance away. She ignored anyone that might have been looking at her and made her way towards the water. The pond was rimmed with stones, clearly man-made for the sake of beautifying the park, and it was just what Trixie needed. She got to the edge on shaky legs and went down to her knees, peaking her head over the side so she could look at her reflection.

“Time to see just what in Equestria is up,” Trixie said to herself as she looked into the water. She tilted her head from side to side and blinked a few times to make sure she was seeing herself right. “Well I hardly prefer it to my normal body but at least I don’t look too bad. The Great and Powerful Trixie is meant to be… a… unicorn...” Her speech slowed down as her eyes widened and converged on her forehead. “My horn!” Trixie reached her hands up to feel for her missing horn but found nothing, only smooth skin. “This is horrible!”

She stood up in shock and nearly fell over, her hands covering her bare forehead in horror. She squinted her eyes shut and tried to feel her magic but it was like there was nothing inside her. It didn’t feel like she was exhausted from overuse or empty at the moment, it felt more like her magic had never existed in the first place.

“H-How can this be?!” She was nearly crying.

“So that’s what all the screaming was, seems like Canterlot High girls are as weird as ever.”

Trixie didn’t exactly get all that was being said but she could tell that the slightly snobbish sounding voice was directed at her and it sounded like an insult. She turned around to see five girls all dressed in variations of the same purple uniform with plaid skirts. The former unicorn raised an annoyed eyebrow at these interlopers, not happy to be bothered in the middle of her crisis. If she was thinking more clearly she would’ve been wondering about the words “Canterlot High” and how apparently these five recognized her.

“Excuse me?”

The middle one stepped up, a… mare? No, that can’t be right.

With a purple… coat?

Can it even be called a coat when we don’t have fur? It’s just… skin or something right? Trixie wondered.

And a two tone purple mane with strange things on her wrists, and when she opened her mouth Trixie knew she was the one that initially spoke. “I was merely stating that we were concerned that something was wrong but it turned out to just be the resident lousy magician being a weirdo.”

Trixie gasped, anger and heat rising to her cheeks. “Lousy magician?!” She spread her feet to balance herself and leaned forward, as if pointing a non-existent horn on her head at them. “Could a lousy magician do this?!”

Naturally, nothing happened.

“Oh, come on!” Trixie screeched, straining and struggling to get any sort of magic spell to work. She stomped her feet and pressed her fingers to her forehead but nothing came out.

The five other girls looked a bit concerned.

“Uh, are you alright?” One of the others, a girl with pink skin and a green mane asked. She had what Trixie recognized as headphones around her neck.

“Something definitely doesn’t seem okay with you today. Do you have a fever?” Another one, with yellow skin, freckles, and a red and green mane in a large ponytail kindly asked with a concerned frown on her face… before glancing to the side and muttering under her breath. “Because you’re acting like a total freak.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is most definitely not okay!” Trixie yelled. “What is with this stupid body and why don’t I have any magic?!”

“Dude, you need to chill out. You’re in a park you know?” The girl to the far right said, she had a creamy complexion and blue mane with goggles on her head. She looked around to see if any of the people out jogging or walking their dogs had stopped to take notice of the strange behavior of Trixie.

The central one who had initiated the conversation looked pretty worried herself now. “Yes dear, I know I was teasing you but you seem a bit… off. Perhaps you should go home and rest? Canterlot and Crystal Prep are supposed to be friends after all nowadays.”

That helpful suggestion didn’t have the desired outcome however.

“I don’t know where home is!” Trixie shouted to the heavens.

The five girls looked between each other with quite a bit of worry on their faces, the ponytail one shrugging and the pink-skinned one just grimacing.

“Maybe we should just go,” The goggle-wearer said and beckoned her friends along. “Uh, good look with… whatever you’re dealing with.”

As they walked away from her the last one of the group turned to Trixie with an expressionless look on her face. She was blue-skinned with a white mane done up with two side ponytails and she was wearing glasses. “You’re weird.” She bluntly stated to Trixie before following her friends.

Trixie paid no mind to them, her thoughts like a chaotic storm in her head. She reached her hands up to her forehead one last time to feel the phantom horn, eyes watering. “The Great and Powerful Trixie can’t live without her magic! What kind of Tartarus-forsaken place is this?”

After wallowing in self pity in the park for a while longer Trixie realized she wasn’t getting anywhere and decided to take a better look around this new world. That was the only explanation after all, she clearly hadn’t been teleported anywhere in Equestria or the mountains around East Glade. And why would she have been transformed into some strange creature that can’t even use magic? Did magic not even exist in this world? The horror!

There wasn’t a single trace of that pillar of light that took her here so she now stood at the edge of the park on the side of what she assumed was a road. It didn’t look like it was made of normal stone but everything else about it screamed road at her.

“This place is so weird...” She looked down the street at the numerous tall buildings rising up to make an entire city. “It looks like Manehattan or something.”

So many of the strange creatures that she had found herself turned into were walking around as well. Luckily for her none of them seemed to realize that she was actually a pony from another world. She had gotten the hang of walking around on two legs and thankfully had enough sense to not strip everything but her robe and hat off after seeing how literally everyone else was wearing clothes.

Maybe because they don’t have fur? It was as likely an answer as any.

Trixie took a step into the street, looking at the small stores across the way. At least things weren’t too different from back home, even though most towns and cities didn’t look as… advanced as this place.

Beep! Beep!

The loud noise came from her right and Trixie looked just in time to see a metal monstrosity coming right at her. The magician screamed in terror and jumped out of the way, just in time to avoid getting hit by the thing (in actuality it was going maybe around 5 miles per hour since the driver saw her walk into the street, but in Trixie’s mind she narrowly escaped death). The person inside the horseless carriage looking contraption yelled something mean at her and sped off, but Trixie couldn’t even tell what was said. She was holding a hand to her rapidly beating heart and taking in short, quick, breaths of air from her spot on the road.

“Just what was that thing?” She wondered out loud. The former unicorn looked around herself now to see a large amount of people on the sidewalks staring at her in confusion and annoyance. As she looked down the street she realized that no one else was walking in the middle of it like she had just attempted. With a blush she stood up and walked onto the sidewalk on the opposite side from where she had started, ignoring all the looks and walking deeper into the city.

This is dangerous without my magic… She thought.

Not only that but the size of the city seemed pretty big and there were so many side-streets and buildings she just had no idea where to go or what to do. If she took a wrong turn she’d end up even more lost than she already was.

She tried to act as normal as possible but her eyes kept being drawn to every little thing in the city around her. Every storefront, every window display, every car that drove by, and every person had something new for her to see. She was like a puppy seeing the world for the first time, or a kid in a candy store. If only the circumstances weren’t so strange for her and she still had her magic she’d probably be a hyperactive ball of energy right now as she took it all in.

The transformed unicorn came to a street corner and saw a building with a bunch of big windows on its sides and a lot of people sitting at tables inside of it. Trixie pressed her face up against one of the windows to get a better view, ignoring all the strange looks she got in turn, and saw that it was some kind of diner. All sorts of treats were being served to the customers by a very pink looking person on roller-skates. Trixie licked her lips at the delicious looking food before her eye was drawn to the cash register at the counter and she realized that she had absolutely nothing that could even remotely pass for currency on her.

“Well this is just great, things are even worse than I thought,” Trixie grumbled to herself, tearing her body away from the window and walking past the diner.

Now she was thinking that maybe instead of freaking out she should’ve tried asking those girls back in the park some questions. Although if there wasn’t any magic in this world how would they take the revelation that some creature from another dimension was standing right in front of them?

They had still acted like they had known her… somehow. Even though none of them were remotely familiar to Trixie. She didn’t even know any ponies that looked like them.

“Everything about this is just weird,” She frowned. “I’m blaming it on East Glade. When I get back to Vector and Gizzard the two of them are gonna hear it how messed up of an experience I had to go through.” A more thoughtful expression came over her face. “I wonder if the four of them are worried or trying to find out what happened to me. Besides Daylight. She’s probably fine.” That last sentence was accompanied by an annoyed grunt, her second best assistant probably wasn’t worried one bit.

Trixie kept walking down the street, she saw some guy walking his dog and was a bit confused. Dogs were the same in both worlds? Were their ponies here too? She hadn’t seen any other creatures out besides the ones she had turned into. That might not have meant anything though. There were a lot of places you would only find ponies in in Equestria of course.

Street after street and store after store went by in a blur for Trixie until she found herself outside one very large building, so large it dwarfed any mansion she had seen, only things like Canterlot Castle or maybe the School of Friendship were bigger, that many people were walking in and out of.

“Mall? What’s a mall?” Trixie asked to herself as she read the sign right outside the building.

Shrugging to herself she turned and was about to leave.

“Oh, hey Trixie.”

The hello came from the entrance to the mall and Trixie wheeled about instantly to see a smiling yellow skinned girl with a fiery mane wearing a black leather jacket and blue jeans. This new person was unfamiliar to Trixie so she raised an arm and pointed an accusing finger at her.

“And how do you know who I am?!” She interrogated the stranger.

The girl seemed a tad confused. She tilted her head and her eyes started searching around as if looking for a hidden camera. “Because we’re friends?” She finally responded.

“Preposterous! The Great and Powerful Trixie does not recognize you at all!” Trixie exclaimed, she knew for a fact that there weren’t any ponies, griffons, or dragons that shared this girl’s appearance in her life.

She frowned at Trixie’s words and started scratching her head in confusion, staring at the ground and thinking. “Did someone erase everyone’s memories of me again… or did something happen to Trixie? The rest of the day’s been normal...”

“Hah!” Trixie snorted. “I’ll tell you that something happened to Trixie! I have no idea what this strange place is or why I’m here but I suddenly just find myself randomly transported to a world without magic and now I’m some strange two-legged creature and someone I don’t even know is claiming that we’re friends now! That’s what happened to The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

The girl stared at her with a nervous look on her face that just got more and more anxious as Trixie went on. And it wasn’t because they were drawing attention to themselves either. Realization quickly hit the fiery-haired girl and she gulped, taking a step towards Trixie and reaching out with her hand. “It seriously can’t be, can it?”

Trixie watched in confusion as the girl grabbed her wrist and it was like she was suddenly staring a million miles off into space. Worriedly, Trixie yanked her arm out of the girl’s grip. “Unhand me!”

But that little instant of contact was more than enough for Sunset.

“Ughhh, I can’t believe it! How are you here?!” Sunset groaned, burying her face in her hands.

“What are you talking about now?” Trixie asked the strange girl, regarding her with more than a little suspicion.

With a sigh and a deep breath to try and calm herself down, Sunset looked at Trixie and tried to think of how best to explain things. “Okay. You’re the Trixie from Equestria, right?”

Trixie’s eyes widened in shock. “You know Equestria?! How? Who are you and what is this place?”

“Yes, I know Equestria. My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I’m a pony too originally from there. This world you’re in now is magically connected to Equestria through several portals. Well, it used to just be one but now there are apparently even more to keep track of. That’s great. Totally not dangerous at all,” Sunset seemed pretty frustrated.

“Wait, you’re losing me. There are other portals to and from Equestria here? And I still don’t understand how you recognized me when I don’t know you at all,” Trixie frowned.

“Ugh, look, can you just-” Sunset looked around, realizing they were still in front of the very busy mall. “Can you walk with me for a second so we’re not standing around in a place like this?”

“Well I don’t think you need to worry about the portal I came through. It appeared in a very remote place and there was nothing in the park where I ended up and no one else came along after. So it probably disappeared after my trip,” Trixie explained to Sunset as the two walked down the street in the direction towards Sunset’s house.

“That’s good and bad,” Sunset said, her brows knitted together in annoyance at having what should have been a perfectly nice afternoon ruined by this new nonsense. “I don’t like the idea of new portals randomly springing up. Especially with the stuff they can drop off sometimes.”

While they had been walking Sunset explained to her some things about this world. The people here, and what she was now, were called humans and they had hair, not manes. Also of greatest importance was Sunset telling her that this wasn’t just some random dimension but like a reflection of their homeworld and there were many doubles of ponies she probably new back in Equestria. Including one of herself.

“But whatever, this isn’t world-ending or anything like that,” Sunset said. “The portal at my school is still working fine so we can send you back through whenever. Probably as soon as possible. It would really be for the best if you didn’t run into anyone else here who knows Trixie. Ugh, or worse. Running into the Trixie from here.”

“Ooooh, what’s the me from this world like?” Trixie couldn’t help but be excited at hearing about another version of her, even though Sunset most definitely wanted to quash that curiosity.

“Judging by the five minutes I’ve known you I’d say you’re pretty similar,” Sunset smirked. But then frowned. “But there’s no way I’m letting you meet her. Once we’re back at my place I’m gonna contact Princess Twilight and tell her you’re on your way home.”

“Wait. What?” Trixie froze. “You know Princess Twilight?”

Sunset regarded her with a raised eyebrow, wondering what was bothering her so much. “Uh, yeah? We’ve had kind of a few escapades together if you want to call them that. And the portal from my school goes right to her library. I also know Starlight, to a lesser degree.”

Trixie’s fists balled up and a look of growing fury appeared on her face. “No! No, no no, absolutely not!”

The magician stomped on the ground and raised her fists into the air, practically yelling at this point. “I refuse to rely on Twilight Sparkle for help and I will not run to her with my non-existent tail between my legs!” She reached down to grab Sunset by the shoulders and started shaking her back and forth. “Do you hear me?! We are not telling Twilight Sparkle about this at all!”

“Okay, okay!” Sunset yelled, pushing Trixie off of her. “Jeez, you’re even more of a spaz than my Trixie.”

“I merely wish to retain my dignity. The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t need her help,” Trixie folded her arms in front of her chest and pouted. “And besides, my wagon and all my stuff is still where I came from. I can’t just leave it there if the portal you were thinking of drops me off back in Ponyville. We need to find a way to transport me to where the portal on my end was or find it again somehow.”

“Whatever,” Sunset rolled her eyes. “Look, let’s just go back to my place for now anyways okay? That’s still gonna be the safest place for you to stay at right now.”

“Fine.”

Trixie resumed walking with Sunset, taking in some of the sights although in a much more quiet and reserved way than before. The city seemed to be getting less dense as they walked through it, they must have been going to the outskirts or a residential area or something.

Finally another thought came into Trixie’s head. “Hey, so you’re really a pony? Were you an earth pony or a pegasus?”

“Uh, neither?” Sunset looked at her weirdly. “I was a unicorn. Why?”

Trixie gasped and stopped in midstep again. “But how?! If you were a unicorn how can you live like this without any magic?!”

“Oh. Well it took some getting used to yeah but it’s not so bad,” Sunset shrugged.

“Not so bad?!”

“There’s other stuff to do here. This world’s more technologically advanced, and there’s stuff like games and computers, and motorcycles… uh, you don’t have any idea what those are but they’re cool. Trust me,” Sunset grinned at her.

“My whole life revolves around my magic. Even if I could still do normal magic-less tricks it wouldn’t be enough,” Trixie stated. “No way could I get used to this place like you.”

“Trixie here has always done fine… sort of. Well, that’s actually a whole nother can of worms, never mind,” Sunset winced. “And if I’m being honest this world isn’t totally devoid of magic. I have a magical power actually.”

“You do?” Trixie pressed her face way too far into Sunset’s personal space. “What is it? What kind of magic is here?”

“Okay, calm down,” Sunset put a hand on Trixie’s face and pushed her away. “It’s how I figured out you were you. Remember when I grabbed your wrist? I read your mind. I can do that with anyone if I want. And yeah, there’s other magic here that came over from Equestria that can do all kinds of stuff. Me and my friends all have our own power.”

Trixie rubbed her hands together mischievously. “I’d love to see what you all can do...”

“No,” Sunset scowled at her. “Like I said-”

A loud gasp came from behind them and both former unicorns turned to see who it was that was so shocked to see the two of them talking to each other. For Sunset, it was just about her worst fears realized and she could already tell that the day was now going to get a lot worse before it started to get better. For Trixie, she was just awestruck and a growing excitement began to overtake her body.

It was like she was looking in a mirror as the human world Trixie stood on the sidewalk in front of her, eyes wide and mouth open in absolute shock.

Author's Note

This is something I thought about doing in several of my other stories but in the end I think doing it with Trixie allowed for the most fun.

Something Completely Different II

There was silence between the three of them. Sunset wasn’t quite sure what the best thing to say was and both Trixie’s were just staring at each other. This is really, really, something she didn’t want to happen. Maybe she could just joke around and skirt the issue? But her Trixie already knew about magic and everything and would definitely be curious about this. Maybe she could lie and say this is a robot Twilight or Micro Chips created? No, that doesn’t make any sense. Ugh, she really hoped her Trixie wouldn’t do anything stupid now that she’s met her double. Sunset though had the sinking feeling that out of all of the counterparts to meet each other these two would cause the most trouble from it.

She was about to just give up and explain things when the human Trixie shakily raised a hand and pointed her finger at pony Trixie, her eyes and body language expressing fear.

“S-Sunset! The government has found out how amazing I am and they’ve created a robot of me to take my place!” She outrageously claimed.

“Oh for the love of-” Sunset facepalmed before frowning at her Trixie. “Trixie, that would never happen. For so many reasons.”

“Then it’s a clone! Or me from the future! Or an alien that’s taken my form to try and convince everyone that she’s the real me for some nefarious purpose!” Human Trixie would not be dissuaded from her wild theories so easily.

“Excuse me?!” Pony Trixie looked annoyed now and she pointed a finger of her own at her counterpart. “I am not some clone or cheap knockoff. I am The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

Human Trixie’s eyes narrowed, fear replaced by anger and her attention drawn from Sunset to the mirror-image standing beside her. “Preposterous! There can only be one truly Great and Powerful Trixie and that’s me!” She held a hand to her heart, humphing in disapproval.

“You guys...” Sunset groaned, trying to stop the arguing.

But they were both having none of it and the fiery-haired girl was now being completely ignored.

“I am the real Great and Powerful Trixie, you fraud!” Pony Trixie said.

“Hah!” Human Trixie dismissively waved a hand. “Then I am the Even Greater and More Powerful Trixie!”

Pony Trixie was not about to be undone, her balled up fists angrily shaking at her sides. “Well then that makes me The Greatest and Most Powerful Trixie!”

“Puh-lease! I am The Greatester and Most Powerfulest Trixie Ever!”

“I am The Greatester and Most Powerfulest Trixie Ever Times Infinity!”

“Times Infinity Plus One!”

“Times-”

“SHUT UP!” Sunset yelled, nearly tearing out her hair. “Shut uuuuuppp!” She growled and lowered her hands, breathing heavily and angrily looking at the two very annoying Trixie’s.

Both Trixie’s looked at her with flummoxed expressions as if she had lost her mind. Which kind of annoyed her even more. Sunset knew she could get a tad overheated sometimes but on this occasion she felt she was more than justified. Still, Sunset decided to calm down, she took a deep breath and straightened up before looking to the human Trixie.

“Trixie? I’ll explain everything, can we all just go to my house first? I don’t want other people to walk out here and see this,” She reasoned.

“Ohhhh, you’re the pony me from Equestria. Now I get it,” Human Trixie nodded along as she sat with her double on Sunset’s couch.

“Well, I would put it as you being the human me but I suppose that’s fine,” Pony Trixie snidely responded.

Sunset groaned and rolled her eyes, leaning on the pole beside her wastebasket. “Okay, please. No more arguing. Please,” She said before a new round of stupidity and one-upsmanship could start again.

“It’s only natural though, isn’t it?” Pony Trixie scoffed. “I mean I can do real magic after all back in Equestria.”

“Ah! The nerve!” Human Trixie shouted in indignation, standing up from the couch. “First of all that is an insult to all the hard work I put in to make my shows as magical and amazing as possible! Secondly who says I cannot perform real magic as well? Behold!” She fished into one of her skirt’s pockets and pulled out a couple of smokebombs before throwing them onto the ground.

Pony Trixie coughed and shut her eyes, fanning away the smoke as best she could. When it was gone she opened up her eyes to see that her human counterpart had vanished into thin air.

She sharply inhaled. “She’s gone!”

“Seriously?!” Sunset was incredulous and she rapidly pointed at the couch. “She just jumped behind the couch.”

Pony Trixie blinked and leaned over the back of the couch where, sure enough, human Trixie was crouching to avoid being seen by her. “Oh.”

The other girl scowled at her doppelganger before glaring at Sunset. “Sunset! You don’t reveal a magician’s tricks!”

“That wasn’t a trick!” Sunset yelled, getting on her last nerve.

“Actually I must agree with my human self,” Pony Trixie said. “It’s simply rude to point out the way a trick works in the middle of a performance or try to undermine the magician.”

Human Trixie grinned, standing up, and raised a hand to get a high five from pony Trixie with. “Exactly!”

“Glad we can see eye to eye on that,” Trixie instead bumped her open palm like she was giving a hoof bump. But the sentiment was the same and both Trixie’s got the point.

“Okay, so maybe you can please get along now? You have a lot in common and clearly share a love of performing magic tricks,” If it meant ganging up on her it might be annoying but Sunset still tried to get them to get along.

Both Trixie’s eyed each other, pony Trixie getting off the couch so she could be level with the counterpart she had just met not ten minutes ago. There was a natural enmity between the two, to prove which of them was superior. It was just in their personalities. But at the same time their love of magic, theatrics, and putting on elaborate shows gave them a lot of common ground. Both also were not particularly interested in caring about the consequences. There was a lot of potential fun to be had here and they both knew it. As long as neither one of them tried to say she was in charge they could probably get along pretty well.

“Think of all the stuff we could do in a magic show together? All the identical twin tricks...” Pony Trixie grinned.

“Not to mention just that, there are so many amazing things in this world I’m sure you’d love to see...” Human Trixie grinned right back.

“Wait. Hold on,” Sunset held up a hand. “I want you to get along. I don’t want you to start doing something crazy together. The two of you aren’t leaving my house without my permission, okay?”

“Oh come on,” Human Trixie rolled her eyes. “We totally wouldn’t cause any trouble.”

“Yes you would. I know you two,” Sunset narrowed her eyes at the both of them. “We’re going to sit here and I’m going to call Twilight-”

“What?! I said no Twilight Sparkle, remember?” Pony Trixie walked over and poked Sunset in the chest.

Sunset batted her hand away. “Yes. I remember. But it’s not Princess Twilight I’m going to be calling and asking for help from. It’s the Twilight who lives here. She’s just a normal human,” Her eyes wandered. “Er, aside from the magic power she has, but that’s different.”

“Oh. Well I suppose that is acceptable,” Pony Trixie folded her arms. “She’s not like, a princess here too or anything?”

“Nope, just a normal high school student who happens to know a lot about magic and technology. I’m going to see if she can help us track down any residual signs or traces of the portal that dumped you here,” Sunset said. Not deigning to tell Trixie that there weren’t really things like princesses here in the first place.

“She’s a nerd,” Human Trixie whispered into her counterpart’s ear, getting her to giggle.

“She’s our best bet,” Sunset glared at the human Trixie and pulled out her cell phone. “I’m calling her now.”

Pony Trixie tilted her head. “Calling her? What’s that thing you’re holding?”

Sunset looked at her in surprise for a second before realizing that despite most people in her world having their phones surgically attached to them, a pony from Equestria would have no idea what they were looking at. “Oh, this is called a cell phone. It lets you instantly communicate with people long distance, as long as they have a phone too.”

“Ooooh,” Pony Trixie walked up to take a closer look. “Interesting. I can already think of what I could do with that...” She got a glint in her eye thinking of the sort of magic tricks it might help with, not to mention that sort of long range communication would be amazing on its own to the people of her world. “Can I take one with me?” She asked Sunset, reaching her hand to the phone she was holding.

“No you can’t take one with you!” Sunset pulled hers away. “It wouldn’t even work. And I’m not letting you take anything back with you, that’s not what the portals should be used for in the first place and foreign objects that don’t belong in Equestria could cause problems.”

“You’re so boring sometimes, Sunset,” Human Trixie yawned, sitting on the back of the couch.

“And you are so frustrating sometimes,” Sunset glared at her. “Now I’m calling Twilight so just sit still, the both of you!”

The Trixie’s rolled their eyes together but allowed Sunset this moment of silence so she could call Twilight. Sunset was already annoyed enough as she made her call but the quiet on the other end only added to her frustration. The Trixie’s heard her grunt in annoyance and redial, “Come on Twilight, pick up the phone!” She said into her cell phone. But no matter how many times it rang the purple girl on the other end didn’t answer.

“Ugh, great! Just great!” Sunset stomped her foot on the ground in anger. “Okay, new plan.” She said to the Trixie’s. “I’m going to go get Twilight and the two of you are going to stay here until I come back with her.”

Sunset turned to go out the door. And stopped.

The fiery-haired girl turned around with a hard look in her eyes, holding up a threatening finger as she looked at the two obnoxious magicians. “I mean it. You two better stay here. Promise me.”

“Oh fine,” Human Trixie got up from the couch and threw an arm around Pony Trixie’s shoulders. “We wont get up to any trouble. I’ll just show her how to play videogames or something until you get back.”

Pony Trixie smiled and nodded along. “Don’t worry about us, you’ve done a lot to help The Great and Powerful Trixie. I’ll be good.”

Sunset’s eyes narrowed but she continued to slowly back out towards the door. “Okaaay...”

She reached the door and headed outside, loudly slamming the door shut, the two Trixie’s could hear her pretty much instantly start running down the street presumably to Twilight’s house or wherever she might think she would be. They listened until the sound of her footsteps disappeared completely and pony Trixie turned to her double with a cheeky smile on her face.

“We’re not listening to her at all, are we?”

“Of course not.”

For now the two Trixie’s walked down the streets of the city, no particular destination in mind, merely enjoying each other’s company while pony Trixie got to see the sights and human Trixie got to explain every little nuance and difference of this world. Pony Trixie also was more than happy to tell her counterpart about Equestria in detail and all the magic that could be found there. And both of them were quite adept at ignoring anyone staring at them. Of which there were quite a few. To people who didn’t know Trixie they were just surprised to see identical twins wearing identical outfits walking around. To those who did know Trixie… they were even more confused.

(As an aside, Rainbow Dash happened to see them out but chose not to get involved in whatever mishap had caused the appearance of two Trixie’s)

Human Trixie thought of taking her double from Equestria to the mall but if they were going to go somewhere so public she’d want them to do something. And unfortunately neither of them had props for a show and pony Trixie would likely take a while to get used to putting on her magic tricks without the help of any magic of her own. So they continued to just walk around aimlessly.

Presently, pony Trixie was regaling her human self about her recent adventures in East Glade.

“Wow, you actually fought off some huge, evil, griffon monster? I don’t even know what a griffon is but that sounds impressive,” Human Trixie said, and then coughed as her eyes wandered upwards. “I mean, not like I haven’t totally done some equally amazing and heroic things on my own either.”

“Hehe, well I couldn’t call myself The Great and Powerful Trixie in my world otherwise now could I?” Pony Trixie smugly cupped her chin, ignoring her counterpart’s empty boast. “After all with so many other great magic users there I have to be truly special to stand out and be the hero I am.”

Human Trixie wasn’t quite persuaded by that though. “I get the feeling that you aren’t being quite honest.”

“How insulting!” Pony Trixie stopped and put her hands on her hips. “You dare question Trixie?!”

An unimpressed arm fold and a raised eyebrow was part of her answer. “I question you because I would do the exact same thing.”

“Oh,” Trixie’s arms fell. “Yeah, we probably would both do the same exact thing if our positions were switched.” She furrowed her brow in annoyance. “I am amazing though.”

Human Trixie grinned. “Oh I don’t doubt that at all. I’m amazing too,” She bumped her counterpart’s hip and the two girls giggled, continuing their walk into the city. But not a few more steps were taken before human Trixie squealed in excitement and wheeled around to face her double with a big smile on her face. “Wait! I just thought of something! Next time you’re fighting another villain or monster or whatever you should say a catchphrase or some sort of cool one-liner!”

“Hmm...” Pony Trixie considered that. “It would make me even more heroic looking if I had a spiffy catchphrase or something...”

“Right?” Human Trixie nodded exuberantly. “You can like, strike a pose and say-” She got a much more serious look on her face and waved her arms around before stopping and pointing them at Trixie. “In the name of the Lulamoon, I shall punish you!” Her happy smile then came back in full force. “Something like that would be awesome!”

“I must admit that something theatrical like that appeals to me, I’ll think about it next time I face off against some evil villain. I’m sure the villagers would get a kick out of it,” Pony Trixie nodded.

After that a growl from pony Trixie’s stomach brought a destination to the two of them. Food. The two partners in crime ended up going back past that diner pony Trixie had seen earlier. But human Trixie said someone annoying she knew worked in there so if they were going to get a bite to eat they should do it somewhere else. And that’s how they found themselves at the frozen yogurt place. Pony Trixie being positively delighted at everything she saw in the store, the mechanisms, the toppings, the other customers and employees who absolutely gawked over the identical twins.

Which included the five Shadowbolts. Quite a few others as well were Canterlot high students who knew a thing or two about magic and Equestria and had either put two and two together or thought some other sort of Equestrian magic was at play. But much like Rainbow Dash no one else wanted to deal with two Trixie’s.

“Want some more ground up peanut butter crackers?” Human Trixie asked as she held a spoonful of the topping over pony Trixie’s yogurt.

“As if you even need to ask.”

The bell to the store dinged as the two walked back onto the street and now they resumed their trip around the city with their snacks in hand. Pony Trixie was savoring every little bite she took of the yogurt.

“This is better than the stuff back home...” She murmured.

“That’s because there’s a ton of fat and sugar in everything. So just be careful you don’t eat too much while you’re here,” Human Trixie told her.

Pony Trixie shrugged and continued scarfing down her yogurt. “Worth it.”

“A-greed.” Her double smiled.

After that the girl native to this world was thinking of any number of places she could show to the visitor. That music store Vinyl worked at might be fun, but she’d rather just show off her own guitar skills if possible. Museums were boring, Equestria Land and the beach too out of the way, the mall, the park, and anywhere else she could think of to put on an impromptu show were out too. It would just be a waste.

“You know I almost want to take you back to my place, you could see my home and then we could gather all my props together and maybe put on a show somewhere,” Human Trixie mused. “There’s just so much you’re missing out on because it’s a waste not to use this opportunity to its greatest and fullest potential!”

“Then let’s go back to your place?” Pony Trixie tilted her head in question of why they just hadn’t already.

“Far side of town,” Human Trixie sighed. “And by the time we got all the stuff and came back to put on a show of truly epic proportions that we need to with such an opportunity, Sunset will have already found Twilight and she’ll be pretty angry to learn we ditched her house.” Her eyes wandered as she tapped her now empty yogurt cup with her spoon. “Oh well, maybe we can just go see a movie. I bet you’ll think that’s cool.”

“Don’t know what that is but it works for me,” Pony Trixie smiled at her double and tossed her cup in the nearest trash, the other blue girl doing the same.

“Prepare to be wowed and amazed by the greatest spectacle of the modern age!” Human Trixie grabbed the other’s hand and pointed down the street. “To the movie theater!”

Slightly down and across the street from the two Trixie’s another pair of nearly identical people were having a bit of a problem. Two middle-aged men with red and white hair wearing identical blue pin-striped shirts stood outside of their store. Or former store more accurately. The mustache-less one stood with a frown on his face and arms folded as his mustachioed brother hammered in the last nail needed to affix a large wooden sign to the front of the door.

The sign read: Permanently Closed

“I wish we could sue whoever invented lawsuits,” Flim said as he took a look at their closed down emporium.

“That’s just the way the cookie crumbles o’ brother of mine,” Flam said as he wiped a bit of sweat from his brow after finishing with the sign. “It’s not the end of the world though, we have our other business ventures now don’t we? How are those going?”

“Poorly. It’s not the season for visiting Equestria Land and those cheap binders we made for back to school day melted in the sun before we could sell any. The store was our one reliable source of income,” Flim huffed in annoyance. It was the most down on their luck he could recall them being in a long time.

“Well even then we’ve always got each other. Through the good and the bad,” Flam winked at his brother. Something then caught his eye across the street and he looked over his brother’s shoulder, a smile growing on his face. “And how’s the saying go? When one door closes another one opens?”

Flim turned around to see what had caught his brother’s attention and saw two completely identical girls walking side by side down the sidewalk across from them. With a dangerously twinkling eye a grin came to Flim’s face and he started subconsciously rubbing his hands together.

“Well, brother of mine, what does that look like to you?” Flam asked as he walked up to stand shoulder to shoulder with his brother.

“That, brother of mine, looks like opportunity.”

The duo of Trixie’s were meanwhile halfway to the movie theater. Human Trixie had pushed any thoughts about Sunset out of her head since it’s not like she would find them in there anyways and they could just call her afterwards once they finally got bored. She had wisely turned off her phone right after they left Sunset’s house earlier. Pony Trixie was still looking around at anything that caught her attention like an animal distracted by shiny objects.

“So how fast can those things go anyways?” Trixie asked while she pointed to a car speeding down the road.

“Depends on what kind of car it is,” Human Trixie shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter in the city anyways, you’re only allowed to go certain speeds. You probably see pegasi that fly faster all the time.”

“Yeah but that’s magic and this is technology. We don’t really have motorized carriages that drive themselves in Equestria.”

“That’s… not exactly what’s happening,” Human Trixie said. She was about to explain cars in a bit more detail when the two girls were interrupted.

“Well hello there, young ladies.”

“Hello indeed.”

The two girls looked to see a pair of fairly strange guys, not that they really had any business judging that, blocking their path down the street. They almost looked like twins aside from a few differences, least of all the mustache that one sported. Any other passersby that saw the group of four would have to do a double-take to make sure their eyes weren’t playing tricks on them.

“Can we help you?” Human Trixie raised an eyebrow at the two strangers.

“Oh, perhaps, perhaps you can!” The clean-shaven one said, grinning with a not particularly well-intentioned mirth. “I am Flim and this is my brother Flam, together we are the Flim Flam brothers extraordinaire!”

They both gave the two Trixie’s a thumbs up and smiled wide, the light sparkling off their perfect white teeth.

“And the two of us just couldn’t help but notice that you girls happen to be identical twins! Not a sight seen around here too often to be certain, in fact my brother and I thought we were the closest thing to identical twins in the entire city,” Flam explained.

“Yes, and when the two of us see something so amazing and special it just screams to us that there’s quite a good deal of fame and fortune to be had there,” Flim said. “It’s not just your looks but your fancy clothes that are the same too. Can I believe that the two of you have some special reason for your outfits?”

Human Trixie narrowed her eyes at them, the two brothers had an unpleasant aura about them and she thought she recognized them from somewhere but she couldn’t put her finger on it quite yet. “Well you are correct. We’re magicians. But why do you care and what do you want?”

“And what do you mean about fame and fortune?” Pony Trixie asked, arms folded in front of her chest. Like her human counterpart she was unimpressed by the brothers.

“Glad you asked!” Flam said, stepping forward. “You see my brother and I are unparalleled businessmen and entrepreneurs. And as you can see we look nearly identical. Think of the draw to your shows we could get if you were managed by us? The twin magicians and the nearly twin producers? Why it just rolls right off the tongue!”

“Indeed it does!”Flim stepped forward now too, holding his arms out wide. “Why I can already imagine the size of the crowds, can’t you? With frontmen like us you simply can’t lose!”

“Do you girls perhaps have a name to market yourselves under?” Flam asked them.

The Trixie’s looked at each other for a moment, pony Trixie was about ready to tell the two hucksters off but human Trixie grinned and spoke up first.

“Why yes, we’re the Lulamoons!” She winked at her double, wanting her to play along for now.

“Oh, what a catchy name that is. Right, brother?” Flim said, playfully elbowing his brother in the ribs.

“Oh, catchy indeed!” Flam mimicked his brother.

Pony Trixie grinned, stroking her chin she closed her eyes and walked between the two brothers. “Yes but with all this said and done… what would we even use you two for? After all, the Lulamoon sisters are already amazing at drawing crowds and putting on the most greatest and powerful of shows,” She turned back to them and smirked, opening up her eyes. “I don’t think we need two gold-diggers for anything.”

“Hold on just one minute,” Flim said, quick on his feet as ever. “We’d be part of the draw too if you’ll recall what we said. Not some simple money-grubbers profiting off your talents.”

“That’s right,” Flam said, puffing air out of his nose and regarding pony Trixie with a cool look.

“It would be like the seventh wonder of the world, I’m sure I could even convince Flam to shave his mustache to get everyone to think we’re twins too,” Flim grinned.

Pony Trixie scoffed and dismissively waved her hand. “Please. Being a charlatan myself I know one when I see one. And you two are definitely charlatans.”

“Slanderous! We are perfectly respectable businessmen,” Flim said defensively, although he couldn’t help his eyes from wandering away, trying to avoid her gaze.

“Perfectly respectable businessmen don’t dress like you,” Pony Trixie gestured to her own wizard cap and robe. “I mean, I would know again after all.”

“We’re perfectly respectable businessmen who like to dress nicely,” Flam tugged on his bowtie for emphasis.

“Now I remember where I know you from!” Human Trixie suddenly exclaimed and walked between them to join her pony double. She put her hands on her hips and glared at the two pin-stripe wearers. “You ran one of those rigged games at Equestria Land, didn’t you?”

“Several actually,” Flam stated with a smile, then coughed. “Those weren’t rigged though. They were completely legitimate.”

“Likely,” Both Trixie’s said and rolled their eyes at once.

“Look, the simple fact is that we think we have a great business opportunity for the two of you,” Flim bargained with a patronizing smile on his face. “There’s nothing to lose and so much to gain. For all of us.”

By now the two Trixie’s were more than annoyed and tired of these lazy opportunists trying to make money off of them. It’s not like what they wanted would come to pass anyways since the Trixie from Equestria planned to return there whenever she could, and while she was still here she didn’t want her time taken up by these guys. Human Trixie was of the same mind, her fun day with her double was now being squandered and she was about to throw down a smokebomb so the two of them could run off to the movie theater in peace.

None of that needed to be done though.

"There you are!”

“Oh great...” Both Trixie’s muttered and looked across the street to see Sunset Shimmer angrily stomping towards them.

She was followed along by a somewhat mousy looking purple girl, with slightly messy violet and magenta hair. Even if Trixie didn’t know she was who Sunset was trying to find she would have recognized her as this world’s Twilight Sparkle. The glasses were strange to see though. In her hands she was also holding some kind of beeping metallic device with a bunch of wires and antennae coming out of it. Pony Trixie thought it might be another “cell phone”.

“What did I say? What did I say?” Sunset angrily shook a finger and looked back and forth between the Trixie’s. It was possible she didn’t know which was which right now.

Human Trixie shrugged and smirked at her friend. “Sunset, if you really think about it, it’s kind of your fault for thinking we wouldn’t do something like this.”

“That’s just what I was going to say,” Pony Trixie high-fived her, getting it right this time.

“You two are impossible!” Sunset yelled at them. “First I tell you not to go and do anything like this and not only do you completely disregard that and get up to who knows what kind of trouble but now you’re dealing with these two hustlers?!”

“Hey! We’re not hustlers, we’re charlatans—er—respectable businessmen...” Flam again coughed into his hand and whistled nonchalantly.

“Yeah, and isn’t it a bit unfair of you to be so mad at us? You two got your parakeet didn’t you?” Flim tapped his foot impatiently at the new interruption.

Sunset turned her glare towards them. “You two be quiet,” and then she rounded back on the two Trixie’s. “And this is irresponsible even by your levels. We have no idea what kind of consequences there could be for this or if whatever magic that sent Trixie here might have other effects to it and you still just dallied off to mess around!”

Flim and Flam shared a quick glance, the brothers raising a surprised eyebrow at each other. Did that girl just say magic?

Now that sounded like opportunity.

“Oh come on, Sunset. We didn’t even really do anything. Just hung out and walked around for a bit,” Human Trixie told her.

“That’s. Not. The. Point!” Sunset exploded.

“Well you’ve found us now haven’t you?” Pony Trixie said while absentmindedly picking out her ear. “And we weren’t dealing with these annoying guys, they just started talking to us and tried to rope us into a bad business deal. But The Great and Powerful Trixie is savvy when it comes to bad business deals.”

Sunset was not nearly done being angry yet and she was more than ready to tell off the foreign Trixie but a certain purple girl accidentally came to the rescue.

“Er, Sunset?” Twilight Sparkle cut in, not looking up from some screen on her device. “Sorry to interrupt but my magic finder is picking up some unusual readings from the Equestrian Trixie. There’s a trace of magic on her, definitely Equestrian in origin, and it’s leaving a faint trail in the air.”

“A trail?” Sunset asked.

Pony Trixie gasped in shock. “Does it lead back to the portal that sent me here?!” She pushed her double and Sunset out of the way and asked Twilight.

Twilight backed up, startled by Trixie but regaining her bearings quickly. “Well, that would certainly be my guess...”

“Then let’s go! You can track it down with that thingy can’t you?” Trixie said to Twilight, almost shaking her by the shoulders.

“Stop that,” Sunset pushed her off. “But actually that’s exactly what I want to know too. The sooner this is done with the better.”

Twilight nodded. “I can definitely trace the magic back to its origin, as for activating the portal when we find it… well, that’s something we can deal with as it comes. But for now the magic signature is creating a trail to the park. I assume it’s the same park you told me the Equestrian Trixie first came from.”

“Let's head out then,” Sunset said and the four started off.

But found themselves blocked by Flim and Flam.

“Now hold on there, young ladies. We were in the middle of discussing business with the Lulamoons,” Flim said with a nefarious looking smile on his face. “And I believe the two of us also just heard some very interesting things. Seems the four of you have some secrets and know about something that sounds like it could make some people very rich and happy. You wouldn’t perhaps be trying to edge us out of it now would you? After all if we hadn’t stopped the two girls on this street who knows when you might have found them again?”

“My brother is exactly right. The way I see it if you’re going to interrupt our already very lucrative business deal and waste the time we spent broaching our grand ideas to the two lovely magicians here we’re entitled to some compensation. So how about letting us in on whatever it is you’re doing?” Flam said.

They had no idea what they were even talking about and that just annoyed Sunset further. The two brothers were chasing even the barest scent of money. “We don’t have time to deal with you jerks,” Sunset scowled at them.

Twilight adjusted her glasses as her eyes wandered off to the side. “Well actually it’s not like we’re on a time table or anything. We just probably should get this sorted out as quickly as possible just in case. That being said I agree with Sunset that we aren’t wasting anymore time being inconvenienced by the likes of you cheats.”

“Too bad then, cause we aren’t leaving here empty-handed,” Flim frowned and narrowed his eyes at the girls.

Human Trixie however wasn’t worried in the slightest. She reached into her skirt’s pocket and pulled out a smokebomb. “I believe that’s my cue.”

Before the Flim Flam brothers could react she threw it to the ground and a cloud of smoke enveloped the sidewalk. The brothers were hacking up a lung while the better prepared, and much more used to dealing with Trixie’s smokebombs, girls were already running off to the park.

Twilight was in the lead holding her device in front of her as it directed them onward to the source of the invisible Equestrian magic that floated around Trixie. Nothing more than a faint trace of it was left on her body after she used the portal but it was more than enough for Twilight’s gizmo to pick up on and tell them where they needed to go. It seemed that while the portal had vanished after dumping Trixie in this world it still existed in some sort of slumbering state, likely unable to be interacted with but still giving off a magical signature that the very adept scientist could find.

“Oh boy, I really hope this thing is working properly. Even with all of the magic we’ve dealt with Equestrian magic can be so random and peculiar that I’m not sure we’re even doing the right thing by following it,” Twilight Sparkle scratched her head as they all ran along.

The two Trixie’s were right behind her and Sunset was pulling up the rear, the fiery-haired girl was panting heavily even though they had barely been running for that long thanks to easily being in the worst shape out of the four of them.

“You know you’re actually not as annoying as the Twilight I know back home,” Pony Trixie said. She was smiling obliviously like that was a real compliment. “She’s a perfect princess but you come off more like a normal girl. And kind of a mess, it’s refreshing.”

“Oh. Thanks,” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Like I didn’t already have a huge inferiority complex when it came to being compared to a literal princess.”

“She’s right though, you’re not intimidating at all,” Human Trixie added.

“Can you two please shut up?” Sunset growled from behind them while Twilight sighed.

Feeling they had done quite a lot to bother Sunset already the two Trixie’s decided to respect her wishes as they continued to race back to the park. It was a good idea, Sunset was close to exploding. So they all allowed Twilight to keep directing them on the trail of magic, going back down essentially the same way Trixie had come from when she first got dropped off here. They had been hustling a good deal and the park was finally coming back into view. If it was crowded that might be problematic… but there was so much strange stuff that happened in this city even if some people saw them it probably wouldn’t be a big deal.

The beeping from Twilight’s device started to get louder the closer they got and the glasses wearing girl grinned in satisfaction at it. “Great! Looks like it is working properly, the signal is getting stronger and I’m getting a more specific read on the portal’s exact location!”

“Awesome, I can’t wait to get home where I can actually use magic again,” Pony Trixie said as she sped up her pace.

Human Trixie pouted as she followed along. “You know, even though I think it’s totally more impressive to be a great magician without real magic like I am, I’m still jealous.”

“Come visit sometime,” Pony Trixie smiled back at her and offered her double a wink. “You’d love it.”

That got human Trixie to smile. “Oh I’m definitely taking you up on that.”

“No… no you are not...” Sunset said between harsh breaths as she ran along behind them. “At least not without… notice.”

“Killjoy,” Human Trixie muttered.

Oh the misadventures two magic-wielding Trixie’s could get up to in the land of Equestria. The thought of it filled half of the quartet with excitement and the other half with dread. Unfortunately for the excited half, such a thing wasn’t meant to be right now. The foreign Trixie would have to return on her own today and any future plans she tried making with her double would more than likely be shot down by Sunset or Princess Twilight. Maybe she could convince Starlight to help her…

The four made it into the park and quickly strayed from the set paths, running over the grass and through the trees following the now shrill beeping of Twilight’s device. If the noise was any indication they were getting very close. Still there was no light or other sign that the portal was active so none of them were sure what they would do when they arrived at the right spot just yet.

Finally the beeping from the device stopped and was replaced by a loud ringing. Twilight halted and looked down at the screen and then at the ground in front of them. They were in a normal part of the park, close to where Trixie had first “woken up” in. She could see the pond she used to check her reflection in right next to the grassy clearing they stood in.

“This is it. The portal, or what exists of it right now, is right here in front of us,” Twilight explained, pointing to the center of the clearing for emphasis. She switched off her device to give them some quiet too.

“But there’s nothing there so what do we even do?” Human Trixie asked. “That thingamajig can find magic but do you know how to get it to activate?”

Sunset and pony Trixie didn’t want to admit it but they were at a loss too despite ostensibly being the ones who should have the best plan or idea for this situation. In the end though it was really no surprise that after just a minute of thinking it was Twilight Sparkle who came up with the answer.

“Well it’s Equestrian magic and there’s still some of it around Trixie, that’s how we were able to track this thing down in the first place. Maybe we can activate the portal with our own magic? Or at least get some sort of reaction out of it,” She turned to Sunset. “Sunset? Can you use your geode with me right now?”

“Sure,” Sunset stepped up to stand beside her purple friend, right in front of where the portal would be.

The two of them grasped their geodes and pony Trixie watched in excitement as the unique magic bestowed to these two girls got into action. Human Trixie had seen it all before but was still curious as to what this portal would look like.

“Okay...” Twilight said as an aura of magenta magic gathered around her, she extended her hand out at the invisible portal and let her magic spread to it.

Glowing with magic of her own, Sunset put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder to help her out.

Whatever curious nuances this portal might have had the double dose of Equestrian magic was more than enough to get the shining pillar of light to appear again. The girls had to wince and snap their eyes shut briefly because of how blindingly bright it was.

“That’s it! That’s the thing I came through!” Pony Trixie shouted as she held up her arm to block out the shine.

“Go back through it then,” Sunset told her, holding up a hand of her own. “We have no idea if this thing will stay open on its own or not.”

Trixie nodded, but she stopped for a second before touching the pillar. Looking back over at the other three, with all of their eyes now adjusted to the light, she smiled.

“It was fun you know? You had better believe that I’m coming back here someday. Even if I can’t use magic here the two Great and Powerful Trixie’s simply must perform a show together.”

Her human self grinned. “But of course. A shame we were so rudely interrupted from our fun.”

“Yeah, bye Trixie,” Sunset deadpanned. “Next time I would prefer to have some warning if you do come. Please.”

Twilight sort of awkwardly shuffled about, not having gotten to speak or really do much with the Trixie from Equestria. “Er, I guess it was nice meeting you? Say hello to the other Twilight for me next time you see her.” She waved goodbye to Trixie.

“Fine. If I remember,” Pony Trixie clicked her tongue.

“Now you hold on right there!” A voice yelled from the bushes.

The four girls looked over to see the Flim Flam brothers push their way out of some thorny rose bushes. The two looked pretty bad, with leaves and twigs stuck to them and tears in their clothes, their hair was unkempt and the swindling brothers looked even more exhausted than Sunset had been. Clearly they had ran here at full speed.

“A portal to a magical world? Now you wouldn’t be planning to cut us out of all the money that could be made from something like that would you?” Flim asked as he tiredly hunched over and rested his hands on his knees.

“That’s right!” Flam nodded, rubbing his back. “This is an opportunity for all of us, and we would so graciously allow you to keep 30 percent of the profits from anything to be gained from that portal.”

At this point none of the four girls were willing to entertain them anymore and a thoroughly worn out Sunset tiredly glanced to Twilight.

“Twilight? Can you take care of these two?”

“Gladly,” The bookworm replied as she activated her magic again to grasp the two brothers in a telekinetic aura.

“H-Hey, what are you doing?!” Flim shrieked, trying to break free.

“You know this is very unprofessional of you!” Flam yelled at her.

Both brothers were panicking and begging for forgiveness as Twilight lifted them up and tossed them into the nearby pond. The budding scientist smirking in satisfaction at a job well done. Flim and Flam pulled themselves halfway up out of the pond and promptly collapsed on the edge out of an even mix of exhaustion and exasperation.

“And that takes care of that,” She folded her arms under her chest.

Pony Trixie slowly clapped for her, a smug smile on her face. “Well done I suppose. But if I had my magic available they would’ve been dealt with even easier.”

“Oh quit bragging already and just head back home,” Sunset said to her, although there was an ounce of amusement this time and a shadow of a smile on her lips.

“Maybe I’ll practice using my magic more so next time you come here you’ll be appropriately wowed?” Twilight teased her.

Pony Trixie snorted and moved to touch the portal, expecting it to take her away instantly, when her human double hugged her. It was a bit surprising but as she looked at her Trixie could see she was honestly upset at the departure. They had barely gotten to know each other but how could you not have a connection with your doppelganger?

“I wasn’t going to do this since it’s embarrassing and this could just be narcissism talking but I’m going to miss you. Promise to come back soon?” Her human self frowned as she stared into the former unicorn’s eyes.

But Trixie smiled warmly and returned the hug briefly before letting her double go. It was a goodbye but it shouldn’t have to be sad. Far from it, she thought impishly. “Promise. And I’m gonna miss you too. Even if I am the more great and powerful one.”

She tapped the pillar of light just as she heard the other Trixie angrily yell at her.

Daylight Gleam was walking down one of the streets of East Glade when a startled shout rang out over her head and The Great and Powerful Trixie fell on top of her. The poor white unicorn was flattened like a pancake by the traveling magician and the two of them groaned in pain together.

“Why me?” Daylight moaned as she felt Trixie frantically shift around on top of her.

“Oh great, and now it feels weird to be back in this body...” Trixie muttered as she tried her best to right herself without accidentally stepping on Daylight’s head.

“What are you talking about?” Daylight asked as she extricated herself from under Trixie, shooting the blue unicorn a frustrated and confused look.

The magician patiently let her limbs settle as she stood on all fours again, thankfully she hadn’t spent too much time bipedal. “It’s...” Trixie glanced up to check on her horn and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it safe and sound. “It’s been a long day.”

Third Lesson

Morning in East Glade did not glisten, glimmer, or shine. Even in summer. Fog often stayed around for hours even after the sun rose and the weather was never better than “fine”. So when she could, Trixie liked to sleep in her wagon for a little while until things had cleared up. And if that took until noon some days then so what? A magician as great as her, who works so hard, who’s the hero of the village, is entitled to a few extra hours of rest isn’t she?

However being the hero everyone looked up to meant she now had to hide her annoyance at being woken up right at the crack of dawn by her students.

With a yawn, Trixie leaned out of her wagon’s window wearing her nightcap. “This couldn’t wait until later?” She asked the four—no—five that had gathered in front of her wagon, Daylight was there too for some reason.

“We’ve been wanting to have another lesson with you for a long time now,” Speckle Wood said. He stared up imploringly at her, hoping she would finally not have any sort of excuse to dish out.

“Yes, sorry to come by first thing in the morning but we were really excited. My kids kept asking when you could teach us all again,” Gold Embrace smiled apologetically at her, her twin colts standing right alongside her and nodding their heads at Trixie with big happy smiles on their faces.

I wish someone would put a mark on one of them so I could tell them apart… Trixie thought.

Trixie sighed, not getting mad at her students since she couldn’t really blame them for wanting to spend as much time as possible with someone as amazing as herself. So instead she turned her gaze to Daylight. “So why are you here?”

The white unicorn smirked at her. “I just thought it would be a great idea if I could join in on these fabulous lessons too. After all you’re such an amazing hero you can probably teach me a thing or two too. And I figured I should at least come along with everyone since I was the one who ended up convincing them that you wouldn’t be bothered at all by us coming by in the morning.”

You win this round. Trixie glared at her friend.

“Of course! I’m not bothered at all, merely allow me to change my clothes and we shall begin the new lesson,” As she ducked into her wagon she quietly added- “Now if only someone could tell me what that lesson was...”

“You know, do you really need this in the first place? I mean with Goliath gone what do you even want me to teach you for, anyways?” Trixie asked them as they stood out in the dirt covered valley outside East Glade.

“It’s not just about that,” Speckle Wood shook his head. “I want to become stronger with my magic to be able to protect East Glade from anything.”

“And I kind of have just enjoyed seeing what I can do. I never thought I could do these kinds of things with my magic, I really want to know how far I can go,” Gold Embrace smiled at her teacher.

“Well under my tutelage I’m sure you’ll be able to do amazing things sooner or later...” Trixie coughed, her eyes drifting to the side after the empty praise and speculation.

“I also want to make sure my kids get the best education in magic possible too,” Gold Embrace leaned down and swept up her kids in her hooves, pressing their faces against her cheeks.

“Mooom!” Both whined in embarrassment.

She put Gold Box and Gold Fortune back down where the two quickly scampered away from her to avoid any future hugs.

“Yeah we’re all just really excited to learn magic from you, Trixie. So what do you have in store for us today?” Daylight grinned at her.

Jerk…

“Glad you asked,” Trixie paced in front of them, acting like she was pausing for dramatic effect when really she was just trying to pull literally anything out of her hat. What did she know that she could also teach? Not much. Not anymore after the things she had already gone over with them. And it probably shouldn’t be anything dangerous either. She might have been able to foist things off on Daylight and try to get her to teach the others her camouflage spell since that was certainly something useful to the East Glade defenders, but Daylight would never let her hear the end of it if Trixie just passed the buck on to her. It would be like admitting she couldn’t teach these lessons anymore and needed someone else’s help. And The Great and Powerful Trixie could not allow that! Even with Daylight knowing the truth about her she certainly wouldn’t let that smug unicorn have any more ammunition to use against her.

But that still left the question of what was there for her to teach? Was there something Starlight had taught her that she could teach others?

Oh yes, there certainly was.

Trixie stopped her pacing and flicked her mane back, giving her million bit showpony grin to her students. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is going to teach you how to teleport.”

Four of the other unicorn’s faces lit up in excitement and surprise. Now that was something they definitely didn’t expect to hear. Teleportation seemed so… difficult, if not impossible, to them. However their admiration, respect, and estimation of the miraculous hero that was teaching them drowned out any dissenting voice in their heads. If Trixie was teaching them they were sure they could learn to teleport too.

Daylight Gleam was a bit less optimistic.

“Teleport? That’s an insanely difficult magical spell. Neither Coil nor I have been able to figure it out for ourselves.”

“Well neither you nor Coil are epic heroes like I am. It’s only natural that I would be able to accomplish a feat you were unable to,” Trixie unfairly bragged, intentionally annoying Daylight. The fact that she had to get Starlight to teach her how to teleport was not going to be brought up.

Daylight rolled her eyes. “Okay, well then how about demonstrating a perfect teleport for us to start things off. I think that would be really helpful.”

“You’re right, it would be,” Trixie replied with no small amount of venom in her voice as she stealthily glared at the white unicorn, trying to make sure her students didn’t catch on.

The four students were more than eager to see her teleport up close though and were completely oblivious to the barbs being traded back and forth between the two others. So Trixie looked around the area for something that would make a good spot to teleport to.

She found her destination in a large boulder sticking halfway out of the ground a good thirty feet away.

“Alright!” Trixie grinned as she faced the boulder and lit up her horn. “Prepare to be amazed! Teleport spell, go!”

Maybe it was nerves. Maybe it was a lack of discipline. Or just plain bad luck. But for whatever reason The Lying and Boastful Trixie was unable to make a perfect teleport. She had never really mastered teleportation in the first place, it was something she herself was still working on whenever she had the chance before she got thrown to East Glade. Perhaps she was blessed in her teleportation that saved her from falling to her doom with Goliath.

Regardless, instead of teleporting on top of the boulder like she wanted, she somehow went from standing still to smacking face-first into the hard rock.

“Haguh!” Trixie yelped in pain as she stumbled backwards, holding her bruised muzzle in her hooves as stars swam in her vision.

“Are you alright?!” Gold Embrace yelled.

Trixie looked back to see all of them looking at her in worry, even Daylight was grimacing in sympathy at Trixie’s misfortune. The magician couldn’t let them think she was actually hurt though, she had to play it off as coolly as possible.

“Yes, your great and powerful teacher meant to do that,” She smiled as best she could even though it really hurt to do so. Was she bleeding? Hopefully not. “That was an example of how dangerous teleporting can be if you don’t do it perfectly. So keep that in mind. Don’t uh… don’t try to do anything fancy. Now Trixie will watch your attempts,” She swayed a bit and blinked away the last of the stars. “Just um, try only slightly moving.”

Those weren’t exactly good instructions for something as delicate and difficult as teleporting, but Trixie needed another second to get her head back on straight, so she sat down and watched as her students tried their best to follow along.

“Should I keep my eyes open and look where I want to go or is it better to close them and visualize?” Speckle Wood asked.

“Whatever feels most natural to you,” More helpful advice from Trixie.

She watched as both Gold Box and Gold Fortune tried their hardest to emulate her but the twins’ magic was still undeveloped. They had trouble even drawing up enough energy for the spell. Well there wasn’t much Trixie could do about that, not every foal was like Twilight or Starlight and could just draw up a massive amount of magic. And their eventual Cutie Marks might not have anything to do with magic at all or leave them only good at using it for some sort of special application.

“That’s good you two, keep it up,” She told them anyways. Encouragement never hurt. She’d been laughed at and struggled enough when she first tried to become a great magician. Not that she’d admit that if asked, especially to this crowd.

“Do you perhaps have any more advice that’s specific to teleporting? What does it feel like to teleport?” Daylight asked her with a raised eyebrow as she walked up to the sitting Trixie. She then glanced around for a second before leaning down and whispering. “Are you sure you don’t need to get yourself checked out for hitting that rock?”

“Trixie is fine,” She grumbled to the white unicorn. “And teleporting is just… magical feeling.”

“Oh, helpful,” Daylight shook her head and rolled her eyes.

Trixie scowled at her, and then winced when that sent a fresh jolt of pain through her face. “It’s difficult to describe if you haven’t done it okay? Teleporting isn’t like other spells. All I can say is try and focus all your magic together and then just imagine yourself where you want to go,” The blue unicorn shrugged. “I also like calling out my spell, it’s my process.”

“My process is, you know, doing something logical,” Daylight flatly said to her great source of annoyance.

“What I said is logical, it’s just not overly detailed,” Trixie stood up and rubbed her muzzle, watching the others still trying to teleport. “Sometimes simple is good you know? Overthinking things can lead to just as big of problems.”

“I don’t know if I want to hear something like that from someone who routinely under thinks everything.”

“Yeah, well… yes,” Trixie unfortunately didn’t have a real response to that. Especially when she under thought all of the lessons she had taught. Like the one she was currently “teaching”.

Frowning, she walked over to the four other unicorns who were doing their hardest to work things out on their own but still struggled to make any notable progress. Her eyes drifted to the two young trainees that looked like they were still having trouble with her very first lesson of learning how to draw out your magic to its fullest extent. “Box? Fortune? Have the two of you been practicing on how to use your magic?”

The twins stopped what they were doing and began to shuffle around awkwardly, doing their best not to meet her gaze.

“Uhh...” Gold (Box, Trixie was just going to assume) pawed at the ground. “It’s hard, and mom is too busy to help most of the time and there isn’t anyone else in town who knows about this stuff besides Speckle Wood and he’s always with Sheriff Gizzard now too.”

Trixie sighed. There was just no helping it was there? “I’m sure if you ask permission from your mother first she’d let you come and ask either me or Daylight to help you with your magic. I… promise, that as long as I’m not busy doing something else that I’ll help you. Okay?” She looked between the two of them to see how they’d react.

As expected, the offer to be taught by their hero whenever possible made them quite happy.

“You really mean it?” Gold Fortune(?) asked her, his eyes lighting up brighter than his horn.

“Yes, Trixie means it,” She tried to keep any vexation out of her voice.

“Hooray!” Both twins cheered at once and went running to their mom, who was lost in concentration as she tried figuring out the secret behind teleportation. “Mom! Mom!”

The Great and Powerful Trixie had to do her best not to groan at how troublesome that would become in the future.

“Wow! Did the Selfish and Egotistical Trixie just do something nice purely out of the goodness of her own heart?” Daylight came up and asked with the smuggest of all possible grins on her face.

“Trixie has always done good by her fans,” She grumbled. “When she remembers to.”

Before Daylight could respond to that the two were interrupted by Speckle Wood. The only adult stallion of the group looked a bit embarrassed and reticent to come talk to them but he swallowed his pride and did it anyways.

“Miss Trixie?” The green unicorn asked. “I’m sorry but I’m still having trouble getting anywhere. Could you show us a successful teleport?”

“Er, but of course!” She almost sweated, wincing as she forced a confident smile onto her face. “Yes, I can understand how you might want to see that… getting to witness a perfect teleport would certainly be helpful for your lessons.”

Daylight gave her a worried look. “Are you sure-”

“Can it!” Trixie shut her mouth with a hoof and pushed her aside, walking to the middle of where everyone was practicing. “Everyone? Gather round and watch your hero as she performs an immaculate teleportation!”

Okay, whatever went wrong before was just a fluke. Trixie is perfect and doesn’t make any mistakes. Just remember that. Trixie is perfect. She repeated in her head like a mantra.

With a deep breath she renewed her focus on the top of that boulder, drawing up the necessary amount of magic into her horn to make it glow brightly for the difficult spell. This was nothing. She had done way more impressive things in her amazing life. It was a stupid short range teleportation and she was far too wonderful of a teacher and magician to fail it in front of her students and jerk friend. She blinked once and smirked.

“Teleport spell, go!”

With an electric burst of magic Trixie instantly transported herself onto the top of the boulder. Catching herself before she could act surprised that she succeeded, the traveling magician turned around and held a proud hoof in the air.

“Huzzah! A perfect teleport!”

At the clapping of hooves (even Daylight gave a slow grudging clap) she pranced off the boulder and walked back to the other unicorns. “I hope you were all paying attention. Now try and replicate!” She said before any of them could cut in or ask for other instructions.

Naturally Daylight caught onto her but Trixie did her best to ignore the white unicorn and simply watched the others try and perform a teleportation. They all seemed a bit more into it than before, probably seeing Trixie not smash face first into the boulder reassured them and they didn’t want to let her down. When it came to their other lessons, while they still weren’t on her level they at least did a passable job and they wanted this to be no different.

Neither Trixie nor Daylight really expected any of them to be able to pull it off though, and Daylight herself was just trying to figure out the spell on her own.

So it ended up being deeply surprising when Speckle Wood disappeared in a puff and reappeared two feet away.

His jaw hung open in shock and his eyes widened to the size of saucers at the realization of what he had just done. Slowly the corners of his mouth turned upwards and he looked at his teacher with enough excitement on his face to make Pinkie Pie look like Maud. “I-I did it! I really did it!”

Trixie and Daylight Gleam also had their jaws hanging open in surprise. Slowly their heads turned on a creaky hinge to stare at each other. Shutting her agape mouth and swallowing, The Great and Powerful Trixie managed to regain her wits and shrugged at her friend.

“Hey, go figure.”

Worm

When you’ve been in a place like East Glade for a while and you keep hearing about all the dangerous monsters that live in the mountains around here but never actually see one you start to get a little complacent and forget they’re there. Those mountains to the east are supposed to be the worst. But Trixie had never stepped foot in them nor dealt with any creature that happened to stumble down from them and she didn’t even really get a look at the strange balloon monsters that she accidentally saved the village from a while ago either. These “threats” to the village were so far-off and imaginary to her.

So this afternoon as she watched a gigantic worm monster slithering down from the eastern mountains towards the village she was a little panicked.

Vector, Gizzard, and Trixie were standing on the East Glade side of the newly remade bridge. All of them staring at the massive beast in trepidation. Thanks to its size the other villagers had already seen it coming and were hiding in their homes while Daylight went to get Coil.

“Stone worm,” Gizzard muttered. “First one that’s come out of the caves in ages.”

This was a stone worm? Trixie was fairly certain she had heard them mentioned once or twice but she wasn’t expecting something quite so huge. It might have been two—no—three hundred feet long and as thick at its widest point as a house! And more than just its size but the rest of its appearance was frightening too. Huge stone plates were interlinked like scales around its head and the first third of its body, ringing a gaping maw that could have probably swallowed her wagon whole if it wanted to. Inside that horrifying mouth was row after row of churning teeth that all ground together like a chainsaw to turn any earth and minerals swallowed into dust. The rest of its flesh was a threatening bright orange that coiled and bunched up before stretching out again in a grotesque manner each time the worm moved.

“Why has it come out of the caves? I mean what does it even want here if it’s normally something that spends all its time digging through rocks?” Trixie asked, no small amount of fear and hesitation in her voice.

Vector pointed in front of them, past the bridge to the carrot patch on the other side. “Carrots. Carrots are the stone worms favorite food.”

At that, Trixie had to briefly pause. Her fear had momentarily been replaced by pure stupefication.

“Wait. What?” She raised an eyebrow at the two villagers. “You’re kidding right?”

“Nope, they love carrots,” Vector shook his head. “That’s why the only carrot patch is on the other side of the ravine, so they aren’t tempted to cross over into the actual village.”

The traveling magician had to hold her head to fight off the headache that was coming. She knew very well that she wasn’t normally the sensible one. “Just hold on one second, I feel like I’m not getting something here. If the carrots are dangerous cause they might draw out a hungry stone worm then why even have them in the first place?”

“Well we’ve thought about getting rid of them but Senax and the other merponies are fiercely against that. So we’re all willing to take the risk. This is a really rare occurrence to be fair,” Gizzard sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, knowing that this excuse was pretty embarrassing.

“I’m all for doing things for dumb reasons but I’m just kind of surprised that you all are doing this,” Trixie said as she watched the worm steadily approach.

“We all really like carrots,” Vector shrugged.

“Okay so then what do we do to stop this thing?” Trixie asked them. If that was going to be the way things had to be she would (reluctantly) accept her role and duty as a hero of East Glade again. At least the glory and praise was always good. The threat of being eaten by a horrible worm monster was a pretty big weight on the scale that was tipping things towards “Be a coward and run away again” though.

Gizzard coughed, his hacking fit soon abating he gave Trixie an apologetic look. “Hope for the best?”

“That thing looks like it can cause a lot of damage to the village...” She worried. Regardless of heroism or how it was essentially their own fault this time if something bad happened she didn’t want to see anyone hurt or betray their expectations. And it wasn’t even just because everyone in the village loved her either! Honest this time!

“It could potentially, yes. But we know from experience that nothing can be done to a stone worm. Their heads are practically invulnerable and they don’t seem to be bothered by any injuries to the rest of their bodies,” Vector told her.

“And the only defense or plan you have against one is keeping the carrots on the other side of the ravine,” It wasn’t a question.

Vector’s smile was forced and crooked as he answered the pony he looked up to so much. “Yes...”

“At best that thing is going to come down here, completely destroy and devour the patch, and leave,” Gizzard said as he watched the worm slink closer and closer to the foothills. “And even that would probably leave the ground over there all torn up and prone to landslides going into the ravine...”

“And at worst it’ll come over to the village even without carrots here and destroy it,” Trixie sighed. She knew from prior experience that she didn’t have the raw power to deal with a creature of this size. Maybe she should just try anyways and she’d end up lucking into victory? That’s pretty much how things had been going for her so far here. This thing was really, really, big though. Maybe pulling a Twilight and thinking of an actual plan would be good? That worked pretty well for her before too.

If only we had something to distract it with and lead it away from the village. I’m great at grabbing attention. Trixie thought. And then she realized just how stupid she was being. Oh wait. We do.

Trixie looked at the big carrot patch on the other side of the bridge, at the rate the worm was going it would be ten or perhaps fifteen minutes before it actually got to the patch. There were enough carrots there right now to feed the entire village, that posed a bit of a problem but Trixie was sure they could deal with it.

“Vector? Gizzard? I’ve got a plan for getting rid of this thing but we’re going to have to sacrifice some carrots. Think everyone will forgive that?” She asked them.

“In this situation? I think so,” Vector said, grimacing at the approaching worm.

“Hey you guys!”

The three at the bridge turned to see Daylight and Coil running towards them, and right on cue Gizzard’s grandsons also came out of the sky after finishing their survey of the situation from above. Now all seven of them stood together to defend East Glade with one big worm as their opponent rolling down from the mountains.

“Gramps, everyone's safe indoors,” Gullet told his grandpa.

“If the stone worm looks like it might come over here after eating the carrots should we try evacuating everyone?” Garry asked.

Gizzard nodded. “We should, but the only problem is that I have no idea where we’d even go or if we could even escape in time. And if the whole town gets destroyed what’s even the point if we run away?”

“Don’t worry!” Trixie reassured them. “Like I said I have a plan, and since we’re all here here it is.” She smugly grinned as she walked out onto the bridge towards the carrot patch. “We’re going to bait that thing with carrots and get it to jump into the ravine!”

Simple enough. The others looked at least thoughtful about it. It was after all probably the best and most straightforward idea any of them could come up with.

Coil stroked his chin as he looked past Trixie at the carrot patch. “There are quite a few carrots there though. If we’re drawing the worm’s attention away we’ll need to gather up a majority of them to lead it away, otherwise it would still go for the larger prize.”

“That’s why we all need to work fast to grab as many carrots as we can right now before the worm gets here,” Trixie told them. “Come on!”

They worked as quickly as possible, the huge worm thankfully seemed to pay them no heed (if it could even see them in the first place) and didn’t speed up while the defenders picked every carrot in sight to carry them away. It would be a hassle to actually carry the growing pile of carrots but they had enough people and enough magical power to manage it.

“So what are we going to do from here?” Daylight asked her while they gathered up the carrots.

“We’re all going to take some carrots far up the ravine away from the village, staying just close enough to the worm to make sure it keeps interest. Once we’ve gone far enough I want you all to dump your carrots and run off, then I’ll stay there at the edge of the ravine and wait for the worm to get right to me before tossing all of the carrots in with my magic. Hopefully the worm will jump in after them,” Trixie explained.

“Hopefully? You really think it’s going to just jump in there for them?” Daylight asked her.

“It’s a big dumb worm monster. How smart can it be?”

“Famous. Last. Words,” She eyed Trixie with an unimpressed look. “Also if you’re staying behind to make sure that works what’s to stop the worm from eating you too?”

“I will simply teleport to safety to the other side of the ravine,” Trixie replied simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“You just smashed face first into a rock yesterday though...” Daylight shook her head.

“Please, that was clearly a one time thing,” Trixie glared at her.

Daylight gave up. “Well good luck. I’m kind of just impressed that you’re willing to be the one in the most danger. Maybe Gizzard can stay around too to fly you to safety?”

Trixie grumbled, muttering something under her breath like an old mare woken up in the middle of the night. “I’m the hero after all, has to be me in danger or I’ll look bad. Yep, sure do love it. The glory is totally one hundred percent worth it and I don’t have any regrets or hesitations about any of this.”

The white unicorn snickered. “The alternative is telling everyone the truth and have someone else be the bait?”

“Never!” Trixie sharply whispered. “I have a reputation to uphold and I’m not letting the entire rest of the village know I’m a fake. And if that means potentially getting eaten by a giant worm monster then so be it.”

“Even if your motivations aren’t the purest at least you’re still doing something good,” Daylight shrugged. “I’ve got familiarity with that.”

This time Trixie grinned. “Yes, I’m so selfish in wanting everyone to praise me and continue to think I’m the perfect hero that it’s wrapped around to being selfless because I’m willing to do such amazing and dangerous things to preserve that view. Or if possible, lie about it and still come out on top someway anyways.”

“Miss Trixie! The worm is getting closer!” The two of them heard Coil yell.

It was true, while they had been making good progress on the carrots the worm was still inching ever closer to them and now the ground was even starting to shake from the massive weight of the beast as it approached. Trixie looked to the foothills to see its grotesque body worming its way down them, in five minutes the creature would be upon the carrot patch unless they drew it away.

“Grab all the carrots you can!” Trixie shouted at the others and picked up a sizable amount in her magic. “Gizzard, take your grandsons and start throwing carrots in the worm’s path to grab its attention, make sure it knows we’re taking a whole bunch of carrots with us.”

“It should be able to smell us anyways but alright,” Gizzard nodded to his grandsons and the three picked up as many carrots as they could in their talons and sped off towards the stone worm.

“The rest of you follow The Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie yelled to the others, even though she didn’t really need to grandstand since everyone else here knew well of her true nature. That’s just how Trixie was.

Either way they didn’t need to be told twice. The three unicorns and Vector picked up all the carrots they could and ran north up the ravine. The ground rumbled behind them as the worm slithered its way out onto the flat dirt leading up to the carrot patch, Trixie looked over her shoulder to see the griffons throwing their carrots in front of the worm’s mouth and trying to make a trail leading north. It seemed to be working so far, whatever passed for sensory organs on that monster got the whiff of the carrots and it turned its massive body to the griffons and the ponies beyond them. The garbage disposal like mouth of the worm opened up whenever it came to a carrot on the ground, effortlessly tearing up the ground and swallowing it along with the carrots, not slowed down in the slightest by all the rocks and dirt it was eating too.

“That thing is gross. Bleh,” Trixie stuck out her tongue.

“At least it’s coming our way,” Vector said.

“Do you think the village will be safe?” Coil asked as he ran along with them.

“By the looks of it yeah, even if it doesn’t go into the ravine or leave right after eating the village isn’t going to be right next to it. So as long as we go a little further north I think we’ll be fine,” Vector answered.

“And then we just have to hope this thing doesn’t try and eat us if Trixie’s plan goes awry,” Daylight muttered.

“You won’t be the one in danger if that happens,” Trixie scowled at Daylight but then bit her lip when she returned to looking forward. I’m doing something dumb and crazy again, aren’t I?

A low guttural wail came from behind the running ponies, the sound startled them and they all looked back to see the stone worm picking up speed as it slithered towards them with Gizzard, Garry, and Gullet flying in front of it and holding onto the last of their carrots. The worm certainly couldn’t be said to be roaring but the sound that came from that horrifying maw was no less unsettling. And by keeping its mouth open like that while it moved it tore a new ditch in the ground. The thing really didn’t want to miss any carrots. If any of them could speak worm they would know that the wails coming from the monster were it screaming in desire of the orange vegetables.

East Glade truly was in an odd part of the world.

“Okay, that thing is getting kind of close. Do you think we’ve gone far enough cause I want to get out of here!” Daylight said.

Trixie snorted. “Oh just turn invisible and run off then you scaredy-cat!”

She was right though, Gizzard and his grandsons had ditched their last carrots on the ground and that just seems to have made the worm more eager to get the rest that the ponies were carrying. With the worms strength and determination, not to mention the whole fact that the thing was built to bore through anything and the size advantage it had, it was gaining on them as they ran parallel to the ravine.

“Daylight is right though, I think we can ditch our carrots and get out of here!” Vector said. “I don’t want that thing chasing after us cause it suddenly likes our smell too.”

“Alright,” Trixie allowed. “You can drop your carrots. When you do, signal Gizzard and, er, his grandsons to come pick you three up. I’ll keep taking my carrots a little further and really make sure this thing goes down!”

Vector nodded. “Thank you, Trixie. And good luck.” He shrugged off the carrots he had been carrying on his back and let them fall all around the edge of the ravine.

Coil and Daylight did the same, dropping their spells and the carrots they were holding with them.

“By the way-” Coil said as he came up alongside Trixie while they waited for the griffons to come down. “Gizzard’s grandsons are named Garry and Gullet. Thought you might like to actually know that.”

The magician blushed slightly in embarrassment. “Thank you… would’ve been a little awkward sooner or later.”

The others waved goodbye and good luck to Trixie once the griffons came back and flew off with them, leaving her levitating a big ball of carrots in front of her while she ran and the giant stone worm chased her down from behind. She didn’t want to look back to see how close it was but the grinding sound of its mouth and the shaking of the ground told her that if she slowed down it’d catch her pretty quick.

Testing to see if she had its full attention she deftly plucked one carrot from the ball she was carrying and threw it into the ravine. Just as she expected the worm gave no sign that it cared about one or two carrots now when a much bigger prize was right in front of it. It was still a dumb animal, Trixie wouldn’t doubt that, but it wouldn’t jump into the ravine just for one or two carrots when it knew so many more were still up here. It wanted the whole schmear.

Now I just have to hope it wants these carrots so bad it isn’t paying attention to where it’s going… and also that stone worms cant swim.

She was far enough now that she could toss the carrots over at anytime but she had to make sure of where the worm was exactly so it would follow along. And that meant looking behind her.

“Oh dang.”

The mammoth creature was tearing up the ground right behind her, nearly close enough to be chewing on the end of her robe.

“Gah!” Trixie telekinetically lifted the carrots she was holding high over her head and tried to run even faster to get a little distance. She could teleport right after throwing them but if the worm was too close to her and her teleport a little slow the thing might gobble her up or smack into her as it went for the carrots. She had originally planned to drop off the carrots with enough time to catch her breath but the worm was faster than she had expected.

Well it was an all or nothing kind of thing. Why did she always find herself in these situations now? Oh right. It was her own fault.

“Stupid worm! Look at these!” She shook the ball of clumped together carrots back and forth while she kept watch on the stone worm by looking over her shoulder as she ran. She couldn’t tell if the thing had any eyes but whenever she moved the carrots to the left or the right it would slightly twitch and adjust its direction. Good.

She didn’t move them to over the ravine at all just yet, lest the thing notice that if it went for them it would fall down and into the river. It needed to be sudden so the dumb worm couldn’t think at all.

Trixie did her best to focus, trying to push out any fear of being eaten or failing her teleport or any number of other unfortunate things that could happen. She was the hero and she was looking forward to the cheers and inevitable party that awaited her at the village after she defeated the stone worm. Also it was kind of the right thing to do she guessed.

With a deep inhale of air Trixie readied herself. “Dinner’s ready!” She yelled and threw the carrots as hard as she could so they arced high into the air and would go right into the middle of the ravine.

After that she didn’t look anymore. She didn’t think. She just pushed as much magic as possible into her horn.

“Teleport spell, go!”

With a burst of her pink magic she instantly transported herself to the East Glade side of the ravine right as a loud shriek came from behind her. She looked back to see the stone worm falling down towards the water, following the carrots Trixie had just tossed in. She ran up right to the edge to watch the gargantuan creature fall, the thing was longer than the ravine was deep by a wide margin but that didn’t matter once its heavy head struck the fast moving river down below. The stone worm was pulled along by the current and its massive body slipped from the other side of the ravine until the entire thing plunged down to the river. Huge waves and spouts of water were shot up from something so heavy impacting down there and Trixie could see the thing struggling and squirming as it tried to figure out what was going on and look for a way to escape. But luckily for her and the villagers the stone worm, as powerful as it was, simply couldn’t do anything in this situation and it thrashed and thrashed helplessly as the river carried it further out into the Grand Ocean.

“Whew,” Trixie wiped the sweat from her brow that had gathered from all the running and sat down, exhausted.

“Wow, it worked.”

Trixie heard Vector’s voice and looked up to see him being carried by one of Gizzard’s grandsons. The fact that she new their name’s now still didn’t exactly help distinguish which was which. Coil was being carried by the other and Daylight got the honor of being carried by Gizzard, all six settled down next to her. One of the grandsons walked up right alongside her and whistled as he watched the stone worm get carried further and further away.

“Excellent work as always, Miss Trixie,” Coil said, a cheery smile on his face. “I’m sure the village will be most excited and grateful to learn about this.”

“Who’s going to tell the merponies about the carrots though?” Gullet asked.

“Anyone except for Trixie,” Trixie stated. “It may have been my plan but I think I earned the right to not be bothered with that. The only thing I want to be bothered with is a party in my name.”

“How noble of you,” Daylight chuffed.

“Blah, blah, take it up with the pony that didn’t save the village again,” Trixie was too tired to argue.

The group of seven soon returned to East Glade after that, Trixie scowling the whole way and reconsidering this hero business that was eating up the time she wanted to spend on other things while here. Maybe it was time to get back to her original goal? Even if it meant doing something dangerous she’d rather do something dangerous for herself than for someone else. She appreciated the friends she had made here and wouldn’t do anything to hurt that trust she had forged with them anymore but that didn’t mean she always needed to put on this fake hero performance. The more she had to do stuff like this the more she realized that despite all the basking in glory it brought her she really wasn’t a hero and it couldn’t compare to the feeling of joy she got from a crowd loving one of her magic shows.

Gizzard and Vector meanwhile were thinking that maybe now they could actually come up with something that would dissuade future stone worms from coming for the carrots.

Crystals

The mountains to the east of East Glade held more than just monsters but also mysteries and magic. Or at least Trixie hoped Coil was telling the truth about that. She would’ve been pretty annoyed if he dragged her out here for no reason and the only thing that happened was they get chased away by some horrible creature. But when he asked if she would please accompany him to look for something in these mountains and mentioned it was magic foreign to Equestria… well she couldn’t really resist. That was pretty much why she had wanted to come out here in the first place. Anything new and exciting she could use, whether for her shows or something else, would make the entire misadventure to East Glade well worth it.

“I’m glad you asked me to help you, since you know I want to look for new magic and stuff, but I’m just surprised you want to do this too,” Trixie said to Coil as they wandered past the foothills into the eastern mountains.

Oh yes, she had been warned by Vector and Gizzard about all the dangers in the looming mountains. But all her time spent doing nothing in the village while she should be working towards her goal had more than drained on her. So when an opportunity like this comes up why wouldn’t she take it? Besides, she was more than certain her amazing prowess as a unicorn would be able to protect her from whatever random monsters live here. As long as it wasn’t a stone worm.

And she had been forced to deal with so many other problems in East Glade that really didn’t involve her so was going out into these mountains really any more dangerous than staying back in the village where random catastrophes struck every now and then anyways?

“Well I also came out to East Glade for stuff like this too you know?” Coil said to her, he was carrying two large and empty bags at his sides for some reason. “I’ve always been on the lookout for new things.”

It was still early in the morning and the mist hadn’t quite lifted yet, Trixie was annoyed when Coil woke her up not an hour ago but that quickly changed when he told her about the expedition he had planned. Still she couldn’t help but yawn while they ascended into the mountains. Trixie had never gone this far into them as of yet but they weren’t exactly very interesting to her. They were just mountains. A bunch of dirt and rocks. These ones didn’t even have much vegetation on them or anything colorful. Just a lifeless gray like most everything else around East Glade. What was supposedly in the mountains would interest her much more.

“Yeah but how’d you figure out about… whatever’s out here in the first place?” Trixie asked him.

Coil turned to her with a grin. “Crystals. Magical crystals unlike any seen in Equestria. That I know of at least,” He added with a shrug. “Do you recall when you asked me why I came to East Glade?”

“Yeah, I guess. Why?” Trixie quizzically tilted her head at her fellow blue unicorn.

“I told you I came here by random chance. But if I’m being honest that wasn’t quite the truth,” Coil said, a much more thoughtful look coming over his face. “You see I did indeed leave Canterlot to study and experience new magic on my own, but I didn’t just stumble across East Glade. While I was still deciding on just what to do and where to go I came across a very peculiar pony who told me about magical crystals that could be found here.”

“Go on...” Trixie was a bit intrigued.

“Anyways, supposedly these crystals have the special property of storing a spell or other energy. They can also be imbued with a thought or command to do something. Theoretically you can “tell” one of the crystals to store heat and then release it later if you need something to warm you up when you’re cold. Or you could even do something like affixing it to a door and tell the crystal to lock the door, and the magic will force the door shut. Endless possibilities. You could even potentially store a teleport spell or a shield. Who knows? I’d have to run tests on them first.”

“Ooooh, you’re right! Something like that sounds amazing, I bet I could incorporate them into my magic shows easy,” Trixie rubbed her hooves together with an impish grin on her face.

“Haha,” Coil chuckled good naturedly. “Yes I suppose you could use them for your shows too. I was thinking of the more practical applications however. These crystals could bring magic to the magicless. Of course though I doubt there are enough that have naturally formed for that, we would need to find a way to reproduce them first. If that’s even possible.”

The bespectacled unicorn sighed though as he looked deeper into the mountains. “It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to do this sooner though. The crystals were my reason for coming here in the first place yet when I arrived I learned that where the crystals were supposed to be happened to be essentially blocked off by not only all the dangerous creatures in these mountains but Goliath and his croneys too.”

He turned and smiled at Trixie. “I was beginning to lose hope that I would ever be able to either remove or find a way past them to the crystals. But then you came along. Thanks to you taking care of Goliath it’s finally safe enough for me to travel through here. With an escort by The Great and Powerful Trixie of course. I felt you deserved to partake in the splendor too.”

“Well I must thank you for that. I mean something like this is exactly why I came to East Glade too,” Trixie held her head up high. “So how far do we need to go to get them?”

“According to what that pony told me I figure they should be only a short walk past the plateau that Goliath used as his base. He said the crystals grew in the center of the mountains so they have to be around there. The two of us can then harvest and carry as many as possible back to my laboratory,” Coil told her.

“Works for me.”

The two continued on into the eastern mountains, enough time passing as they walked for the mist to start dispersing but a cold morning chill still hung in the air even without it. Trixie looked up at the looming cliffs and peaks while they walked up the same path Coil and the others had taken to get to the plateau beforehand. After that worm and what she had heard about some of the other creatures that lived here she might’ve been just a little wary.

“Coil? Not that I’m not totally confident in my ability to deal with any threats but are you sure it’s safe to be going through here with just Goliath gone? What about everything else?”

“Safe enough, yes. I’ve put a lot of thought into this little mission after all. Since we’re into the actual mountains I’ll show you what I can do,” Coil smiled as his horn lit up and a small beam of magic shot out over their heads before spreading out and creating a canopy that lowered down to the ground like a big dome before disappearing. “Ta-da! Miss Daylight Gleam’s camouflage spell. I spent so much time inside it that I figured out how to copy it.”

“Nicely done,” Trixie looked around but couldn’t tell at all that there was a magical spell around them. “So we’re invisible as long as we’re in here?”

“More or less. It isn’t perfect and anything outside could still hear or smell us so we still need to be a bit careful,” He explained to her.

“Alright, well since you’re the one who knows where we’re going, lead the way,”

Trixie let Coil guide her through the mountains, both of the blue unicorns cheery about their treasure hunt and the hopeful bounty that awaited them. Without the Horn of Listening this time though, Coil was extra careful about them going through the pass that led to the plateau. It was fairly slow going and depending on how long it took them to find and gather the crystals they might not be back to the village until evening.

Regardless, they seemed to have luck on their side for most of the journey. Maybe it was the right time of day or maybe nothing could quite catch their scent but the two unicorns weren’t bothered by any monsters while they traveled to the plateau. To be honest Trixie was kind of disappointed at how dull the day was proceeding so far. It wasn’t just that there was nothing around but that she had to remain quiet and couldn’t really do anything unless she wanted to attract some unwanted attention. Trixie needed things to be more exciting than this, a stroll through some quiet mountains just wasn’t her idea of fun.

When they went through the narrowing path at the bottom of the canyon that led out onto the plateau, Coil noticed that things were quite different in the short amount of time since he had last seen it. Namely that there wasn’t even the slightest trace of life. No pony, griffon, or monster, living on it. The plateau was cold and completely abandoned, dust blowing in the light wind. Any stragglers from Goliath’s band had either made their way elsewhere or suffered a much more unfortunate fate.

“So this is where you all fought?” Trixie asked him.

“Quite so,” He nodded and pointed at the destroyed pile of rocks on the plateau. “That used to be Goliath’s “throne”. It was formerly done up in a shoddy pyramid.”

“Doesn’t look like anyone’s been here in a while.”

“Yes. Well as bad as they were I wouldn’t wish anyone to get eaten by some monster so hopefully they just made it out somewhere else,” Coil said. “Although they’d probably be luckier if any of them still had the ability to fly.”

Not a pleasant feeling when it came to thinking about their former adversaries. Trixie looked around the rest of the plateau to try and see where they needed to go from here. The narrow canyon they came from was the only way leading back to East Glade but there looked like there were several passes and steep ramps that led from the plateau further into the mountains. After that though Coil wouldn’t really know the exact way to go either so they’d have to hope they stumbled upon the crystals quickly. Getting lost or even just having to stay extra long in this labyrinth of mountains with dangerous monsters didn’t sound appealing.

“Should we just keep going directly east?” Trixie asked Coil.

“I’d say so. Might as well go straight and hope the crystals are just right in front of us.”

“I like how we’re just winging this and hoping for the best. That’s Trixie’s kind of plan,” Trixie nodded, pleased with herself. She took one step forward when she felt Coil’s hoof reach out to grab her by the shoulder.

“Wait, stop.”

She looked over at her unicorn friend to see what was up. Coil was intently looking straight ahead of them to the edge of the plateau, she followed his gaze and saw something moving. Steadily coming over the lip of rock were two large pincers. Once up, they clawed at the ground and gave the creature the leverage it needed to foist itself up onto the plateau and Trixie had to do her best to keep from running. It was some sort of giant scorpion, larger than a manticore, with a carapace colored an ashen gray to help it blend in with the surroundings. And unlike normal scorpions this thing had two tails coming out the end of it.

Trixie was no stranger to giant bugs but this thing still set her on edge.

The scorpion’s jaws chattered incessantly while its pincers snapped open and closed over and over. It was clearly looking for something and the giant arthropod kept skittering back and forth on its legs like it expected there to be something on the plateau but was unable to find it.

“It knows we’re here but it can’t see us,” Trixie whispered to Coil.

“Let’s just hope it goes away,” He gulped. The both of them were trying not to sweat in case it might be able to smell them better.

She could probably fight it and beat it if it came down to it but that might draw other monsters to the plateau. And those pincers looked like they could snap her in two. Time to not be a hero and instead calmly wish it gets tired and scurries away. It was good that it was only her and Coil here. If it was Senax, or the mayor, or worst of all, her students, they would definitely expect her to fight it. After all she made herself out to be a vanquisher of monsters when she first came here. Another bad idea of hers in retrospect.

The scorpion would sway to the right, then the left, as if trying to sniff out their exact location. But it was still just an animal and would probably run out of patience if it couldn’t find its prey soon. Thankfully with them standing still too the camouflage spell was essentially perfect. Its sense of smell also couldn’t be the best or it probably would’ve found them by now anyhow.

Trixie did hope the scorpion’s patience ran out before her, admittedly limited, own. If she was wrong and this thing had no problem hanging out well into nightfall… that would be a problem.

And unfortunately for Trixie and Coil their luck seemed to be running out.

Changing its tactics the scorpion started making a circle around the perimeter of the plateau, once it made a full revolution it took a step inwards and continued walking around again in a smaller circle. Eventually it would run into them like this if they didn’t move. But if they did move the thing would see the distortion from their camouflage spell at this distance.

“It’s not giving up, what do we do?” Trixie quietly asked Coil.

“I don’t know, we could try making a break for it. Or we could try and fight it,” He whispered back.

Neither option was very appealing to her, the skittering scorpion could walk very fast with its eight legs and she didn’t doubt that its claws and stingers had some lightning quick reflexes too. Either running or fighting would cause too much of a ruckus and both choices weren’t certain to even end in their victory over the scorpion.

Trixie silently prepared a spell and lit up her horn just in case. Coil couldn’t really do the same since all of his energy and focus was going to maintaining the camouflage spell. But speaking of that, maybe Trixie could fire a sneak attack at the scorpion? That would probably get it good. If she scared it enough it might run off too, right?

As fate would have it, everything Trixie was thinking about turned out to be completely irrelevant.

“Caw!” A screeching cry came from above them and quite possibly the largest bird Trixie had even seen came swooping down to the plateau. It effortlessly grabbed the scorpion in its talons and flew off again, not seeming to be affected at all by the venom from the stingers as they repeatedly jabbed into the birds legs.

From their safe spot under the camouflage spell both of the unicorns stared in shock at what just occurred.

“Hm, well,” Coil started after a pause, rubbing the back of his head. “This plateau does make whatever’s on it quite visible from the sky.”

Trixie groaned in exasperation. “Whatever. Let’s just go get those crystals now.”

The two of them quickly got back on track with what they were doing before being waylaid by the scorpion, neither of them concerned by the creatures in the mountains much anymore. Now that they had left the plateau and headed further east they had entered a part of the mountains that even Vector and Gizzard wouldn’t be able to help them navigate too well.

“So are these crystals going to be in a cave or something or will they just be growing out of the ground?” Trixie wasn’t sure Coil would know but she asked anyways.

“I assume they’re above ground. I was told they were in the middle of the mountains and caves weren’t mentioned at all.”

“Alright, fine by me. The more we rely on chance the more things seem to work out best for me.”

With the sun now right above their heads they traipsed over hills of boulders and inched past deep chasms that fell so far down their bottoms were mired in shadows. Every now and then the two could hear screeching from deep below and the sound of crashing rocks, stone worms carving out new caverns. There was no set path in this treacherous part of the mountains and they had to continuously go up and down and around the lower bits of the peaks and all the valleys between them.

Currently they were struggling up the steep incline of a dirt and moss covered rock formation that dwarfed Twilight’s eye sore of a castle. It was in the middle of two vertical mountain walls that would’ve been impossible for the two of them to climb or pass, leaving this the only way. If they were able to get to the top though they’d have a commanding view of the area. Trixie was actually fairly fit thanks to pulling her wagon everywhere but Coil was having a bit more trouble. Thankfully thanks to all the rocks jutting out everywhere there were plenty of steady and level places to rest and catch a breather.

“Almost there,” Trixie said, she could see the top and could easily teleport to it if she had the desire.

“Almost you say… I should exercise more,” Coil wheezed as he tried to keep up. The camouflage spell possibly also causing him to be more tired than normal.

Trixie had enough sense not to accidentally leave the spell and so she waited for Coil to have enough strength to make the last portion of their trip up the rocks. With a hop up to the very peak of the formation they surveyed what was on the other side.

And found their crystals.

“My word...” Coil looked out in amazement.

The rock formation and the cliffs around it formed by the two mountains concealed a bowl valley that was completely covered in faintly glowing yellow-green crystals. Hundreds of spiky clusters and aggregates that got as tall as a pony littered the bowl below while plenty of errant smaller ones no bigger than an apple stuck out of the ground too, it would take months for them to have enough time to gather up all the crystals and bring them back if they wanted to.

“Wow, we really found them,” Trixie said as she stared down at it all.

“Now I just hope that they do what I was told,” Coil said and started walking down the steep backside of the rock formation, Trixie following right behind him. “And whatever mysteries these crystals hold I hope that I can figure them all out with just the amount I can carry in these bags...”

“Why don’t we test one here? Grab one of the smaller ones and tell it to do something or whatever,” Trixie suggested.

“Potentially risky. But eh, why not?” Coil shrugged. “You have to be willing to take risks to achieve great things sometimes.”

“Exactly,” Trixie grinned, a certain manticore-mouth dive coming to mind.

There didn’t seem to be any monsters or anything else in this hidden valley so Coil tentatively turned off the camouflage spell when they slid down so he could work his magic in other ways. The nearest crystal at the bottom of the valley was a single piece jutting up from the ground. Thin and in the shape of a spear point, it was slightly transparent and had the faintest of sickly green glows to it. Coil was a little nervous but he picked it up from the ground all the same, plucking it from its roots.

“Here goes nothing I suppose. Do you have any ideas on what I should try to get it to do?” He asked Trixie.

She pondered that for a second, it wasn’t something she had been thinking about on the way over. “I dunno. The simplest thing I can think of is just shooting a magic beam into it and telling the thing to hold and release it later. Then you’ve got a laser in your pocket, big surprise for any giant evil griffons that try to eat you.”

“Good enough suggestion,” Coil did as she said and fired a beam of his magic into the thin crystal. The magic was sucked in like water into a sponge and the crystal became slightly less transparent. “Step one’s a success… now I need to tell it to release the beam.” Coil furrowed his brow and pointed the tip of the crystal away from both of them. “Alright, I’m going to “tell” it to release the magic I imbued it with from the tip. Let’s see how it goes. And careful, this could be dangerous.”

Trixie took a step behind him just in case.

“Here we go,” Coil’s horn lit up again and the moment his magic touched the crystal the previous beam of magic was emitted from the tip, harmlessly blasting into some rocks on the ground.

“Hah! It worked!” Trixie cheered.

“Indeed it did!” Coil had a huge grin on his face. “Perhaps I can still find an easier way of reactivating the magic but this was wonderful for a first test,” He turned to Trixie. “Come, let us gather up all that we can carry.”

The Great and Powerful Trixie was more than happy to do so. These crystals might’ve been just what she needed to bring back to Equestria. With any luck she wouldn’t have to be out here much longer.

“Now the only question is what shall we call these things? Can’t just refer to them as plain crystals all the time,” Coil muttered as he picked more from the ground and put them into his bags. “Any suggestions?” He asked Trixie.

Trixie paused, a self-satisfied smile appearing on her face. “Heh, well isn’t that the perfect name? Suggestion Crystals.”

Coil laughed and smacked his knee. “Hah! Quite right! Suggestion Crystals, eh? Sounds good to me.”

They finished gathering up all they could possibly carry and were still left over with plenty of hours of daylight, more than enough time to get out of the eastern mountains before dark. All in all their trip had been very successful and Trixie was the happiest she had been in weeks now that she had something like these crystals. Coil would still be taking them all at first to research them but she could come over to his laboratory and grab all she wanted to take with her when she finally left East Glade.

“I can’t wait to put these things to good use,” Trixie said as she walked past Coil and started back up the rock formation. For my shows, that is. Was the unspoken thought in her head.

Behind her Coil pulled up the rear, bags overflowing with Suggestion Crystals. He looked through his spectacles at them and grinned. “Oh yes, me neither. I’m very excited to put these to good use.”

Author's Note

Oh right, the plot.

Heartless

“This is a terrible idea.”

“Not saying it isn’t.”

Vector and Trixie stood far to the north of East Glade, even well past Coil’s lab, looking out into the mountains beyond. In the distance Trixie could see snowcapped mountains that rose higher than any of the ones to the east. Imposing, true, but the northern range apparently wasn’t near as dangerous as the eastern and she had just made it through there fine. That’s not to say she wasn’t totally oblivious to the fact that what she was about to go do was reckless.

“It’s nice that you want to find out what happened to that mountain expedition for the sake of the village but you really don’t have to. And it’s dangerous,” Vector pleaded with her.

“Aren’t you curious to learn what really happened to them?” Trixie raised an eyebrow at the villager.

“Of course I am but it isn’t really a big deal. No one who went on the expedition was a native of East Glade. I suppose it would give us some closure but most people probably haven’t even thought about it for a while,” Vector scrunched up his face in concern. “It’s just… another weird and unexplainable thing that happens out here.”

“Well I want to figure out the mystery of that expedition. Even if it’s just for my own curiosity’s sake,” Trixie couldn’t help but prod the beehive again and again.

“Have you ever heard the phrase-”

“Yes I have!” She cut him off, glaring at him. “And it’s fine, this is just the kind of thing the people of East Glade would expect from The Great and Powerful Trixie anyways. Selflessly looking for the answer to what happened to some poor mountaineers! You can just add it to my tale.”

In part, she was also just bored. Coil was still working on the Suggestion Crystals in his lab and hadn’t brought any word to her yet about them and nothing else aside from Gold Box and Gold Fortune asking her to help them with their magic lessons had happened the past couple of days. The mayor’s kids were also incessantly attempting to get her to put on another show but Trixie refused to do that until she could use her new crystals to jazz it up.

Vector gave her a worried frown. “Isn’t it kind of selfish that you’re ignoring your friends who are concerned about what might happen to you?”

“Semantics,” Trixie scoffed. “You have the map with directions to the mountain don’t you?”

“Yes...” Vector reached into a bag he was carrying and pulled out the map, hoofing it over to Trixie.

“Thank you,” She took it and carefully stuffed it into her robe.

“But do you really have to go alone too?” He wasn’t about to let this go so simply.

Trixie gave an exaggerated sigh and roll of her eyes. “Yes, Vector. I do.” She looked at him. “Considering this my unselfish part. I’m not going to drag my friends into something dangerous that only I care about. So I’m being equally selfish and considerate right now.”

She picked up her hooves and started walking onwards into the northern mountain range, carefree as ever. “Just don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine. I’m the amazing traveling hero who defeats every monster and always triumphs over evil, remember?”

“That would have been more reassuring before I learned the truth about you you know?” Vector plainly responded.

“Oh be quiet...”

The going wasn’t really slow or anything for Trixie, she made good progress and the landscape in this mountain range was a lot more open and easier to travel through. She was steadily going up an incline as she got closer to the big mountains that were a bit further north. It seemed this entire part of the land was raised on a large bed of rock and well above sea level already. The actual mountains probably weren’t that much taller than the ones to the east then, they just started at a higher elevation to begin with.

It was getting snowy up ahead though and that would just get worse and worse if she actually went up any of the mountains. Hopefully there would be no need for that however and she could figure out what happened to the mountain climbing expedition without having to do any actual mountain climbing of her own. For now she just walked along and watched the lightly drifting snow. It wasn’t windy, thankfully, there would be no surprise blizzards around here. Unless the insanity of this part of the world felt like playing yet another cruel joke on her.

Loose pebbles clacked and scattered beneath her hooves and clouds shifted above overhead, creating an overcast sky that didn’t look stormy but was hardly sunny or pretty to look at either. Honestly she was expecting things to be worse out with how eerie the whole story of the expedition was. Maybe the weather was worse for them? But even that wouldn’t have been all that was needed to doom their expedition, Trixie had to think. Right now these mountains seemed normal enough, no different from any that she had gone through in Equestria.

She could already see the tallest of them all ahead of her too. Well, that’s obvious, if it’s the biggest mountain then of course it’s the easiest to see, right?

Nonetheless, that was her destination. It wasn’t spindly like the mountains to the east nor did it end in a point. The top of the mountain was fairly round except the side facing to the west was gradually slanted. If anyone could actually make it to the top there would be plenty of nearly level room to stand on up there with and take your time setting up a flag to let others know you conquered the mountain. Or just take pictures and look around if you wanted.

It was still a bit far away but Trixie certainly saw no flag. From what she had heard of the expedition they were very serious mountain climbers and probably would’ve left their mark or done something to get proof that they had made it to the peak. The climbers were experienced and had allegedly scaled many other mountains so it was more likely to her that something had happened well before they made it to the summit. Or some other sort of catastrophe took place while they were climbing instead of the normal hazards you would expect might happen on a mission like this. She just had a feeling that the types of ponies who were brave and confident enough to tackle a giant mountain in this part of the world wouldn’t fall prey to anything normal like bad weather. And in Trixie’s mind if they had succeeded what would be the point of doing something if you couldn’t brag about it? You’d certainly never see her do something amazing and then not rub it in someone’s face.

“I don’t know if the villagers were scared of these mountains before the expedition or not but everything seems fine to me,” Trixie shrugged to herself as she followed Vector’s map as closely as possible. It wasn’t the most detailed thing ever but the path he had drawn for her was direct and it went over easy terrain, she didn’t have to wind her way around other mountains or avoid any deep canyons.

Well over halfway there and the clouds overhead hadn’t changed, making it difficult to tell what time of day it was aside from “not night”. But now as new entertainment for her, Trixie got to watch the snow fall around her. The steady incline she had been walking on since starting finally taking her to a cool enough elevation where patches of snow dotted the ground. Most snowflakes still evaporated well before they made it to the ground but it was a pretty sight. Not something she usually took much interest in but why ignore it when there was nothing else she was doing? Every now and then she caught a snowflake on her tongue or played around with her magic to make them fall in specific ways. If Starlight was here they could have had a snowball fight, that would’ve been fun.

It was getting a little chilly because of the snow now but her robe and cap slightly helped her out with that. She’d probably feel more than just a little breezy once she started up the actual mountain though. Oh well. She could make fires with her magic, everything would be fine.

The mountain now practically loomed over her too. On another day she might even be in the shadow of it.

And it was big now that she noticed it. It wasn’t just tall but it was spread out across a wide area and bit by bit it rose up. This mountain wasn’t a simple cone or anything like that but a huge slab of rock that covered a large portion of this part of the mountain range. If she had a word for it it would be “stout”. Stout but still incredibly tall. Trixie knew in just a second that she had never climbed or traveled through a mountain near as large as it.

This little mission of hers to find out about the expedition might take her a lot longer than the day trip she had expected.

I should have brought some carrots or something.

When she actually made it to the base of the mountain Trixie decided to take a little rest and looked around for anything in the meantime. She didn’t see much. Snow and rocks and more snow falling from the sky. The wind had picked up a little too now that she was higher up and it was making things a little too cold to be pleasant if she wasn’t moving. The lack of discoveries to be made here though could only mean one thing to Trixie: the expedition hadn’t ended here so she would have to go up the mountain to search for any sign of what happened to it. So at least she’d be moving again soon.

The good news was is that because of how gradual the slope of the mountain was it made climbing it relatively easy even for a pony like her. She could already see numerous paths and ways that she could go up just by walking like she had been all day. And any other obstacles she was certain she could just teleport past or over. The size of the mountain would take her a while to scale or even go around it once but she was at least certain that she wouldn’t have to go all the way to the top so that was a good enough consolation prize to her.

“Better get moving before I become a pony popsicle anyways...” Trixie muttered and took her first step onto the actual mountain. A wide patch of snow leading up to a rocky ledge was the first little bit to be conquered and she plodded through that snow with gusto, not more than a couple inches deep.

Of course since her hooves were now covered in snow it got her colder even faster but Trixie was hardly going to admit that something like that was bothering her. She could easily imagine that a place like this would be foreboding if the weather was a little worse but for her it was actually still fine, it was just a cold and snowy place, not something that truly looked or felt dangerous and uninviting. It really did make her think again about what East Glade thought about this mountain and the ones around it. She had seen literally nothing that would scare them like the kinds of things that you’d see in the eastern mountains. Was there something else that happened up here besides the expedition and everyone had just forgotten about it aside from remembering that the northern mountains are bad?

She didn’t know. She wasn’t sure she wanted to either.

Higher elevation meant thinner air and while that wasn’t a problem to Trixie as of yet if the snow got deeper or she had to climb steeper cliffs it could turn into a hazard later. She wiped off some frost that had gathered on the brim of her hat and chugged along, now on a flat ridge that looked like it winded up and around a good portion of the mountain. Easy enough. She couldn’t imagine the mountain climbers wouldn’t have taken such a direct route either and her eyes were always open and searching for any sign of them or their journey.

But still there was just nothing yet and Trixie had to go further and further up the mountain. Sometimes teleporting over gaps, or quickly scrambling up a ledge, but most of the time her lack of equipment was no problem and she could just walk her way up. Like what she was doing now as she walked on top of a narrow, snow-covered, buttress, to her right was a steep drop several hundred feet down and to her left was another steep drop several hundred feet down. One wrong move would make things pretty bad. Trixie wasn’t an acrobat but she was happy to have enough balance to stay safe up here.

“Brr,” It was getting cold though, Trixie thought as she shivered. With a little magic put into her horn she created a small heat source for herself to make things a little easier. If she found some wood or a tree she could make a torch and carry that with her too.

She made it off the buttress to a much flatter part of the mountain again, looking up she was still a good distance from the top, maybe halfway, and it looked like things got more complicated from here after leaving this flat part. She didn’t see any straight paths and the cliff in front of her going up the south side of the mountain was completely vertical. She’d probably have to teleport up there.

Trixie sighed and began walking through the thick snow of this little mesa. The other directions only went down, the cliff to the north was her only option from here. The snow was falling far more heavily here too and she was already sinking deeper than her knees with each step. Getting tired of the snow she started using her magic to move it out of her way and make her walk easier. Pulling out one large pile of snow after another along with any errant rocks, Trixie smugly trotted her way towards the cliff.

It was then that she saw something unusual from one of the piles she pulled up. Or more accurately, something unnatural.

Trixie’s eyes lit up and she grinned, levitating the metal tent pole to her and looking it over. “Yes! They did come by here!” Wherever the rest of the tent or anything else was she couldn’t be sure, but the sight of the pole renewed Trixie’s vigor and desire to go further.

When she made it to the cliff she saw something else that only made her more certain and pleased with herself. Divots cut into the rock and bolts placed for climbing. The expedition had been here. There was no question about it now.

Without any rope or equipment of her own though these tools were useless to Trixie. Still, that was no obstacle to her. The cliff was low enough to teleport to the top of and that’s what she did, giving a little hop and cheer of success to herself upon completion and silently thanking Starlight that she didn’t smack into the cliff on accident instead.

“Easy as pie,” Trixie looked around the new part of the mountain she was on. A narrow ledge with packed snow covering the edge to her right and a series of jagged rocks leading up to her left. Going higher at this point would no longer be a simple walk.

“Great,” Trixie grumbled, her previous mood soured, and tried to think of how best to conquer this part of the mountain. She didn’t see anymore used equipment but there was only one place the mountaineers could’ve gone after coming up here. The rocks had no easy path in-between them and were covered in enough snow to make climbing through them treacherous. There could be gaps or crevices she couldn’t see or she could slip, who knows?

The Great and Powerful Trixie decided to see if she could see some other path on the mountain down below that she might be able to backtrack over and use to go up the mountain on the other side, shaking off the fresh snow that had fallen on her while she thought, she made her way to the right side of the ledge and looked down the cliff. Not much was there that she could see, in fact this part of the mountain was almost a sheer drop back to the bottom.

She scowled in annoyance and turned around to try her luck with the rocks… when the packed snow gave way beneath her hooves.

And Trixie fell.

The magician slipped down the edge of the mountain with the snow, it had happened so fast that she forgot to scream. Wordlessly she flailed about as she tried to right herself in midair and try to see if she could teleport somewhere to safety or grab onto something. The wind was whipping around her mane and her panicked mind was wishing it could calm itself down while her heart nearly exploded out of her chest.

And while she was thinking this might be it, her body collided with something far sooner than she expected and her vision went dark. Her back was sore but as her heavy breathing and rapid heartbeart told her she was alive. But cold. Trixie pushed her way out of the pile of heavy snow she had fallen into and rolled down it, collapsing in an exhausted heap and looking straight up at the sky. From down here her tired eyes could see that she was on a ledge only a short distance below the one she had been standing on, invisible from above thanks to the way it was positioned.

“Starlight should have taught me how to fly...” Trixie shook her head and got up, the fear she had felt while falling slowly abating.

This small ledge was mostly covered in snow and a small indentation in the rock, not big enough to be called a cave, stood at the back of it. She could teleport right back up to where she was once she got her wits all the way back in order and took a couple deep breaths to calm herself.

Glancing around at the rest of the ledge, Trixie saw something sticking out of the snow.

A rope. A piece of frayed rope.

“Something else huh?” Trixie used her magic to push away the snow around the rope.

And this time she did scream.

“Ahhhhh!” Trixie scrambled and fell over backwards away from the frozen pony that had been buried in the snow. With panicked breaths she pushed herself away from it and backed up right against the big pile of snow she had fallen into. “W-W-What?!” In retrospect she should have expected something like this, but it was still frightening to see. Her initial shock starting to lift, Trixie took a closer look at the body.

He was a male earth pony stallion with a salt and pepper mane and mustache and he was wearing a very beaten jacket that was torn in some places. Besides the rope Trixie had first seen there was a bag and other scattered tools and picks around him.

“I, uh, guess you were one of the mountaineers?” Trixie said, gulping.

Naturally the body gave no response.

“Sorry, dumb question,” Trixie got up and gingerly stepped towards him again. She noticed now that one of his back legs was painfully bent the wrong way, he must’ve fallen and broken it. But if he had only fallen then what about everyone else on the expedition? He could’ve called for help or someone should’ve been around to see in the first place, right? “You’re the only one I’ve seen so far...”

Something under his chest caught her eye that she hadn’t seen earlier, a book. He looked like he must have been holding it close to him when he passed away.

Not wanting to touch or disturb his body Trixie carefully pulled it free with her magic. It was thin and bound with brown leather, a cheap journal that you could buy anywhere. Holding it now in her hooves, Trixie glanced at the poor stallion and then at the blank and unmarked cover of his book, grimacing. Was it right of her to do this? But it might be the only way to figure something out…

“Eh, being thoughtful isn’t like me,” Trixie opened up the journal with a shrug and began to read.

Rock Wrecker

Expedition Journal #17

It’s now officially the first day of my latest expedition so I’ve decided to crack open the new journal I bought for it. We just left the small town of East Glade. If that name doesn’t ring any bells then don’t worry, I doubt most of the world knows it exists. The ponies (oh, and griffons) there were nice enough I suppose but a little wary. I thought they would be more interested in seeing outsiders or would care to hear more about the mission we were going on but they were largely apathetic. Sad.

Strange village honestly. They seem afraid of everything around them and when I asked them if they had traveled up any of the mountains or had much interest in mountaineering in general they answered in the negative to darn near everything. How can you live surrounded by mountain ranges and not know anything about them? Maybe it’s just because climbing mountains is my thing but I can’t fathom growing up here and not wanting to climb any of these peaks.

They said something about monsters in the eastern mountains. Well, as someone who’s been all across Equestria I’ve seen my fair share of monsters. If that’s their excuse then so be it.

But what about the north? They didn’t say much about where we were going other than “It’s dangerous”. Well so what? Everything about my life is dangerous. I climb huge and treacherous mountains for a living! And so do all of my fellow companions.

Being told something is dangerous is just as likely to excite us all as it is to dissuade us.

I feel bad for these villagers. Someone needs to come by and teach them how to live a little. Unfortunately that can’t be me. I have a mountain to conquer.

However I did ask if any of them wanted to join us, we would have been glad to have another, and especially a local, traveling with us for this expedition.

Unfortunately only one took us up on the offer and apparently she’s a mare that isn’t a local either. Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers. We set off for the tallest mountain to the north soon after. As of now the peak is unnamed but after making it to the top I’ll change that!

Besides me and the new mare, whose name I forgot to ask, I’ll have to do that later, there are 14 others on the expedition. Most of them have been with me since the beginning, there are no ponies I trust more.

First day of actually being on the mountain. Weather has been favorable but very cold. Which is odd since it’s summer. I was told by the mayor back in East Glade that the weather can have very random and sudden fluctuations. Definitely not ideal but we can manage.

It’s a large mountain but not the tallest I’ve been up by any measure. I expect a couple of days at most unless the weather gets worse. Wouldn’t want to jinx it but this is supposed to be my record after all.

Haven’t seen any sign of monsters or anything else that would make these mountains so scary to the villagers. Good for us.

But that mare who joined up with us though is apparently a total amateur when it comes to mountain climbing. I was stunned when she had no idea what I was talking about when I went over the equipment with her. I almost got angry. When I asked if anyone wanted to come with us on the expedition I thought it was obvious that I meant ponies who had experience with this kind of thing. Not a complete beginner. Well I suppose it’s my own fault? Either way she hasn’t proven to be much of a problem yet. The cold doesn’t bother her at all while me and my companions are bundled up in our coats and other gear. And she’s all smiles all day, so I can’t fault her for a negative attitude.

I don’t mind teaching beginners but I prefer to not do it in the middle of an expedition.

And now I sadly have to mention something very unfortunate.

We’ve lost our first member on the climb.

Pine, my good friend. We found him inside his tent after he had gotten finished setting it up. From what we could tell it was a sudden heart attack. I was shocked, he was elderly but always in good health. I’m not a doctor but I didn’t see any signs of it. If you had told me this would happen yesterday I wouldn’t believe it. But I suppose that’s life.

He had been with me on eleven other expeditions. We buried him at the base of the mountain. He would have wanted that.

Weather has taken a turn for the worse and it’s impeding our climb. We’ve been unable to make much progress at all and it’s turning into one of the slowest climbs I’ve ever been on.

Adding to that we’ve had another bout of misfortune. Two of us have gone missing.

Steady Rope and Moonstone Shine. Two of the younger ones in our party but still experienced climbers. I can’t believe they just got lost, something must have happened to them. A crevice? A wild animal? I hope not. With any luck we’ll find them when visibility picks up and we can really search for them.

It’s so early on in our climb and we’ve been hit with so many problems already. Some of the others are saying there’s a dark cloud overhead.

A full on blizzard. Stuck in the same spot for an entire day. Unable to move anywhere or do anything.

Curses.

We searched the area and even backtracked some but found no trace of Steady Rope or Moonstone Shine. It’s going to be difficult writing to their families about this. The rest of us have continued on with the climb though. These things unfortunately happen and it’s not the first or only climb that I’ve lost friends and companions on. Like I said we all knew what the dangers were when we started. That’s just a part of this lifestyle.

Weather is still awful and visibility is shot most of the time but we’ve been able to make it up to another part of the mountain. We know how to work with low visibility.

It’s not just the slowing down that makes the weather and vision unfortunate though, a lot of us wanted to take pictures. Hopefully when we make it to the peak or just a bit higher up things will have cleared some and we can take some good photographs.

What a travesty it would be to come here, get to the top of the highest mountain around, and then not be able to take any pictures.

Anyways we just have to press on at this point. I have to be the strong one and keep an optimistic outlook for everyone else, can’t have ponies being fidgety or that will just lead to more accidents and problems. It’s a climb like any other, no more and no less. I’ve been trapped, cold and helpless, after an avalanche before when I was younger. I didn’t know what to do, I thought I might die up on that mountain. But the expedition leader kept a cool head and we all got out of that situation alive.

That’s just how I need to be now. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried at all but I won’t let others see that.

There’s something wrong with this mountain. Or something is hunting us. I refuse to believe that so many of us could just accidentally become lost.

We also found two more that had died, they were huddled together in a snow drift. The only thing we could think of is that they froze but I don’t think they did, not with all of their gear still on and their tools with them.

The party is down to nine and I have to agree with the others that we need to cancel the climb and go back down the mountain. It’s become apparent that this is not just a normal climb and I can’t in good faith say we need to push on and make it to the top in this situation. Reckless and selfish. That’s all that would be. One day we can return and conquer this mountain. But for now it’s more important that I get everyone I can to safety. The weather unfortunately is not allowing that right now. Just more bad luck after bad luck.

Stuck still. After we found Granite Slab dead we’ve taken to pushing all our tents together so we can be as close as possible. If we had a large enough tent I’d suggest we all stay in the same one. The bad thing is that we’ve been using the buddy system the entire time and this is still happening. If only the visibility was better and the snowfall not so harsh.

Things have to be better by tomorrow morning.

I will get everyone I can off this mountain. I promise. Whatever is happening I’m not going to let it take anymore of my friends and companions.

I’m dying.

Already I’m cold, too cold, and my vision is getting dark. I’ll try and write as much as I can before I sleep, I know I wont wake up again when I do.

I should have known looking back. I should have been able to put two and two together.

It was her. That thing that joined us in East Glade. It’s not a pony. It looks like one but it’s not. It can’t be.

I can’t say for certain what happened to everyone else. But I was stuck up on a ledge with her, alone. When she touched me… it was like I had just sprinted a marathon. I felt more tired than ever before in my life, her hoof just touching me almost killed me. I had barely enough energy left to push her away. But that only ended in me stumbling down the cliff. I fell onto this small shelf and broke my leg when I landed. I don’t have the strength to climb back up and certainly not enough to make it down the mountain. So this is it for me.

Luckily, not like it matters, I don’t think she could see me from up there. Or feel me.

She said she felt my life. That she could feel the lives of the others too before she attacked me. She said that we all shined in the darkness. Whatever that means.

I’ve heard of creatures called changelings that look like ponies and feed on the love of others. Maybe she’s like that except she feeds on your lifeforce itself? I don’t know, I climb mountains for a living. She’s a monster. That’s all I can say. When her hoof touched me I could just feel it pulling me away, all my strength, my energy, my life. Just being sucked away.

Looking back on it it’s plain to see how it started. She killed Pine first because he was old and we’d put it down to natural causes. Then she just started picking off the rest of us one by one or two by two thanks to our buddy system. And we couldn’t run or do anything about it. Was the bad weather somehow her doing too? It made things easier for her and deadly for us. Impossible to know.

I’m sorry everyone. I tried and I said I would help you all but it was just an empty promise.

Whatever this thing is I can only hope it doesn’t go back to the village. That something like this was out here, I’m worried. Guess the villagers were right. If I made it back would they say “Told you so”?

Tired. It’s getting harder to write.

She was still smiling like always. It was such an innocent smile. A child’s smile. But she’s a monster in pony form. I should have spent more time talking with her, then I might have realized that something was so wrong with her.

Can’t feel the leg at all anymore.

Rock Wrecker’s last journal, on his last climb. I always thought I’d be more content if I ended up dying on a mountain. Not the way it’s happened though. Wish I could have done something.

Trixie didn’t really know what to think as she closed the journal. She couldn’t really afford to right now anyways since far from how it was just minutes ago the wind around the mountain was howling and the snowfall had increased drastically, the sky was graying and the clouds rumbled with thunder, the weather all around was getting much worse since she had started reading and it would be bad if Trixie stayed in a place like this for much longer. The mountain itself might have been telling her to leave. Whether it was a warning or threat she didn’t care, she’d leave.

She uncomfortably looked down at Rock Wrecker’s body and placed the journal back with him, then with her magic she levitated the snow back on top of him and covered the mountaineer completely this time so maybe he could at least rest in peace and not be bothered by any other overly curious ponies or creatures.

The traveling magician turned around from her spot on the cliff-side to see a mild blizzard forming in the northern mountain range. Any thoughts she had about these mountains not being as imposing or scary as the eastern ones evaporating in her head. She didn’t gulp, and it was too cold to sweat, but a dismayed and troubled expression still wormed its way onto her face.

“I don’t think I should be here.”

Author's Note

Trixie is a lucky pony.

https://youtu.be/ho9rZjlsyYY

Fourth Lesson

Being invited to another dinner at the mayor’s house would’ve normally annoyed Trixie since it meant she’d get hounded by his kids the entire time. But she decided to see the glass as half full and just enjoy the good meal while basking in the adoration of others. And it also meant that it was a reprieve from getting hounded by her students instead. Besides just her, both Daylight and Coil had been invited to the dinner. All the big outsiders for some reason. Vahar from the merponies was here too instead of Senax, Trixie had no idea why.

For the moment they were all pleasantly eating the meal Giselle had made for them, the mayor’s three children actually behaving and staying in their seats instead of instantly bombarding Trixie with questions and requests. Speaking of questions, Trixie wanted to ask Coil about the Suggestion Crystals but that could wait until after they were done.

Due to recent events the meal did not include carrots in any way. Special attention was being given to the regrowing of the patch but it would take some time before things were back to normal.

Daylight Gleam and Coil both didn’t give any indication that they knew why they had been asked to attend this dinner either. It came out of the blue and while Trixie certainly didn’t mind being the guest of honor at any event she still wondered why things were specifically like this. Vector and Gizzard were frequently at these dinners but they were absent this evening and just why was Vahar here and not Senax?

“Are you enjoying your meal?” Gabriel suddenly asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“Er, yes. It’s delicious,” Trixie looked down at her corn pudding. In truth it was pretty good.

“That’s good, that’s good,” Gabriel pushed around his pudding with his spoon, something clearly distracting him.

Trixie looked at his kids and saw them all expectantly staring up at their father. A glance further down the table showed Vahar doing the same thing. The traveling magician shrugged and went back to eating, if they had something on their mind or some ulterior motive for asking them all to this dinner she was at least going to get the best of it before any annoying request was foisted on her.

“Sorry about the lack of carrots,” Daylight said to Vahar. The white unicorn probably could’ve blamed Trixie for all of that right now but instead she just gave an apologetic frown to the merpony.

Vahar seemed a little startled at being spoken too, she turned her spiky pink-maned head from looking at the mayor to Daylight. “Oh, that’s alright. We were upset to hear about it but we understand.”

While Trixie was fine with letting this strange meal go on for as long as necessary, Coil didn’t seem to share her feelings. The inquisitive and science-loving unicorn just had to know why they were here when so many other usual members of their group weren’t. And he was also quite surprised by the unusually good behavior of the mayor’s three children.

“Excuse me, mayor. But I have to ask why the three of us specifically were asked to dine with you this evening? Is there something going on?” He asked, glancing around at the other table members.

“Well, um-” Gabriel was about to respond when he was cut off.

“Dad, just ask her already!” Gabriel Jr. suddenly shouted.

He and his brothers abandoned all pretense of civility and started squawking and shouting over each other at their father. Giselle just sighed and hid her face in her talons out of embarrassment when the three jumped out of their chairs and crowded the mayor, jumping on and over him and tugging on his feathers while begging him to do something. It seems whatever patience the three might have possessed was sorely exhausted.

“Knock it off already!” Gabriel shouted and slammed his talons down on the dinner table.

The rambunctious griffon children stopped, quieting down and looking away wish bashful expressions on their faces.

“Sit,” Gabriel commanded and they all returned to their seats, although not without puffing out their cheeks in a pout. The mayor shook his head and propped his elbows up on the table, rubbing his tired eyes with his palms. “So.” He started. “I can guess you’ve all noticed that there’s a reason why just you three are here right now?”

Trixie and Daylight both nodded. Coil just sat back since he already asked about it.

“The reason for this dinner is because my kids—and Vahar—actually she was the one who came here and gave them the idea,” He nodded to the merpony, who blushed in acknowledgment. “Have a request of you, Miss Great and Powerful Trixie.”

“Umm, okay?” Trixie tilted her head, she looked between the three young griffons and the merpony.

“I’m sorry I didn’t just come to your wagon and ask you directly, but I was a little embarrassed so I came to the mayor first. Senax is busy with the carrots too...” The merpony fidgeted, her tail swishing around behind her.

Trixie rolled her eyes, now her patience was exhausted. “Can someone just please tell me what’s going on?”

“We want you to teach us magic tricks!” Gabriel Jr. yelled, half getting out of his chair while his wings shot open in excitement.

There was a pause as his statement hung in the air. Trixie was surprised and confused and Daylight was trying to think of how this involved her and what she could do to get out of it. Vahar blushed even harder now that the cat was out of the bag and the mayor gave Trixie a shrug and an apologetic smile as if admitting there was nothing more he could do for her. Meanwhile Gabriel Jr, Gower, and Guyaven eagerly awaited her answer.

Well it can’t be any worse than teaching my magic lessons.

“Why do you want to learn how to perform magic tricks?” Trixie asked the four interested.

“Because it isn’t fair!” Guyaven said. “You haven’t even put on a show in a long time and now you’re always teaching magic to the unicorns.”

“That’s right.” Gower said. “We want to be able to spend time with you too, just because we can’t use magic doesn’t mean Gold Box and Gold Fortune get to have you all to themselves...”

“I see now...” Trixie sighed. Well it was only natural for them to get jealous that her amazing self was being monopolized by others. Of course they wanted to spend time with her too, and have something special to do it seems. With how much this village idolized her she expected many were jealous that the unicorns got to do something only they could do together. And apparently her magic and shows had a great deal of influence on them if they wanted to learn magic tricks. Trixie had to smirk to herself, she really was great, wasn’t she?

Vahar quietly spoke up too, trying to hide her blush. “I just thought your magic tricks were really cool… I want to learn how to do stuff like that too.”

“Well, there you have it,” Gabriel sheepishly said, rubbing the back of his head. “Sorry if this is putting you on the spot. I know you’re busy with other things and you’ve given so much to this village it’s kind of selfish to ask this of you...”

Trixie cleared her throat. “Ehem, well, a magician cannot reveal her secrets but I would have no problem teaching you the kinds of everyday magic tricks that anyone can learn.” I just have to go back to when I was a little filly practicing card tricks and making coins disappear. I wonder if I have any instructional manuals or props in my wagon that can help?

“Excuse me?” Daylight Gleam interjected, hoof raised in question. “But what does this have to do with me and Coil?”

“Ah, yes, my apologies,” Gabriel said. “I know Trixie’s magic lessons are very important for the future defense of the village. And Speckle Wood and the others really enjoy them and would probably be a little upset if things were put off just so The Great and Powerful Trixie can teach my kids, and Vahar, some magic tricks. So I figured since you and Coil are very talented unicorns from outside you could temporarily take over the magic lessons?”

Coil seemed ambivalent but an awkwardly lopsided grimace plastered itself onto Daylight’s face.

“I would love to,” The white unicorn said, and then glared at Trixie out of the corner of her eye.

“I’m somewhat busy but I suppose I have no problem with it for a day or two,” Coil answered.

“See, dad? They’re totally fine with it,” Gabriel Jr. said to his father.

The mayor pushed his son back into his seat. “There’s a thing called being too polite to refuse.” He looked to Trixie. “But I mean, if you would care to teach them as soon as possible I think they’ll have it out of their systems in a day or two. Sorry.”

“No need to apologize!” Trixie grinned and hopped up on the table, ignoring all manners and etiquette. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is happy that she has so interested others in the performing arts! I shall teach you magic tricks that you can wow all your friends and family with!”

“Issss, this your card?!”

“No, try again.”

Gabriel Jr. and Trixie had been working on the same beginner’s card trick for a while and so far the results had been… mixed. Still there wasn’t much else they could do about that, these things took practice. Trixie turned out to be a better teacher of these tricks than actual magic though, even though she performed tricks that used actual magic she was still more than fluent in every kind of trick under the sun that a magician could perform. Whether they be unicorn, pegasus, earth pony, and now apparently griffon and merpony. And this was something she was just more passionate about.

Vahar was trying to figure out the magic rings while Gower and Guyaven worked on making a coin disappear and reappear behind each other’s ears. Basic stuff. But still fun.

The other unicorns meanwhile were all practicing magic on their own or listening to Daylight and Coil somewhere else while Trixie did this. In everyone’s haste to get started on this new craziness, Trixie had forgotten to ask Coil about his progress on the Suggestion Crystals. Oh well, some other time.

Trixie indeed had quite a large amount of useful things in her wagon to help everyone but she found that they were more interested in just getting taught specifically by her than anything. She had no idea Vahar was so awed by her magic shows that she wanted to learn tricks and illusions too. It certainly made Trixie proud.

Again though she found it annoying in passing that she had come here to learn and discover new things and yet now was acting the teacher.

Well, she just couldn’t help being so special and desired.

Seeing that everyone was struggling a bit, Trixie decided to give them a talk. “Alright everyone, gather round,” She waited for Gabriel Jr. to neatly put his cards back into a deck and for the others to come sit in front of her. “So when it comes to magic tricks you need to have a lot of patience. It takes time to master these things just like any other skill. But there’s another layer to magic tricks because they’re just that, tricks. Misdirection and sleight of hand are what it’s all about, especially when magic tricks are being performed by those who can’t use actual magic since you have less options. However if you’re able to successfully pull off a trick you may amaze your audience even more than I would since they’ll be left wondering how someone without any magic could’ve just gone through a solid wall, or escape a sealed jar filled with water, or slip out of any kind of hoofcuffs.”

Trixie smugly grinned as she explained to them. All four of her new students were completely enraptured by what she was telling them. “Now normally I wouldn’t reveal how any magic tricks are done but since we’re talking old classics and you want to learn how to actually perform them I’ll make an exception.” And it’s not like they’re mine. She added internally.

“What tricks?” Gabriel Jr. asked, his whole body shaking. His brothers too were close to jumping up and down.

“Calm down,” Trixie frowned at him. “I’m just explaining how they work. These are tricks that can both take a lot of time to do right and require some assistance with. One of the best classic earth pony magic tricks was performed by Morgana. She would have herself be tied up, put in a box that was nailed shut, and then thrown in a lake. How do you think she escaped?”

The four looked confused as they tried to figure it out, Trixie could see them racking their brains in an attempt to solve an old magic trick. Vahar’s brow furrowed in thought while the griffon’s eyes just started to glaze over and they tilted their heads in unison as if they were hypnotized. Slowly, after some more “thinking”, Guyaven raised a talon.

“Yes?” Trixie asked expectantly.

“Uh, magic?” He seemed to be suggesting it innocently enough.

Trixie groaned and facehooved. “Ugh, no. Not magic. She was an earth pony, she couldn’t use magic. The trick was that the box was built so she could push out one of the sides and swim into the lake. As for being tied up she was an expert in escaping ropes. You can take a deep breath to expand your chest when being tied up to give yourself more room, or dislocate your shoulders, stuff like that.”

“If you go from performing simple party tricks to big tricks like that you’ll learn that it’s all about making your audience think you’re doing one thing when really you’re doing another. Watch this,” Trixie grabbed the top playing card from Gabriel Jr’s deck with her magic and placed it in her hooves. “Now look,” Trixie pointed to her horn and once all eyes were on it she turned her magic off to show that she wasn’t going to be using it anymore. “And be amazed.”

She grinned and suddenly dropped the card, where to the astonishment of her students it hung suspended in midair and began spinning around, Trixie waved her hooves around to make the card follow under them to show that she was indeed controlling it even though they could plainly see she wasn’t using any magic. The card really looked like it was flying around at her command.

“Ta-da!” Trixie finished, plucking the card out of the air and dramatically spinning around before handing it back to Gabriel Jr.

The young griffon looked over every inch of the card, trying to figure out the trick. “How did you do that?!” He asked in wonder.

Trixie was about to answer when Vahar spoke up first.

“I think I know… er, at least partially,” She hesitantly said, blushing slightly.

The traveling magician grinned at the merpony. “Well? Go ahead and tell me.”

Vahar nodded. “Okay… I don’t know how you made it levitate like that but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the card you took from Gabriel Jr’s deck and gave back to him.”

The three young griffons all looked at the card. A simple Two of Spades.

“It wasn’t?” Gabriel Jr. asked.

Trixie kept up her grin. “Go on.”

The merpony looked a little nervous to be put on the spot like this but she continued. “I think when you told us to look at your horn, you switched his card with a card you already had while we weren’t paying attention. And then when you spun around at the end you switched the cards back. You must’ve been hiding one or the other under your robe the whole time,” Vahar elaborated.

“Very good,” Trixie was impressed at the merpony’s observational ability. “Now was I just lucky that I happened to grab a card that was black like the one I already had and not red?”

This time Vahar shook her head. “No, you were planning this trick for a while. You paid attention to Gabriel Jr. while he gathered up his cards, you must’ve noticed what color the top card of his deck was… which means you probably also have a red card hidden in your robe just in case.”

“Indeed I do,” Trixie reached a hoof into her robe and pulled out an assortment of playing cards. Red, black, face, etc. “I was ready with whatever I needed.” Trixie looked at her three griffon students. “Like I said, these tricks are about making your audience think you’re doing one thing when you’re actually doing something else. As for how I actually levitated the card...”

Trixie stepped forward and showed her right hoof to everyone up close, turning it around they could just barely see a black thread visible in the light with a piece of clear tape stuck higher up on the back of her hoof where the black thread was connected.

“All of my cards have a very sticky piece of tape on them, I attach the black thread to them and viola, as long as I hold it right you can’t even see the thread at all and it looks like the card is floating from my hoof,” Trixie smiled at them. “Very simple, right?”

Vahar looked very interested but the three griffons looked somewhat… disappointed?

“It’s kind of underwhelming when you know how it’s done,” Gower said. “Just a string?”

Trixie scoffed. “That’s how magic tricks are. The magic disappears when you learn the trick to it. If you want to actually perform tricks like these yourself that’s something you’ll have to accept. There won’t be any more mystique for you.”

Three of her students seemed discouraged by that. The fourth nodded in understanding.

Trixie wasn’t sure if any of them really cared to become magicians or if was just a fad to them thanks to her influence. But if one day there was a merpony magician traveling around the world, well that wouldn’t be so bad.

Luck

“How much can you really know someone you only first met a few weeks ago? How many conversations have you had with them? How much time have you spent with them? Are you sure you’re really seeing them? Perhaps the smile they give you disappears the moment you turn away. Maybe they’re lying about how it’s a pleasure to see you. If you see them as a friend maybe they see you as something completely different, maybe every thought in their head would surprise and scare you. Just what do you think you can know about someone?”

The dreaming Trixie had no answer.

“We’re so sorry!”

“Please forgive us, we’ll do anything!”

Gibble and Gouge were on their knees in front of the bridge leading into East Glade. The two wingless griffons had come skulking down from the mountains around noon to prostrate themselves before the citizens of East Glade and ask for forgiveness. It seems ever since that fight and Goliath’s defeat they’d been hiding out in the mountains and fighting for survival against the bona fide zoo of monsters in there. Perhaps it was pride or a fear of retribution that kept them from giving up or coming to East Glade until now, but the weeks of harsh life and barely scraping by in the mountains had finally worn them down.

Now the mayor, Vector, Gizzard and Senax stood before them, watching the former marauders grovel. Trixie was standing back with Daylight, Coil, and a good deal of other villagers on the East Glade side. All of them watching to see how this would go.

“You come here looking for refuge after all the times you and your friends have attacked and terrorized our village?” Gabriel glared down at the two raggedy griffons.

“It was because of Goliath!” Gibble tried to reason. “We couldn’t say no to him, you know how he was! We were just afraid, all of us were.”

“That’s right,” Gouge said. “We didn’t have a choice.” At the unimpressed and angry looks he got after saying that he quickly continued. “A-And we’re serious about making things up to you. Put us to work however you want, we’ll farm or be servants or help you fight any monsters from the mountains, anything! Just please, please, let us live here where it’s safe.”

“We can’t handle fighting for survival anymore. It’s too much!” Gibble pleaded.

The leaders of East Glade considered their words. No one who was part of Goliath’s band had ever tried to defect before. Maybe it was because they were too afraid of Goliath, like what Gibble and Gouge were saying, or maybe they enjoyed lording over East Glade and treating the villagers like toys. Whatever it was, the mayor and the others didn’t have any experience dealing with something like this. Vector thought they seemed honest enough in how tired and scared they were of scrounging around in the mountains. And if they wanted to help around the village to prove their sincerity then all the better.

But should they be forgiven so easily? Could they be? So many of the villagers had a bone to pick with these griffons and Vector and Gizzard remembered not too long ago when these two specifically came here and burned down Daylight’s house and threatened them. Gibble and Gouge only knew how to pick on others, at least Vector and Gizzard thought, could they adjust to life in East Glade and really become productive citizens and not cause any trouble?

Most of the other villagers standing besides Trixie didn’t look very happy that these two were here either. There was a murmur of discontent growing and growing amongst the peanut gallery.

The Great and Powerful Trixie on the other hand was mostly apathetic. Sure these guys were jerks but she had made some questionable decisions in the past too. And so had her best friend! And Discord. He was sort of like a friend. Or something. Maybe these guys deserved at least a little consideration. She didn’t really care about them but if she and her friends got a second chance then it was only fair to extend the olive branch to guys like this, right?

From the looks on the mayor’s and everyone elses faces though it didn’t seem like they would.

With a great and powerful sigh, Trixie realized much to her dismay that she was going to have to butt in. Or she could attempt to go back to not caring at all. Starlight wouldn’t like that though.

“One moment please! The Great and Powerful Trixie would like to speak!” Trixie said, walking out onto the bridge.

Naturally all eyes went to the hero of the village. Of course even if she wasn’t the hero that likely would have happened, since Trixie was quite good at getting the attention of others with her loud voice and loud clothes. Although Trixie wouldn’t use the word herself, Starlight would probably say she was more of an eyesore than an eyecatcher.

Trixie strode up to the mayor and the three others who were standing in front of Gibble and Gouge. Gabriel and Senax seemed interested in what she had to say while Vector and Gizzard just looked confused. She walked to stand in front of the two rough griffons and faced the East Glader’s.

Clearing her throat and smiling her winning smile, Trixie began her argument. “As you all know, I am your fearless hero who has repeatedly saved East Glade from destruction-” Daylight glared at her for that. “-and I have traveled extensively and encountered many other villains as well. However. Some of those I have dealt with were merely people that had made a mistake or hadn’t been given the chance to do something good yet.” She couldn’t use herself as an example since that would ruin her image but a certain best friend of hers worked perfectly for that. “I have a great friend who made some bad mistakes in her life but when she was forgiven and given the chance to do good she became one of Equestria’s greatest heroes. After me of course.”

She paused to see how everyone was taking her speech. Most seemed pretty interested, although it might have been just because it was her talking. If she said Gibble and Gouge should be punished they’d probably agree with her on that too. Oh well, take it or leave it.

“Anyways, what I’m saying is that we should give these two a chance. I know from some very up close and personal experiences how scary Goliath could be. If they really want to try and make up for what they’ve done I think East Glade should give them the benefit of the doubt,” Trixie finished.

The various ponies, griffons, and merponies of East Glade conversed with each other. Some speaking openly, others in whispers, some glancing at Trixie or the two wingless griffons. It wasn’t the most positive reaction she could have hoped for but at least they weren’t slinging stones at her.

Finally it was Gabriel who made the decision, as it should be. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has never led us astray before. I see no reason why we shouldn’t take her advice on this either.”

Gibble and Gouge’s eyes widened in hope as they looked up at the mayor and other VIP’s from East Glade.

“Really? You’ll really let us stay?” Gibble asked.

“Seems so,” Vector said and put forward a hoof to help Gibble up. “And I suppose that will go for any other stragglers of Goliath’s former band that may show up from here on out too. It would only be fair.”

“Just don’t make us regret this,” Gizzard warned. The old griffon was hard-eyed and obviously not completely happy with the outcome, yet he abided by it.

“We won’t, I promise the two of us will be on our best behavior,” Gouge said, rising as well.

Trixie smiled at the turn of events, quite pleased with herself for giving such an amazing speech that could convince everyone to resolve things peacefully. How nice it was that she didn’t get dragged into another fight. Trixie let the actual citizens of East Glade finish up things from there and she walked back over to join Coil and Daylight, most of the rest of the crowd dispersing or waiting around to see what the mayor would say to their new residents. Some of the villagers wanted to thank Trixie or shake hooves so she engaged in the needed pleasantries until it was just the three outside unicorns left at this side of the bridge.

“Not sure how much of that speech I approve of but well done otherwise,” Daylight regarded her with a cool expression.

“I thought it was quite splendid, good job!” Coil cheerfully congratulated.

“Just another typical moment in the life of Trixie,” Trixie shrugged.

“I’m surprised you’re so forgiving,” Daylight said.

That didn’t bother Trixie to hear. “I have a friend who would probably be upset with me if I didn’t at least give those two the chance to make things up,” And I’d be hypocritical considering all the chances I got too, but they don’t need to hear about that.

“Well whatever, guess it all ended up fine,” Daylight Gleam allowed and started walking back to her home. “I’m heading home, see ya. Gotta prepare for more magic lessons.”

Trixie and Coil both waved goodbye to her. And the traveling magician almost left after that as well before she remembered that she actually had something to talk to Coil about.

“I almost forgot,” Trixie said to him. “But what about the Suggestion Crystals? How long do you need to experiment on those things anyways?”

“Considering the massive amount of uses they have, quite a bit actually,” Coil chuckled. “But don’t worry about that, I think in a day or two I’ll be finished up with them and then I’ll call you over.”

Trixie smiled, finally she could almost see all her work and trouble here amounting to something. “Great! I can’t wait to see what I can do with them.”

The following morning started with Trixie snoozing in her wagon well past sunrise. She wanted to get as much sleep as possible considering she never knew when someone would come and ask her for a favor or tell her about some monster attacking the village. Whether it be her unicorn students or the mayor’s kids she knew eventually there would be a knock on her wagon and something would interrupt her precious sleep.

A far off crashing noise sounded from outside and Trixie groaned, turning in her hammock. She folded her pillow over her ears and tried to keep from waking.

The screams got her eyes to snap open.

“What the?” Trixie groggily pushed herself up in her hammock to better hear the chaos outside. It was still faint at this distance but she could hear screams and the sound of things being demolished coming from East Glade. “What’s going on?” She rubbed her eyes and opened up the window of her wagon that faced the village.

At this distance she could see ponies and griffons running around the outskirts of the village and a few columns of smoke coming from fires deeper inside East Glade.

“That doesn’t look good...” Trixie hopped out of her hammock and ran out of her wagon, forgetting to even out on her robe and hat.

Reaching the outskirts of the village she could hear the sounds of fighting more clearly and saw a number of houses with claw marks on their walls along with smashed apart barrels and carts. The screams were louder too and a lot of villagers were running down the streets not even taking notice of their beloved hero. Trixie (quite a bit to her own surprise) ran towards the source of the noise. She might not have done the same just a short time ago.

One of the running ponies, a pegasus, finally did seem to notice that The Great and Powerful was here.

“Miss Great and Powerful Trixie! It’s horrible!” He said, screeching to a halt before her.

“What is? What’s going on?” Trixie asked him.

The pegasus had a look of total fear etched on his face. “It’s Goliath! He’s back!”

“What?!” Trixie couldn’t believe it. That’s impossible! He was crushed under all of those boulders. She ran past the pegasus to see for herself, there was just no way this could happen.

Trixie heard the sound of wood shattering and a pony cry out as they were tossed into the air, it sounded like Daylight. She doubled her efforts and ran to the town square where she was sure the noises were coming from now. She didn’t really know what to think right now, she was scared, confused, worried, all of it was jumbled up in her head as her heart raced with each step. Things had been looking so much better in East Glade, everyone was happier, everyone was safer, and now this? Goliath again? No way no how was Trixie going to let some dumb evil griffon ruin everything. Things were nice here, and she should be sleeping right now!

With a stern glare on her face Trixie rounded the last corner up ahead and emerged into the square. The sight she saw was… not reassuring.

The stone well was demolished and the bell that had sat above it lie on the ground, dented. A number of houses and buildings around the square had deep gouges in their walls, or broken windows, or doors ripped off their hinges. Carts and boxes were overturned or smashed open all over the square while villagers either cowered in fear or tried to run away.

And in the center of all this chaos was a foe she thought she wouldn’t have to face again.

Goliath’s beaten and mangy form was as imposing as ever. Vector, Gizzard, his grandsons, Speckle Wood, and Gold Embrace were facing off against him but not one of them could stand without shaking. Daylight was lying on the ground in a heap with a welt under eye, trying to get back up.

The hero of East Glade bit her lip, it was a startling thing to see but there was also something wrong about all of it.

Goliath was shaking and twitching with every move and he had a cloth strapped over his chest and tied around his back that Trixie knows she had never seen him wearing before. And his eyes… Goliath always had a cold and evil look in his eyes but now they were wildly spinning around in his sockets, wide open with the pupils down to needle pricks, his beak too hung open almost like his bottom jaw was dislocated and a low wheezing noise was constantly coming from deep down his throat.

“Hey, Goliath!” Trixie yelled as she stepped forward, the attention of the other defenders of East Glade being drawn to her.

The monstrous (even moreso now) griffon also turned his head to look at her. And when he did Trixie became absolutely certain that that wasn’t Goliath. She ran to join up with her friends and helped Daylight get back to her hooves, “Goliath” lumbering towards the group now too. Trixie put up a quick shield wall to block his path, the huge griffon headbutted it like he didn’t even know it was there, pushing on it like someone pressing their face up against a glass store window. He was still strong and already cracks were appearing in her magic. Without one of the other unicorn’s help she wouldn’t be able to stop him for long.

“What happened?! Where’d he come from?” Trixie asked her assorted comrades.

“I don’t know!” Vector answered as they all formed up around Trixie. “He came out of nowhere and just started attacking everything in sight!”

“My grandsons and I heard the commotion and rushed over… but as you can see he’s as tough as ever,” Gizzard said, glaring up at Goliath.

“We can’t stop him at all!” Speckle Wood frantically cried. “Our magic just bounces off of him like it’s nothing, we need you, teacher!”

Figures. Trixie thought. She renewed her focus to her shield just in time to see it shatter under the strength of Goliath and all of them had to jump back to avoid his talons slamming down onto the ground.

Daylight fired a blast of magic at his face but the powder blue beam just dissipated on impact, the griffon showing no signs of pain or damage.

“This is crazy…” Daylight muttered.

“How is he even still alive?” Vector asked. Of all the ones here he seemed the most afraid and worried.

Trixie glared at the large griffon as she answered her friend. “I don’t think he is. I don’t think that’s Goliath.”

The huge griffon wheezed towards them while they talked, his talons slashing out at the air in front of him, just hoping someone would be stupid enough to stay close.

“What do you mean?” Vector inquired.

“I’ve been up close and personal with him enough to know that that’s not really him. It may be his body but his mind is gone… just look at his eyes and the way he’s acting and everything. He doesn’t even care that I’m here and he hates me. Maybe he’s been reanimated or possessed by something but he’s definitely not himself anymore,” Trixie explained to the best of her ability.

“You know I think all of that is secondary to how we stop him,” Daylight said.

Trixie looked at the lumbering monster and had to agree. Unfortunately she wasn’t entirely sure how they would accomplish that. He was already incredibly strong and durable while alive and now he seemed even more resistant to magic and pain. If he even felt pain at all anymore.

“What’s your plan, teacher?” Gold Embrace asked her.

Trixie blinked and gave voice to the best idea she could think of on short notice. “Umm… fight?”

“Works for me,” Gizzard said and grabbed a brick from the destroyed well, lobbing it at Goliath.

The aim was good but it still just ineffectually bounced off his head. It did bring his attention solely to Gizzard though and the giant puppet started dragging his talons to him.

“Just do whatever you can!” Trixie shouted and fired an energy beam at his right front knee. It didn’t seem to do any damage but the impact of it unbalanced him and caused him to trip on the ground.

Garry and Gullet then jumped onto his back, one of them repeatedly punching Goliath in the side while the other put him in a headlock. However the gargantuan griffon was able to easily tear them off of him and throw the two youngsters halfway across the square. Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace started picking up bricks, rocks, and other debris with their magic and began throwing them at him. Offensively it was the most they could do with their magic so far. Gizzard flew circles around Goliath’s head, pecking or kicking at him while avoiding the massive claws trying to knock him down and Vector came up behind their opponent, bucking and kicking at his back legs as hard as he could. It wasn’t very effective but his heart was in the right place. Everyone was doing what they could to protect East Glade and things were getting a bit frantic.

Daylight and Trixie peppered Goliath with magic whenever there was an opening but just as Trixie thought, their attacks were less than mosquito bites to him. She wasn’t sure what to do, maybe they could lure him to the ravine and drop him inside it somehow, that was probably their best bet. They’d just have to deal with any carnage and destruction he left in his wake on the way there.

“Oof!” Vector let out a grunt as one of Goliath’s back legs kicked him away.

While Daylight ran over to see if he was okay, Goliath grabbed a few of the bricks that Speckle and Gold had been throwing at him and threw them back, with interest.

Since Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace hadn’t been trained in shields they could do nothing to defend as the projectiles smacked into them. Both of Trixie’s students were knocked out cold by the hard objects hitting them, they were out of the fight. Vector looked pretty bad after that kick too.

Trixie bit her lip, things were going really poorly.

“You can’t terrorize East Glade anymore!” Gizzard yelled and dove down to smack right into Goliath’s chest, trying to tackle him or at least hold the monster back.

It had all the effect of a fly accidentally buzzing into a glass window.

Goliath didn’t even look down at Gizzard as he pulled the old griffon off his chest and threw him away, but Gizzard with his talons managed to tear away the cloth wrapped around his body as he went.

“What the-” Trixie winced in revulsion as she saw why that cloth was there in the first place.

There was something embedded into the middle of his chest. A blood red jewel sparkling in the sunlight that caused the veins and flesh around it to horrifically bulge and darken, Trixie didn’t know what it was but she was willing to bet it was the cause of all this. The jewel glowed faintly and Goliath resumed moving towards the only opponent directly in front of him now. Trixie.

A powder blue beam of magic hit him in the side of the head and Daylight came running to help Trixie. “Trixie! What’s that thing in his chest?” She asked as she saw the jewel.

“I don’t know, but let’s try and draw him to the ravine, it might be the only way to stop him,” Trixie said.

“That might be too dangerous, he’s destroying everything in his path.”

“Well do you have a better idea?”

Daylight narrowed her eyes and pointed at the jewel in Goliath’s chest. “See if we can remove or destroy that thing? I know a spell for destroying magical crystals.”

Before they could think more about it, Goliath leaped at them and they had to dive out of the way of his bulk, Trixie going right and Daylight going left. But Goliath had great reach and he leaned to the side while throwing a sweeping arm towards toward Daylight, swatting the white unicorn with the backside of his talon and knocking her away all over again. But luckily this meant he wasn’t paying attention to Trixie.

Lighting up her horn she put all her power into telekinesis and tried to tear the red jewel out of his chest. Gross as that might end up being.

But her magic just couldn’t get a grip on it. Or more like it was like her magic weakened when she tried touching the jewel with it, she could feel and see her aura flickering around the jewel. Something about it was so slippery and resistant to her magic that even when she was giving it her all she just couldn’t make it budge.

“Stupid thing!” Trixie yelled. Which turned out to be a bad idea when Goliath’s head sharply turned in her direction.

He started towards her again when Vector jumped on his back and started pummeling the base of his neck, and Vector had enough sense to avoid and fight off the talons Goliath sent his way trying to get the angry earth pony off of him. Seeing that he was distracted again Trixie tried a much more direct and much more dangerous tactic.

Well if my magic isn’t working… She ran towards Goliath and did much the same thing that Gizzard had attempted to do, slam right into his chest and try to take him down.

Except Trixie had another idea too. If her magic couldn’t grab the crystal then maybe she could at least use it for something else? Her horn lit up and she yanked down Goliath’s eyelids, temporarily blinding him as he continued trying to knock Vector off. Even that was more difficult then it should have been for Trixie, the jewel seemed to make his whole body semi-resistant to magic, but she wasn’t The Great and Powerful Trixie for nothing. She was strong enough to still keep him blinded while she grasped the red jewel itself in her hooves and pulled with all her might.

With a spark the jewel popped free, it was far less secure to physical attacks than magical ones and Trixie flew backwards, rolling over a few times from her own momentum and dropping the jewel.

“Got it!” She shouted as she came to a stop, looking up to see if that stopped Goliath.

The monstrous griffon was frozen in the same pose he had been when Trixie pulled the jewel free, his eyes no longer moving, no more wheezing coming from his throat, and the slight shaking and tremors in his body halted. Vector still hung onto his back as if waiting to see if anything would happen now too, the earth pony defender wary that the wild marauder might still be dangerous.

However with the smallest of shudders Goliath’s entire body collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. The great griffon showing no signs of life or unlife anymore. Vector lost his balance and tumbled off his back with an oof, wincing as he lied on the stone of the square thanks to his other injuries still hurting.

But it seemed like Goliath was at least finally done for.

Everyone else was starting to get up, most hurt but no one too seriously. Trixie breathed a sigh of relief and looked to the red jewel she had pried free from Goliath… only to see that when she had dropped it it had shattered into a million pieces. The red dust like motes were quickly lifted with the breeze and scattered into the wind. Whatever that thing was Trixie just had to chalk it up to another weird East Glade phenomenon.

“I’m okay, nobody help me up...” Daylight sarcastically said as she shakily got to her hooves.

Trixie rolled her eyes and went over to help her fellow unicorn friend.

“Goodness gracious! What happened?!”

Trixie and the others turned to see Coil speedily running to them from the direction of his lab, the other blue unicorn came to a screeching halt with a fearful look on his face as he saw the body of Goliath and the devastation that had been wrought in the square. Slowly he walked over to help Gold Embrace and Speckle Wood up, the two of them still looked pretty dazed from being knocked out.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, I only just now saw the fires from my lab,” Coil said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Gizzard said as the whole group started to converge around the formerly rampaging body of Goliath. “Things worked out okay in the end.”

“Thanks to our great teacher,” Gold Embrace said, smiling at Trixie

“No need to thank me.” Trixie said with a grin of her own. But inside she was thinking how things just barely turned out well.She didn’t know what was up with this latest bout of craziness but there was something nagging at the back of her head. Some feeling that she was missing or forgetting something. But oh well, at least the village had been protected again and everyone was okay. She could stay around and help clean things up today and hopefully by tomorrow everything would be back to normal.

I Am

“Coil? I’m here. You said to come by first thing in the morning,” Trixie said as she pushed open the door to Coil’s lab.

The scientist had told her last night that he had finished up his work on the Suggestion Crystals and she could come by tomorrow morning to check them out. That made Trixie very happy to hear. She could use them to spice up her magic shows and probably do any number of other amazing things, after all Trixie was a very clever and creative pony and with these crystals the possibilities were endless if they really worked as well as Coil thought they did. For now though she still needed to get her hooves on them. After that she could put on another show for East Glade and then probably head on back to Equestria in a day or two.

“Hellooo?” She called out again as she walked inside after Coil didn’t respond. Compared to the last (and only) time she had been in here it was pretty dark inside, most of the lights were turned off and only a few lamps hanging from the ceiling illuminated things. Trixie recognized a few of the experiments and things on the various desks and tables in Coil’s lab while she trotted past them. No sign of him or the Suggestion Crystals though. “Anybody home?”

The big sliding door to his auxiliary lab that took up most of the building’s space was still closed, maybe he was back there and hadn’t heard her come in? Trixie walked past a table with a veritable themepark of bubbling beakers and vials on it as she headed to the backdoor. Normally she’d probably be messing around with things or looking at his weird sciency stuff but right now she just wanted the crystals.

“If you invite someone over you should actually be around when you tell them to come by...” Trixie muttered. She looked side by side to see if he was sleeping somewhere but the walls were covered in shadows and she didn’t see him slumped over a desk anywhere. With a shrug, she walked over to see if that big door was locked or if she could just go right through it.

From behind her there was the sound of a table being nudged, she could hear the glass tubes and bottles on it clink.

“Coil?” Trixie turned around when she heard the sound, expecting to see her fellow blue unicorn.

What she saw instead was a hulking, gorilla-sized… thing between the rows of tables. Deep black pits where its eyes should be, standing on two stubby legs, with sloped shoulders, a large upper body and long arms, and it was hunched over almost like a, well, like a hunchback. But it wasn’t its shape that was so weird, it’s that the thing looked like it was made from dirt and rocks all compacted together and molded into this form. Not only that though, like Goliath this thing had one of those red jewels embedded into its chest along with two more sticking out of its shoulders. The threatening stone and dirt monster must have been animated by the same power that moved Goliath even after his death. And as the thing opened its mouth Trixie saw a row of razor sharp obsidian teeth greeting her.

“Oh great...”

The thing didn’t roar, since it had no lungs to do so, it merely ran at her.

“Eek!” With a panicked screech Trixie teleported right behind it.

It came to a confused stop before spinning around and charging at her again when it realized where she had gone. This time Trixie fired a beam of magic directly at its face but just like with Goliath it had no noticeable effect. The stone monster raised a powerful hand and swung it down at Trixie, who acted fast and created a barrier between herself and it. The fist impacted the purple magic and bounced off, but it taxed Trixie far greater than she would’ve expected. Whatever was making the thing immune to magic also gave it offensive power against Trixie’s raw spells.

Trixie grit her teeth, she could feel the sweat gathering at her horn as the thing raised another mallet-like fist and slammed it into her barrier. Changing tactics she dropped the barrier and teleported away again, this time across the tables and to a darker corner of the lab, hoping to avoid its sight for a second to catch her breath.

I don’t know if that thing attacked Coil too or what but I need to stop it… or run away and get help from someone else. Decisions, decisions. Trixie mulled things over before frowning and sighing internally. Ugh, it would be bad if it followed me into East Glade. Why did I have to become so considerate?

She didn’t have anymore time to think though as the thing caught sight of her again. Maybe the darkness wasn’t a problem for it at all or it sensed her some other way? She had no idea and didn’t care to find out.

The rock and dirt thing jumped over the tables in her direction, looking to smush her when it landed. But Trixie wasn’t going to let that happen. She teleported out of its way and the moment the thing landed before it could reorient itself she teleported again onto its shoulders and tried to physically yank the red jewel embedded in its right shoulder out.

It was a good strategy considering it worked for Goliath. But unfortunately for Trixie this jewel didn’t budge.

“What?! Come on!” Trixie yelled as she hung onto the monster and kept trying to rip out the jewel.

Naturally the monster wasn’t going to take this standing still. It leaned over and went down to all fours and violently shook itself like a wet dog trying to get dry. Trixie was growling in annoyance and holding on as best she could but eventually she was bucked off and went sailing into one of the tables. She roughly bounced off it and tumbled onto her stomach, several beakers falling down next to her and shattering. Whatever chemicals were in them reacted poorly to that and an unnatural blue flame burst from the spot they contacted each other.

Trixie quickly scrambled to her hooves to avoid the fire, looking up as quickly as she could to catch sight of her adversary she saw it lumbering towards her.

Now what? The magician gulped as she backed away from the slowly growing fire and the monster. Wait, fire? Trixie looked at the shattered beakers and then to the tables still covered with so many other vials and jars full of chemicals. Flammable and volatile...

The stone monster raised its arms and prepared to charge at Trixie, but she went on the offensive first. Trixie grasped every single test-tube, beaker, etc. on the tables with her magic and threw them at the monster all at once. The results were rather explosive.

A blue fireball erupted on the stone monster and the heat and pressure wave knocked Trixie onto her back like a grenade going off, she shook her head to get the butterflies out and looked to see if that had done it.

To her relief the thing was nothing more than a pile of burning rubble now, the red jewels looked like they had been melted or blown to pieces first and the dirt and rocks that made it up had all broken apart. Nothing going on anymore but a big blue bonfire in the middle of Coil’s lab. She had a spell to take care of this, right? Maybe. Trixie got herself to her hooves again and surveyed the destruction, happy at least that she had stopped this thing here.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and whistled. “Whew, just what the hay was that thing?”

“It was something I made.”

“Gah!” Trixie shrieked in surprise at the voice coming from right behind her and jumped away. Turning around with her back now facing the blue fire she watched as Coil stepped forward, seemingly phasing into existence from the shadows on the wall. She was confused and didn’t understand just what was happening, her eyes searching back and forth for an answer with a befuddled expression on her face. “C-Coil? What are you talking about?”

He calmly looked at her from behind his spectacles. The usual cheerful smile on his face replaced by an utterly blank visage.

“That thing you just destroyed,” He said. “Was something of my creation called a golem. The second of two prototypes in fact. With the first being the reanimated Goliath that you dealt with the other day.”

“I-I don’t-” Trixie shook her head.

“You don’t understand?” Coil now smirked. “I suppose I should’ve figured as much considering how oblivious you are. Even with everything staring you right in the face.” His horn lit up and before Trixie could react he fired a beam of magic at her.

“Hagh!” Trixie yelped as it impacted her and her body went limp, she fell to the ground, groaning in discomfort and darkness invading her eyes.

She could hear his hooves steadily approach her and then felt his magical aura around her as he levitated her off the ground.

“No need to worry, just a simple paralysis spell that will wear off in a second,” He said.

Trixie heard some sort of sprinkling and hissing noise while he carried her and the heat in the building suddenly went down, he must have extinguished the fire somehow. Trixie was still struggling to see when she heard a key turn in a lock and the familiar squeak of a metal gate swing open, she was then unceremoniously deposited onto something cold and metal and the gate was promptly closed with a clang. Rapidly blinking her eyes and feebly lifting her head to try and see again, Trixie was just able to catch Coil put a heavy padlock onto the metal door of her new cage while the rest of the world came into focus.

“Why?...” Trixie weakly asked Coil from inside the cage that had also been hidden in the shadows along the wall. Just barely big enough to hold her and not even tall enough for her to stand up all the way in if she tried to. Further she noticed a number of Suggestion Crystals stuck to the bars for some purpose, glowing faintly.

Coil raised an amused eyebrow at her. “Why this specifically or why everything?”

Trixie glared at him as hard as she could with her body still feeling weak.

“Heh,” He chuckled. “Obviously not in a very playful mood right now. I was right to think you had no idea about anything though. You were just too stupid, weren’t you?”

“What are you talking about?” She spat out at him.

The scientist couldn’t stop himself from laughing harder. “Hahahaha, please… you really had no clue that those red crystals on my two golems were Suggestion Crystals? All I did was change the color with an embedded spell and you didn’t catch it at all? Hilarious.”

Trixie’s eyes widened and her jaw opened up in shock. That’s what it was. That’s what that stupid, nagging feeling in the back of her head was...

“But just… why?” Trixie finally asked.

“Hmm. Where to begin?” Coil’s smile disappeared and a more thoughtful look appeared on his face. “Well first let me show you the fruits of my labor. I said this golem and Goliath were prototypes right? Oh and by the way thank you for cluing me in to some design flaws when it came to how easily removed the crystals were, as you could see from the golem you just destroyed I fixed that. But anyways, both of those little things were just prototypes. Here’s the finished product.” Coil grinned and turned to the large sliding door that separated this part of the lab from the other.

With his magic he simultaneously turned on the lights to brighten up the room and grasped the handles to pull the huge door open.

Trixie gasped at what she saw.

It was the same kind of thing, a “golem”, that she had just fought. But it was lying down and much, much bigger. If it stood up it would plow through the roof like nothing, it must have been fifty feet tall and had a massive bulk to accompany it. And to her horror dozens of Suggestion Crystals of all sizes were embedded in it. In its body, arms, shoulders, head, everywhere.

“I really have to thank you so much for all of this. Not only did you help me get the crystals in the first place that I can use to animate my creations but your timely arrival here to begin with that killed the Nuckelavee allowed me to harvest its body and use it as a base for my golems. Now not only will this already be as tough as a mountain but it will be supremely resistant to magic as well, as I’m sure you noticed about the other two. Only a small essence of the Nuckelavee was needed for them, but for this golem it forms the entire skeleton.” Coil proudly explained as he beamed at the slumbering golem with a happy smile on his face.

“In fact-” Coil turned back to look at her. “This golem will not just be resistant to magic, but it will actually be able to absorb raw and ambient magic around it and become stronger. That’s part of how I got it to be so big. I’ve been feeding it with my magic for days.”

Trixie bit her lip up glowered at Coil. “Why are you even making these things in the first place? And why did you make Goliath attack East Glade? Don’t you even care that you could’ve hurt people!”

“Hah!” He laughed again. “It’s funny hearing you so concerned about the villagers, Miss Fake and Selfish Trixie. Everything you’ve done here has been for your own ego. I know you well after that little reveal.”

“I may be selfish but I’ve never wanted to hurt anyone on purpose… er, mostly,” Trixie blushed slightly in embarrassment.

Coil rolled his eyes. “Right. Well regardless I needed to test things, that’s what a scientist does, and East Glade is the only place for that. As for the point of the golems in the first place...” He trailed off for a second, his eyes wandering as he gathered his thoughts. “You know about how I left Canterlot? That wasn’t by choice. That was a lie too. The truth is I was ran out by my fellow professors for performing some, oh, fairly unsavory experiments. You see I’m actually wanted by the law in Equestria, sorry for not mentioning that.” He chuckled again.

“But-” Trixie tried to start again but was silence by a sharply raised hoof by Coil.

“Petty revenge and curiosity. That’s the answer to your question,” Coil shrugged.

“Petty revenge?” Trixie repeated.

“Yes. You see I plan to take my golem back to Canterlot and destroy everything my former fellows hold dear. Simple, right? Oh and the curiosity part is because I am still a scientist and making stuff like this and running experiments is just fun to me.”

Coil turned his head to look back at his golem. “I was really at a loss as to what to do for so long until that pony pointed me in the direction of East Glade and the Suggestion Crystals. And then even when I got here I was further delayed and delayed thanks to Goliath and everything else,” He glanced out of the corners of his eyes at Trixie. “And then you came. Thank you.”

“There’s no way you’re going to get what you want,” Trixie said. It might have been a cliché but the venom she said it with was real.

“Oh I quite disagree,” Coil smiled. “You see once I use East Glade to test my golem’s capabilities I’ll be heading right to Canterlot and it’ll be absorbing magic and getting stronger every step of the way. Even the princesses won’t be able to stop it by then.”

Trixie was about to lash out at him again when something he said finally registered in her head. “Wait. What do you mean “Use East Glade”?”

“Like I said. Everything needs a test and East Glade is the only place to test things,” He responded simply.

“But that thing will destroy the whole town!” She shouted at him, grabbing onto the metal bars and pressing herself against them.

“Exactly. That’s the point.”

Trixie deflated like a balloon, slumping down to the floor of her cage. “How can you just… we fought together and you were always so helpful… you just never cared at all this whole time?”

He shrugged. “I guess I’m just an even more selfish version of you. I’ll be straight, I’ve never once cared about anyone or anything other than myself and my work. And now I’m putting East Glade to some good use.”

Tears welled up in Trixie’s eyes. “You, you...”

“You shouldn’t cry, you should actually be quite happy. You see I’m doing you a favor,” He adjusted his glasses.

“How is this-” She yelled.

“Ah, ah, ah,” He reached forward and put a hoof to her lips, silencing her. “Let’s not be rude. You being in this cage is a favor because it means you’ll be safe from my golem. I’m sparing you as a thank you. In fact once my golem is done with East Glade I’ll even come back here and set you free and you can be on your merry way. I simply owe you too much, I may not care about anyone else but that doesn’t mean I can’t feel at least a little gratitude towards ponies who help me like you do.”

He stepped away from her cage and started walking towards the open doorway that led to his golem. Pausing, he glanced over his shoulder at her. “And don’t bother trying to escape from that cage. The Suggestion Crystals on it are being told to not let any magic out. You won’t be able to teleport or use your telekinesis to grab anything. Just be a good pony and sit there, I wouldn’t want you to exhaust yourself, my golem will enjoy eating your magic too when we’re done with the village.”

With a grin he walked through the door and up to the head of his massive golem. “Finally it’s time for my masterpiece.”

Trixie pressed her face as hard against the bars as she could to see what he was doing. He was far away and nearly out of her field of view thanks to the placement of the cage but she could see his horn light up as his magic spread to each and every one of the Suggestion Crystals embedded in the golem. At the same time his magical aura grasped a system of chains and pulleys set up in that back lab that when activated brought a series of grinding gears to life. The mechanics all worked together to pull the roof apart down the middle like a hatching egg, the entire back half of the laboratory opening up to the sky.

Coil sent out another powerful pulse of magic into his golem and the crystals lit up so brightly Trixie winced and had to look away for a second. But she heard a rumbling noise as the rock and dirt golem began to stir, its massive bulk rising up and getting ready to do whatever Coil commanded of it.

“Working perfectly so far,” Coil said as he watched it slowly brace its hands on the ground and push itself up to stand. He then peaked over at Trixie and mockingly grinned at her. “This is a far better use of the crystals than what you were going to use them for, wouldn’t you agree?”

Trixie watched in horror as the absolutely massive golem stood to its full height. Considering how big it was if anyone from East Glade looked in this direction they’d probably be able to see it already. With a single large step it cleared the wall and parted roof of Coil’s lab and began walking away in the direction of East Glade, the ground shaking like an earthquake with each movement.

“Well, ta-ta Miss Trixie. Great and Powerful doesn’t suit you I’m afraid. More like dumb and failure-ridden after this I’d say?” Coil insulted her. “I’m especially looking forward to seeing how easily my golem handles your poorly trained students.” He gave a single disdainful laugh. “Heh. Anyways, I’ll see you again soon so just sit tight.”

She couldn’t see it happen but he opened up a side door along the wall and stepped out of his lab, following his golem to the village.

The tears now started to freely flow down her cheeks, Coil’s betrayal, the danger to the village, her being helpless and stuck here. It was too much for the Great and Powerful Trixie. She slunk down to the floor of her cage, hooves limply falling away from the metal bars.

“What am I going to do?” She whimpered. Things just felt hopeless. Trixie was used to being overly, even foolishly, optimistic and self-assured. But now? There was a cold pit in her stomach just like when she had heard about Goliath kidnapping the mayor’s sons. It just felt… worse.

Trixie put some power into her horn to see if what Coil said about the crystals on the cage was true. She attempted to pry them loose but her magic faded the moment she tried to reach past the metal bars. No luck there. She could even see the key Coil had used to lock her in here with on the ground in front of her, tossed there carelessly by Coil, arrogantly assured that she couldn’t do anything about it. And he was right. That key might as well have been miles away from her without the ability to grab it with her magic.

“This is the worst,” She sighed and closed her eyes.

“Hello, Trixie!”

The sudden loud greeting caused her to jump up in surprise and smack her head into the top of the cage.

“Ow!” She yelped and fell back to the ground, grasping her head in agony and peeking out of one barely open to see who the hay was there.

Harlequin Black stood in front of the cage, smiling at her.

“Sorry for scaring you,” He sincerely apologized.

“What… but, huh?” Trixie was a bit confused.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m here to rescue you. Coil’s golem will be attacking East Glade shortly and they’re going to need your help to stop it,” He told her, smiling the whole time like this was nothing out of the ordinary.

Trixie’s brain felt like it might overheat. But instead she just got angry.

“Help? Help?! How am I supposed to help or do anything to that thing!” Her feelings were now completely boiling over. “I am so sick of this place! I didn’t want to be a hero, it was fun for a little bit but after almost dying more than once to protect this little village in the middle of absolutely nowhere, The Great and Powerful Trixie is officially at her limit! I don’t want anything bad to happen to East Glade but there’s nothing I can do. Nothing, nothing, nothing! I’m. Not. A. Hero!” She glared at him. “Coil was right, I’m a failure and a fake, that’s it! I don’t care that you somehow magically knew to come here and help me, I’m done. Magic is the one, the one, thing I’m good at and it’s useless against that golem. East Glade is just going to have to rely on someone else to save them this time. They should’ve done that a long time ago honestly since every single time I helped them was the result of dumb luck or me looking out for myself!” She finally stopped, taking in deep and heavy breaths after her ranting was done.

Harlequin Black was quite patient with her though and took all her complaining in stride.

“Come now, you liked being a hero,” The big pony pleasantly said.

“No,” Trixie corrected. “I liked the idea of being a hero. I liked acting like a hero. I didn’t like almost being eaten by Goliath and now getting stuck in this situation. I came to this dumb place trying to learn or find new magic and what happened? EVERYTHING ELSE!”

He chuckled a bit at her anger. “You’re just a little upset due to the current circumstances. I know you care about this place and the people here more than you’d admit, to be frank you simply aren’t that selfish of a pony. You would never just abandon them or give up again.”

Trixie pouted, not enjoying being reminded of when she attempted to ditch out on the village. “It doesn’t matter,” She at last ground out. “I’m still not a hero and there’s nothing I can do.”

“Then become a hero,” Was Harlequin Black’s simple response as he raised an eyebrow at her. “You’ve been acting like a hero for so long here, why not become one for real? Whether your intentions were noble or not doesn’t matter to those people out there. It’s your actions that have always been important.”

“I… I still can’t...” Trixie frowned, eyes looking at the ground as she was wracked with self-doubt. “I’ve always been a fraud ever since that day Twilight showed me up...”

“But you helped save her from the changelings didn’t you?”

“Yeah, “helped”. I hardly did anything,” Trixie thought back on how smug she felt getting the medal after all of that. “You can say that East Glade needs me but I’ve never been the one to rely on when things are really important. I’m just a stage performer.”

“Just a stage performer? You don’t seem to take much pride in that.”

“Of course I do!” Trixie shouted, rising back up to glare at him. “But it’s not… I’m not Twilight or Starlight.”

“No, you’re not,” Harlequin Black agreed. “But so what? Does that mean you aren’t amazing? Does that mean you’re saying that Twilight Sparkle is better than you?”

“Absolutely not! I came out here to prove that I can do things and learn magic that she can’t and I-” Trixie stopped. Maybe hearing that was all the shock she needed, since no way would she ever admit to that. It was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She composed herself and took a deep breath before a grin broke out on her face. “And I am not giving up on that and absolutely nothing is going to stop me.”

Harlequin Black’s smile grew wider. “Because why?”

Trixie tilted her cap back and flourished her robe (as best she could in the small cage). “Because I am The Great and Powerful Trrrrixie!” She raised her hooves against the top of the cage, making an unfortunate attempt at rearing up on her hind-legs. “I am the greatest of traveling magicians, heroes, and monster slayers! And that is no boast, that is fact and I shall prove it by defeating the evil Coil and his golem! Hah!”

She calmed down and flicked her bangs. “Hmph. I can’t believe I was stuck in pity mode for so long. Doubting myself? Absurd! Doubting and worrying and hyper-ventilating about every little thing is for Twilight or my bestie Starlight. And you’re right. I’m not them. I am the greatest unicorn Equestria has ever seen!” Trixie smiled at Harlequin Black. “Thanks for snapping me out of that embarrassing tizzy.”

“Oh it’s absolutely no problem,” Harlequin Black responded and used his magic to levitate the key to the cage over. Taking it in his hoof he unlocked the lock and pulled the swinging door open, letting Trixie walk free.

“Ahh~. That feels good,” She said as she stretched. And then the blue unicorn paused, looking up at the horn on Harlequin Black’s head. “Hey wait, weren’t you an earth pony?”

He grinned. “Are you certain? If not then maybe I’m a pegasus. Or an Alicorn.”

The flummoxed Trixie just stared at him for a second, the strangeness of the situation now fully getting to her. “Okay, just what is your deal? What even are you anyways? Just another weird East Glade thing?”

“Oh, no, no,” He shook his head. “I’m not a native around here.” He stopped for a moment while his smile disappeared and a more thoughtful look passed over his face than Trixie had seen from him before. He seemed to be considering whether to answer her question or not before his smirk returned. “I’m… not exactly a normal pony. Your friend Discord? I’m an existence closer to him but to a much lesser degree. I have no real powers of my own, I rely almost entirely on the thoughts of others. That’s why due to your lacking certainty I could be a pegasus right now too the moment you blink.”

“Okay, that’s weird,” Trixie tilted her head, then shook it. “Well, whatever, forget about all that. We need to go help East Glade. I already took too much time doubting myself worse than Starlight does.” She turned to head out the front door of Coil’s lab.

“I won’t be going with you.”

Trixie instantly wheeled back at him, a shocked and confused expression on her face. “Huh? What are you talking about?! Why aren’t you coming to help too?”

“I’m not needed. You’ll be fine on your own,” He shrugged.

“Not needed?! But I can’t-”

“You have everything you need for victory. That’s why I’m leaving now.”

Trixie walked right up to him to yell in his face. “You give me this big talk about helping everyone and now you’re the one who’s going to abandon East Glade?!”

Harlequin Black to his credit didn’t get angry or short with Trixie. He calmly looked into her eyes and gently pushed her back to give himself some space before responding.

“What’s happening out here… really isn’t that important.” He told her.

“Huh?” Trixie furrowed her brow at him.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it isn’t important at all and of course the life of every villager is precious, but… Coil? Goliath? The Nuckelavee? They aren’t world-ending threats or terrors the likes of Tirek, or your own best friend when she’s in a particularly foul mood, they’re just problems. Problems that Princess Twilight and her friends would still immediately come to resolve while they should be dealing with bigger issues. So that’s why I’m here. I deal with these smaller issues so that more important ponies don’t have to. And then when a real hero like you arrives I still help a bit but steadily get ready to leave and go somewhere else that needs me more. For instance, when you were fighting the changelings I was helping to evacuate a small town from a flood. That’s just what I do,” Harlequin Black shrugged. “With you here and ready to fight Coil I can go somewhere else that needs me more.”

“But!-”

He lifted a hoof to her lips to silence her. “You’ll be fine. Besides, Coil is too certain of his victory and power. Maybe if there was a little doubt in his mind I could do something but as it is I’d be useless in a fight anyways.” He walked around her and headed to the door, opening it up but halting in the doorway and looking over his shoulder at her with a smile. “I’ll be leaving right now.”

Trixie had a feeling that the moment he stepped out of that door and closed it he’d be gone.

Harlequin Black turned to head out but paused again, this time looking back at Trixie with a more serious expression on his face. “Oh right. I almost forgot, but if you see Rainbow Dash anytime soon can you tell her to please not fly north? There’s something very dangerous up there past the mountains and it would be bad if she caught its attention. Thank you.” His smile returned. “And bye bye, good luck out there.”

With a single step he was out the door and it swung back shut. That noise snapped Trixie out of the trance-like state she had been in and she ran to open it up and look outside.

Nothing. Just as she figured.

Except in the distance she could see Coil’s golem had already reached East Glade…

“Great. Now what?” Trixie said to herself. She watched hesitantly as the massive monster and Coil began their attack, knowing she had to get over there and stop it but unsure as to what she could even contribute. “I should never have helped him with those dumb crystals...”

Trixie’s eyes widened and her ears perked up. “Wait. Crystals?”

She turned around to look at the cage she had just been imprisoned in, the Suggestion Crystals on it still glowing with power. With an expression of steely resolve on her face, Trixie ran back to the cage and quickly pulled off every crystal, now that she was outside the cage her magic worked fine on them and she could use the Suggestion Crystals however she wanted to. Floating them over her head with her magic, Trixie nodded.

“Okay Coil, I’ll show you what The Great and Powerful Trixie can do with these.”

Author's Note

Two chapters remaining.

What Was Learned

The damage to East Glade was extensive and it would take days merely to clean things up, much less start rebuilding what was destroyed. Luckily the damage was essentially only in property and not lives. The evacuation had gone well and the only ones left in serious condition after the attack were Gizzard, Garry, and Gullet. Thankfully now the three of them were stable and resting up just fine in the mayor’s house. A lot of other homes being destroyed meant that many of the residents at East Glade were bunking with others and things got a little cramped but the familiarity everyone had with each other kept things warm enough.

Trixie did her part to help clean up too. After everyone got done throwing her up into the air and cheering her name. Which took a while.

But now that it was in the days after and things had settled down a more somber atmosphere had taken over as everyone realized just how much had been lost. Gabriel was already floating the idea of starting a street party to try and lift everyone’s mood, and the merpony’s especially could use it considering their entire row house was smashed to pieces. Still, even with East Glade being more devastated than ever before, the people were still here, the village was still here, and they’d persevere like always. Thanks to Trixie. The outsider and her friends did their best to keep things positive in the village while things were cleaned up and the most pressing matters attended to.

She considered putting on another show but in the end actually decided against it. For possibly the first time in her life Trixie was too tired to bother with being the center of attention. And besides, the entire village got a show of her fighting the golem earlier anyways. Right now, after the many things she had gone through in East Glade, she wanted to relax and then soon get ready for her departure. No offense to anyone else, but she was more than ready to leave.

Everyone was at least giving her respect and not badgering her or asking for things at the moment, partially from gratitude and partially because they knew she deserved the time to herself after everything. This thankfully meant no more lessons, no more requests, and no more of the mayor’s kids hopping around her. Not that she wasn’t fond of them or anything. Just that they could be a little taxing.

Maybe it was just blind luck or fortune deciding to smile on the village, but while everything was being cleaned up and repaired there weren’t any monster attacks or strange weather phenomena or any other weird occurrences that struck the village. Maybe East Glade was being allowed to get some rest too. The carrot farming had been going well and the merponies had temporarily relocated to that side of the ravine, living in tents for now. Daylight’s shack was currently also being used by Vector and Speckle Wood as both of their homes had been destroyed.

It was simultaneously so quiet and busy in East Glade since everyone was just working to get things back to normal. And finally on one of those quiet mornings Trixie had for once gotten up early and walked to the mayor’s house. On the way she waved and said hello to any villager that was out and about but she stopped for no one, The Great and Powerful Trixie was going to tell the mayor that she was leaving.

“We really can’t implore you to stay any longer?” Gabriel asked her as she stood on his doorstep, his wife by his side.

“I’ll be staying the night so I still have enough time to say goodbye to everyone but I’ll be on my way first thing tomorrow morning,” Trixie replied. Her mind was made up at this point.

“I’m glad you at least came by to tell us that,” A voice from deeper inside the house said and then Gizzard hobbled into view, still bandaged up after his electroshock-therapy.

Trixie tilted up her chin and grinned. “The Great and Powerful Trixie does at least owe it all to you.”

“Please say you’ll at least come to dinner tonight? My wife and I would love to throw you a goodbye feast,” Gabriel pleaded.

The blue unicorn sighed but kept up her grin, she had figured something like this would come up and in truth she wasn’t against it. “Very well, I would be honored to have one last meal with everyone.”

“There are a lot of other guests who are gonna want to come to that dinner party,” Gizzard said to Gabriel and Giselle. “Better get ready.”

He wasn’t wrong about that.

A few other tables had to be put together, and a separate one set up for the kids in the other room, as later that night everyone got together so they could say goodbye to Trixie and enjoy one last little special event with her. Vector, her students, Senax and Vahar, Gizzard and his grandsons (even though the three of them were already here in the first place), and Daylight of course all made it to join in. There were others who might wanted to have come too but Gabriel felt Trixie would want a more personal dinner considering she was just leaving out of the blue in the first place.

“Everyone’s really going to miss their favorite hero,” Vector said as he despondently looked down at his soup.

“You most of all?” Daylight teased, trying to cheer him up.

Vector blushed in embarrassment. “Maybe just a little. I mean it’s only normal to be upset when you have to say goodbye to a friend, right?” His eyes looked over at Trixie. “And Trixie is… special. Everyone in the village would agree with that.”

“Yes, Trixie is very special. There’s no denying that,” Trixie more than willingly said about herself.

“Well Vector is right. It’s not going to be the same around here without you anymore, Trixie,” Gabriel said.

“With Goliath gone I think things’ll mostly be okay but we’ll still have to be on the lookout for any other trouble without you to rely on,” Gizzard said. “I imagine quite a few of the residents of East Glade will be worried that their hero isn’t going to be around to protect them anymore.”

“That’s what you have me here for!” Speckle Wood suddenly interjected before anything else could be said. “Gold Embrace and I are The Great and Powerful Trixie’s students, we’ll use her teachings to defend East Glade.”

There was a moment of silence at the table while the golden unicorn mare just mentioned slowly raised her hoof.

“Er, I’m just a housewife really. I only started taking the lessons out of necessity since I was one of the few unicorns in town and I didn’t want my children learning anything without my supervision. Now that Trixie is leaving and things here seem to have settled down I wouldn’t really put myself forward as a fighter or anything. I just did what I needed to at the time,” She seemed to shrink down in her seat. “Sorry about that. If I ever need to do something again I will but I don’t plan on becoming one of Gizzard’s deputies or anything.”

“Well I guess that’s fine...” Speckle Wood said. “I plan on training and developing my magic as much as possible though, I’ll definitely make you proud, teacher.” He finished, looking at Trixie with a fierce determination in his eyes.

Trixie shrugged. “You already have. You’ve all really come a long way.”

“I really can’t thank you enough though! Even more than the average villager,” Speckle Wood stood up from his seat, getting overly excited. He was more grateful to Trixie than he could put into words.

“It’s okay,” Trixie beckoned him to sit again. “All of you and everyone else, I know what things were like here before I came. So it’s only natural to feel a little anxious or get a little overly emotional about me leaving.”

“You’re very good at twisting everything to make sure it comes back to you,” Daylight said as she took a sip of water.

“I am the pony of the hour after all,” Trixie glared at her.

Daylight smirked at her. “Oh yeah? Well sorry, but Senax and I have to steal a bit of your thunder.”

Trixie looked over at the leader of the merponies, who awkwardly smiled back at her. Everyone else at the table was surprised too, even Vahar, they didn’t know what Senax had to say. The green-maned merpony’s tail was swishing around behind her and she shifted back and forth in her seat a few times, it seems whatever she had to talk about was a big deal and it was making her pretty nervous. She took a drink of water and gulped it all down quickly before breathing deeply.

“Okay… I’ve decided that I’m going to be leaving the village as well,” The merpony leader said.

Immediately Gabriel and Vector bolted up, accidentally knocking over their chairs, Vahar’s jaw dropped and everyone else except Daylight wore a measure of surprise on their faces. The mayor was stuttering as if he couldn’t find his words and Vector was just looking back and forth between Senax and Daylight.

“But, but, but… what?” Gabriel finally said.

“Yeah, “what” is right. What do you mean you’re going to be leaving?” Vahar asked the other merpony.

Senax closed her eyes and took another deep breath to calm herself down. Exhaling, she opened her eyes and turned to Vahar.

“I’m sorry for revealing this here but I do plan on telling the others soon. It’s something I’ve only just recently decided on for myself,” Her eyes drifted to Trixie. “And it’s thanks to you that I’m doing this, Trixie.”

“Me?” Trixie pointed a hoof to herself.

“Yes, you,” Senax smiled. “For too long we merponies have been away from our true home. I’m finally going to go search for it. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to find it but I’m going to try.”

“Our ancestral home has been completely lost to myth...” Vahar pessimistically muttered.

“Even if that may be the case it did exist. And whatever is left of it is somewhere in the Grand Ocean,” Senax persisted. “We were all content to live here for the rest of our existences, but East Glade is not the kingdom created by Ponyseidon where merponies belong, as nice of a home as it has been. Trixie… her coming here and showing me what just one pony can do with a little determination and will, she’s inspired me to finally act.” She turned in her seat and took Vahar’s hooves in her own. “You will lead the merponies here while I am away. And when I do find our lost home I’ll return and take you all back with me.”

Vahar was quietly crying as Senax finished up but she nodded all the same. “Okay. You just better come back, cause I’m gonna want to show you how much better I’ve gotten at magic tricks too. Will you be taking the Horn?”

The merpony leader bit her lip but nodded too. “Yes, it may be important and help me with finding our home. Or at least a trace of something.”

“Well I’m happy for you all but I have a question,” Gizzard said, cutting between them. “What does this have to do with Miss Daylight?”

“Oh, right,” Senax got herself back in order and smiled at the white unicorn. “I will be traveling with Daylight Gleam. Since I’m not exactly worldly I thought it would be a good idea to tag along with someone who has been all over, and it turns out Daylight was planning on going to the Grand Ocean soon as well anyways.”

“You were?” Vector asked, looking at her with big, puppy-dog eyes. Obviously upset that so many were going to be leaving in short order.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Vector, I was. I’ve already stayed in East Glade for far too long and there are still people I promised a friend I would look for. First I’m heading up north right into Bug Bear territory though. There’s a griffon by the name of Gilbert I was asked to find out about and that’s the last place anyone heard of him going. So sorry, Senax, but our trip is gonna be a little crazy before we actually head out to the Grand Ocean.”

Senax shook her head. “That’s alright, I knew from the beginning that this was going to be a long trip.”

“Everyone’s leaving...” Vector sighed, hunching over the table.

“Sorry Vector,” Daylight apologetically shrugged.

“Bug Bear territory huh? Well good luck up there, Bug Bears are nasty,” Trixie said to Daylight.

“Yeah, not looking forward to it but oh well. And besides, pretty sure I’ve dealt with worse things in East Glade by now anyways,” She answered.

“Hummm...” Vector let out a big exaggerated sigh as his chin rested on the table like a dog begging to be taken on a walk.

Daylight groaned. “Vector, I know you’re not used to it but you’re gonna have to accept the fact that friends leave sometime.”

Trixie nodded. “My assistant is right. Trixie has often had to say goodbye, temporarily or not, to many on her travels. It’s unfortunate but her life choices mean that even her best friend back in Ponyville is sadly robbed of her presence for long stretches of time.”

“I’ve just never had to say goodbye to a friend before, and now not only are you going but Daylight and Senax as well?” Vector gloomily said. “You’re the most amazing pony I’ve ever met, Trixie. I was already sad enough knowing you would be leaving one of these days...”

Trixie got out of her seat and walked over to Vector, affectionately patting him on the shoulder. “If it makes you feel any better I promise to come back someday. East Glade deserves another show.”

“You really will?” Vector looked up at her with a hopeful expression.

“Yes, I promise,” Trixie couldn’t help but roll her eyes at his childishness. It was endearing though.

Just then the door leading into the next room swung open and five kids fell onto the floor. It seems the mayor’s and Gold Embrace’s children had been listening in the whole time. The five pushed and stepped over each other trying to get up while their parents just watched in embarrassment. Finally, one of the twins (impossible for any but their mother to tell which one specifically) extricated himself from the mess and ran over to Trixie.

“Miss Trixie! Are you really leaving?!” He asked her.

The other four finally got themselves untangled from each other and ran over to join him, crowding around and jumping up and down at her.

“Is it true? Is it true? You’re not really gonna go, right?” Gabriel Jr. asked her.

“Hold on just a second!” Trixie, for who knows how many times since coming to East Glade, had to push the kids away from her. “I’m sorry to say but yes, it’s true. I’m leaving first thing tomorrow morning. But like I just explained to Vector I’ll be back one day.”

“But what about our magic lessons!” Both Gold Box and Gold Fortune asked at once.

Trixie looked to Speckle Wood. “I’m sure Speckle Wood would be more than happy to help you with that.”

The green unicorn seemed surprised but he quickly smiled and nodded his head in affirmation. “Yes! If Trixie thinks I can do it then I’ll do my best to train you!”

“But what about the rest of us? East Glade is gonna get so boring again without you around...” Gabriel Jr. said.

“Again?” Trixie scrunched up her face at that, considering this place seemed to have regular monster attacks and had to deal with Goliath before she got here she couldn’t really imagine this place as boring ever. Must’ve been different to kids who grew up knowing nothing else. “Well be that as it may you’ll simply have to adjust. Besides, things will be different in some ways with all the great accomplishments of mine out her after all.” She glanced over at Vahar. “Why not continue practicing magic tricks with Vahar?”

“I could always use others to bounce ideas off of and test new tricks with,” The pink-maned merpony beamed.

“Well I guess that doesn’t sound so bad...” Guyaven said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Trixie was reminded that none of them really took to learning magic tricks too well. Or more accurately it was that they weren’t really interested. She smirked and herded the three over to Vahar’s seat.

“Now, now, even if you aren’t too interested in learning the tricks yourself anymore I still think it would be good for you to help out Vahar. Just think how grateful all of East Glade will be when they’ve got their own new magician?” She winked at the merpony.

Vahar blushed and turned away. “You’re thinking too highly of me right now...”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie feels it is her duty to support her burgeoning apprentice when it comes to the world of magic tricks and performance art,” Trixie shrugged.

“I don’t really think I can be called your apprentice either, but thank you,” Vahar giggled.

“It’s just lame that you’re leaving without putting on any more shows,” Gower said from beside them, the small griffon crossing his arms and pouting.

Well, he did have a point there. Part of the reason she was leaving without putting on another show was because she wanted it to be as grand as possible when she did, and she had to return to Equestria to stock up on things and bring Starlight back with her for that. She didn’t want to give East Glade something that didn’t have 110% of Trixie put into it. Not to mention it would take a while for her to perfect certain new tricks she had thought up recently…

She couldn’t muddy that grand event. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t put on a private little farewell show just for her friends here.

“You do have a point there,” Trixie said as she smiled at him… and then teleported directly onto the middle of the table. “The Great and Powerful Trixie would like to announce that she is giving you a special, one-of-a kind, once in a lifetime opportunity! As a thank you for being so hospitable and praising Trixie at every turn, she will give you one last magic show!”

Everyone at the table happily clapped for her and the children cheered, jumping up and down.

Trixie’s eyes wandered over to Daylight and the blue unicorn gave her a smug smirk. “Would my second best assistant be willing to offer some help as well?”

Daylight grimaced and her shoulders slumped. “Do I have to?”

“Yes,” Trixie frowned. “Now get up.”

After that the evening was a blur. Vector cheered and smiled the whole way through. Gizzard laughed… and then coughed. Daylight frowned and dragged her hooves through the entirety of the show. Senax quietly watched and clapped her hooves when appropriate. Vahar paid close attention and took notes the entire time. Garry and Gullet cheered once and then winced from their still not fully-healed wounds. Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace both watched their teacher’s last show with rapt attention, showing her their respect. The mayor and his wife held their talons and leaned up against each other while they enjoyed the performance. And all the kids showed the same boisterous delight that they had the first time Trixie rolled her wagon into the town’s square.

And at the end of it all, while everyone scarfed down dessert, Trixie said goodbye.

If she had any smokebombs left she probably would’ve thrown one down and teleported out the window. It would’ve made for a decent disappearing act.

The following morning things in East Glade had been completely cleaned up. There were still some holes and missing buildings in the town but thanks to the efforts of everyone the village no longer looked like a wreck. And now right at the crack of dawn, Trixie was getting ready to move her wagon and make her way out of these mountains. It’d be a long trip back to Equestria but nothing she wasn’t used to. She didn’t want to be waylaid and make a fuss with several hundred villagers so she was leaving unannounced to most, it would just drag out her departure probably another whole day if she didn’t do it like this.

With a tug of the belt she tied herself to her beloved wagon and turned to start making her way west.

Then the sound of hooves clopping on the ground reached her ears.

“Yes, Vector?” She asked without turning, merely glancing over her shoulder.

Sure enough it was the dull orange earth pony walking towards her with a smile on his face. “Guess you figured I’d want to come and give you one last goodbye. I know you didn’t want to be bothered or have to go through the motions again but I couldn’t help it.”

“It’s alright,” Trixie smiled at him. “If you want you can even walk with me a ways.”

“No, I won’t bother you any more than this,” He shook his head. “I’ve been enough of a fanboy. I just wanted to be here when you left.”

“I’ll be coming back you know? The Great and Powerful Trixie almost always keeps her promises,” She stated. Whether she was being sarcastic or not was impossible to tell.

“I know. The rest of East Glade will be looking forward to that, since they don’t know you’re leaving yet,” Vector glanced back at the town, the two of them only a short distance away from the outskirts.

“Guess you’ll have to let them down gently,” Trixie winked and started walking away.

“Yeah,” Vector stood by as the wagon pulled away from East Glade, led by the most amazing pony he had ever met. “I’ll be waiting for you, hope you have a safe trip.”

“I will!” She waved her hoof once in the air without looking back or pausing.

“Goodbye!” Vector waved after her. He stood there watching her the whole time until she disappeared out of the valley that held East Glade.

Trixie had now finally put East Glade behind her. Not for good since she would be returning, but her initial goal had been met. The meaning of her trip, having become so muddled by all the chaos of this crazy place, was to help her grow and become stronger or at the very least learn something new and unique. And with the wagon she was pulling that was absolutely overflowing with Suggestion Crystals, Trixie was pretty sure she accomplished that. Oh she could already see the look on Twilight Sparkle’s face when she got back to Equestria to show them off.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story.

My Amethyst Star story should be out sometime before the end of the year. Hope to see you there too.

Terror of the Nuckelavee

The mountains east of Griffonstone were a land practically unknown to the ponies of Equestria and even most griffons. After all they were just some desolate mountains. No hidden cities or long lost kingdoms existed there. Occasionally some griffons would fly through them to see what was there only to shrug and turn back when they learned just how bare it really was. And even more rarely did any ponies from Equestria travel out here over the years, most preferring to stay within their beautiful homeland. And even the more adventurous ones preferred to go exploring places with a little more pizazz than the mountains that formed the natural eastern border of the Griffon Lands.

However appearances can be deceiving. And for the few ponies and griffons that did live in these mountains and called them home they knew they were far from alone out here. For this world of Equestria, the Crystal Empire, the Dragon Lands, and beyond, was a world full of strange and magical things. And in an out of the way place like this even weirder things tended to gather and happen. Magical beasts unknown to any archive that appeared and disappeared at will, marauders that were hiding out from any sort of authority, vagabonds and vagrants looking for who knows what, all had no problem gathering in these mountains and make life a struggle for the good and honest ones living there.

An ashen gray mountain range stretched as far as the eye could see from Griffonstone, heading east and east and east seemingly without end. What lied beyond that horizon? Even the studious Twilight Sparkle couldn’t answer that. Nothing had been written about it in Equestria and even though she was the type of pony who would leap at the opportunity to learn all she could about something new it wasn’t exactly high on her list of priorities. It wasn’t a high priority for anyone.

The fact that it constituted the middle of nowhere for the rest of the world is what led it to be such a haven for all things odd and all things criminal. No prying Alicorn eyes here. Whatever weird phenomena happened in these mountains there was never any expedition formed by a concerned Princess to figure it out. And whatever cruelty or evil that might have been going on was similarly invisible. The ponies and griffons and who knows what else in these mountains were truly off the grid and on their own.

For the most part they lived in a town like any you would find in Equestria or elsewhere. And lived normal lives. But there was a roughness here and always the threat of some sort of magical beast appearing and leaving chaos and destruction in its wake. It was the kind of world stuck in the past before the modern era and all the safety and prosperity it brought with it. So in some ways this small world was alike the outside one and in other ways it was so very different.

Speaking of the threat of a magical beast, for the locals currently attempting to eke out an existence here, there was one such beast now that was proving to be the gravest of threats.

It was the middle of the day in the mountains. A single village was situated in the valley between some of them, a ravine with a rushing river behind it and hard, dry, dirt the only land. Making this place the very curse of the farmers who tried to provide food for the village. The valley was wide though and the village small, there was plenty of room at least. But now at this moment in the middle of an otherwise nice day a thick bank of unnatural fog rolled in from the west.

At the edge of the valley with the village a mere speck in the distance three ponies and one griffon huddled behind a rock. Watching as the fog came down from the mountains at the west end of the valley and slowly began to encircle them.

One pony, a dull orange earth pony with a short mane the color and consistency of straw and a Cutie Mark of a flying bird, peeked over the edge of the rock with a spyglass in his hooves. Looking through it he tried to see into the fog but it was too thick to make out anything more than blurry shapes and shadows.

“Do you see anything?” One of the other ponies, a bespectacled unicorn with a wildly frizzy white mane and tail asked, his coat a very bright blue and his Cutie Mark a pair of electrodes.

“No, the fog is too thick.” The first pony answered.

“If my vision wasn’t shot I’d give it a look myself.” The lone griffon grumpily said. He was noticeably quite old and his feathers had begun graying. As was suggested by what he had just said his eyes looked a shade pale, the onset of vision loss.

“It doesn’t matter if we can’t see it yet. This is definitely the cause of the Nuckelavee.” The last pony, and lone mare, said. She was a white unicorn with a bright yellow and straight mane and tail with a single orange streak running through it. On her flank sat a Cutie Mark of the sun rising over the horizon and on her head she wore a small black bow.

“So what do we do then? Just wait for it to come and hope the traps are enough to deal with it?” The bespectacled unicorn asked.

“I think that’s all we can hope for.” The earth pony said, grimacing. “I don’t think we can fight this thing. That’s why I didn’t let you bring anyone else, Gizzard. We can’t let anyone else in the village get hurt by this monster.”

Gizzard, the old griffon, bristled. “Pah! My boys could handle this monster.” He frowned. “Maybe.”

“I wouldn’t want to chance it.” The unicorn mare said, levitating the spyglass to herself and taking a turn with it. “That whole village to the south… just gone in a day.” Not seeing anything she turned to the earth pony. “All the traps are set?”

He nodded. “Yep. Made sure of it myself.”

The unicorn mare sighed. “Then it’s time for our last stand I suppose.”

There was an atmosphere of trepidation and worry in the air after her words. The silence only broken after too long a pause by the orange earth pony.

“Good luck, everyone.” He said. “Gizzard, Coil, Daylight. We can pull through this.”

“You too, Vector.” The unicorn mare, Daylight, smiled at him.

Thump

The four stiffened in terror. Nervously they all slowly peeked their heads over the top of the rock.

Thump

There was a shadow in the fog. Still far away enough to be nothing more than a dark smudge but getting closer and closer enough that its shape was beginning to take form.

Thump

Which each noise the shadow grew larger. Now the three ponies and one griffon had their eyes glued to the figure inside the fog. Taller than an elephant with long, stilt-like, legs and a thin frame. The outline of the shadow was like a supernaturally tall pony walking towards them… but with something else off about it. It was like there was something riding atop the pony, spindly arms hung from this figure on top, arms that extended almost to the ground itself and ended in hands with skeletal fingers.

A drop of sweat fell from Vector’s forehead to the ground.

The shadowed creature, the Nuckelavee, took another step towards them and the village behind them-

And as its hoof hit the ground a magical explosion erupted beneath it. A brilliant red blast of magic and electrical energy tore the ground asunder and blew away the fog around the creature. In an instant the shadowed Nuckelavee had been engulfed in smoke and fire while the four watchers were nearly blown backwards by the shockwave of the trap.

Getting his wits back, Vector looked at the billowing smoke and pressed his hooves together in prayer. “Please, please, please, please, let that be it.”

There was no movement that could be seen and the rest of the fog slowly started to lift.

With the slightest amount of optimism the four waited to see if the Nuckelavee was still coming. Coil let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding in.

“Ponies… feeble ponies… and a griffon on death’s door.”

The voice cut through them all like a knife. The sound of it instilling a primal fear in all of them. It was like reliving all the nightmares they had as children at once, that cold impossible fear that only the mind of a child could produce. With one sentence this monster had returned them all to being little children afraid of the dark.

The first thing they saw emerge from the smoke was the faceless head of a pony. No eyes, no mouth, just the mocking shape of a pony. When the Nuckelavee fully emerged the four defenders had to fight to keep themselves from puking. It had no hair but flesh that was taut along the joints and limbs but loose and distended along the body, its muscles and veins visibly pulsing just beneath the surface. And that thing growing out of its back that the ponies couldn’t even describe, with the long and wicked arms that ended in clawed fingertips. An apelike “rider” connected at its torso to the pony’s back. Its broad chest and shoulders supporting a head with a whispy length of oily black hair falling down its back. Unlike the pony the second head had eyes and a mouth, but the eyes were merely glowing red pits of pure terror and its mouth an endless abyss that all the darkness in the world seemed to be gathered in.

“D-Daylight, spring the other traps.” Vector said to her as the Nuckelavee approached.

She nodded and her horn lit up with a faint blue glow and more hidden magical bombs exploded around the Nuckelavee.

They didn’t even seem to slow it down.

“Weak magic such as this… cannot harm me.” Its dark voice effortlessly carried over to them, the monster stalking its way out of the smoke at an easy pace. Not worried or hurried in the slightest.

“Argh, Coil? What about the spears?” Gizzard asked the unicorn stallion. “If magic aint doing it then maybe we need something a little more… physical.”

“They’re ready. But I think they’ll just make it mad.” Coil looked behind them where several holes had been dug in the ground and wooden stakes thick as a leg had been placed.

“Better than nothing. Fire them.” Vector said.

Coil nodded and his horn lit up with a soft pink glow. Upon the activation of his spell a firing mechanism was triggered below the spears and they were launched into the air towards the Nuckelavee.

The fearsome monster looked up at the spears about to rain down upon it, dozens, maybe even a hundred of them, but it looked unconcerned. The Nuckelavee raised its long arms and a faint green-red shield of energy appeared around it. The spears impacted on its surface, the first few bouncing off completely but as more and more hit cracks started appearing in the shield and a few even punctured halfway through it only to get stuck. Still, despite a better showing than the magic bombs the Nuckelavee was yet unharmed by their attacks. It lowered its arms and the shield disappeared, the stuck spears falling to the ground with it.

“This is hopeless...” Coil whined.

“No it’s not.” Daylight scowled at him. “Look, even though it didn’t get hurt it had to defend itself. Physical attacks will work against it.”

“But we can’t get close to it.” Gizzard said and then suffered a brief fit of coughing. “The... *cough… the last survivor we found said that anypony who got near it became entranced by its eyes and just… *cough… just let it...”

“So we improvise. That may have been all our spears but we have plenty of rocks here don’t we?” Daylight said and picked up a half buried rock the size of a watermelon next to her in her magic. “That thing is taking its sweet time because it thinks there’s nothing we can do. Let’s prove it wrong.”

With a grunt she lifted the heavy rock and threw it with all her might at the Nuckelavee. With a single raised arm the shield appeared again and the rock harmlessly bounced off it, but it left a large crack in its wake. And as Daylight saw, the same cracks and holes from the spears were still there in the monster’s shield.

“Look! That shield of its must take time to regenerate fully!” She pointed out to the others. “We can do this!”

Coil frowned. “Yes, all we need is a boulder the size of a carriage. Oh wait, we’re sitting behind one. Now can we lift it?”

“Okay, no, we can’t. But there are definitely more rocks you and me can throw at that thing. Maybe we can even distract it or lead it on long enough that Vector and Gizzard can go around and gather up the spears too.” Daylight reasoned.

“Pathetic creatures… your efforts are futile… I will devour you as the rest.”

The horrifying voice shook the four of them. Daylight winced as the sound of its voice felt like someone banging a hammer around in her head.

“Well, Coil? Your choice.” She asked him.

The unicorn groaned and rubbed his eyes under his glasses. “I should’ve constructed a catapult...”

“Hindsight is twenty-twenty.” Vector muttered. “Not like any of us could’ve prepared for what this thing can do.”

“Forget about it, once that thing gets closer to here the two of us should do like Daylight said and run back around it.” Gizzard said.

Coil and Daylight both lifted up large rocks like the one she had thrown earlier. With a pained heave the two threw their rocks at the approaching Nuckelavee. Again the beast nonchalantly raised its magical shield, but the cracks the rocks made when they impacted it this time were even larger. Daylight was sure that shield would fall with a few more rocks.

Unfortunately the Nuckelavee was aware of this. While it was a monster among monsters that showed no fear and didn’t want to sully its pride by acknowledging the ponies efforts it wasn’t stupid. A low groaning wail emerged from the abyss it called a mouth.

“Pointless...”

The Nuckelavee raised its arms and the three rocks that had been thrown along with all the spears were grasped in a red aura. The weapons were lifted high into the sky, right above the heads of the ponies and griffon facing the Nuckelavee.

“Uh oh...” Vector gulped.

The monster dropped its arms like a guillotine and the weapons formerly used against it now rained down on the village’s defenders. Propelled with great force and magical energy from the Nuckelavee’s power they obliterated the boulder the ponies and Gizzard had been using for defense. A cloud of dust and debris rose up from the crater just recently formed by the attack. The Nuckelavee continued its slow gait forward, satisfied that the small creatures were no more.

But as the dust cleared the Nuckelavee noticed that that was not the case.

The four creatures were tired but unharmed. The two unicorns horns were blinking with a faint trace of magic, they must’ve used a shield at the last second to block most of his barrage. But now they were close enough where the Nuckelavee could practically reach out and touch them. His eyes shined brighter. At this distance if they made the mistake of looking into those shining red lights for too long they would be forever enthralled and doomed.

“Worthless creatures… I devour the souls of things like you… and defy gods… give up.”

“Never!” Daylight yelled and defiantly fired the last of her magical energy at him, despite knowing it was futile.

The Nuckelavee almost lazily raised a hand to block it, no shield was needed for something like this, the magic simply fizzled out on his open palm.

“I am… the bane of magic… you will… will...” The Nuckelavee paused, a whistling sound reaching its ears.

The other four heard it too, some sort of strange whistling coming from somewhere. What was it?

The Nuckelavee finally looked up to see an object falling through the sky at incredible speed, right towards it.

“Wha-”

The thing crashed into the ground like a meteor with enough force to shake the village still a mile away. Daylight, Coil, Vector, and Gizzard were all thrown into the air and fell back down in a big heap, groaning in pain. Slowly they picked themselves up and looked at the latest cloud of dust that had been born in this valley.

“Just what was that?” Vector wondered in slack-jawed disbelief.

"Who cares, what about the Nuckelavee?” Gizzard asked.

“I think whatever just landed here… landed on top of it.” Coil said. He was almost too shocked for words himself.

Daylight frowned at the dust cloud, worried but curious. She took a step forward. “Well we need to investi-”

Before she could finish a series of fireworks shot out from the smoke. Exploding in a myriad rainbow of sparkling stars, flowers, towers of colorful flames, and ones that spun around and around throwing off sparks everywhere before fizzling out. The dust and smoke was blown away with but a screen of glitter from the fireworks remaining to reveal a wagon sitting comfortably on top of the destroyed ground, the Nuckelavee buried far beneath it.

Then another blast of smoke exploded from in front of the wagon. However this was not natural, this was the cause of a smoke bomb.

As the three ponies and one griffon watched this display in stupefied amazement a voice bellowed from inside the new cloud of smoke.

“Come one, come all, and be amazed! For the Great and Powerful Trrrrixie...” The smoke blew away to reveal a blue unicorn with a crystal white and blue mane wearing a wizard’s robe and hat standing front and center. “HAS ARRIVED!”

Shortly before…

“I’m sorry, you want me to do what?” Discord raised an eyebrow at the obnoxious blue unicorn accosting him. The two of them were standing on the outskirts of Ponyville, Discord had just gotten done having his afternoon tea with Fluttershy when who else but his favorite joke magician to annoy rolled up with her wagon.

“Like I said.” Trixie glared up at him. “I want you to send me somewhere Twilight Sparkle has never gone. Preferably somewhere I can learn new magic.”

“Oh yes, I got that part. It’s the why that’s eluding me.” Discord picked at one of his ears, acting like he wasn’t paying attention to her since he knew it would annoy her.

“Grrr!” Trixie growled at him. “I am the greatest magician in Equestria-”

“In your head.”

“-and I need to prove it! I want to become even more powerful than I already am and learn magic that even Twilight Sparkle doesn’t know about!” Trixie exclaimed. And then much more quietly added- “And I’ve run out of ideas for my shows.”

Discord sighed, his patience already wearing thin. He did have to give any creature that could cause him to lose his patience some credit though. “Why don’t you just ask Starlight?”

“My bestie is too close to Twilight. And anything Starlight teaches me is likely something Twilight either knows or could learn herself. I want to wow them and everyone else with new magic the likes of which has never been seen in Equestria!” The showpony grinned in her almost slightly evil looking way, waving a foreleg in the air for emphasis.

“So you came to me?” Discord yawned.

“Yes. I know you know places where crazy magic happens and I know you can send me there no problem.” She accusingly pointed her hoof at him.

“Places where “crazy magic happens” are not places a unicorn with a horribly overinflated ego should go.” Discord said.

“Please! Trixie’s ego is not overinflated at all. It is exactly as giant as it should be.” She smirked at him.

“Right.” The draconequus rolled his eyes. “But fine. I know you well enough to know that you’ll keep bothering me about this if I don’t help. Or you’ll just end up going and doing something stupid on your own. I won’t be sending you to anywhere too crazy though, last thing I need is for you to somehow learn chaos magic. Or get eaten by an inter-dimensional monster.”

“Trixie is grateful for your help.” She smiled as if she wasn’t paying attention to that last thing he had said. “She will surely return from this journey as the Even Greater and More Powerful Trixie!”

“So she’ll be graduating from the “Foolish and Overly Optimistic Trixie”? Good luck.” Discord mocked.

“Haha, very funny. So are you sending me now or not?” She glared at him.

“Yes, don’t worry. I said I would didn’t I.” A devilish smile appeared on his face. “Hm, but where’s the fun in just teleporting you? I have a much better idea.” He snapped his fingers and Trixie found herself transported inside her wagon.

She looked out the window at him, wondering what was up. “Discord?”

He pointed down at the bottom of the wagon.

Trixie looked down to see two large metal rockets in the shape of flying pigs protruding from the underside of her wagon. The rockets began to shake and soon ignited, a massive column of fire blasting from them and sending the wagon and Trixie hurtling far into the sky.

“DIIIIIISCOOOOOORD!”

“Arrivederci, darling! That means goodbye somewhere you don’t know!” He waved after her. As she disappeared with a twinkle he brought a paw up to his chin and started stroking his beard. “Hm, I wonder if she’s going to be alright?” He shrugged. “Eh. I’m sure it’ll be fine. And if not then Starlight can just get a new annoying best friend. Oh! I should make a list!” He snapped his fingers and a scroll and quill appeared before him, automatically starting to write. “Let’s see… Lightning Dust… Iron Will… Prince Blueblood...”

Author's Note

I hope you enjoy.

What Can Trixie Do?

After Vector had showed their small group the note he then read it out loud for everyone else to hear. Reactions were not the best. The mayor and his wife were still despondent and the rest of the villagers had no idea what to do. Lots of them, the parents, Trixie had to presume, ran out of the square to the mayor’s house when they had heard what happened, looking to make sure their kids were okay. Trixie was kind of worried for herself considering what the letter demanded but she couldn’t imagine these people would actually attempt to tie her up and just offer her to Goliath. At the same time though they might still blame her for this happening.

She could already hear mutterings of other griffons and ponies around who wondered if Goliath would keep taking more children if he didn’t get Trixie.

Trixie really didn’t want to get offered up as a sacrifice.

She wasn’t the only one who was troubled right now though either. Gizzard was beating himself up for not setting watch properly, his grandsons and Speckle Wood were trying to comfort the old griffon but he was having none of it. Daylight and Coil both looked worried as well and Vector kept looking between the note and the mayor, at a loss.

And Trixie was thinking about what would happen when she had to inevitably face Goliath again.

Uh oh. This is bad, this is bad, this is bad. Trixie thought. I shouldn’t have stayed here, this is so bad.

Her bravery and desire to protect East Glade were flying out the window as again the reality and danger of the situation came crashing down on the dishonest blue unicorn. She couldn’t act or look like this was getting to her though, that would make things even worse. For now Trixie had to keep up appearances and make everyone think that their unflappable hero still had their backs. And then she would leave.

So Trixie did what she’d been doing ever since arriving in East Glade. Lie.

“Do not worry, everyone!” She loudly shouted to the crowd of villagers still in the square. “Your great and powerful hero is still here.” Trixie walked over to the mayor and looked down at his kneeling form, doing her best to put a compassionate expression on her face. “Your sons are very dear to me as well and I will certainly not allow any harm to befall them.” She looked back at her group and the other villagers. “I have a plan that will lead East Glade to victory and get the children back safe and sound! You may all rest easy tonight!”

“Thank you Great and Powerful Trixie,” Giselle said to her, suddenly grasping Trixie’s hooves in her talons and holding them dear. “Our children are everything to us, I don’t know what we’d do if anything happened to them...” She started crying freely.

Trixie’s jaw clenched and she had to fight to keep her face from falling at Giselle’s words. Instead she smirked and tilted up her nose. “Have I ever let anyone down before?”

“No, you haven’t,” Grabriel said as he got up, a solemn look on his face. “I believe in you, Miss Trixie.” The mayor then looked out over the other griffons and ponies around. “We’re not going to give Goliath Trixie. We won’t cow to his demands! My sons… I could never forgive myself if something happened to them, but I refuse to allow us to be pushed around anymore! Not when The Great and Powerful Trixie is here to protect us!”

“Yeah, that’s right everyone!” Vector said. “There’s no way we’re just going to turn on Trixie after all she’s done for us! We need to have faith in her again, I’m sure she can defeat Goliath this time too.”

Trixie’s smirk widened into an unhealthily manic looking smile as she disentangled herself from Giselle. “Ehehe, you’re all far too kind.” She couldn’t help the nervous lilt that infected her voice.

“So what is your plan to defeat Goliath and rescue the mayor’s kids anyways?” Daylight Gleam walked up and asked her, tilting her head in question, Coil and Gizzard by her sides.

“Right. The plan,” Trixie furrowed her brow, now trying to come up with something plausible off the top of her head that she could use as an excuse to slip away. “I… have some extra magical devices and items in my wagon for any heroing needs! I shall be back here shortly with them and then we shall discuss our plan of attack.” She reached into her robe and pulled out a smokebomb. “For now The Great and Powerful Trixie shall be off! But do not fret, I will return!” She threw the bomb on the ground and ran off while everyone else coughed and was blinded from the resulting explosion of smoke.

That may have been a bunch of lies but I’m sure they’ll understand later, right? Trixie reasoned to herself.

It was still the middle of the night as the ran out of East Glade towards her parked wagon nearby. She could hitch herself up in a second and then it was run and run and run back west. Hay, maybe it wasn’t the right thing to do but to Trixie it was definitely the smart thing to do. And doing this she could get back to Equestria and tell Starlight or Twilight about what was happening out here and then they could help. Surely that would be better than whatever Trixie could do if she stayed?

She could just lie to Starlight about her turning tail and leaving East Glade to its fate, Starlight definitely wouldn’t want to hear that. Lying to Starlight though… that was something Trixie really didn’t want to do. This whole situation was really a big blow to her ego too. Not the first time that’s happened though and she could totally deal with it! Maybe. Usually she wasn’t leaving behind people in such dire straits.

Nothing would change if I stayed, nothing at all. It’s better like this. The fraud hero told herself. Like always I’m one hundred percent correct!

In reality this is the heroic thing to do. Because I’m giving up all that love and glory back there. It takes courage to do something like that!

Trixie ran through the darkness and finally made it to her wagon, only to gasp in shock when she made a startling discovery.

“My wagon! What happened?!” She screamed.

Her wagon was tilted over on one side, the wheels on the left side of the wagon had fallen off and were neatly laying on the ground next to it. She ran up to them to try and quickly put them back on only to realize that the bolts normally holding them in place had been removed. A cold sweat broke out over her body with each passing second as she tried to think of just how in the hay she was going to get her wagon out of here.

“B-but... what… how?!” She repeated as she nervously pranced up and down on her hooves. It probably wouldn’t be long before Vector or Daylight came to check up on her.

She didn’t have the magical strength to levitate the wagon on her own. Maybe she could use her telekinesis to keep the wheels in place while she tugged it? But she’d have to concentrate the whole way and she probably couldn’t go as fast. Her best bet was probably unscrewing the front right wheel and putting it on the back left. But that would still be awkward and difficult for her to move fast with.

“Who did this?!” Trixie shouted in frustration, yanking on the brim of her hat with her hooves.

“Oh hi, Trixie. Back from the party already?” A voice said from behind her wagon.

Trixie stared as Harlequin Black walked around to where she was standing, an amused smile on his face.

“Sorry. I was taking the liberty of sprucing up your wagon when somehow I accidentally dislodged the bolts on your left wheels. And then somehow again I dropped the bolts and it’s just the strangest thing but I haven’t been able to find them on the ground at all. I’m sure they’ll turn up later though,” He cheerfully said.

Trixie’s jaw dropped and she sat down on her haunches. With that on top of everything else, for the first time in the great entertainer’s life she was at a loss for words.

After a minute she composed herself, swallowing and standing back up with a glassy and blank expression on her face. “Okay. Plan B. Think of a plan.”

Her knees started wobbling as she found herself forced into this situation. The reality that she would have to stay and fight barreling towards her like a steam engine.

“Or plan C. Run away and send a courier back for my wagon...” The blue unicorn grasped at straws.

“Trixie!”

The stage magician’s eyes widened in horror as she heard Vector yelling for her. She turned her head to see him, Gizzard, Coil, and Daylight all running towards her.

The four of them came to a halt in front of her. They looked between her and the wagon and were wondering just what was up. Trixie’s eyes nervously darted back and forth, she tried forming words in her throat or think of any sort of explanation but nothing was coming, she just couldn’t get it out. All while she was noticeably fidgeting and her sweat was starting to pour down her face. Her mind was going a million miles a second but there wasn’t a destination for it!

Vector stepped forward with a worried look on his face. “Trixie? Is something wrong?”

Her eyes snapped to him and she shakily brought a hoof up to her mouth as if to nonchalantly cough, but it came out weak and ragged. “O-Of course not, I’m fine. Nothing is ever going wrong for The Great and Powerful Trixie!” She looked at the others, who had varying looks of concern on their faces as well. “D-Don’t worry at all… I didn’t… I wasn’t coming out here to...”

She saw the smiling face of Harlequin Black, the worried look of Vector, the suspicious and inquisitive gaze of Daylight Gleam and the confused expressions of Coil and Gizzard.

“You see I came out here because my plan is… t-the plan to beat Goliath and rescue the kids, it’s… well...” She was unconsciously backing up as she stuttered, looking between them all, right up until her flank hit her wagon.

“I’m… I...” Trixie looked at the five, it was like they were all closing in around her. What did she do? What could she say? What would they do?

Finally the agonizing conflict within her snapped and Trixie flung herself to the ground, covering her head with her hooves. “I’m a fraud!”

There weren’t any gasps like she had suspected. It seems her sudden confession had shocked them into silence. She peeked up to see how they were reacting… and it didn’t make her feel better. Vector was standing there slackjawed very similar to how Trixie was only a moment before. Gizzard looked down at her with an upset and bewildered expression, clearly wanting more of an explanation. Coil actually looked fairly calm and Daylight was just flatly looking at her with an almost pitying gaze.

“I… I don’t understand?” Vector said after he found his voice again.

“Grr.” Trixie growled slightly, her frustration at this whole situation now hitting its peak. “It’s exactly what I said! I’m a fraud, not a hero! I’m a traveling stage magician, not some crazy pony who fights monsters for a living! I don’t even know what a Nuckelavee is!”

“Wait, so then why-” Gizzard attempted to question before Trixie cut him off.

“It was completely by chance! I had no idea where I was going or what I landed on top of when I first came here!” She started waving her hooves over her head in emphasis.

“But why did you let us think you were a hero and you came here to help us?” Vector asked, a monumentally sad and disappointed look in his eyes. He was like a child that had just been told they weren’t getting a present for Hearthswarming.

“Because I thought it would be fun!” Trixie almost shouted in his face. “Because I came out here to find new and unique magic and now I suddenly had a whole village of people praising and looking up to me and The Great and Powerful Trixie loves that more than anything!” She stopped her ranting and started breathing heavily, having tired herself out. “I… felt like doing something new.” She said in-between pants.

Daylight walked up to her with an impassive face. “And you didn’t realize the gravity of the situation until too late.”

“Like you said, I’m not one for planning ahead,” Trixie grumbled at her.

Coil raised a hoof to get the others attention. “If I’m being honest I actually kind of suspected this. I may not have been in Equestria for some time but I never heard about anyone like Miss Trixie. And she doesn’t exactly act like a typical hero would.”

“So what about all those other times you saved us?” Gizzard asked her. The old griffon scratching at his cheek while they all ignored Coil’s statement for now.

“Luck! Blind, stupid, luck!” Trixie answered. “I have no idea how everything’s turned out as well as it has so far but that’s how it’s happened!”

Vector looked at Trixie’s wagon and then back at her, his big eyes just boring into her. “Were you going to run away tonight?”

Trixie winced. “Er… maybe? Eheh.” She awkwardly smiled.

“So you were just going to leave us hung out to dry like that,” Daylight Gleam said. It was a statement, not a question.

“I was going to tell someone you were in trouble!” Trixie angrily snapped back at her.

“Long after anything could be done,” Daylight narrowed her eyes at the magician.

Before Trixie could respond Coil moved between them, pushing both of the other unicorns away from each other. “Now hold on here. Regardless of her intentions and the, er, unfortunate thing she was about to do, Trixie has still saved East Glade numerous times now. I think she at least deserves some measure of respect and forgiveness. At the very least we don’t have the time or luxury to be arguing like this, right?”

“Forgiveness? Really Coil?” Daylight scoffed.

The other blue unicorn nodded. “Accidental or not we wouldn’t be here right now were it not for what Trixie did. Truthfully from that point of view we owe her more than she owes it to help us.”

“Tell that to Gabriel’s kids,” The white unicorn rolled her eyes and turned away, sitting down with her back turned to Trixie.

The stage magician couldn’t help but wince at her words and actions. It hit her more than she thought something like that would.

“Now, now,” Harlequin Black said as he walked up to Daylight and patted her a few times on the back. “You weren’t the kindest or most benevolent pony too long ago either. Don’t you think Trixie deserves the benefit of the doubt?”

“Yeah, but-” Daylight scowled, looking back at Trixie and then at the ground with a faint blush on her cheeks. “I thought we were friends.”

Trixie’s eyes widened a bit. “Friends?”

Daylight shifted to face Trixie once again, a tumultuous expression written on her face. Obviously the unicorn was embarrassed and annoyed to admit that. “Well, yeah. You’re annoying but… yeah. Friends.”

“I thought of you as a friend too...” Vector sighed, still looking so sad.

Coil and Gizzard both nodded in agreement. It was a lot for the traveling magician to deal with.

“I’m sorry.” Trixie’s eyes were downcast as she dejectedly looked at the ground. She had Starlight, and Maud was nice too, and Sunburst even, but she didn’t make friends as easily or as often as someone like Twilight. And she just betrayed four people who thought of her as one.

They were all silent for a moment after that but the pressing situation they were in didn’t afford them much time to rest.

“Do we tell the rest of the villagers the truth?” Vector asked Gizzard.

The old griffon shook his head. “Definitely not. Not only would they probably lynch Trixie there’d be so much chaos and panic, we just can’t have that right now. It’s better if everyone thinks she’s their hero so they can at least rally behind her and be less afraid.”

“That still leaves us all in a lot of trouble though,” Coil frowned.

“We have barely more than half a day before Trixie is supposed to be on that bridge, offered up to Goliath,” Daylight said.

Trixie gulped. Goliath would be coming after her and the mayor’s kids were kidnapped and being held somewhere. She didn’t know how to defeat a monstrous griffon like him and even if her lies weren’t revealed yet all the villagers would realize she’s a blustering fraud soon enough anyways.

Come on, I’m an escape artist so can’t I “escape” from a bad situation like this? She frowned inwardly at herself.

And then a light-bulb went off in her head. What Goliath wanted, the children, what her friends were capable of, everything was coming together…

“Hold on,” Trixie suddenly said to get their attention. “I want to help. And I think I have a plan.”

Daylight raised an eyebrow at her. “You think you can luck out again?”

The showpony shook her head. “No, it’s not going to rely on me getting lucky at all. In fact what I’m thinking of is going to put me in a lot of danger.”

“Even after you lying to us I don’t want you to get hurt,” Vector grimaced. “You can just let us take care of things. It’s true Goliath hasn’t done something like this before but we’ve been able to deal with him in the past.”

Trixie held up a hoof to silence him. “I want to help. And I want to prove that although I may not be a hero like I said I’m still The Great and Powerful Trixie and just as amazing as that implies.” She grinned. “Maybe this is a little tasteless for me to say right now, but have some faith in me.”

Harlequin Black seemed pleased and the other four all shared a look with each other. Coil, Gizzard, and Daylight all shrugged while Vector looked at her again.

“Miss Trixie… you don’t even know how saddened I am about all of this,” Vector said. “You were a pony I looked up to so much and I never once doubted you. It’s… truly heartbreaking to know that you were going to run away and let us suffer.” Tears actually welled up slightly in his eyes. “I don’t know if I can have that same trust and admiration for you ever again, but right now we need all the help we can get.”

The orange earth pony sighed deeply. “What is your plan?”

Trixie looked and felt worse and worse with each word, it reminded her of how she felt when she almost ruined her newfound friendship with Starlight. But at least they were giving her another chance. She’d make it up to them, real hero or fake.

The Great and Powerful Trixie

The massive arm of Coil’s stone golem swung down to demolish the large row house that the merponies called home, sending wood and debris sailing into the air and causing the merponies, ponies, and griffons around to run in fear of their lives. The golem stepped through the shattered remains of the building as it plodded into the village, more buildings and homes in its path that it was more than ready to destroy. The fact that it towered high above any structure in East Glade meant the villagers saw it coming from the beginning but panicked for a while when they realized their hero wasn’t around. And the early attempts to stop it by the other defenders before it made it to the village were met with failure.

“Run! Everyone run! Get to the other side of the ravine!” Gabriel yelled to the chaotic mass of villagers running through the streets. He was flying above them and trying to get as much attention as he could but people were so frightened he was having a hard time. And getting to the other side of the ravine was a temporary reprieve at best… at least his children and wife were safe together for now.

“We’ll keep trying to hold them off as best we can!” Gizzard flew up beside the mayor. “But I can’t make any promises, that thing is tough.”

Daylight Gleam, Vector, Speckle Wood, and Gold Embrace were on the ground, futilely trying to stop or at the very least slow down the golem’s movement. After some earlier failed spells, Daylight and the other unicorns were now aware that their magic would be useless against it so the two students merely threw whatever they could at it to see if they could harm it while Daylight used her magic to blast holes in the ground in an attempt to trip it up.

The lone earth pony of the group, instead of fighting the golem, was despairingly looking between its legs at the other outside unicorn calmly walking behind it.

Coil had his usual smile on his face as he directed his behemoth, surveying the damage it was causing and relishing in how it effortlessly steamrolled through any opposition.

It was a shock to all of the defenders when they had run out to attack the golem, thinking something must’ve happened to Coil’s lab, only to come face to face with the unicorn and learn that he had created the thing and what his true intentions were. They were still reeling from that revelation on top of having to deal with the blasted golem in the first place.

For better or worse Coil seemed to have no intention of directly fighting himself, merely watching the golem do its thing and controlling its actions when need be. He fully wanted to see what his creation could do on its own and if he “helped” it out against the defenders well that would just muddy his test. So for now he had only been defending himself if attacked and following in the golem’s wake.

The golem easily stepped over one of Daylight’s hastily made holes and kicked down another home. Daylight knew it would do no good but she was angry, so she fired another beam of her magic right into the golem’s face. Naturally the beam dissipated against it like it was nothing.

“Grr!” Daylight grit her teeth, turning her attention to Coil. “Coil! Why are you doing this?!”

“It’s a test run, I need to see what my golem is capable of. Sorry,” He cupped his hooves over his mouth and shouted at her.

“That’s not what I meant!” She could feel the tears welling in her eyes.

The golem then turned its attention to the defenders, perhaps by Coil’s suggestion, and raised a massive arm so it could slam its palm on top of them. Speckle Wood grabbed Gold Embrace and teleported them to safety while Daylight tried to snap Vector out of his funk before they were crushed.

“I suggest moving!” Coil shouted at them again. “I’d like to see you fight as hard as possible against my golem so please don’t get crushed so quickly.”

That seemed to do it enough for Vector and he and Daylight jumped out of the way right before the palm slapped into the ground where they had just been standing. The shockwave still knocked them flat on their backs and disoriented them, but while the golem was large it wasn’t exactly fast and the two were able to catch their bearings and scramble to their hooves, trying to put some distance between themselves and the monster.

“What are we going to do?” Vector asked Daylight as they ran. “And where’s Trixie? Did something happen to her?”

“I hope she’s okay but my guess is that Coil already took her out of the equation. As for how we’re going to stop that thing? I really have no idea.”

“Keep running, we’re here now!” The two heard from above them and looked to see Gizzard, Garry, and Gullet flying at the golem.

The griffons flew circles around the head of the golem, too fast to be caught by its lumbering movements. The thing may have been strong and immune to magic but its size gave it multiple blind-spots and places it can’t reach with its long, gorilla arms. The three griffons poked and snapped at the golem the entire time, Garry and Gullet landing on its back and trying to pull free any of the many Suggestion Crystals embedded in it while Gizzard distracted it. They all remembered that yanking out the crystal is how Trixie stopped “Goliath”.

But these crystals weren’t the same. Whatever magic Coil imbued them with made them completely immovable.

“I wouldn’t stay up there if I were you, my golem has several safety features when it comes to those hard to reach spots,” Coil said to the griffons.

A low hum came from the crystals and they glowed brighter for a split-second before discharging a torrent of electrical and magical energy in a frame around the golem. All three of the griffons screamed as they were caught in it and electrocuted before being thrown to the ground in smoking piles once the field deactivated. Coil’s golem knew well how to defend itself.

“Gizzard!” Daylight yelled as she saw him fall to the ground in front of her and Vector. Vector was too shocked for words.

The white unicorn ran up to him to see if he was okay and was happy to see that he was still breathing. But his body was charred and smoking, Gizzard would need medical attention and there was no way he could fight anymore right now. His grandsons were likely in the same state but they’d been blasted the opposite direction since they were on the golem’s back and Daylight couldn’t check on them so easily.

“What do we do? What do we even do?” Vector muttered, a glassy look on his face. It was clear to Daylight that he would be no help either anymore.

The golem started moving again after taking care of the latest annoyance, making its way through the village of East Glade and just demolishing everything in its path. Did Coil plan to have it level every single building? Right now it was steadily making its way to the town’s square, thanks to its size it would only need a few more steps before it made it to the center of East Glade, where it could have its choice of what to destroy next.

While Daylight was trying to lift Gizzard up and shepherd Vector to safety, Speckle Wood took that moment to reappear with Gold Embrace in a puff of magic. It was good that at least one of them had mastered being able to teleport. The two other unicorns helped carry the injured griffon while Daylight tried to snap Vector out of his funk.

“Vector come on, you need to get a hold of yourself, we need you right now! East Glade needs you,” She shook him back and forth.

“We need to find Miss Trixie, she’s the only one who can stop that thing,” Speckle Wood said as he fearfully looked up at the huge golem.

Daylight had more than a few cynical thoughts about that but she wasn’t about to say anything. They didn’t need to be even more worried.

“Should we just try to help everyone get as far away as possible? Can we even stop it from destroying the town?” Gold Embrace asked, probably thinking more about her children than anything.

“We can’t just let Coil destroy East Glade!” Speckle Wood said. “This is our home!”

“Homes can be rebuilt!” Gold Embrace snapped at him.

“Stop it you two!” Daylight said. “We don’t know how far Coil plans to go with this, he says he’s testing his golem’s ability to fight so he might chase us down even if he won’t bother with the rest of the villagers.”

The sound of a house being crushed reached their ears as the golem took another step. This wasn’t the time for talking.

“Forget about all that for now,” Daylight said. “I want you to try and hold off the golem and I’ll fight Coil myself.”

She knew that was likely a fool’s errand since the golem had both proven to be unstoppable and Coil himself much stronger than she had thought. But it was really the best idea she could come up with, if they all tried fighting Coil he’d just have his golem crush them at once, they needed someone to at least try and keep it occupied.

“We’ll do our best,” Speckle Wood nodded and ran off with Gold Embrace to slow the golem’s progress, first depositing Gizzard somewhere out of the golem’s way. If Gold Embrace was still hesitant about all this she was doing a good job of not showing it.

The golem meanwhile was crashing through the next row of houses, Coil still walking in its shadow. Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace continued throwing rocks and other debris at it. Speckle always staying close enough to Gold so he could teleport them to safety whenever the golem swung down one of its massive fists at them. While that was going on Daylight watched Coil, her horn lit up and she went invisible, running towards him while leaving the still useless Vector behind.

She didn’t pay attention to what anyone else was doing. Her vision was tunneled on Coil. Daylight knew if she could get close enough she could knock him out with a blast of magic before he could defend himself. As for if that would stop the golem or not she wasn’t sure but at least it would still be one less problem to deal with. The white unicorn ran over and past the wreckage of homes, carefully being as quiet as possible and light on her hooves so Coil wouldn’t hear her coming.

Their former friend was gleefully watching his golem have no problem dealing with the attacks of Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace. It didn’t even need to defend itself, it was naturally too tough for them to harm with their limited abilities. Daylight saw that as an opening and she sped up.

When she got just a few steps away though, Coil’s horn lit up and a wall of magic sprang into existence right in front of her face. She couldn’t stop in time and ran right into it, bouncing off the powerful shield and collapsing to the ground, clutching her face in pain. The disorientation caused her spell to fail and she went back to being visible as she groaned and rolled on the ground.

“Daylight, please,” Coil said as he telekinetically lifted her up with his magic. “I know your invisibility spell well enough to look for any dust being kicked up. Now if you would, I’d prefer if you kept trying to fight my golem instead of me. That’s what the point of all of this is in the first place.” He hurled her in an arc in front of the golem, where Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace went to help her to her hooves.

The golem attempted to stomp towards them when two new griffons entered the fray.

“Stop!”

“We won’t let you do this to our new home!”

Gibble and Gouge yelled as they ran from the building they had been cowering behind the whole time, grabbing rocks and jumping onto the foot of the golem, beating on it as hard as they could. The wingless griffons couldn’t do much but even they were trying their best to defend East Glade now.

“Hahahaha, really?” Coil laughed as he watched this. “Oh well, be my guests, the more the merrier.”

The golem lifted its foot and stomped it hard onto the ground, shaking the two griffons off it. Before it could do more, Speckle Wood teleported over to the both of them and took them to safety. All of the defenders now running from the golem and just trying to avoid it as it moved deeper into the town. Anything they had done in an attempt to stop it proving completely fruitless. Kicking over one last row of houses the golem finally made it into the square that sat at the center of East Glade.

It was good that near everyone had run from the village at this point. Coil walked in behind it too, a clear path of destruction now leading from the square to the outskirts of the village.

“Do you think there’s anything we can do against that thing?” Gibble asked the defenders as they all huddled in a side street leading from the square to the bridge.

“I just… I just don’t know,” Daylight shook her head.

Vector walked into town’s square too, adjacent from the golem. His face blank and his steps heavy, the earth pony that was normally so friendly and helpful was just broken down by the events of the day. Through empty eyes he looked up at the gigantic golem that plodded into the center of the square and stopped.

“Ah, the middle of the village. Now I can see exactly how much power my golem has,” Coil said with a smile on his face. “Defense testing is over with, time for offense.”

All of the other defenders looked on in horror as the stone golem raised its arms high over its head, bringing its hands together in a double axe-handle. With the size and strength it had if the thing brought its fists down full force like this it would be like a massive earthquake going off in the middle of town, most of East Glade would probably be demolished all at once.

“Coil!” Daylight yelled. She knew the golem’s blow would likely blow them all away too.

“You’ve been a wonderful help everyone!” Coil mockingly shouted back to them before creating a tough magical shield around himself to protect from the fallout. “But goodbye now!”

The golem spread its legs and braced itself, arching its back and getting ready to land a devastating blow on East Glade. Even if the golem was defeated after this the damage it would cause not just to the buildings but the landscape would irrevocably change the home of everyone who lived here. Vector, Daylight, Coil, everyone’s eyes were glued to the tightly wound hands of the golem. The protectors of East Glade could do nothing, merely wait for the inevitable destruction.

“Stop right there!”

Coil turned around, the defenders of East Glade looked in the direction of the voice, and even the golem paused and looked over its shoulder.

The Great and Powerful Trixie stood in the middle of the ruins of East Glade that the golem had torn through, Suggestion Crystals floating over her head. With a surge of magic, Trixie fired everything she had into the crystals. A vortex was formed as the crystals all spun and merged together while being bathed in her pink magic. Rocks, wood, and other debris were pulled into the shining vortex, all mingling with the crystals and her magic while arcs of electricity and blasts of wind fired in every direction.

“TEACUP!” With a shout from Trixie the vortex stabilized and expanded, transforming into a gigantic teacup complete with saucer and teaspoon. She jumped into the teacup and levitated it all into the air, getting face to face with the golem and pulling the spoon and saucer up like a sword and shield being wielded by the cup.

“My word, are you serious right now? Alright then-” Coil snickered at her and pointed out his arm. “Crush her, my golem!”

Coil’s golem did as commanded and turned around, attempting to backhand Trixie out of the sky at the same time.

Trixie ducked under it and flew forward, striking the golem in the face with the spoon and actually getting it to wince. Trixie grinned when she saw that.

If it’s raw magic it just gets absorbed but because I’m using physical objects created from magic the golem is still vulnerable… The magician thought as she flew circles around the monster. It kept trying to knock her out of the sky but she always dodged or blocked its blows with her saucer shield. The lumbering nature of the golem made it bad for attacking something that could fly around it so easily and she wasn’t staying in close long enough for it to use its electrical surge.

But even though the golem couldn’t land a direct hit on her, Trixie wasn’t really damaging it either. Lacking the raw power needed to break its hard body.

Coil was unconcerned as he watched the fight. “Trixie, Trixie, Trixie... you’re a fake, a weakling, and an idiot. You have neither the magical prowess nor the brains to defeat me. You should’ve stayed in your cage.”

“You’re wrong,” The quiet words from Vector just barely reached Coil’s ears.

The evil unicorn raised an eyebrow and looked over to the side of the square that Vector was standing at. He grinned. “Vector, please. You know as well as I do how much of a fraud that pony is. She can’t help you.”

The earth pony shook his head. “You’re wrong about her, she’s our hero.”

“Hahahaha! You’re all too funny today!” Coil couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “My golem will show you just how useless your hero is.”

With a heavy stomp the golem stepped forward and tried to just straight up punch Trixie and her teacup out of the air. But she deftly dodged it and flew down the length of the golem’s arm, smacking it in the face again with her spoon.

“In all honesty, this is quite possibly the strangest thing I’ve seen in my life,” Daylight said as everyone else down below watched the battle.

Trixie dove around the back of the golem’s head and smacked it in the middle of its shoulder blades, to no effect. The golem was getting fed up with this though and sent a surge of electrical energy through its body with the power of the crystals, temporarily creating its electrical armor again and forcing Trixie to back off. The golem then lunged at Trixie right before the electricity fizzled out, trying to crush her between its arms. But she dipped below them and sped right into the golem’s stomach, stabbing her teaspoon as hard as she could into the gut of the stone monster.

A piece of stone was chipped away from the golem but the spoon bent from the force exerted and Trixie had to quickly fly away again to avoid the golem’s reprisal.

Coil smirked as he saw how things were turning out. “See? I was right, it was over before it started.” He shouted so everyone could hear.

This time it was Trixie’s turn to smirk. Overconfident jerk. You think I’m putting up a fight? I’m putting on a show.

The Great and Powerful Trixie flew up to face the golem. The Suggestion Crystals don’t think. They’re just objects that you’re using, Coil. They don’t care about your magic more than anyone else’s. So if I send my own little suggestion into the crystals powering your golem it’ll override your commands! As long as my magic is stronger for even just a moment… and of course it is. There’s no doubt about it. Trixie is the greatest magician in the world!

She spun the bent spoon around in her magic while the golem repeatedly tried punching her out of the air. Flying forward she feinted like she was going to attempt to stab the golem in the face with the teaspoon and the massive stone monster raised its arms to defend itself, but at the last second she threw the spoon down to the ground and the golem looked down with it, distracted. Trixie then smashed the saucer into its face.

The saucer shattered but the golem still stumbled back and completely lost vision of her as Trixie flew directly above its head in her teacup. She reached up into her hat and pulled out one last Suggestion Crystal that she had kept hidden.

“Curtain call,” Trixie smirked and leaped from her teacup while pushing the cup along with her magic into the chest of the golem.

Coil watched with amusement from down in the golem’s shadow. “That eager to get electrocuted? I suppose she finally saw how pointless her actions were.”

Trixie landed on top of the golem’s head and jammed her Suggestion Crystal into it. Before the golem could react or do anything (thanks to being staggered by the teacup) she poured her magic into the crystal and gave it a command that would spread to every inch of the golem and every last one of the other Suggestion Crystals embedded into it: Shatter!

Instead of the green lightning the golem had used for defense it was pink lightning that crawled across its body, the green Suggestion Crystals changing color to suit Trixie’s magic before they all glowed white hot and began to explode.

“What?! That’s impossible! What’s going on?!” Coil yelled in shock as he saw this happening.

From its head on down the golem began to fall apart, losing the magic that kept it together. What Coil had made to terrorize East Glade and get revenge on his former acquaintances in Canterlot turned once again into nothing but inanimate rocks and dirt. Tons and tons of it breaking apart while each and every Suggestion Crystal he had imbued with his power and implanted in it shattered.

And because of where Coil was standing it was all falling on him.

“Oh,” The blue unicorn gulped, reinforcing his shield as much as he could before the rocks buried him with the force of a crashing freight train.

Trixie rode the crashing wave down and teleported away from the collapsing golem midway in the air, falling to the ground and rolling to safety, coming right up to Vector’s hooves. Vector and all the others watched with amazement as the golem fell and braced themselves against the explosive force of something so heavy collapsing to the ground at once, as well as the blast of dust and dirt that completely shrouded the whole of town’s square for a minute afterwards.

“Geh! Gu-huck!” Trixie coughed and coughed, rubbing her eyes at the same time to get the dust out of them as she stood up. “Well, that went better than expected all in all.”

She suddenly found herself drawn into a crushing hug by Vector. “I knew you would save us! You really are the greatest hero in the world!” He was legitimately crying.

“Oh come on, no hugging! It’s embarrassing,” She struggled out of his grasp. “But yes, I am great, thank you.”

As the dust cleared, Daylight’s group looked over at Trixie and Vector.

“You two okay?” Daylight asked.

“Yeah, we’re both fine. All thanks to me,” Trixie said back to her. It caused the other unicorn to roll her eyes but she was smiling.

Speckle Wood was staring at the pile of rubble, still in awe of what had happened. “Amazing. I’m just glad that that horrible thing was stopped.”

“You and me both,” Gold Embrace said while Gibble and Gouge nodded, huddled behind the others.

“Sorry I took so long,” Trixie said to Vector as they stood together.

“Anything’s better than the whole village being destroyed,” Vector shrugged. “I was… er, not in the best state of mind before you got here.” His head then titled up, remembering something. “Garry and Gullet, we need to make sure they’re alright, and Gizzard too. He needs help!”

Trixie was about to ask where Garry and Gullet were when a blast of magic erupted from the middle of the pile of rocks that had made up the golem.

Coil dug himself out of the remains of his creation and stood on top of the rubble, panting and wheezing and covered in dust while his broken glasses hung off his right ear.

“You… you!” He glared at Trixie.

She frowned at him. “Forget it Coil, it’s over. We need to take care of the people you hurt.”

“Over? Over?! You think you can just destroy my masterpiece, ruin all the hard-work I’ve done, crush my hopes and dreams, and just say it’s over! No! I’ll show you what over is!” Coil’s horn lit up with a dangerous black light… but instead of firing it at Trixie he turned and shot it towards Daylight and the others. “Say goodbye to them, Trixie!”

A massive beam of dark energy came from Coil’s horn, racing towards Daylight Gleam, Gold Embrace, Speckle Wood, Gibble, Gouge, and the unconscious Gizzard. There was no way any of them could stop something like that. Five sets of eyes closed, waiting for the inevitable and hoping it would be painless.

It never came. Opening their eyes they saw Trixie in front of them, blocking the beam of darkness with a shield of magic after teleporting to save them.

“Trixie!” Daylight shouted.

“Teacher!” Gold Embrace said.

“Hnnnngh!” Trixie grit her teeth as she pulled out every last little drop of magic she had in her to stop Coil’s attack. Sweat was dripping down her brow, her knees were buckling, her eyes watered and a dull throbbing pain was growing in her head but still she held on even as the darkness chipped away at her shield.

“Oh for the love of—just give up already!” Coil yelled. “You’re a fake! A fraud! A loser! You can’t stop me, I’ll destroy you here and start again!”

“No!” Trixie shouted back. “I won’t let you… and I’m… I… Trixie is! Trixie is! GREAT AND POWERFUL!”

She felt a hoof on her back and chanced the danger to glance back and see Daylight Gleam putting a hoof up to steady her. Gold Embrace and Speckle Wood both followed suit, the three other unicorns lighting up their horns and joining Trixie, gathering all the raw magical energy they could draw up and funneling it into Trixie. Her shield grew brighter and stronger, the cracks disappearing and she was able to take a step forward, pushing back Coil’s beam of dark energy.

“No! No, no, no!” Coil shouted, putting as much power as he could into his attack.

But it just wasn’t enough anymore, not with Trixie’s friends and students adding their power to her own.

“Haaah!” With a final yell Trixie converted her shield and all the magic the four of them had into a rainbow blast of energy that completely enveloped and drowned out Coil’s beam. The rainbow smashed through the darkness like it was nothing, racing back to Coil and consuming him in an instant.

“AGGHHH!” He tried to look away, tried to shield his face, tried to avoid it, but the blue unicorn could do nothing and all the defenders of East Glade watched as his body was vaporized, his broken glasses the only thing left, tumbling down the pile of rocks. The rainbow then lifted and zoomed up into the sky, exploding high in the clouds and showering the entire village of East Glade in beautiful sparks.

The evacuated civilians who had been watching everything on the other side of the bridge cheered and began rushing back into the village to celebrate and thank Trixie for once more saving their village. Trixie herself collapsed onto the ground, exhausted. Her students and Daylight too took a seat on the hard ground, everyone worn out from the day’s events. Gibble and Gouge were seeing how well Gizzard was doing and Vector had waved himself off to go look for Garry and Gullet.

Trixie was breathing heavily but there was a smirk on her face. This trip had really turned into something else and she was gonna let Discord hear it once she got back to Equestria. But it was nice, given the opportunity again she wouldn’t say no. The praise, the glory, the friendships, it all turned out well enough even if it wasn’t what she expected or what she wanted in the first place. And she did feel pretty good actually being the hero and saving people. The Great and Powerful Trixie was pretty happy.