Author's Note

Sorry this chapter took so long to put out, halfway through the production of it, the google doc for it got deleted and I had to start over. Regardless! I hope you enjoy!

Rising Action

Opinion Piece

Canterlot’s Twin Rats

Paper Trail

Sunday’s Canterlot Times

I’ve no doubt you’ve seen the Lulamoon sisters about Canterlot during your time living here. They’re outstanding performers and have amazed me to the point of donation more than once. In recent times, they’ve even improved, instead of performing a trick or two (grand as they are) and then retiring for the day, they’ve taken putting on a series of smaller tricks strung together and making a genuine show. What if I told you that their personal life was just as exciting? That their story reaches beyond a street corner? Would you like to know?

The tale of these two sisters is one of tragedy, past and present. A tale of mischief and a tale of spoiled potential. Let’s begin with tragedy. The Lulamoons were once a cherished family of performer ponies, like Trixie and Sabrina themselves. So talented were they, that Hoofdini himself asked for advice and gave it in return to them. Of course, he would never tell of his Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive. The Lulamoons were the very definition of success, earning them a mansion and renown that stretched across Equestria. But what you didn’t know was that their wealth was never there. It’s true, behind the doors of that mansion was nothing but a broken family toiling with alcoholism and debt. We all remember the fire that claimed the estate along with Ivan and Silvia Lulamoon’s lives. Celestia herself was woken up and aided in the extinguishment of it. It was too late for them, but it wasn’t for the two sisters.

Trixie and Sabrina were very young when the fire happened, Trixie had just gotten her cutie mark that week. If the story’s to be believed too, Trixie was seen carrying out Sabrina from the flaming doors. Whether or not you trust it is up to you, but knowing Trixie’s love for her sister, I do. From there, they lived on the streets, getting used to a rhythm of poverty. From this, Trixie and Sabrina perfected their performance magic in between scavenging for meals. Eventually, they found Paid Tab’s restaurant and in so found a stable source of food there. They didn’t pay or work for it, and such were accepting handouts.

If you’re a longtime citizen of Canterlot, you’ve likely seen the Lulamoon sisters walking about the street when they weren’t performing. If you’re one of the unlucky ones, your pocket was picked by them as they strode by you. You’ve likely seen a waitress at Tab’s working on a broken hoof to support her foals at home too, if you frequent the part of the city they’re in. Sabrina tripped her, causing her to break it and then subsequently work on it. You might’ve seen a stallion walking about with a jaw cast. I remember such a fellow because he works for the Canterlot Times, and he spun quite a story about how Trixie bucked his jaw and displaced it. For what? Complimenting Sabrina. Mischief like this roams where Trixie does. This moves me to the final part of this tale: Wasted potential.

Trixie obviously is the guardian of Sabrina, and as such all her needs must be met by her. I don’t think anypony should have to live in an alley as Trixie does. A filly should not grow up where rats roam, lest she becomes like one herself. Between this and her life of trouble, Trixie and her sister very much are rats. Trixie has incredible magical talent, that I believe she limits to performance magic simply because that’s what pays. She could be a royal wizard if she applied herself, but she doesn’t. Trixie is a mare of wasted potential, and it’s rubbing off on Sabrina. Dare I say, it’s rubbing off on Canterlot too.

Knowing all of this, would you still want to see them around? Would you want to eat at a restaurant that rats eat from? Would you want to see ponies who squander their talents and actively hurt others stay around? Let me ask you one final question, this one directed at Guard Chief Shining Armor, would you let rats keep spreading blight across Canterlot, knowing you could stamp them out?

My back sang a song of soreness and my body joined the chorus. The past two months on the rock farm have been arduous on my whole body. The pay was decent enough, and I’ve made myself comfortable in the guest cabin they keep for any workers. Being as I’m the only one working, I have it to myself. I turned over to my desk, the stiff guest bed protesting as I did so, and looked at my space.

The other end of the room was usually for anypony else’s things, but I instead moved everything over. A desk, a bookshelf, and even a clothes hook for my… Costume. It had also been two months since that goody-two-horseshoes ran me out of Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle. I ground my teeth and let them go in a huff. What can that mare ever achieve, she’s just a librarian… Sent by Celestia herself.

I may be great and powerful, but Twilight’s plain better than me. At least, she was. I haven’t been idle during my time at the Pie’s quarry. I’ve lifted boulders with my magic alone! With a tiny bit of help from the Pies as well, but it was through mostly my force that it got up the quarry! Let’s see Twilight do that, ha!

I made my way to my desk and all the residents of its bright brown surface, the chair groaning as I sat. I carefully added that nickname to the bookmarked part of my small journal that existed only for mean names for Twilight and cool names for tricks I have planned. I levitated a grip weight and magically pressed down on it idly as I grabbed one of the spell tomes I got off a lost trader. Some merchants get lost, and I send them back to where they need to go for a small price. Usually, it’s something off of their cart, like a book or some food if they’re selling it. This spell was about cryokinesis. Ice magic. It was handy while I worked to keep me from passing out in heat exhaustion, but this chapter was about manifesting ice in liquid bodies. Like making ice cubes in your drink from the drink itself. Imagine having a Sparkle-Cola and having cola ice cubes! I should probably think of more practical applications for my spell tomes, but it’s not like I’ve had a place to practice them or any need for them. The only real magic that helps me is magical blasts to break apart rocks, and I have those completely nailed down.

I held my head high, and made my way to the door, replacing the grip weight with a pickaxe. Today’s work was breaking down the boulder that we moved up yesterday and to harvest crystals with Marble Pie. It was a rather light workload, but they always were on Pie family Sundays. ‘Sunday is for the Sun’ echoed Igneous Rock from somewhere in my head. The Pie family has a whole long list of odd beliefs and customs that I’m sure somepony who cared more than me would take down. I know Twilight would have a field day trying to learn all of them.

I closed the door behind me and took in the radiant sight of the quarry. A dingy gray sky overlooking gray uneven sand, silent pebbles, and pine trees with needles caked in gray stone debris. Towering over everything was the boulder, a light blotch on an otherwise dark backdrop. I heaved a sigh, “Another day in paradise.”

I shook when I got to striking distance of the monumental stone. I was going to have to tear this thing down by myself? Some ponies like the Pies don’t understand the meaning of the word accident. I struck it, sending fractures across a small side, another reduced them to shards. I found myself striking harder and faster with each blow. Soon I was almost attacking the boulder with all my magical might. The head of the pickaxe cracked and shattered from my ferocity. I flung it aside and blasted the boulder with all my arcane strength, “Stupid!” The boulder was a smoking heap of rubble before me. I hadn’t even noticed the tears on my face, or how the sand below me clotted with them.

In that instant, I heard a stone hit the sand behind me. Panting, I turned and saw a mare in an EUP officer’s uniform standing in between where the fences parted. She matched the scenery with a grey coat and faded white and dull brown hair. Her eyes were a striking pink that weighed me down to look at. She was an embodiment of the word formidable, but that’s what an EUP officer is supposed to be.

“You,” She jabbed a hoof at me, “Come here.”

I made my way towards her, wiping the tears from my eyes and putting on a strong face. I don’t know what made me cry, but it wasn’t the first time crying fits from nowhere struck. I had one on the train ride to Ponyville, and again a week after coming to the rock farm. Then this one now, and it just had to happen in the presence of powerful company. “Your name is Trixie, isn’t it?” The shadow cast on her eyes from her ornate cap only added to her intimidating presence.

She stood just a few hairs shorter than me, but the bags under her eyes communicated she’d been around much longer than I have. Her black cap has golden lines drawing from the royal seal, a picture of Celestia and Luna in a circle chasing one another with the sun and moon follow above them respectively. Her officer’s coat was closer to a black trenchcoat, and the rows of ribbons confirmed her menacing veneer.

“How -”

“I know you from my sister Pinkie Pie. You put on quite a show in Ponyville.” Her medals clinked beneath her collar, holding a single star at either end of it. I hung my head. “At first, I didn’t believe it. A pony that boasted like you did about being the most talented unicorn in Equestria is working at my family’s rock farm. But seeing what you did to that boulder, there’s no doubt in my mind of some talent in you.”

I raised my head and grinned, she wasn’t here to scold me in that coarse voice of hers. Ha! She was here to kiss the ring. “Forgive Trixie, who are you? Anypony that recognizes the talents of the Great and Powerful Trixie is a pony to know. Especially one as well dressed as you.”

She raised her eyebrow and held a hoof to her chest, “I am Brigadier General Concrete Pie, and I must admit, I wasn’t here for you.” So much for my ring being kissed. “I was simply visiting my family before I tend to my work in Las Pegasus, but I’m glad I happened upon talent like yours. I’ve got an eye for potential, but I didn’t have to open it very wide to see yours. Have you had any thoughts about joining the EUP?”

I gulped. No, I haven’t ever considered it. “Yes, of course, Trixie has. She -”

She put her hoof to my mouth, looking behind me “That’s all I need to know before I come back. I don’t have a lot of time between here and my next assignment. Wait here and we can discuss this over a walk.” She made her way past me and to Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz standing in the doorway to the farmhouse.

How dare she blow me off like that! I am the Great and Powerful Trixie! She’s just some earth pony with… A much higher position than a quarry worker. I slumped down by the fencepost, leaning my head into it and letting my mane cushion me. Surely I can’t be a worker like this forever. This might be my chance to break out of here and make a name for myself. A name powerful enough to raise the dead. I pushed a sigh through my teeth. That was something the silence here was good for, letting your own thoughts be the noise. Sabrina’s memory always clawed its way to the forefront of my mind to torment me. Two months ago I vowed to bring her back, and I’ve been doing my best to get stronger and keep that vow by breaking rocks. If she saw me now she’d laugh in my face. I leaned further back into the post and rested my eyes.

“You’re right, I would.”

I sprang up, seeing Sabrina in front of me. I lunged into her for a hug, but she jumped back and laughed at me as my face smacked into the sand. As it settled into my fur I shut my eyes. “You’re not real. Sabrina’s dead, and I haven’t brought her back yet.”

“Yes, I am!” More laughter.

I squeezed my eyes shut, “No! You're dead and gone, Sabrina!” I roared. The rest of my body quaked and collapsed in the sand, and I sobbed. Visions like this weren’t uncommon. Sometimes I saw her in the trees, other times she was right outside the window, most times it was her voice. No matter where she was, she wasn’t real. Even though I reminded myself of this, I didn’t always follow the reminders.

“You know, usually ponies get shell shock after they see combat.” A gravely and stern voice called from above me. I opened my eyes and Concrete Pie’s commanding pink eyes nearly stabbed through me. I leapt to my hooves and dusted the sand out of my coat.

“How much of that did you see of Trixie?” I stroked flecks of black soot out of my mane.

“Enough to know that we definitely need a walk. Come.” She made her way through the fences and I followed. Lines of sunlight pierced through the faded gray sky. She looked to the sky, “Don’t you hate cloudy days like this? You’d think that with the ability to schedule weather, pegasi would make it sunny every day that didn’t need rain or snow?”

I wiped my eye, “Yeah, and it doesn’t help the cheerful atmosphere here.”

Concrete looked over her shoulder, and I copied. The farmhouse moved out of sight. Then the windmill at the edge of the farm. Then we couldn’t see the fences anymore. Concrete turned back and retrieved a cigarette from her coat, turning to me with her mouth leaned forward.

“Oh!” I lit the end of it, and without hesitation, she drew in deeply from the stick, nearly a quarter of it turning to ash that she flicked with a swift motion of her mouth. “A test of Trixie, she passed didn’t she?”

“Sure, Trixie. Look. I’ll be honest with you, I was being kind to you because my parents could see us. Truth be told, I’ve seen stronger unicorns in better fields of magic.” She drew in another deep breath of cigarette smoke, exhaling it in a cloud. “We’re just short on the numbers. We’ve been repelling the changelings now for weeks, but they don’t seem to run out of resources. To this day, I’ve never seen, or had intel confirming, them eating a damn thing.”

“So you want Trixie to be a number to toss at them?” I frowned, I was after power, not bloodlust or a deathwish.

“No, no. It’s the pegasi’s job to throw themselves at the enemy and die. Earth ponies are smarter than that, and unicorns aren’t on the front lines anyway. What we, The Crown, need is warlocks.” She drew in a shorter breath. “And you don’t seem very stupid. A little off, but capable.”

I huffed, “Trixie is not weird, she’s -”

“Great and Powerful. She also refers to herself in the third-pony. And you spouted off about somepony being dead and sobbed about it. You don’t exactly have the appearance of a mare playing with a full deck.” She drew in the last breath of her cigarette and tossed the butt aside. “Regardless, I think you can make it past basic and learn a thing or two on the battlefield. Maybe even make officer someday.”

I recoiled. She already had a good read on me, although I didn’t make myself a hard book to read. I had to know, “What makes you think I want to learn about magic? Let alone in a military application of it?”

She let out a hearty laugh, one that boomed across the trail and into the field that neighbored either end of it. “Unicorns with any sort of power always want more. They can either study for it or fight for it. I think fighting’s the better way to get stronger, and getting a strong unicorn in fighting shape boosts my already good reputation.”

“And what are you known for?”

She took out another cigarette, and I instinctually lit it again as she instinctually drew in from it. “I’m Celestia’s Unyielding Wall. If she needs a portion of Equestria defended, I’m the mare she calls. Then once the enemy’s exhausted all their supplies holding their line, she sends in someone else to swoop in and finish them. This is besides the point though, do you want power or not Trixie?”

I was befuddled. Concrete knew exactly where I was at any point in time. There isn’t much I could say that’d surprise her, or do that would catch her off guard. “How many mares have you given this talk to?”

“Not many, kid. Recruiters do most of that work for me. But Celestia’s orders for this sort of thing is to route any potential towards the EUP or towards her school. I don’t like war, you know?”

I shook my head.

“Don’t let the getup fool you, as stylish as it is. I’m in the business of keeping ponies alive, not in sending them towards their demise.” She offered me a cigarette from her coat, I refused. “Suit yourself. Everypony under my command usually takes it up though.”

“Why’s that? Do you make them smoke?”

She laughed, “No, not directly.”

I cocked my head.

“I’m a general. Even if I don’t want anypony to die, I still give the command to post ponies in places that they do. I make widows, widowers, and let me ask you, Trixie. Do you know what Vilomah is?”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“It means ‘Against a Natural Order’, but we always use it to describe a parent who has to bury their child. For someone like me, it’s natural to try and escape that in a cigarette, even if the getaway is brief. But let me ask you what makes them smoke.”

I hung my head and gravely spoke, “Because they have to do the same. They make all these of the enemy.”

She offered me the cigarette again, and I accepted. Drawing it in, I felt like my lungs shrank instantly and I sputtered out a cough, dropping the stick. Concrete laughed uproariously, “Ahh, it never gets old watching somepony try their first smoke.” She patted my back and pointed to the sign that I hadn’t noticed in front of us put between a path that I hadn’t noticed had split. A pair of thick wooden arrows pointing in either direction. Left to Las Pegasus and right to Ponyville.

“Well Trixie, this is where we part ways,” I saw her stifle a laugh, “Should you want to expand on your power, which the impression I get is that you do, you’ll make your way to the embassy in Las Pegasus, a few blocks from Gladmane’s Resort. Tell them I sent you and you should be put through to me or a recruiter, understand?”

I nodded to the sounds of hoofsteps behind me. Concrete looked over my shoulder and I turned to see a traveling merchant with an azure coat and light yellow mane fumbling with a map. “I’ll let you take care of this one.”

I started towards the trader but Concrete’s voice stopped me, I turned to see her walking away, a thin line of smoke following her, “This is your choice Trixie, remember that. Nopony’s forcing you to join up... Unless you got drafted.” She chuckled, “Wouldn’t that be funny?” I turned back to the trader with a grin, she looked like she was carrying a bunch of trinkets that looked anywhere from recent time to outside the confines of time itself.

“Are you lost?” I looked over the mare’s shoulder, to an upside-down map. I was unphased as I magically turned it right-side-up with a roll of my eyes. “Where are you headed?”

She blinked, bewildered that she could make such an elementary error as map alignment. Her eyes were a lovely gold, they matched her mane. “Uh, yeah. Sorry, I just… Wow, I can’t believe I had it the wrong way this whole time.” Her voice was delicate and high, rising and falling with her words. It reminded me of when I saw the South Celestial Sea, the waves rising and crashing.

I nudged her, “This isn’t the first time Trixie has seen this, you must be new to this whole thing…” I trailed off waiting for her name.

“Dainty Sunbeam, and yeah. I am kinda new to this. I’m not a merchant, I’m just carrying this heap of stuff from Canterlot to an oddity shop in Las Pegasus.”

What a coincidence. “Well lucky you,” I said, positioning myself in front of the sign, obscuring Dainty’s view of it, “Trixie happens to know the way there. But she’s gonna need something off this cart.”

She scratched her mane, “Look. I uh… This isn’t really my stuff to give away, so I can’t do that.” That’s a shame, there’s really nothing else I want from her. “But” Her voice rose again, “I could put in a good word for you with the shopkeeper.”

I sighed, “It’ll do.”

“Oh trust me, you’ll want something from his shop. You’re a unicorn, you probably wanna get stronger, right?”

“Why does everypony know that?”

“Hm? It’s common knowledge, but my mother always told me unicorns don’t notice that kinda thing cause… Well her words were that you were stuck up and didn’t realize your faults. Her words, not mine.”

I felt my eyebrow raise, “Go on. About the shop, Trixie doesn’t need to know about your mother’s frankly incorrect opinions about unicorns.”

“Well, these are magical items.” I felt my eyebrow raise higher. “And there’s this one amulet there, that gives unicorns like crazy amounts of power.”

I felt my interest skyrocket. There was a third way to get stronger. Not in books or brawls, but in relics! If this was to be believed, then I wouldn’t have any need for the EUP or training. I could skip right to being powerful! But I had to play it cool, otherwise, this mare might get scared away. “WHERE IS THIS SHOP!?” Smooth Trixie.

“Well hang on now. Where is Las Pegasus?” She asked, distancing herself from me.

I blinked rapidly, “Oh yes that’s right. Las Pegasus is right down this path, keep following it and you’ll make it there. You were just lucky I was here and you didn’t come to the Pie family rock farm instead.”

“Rock farm? What do you grow rocks?”

I heaved a sigh, “No. It’s a misleading name, it’s just a quarry. We break up rocks and send them to construction companies or whoever needs them.” I droned, whirring my hooves in a mechanical circle as I spoke.

“Ok… Cool… So his shop is just a few blocks from Gladmane’s Resort” Perfect. “It’s the only curio shop on the whole strip, so you can’t miss it!”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie thanks you for your service.” I bowed to her.

“Yeah… Thanks too, I guess. I gotta get going now.” She sped off leaving me in a plume of dust. Great, more dust in my mane.

The crystal caverns tucked into the side of the Pie family quarry were in complete contrast to the rest of the farm. Shining pink crystals jutted out from the cave walls at every possible angle and shone in magenta radiance. Even after two months on the farm, I still found myself transfixed by them. Especially the massive transparent pillars that stretched from the bottom to the top of the chasm, or from one end to the other. My job wasn’t to admire them though, and I couldn’t fully appreciate their resplendence with my mind on Concrete’s proposal. Still, I let my thoughts wander into the crystal in an almost meditative trance.

I heard Marble snap one of the crystals and place it in her basket from somewhere behind me. It snatched me from my awe and back to Equis. Marble Pie wasn’t the most talkative pony, but she wasn’t the dimmest on the farm either. That honor went to Limestone. Or maybe even Pinkie Pie was she still living here. Marble could probably help to clear some air about this matter.

“Oh Marble, dear, Trixie would like to… Begrudgingly ask for advice, she’s unsure of what to do.” I magically severed a crystal from its base, placing it into one of the few baskets I levitated around me.

“Mm?” She replied, basket in her mouth as she carried it to me. I leaned one of mine to hers and let her empty it.

“Concrete’s your sister, right? Older sister?”

“Mhm.”

“She offered Trixie a chance to join the EUP as a sorcerer. Do you think she should accept?”

She shook her head, “Mm-mm”

I huffed, “Why not? Is it because of that speech she gave about ponies dying?”

“Mhm.” She moved further into the cave, the walls becoming narrower as she progressed. I followed, emptying another basket of hers into mine. Around half were filled up now.

“Well. Trixie won’t die anyway. she’s much too talented and fair maned to be taken so young.” Marble pie giggled. “Hey! You can’t deny it, Marble.”

“Mhm.”

“Oh yeah? We’ll see what happens the next time Limestone finds another one of your dirty books. Think you’ll get silence from Trixie then?”

Marble didn’t say anything, she mechanically took another crystal and placed it in the basket. She looked back at me stoically, to the untrained eye she would appear emotionless. But to my trained eye, she was sweating bullets.

“Trixie will take that silence as approval of her image. Now Trixie doesn’t have to go to the EUP. A little songbird told her that there’s an amulet that can give her all the power she needs.”

“Mm.”

“Do you think Trixie should get the amulet?” I cleanly sliced several crystals from the ceiling, catching all but one, which fell unceremoniously on my head. “Ignore that, Trixie is talented.”

Marble giggled again, but her tone turned grave, “Mm-mm.”

“What? Why?” I whinnied.

She mimed herself putting on a necklace and shrugging indifferently.

“Oh, it will not! Do you think Trixie can be duped? If it’s a fake I’ll just get my money back.”

Marble shrugged again, emptying another basket into mine. All of them were full, so we started for the mouth of the cave. Usually, the light from the outside of the mouth of a cavern spills into the cave itself, but the light grew dimmer and dingier as we approached the exit. As we both made our opposing way around a beautiful crystalline monument that stood from the top to bottom of the grotto, I started to feel doubt creep into my thoughts. What if the amulet was a dud? Then I would’ve blown all my bits on a lark and would end up having to join the EUP or come back here. As much as I liked Marble, I couldn’t stay here forever, something about the atmosphere erodes at your psyche.

I felt assured then. Even if it is just a necklace, I don’t lose anything by buying it. I won’t be able to take my bits with me to the various EUP stations I’d eventually be posted at. I might as well try it. Best case scenario, it works and I don’t have to go to war. Worst case, I have to go to the EUP as I had planned before. Well, the worst case is that it kills me, but it’s a necklace, not a guillotine.

I shielded my eyes when we exited the cave, allowing my eyes to adjust to the darker scenery. It was The further we went up the stone spire that led down into the cavern, the more restless I felt. I wanted to get to that store as soon as I could, but I couldn’t just leave Marble. I had to see the task to its end, as menial as it was. We went up to the farmhouse, my skin feeling as though it were suddenly replaced with ants. The instant my baskets touched the porch, I rocketed into my cabin like a bolt of lightning from a jar. Crashing into the side of the lodge, I floated the drawstring bag that I kept my earnings in. I opened it to see nearly 700 beautiful golden coins reply in a golden gaze. A sneer stretched across my face.

I rocketed past the fence, past the farmhouse, past the two cigarette butts, and past the sign. Before long, I saw the glowing sea of neon that was Las Pegasus outstretching past the horizon’s sunset like an artificial aurora. I stilled my anxious shakes, I was at the gates of my future, and I couldn’t wait to pass through them.

I thought the strip from a distance looked amazing during the twilight hours, but actually being on the strip at night was like being plucked from my world and placed in another. Every brightly lit sign called out a different attraction from a monolithic building, with a beautiful cloud road intersecting all of them. Pegasi jetted past overhead, ponies were running every which way to their brand of a good time. I had to steady myself, even if every fiber of my being was calling me towards something called a strip club. I had no clue what it was, but something made me feel gravitated towards it. No, Trixie, we’re here for one thing! Right…

I sat on the sidewalk, letting a stream of ponies pass by me. Most of them visibly were drunk, but some were sober enough that I could ask them a question or two. I tapped a stallion with a brown coat and black mane on the shoulder, “Excuse me, but can you do Trixie a great and powerful favor?”

“Wha-? Sure who’s Trixie?” His head tilted in confusion, blinking sleepily.

I rolled my eyes, simply pointing a hoof at myself. I waved my hoof, “No matter. Can you tell Trixie where the curio shop is?”

“Uh sure, it’s down that-a-way, the last shop on the left.” He unsteadily pointed down a road to my left… The one with the strip club on its corner.

I caressed his face, “Trixie thanks you. Now begone.” I shooed him away, making my way down the path. My eyes drifted to the neon sign of a mare circling around a pole. No! I tore my eyes from it and hurried down to the last shop on the left, barging in to see Dainty Sunbeam talking with an older looking stallion. He looked like he came from a few hundred years ago, dressed as a scholar, even going as far as to wear his light blue mane in a braid.

His store was a labyrinth of shelves and display cases, holding relics from all across Equestria and seemingly from every time period in it. The air felt like a weight on my lungs and filled them with the scent of an old book. The lighting was dim, provided only by candles placed on tables away from displays. Just outside was a bleeding sea of artificial daylight, in complete opposition to this building. It was as if someone had plucked a crowded museum from Canterlot and placed it where a casino should’ve been.

Dainty point to me, “Oh, that’s the mare I was telling you about, Toffee, Shmixie right?”

I scoffed, “How dare you get the Great and Powerful Trixie’s name incorrect.”

She and the stallion laughed, “See? I told you she’d react like that too!”

I felt myself get hotter and hung my head. I heard Toffee call, “Come now, don’t feel so embarrassed. We don’t joke with just anypony. Sunbeam here was telling me how you helped her and clamored for this here,” He tapped a display glass holding a red-jeweled black amulet bearing the likeness of an alicorn. “Yes,” He pushed his small-framed glasses up, “This is a dangerous piece. The Alicorn Amulet.”

“Hmph, as if it even works. Trixie should turn around and leave this rude establishment.” I scoffed, turning my head from Toffee but my eyes drifted back to the amulet. It drew me towards it, like metal to a magnet. Once I made eye contact, I couldn’t break it. I needed to have this amulet.

“Oh, it works, alright.” He called from beside me. His voice seemed muffled despite him being close. “But, I’m not keen on selling it to you, or anypony for that matter. It’s a dangerous artifact, it corrupts anypony that wears it.”

I tossed my entire bag of bits on his counter.

I pushed everything in my shed to the wall, or as close to the wall as I could manage. I wasn’t sure what would happen when I put this piece on, but if it was enough for a pony whose come across all manner of relics to call this one dangerous, I’d imagine donning it wasn’t a completely safe venture. I floated the case’s lid off from the amulet, what little light was in the room instantly dimmed. All light seemed to be drawn directly towards the pendant.

I gulped as I felt the cold metal touch my neck, all the hairs standing up in revolt. Click. The back piece snapped into place. I closed my eyes and awaited fate. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Nothing happened. I fell to the ground, breaking out in sobs as waves of despair crashed down over me. I heard Paid Tab’s words, “I got somethin’ to lose, and you ain’t got much more to.” He was right. I had nothing but a few books I pawned off lost ponies, a newspaper with my reputation’s obituary, and this stupid pendant!

I went to take it off, but a black miasma floated from it. They were like tentacles seeping out from my neck, they wrapped around my hooves and placed them near my chest. It floated me above the faded wood floors. Then the pain set in.

I wanted to scream, but my body didn’t respond. Every single molecule of mine felt like it was being corroded away and being forcefully replaced one at a time. My veins exploded in boiling pain like my blood was being reduced to a new darker ichor. I wanted to scream, but the amulet silenced me. I felt tears stream down my face before they boiled away in a puff of steam. Everything went white. Words and images started flashing past me. Every page of every book I’ve ever read, every sign I’d ever passed over, every thought I’d ever have tore across my vision. Conversations started to float replay in front of me, as though I was watching it and living it at the same time.

“Trixie is a mare of wasted potential, and it’s rubbing off on Sabrina.”

No! I did my best for her… But it never was enough.

“Aww, Trixie, you got your cutie mark! You’re gonna be a magician just like your father and me. Well, let’s hope you’re more like me.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean Silvia? What did I do wrong this minute.”

“Oh nothing dear, it would just be nice if Trixie could hang onto her bits for more than five minutes.”

“Well, at least I can keep my mouth off a bottle for more than five minutes.”

They were always like that. They never could agree on one thing and were always on the offensive to point out each other’s flaws. I thought that being a magician like they were would make them stop fighting, if only for an instant.

“Trixie I’m hungry.” No…

“I know Sabrina… I know. I am too. I’ll tell you what, wait here and I’ll go find something.” I remember this night. This one beyond any others and I was living it through my own eyes again. I felt the weight of her hunger and my own. I was crushed under my own boulder of emotion, she deserved better but I wasn’t the pony to give it to her. This night I waded through the dumpster, finding husks of molded bread, flecks of cupcake clinging to its paper wrapper as tight as the maggots clinging to it did. I remember finding a rotting apple core and mustering what remaining strength I had to reconstitute it into something edible for her. I could barely walk it back to her, but I managed. For her.

The next thing I remember I hit the deck with a crack. Everything around me in the Pie’s cabin was smoldering piles of ash. I would’ve felt terrible had I… Felt anything but raw power. I felt it crackle through me with new blood and a stronger body to carry it. I smirked as instinctually drew everything in my magical aura, sending it back to its unburnt state in an instant. The cabin walls reformed and nailed themselves back in place, the furniture’s ashes floated in position and reformed themselves as though they were just built, the book’s spine and pages spun into place, words reappearing and covers taking form once again. So this was the power of the Alicorn Amulet.

I strode towards the door, changing my once purple star-studded attire into a sleek jet black robe. I phased through the door and made my way for Canterlot. I had one pony to thank for putting me in this place. For sending me to this blasted rock farm, and Sabrina to that infernal graveyard. The Great and Powerful Trixie had a Paper Trail to burn.