Reappearing in a drastically less dramatic fashion than she departed, Trixie took a moment to gather what exactly had just happened. Wanted by the Royal Guard for assault on a Princess, assault that she wasn’t so sure she actually done no matter they said she did, well that threw a wrench into things. How exactly was she meant to get her cart and get-

“Hey! She’s over there!” Oops. Taking a look around herself, she found she’d only gone about twenty meters behind her stagecart. She surprised even herself sometimes.

“Don’t let the fugitive escape!” Armored pegasi taking to the sky while unicorns rounded her home, the time to stop and think had well passed. Taking to a quick gallop, Trixie fled Underhoof Plaza, diving down the nearest alley onto the next street ahead. The night being early, ponies aplenty yet lingered on the candlelit streets, partaking in meal, drink, and conversation alike. All of which were rudely interrupted by Trixie bowling through them with a parade of guardsponies following behind her.

“Excuse the Great and Powerful Trixie would you?” She cried out behind her as she ran, mares and stallions behind her bemoaning their ruined evening. So far so good, she had a small lead on her pursuers, but a little lead meant nothing when they could simply- swoop! The flap of wings above her head gave her a second to react, and she reacted as only she could: lighting her horn up in a menacing display of sparkles and glitter. The pegasi overhead backed off, in anticipation of some deadly spell the mare wasn’t even capable of. Well, nice to see that worked.

Losing speed dodging all these pedestrians on the roadway, some of whom even seemed like they’d aid in catching her, she took the next available alley on her left. It ended in a t-shape, leading to a building’s back wall and letting out to either the left or right. Only moments before the guard would round the same corner as her, she whipped up a quick illusion. Turning quick to the right, she conjured a simulacrum of herself waiting in the alley long enough to be seen before running off to the left. That would give her a second before they realized the deception. Didn’t help however with a unicorn who appeared right in front of her in a flash of magic, “Hah, gotcha! Wait, what?”

In front of the guard stood only a box of flowers swaying softly in the breeze, Trixie no where to be seen. “Sarge was right, mine needs work…” The unicorn raced off towards the sound of her comrades, ashamed to have missed Trixie so easily. As soon as the mare’s back was turned, Trixie revealed herself, magic sliding off her cape and hat like wet paint and revealing that she’d been in plain sight. Perhaps poor timing on her part, as a pegasus overhead called her out almost immediately, starting the chase up once again.

Rounding a corner she saw another alley, galloping into it before they could catch up to her. Another t-shape, she had to choose again quick, and she doubted she could pull the last trick again. Instead, turning down the right exit this time, she left a projection of herself on the building’s wall, making it appear as though it was another alleyway to run down. A second later she heard a loud crash as metal armor hit brick, a voice stunned voice wailing “Who put a wall here?!”

A greater lead now than she had before, she exited the alleys on a street actually quite similar to her illusionary one, and a moment of confusion hit her. Where even was she? Unlike some ponies, Trixie was unable to tell any of these streets apart from each other; all of the lamps, storefronts and brick homes began to fade into one another. Except… Off down the road to her right, a night market began to pop up. A sprawling maze of stalls and ponies who love the night, what better way to get lost than amidst those hawking their wares and those buying? She hurried towards it, urged by the sounds of the quickly recovering guard behind her.

“There! Corporal Flitting, stop her!” She almost couldn’t hear it above the noise of the crowd ahead, but by Celestia she would’ve never lived it down if a pegasus snatched her up here and now: Her horn flashed brilliantly, smoke flowing out of it like water while it sparked wildly. The pegasus, again, backed off, unaware of Trixie’s true power and unwilling to test it. She wondered if she could do that trick a third time.

The guard on her tail, she was finally able to shake them upon reaching the market, slipping into the gathered crowd and mingling amongst the mess of multi-colored wares and ponies. “Gah, Corporal Flitting, do you have a visual on her? Look for that gaudy bleeding hat and cape!” She watched the pegasus up above salute before peering closely at everyone below him, the armored white stallion eager to not let her escape him again. A smile flashed on his face before he dive-bombed towards the ground, a flash of fear touching Trixie’s heart before she heard another sound,

“Good Celestia! What in heavens name do you think you’re doing?!” A noble mare shoved the stallion off of her, pulling herself to her hooves after having been thrown to the ground.

“Did you just assault my wife?!” An elder stallion walked up and slapped the corporal across the face, and Trixie finally got a look at the couple. She supposed the purple ballgown could be mistaken for her cape at a distance, but that purple mess of a hairstyle, how in Equestria did that even look like her hat?

“I’m so sorry madam and sir, we’re chasing a fugitive on the run and-”

“And you thought my wife looked even remotely like your fugitive?! I’ll have you taken off the force immediately! Who do you think you are, assaulting my wife like that; do you know who I am?!” Trixie hadn’t even needed to use her magic here, clearly the corporal was doing fine on his own. The sound of others forcing their way through the crowd towards her and the nearby commotion brought her back, and she pushed her way deeper into the market.

After that little debacle, and her luck stumbling into the night market, she was able to evade her pursuers. No guardponies on her immediate trail, she finally took that moment to herself to think. Why exactly were they chasing her? That whole… series of events there, back at her show, it eluded her. She understood that Twilight showed up, that her audience was heckling her, and that she’d been angry. Outside of that? It felt like a fog settled on her brain when she tried to remember, as though her mind itself didn’t want to think about it. It was uncanny almost, how easily she forgot something that had happened less than half an hour ago.

Didn’t change the facts in the least; she needed to get out of the city, get far away from most ponies in general. This wasn’t going to just disappear, not if she didn’t disappear herself. Taking a long and convoluted path back to Underhoof Plaza, her need for subtlety being complimented by just how lost she was in this grand city, she made it onto a thin road sitting at the plaza’s edge. It was mostly deserted, ponies seemingly uninterested in staying after the whole mess earlier, save for a few guardsponies who yet kept watch. How was she to get her home and stage out of this?

Pop. Might not get the chance to try, as the guard’s large leader teleported right in front of her. Her helmet was tied by belt to her waist, giving Trixie a clear few at the towering mare’s glowering brown eyes, teeth held dangerously tight in a grimace. She flicked back a strand of black hair from her face before speaking, grey fur wrinkling around her mouth, “Trixie Lulamoon. By authority of Princess Celestia, you are hereby under immediate arrest. Remain still.” It sounded like a threat, almost beastial from the angry mare, Trixie’s hackles raising in response. She spun on her back hooves, prepared to begin the chase again, but was greeted by the pegasus from earlier cornering her.

She flashed her horn again, its tip exploding in as many lights and sparks as she could muster, only to be met with a swift hoof to the face by the stallion. Fool me twice…

The rumble of the train’s wheels on the track below was an easy thing to focus on, a constant companion on long rides that one could drift off to. In simpler times, when nothing pressed on her mind, Twilight might’ve done just that, just to make the trip quicker. Tonight, far too much weighed on her to notice the motion in her seat.

As if the mystery posed by Celestia wasn’t trouble enough, she couldn’t quite get what Trixie had done out of her head. She’d been hurt before, she wasn’t so fragile that the blow wounded her – in fact it hardly hurt at all -, but why did it happen in the first place? “You sure yer alright? You’ve hardly said a word since Trixie attacked you.” Applejack scooted closer to her, concern greater now than it had been all day. Her friends had been in an uproar after it happened, something she was quick to stifle on their way to the train station.

“It’s okay, really. I don’t know why she did it, but clearly she’s got something of her own to sort out now. I- We’ve got something to focus on in the Crystal Empire.” Right, she needed to get her head in the game. Whatever Trixie’s problem with her was, it could wait until they completed the mission and returned to Celestia successful.

“Umm, maybe making a plan would be helpful?” Fluttershy’s suggestion brought a smile to her face, knowing that Twilight only needed something she could act on instead of waiting around helplessly.

“Right. Girls, we’ll have to split up if we’re to find anything. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow, I need you two out talking to whoever you can on information. There has to be at least one Crystal pony who remembers when Sombra ascended to power,” The two saluted, Rainbow’s stern and confident while Pinkie threw her whole body into the motion, almost toppling over, “Applejack and Fluttershy, I need you two searching for more obscure avenues; not all knowledge is kept in books and ponies. I’m sure you can dig up something.” They nodded, ready for whatever came next, “Lastly, Rarity and I will look through the archives there for whatever we can find. Some of their scrolls haven’t been transcribed to modern books yet, so we have to cross-reference what we already know with-”

“Oh darling, as lovely as that sounds, are you sure I'm best suited to digging through old books? Perhaps I could swap with Pinkie Pie-”

“No,” Twilight shook her head, “I know, ‘reading through history books’ like Rainbow said, but some of the texts stored there are ancient and can’t be handled by anything but a gentle unicorn’s magic. Plus, I know your keen eye will come in handy.”

“Oh alright, no need to flatter me you know, I’ll help you with whatever it is you need dear.” There they had it, a plan well and set to go. If only it didn’t feel like she was forgetting something, somepony. Spike had been left back in Ponyville, Twilight unwilling to disturb his sleep schedule in case it wasn’t something so severe. She would’ve gone back for him regardless had Celestia not already readied a train to take them. Perhaps she could request he come later, when she’d settled for a moment in the Crystal Empire.

But he wasn’t that somepony, was he? She would just have to deal with the nagging sensation, not a single thought bringing to mind this other pony. Rest called to her, for they wouldn’t arrive in the Crystal Empire till the morning, “Goodnight everypony, I’ll see you in the morning. Thank you again for coming with me.”

Clunk! The cell door slammed shut rather shakily, hanging loose on its hinges. Not that it was knowledge she could use, Trixie’s magic had been stifled by the inhibitor on her horn. Sat in a cell with a single toilet and some coarse hay on the ground to lay on, she felt disappointed. For such a grand city, capital of Equestria, she’d expected a slightly grander holding cell. “You are to stay here until such a time comes as an appropriate authority can judge you.”

She turned to face the voice, but the stallion was already walking off. Now what was the Great and Powerful Trixie to do? Arrested and in prison, home and livelihood now held by the guard, even stripped of her favorite hat and cloak, she truly was in a real stinker. A small voice in the back of her head echoed the thought before remarking how lucky she’d been to have made it this far at least. Like that whole debacle in Ponyville with the Alicorn Amulet, or how about that one time she lit half of Coltsthame ablaze with a rogue firework? She’d pledged to use magical fireworks from then on.

Silence. Was she the only one even in this prison? “Hello? Anypony out there? Trixie could use some water please.” No response, the only noise being the wind blowing against the walls of the building and her cell door’s light squeak as it wobbled on its hinge. Had she just been locked away and left behind?

Minutes passed, the only thing letting her know that time hadn’t simply frozen being those two incessant sounds, moonlight leaking into view from some out of sight window down the empty hall. Was this to be Trixie’s fate? Would she die in this place? Even if she did get out, her property was gone. A traveling magician wasn’t much of one if she couldn’t even accomplish the traveling part. Sniffle, what was she supposed to do now?

“My, despairing already?”

“Gah!” She screamed, falling to her flank on the hard ground. The figure had simply appeared before her cell, startling her with a powerful feminine voice spoken with a strength she’d never heard in her life. Incredibly tall, the cloaked stranger would’ve looked down upon Trixie even if she weren’t sat on her rear, “Wha- Who are you?” The stranger, a mare by the voice, laughed cheerfully at the display,

“Only somepony who greatly enjoyed the show you put on.” She tilted her head, confused. In that whole crowd of hecklers, it was this towering, mysterious mare who liked it? Not that she was complaining, but it’s odd to say the least. “Not the parlor tricks of course, though they were fine on their own,” Oh, “But the chase was a thrill! Celestia’s royal guard, eluded easily with only a handful of flashy moves. Such performances in Canterlot are rare indeed!” Well that was still a compliment, one Trixie was proud to accept,

“Of course! The Great and Powerful Trixie is a master of all forms of magic!” The stranger’s laugh came louder, more arrogant this time,

“No, you’re not.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your illusions, lets be honest, were quite pathetic. A foal could’ve deciphered them, if given more than a second. Your prancing in the air was more convincing, and anypony could tell it was merely a simulacrum imitating your movements.” Her jaw dropped, first flattered then devastated by this mare’s words. “Tell me, why did you attack the Princess?”

Her voice caught in her throat, words trying to worm their way out to explain herself alongside a menagerie of ‘uhms, ahhs, eehhs’. She hardly knew why- what happened herself, how was she supposed to explain it? “I… I don’t know. I can’t even remember how it happened.”

“Hmm. You have a history with the Princess, correct? I sensed a certain hostility between the two of you.” This stranger either had impeccable information or their instincts were on point, though Trixie didn’t know which concerned her more. Even moreso than that, the figure seemed to be pressing closer to her cell bars, shadowed eyes burrowing ever deeper into her being.

“Ah- yes. Yes, Trixie has had… trouble with her before.”

“Do go on, did she start it with you?” She shook her head, shameful memories returning to surface,

“A fair bit was, perhaps, Trixie’s fault. To a degree.”

“Interesting.” Was it really? Was admitting that she had been responsible for much of the bad blood all that interesting? “One last question: If you could leave this cell freely and do anything, what would it be?” Tough question for the traveling showmare, what would she want to do? Numerous ideas flew through her head, popular ones like wealth or fame lodging themselves in there. But they had their drawbacks. Being rich and famous would be great and all, but something didn’t sit right in her about not having earned any of it. Becoming actually Great and Powerful were a temptation on their own, but she remembered the Alicorn Amulet and how just being given power had ruined her.

She wanted to be the Grrreat and Powerful Trrrixie, Equestria’s premier traveling showmare, who ponies gathered from far and wide to witness. The Great and Powerful Trixie who’s amazing performances awed even the Princesses, who’s grandeur stunned the most wise wizards. She could swear she almost saw a small nod from the stranger ahead of her, but gave her answer all the same, “I would learn enough magic that you couldn’t call my illusions pathetic again.” Even under the hood, she could see a smile emerge on stranger’s face.

“Brilliant. Awe even the Princesses, correct?”

“Wait, how did-”

“Your face is as easy to read as the daily paper, but I admire the effort.” Ah, but it was all for naught, wasn’t it? She was still stuck in this cell, homeless even as her home had been confiscated. Odds weren’t great on her actually fulfilling her dream. “Alas, how grand it would be indeed if someone of authority came and freed you from your punishment, perhaps with an apprenticeship to match.” She nodded along, that would be the dream scenario indeed.

“If only I could be so lucky.”

“I, ugh, yes of course-” The figure tore the hood off her head, a cloud of night sky and stars billowing out. How it fit in there was anyone’s guess, though it did finally reveal their identity. Princess Luna asked her question, “Will you be my one and only student, Trixie Lulamoon?”

Author's Note

Quite the treat getting a second chapter out. My initial premise was all of this being in the first chapter was well, but that turned out to be a bit too long for my taste. Glad to see some are actually liking it so far! Stay tuned, as this has only been just the start.