A new musical group, the Dreamlight Rhapsody, was quickly ascending in Canterlot; in just a few weeks they went from being virtually unknown to being praised by such radically different artists as DJ Pon-3 and Octavia Melody, a feat so unlikely it left Twilight curious. Their shows, mixing classic and modern music with a healthy serving of special effects, were attracting high society and common ponies alike.
Today’s show was meant for school-age ponies; the repertoire was chosen together with a group of teachers - which, Twilight had heard, elicited complaints aplenty from the students - and the show itself would start earlier, just after moonrise.
Twilight arrived at the plaza where the show was going to happen as the moon was rising. A few stagehooves were working on a large stage in the middle of the plaza, until one of them pointed towards Twilight; they quickly joined in a huddle, one of them running to the back of the stage soon after. So much for anonymity.
The rest of the space was taken by ponies, most of them school-age fillies and colts talking enthusiastically, with a few adults keeping an eye on them. Many of them looked at the princess, smiling and waving.
The two chaperones of one group in particular caught Twilight’s attention; a dark blue pegasus mare with cyan mane had just landed and was waving at the princess, while a brown unicorn stallion with graying mane was looking intently at Twilight with a mischievous, almost hungry, smile. Twilight was sure she had seen those ponies somewhere, but couldn’t quite place it. A blue pegasus filly with green mane was comfortably snuggled on the stallion’s back.
Waving back, Twilight continued to look for a good spot, finally sitting near the middle of the plaza - and drawing glances from every filly and colt nearby. Just as the princess started to think she might be swarmed by the young ones, white fog started to seep from the stage’s back.
As the fog started to fall down from the stage’s front the crowd silenced. Shapes started to emerge from the back of the stage: Wood Storm entered from the left, waving energetically, her pink coat and orange mane seeming to gain color as she reached the front of the stage; Steam Harmony, a tan unicorn whose silvery mane almost seemed to billow, walked in a more subdued manner, shyly nodding to the public; Starry Sonnet used her magic to carve a tunnel through the fog, a contagious smile prevalent in her canary yellow face framed in her emerald mane; lastly Wind Whisper seemed to drop from the sky, her sudden landing creating a hole in the fog and making her gray coat and cerulean mane stand out.
As the fog dissipated all eyes turned upwards. The Dreamlight Rhapsody shows were as known for the irreverent fireworks display as for the music, and nopony wanted to miss the opening salvo. The first display of the night, as always, formed Luna’s cutie mark; the group always thanked the Princess of Dreams in their shows. The next display seemed more discreet, a single purple star shooting over the stage and towards the public…
As the solo purple firework flew over the public it exploded into a huge six pointed purple star; soon after five smaller white stars appeared around it.Twilight was agape; Why is my cutie mark...
Her thoughts were interrupted when a spotlight nearly blinded her, as Starry Sonnet announced: “Before we start, we want to thank Princess Twilight Sparkle for her patronage!” The crowd cheered loudly at that.
Oh, yes, that is why Celestia used a disguise to watch the show. Twilight forced the morning’s etiquette lessons to the front, smiling and waving slowly. And, no matter what, never let them notice you were surprised. Thankfully the hooflight soon returned to the stage, allowing the cheers to die and leaving on Twilight’s ears a curious giggle from the blue pegasus chaperone.
Dreamlight Rhapsody started singing in earnest with an impressive rendition of Winter Wrap Up that got many of the children singing along, almost making Twilight forget her early embarrassment, but that was just the warm up. In the sequence the group started their Hearth’s Warming Suite: Flight of the Northern Warriors, singing about Pegasi valor, and making many of the pegasi in the audience hover in excitement; Earth’s Renewal, which praised Earth Ponies’ resilience and got more than a few ponies to pound the ground in rhythm with the music; and Celestial Mysteries, a song about Unicorn wisdom that had most of the unicorns humming along.
By the time the group’s arrangement of The Heart Carol started Twilight had her eyes closed in rapture. As she hummed along she felt a magical tingle, as if a spell had been cast on her. With a confused face, Twilight concentrated on the magic, feeling its last motes coming from the stage; her eyebrows shot up as she recognized the spell.
A Magical Magnet spell? Why on Equestria would somepony cast that on me?
Twilight’s train of thought was interrupted as a familiar blue unicorn mare invaded the stage from the side, eyes wide with fear. Horn aglow, the unicorn ran to the stage’s back, her screams drowned by the music. In her haste she couldn’t avoid Wind Whisper’s outstretched wings, leaving unicorn and pegasus sprawled on the stage.
A dark gray smoke screen suddenly obscured the stage, the music stopping a few moments later; in the sudden silence, the sound of a large amount of fireworks launching could be heard like a dragon’s roar. The rather large rockets came into view from behind the smoke, promptly curving towards Twilight; time slowed to a crawl, her pupils shrinking to primpricks as she remembered all the young ponies around her.
Without thinking twice Twilight was in the air; to the side she could see the dark blue pegasus taking flight, a magical glow atop her head…
Rockets first, mysteries later.
Twilight’s horn flared as she desperately pointed rockets away from the crowd, the mysterious magical pegasus doing the same.
No time left, Twilight concentrated on one last spell to shield herself when something heavy but soft hit her from the side; the pegasus had just tacked her out of the path of the rockets. Cringing, Twilight closed her eyes and…
Splosh.
Opening her eyes Twilight saw Luna hovering in place of the mysterious pegasus, covered muzzle to tail in pies and cakes; pegasi guards were already approaching her, and - to Luna’s chagrin - camera noises could be heard from the crowd. The brown unicorn chaperone that was with her earlier had a golden glow on his horn, his eyes having turned an unmistakable yellow. Above them a few rockets both alicorns sent up were still rising, finally exploding with a loud noise and illuminating the whole plaza..
Twilight looked around. Many other ponies - including herself - were hit by the suddenly appearing baked goods. Shaking the worst of the icing and the pie filling from her mane, Twilight scanned the stage; among the dissipating smoke she could only see three ponies.
After a short talk with a pair of guards, Luna flew towards Twilight. “I will have to stay here to coordinate the guard and handle… other things. The guard is already pursuing the ponies that fled the stage. Perhaps you should join them; I believe one of the fleeing ponies is known to you.”
Twilight nodded. “Thank you, Luna. For the help and for saving me.” She winked at the brown unicorn chaperone. “And I guess I should thank Discord too. Being bombarded with dessert isn’t exactly pleasant, but it sure beats the alternative.”
“You can’t hold Trixie like this! Trixie is not a criminal!”
Twilight found the two unicorn guards and their prisoner, held in a net, exactly where the pegasus had indicated. As soon as she landed the two guards knelt. “Your highness.”
“At ease. I need to speak with your prisoner.” Twilight turned to the blue unicorn in the net. “Hello, Trixie.”
Trixie’s face went from a concerned frown to a hopeful smile. “Princess Twilight! You have to help Trixie, this is all a misunderstanding!”
“I know, Trixie. And you can call me just Twilight” Twilight rubbed her temple. “But can you stop talking in third person? It’s giving me a headache.”
“But Trixie is innocent, the fireworks were… Wait, you believe Trixie- I mean, you believe me?”
Twilight tried a reassuring smile. “We might not be best friends, but I doubt you would ever send a fireworks barrage at me. Besides, I doubt the Great and Powerful Trixie would run through the stage screaming like that, it didn’t look professional.”
Trixie cringed at the words, and Twilight blushed a bit. “Let me get you out of that net, but I must ask you to stay where you are.” She motioned at the closest guard, which removed the net in a single, practiced movement. “Now, what were you saying about the fireworks?”
“Somepony exchanged the harmless one Trixie - I was going to use, and put those large ones in their place; when I found it I tried to prevent them from launching, but I failed. I was trying to find who did it when the guards found me and threw that net.”
“And how were you going to find the responsible?”
“I saw somepony messing with the fireworks; I think I can recognize him if I see him again.”
“Perfect! I’ll get the guards to find everypony that worked on the stage and bring them to you.” Twilight’s excitement vanished from her voice as she looked down. ”But I must ask that you go with the guard. I think I can arrange for you to be held at a palace guest room instead of the guardhouse -”
“Wait, what?”
A slight frown crept into Twilight’s face. “Well, you were formally arrested before I got here, which means even as a princess I can’t dismiss the whole thing out of hoof. I don’t believe you were responsible, but the closest pony to the fireworks when somepony attempted to use me for target practice was you, and besides you fled the stage afterwards.”
She smiled weakly. “Don’t worry, as soon as the responsible is found out we will clear this whole mess; you can recognize who messed with the fireworks, and I think I can find who cast that magnetic spell on me…”
Trixie paled as she whispered: “Starry.” Then in a normal voice: “Please, Twilight, take me with you. I don’t want her to suffer any more than she already has.”
“Wait, you know who cast that spell on me?”
“It will be faster if I show you. And I really need to be there for her. Please, Twilight…”
“Well, if you want. But you might not like this very much.” Twilight turned to the closest guard. “I’m taking responsibility for her. You may cast the tether spell.”
Trixie inclined her head. “Tether?”
“Okey, rules. You stick close to me until this whole thing is over or I leave you with the guards. If we become separated for any reason the guard will consider you a fugitive, in which case I ask you to turn yourself to the first guard you find and tell everything to prevent any further misunderstanding.”
Trixie silently nodded.
“Right. Now let us find this pony so you can explain me everything.”
“Thank you. By the way, why do you smell like cake?”
Starry Sonata was sprawled on the floor of her house, yellow cheeks crisscrossed with tear streaks, while Trixie gently patted her head.
“Now, now, no one was hurt, and I’m sure the princess forgives you.” Starry looked up at Twilight, who nodded. The yellow unicorn collapsed again, quietly sobbing.
Twilight looked back towards Trixie, concern and curiosity fighting for space on her face. “Let’s see if I understood correctly: you two were classmates at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns before deciding to become performers, you a showmare and she a singer. You were handling the fireworks for her shows as a favor for her.”
“Yes. That and the bits; I did lose my wagon to an Ursa Minor and spent my economies on an amulet you confiscated, you know.” Trixie’s weak smile turned into concern as she looked back at the sobbing unicorn and sighed. “I was afraid she would be like this. Starry loves surprising others, but she becomes scared to death at the mere thought of actually hurting anypony. Here, Let me show you something.”
Trixie moved to pick something from a closet, Twilight moving to keep close. “The rockets we were going to use are just like this one.” Trixie moved the rocket so it was touching her forehead, where it detonated in a puff of smoke and a shower of flower petals, startling Twilight.
As the smoke cleared it became apparent that not even a single hair from Trixie’s coat were singed. “She had me create those for her shows. You know how I am with bragging, but when it comes to fireworks I really am the Great and Powerful Trixie.”
“So, are you saying her spell and the firewords were meant to just shower me with flower petals? And that somepony switched the harmless rockets with common ones?”
Trixie nodded, looking towards Starry with kindness. As she turned towards Twilight, though, her eyes showed ironclad determination. “Let’s see if you guards managed to round up the stagehooves.”
After making sure nopony was injured and yielding command of the guard to a pegasus lieutenant, Luna - still dripping pie filling - went back to the castle for a much needed bath, with Discord - still in his brown unicorn disguise - in tow. The young blue filly was still perched on Discord’s back, snoring gently.
“Care to tell me why you had to turn the rockets into pies and cakes instead of, for example, balloons? Or even water balloons?”
“Well, next time, if you can get the bad guy to delay his opening salvo, I can send you the proper forms in triplicate to choose what I transform the rockets into.”
“Aaagh! I don’t know why I even asked you!”
“I concur. After all, doing the same thing while expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.” Discord turned his head to look at the young filly on his back, his sarcastic smile becoming gentle. “Thank you. My magic does have limits, you know; if you didn’t jump right into action I don’t think I could have handled all those fireworks, and while I wasn’t in danger...”
“Why, Discord giving thanks and caring about ponies! And you do smell heavenly, sister.”
Discord’s pony face contorted in an attempt to stifle a laughter. Luna’s face assumed an obviously forced neutral semblance, her cheeks slightly purple. “Have you heard about what happened in the plaza?”
“The captain of the guard just told me. Are you sure it’s safe to leave Twilight alone when she was the target of the attack?”
“She is resourceful, and she knows she can count on the guards. But perhaps some extra caution is warranted; yould your pet be willing to keep an eye on Twilight?”
“I think so. I will go fetch her.”
“Actually, can you send a guard fetch her instead? I desperately need a bath before we return Discord’s charge to her parents, and I would prefer if you kept watch over Discord meanwhile.”
“Of course, sister.”
Just after Luna left the room Discord turned towards Celestia, his eyes - of all things - coy as he pointed the pegasus filly sleeping on his back. “Would you mind if I woke little Blossom here? She loves the princesses, and meeting Luna and yourself the same day would make her really happy.”