Chapter 27
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Twilight sat before her, dumbfounded and staring. Princess Luna was beside her, eying Trixie warily. "Pray tell, how did thou manage to teleport here?"
Trixie tried to find her voice. 'I guess my aim was off.' "P-Pri-" Trixie swallowed. "Princess Luna! Trixie offers her most humble apologies! She did not mean to intrude!"
"Trixie! What happened? How did you teleport? Wh-" Twilight froze for a second. "When did you get your old cape and hat back?"
"Uh, apparently Rarity left it at the library. And I found your teleport spell there and decided to come help you! I heard that the creature is here?" Trixie glanced back and forth between Twilight and Luna.
The princess gave a heavy sigh. "Trixie, We hope thou realizes that thou are under heavy suspicion as well. Twilight tells me that you did not flee from me in Ponyville, but rather were chasing another of these creatures. Dost thou have anything to say regarding this?"
Trixie swallowed again. Lying wasn't very hard for her, but this was Princess Luna! Besides, if she wanted to help them, she would have to reveal that she knew a lot more than she should. She took a deep breath. "Yes. I was running from you. I thought that if you questioned me about defeating one of these creatures, you would find out that I was lying. I did encounter one of them, though. The same one that's with the elements right now. He said he wanted my help, and I ran away, terrified. I didn't want to look like a coward so I made up the story that I had defeated him. After I ran from you that one night, I found him again.
"He told me he wanted me to teach him what I could about the Elements of Harmony, because he wanted to use them to free his people. It seemed like a noble goal at the time, and I couldn't see the harm in telling him about them. I thought that if I stayed with him, I could make sure that he and his allies didn't hurt anypony. I don't know how much of what he told me was lies, but I think I can help you reason with him. That's why I came here!"
Princess Luna stared at her for a long minute. "Very well. You've admitted to being an ally of that monster, but we believe we can trust you. For now. We will be watching you, though. You confirmed there was more than one, though. Where are the others."
"Oh, right. There were five of them. There was another one like Tyr, uh the creature here now. I've been calling them star dragons after something I read about in the lirbrary. The rest were something called "humans". One of them was dead before I left. One was with the second star dragon in the ruins of that old castle in the Everfree Forest. I don't know where they are now. I don't know what happened to the last one. Also, they told me something about more humans showing up. These other humans are hunting them or something. I really don't know much more than that, except that they have some weapon that can shoot pulses of magical energy. It knocked me out when it hit me."
"So that's what that was? I had no idea what had happened, just that it felt like something slamming into my head."
"Thou hast been most informative, Trixie. We appreciate your honesty, if honesty it be, and loyalty to Equestria. You and Twilight shall be our agents, then. We trust Twilight Sparkle fully, and know that she will keep an eye on you. We wish we did not have to cast doubts on your intentions, Trixie, but this is a dangerous time. Continue to prove your loyalty, and we shall reward you when all is said and done."
Trixie quickly bowed. "T-Trixie is honored, Princess Luna!" Things weren't turning out as bad as she had hoped. She looked up to see Luna turning to leave her room. She got up and quickly followed behind Twilight. "What do you need me to do?"
Twilight gave her a quick glance. "Us, you mean."
"Yes, yes, of course. Us."
"We need to interrogate this "Tyr" that broke into the vault. You shall attempt to break him from whatever spell holds him, and then... "convince" him to speak."
Trixie scrunched her face in confusion. "What do you mean "break whatever spell"? Why is he trapped in a way that you can't release him?"
"My sister had placed a spell on the vault to alert us to any intrusion. When I arrived, the intruder was still there, trapped in a bubble of magic. I do not know the spell that Celestia used for it, and so I do not know how to break it."
"And why can't Celestia just break it?" Princess Luna huffed and increased her pace. Twilight shot Trixie a glance before levitating a scroll over to her. Trixie recognized Celestia's seal.
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Princess Luna Revenio
It has come to my attention that you desire more autonomy and control. I can certainly sympathize with your desires. Therefore, I have decided to take a short vacation, in order to give you the opportunity to test and prove yourself. I have the utmost confidence that your performance will meet my expectations.
Perhaps when I return, we can discuss your feelings on the matter.
Princess Celestia Invictus
p.s. remind me upon my return to replace all the vault locks. The current enchantments are weak to certain unicorn frequencies.
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Trixie handed the scroll back to Twilight. "Well that's odd."
Luna huffed again, loudly. "She found out that I've been hiding information from her! And what does she do? She plays her little games to try and guilt trip me! Okay, hiding information was not the best way to phrase it, but she should have confronted us directly! Even if it ended up undermining our authority, we would be better prepared to deal with current events!" Luna stopped and spun around to face them. "We must inform the guard of this new threat that thou hast brought to our attention. We-"
"Princess!" All three turned to face the new voice. A messenger was galloping toward them at top speed. He slid to a stop just in front of Luna. "There's a large group of some strange creatures in front of the palace! They say they want to speak with whoever is in charge! They have several guards held hostage!"
Luna turned and summoned two small, magical necklaces. Each had a small crescent moon attached. "Wear these. The guards will recognize you as trusted agents of ours. The last thing I want is you two being arrested if we get separated. This way!"
The three of them made their way toward the throne room while the messenger went to inform anyone else he could find. The halls became more crowded with guards and panicking nobles as the neared the throne room.
"All civilians, please evacuate the palace! The tunnel system under the palace will lead you to hidden barracks. The royal guard will come inform you when safety has been restored! All royal guards, to the throne room! We-"
A sudden explosion sounded from outside. Ponies began panicking even more. In the chaos, Trixie managed to slip away from Twilight and Luna and made her way to the Hall of Harmony. She had a feeling that Tyr would be useful for dealing with whoever was attacking them.
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Tyr felt the colors fade away and suddenly sensed Trixie standing next to him.
"I don't know what you're doing or what your plan was or whether I should be feeling betrayed or not, but you said you would help me save Equestria from your stupid Escape and now I'm holding you to it."
Tyr groaned. "How long was I here?" He climbed to his feet.
Trixie scoffed. "How should I know?" She summoned a glowing, blue longsword, not bother with details. "Get a weapon and follow me. I'm not about to let a bunch of snobbish unicorns show me up!"
Tyr looked back at the elements. "Right..." He summoned his own blade. "Lead the way, then."
Trixie began running back toward the throne room. Tyr took one step and collapsed to the ground. Trixie skidded to a halt and turned to face him, a concerned look on her face. "What's wrong?"
"I... colors... so much energy... I'm too light. Too light can't move wings death eternity stretches before me and I know nothing of the future."
"What? You're acting like you're drunk or something."
Tyr struggled to his feet again and took several stumbling steps forward. "I must have spent far too long in that room. My body is very imbalanced right now. It will pass, hopefully quickly."
"Hmph. Whatever. Just hurry up.
They eventually reached the throne room through a side entrance. Luna was seated on the throne, with Twilight by her side. She shot a quick glare at Trixie, which widened into surprise when she spotted Tyr. Guards lined the room. Before the throne stood two starborn. Both of them wore elegant steel armor. One of them carried a physical blade and wore a strange helmet with two apertures on the front. This one turned their head toward Tyr and smiled.
"Hello, my knight."
Tyr growled. "Nyx."