3. Arrival in Canterlot
Though the station itself had been no better than the rest of the town, the train tracks had been clear enough that the Ponyville-Canterlot line had been able to run on time, and Trixie had caught the first train into Canterlot in the morning, at 11 AM. She’d arrive at 1 o’clock, just as the political side of the city was beginning to wake up. Hopefully, she’d be able to catch the viceroy early, before he’d managed to fully plan out his day. Her position as a Representative of the Night Court, appointed by Luna herself, would hopefully allow her some leverage into his busy schedule, not enough to see him immediately, but certainly enough to have a meeting arranged. Provided he didn’t just turn her away.
In spite of everything, Trixie couldn’t help but smile the closer she got to Canterlot. The train had to make several stops on the way to the Canterhorn itself, as well as while travelling up the Canterhorn, winding around the mountainside, offering Trixie innumerable opportunities to look out her window and just stare at the city from a multitude of angles. For some reason, she always got a little giddy when approaching Canterlot – though by far the best part was towards the end of the train trip. The train would offer one last glimpse of gleaming Canterlot in the distance before entering a spiraling tunnel – and then, two minutes later when it emerged, Canterlot would be there before the train, the colors and the shine of silver and the Galloping River suddenly painting a rich tapestry for the eyes. Trixie was certain that the train line had been designed like that, to offer you continuous tantalizing glimpses before finally revealing Canterlot in all of its glory.
Trixie’s joy at seeing the city that had served as her home for ten years, though, was almost immediately tempered by the knowledge of why she was here. The fact that she was here alone was also beginning to sting at her – in hindsight, she wished that she’d come here with at least one of her friends. Cheerilee – school was out, after all. Or Lyra, who could make her own schedule thanks to being a musician. Or Carrot Top or Ditzy Doo, for their friendly faces, something she didn’t doubt she’d be in desperate need of. Or Raindrops, to keep her honest and from making a fool of herself…
…but they had their own problems to deal with right now. Their families to be with, their homes to fix, and they were counting on Trixie to get through to the viceroy.
As the train stopped at Canterlot Central, she slipped on her wizard’s hat and cape, steeled herself, and resolved that she would not return to Ponyville without the money that her new home town needed so desperately. She trotted from the train with her head held high.
“There she is!”
There were hundreds of ponies at Canterlot Central, and yet somehow Trixie knew that whoever had called that out, they were referring to her. Her eyes widened as she looked around, and saw, closing in from all sides, dozens of ponies of every tribe and gender and hue. They moved with surprising speed through the crowd. Many of them wore bowler caps or had cameras, or notepads and quills or pencils, some of which the unicorns in the group had animated to write all by themselves. There was a recurring theme of paper and quills amongst their cutie marks, though –
“Wait – ” Trixie barely had time to say, before the sharks and vultures – known to the laity as journalists – descended upon her.
“Representative Lulamoon!” every one of them began, though they then broke off into dozens of questions, while the flashes of cameras began. “Is it true that Ponyville was – ”
“ – have anything to say regarding – ”
“ – move your hat for a better photograph – ”
“ – demanding an emergency convening of the Night Court – ”
“ – say those things about Viceroy Night Light – ”
“ – lying to the public about what was Ponyville’s own – ”
“ – claims about your relationship with – ”
“ – does a Representative actually have authority to make demands of – ”
“ – does Princess Luna know – ”
“ – please look into the – ”
Trixie tried to be calm and not panic. She failed, her horn glowing and her winking into invisibility – but the flashes of the dozen or so cameras played havoc with her illusion, wrecking it in moments. None of the journalists even seemed to notice as they continued to crowd her. She tried to shove on through, but they were forming a virtually impenetrable wall, a wall that was reinforced by innocent bystanders trying to come over and see what all the commotion was. She tried to back away into the train, but the doors behind her had closed already.
“Please,” Trixie called out. She couldn’t be heard, at first, so her horn glowed again, wrapping a noise amplification spell around her throat. “Please! Stop! One question at a time!”
The journalists all heard her, but unfortunately each of them wanted to be the first to get their question in, so all that happened was a bare moment of silence. Trixie grit her teeth, stamping her hooves on the ground and throwing up illusionary fire and smoke. That caused the journalists to back away and shut up.
“Okay!” Trixie said, as the smoke billowed overhead. “Please, can somepony – ”
“Emergency rain cloud!”
“What?” Trixie looked up just in time to see, through her illusory smoke, a pegasus wearing an official security uniform buck an emergency cloud. The cloud burst apart, collapsing into water and falling atop Trixie in a deluge that left her both sputtering and soaked. The next thing she knew, the pegasus was next to her, asking if she was alright, if she had been burned, did she need to go to the hospital…without thinking, her tension snapping, Trixie punched him in the face, turned – and found herself face-to-face with a much larger security pony, who looked very displeased at Trixie having decked her co-worker. She hoof-punched Trixie in the face in response, then tackled her to the ground. Probably. Either that or Trixie simply fell of her own accord. Either way, she collapsed with a thud.
“Wh…” Trixie breathed as she tried to work through the haze. “What…just…happened…?”
---
“What happened is you hoof-punched a member of Canterlot Central Station security in the face,” security chief Noteworthy informed Trixie an hour later, as security guard Spring Fresh, the abnormally tall and bulky unicorn who had laid Trixie out, kept one eye on Trixie and the other on guard Lightning Streak, who had a bag of ice pressed to his muzzle and was glaring daggers at Trixie. The four of them were in a small, plain room, Trixie no longer cuffed but sitting behind a table without the benefit of cushions. There was a smaller table tucked into one corner, atop of which sat a newspaper, though Trixie hadn’t been able to see it before being sat down behind the table.
Trixie had, however, been provided her own bag of ice, which she supposed was nice, though not nearly nice enough for her to forget what had just happened – especially seeing as she was still soaked. “I only did it,” she objected, “because he drenched me with a cloud!”
“Because you were on fire!” Lightning Streak cried out.
“It was fake!” Trixie countered, her horn glowing and creating fake fire on her hoof tip, which she proceeded to wave her other front leg through harmlessly. “See? Illusion! Light! That’s it!”
“Threatening ponies with illusory fire carries the same consequences as using real fire,” Noteworthy noted.
Trixie jabbed a hoof at Lightning Streak. “I wasn’t threatening him! I was threatening the journalists! And I tried to back away but they wouldn’t let me through and I tried to get them to stop but they wouldn’t listen!” She glared at Lightning Streak and Spring Fresh. “Where were you two for that, huh?”
Noteworthy stomped a hoof, getting Trixie’s attention. “Listen, Miss Lulamoon – ”
“Please just call me Trixie – ”
“Miss Lulamoon,” Noteworthy repeated. “I do not see how threatening members of the press in any way helps your case. Frankly with what you’ve been saying I’m surprised you weren’t expecting this kind of media response.”
“What I’ve been saying…?” Trixie asked, confused.
“About Viceroy Night Light.”
Trixie stared uncomprehendingly. Noteworthy, in response, turned around, grabbed the newspaper from the smaller table, and laid it down in front of Trixie. Looking back at her from the newspaper was…her, a six-month old photograph, to be precise, depicting her back when she had first earned the Element of Magic and driven off Corona. It showed her looking smug, she had to admit, and self-assured, though given what she had just accomplished at the time, she felt entirely justified.
The picture was not what grabbed her attention, however. It was the article title.
PONYVILLE SUBJECT OF RIOT AND SELF-DESTRUCTION
“What?!” Trixie shrieked, far louder than she had intended, as she stood, planting her hooves on the table as she read the article.
PONYVILLE – between being the site of the Tyrant Sun’s return, stampeding Ursas, a phoenix attack, and the location of a parasprite invasion, the small town of Ponyville in the North Everfree has been making headlines quite a lot recently. However, questions are being raised concerning the latest event. Mayor Ivory Scroll alleges that the town was attacked by Zecora, the zebra minion of Corona. It is the method of attack, however, that raises suspicions.
“It was a zebra magic ritual,” Ivory Scroll explained. “Cast over the town this past Summer Fair. It…cursed our alcohol and made us keep drinking and destroy our town!”
Trixie tried to cry out in shock, but couldn’t. The zebra magic was not intended to curse the town’s alcohol! Trixie didn’t, for that matter, know what it was supposed to do at all, only that she had disrupted it in the middle of being cast, resulting in it going awry. Mayor Ivory Scroll had stated as much to the Equestrian press, but apparently this newspaper – and most others, Trixie assumed – had elected to give only an abbreviated version of the claim, a version that made it look laughable even to Trixie’s eyes.
However, the Royal Emergency Management Ministry, headed by Night Light, Viceroy of Latigo, has issued the following statement:
“The REMM requires time to analyze the situation in Ponyville. Attacking ursas from the Everfree is one thing, but the idea that a minion of the Tyrant Sun would somehow curse a town’s liquor, after months of almost no word concerning her, raises a number of questions that must be answered before aid is rendered.”
When asked if he believes that Ponyville is attempting to scam the REMM, Viceroy Night Light said “I would hope that nopony in Equestria could possibly be that selfish, but it is something we must consider. The claim of Mayor Ivory Scroll strains credulity at best.”
“That is utterly outrageous!’ Trixie Lulamoon, Representative of the Night Court to Ponyville and Element of Magic, said according to an anonymous source when she heard the news. "Ponyville deserves compensation! This is simply Viceroy Night Light trying to revenge himself upon Ponyville for the incident here with his daughter, punishing an entire town for his bad parenting skills! I’m the student of Princess Luna, and if Night Light thinks he can get away with this, he has another thing coming!”
Trixie stared, wide-eyed. The article continued for some time, but it was solely that line which drew her attention. She was unable to read past it. “I…I didn’t say that!” Trixie exclaimed. “I didn’t say that! I didn’t say anything like that!”
“Yeah,” Noteworthy said, taking the article away. “Right.”
Trixie stared at the three ponies. “I didn’t!” she repeated, falling back onto her haunches, one hoof to her chest. Her heart was beating uncontrollably. This newspaper…Equestria Nightly. The most-read newspaper in Canterlot. Everypony had a subscription. Princess Luna had a subscription. And now everypony would think that she had made a personal attack on the viceroy…
…Princess Luna would think…
“Maybe you just don’t remember,” Spring Fresh ventured, “given how much you Ponyvillians like to party…”
Trixie stared at the unicorn. “N-no!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t…I didn’t say that…”
The other three ponies in the room looked between each other, almost as one wincing. It was obvious that this wasn’t an act – that Trixie was genuinely feeling the terror that she was portraying. Noteworthy looked to Lightning Streak. “How’s the muzzle?”
Lightning Streak winced as he touched it gingerly a few times. “I’ll be fine,” he decided after a moment.
“Alright. Miss Lulamoon, you’re free to go. But if you ever so much as litter in Canterlot central again, I will press charges. Understand?”
Trixie nodded grimly, still focusing more on the ground as she stood, allowing her to be escorted from the small room to the larger security office of Canterlot central. Through the windows set into the security office’s door, she could see a multitude of ponies – the journalists and photographers – milling about outside, waiting.
Trixie grimaced. She didn’t want to deal with this right now. Letting her horn glow, she wrapped an illusion over her cape and hat, making them appear to be the plain brown shirt and cap of a security guard uniform, and then changed her coat and mane color so that they notably edged towards green. She didn’t bother with her cutie mark as she stepped back out into the train station proper. The journalists almost descended upon her before noticing that she didn’t look like the unicorn they wanted to assault, and went back to waiting.
Trixie pushed past them, and almost dropped her illusion when she left the train station – but then she saw a newspaper stand, and her own smug grin staring back at her from every front page. She noticed a dozen ponies and more trotting along, or sitting down, or standing and waiting, while reading the paper. Granted, most of them were more focused on the weather schedule, or the sports section – but they had all, most likely, given the front page article at least a cursory glance, and would have read about the hick town that had partied too hard and was now expecting the REMM to pay up – how the head of the REMM wanted an investigation first – and how Trixie Lulamoon had called him a horrible parent on Page One of Equestria Nightly.
Trixie elected to keep her illusion up, at least for now, as she trotted from Canterlot central and made her way to Canterlot Castle. As she did, she considered what she now knew.
Firstly, somepony in Canterlot really did not like her.
Second, that pony had sway with at least one major newspaper. The article had mentioned an anonymous source. The newspapers didn’t make a habit of printing false information, however; that meant that this anonymous source had to be somepony who was generally considered to be a trusted one.
Thirdly – provided the rest of the article wasn’t a lie – Night Light was denying aid to Ponyville based on the sheer ludicrousness, on paper, of what had happened there. To an extent, Trixie could understand his line of reasoning.
And finally, the anonymous source wanted to keep Trixie from interacting with Night Light. The goal of the newspaper article hadn’t been specifically to alienate Trixie from Canterlot high society – though this would certainly happen – but rather, to specifically have inflammatory remarks that would keep Trixie from being able to even approach Night Light, let alone try and convince him to aid Ponyville.
“Oh, right,” Trixie mumbled under her breath as she trotted through Canterlot, the walls of the castle coming into view. “One more thing: Princess Luna probably doesn’t like me very much right now.” That, at least, was something she was used to and could deal with, in theory, at least. Then again, she had never been quoted in the papers before…featured, yes, but not quoted.
Trixie’s pace slowed as she approached the Castle itself, not out of apprehension, but rather to simply avoid bumping into ponies. Thanks to her little trip to the Canterlot central security station, it was now nearly 3 PM. The various ponies of the Night Court, as well as their assistants, their secretaries, their hangers-on, and others, were seeking passage through the gates of Canterlot Castle. Trixie dispelled her the illusion on her coat – gradually, so as to not startle anypony and hopefully avoid their notice altogether – and though she did drop the illusions disguising her hat and cape as well, she wove new ones immediately that turned them into simple gray rather than her signature purple. Hopefully, that would serve as an adequate disguise – never mind that she had to fish an identification badge out from her cape’s pocket and adhere it to the point of one shoulder. Most ponies wouldn’t even look at that, except the guards.
Naturally, when she reached the gate proper, her brilliant plan fell apart when she saw which particular two Night Guards were running the security checkpoint today. Technically, they looked identical at a glance: both pegasi, meaning that their armor changed their appearances to make their coats a deep gray, their eyes yellow and slit like those of a dragon, and giving them bat-like wings and pointed teeth, the goal being to make him look as intimidating as possible. However, a minor cantrip allowed Trixie to look past the glamor, and see the real pony beneath, as well as the name plates on their armor.
“ID?” Moonlight Smiles asked. The Night Guard flashed a big, toothy grin at Trixie when he recognized her, as did his companion, Frolicksome Medowlark. The last time Trixie had run into them, it had been…not a good day.
Trixie nevertheless indicated her ID badge, which Frolicksome leaned in to inspect closely, after a moment, he leaned back, nodding. “Alright,” he said. “Looks legitimate.”
“Remembered it this time, I see,” Moonlight observed.
Trixie resisted the urge to breath out a sigh of relief, and settled on just nodding. Apparently, they weren’t in the mood for obstructing her like they had last time –
“Ma’am,” Moonlight said, using his left wing and left front hoof to point off to the side. “I’ll have to ask you to step aside for a moment in order to facilitate a random full security check.”
Trixie blanched. “A what?” she asked.
“Under the Equestrian Security Act, we are required to give random detailed security checks,” Frolicksome clarified. “If you’ll just wait over there, a specialist will be along shortly.”
Trixie blinked, looking to where the pegasus was indicating. “You haven’t stopped anypony else!” she exclaimed.
“They are random,” Moonlight pointed out.
Trixie opened her mouth to object further, before remembering that she was in a line, and there were other ponies behind her – other ponies that she really didn’t want to have to deal with right now. Sighing audibly, Trixie stepped from the line, while Moonlight looked up the length of the wall and waved to one of the castle guards stationed there, who waved back in confirmation and disappeared from the parapet.
Unsurprisingly, randomness didn’t choose to strike again while Trixie waited for a minute…which turned to two…then five…she glared at the two Night Guards, who pointedly ignored her until the line to enter Canterlot Castle grounds finally thinned to nothing, ten minutes later – and the promised “specialist” still hadn’t shown up.
Frolicksome cast a glance her way. “I’m sure he’ll be along,” he assured her.
Trixie fumed. “I’m sure,” she echoed dryly.
As it turned out, the two Night Guards weren’t lying –the pony showed up less than a minute later. Even still, Trixie’s patience had just about run its course as she opened her mouth to begin listing a litany of complaints – words which died in her throat when she saw who she was facing: a tall, white unicorn with a blue mane and tail, dressed in the silver armor of the Royal Guard. He was not a member of the Night Guard, so there was no disguising glamor over him.
Trixie recognized him, even as he fixed Trixie with a tight-lipped grin. “Greetings,” he said. “My name is Shining Armor, and I’ll be overseeing your security inspection.”
Shining Armor. The Captain of the Royal Guard. The pony who had dared defy Corona when she had escaped from the Sun. The heir apparent to the House of Starlight – the son of Viceroy Night Light, and the older brother, Trixie now knew, of Twilight Sparkle.
“…okay…” Trixie intoned in a small voice.
---
Trixie technically accomplished her goal of entering Canterlot Castle, but it was only while trotting beside Shining Armor, who led her to a small, out-of-the-way room that very much resembled the one she had just left at the train station, albeit with a much sturdier door, a clock on the inside, and a water fountain with cups sitting right outside of it. Shining Armor directed Trixie to take a seat on one side of the table that dominated the center of the room, and she obeyed without question, while Shining himself took a seat on the other side, conjuring up several sheets of paper, an inkwell, and a quill from nothingness as he did so.
He did not break eye contact with Trixie as the quill dipped into the inkwell, and its point placed itself on the sheet of paper.
“Now,” Shining Armor said, and the quill recorded his words deftly. “This conversation will be recorded and kept on file. Could you please state your name and occupation clearly?”
Trixie fidgeted. “Trixie Lulamoon,” she said after a moment. “Representative of the Night Court of Luna to Ponyville.”
Trixie noted that when she spoke, the words were written down in black, while Shining Armor’s own words were written in red. The quill automatically dipped and returned to the paper of its own accord as Shining Armor kept his eyes on her. “Your purpose in Canterlot Castle?”
“I…I’m seeking an audience with your…that is, with Viceroy Night Light.”
Shining Armor frowned a little. “I see,” he said. “Do you have an appointment?”
“No. I was hoping to make one.”
Shining Armor’s frown deepened again. It…was not quite what she had been expecting, which was an angry scowl. This one seemed almost…disappointed? As though she was, herself, failing to live up to his expectations. “What did you wish to discuss with the viceroy?”
“Um,” Trixie said, fidgeting again, “the, uh…situation in Ponyville…do you know about it?”
“State it for the record.”
Trixie tapped her front hooves together. “There was an attack on Ponyville, by Zecora,” she explained. “She was trying to place some kind of curse on the town, I don’t know what. I disrupted it, but it din’t stop the spell, just changed it…our alcohol made us go wild and destroy the town before we set everything right. Nopony was seriously injured…but the damages amount to nearly nine hundred thousand bits. The town only has fifty thousand in its emergency fund. So…so I’m here to discuss the situation with the viceroy.”
Shining Armor stared at her. “I see,” he said. “Is that all? You’re not here for anything else?
“No, nothing.”
“You’re sure? Not even something like giving him parenting advice?”
Trixie recoiled. For a moment she had allowed herself to hope that Shining Armor hadn’t read the paper today – apparently, she was wrong. “No!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t say anything about that! Equestria Nightly is lying!”
Shining Armor’s eyes narrowed at that. “I see,” he said.
Trixie opened her mouth to continue, but the look on Shining Armor’s face strongly suggested that it would be a good idea not to. “It’s not true,” she said defiantly anyway as she sat down, crossing her front legs before her and looking away. “Somepony faked that newspaper article…or at least lied about that part. I haven’t spoken at all to any reporters.”
“Mmm-hmm…” Shining Armor intoned. “Mother’s name?”
Trixie blinked. “What?”
“Well, this is a full security check, Miss Lulamoon. Very thorough. Though the questions probably won’t take more than, oh, ten minutes. Verifying them, on the other hoof…” He chuckled slightly. “So…mother’s name?”
“Crescent Starshine…but she’s not the pony who raised me. My aunt did, Moonsinger. And my uncle Sky Shaper.”
Shining Armor nodded at that. “Any brothers or sisters? Or cousins?”
Trixie suppressed a sigh at the grim prospect of spending the next hour – or longer – in this room. “Cousins,” she said. “Seven of them…”
Trixie wasn’t certain if what she’d endured technically qualified as an interview or an interrogation. She’d never endured so many personal questions in her life, and was fairly certain that even Luna didn’t have as detailed a knowledge of her history as Shining Armor now did. After they finished the questions – a process which took nearly half an hour, not the ten minutes Shining Armor had promised – he had left her alone in the room while everything she’d given was sent-off to be checked.
Fortunately, Trixie was not a pony who easily got bored – or rather, she was a pony who, when she got bored, could easily keep herself entertained with illusions. She practiced creating duplicates of herself, throwing her voice, silencing her movements. The room she was in, in fact, created near-perfect echoes, allowing her to practice a particular sound effect – or rather, an anti-sound effect – that she had been working on for months now.
It wasn’t long before she rifled through all her illusions, of course, and she found that only an hour had passed while she did. Her knowledge of the remaining seven schools of magic was somewhat limited, but that only made her need to practice the ones she did know all the greater. Unfortunately, that only took half an hour. Trixie groaned, tapping one hoof on the floor in impatience. Well…there was something else she’d wanted to try, but she hadn’t had time for it over the past few weeks, and least of all over the past few days.
Well, now she did. Sighing slightly, Trixie trotted over to the door for the room, opening it and sticking her head out. She was unsurprised to see a silver-armored guard standing outside, who only shot her a second’s glance before returning to stoic silence. Trixie paid him no mind – she wasn’t under arrest, after all – as she trotted over to the water fountain, filled a cup, and then brought it back into the interview/interrogation room.
“Okay,” Trixie said, setting the cup on the table and staring at it. “Let’s see…”
Trixie cast her mind inwards. Some months ago, she’d had a flirtation with Zebra magic rituals, which operated under completely different principles from pony magic. Zebra magic was external, and ritual-driven, powered by magic words and etched circles and basically exploiting loopholes in reality, as opposed to the natural, internally-kept-externally-expressed magic of unicorns.
But no matter how alien it was, it was still magic. And Trixie’s special talent was magic. More than that, she had an instinctive understanding of magic, at least to some degree. It allowed her to learn spells by watching them be cast by other unicorns, or to modify spells she knew to fit new situations. All her various illusion tricks, in fact, were all the same spell, simply with little variations to how much power she used, or where she put the power.
So what she was about to attempt was at least theoretically possible. She gathered power into her horn and began waving her front hooves around, eyes closed. Her first flirtation with Zebra magic had been…well, disastrous. But it had led her to this spell, a potion, which she’d cast several times now, refining her knowledge of it. And more importantly, understanding how the zebra magic wound through the loopholes of reality – and figuring out ways, she hoped, of duplicating it herself.
It was a trying process. Trixie basically had to use her own magic to substitute for the effect bitterroot had in the brew – then the petals of a white rose – then the juice of a green apple picked no more than a day ago. As she worked magic over the cup of water in front of her, each step took longer than it normally would have.
If nothing else, it was a way to kill time.
At length, Trixie finished magically infusing ingredients into the water. She leaned forward now, getting right up to the cup and saying, with all the conviction she could muster, “uwongo ni baraka…Ukweli ni Mjeledi.”
Lies are a blessing – the Truth is a Scourge.
All at once, the magic she had gathered seemed to collapse into the cup of water, which roiled and bubbled as though boiling. By the time it had settled down, the water had turned opaque and green, and was considerably more viscous than water should have been.
Trixie blinked. It looked right. It even smelled right. But had she succeeded? Only one way to find out. Steeling herself, Trixie grasped the potion, then swallowed it all in one fell gulp. It tasted bitter going down her throat – and as soon as she began to exhale…
“Did it work? I think it worked okay I can’t stop talking can I lie though? I want to say my coat is green let’s try that: my coat is blue. I can’t lie! I did it! I cast a zebra spell with unicorn magic! Ha! Oh Stars right I can’t lie and can’t stop talking that might be bad I hope that – ”
Trixie’s horn glowed, and her mouth clamped shut as a small jolt of magic travelled through her body, a sort of ‘emergency break’ she’d put into the spell after an unfortunate incident with her first go at casting it. Cautiously, she looked at her foreleg. “My coat is green,” she ventured – then smiled. “Ha!” She exclaimed. She’d cast a Zebra spell using unicorn magic! She wasn’t certain, but she was pretty sure that nopony in Equestrian history had ever been able to pull off such a feat.
Trixie checked the time. Ten minutes had passed.
“…noix,” she cursed in Prench. Now what was left to do?
---
Several hours later, Shining Armor appeared again, all smiles and grins in a way that Trixie was certain he knew would grate on her after having spent so much time in one room with nothing to keep herself entertained beyond her illusion. He also chose an awful time to come in at that – she’d set up an illusionary landscape on the table, and had been in the process of re-creating the famous windmill scene from Don Rocinante. It was just about to get to the good part, too…
“Well,” he said. “I have good news for you, Miss Lulamoon: everything checks out. You are free to enter Canterlot Castle.”
Trixie nodded, keeping her mouth tightly shut and infinitely glad that she knew how to dispel Truth is a Scourge. As she dispelled her illusion, however, she looked to Shining Armor, grimacing slightly, rather than starting immediately for the door. “Captain Armor,” she said. “Are you…are you going to be seeing your father any time soon?”
Shining Armor’s eyes narrowed. “That is none of your concern,” he noted.
Trixie nodded. “I understand,” she said, fidgeting. She had no idea how to phrase what she wanted to say, so she just said it. “I’m sorry for what happened with Twilight.”
The captain of the guard didn’t react. Trixie decided that this was a good sign. “I’ve tried to apologize to your father,” she said. “Three times, I sent messages to his office here and to Latigo…he keeps returning them unopened. I just want to apologize for the part I played in making her run off. Could…could you make sure he knows, if you see him before I do? And you too. I’m sorry. If I could do that night over…I know it must be hard, not having seen her in so long – ”
“I saw her a month ago,” Shining Armor interrupted.
Trixie blinked. “Wh…you did?” she asked, stepping forward. “Was she alright? What happened?”
Shining Armor’s mouth was a thin line as he stared at Trixie. “I was on leave,” he said. “In Latigo. There’s a small town there, on the border with Xenophon and the wild north. My parents and my sister and I used to go there on holidays. I went there…and she was there.”
Trixie already had a bad feeling about where this was going. “I tried to talk to her, but she started running,” Shining Armor continued. “I trapped her in a magic shield. I’d always been able to do that before – my special talent is protection. Nothing gets through my shields…I thought. I tried to tell her to come home. She…she said she couldn’t. Not until she’d shown us all that you, Miss Lulamoon, were a fake. Then…then she used the most powerful teleporting magic I’ve ever seen. Shattered my spell, knocked me to the ground. When I got up, she was gone.”
Trixie stared. She didn’t know what to say at first, though the answer came quickly enough. “I’m sorry.”
Shining Armor only shook his head, turning around. “I’ll pass the message,” he said, trotting off.
Trixie took note of the fact that he did not say that he accepted Trixie’s apology. She gave it only even odds that he was telling the truth about passing her apology on to Night Light – but it was a start. The blue unicorn shivered as she trotted from the security station, making her way to the castle proper. “What else can go wrong?” she demanded.
“Representative Lulamoon!” A determined, slightly angry voice called.
“Why do I ask these things?” Trixie asked of the universe as she looked around for the source of the voice. She found it swiftly, in the form of a pale-yellow-coated, pink-maned pegasus mare that was trotting swiftly up to her side. The mare was wearing a fine dress and jewelry that suggested her to be a member of the nobility.
Trixie’s eyes widened at the sight. She was taller, and her colors were off, but the mare looked an awful lot like…
“…Fluttershy?” Trixie asked in confusion.
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SPOILER: That's not Fluttershy.
FURTHER SPOILER: It's Fragrant Posey.
QUESTION: Should I take this time to officially define her relationship with Fluttershy, or should we keep her vague? I like her as an aunt, personally.
The events Shining Armor are describing up there will be explained in greater detail in "Countdown to Crisis." Specifically, Twilight's side of things.
What is with the Starlight clan that makes them all so touched in the head? Seriously, I'd expect better from Shining Armor.
1658521
And are proooooooobably going to be as biased as whatever M!Trixie says in "Magic Duel." Odds are that it'll take an encounter with BOTH alternates to get L!Twilight and M!Trixie to see reason.
Also, Trixie has to deal with Fluttering Posey's mother who wants to take her to task for her idiot doormat daughter's idiot misapprehension that she wants to kill her.
Hmn, makes me wonder if L!Twilight is going to be the one to trigger whatever the Crisis is if she is experimenting with more powerful teleportation.
Lots of good stuff in this chapter. Far more encouraging then the last but all the political scheming is a little tiring. Would prefer something more straight forward but obviously that's not what the story is going to be about sonic shouldn't be complaining about it.
Trixie can make truth is a scourge more or less at will without needing any ingredients
This could destroy the whole night court
Darn! That's some dastardly play by Greengrass and co there. Nasty use of newspapers. Shining Armor feels a bit petty in there, but he seems to genuingly believe Trixie by the end. I bet he too read Don Rocinante and recognized the scene!
1658521 Greengrass's Night has her call Fluttershy her 'daughter' so I'm affraid Grass already defined that relationship, though maybe he could be swayed into retconjuring something.
1659085: I thought I edited that out.
1659095 Ah perhaps you did after I read it then.
1659134: Just checked, their relationship is not defined.
1659158 Allright then!
In that case RDD, do as you wish!
1658993 HAAAAA. That would be awesome. And awful. AND AWESOME.
I hope he DOES get that Trixie really genuinely feels bad about what happened to Twilight, even if it was still rather a lot Twi's own fault. I wonder if ole snake-in-the-Greengrass is responsible for the anonymous comments to the paper... Poor Trixie didn't even put her OWN hoof in her mouth this time and already she's in trouble!
Of COURSE Trixie gets picked for "random" inspection, and of COURSE it's Shiny.
Technically, Shining Armor is just perfect. He's in Full Official mode, with a stick up the plot and optional Every T Must Be Crossed formality.
Madam Posy will be more difficult to predict. We have A) Can write a check and pay off Ponyville combined with B) It would be cheaper for her just to relocate Fluttershy to another town, although a lot of work. Add in Night Court machinations. Stir. Baste under midday sun. Serves 8. I get the feeling Madam Posy is not a pony to cross unless you really want to look at the grass from the root side.
1659452: Is writing a check like that even allowed? That could be seen as going against the 'no political stuff with the Elements' rule; even if Posey didn't plan to take advantage of it, Trixie and the others would be obviously in her debt. (I had figured that the Duke and co. planned to keep their own monetary donation hush-hush, but Posey seems too honest for that).
1659606
Fragrant might also worry that Night Light might interpret her actions as directly challenging him. We'll see.
1659622: If donations (or outright buying the private and public property in the town, becoming the landlord, and presumably assuming responsibility and cost for repair) are allowed (by Luna), it would be interesting to see if Puissance would try. She's got unimaginable wealth, and theoretically she's at Night Light's level so he couldn't just step on her.
It could even be used as a time constraint; if Trixie doesn't get the money by a certain time (after the Gala), some noble will be allowed to just buy the town/fund it themselves and get the Elements in debt to them; ergo, Trixie needs to get this taken of before the Gala is over.
Of course, if what Puissance is after is to set others like Blueblood and Greengrass up for a fall, that could show her cards too early... :-)
Hooray new chapter!
Good start with the train.
I felt bad for Trixie dealing with the reporters and security guards, such situation are never fun, loved some of the yelled out questions.
and wow on the newspaper article I can see why no one would believe that, Trixie should have been the one to tell the press she could make you believe the sky was green with no illusions, I predict GGs hoof in this
Shining was kind of a tool even if he didn't do anything technically wrong, not that I can really blame him considering the circumstances, hmm interesting idea with him actually having seen Twilight, and I liked the take on his special talent.
And now fragrant posy, I wonder what this could mean for Trixie
Interesting I love the build on Trixie's special talent here! very impressive I was wondering how she was going to pull off something like the truth is the scourge at the gala. though, such a spell could also be used to sole plot problems later very easily so watch out!
Her creation did seem a bit sudden and I'm surprised there's been no planning or though of her friends coming to the Gala yet, ah well shall wait and see
This chapter pleases me from start to finish (that's 2 out of 3 now). I'm almost ready to start liking the story as a whole, but probably wont be able to say with certainty until we actually get to the Gala itself.
1660171
Fair points. I'm not to worried about it killing all future political stories. Using a potion like this could probably be classified as highly illegal, so after the Gala I doubt Trixie would be inclined to use it again to such ends.
Still, being able to magically whip up a batch like that in just ten minutes (probably less with practice). Could mean that no way to avoid it for situation where the L6 had need to interrogate a minion of Corona, or other unsavory character.
1660405
I figured it would probably qualify as illegal once it's been used at the gala if anyone finds out what happened, but yeah it's one of those spells that could make thing a little to easy with a corona minion... and now I'm expecting this spell to show up in Crisis.
1660435
On the bright side, it could just mean skipping over interrogation scenes entirely, which wouldn't be all that bad as those can get distinctly uncomfortable if not handled properly.
1660454
Possible though most media interrogation techniques wouldn't work in real life anyway... can't imagine Changlelings being affected by the spell hmm that could be interesting.
1659606 Hm. Perhaps a gentler way. "Extending an emergency line of credit." "Setting up a disaster relief agency" "Offering low/no interest loans". Or the tried and true "Sending an aircraft carrier to a disaster" i.e. A fact-finding visit by wealthy ponies who spend *far* in excess of any expectations. Any of those would be a Greengrass slap, and cause him to retaliate. Hm. The main problem is food(lack thereof) being used by Greengrass as a crowbar. (end musing)
Answer: Yes she could cut a check and solve the food problem, BUT it would cause her greater problems and possibly put Flutters at risk of the backlash. (Hey, I didn't say it was a practical solution...)
1660534: Posey would probably be more worried about Night Light getting revenge than the Duke, if only because she might not even know what Greengrass is trying to do. He mentioned in GG's Night that she led a faction of ponies with integrity for the grant he was trying to flip, so he probably knows better than to trust her with his secret schemes. (Of course, maybe she has spies...)
I get the feeling that Shining Armor, while very loyal to his sister, is well aware of how unstable and, well, rocinantic she is. He knows that Trixie was a jerk to Twilight, and is very unhappy about that, but... he knows Twilight. I think he's going to have a go at talking to his father about this.
Personally I found Shining Armor to be infuriating (not a bad thing mind you). If it was just the part's about Twilight I'd still think poorly of him and want to give him a angry speech about his station and something called "professionalism" but I would understand why he had major problems with Trixie.
But then he dropped the line involving the newspaper. And then I couldn't help but think, "You useless FUCKING TOOL"
this guy is in a position of rather great importance, has been surrounded by back stabbing nobles all his life, has held his position for quite some time and is apparently very good at it, and yet he can not recognize such a commonly/widely used and semi obvious tactic/method used in "The Game".
Seriously Shining? What after you decided you wanted no part of Night court machinations did you not bother to at least learn enough that you would know manipulation/deception/sneaky stuff when you saw it to keep your self safe from being used in "The Game"? Because at the moment it looks like you just went "Nobody would dare fuck with me due to my station because my daddy is a viceroy! :derp:" and then promptly slapped a sign that read: "HUGE FUCKING TOOL" in bright red letters onto your aers!
Very good chapter that had me feeling for Trixie all the way through. Also on the subject of Truth is a Scourge: I'm having massive amounts of fun just imaging what you're going to do with it RDD
. This will be a helpful tool for in future stories. Keep it up!
1663369: Who says it's common? So far, it looks like only the Duke has done anything like that (in GG's Night and Symphony), and it was apparently unusual enough that no one suspected what he was doing.
1663369
You remember that Shining Armor knew of Trixie, at least a little, from Back In The Day, right? The newspaper quote sounds exactly like the Trixie who'd alienated everypony in Canterlot by casually dropping Luna's name to get what she wanted, the Trixie who melted an ice palace on top of everypony, the Trixie who said something so bad to his sister that Twi decided to drop an Ursa on her, the Trixie that pissed off Luna so much that Luna effectively banished her to hicksville.
Shining Armor's only fault here is that he didn't think it was possible for Trixie to have changed so much in just half a year. As far as he's aware, Trixie's life over the past six months has been "Banished to Ponyville > Earn Element of Magic > Make his little sister screw herself over > Insult his father's parenting skills"
1663487: This too. Trixie used to be kind of a jerk; it's not really the Starlight's fault that they don't believe that Trixie had sense pounded into her by a musician, teacher, weatherpony, mailmare, and farmer in her new village.
1663475
1663487
Both good points. I was probably over reacting from reading things from Trixie's POV and kind of seeing the hope in the situation drain away.
Greengrass wouldn't commit Libel. He plays dirty, but he won't commit any crimes that can be traced back to him.
I do... not like this chapter. it was infuriating in a bad way. I honestly wanted to wail on Shining's skull with an iron rod, then beat up those station attendants. Then the guards. This went way over the line for me. It wasn't funny, it wasn't amusing.
I'm sorry, but it was just... no. This went way over the line for me. I wish i could say otherwise, but nope. And it's not because it's Trixie. Almost anyone I'd be pissed off by now. And I doubt any of them will apologize or anything, will they.
1666049: What's wrong with the station attendants? Trixie created illusionary fire around herself, so someone came by to dump water on her. Trixie attacked them, so they restrained and detained her until they knew she wasn't a threat. I'd argue they were being merciful in not charging her with assault.
Ditzy: "Hey, Trixie wrote us back! Maybe she's got the money for the town! It says, 'Dear Fellow Bearers: I need you to bail me out of Foalsome prison...'"
1666049
...*sigh*...
As for the station attendants, what did they do that could possibly have set you off?
1) Trixie magic'd up some illusionary fire.
2) A station guard thought she was actually on fire and so grabbed an emergency cloud to put her out, then landed to see if she was okay.
3) Trixie decked him.
4) His co-worker sees her partner gets knocked out and so reacts the way any security guard who wants to keep their job would, Trixie's brought to the security station.
5) Once everypony's calmed down and brought up to speed, Trixie is let go.
They did nothing wrong. Nothing. Yes, Trixie's fire was illusionary, but if we might step aside for a moment and look at US legal history:
"The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater..."
Would it not be unreasonable to assume that in Equestria, the most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a unicorn creating false fire in a train station? Frankly Trixie got off light, all things considered.
1666116: Heh. You said what I said, but way more eloquently.
1666109>>1666116 Okay, the guards at the station, bit overreaction from me.
Shining Armor? NO. I give him no pass on that. None at all. He acted like an unprofessional ass the entire time. And I still give the lion's share of the blame to Twilight. And I always will.
Okay, the guards? It was just... this was a humiliation conga. Pure and simple. Everything that could go wrong, did. It wasn't funny, it was just painful. That's it.
1666143
As you like, though Shining said he'd do this back in the bonus chapter of "Boast Busted," and it was alluded to as obstructing Lyra in "Symphony." Sooner or later we were going to see this.
Also, to be fair to Frolicksome and Moonlight, Trixie did bring an ice palace down on them.
1666160 Then I have every reason to hate and loathe Shining here, then. Every reason. And I will hate him here.
And Frolicksome and Moonlight, also unprofessional at best. This is too much for almost anyone for me to read about.
1666171
Hate is an awfully strong emotion for what has only been an inconvenience for Trixie at best...next to "making up a quote for the newspaper" and "denying aid to home town" it seems somewhat...small.
I'd be annoyed at Shining, sure, angry, maybe, but outright hate? And it's not like Trixie's done nothing to deserve this in the past, even removing the Twilight thing...
1666160: Heh. Glad someone caught that. :-) Poor Lyra, didn't know what she was getting herself in to.
The way I look at this is: does Trixie really even have a right to see Night Light? Like, if I wanted to talk to my Congressman, I could schedule an appointment (or try to), but I don't have an actual legal right to force him to meet with me. If he's all, 'Oh, that GrassAndClouds2, I don't have time to chat with him one on one,' I'm out of luck.
If not, Trixie has no official business in the castle. She doesn't work or live there, and the Gala isn't for a while. Night Light hasn't agreed to see her, and I don't think he's actually obligated to do so. So Shining Armor could probably justify refusing her access to the castle altogether on the grounds that she's got no reason to be there. That he lets her in is itself more than she is entitled to, I would guess.
1666211 Oh, believe me. I will hate them as well. But right now? Shining Armor is here and has almost my full attention.
1666234
I think as a Representative, she's entitled to make appointments, and she definitely has more priority than any other schmuck from Ponyville based on that.
Though I don't think she needs to enter the castle itself to make an appointment - she could have done this by mail. But that takes longer. She's basically trying to enter the Capitol building in order to accost a Congressman and convince him to make an appointment.
1666267: But she hasn't actually made one yet. She's essentially dropping by unannounced.
1666274
Yes.
Well...nothing objectionable here...for the most part. I was a bit put off by just how much of an ass Shining Armor is here, but I've already shot my mouth off over that the last couple chapters, so no point repeating.
This chapter, though, was...dull. Really, that seems to be my whole problem with this story. I was never interested in the political stuff, and all this is hardly winning me over. Not a single thing about this evil plan so far is remotely clever or original. Once you get passed how stupid Twilight's whole family is, all we're left with is an opening that makes you feel like a bastard if you laughed at anything that happened in the previous entry, a bunch of political assholes running around doing political bullcrap that's about as interesting as watching paint dry, and a subplot about a newspaper that makes me think RDD's taking his "Lessons on why US Politics Suck" way too far.
Also, I know it's a bit premature to point this out, but we're three chapters in and all we've had is buildup. It's much like the problem I had with "Helping...Hands?" The story really needs to pick up the pace.
1667003
Eee...um...
...see, the thing is, the political stuff is sort of the point of this episode. I'll be working in some action here and there, but overall this story has more in common with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington than anything. If that's not your cup of tea, then that's just fine - there's nothing wrong with that - but I'm afraid to say that you might feel a bit bored the whole time, then.
Having said that, I will try and speed things up, make chapters more interesting, wherever I can. Right now I'm projecting 12 chapters total: 4 for "today," (technically 2 for "yesterday" and 2 for "today"), 4 for "tomorrow," and 4 for the Gala itself.
Hmm...maybe have Fragrant and Trixie's conversation interrupted by a ninja attack...
1667048: Well, I'm loving the story so far. :-)
(That said, ninjas would be cool too.)
1667069>>1667003
...actually now that I think about it this story is basically going to exactly be Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in pony form, except crossed a little bit with the CIA break-in scene of Mission Impossible and, for some bizarre reason, I actually want to say Inception even though it'll have nothing to do in any way with Inception...man, now I really wish that I'd actually seen Mr. Smith Goes to Washington some time in the past 10 years.
Remember loving it when I was 15, though. Probably says something about me.
...OH! Except nopony is going to try and commit suicide! Jesus I'd forgotten that part 'til I read the Wiki article. Yeah, that's not happening. Nor is a 24+ hour fillibuster. I mean it's similar in spirit, not execution.
1667048
Oh, I know that. That's why I'm really feeling the urge to just drop the whole story until it finishes. But since I'm now damned to review every single Lunaverse story...I kind of have to read it. Besides, I want to see how the ending'll affect everything for the next season.
Just...carry on, then.
1667082
Yes, it's a good movie, one of the very few to pull off a cynical depiction of the US government without making one party out to be the bad guys or degenerating into Captain Planet levels of villainy. The Lunaverse, though, has just never given me a reason to give a damn about the government other than still having one princess because the other's a psychopath. None of the politicians are even remotely as interesting at the ones in the film, Greengrass is the most overrated villain I have ever seen, Night Light is now a bastard (I'm pretty sure the paper is not the only reason he's denying if Shining Armor is anything to go by...what does L!Cadance see in him, anyway?), and the whole system is built on a morally reprehensible system of corruption and cleansing.
So yes, I can like stories about political shenanigans and scheming. I just don't read ponies for any of that.
1667082: Yeah, I was gonna say, I would be surprised if anyone tried to commit suicide over the Gala stuff.
Blueblood: "The chaos of the Gala has resulted in punch spilled on my coat! I can't go on!"
1667121: Hey, I still ship Octavia/Shining Armor. Or possibly Octavia/Shining Armor/Cadance, because why not? :-) Although I like to think neither of those mares would appreciate what he's doing here.