Trixie's Shadow

by Paul_Daniel

Chapter 12

12.

When Twilight opened her eyes, she did not understand where she was. She had expected nothing but darkness inside the night pool. Instead, there was lush grass and dandelions. It was sunny, she was standing on a hill at the outskirts of Ponyville, and the blue sky was dotted with fleecy white clouds.

After several moments of staring, Twilight gathered herself and began trotting forward. Ponyville was a good way off, though the air felt so refreshing that she didn’t mind the walk, and even stopped at regular intervals to bask in the sunlight or savor the perfume of wildflowers. This went on for quite a while, and the more time passed, the less Twilight could remember about what she was looking for, or why it had been so important to find.

Eventually, Twilight heard a pair of low voices. They were both familiar, and she followed her ears to an old willow tree, in the shade of which two ponies were resting. One had extremely bright colors, with a greenish-gray coat, a blue-and-fuchsia mane, and a trio of bowtie candies for her cutie mark. The other pony was more earthy; her coat was rustic olive, her mane and tail were solidly amber, and her cutie mark depicted three fresh carrots. When they spotted Twilight, both ponies ceased talking and gave a friendly wave.

“Hey, Bon Bon,” said Twilight. “Carrot Top.”

“Hiya, Twilight,” said Bon Bon. “We’ve been wondering if you might show up. Come and have a seat with us.”

“Yes,” added Carrot Top, “please do. It’s so beautifully peaceful here.”

They made room and Twilight settled between them. The grass around the willow was full and soft, and what with the warm sun and the rhythmic breeze, Twilight felt decidedly sleepy. As for Bon Bon and Carrot Top, they already seemed to be dozing; both of them had their eyes closed, and Carrot Top actually lowered her head to the ground.

The serenity was interrupted by a sharp BANG! and burst of color over Ponyville. It was a silvery fishtail firework, and soon the air was full of them.

“Oh!” gasped Bon Bon. “Trixie’s putting on a show again.”

“Come on, Twilight,” said Carrot Top. “You’ll love this!”

They each sprang to their hooves and galloped away. Nor were they alone; either Trixie’s show was extremely popular or something else was happening, because there were several dozen ponies—spread out all across the prairie—heading in the same direction as Bon Bon and Carrot Top. It made Twilight uncomfortable somehow, and reluctant to find out where everyone was going. Nevertheless, she got up, shook away her sleepiness, and set off on a brisk canter toward Ponyville.

Fortunately, the town wasn’t far from the willow tree, and Twilight needed only a few minutes to reach its main thoroughfare. As she began to move down a wide cobblestone street, another pony approached her from the left.

“Good morning, Twilight.”

“Fluttershy! You’re all right!”

“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I… don’t know. I thought something might have happened to you. But I can’t remember.”

“Don’t worry. You’re probably just excited about Trixie’s show. I am!”

Fluttershy smiled and continued on down the street. Twilight followed her, growing more uneasy with every step.

They had not gone far when they came across a heart-wrenching sight. It seemed a pair of blue jays had built their nest under the eaves of a nearby house, and one of their fledglings had fallen onto the ground below. Although the young bird did not appear to be hurt, it was clearly distressed about being separated from its parents.

“You poor thing!” said Twilight.

She galloped up to fledgling and waited. To her surprise, Fluttershy kept walking.

“Hey, Fluttershy! Over here.”

Fluttershy didn’t alter her course. Twilight hailed her again, and this time Fluttershy actually spread her wings and took off. In seconds, she had flown out of sight beyond the houses.

“Okay,” said Twilight, “now I know something’s wrong. Fluttershy would never pass up a chance to help an animal that needed her.”

With a gentle plume of magic, Twilight lifted the fledgling back to its nest. Seeing that all would be well, she returned to the main street, just in time to be bowled over from behind.

“Omigosh, Twilight! What are you doing here?”

There was no mistaking Pinkie Pie’s exuberant inflections. Twilight lifted herself from the pavement and brushed the dirt from her legs. Then she looked sternly at Pinkie Pie, awaiting her apology for the rough-and-tumble greeting.

But no apology was forthcoming. Instead, Pinkie Pie grabbed hold of Twilight’s foreleg and began pulling her along.

“Hurry up, hurry up, come on! Trixie’s putting on a performance and it’s going to be AMAZING! I bet Rainbow Dash is there already! I wish I could fly so I could be super-speedy, and get all the best seats at Trixie’s wonder-mazing-tastic shows!”

Twilight found it easier to go along than resist, though she couldn’t help asking, “How many shows has Trixie done?”

“At least two or three every day! Aren’t we lucky?”

Pinkie Pie released her grip on Twilight and bounced around in a circle. Abruptly, she paused, raising one hoof to point at a pegasus stallion flying over her head.

“Twilight, who’s that?”

“Where? Behind Thunderlane?”

“Wow, is that really his name? I mean, why not Lightning Road, or Hailstorm Alley, or—”

“Wait a minute,” said Twilight, “you honestly didn’t recognize him?”

“Why should I? The only pony I’m interested in is Trixie!”

Twilight didn’t know what to say about this, so she kept silent and followed Pinkie Pie further down the street. Unsurprisingly, her friend was heading to Ponyville Plaza. A large crowd was there already, its members waving streamers, brandishing air horns, and keeping their attention fixed on a stage attached to a yellow gypsy wagon.

“Welcome, welcome!” cried a voice from behind the stage’s curtains. “If everypony will kindly take their seats, my glorious show can begin!”

A hush fell over the audience. But when the curtains parted and Trixie leapt forward, the crowd went wild with cheering and hoof stamps.

“Why, thank you,” said Trixie. “It’s good to see you all know how to greet such a famous entertainer. Now, are you ready for the greatest show in Equestria?!”

The crowd roared its affirmative. Trixie smiled and glanced across the plaza. Suddenly, she did a double take. Her smile faded, but was swiftly replaced by a rapacious grin.

“You! The mousey star-sparkle unicorn standing by yourself. Come up to the stage immediately!”

Twilight swallowed and tried to back away. Alas, everyone in the audience was already turning to look at her. They were also stepping aside to clear a path by which she could reach the stage. So there was no escape.

“Oh, hurry up!” cried Trixie. “Really, if you’re going to dawdle, I’ll have to help you along.”

With a theatrical flourish, Trixie summoned her magic. A pair of roller-skates appeared on Twilight’s hooves, and Trixie cast another spell that made the skates accelerate at terrifying speeds, until Twilight was flying over the cobblestones. Trixie made no attempt to help Twilight slow down near the wagon, and there was a sickening THUD! when the latter plowed into it.

“All right, all right,” said Trixie, “no need to be dramatic.”

She reached out with telekinesis, levitating Twilight out of the roller skates and onto the stage.

“My word, you’re a mess! Here, let me get you something to drink.”

With a wave of her hoof, Trixie conjured a water-filled bucket. Magically she lifted the bucket, but instead of setting it down where Twilight could drink, she made the whole thing rise up and turn over, drenching Twilight with a deluge of icy water.

“Oops!” said Trixie. “How clumsy of me! But don’t worry; I’ll dry you off in a flash!”

Before Twilight could protest, Trixie hit her with a heat spell. Trixie made no effort to control spell’s energy, which meant that, in just a few seconds, Twilight’s mane and tail were bushier than a lightning-struck sheep.

“Oh my!” said Trixie. “Now you need a good styling. Please, allow me!”

Another flash of magic summoned a giant floating hair brush. Trixie maneuvered it behind Twilight and made it wind up like a baseball bat. Had the brush struck true, it would have slammed Twilight on the rump and sent her flying. But by this time, Twilight had recovered her wits; when the brush swung downward, she disappeared from its path and reappeared—with her mane and tail back to their usual tidiness—at the opposite end of the stage.

“Thank you,” she said, in a strangely quiet voice, “for knocking some sense into me, and reminding me what I came here to do.”

Trixie sneered and sent the brush zipping forward. Twilight caught it with her magic, gave a twist, and the whole thing burst into splinters.

“Trixie,” she said, “it’s over. We need to talk.”

“Is that so? Well, unfortunately for you, I don’t talk with ponies of lesser talent. I talk at them, and I expect to be obeyed.”

“Then you’ll have to make an exception for me.”

“What was that? I’m afraid I couldn’t hear you over my fans.”

She whirled to face the audience, rearing in delight as they cheered. At the same time, Twilight could see that something was wrong with the ponies in the plaza. Some of them looked strangely transparent, others had splashes of black spread across their coats, and a few were even missing their cutie marks.

“They’re not real… I can’t believe I didn’t notice before.”

“Of course they’re real!” cried Trixie. “You’re just jealous because they like me more than they like you. Admit it! I’m finally better than you are.”

“Trixie, your audience is made of shadows! They look like ponies and they talk like ponies, but they don’t have the hearts of ponies. And you’re fooling yourself if you think they care one whit about your act.”

“You’re lying!”

“Darkness is the liar! He built this twisted little fantasy to keep you out of his way.”

“Shut UP!”

“No! You’re going to listen to me. You—”

Twilight stopped in midsentence and threw up a force field. A bolt of lightning glanced over it and streaked into the sky. Trixie threw another bolt, and another after that, relentlessly bombarding Twilight with her magic.

Twilight didn’t fight back. She just kept blocking, strike after strike, until Trixie exhausted herself and dropped down to her knees. The audience had kept deathly quiet, but now Trixie raised her head to look at them. Slowly, she stretched out one of her forelegs, as if she were begging for help. Nobody moved.

“So it’s true.”

Trixie let her outstretched leg fall to the ground. Her head lowered, her ears went down, and her body seemed almost to wilt. At the same time, the ponies in the audience began vanishing, one by one, from the center of Ponyville Plaza outwards. When all of them were gone, the houses around where they had been sitting also disappeared, along with the pavement, the store fronts, tables, and parasols—even the sky itself—leaving Twilight and Trixie alone on a disembodied stage, with only a solitary lantern for light.

Trixie drew a shaky breath, and then stood up and wiped at her eyes. Twilight gave her a moment’s peace before moving forward.

“We don’t have much time,” she said. “I need you to help me.”

“Why should I?”

“I’m sorry, I could have sworn you just said—”

“Why should I?” repeated Trixie. “You’ve ruined my life three times. First with the Ursa Minor, then with the Alicorn Amulet. And now you’ve wrecked my illusion! Maybe it wasn’t real, but it was all I had. And I was happy! I was a star here. Why can’t you leave me alone?!”

“Trixie, haven’t you learned anything? What happened with the Ursa Minor was all because of your boasting. As for the Alicorn Amulet, you’re the one who thought it would help you take revenge on Ponyville. And when that didn’t work, you even asked me to forgive you!”

“Oh, please. You didn’t honestly believe that? I mean, ‘The Great and Apologetic Trixie’? As if I had any choice! Not with Princess Celestia and the whole town standing there.”

“Fine,” said Twilight, “if you want to go back on what you told me, I won’t try to change your mind. But right now, we have to put our differences aside and work together. Because if we don’t, Equestria isn’t going to make it.”

“So what? I’m perfectly safe here. I’ll just go back to my fantasy.”

Twilight stepped forward and raised one of her forelegs. There was a flash of movement and a loud WHAP! Trixie reeled backward, clutching her face.

“You slapped me!”

“And I’ll do it again!” cried Twilight. “I have never ever met anypony so completely and utterly selfish!”

“How dare—”

“No! You be quiet and you listen to me! There are things you need to hear.”

“I’m not listening to a word you say!”

“Oh, yes you are! Because in your heart, you know I’m right. You’re not so much of a monster that you’d let our entire world fall to Darkness.”

“Fine words coming from a pony who hates me!”

“No, Trixie. I don’t hate you. I never have. As a matter of fact, the two of us are a lot alike. We both have a passion that defines us. For you, it’s showmanship. For me, it’s magic. I think magic is more important than anything in the world. Or at least, I used to. You see, when I first came to Ponyville, all I wanted was to be left alone so I could study. But then, something amazing happened. I made friends. And the more time we spent together, the more I treasured them, until I came to care about friendship even more than I care about magic. But you haven’t reached that point yet. Your passion is still the only thing that’s important to you. Worse, it’s holding you back.”

“What do you mean?”

“Answer one question first: why do you put on your shows?”

“Because I love doing them.”

“And there’s the problem. If you really want to change the way other ponies feel about you—if you want them to adore you like they do in your dreams—then you have to stop putting on shows for yourself. Your audience must be more important.”

“That’s impossible! How am I supposed to stop enjoying my passion?”

“I didn’t say that. You can still love your shows, just like I still love my magic. Your mistake is that you’re throwing your heart into what you do and trying to hold onto it at the same time. That never works.”

“So you think that, if I put my audience first, it’ll make my shows even better?”

“I can’t say for sure. But what I can say is that I’m never stronger with magic than when I’m using it for another. Why do suppose,” added Twilight, raising her head to look straight at Trixie, “that I have the strength to be here now?”

Trixie swallowed and shuffled her hooves. She opened her mouth, but just as quickly closed it and glanced away.

“Who are you trying to fool? Even if I believed you, even if we made it out of here and somehow defeated Darkness, there’s no way I’ll ever have the chance to put on a show again. Not after everything I’ve done.”

“You’re wrong, Trixie. You can put on another show. Right here and right now.”

Twilight stamped on the stage, producing a hollow, wooden sound. The noise made Trixie’s ears perk and she stood a little taller. At the same time, something in the darkness seemed to attract her attention, and she stared at the space where her phantom audience had vanished. Just as Twilight began to press for an answer, Trixie turned back around.

“Okay, Twilight,” she said. “Tell me what you want me to do.”

Twilight took a deep breath to control her impatience.

“First, tell me everything about your relationship with Darkness. It might help.”

“There really isn’t much to say. I knew he was dangerous, but I also knew he had to honor his promises. Once I stole the key to his prison—never mind how—I used that as leverage to make him obey me. It was all going fine, until that mob showed up. I panicked when they got near my wagon and I told Darkness to keep me safe. But he tricked me and sent me here.”

“Didn’t you try to escape?”

“Of course I did! But I wasn’t strong enough. So I gave in and accepted the fantasy.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re over it, and that you’re willing to help me. Because it’s about as bad as it can be in Ponyville. When you told Darkness to ‘make them go away,’ he interpreted that as an order to destroy our reality.”

“And how can we possibly stop him? Don’t you know where we are? This night pool is the center of his power—literally, the Heart of Darkness. Everything I’ve read says there’s no way out.”

“Then we’re going to rewrite the books. I think I know how. You just be ready to give the right commands.”

“Commands for what?”

“For making Darkness come into the night pool. He has to be merged with his power for us to shut him down; that’s how he was beaten the last time. Once that’s done, you need to order him to give up, either by forsaking his magic or surrendering to Princess Luna. She was fighting him when I teleported from Ponyville, and it may be that she still is.”

“I’ll… do what I can. But what happens if Luna destroys Darkness while we’re in here with him?”

“I don’t know. I’d hoped I could teleport us, but I’m not sure I have enough magic now. Either way, that isn’t important. We have to save Equestria. No matter the cost.”

Trixie swallowed and moved skittishly backward. For a moment, it looked as if she would run away. Then she halted, bowed, and, with a theatrical flourish, made her cloak and wizard’s hat appear.

“All right, Twilight. One last show, for my audience this time!” Her cloak billowed as she swept it into place, while the stars on her hat twinkled. “Ready?”

Twilight answered by summoning a white light around her horn. As she concentrated, the light grew brighter and began rising into the air.

“Portals to Anywhere,” said Twilight. “Please let me remember enough of what I read to get this right…”

The light above her horn strengthened and expanded, until it formed a floating circle the size of a hula hoop. Twilight put more power into her spell and the circle became transparent. Now it was as if they were looking through a window into Ponyville Plaza. The view was murky and distorted; so much of the town was infested with shadows and Luna’s once glorious moon hung dimly, like a broken husk in the sky. Moreover, there were only a few candles burning beneath it, and not a single torch.

“This portal won’t let us pass through,” said Twilight, “not unless it has more magic than I can give. But at least it should provide us with a view, and a way to talk with those on the other side.”

“Very nice,” said Trixie. “Can you move it? I think there’s something shining to the left.”

“I’ll try,” said Twilight.

She concentrated and refocused her magic. The portal began to glide through the air, sweeping like a ghost over the cobblestones. Soon, both ponies saw a tiny glint of silver. Twilight guided the portal toward it and there, her long horn emitting a pitiful glow, lay a familiar figure.

“Princess Luna!”

So it was. Twilight hailed her again, but the princess did not appear to notice.

“I’m afraid poor Luna isn’t going to answer,” said a deep voice. “I’ve taken both her sight and her hearing. Filled them with shadows, if you must know. It will only be a little while until I have the rest of her.”

Darkness smiled as he rose out of a black pit on the ground near Princess Luna. He walked several paces forward and stared through the portal at Twilight.

“So that’s where you went. And here I was too busy with the princess to notice. I suppose I should congratulate you for having the ingenuity to escape my shadows. But of course, by entering the night pool, you—”

Darkness cut off abruptly. He was looking over Twilight’s shoulder, and for the first time, he appeared to be startled.

“That’s right,” said Trixie, “the Great and Powerful Trixie is no longer stuck in your trap.”

Twilight held her breath. She could see shadows gathering around Darkness, and a glint of icy fire in the sockets where his eyes had been. If she had been wrong about his relationship with Trixie, it would all end here.

“So I see,” replied Darkness. “Ah, well. I was planning to speak with you anyway, as soon as I finished my work.”

“Your work?” said Trixie. “You mean destroying Equestria!”

“No. Destroying is the province of my still-imprisoned brother. What I do involves liberation. I offer freedom from the overwhelming stress of reality. In my new kingdom there will be no suffering and no pain. Nothing but eternal peace.”

The portal flickered. Twilight struggled to keep it open, even as she fought to stop herself from being sick at the thought of what Darkness intended.

“Trixie,” she said, “let’s finish this. Tell him to come into the night pool and surrender. I can’t hold our window up much longer.”

“Not yet,” said Trixie. “I owe him payback for what he did to me.”

“Are you crazy?! If the portal closes, we can’t give any more orders!”

“I said not yet! Remember what you told me?”

Trixie glanced at Twilight, as if daring her to interrupt again. But in the instant when she shifted away from Darkness—so that he could not see her face—Trixie’s expression changed from haughtiness to pleading. Twilight was startled into silence and Trixie turned back to the portal, her face resuming its indignant expression.

Darkness was obviously pleased with what he saw.

“Very good,” he said, “you are finally putting Twilight in her place.”

“Just like I ought to do with you,” snapped Trixie, “for tricking me into that sick prison.”

“How could it be a prison when you were happy? I sent you to a place where all your dreams came true. And I can do so again. Let me fulfill my purpose and I will build you a kingdom of such impeccable magnificence that you will never wish to leave it. Nor will you have to; with my new power I can make you immortal. You will rule forever as queen and show mare!”

Twilight fidgeted uneasily, trying to decide whether she should continue trusting Trixie or whether it was time to intervene. Suddenly, she felt a tug on her hind legs. Before she could even glance down, a shadowy tendril yanked her backward, while another wrapped about her face like a muzzle.

“You know I’m right,” said Darkness. “I’m your friend. I would never hurt you…”

The tendrils constricted so harshly around Twilight that it was all she could do to breathe. With horror, she saw more on the way; Darkness was bypassing his promise not to attack Trixie by relying on his sentient shadows, whose actions had not been explicitly restricted. Now they were closing in on Trixie from behind.

“Trust me,” said Darkness. “Trust me, and I will give you everything you ever wanted.”

His smile was fiercer than ever. Twilight tried desperately to speak. A dozen feet to her left, Trixie seemed to be considering. She had just raised her head when the shadows behind her struck home. There were three of them, and each plunged like a spear into Trixie’s back. For a moment, she stood still, watching the black tendrils that now protruded from her chest. Then she gasped out a strangling cough and collapsed.

“And that,” said Darkness, “is how you deal with a pest. Puncture her lungs so she cannot speak and cast her away like the rubbish she is.”

His body melted, only to reform on the near side of the portal. Twilight could do nothing but watch.

“Take your time,” said Darkness as he walked closer to Trixie. “Once you’re dead, my promises die with you and I’ll be free. That’s the kind of anticipation I can savor.”

“I know what you mean,” said a clear voice. “I’m looking forward to freedom myself.”

Darkness whipped around to find a Trixie who was completely unharmed, stepping out from behind the portal. At the same time, the Trixie who had been pierced by shadows faded and disappeared like the illusion she was.

“Thank you for coming into the night pool,” said the real Trixie. “Now stop using magic and let all of us go home.”

Just like that, the shadows holding Twilight were gone. She dropped to her hooves, aching and gasping for breath. In front of her, Darkness was backing away. As he cowered, a silver flash stormed through the portal. Twilight’s heart leapt when she saw Princess Luna rear up, silhouetted against a moon that shone with the fury of an avenging angel.

Then the portal snapped shut and they were plunged into blackness. Twilight felt Darkness’ power surge higher than ever, only to wither and die in the same instant. Abruptly she was falling, her body pummeled under the tempestuous collapse of the night pool. Trapped within it, she would be ripped apart.

And then there was a marvelous light.

“Twilight Sparkle… My faithful student.”

Twilight felt a touch of feathery warmth on her shoulders, as though she were being embraced by a cloud. She blinked, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself in a grassy meadow near the border of Ponyville. The afternoon sun shone high overhead and a gentle breeze rippled her mane. Best of all was the figure standing nearby.

“Princess Celestia! You… I… What happened?!”

Princess Celestia smiled.

“First,” she said, “please allow me to congratulate you on this truly indelible victory. Your role in defeating another of the Brothers will long be remembered by all creatures of good heart. As for what happened, you did just as I hoped. You used the knowledge from my book to help Luna shatter Darkness, and in the process allowed me to rescue those he had stolen.”

Princess Celestia swept a forehoof toward the meadow. Twilight nearly laughed for joy when she saw that the area was full of ponies. In fact, the entire town was there; everyone whom Darkness or his shadows had captured was free! Among others, Twilight noticed Lyra hugging Bon Bon, Lotus and Aloe gathering dandelions, and Applejack frolicking like a filly around Big McIntosh. A little further on, Rarity was helping Carrot Top to style her mane, Thunderlane and Derpy were chuckling as Pinkie Pie made faces, and Celestia’s royal guards stood at rapt attention, so that Rainbow Dash (with Spike on her back) and Mayor could admire their armor. At the very end of the meadow, Fluttershy sat by herself, watching the last vestiges of shadow fade from the sky.

“This was all part of your plan,” said Twilight. “You let Darkness absorb you on purpose!”

“Yes. I had to enter the same place as the ponies he had devoured. Taking them with me when I left the night pool was the only way I could save them.”

Twilight’s love for the princess grew stronger than ever, welling up until she could have danced from happiness, and she had almost decided to do so when a rush of wing beats caught her attention. In the next moment, Luna swept down to land, looking unusually cheerful. Even so, she did not speak, nor did she acknowledge Twilight with anything more than a nod.

“Twilight,” said Princess Celestia, “may I ask you to excuse me while I speak with my sister? There are details we must discuss, to ensure that Darkness never returns. And there is somepony with whom you need to have a discussion of your own. I will leave it up to you to decide her fate, and whether or not she should be tried for what she almost wrought upon us.”

Twilight bowed and hurried off. There was no question as to whom Celestia had been referring, and indeed, Trixie was standing in plain sight, under the shade of an elm tree that grew on a hill overlooking the meadow. As Twilight drew nearer, Trixie took off her cloak and her hat and set both of them down on the grass.

“Well,” she said, “it looks like everything’s back to normal.”

“For now,” agreed Twilight. “We seem to have a history of attracting adventures in Ponyville. I wonder where the next one will come from?”

“Not from me! The Great and Powerful Trixie… I mean, I’ve had enough of adventuring. I think I’ll do something peaceful next, if I’m allowed to.”

She glanced aside and looked toward the princesses. Twilight decided to be blunt.

“You don’t have to worry about them. Princess Celestia told me I’m the one who should decide if you’ll stand trial.”

“I see. And which way are you leaning?”

“Before I answer that, I’d like to ask you a question. About Darkness. I’ve been thinking and I don’t understand why you didn’t order him into the night pool. You could have done that at any time and he would have had to obey you. Why go through the whole ruse with an illusionary double from your magic act?”

Trixie shook her head.

“You’re forgetting how Darkness works, and that he’s an expert at twisting words. If I commanded him into the night pool, he might have entered it miles away from us, where my voice couldn’t reach him. Or maybe he would have appeared in the same physical space as me, and ripped me apart from inside. The point is, even though Darkness is bound by promises, his whole being is focused on how to get around them. And he’s had lifetimes of experience! I was a fool to think I could beat him at his own game, and I realized after he imprisoned me that I couldn’t risk giving him orders again. So I decided to trick him instead.”

“In other words, you knew your audience.”

“Yes. Like you told me.”

There was a moment of silence between them.

“All right, Trixie,” said Twilight, “I’m going to answer your question. Are you ready?”

“I’m ready.”

“Then my decision is… that you don’t need to be tried, or even arrested for what you did. I think you’ve learned your lesson. I think the old Trixie would have ordered Darkness into the night pool. And if that had happened… well, I agree with you that none of us would be standing here.”

Trixie turned briefly away, to wipe at her eyes.

“Thanks,” she said. “I never thought I’d be saying it to you, of all ponies, but thanks.”

“What will you do now?”

“I don’t know. I’d like to go back into show business, eventually. But first, I feel like it’s more important for me to make up for what I’ve done. I only wish I knew how.”

Twilight smiled a mischievous smile.

“You know, I just might have an idea…”

* * *

It was a quiet morning in early spring as Twilight opened the door of the Golden Oakes Library. She had been looking through a kitchen window when Derpy delivered the mail, and had seen her set down a package along with the usual letters.

“Maybe it’s my book,” said Spike, who had gone along with Twilight and was wearing an apron splotched with muffin mix. “You remember, I ordered an autographed copy of Donut Joe’s Happy Healthy Cookbook.”

“I can understand the happy part,” said Twilight, “but really, healthy donuts sound even more mythical than humans. Anyway, we’ll find out in a minute.”

From the doorway, Twilight used a medley of levitation and telekinesis to open the distant mailbox, set its letters on top of the package, and then whisk everything straight through the doorway. She felt pleased to note that the spells didn’t tax her; a few days of rest after the Battle of Afternoon Night—as the struggle against Darkness was now being called—had completely replenished her magical reserves, and, in fact, had made them stronger than ever, owing the frenetic exercise they had received.

“It’s from Trixie,” said Twilight, examining the addresses on the package. “I was wondering when we’d hear from her.”

“What’s she say?”

Twilight opened the package. It was brimming with photographs, nearly all of which showed Trixie on a different plot of ground. In some cases, the ground was rocky and barren, with snow-covered mountains in the distance. In other pictures, the ground was strewn with tall grass and ruby-colored flowers, and butterflies danced among them. The only similarity was that, in every shot, Trixie was planting a small bit of rosebush.

“Ah ha!” said Spike. “So that’s what you had her do with the roses she cleared out of Sweet Apple Acres.”

“That’s it. We gave some to Rarity, and then Trixie took the rest in her wagon when she left.”

“I still can’t believe you helped her fix that.”

“Well, I was the one who blasted it in the first place. Besides, it was good practice for my mending spells.”

Spike picked up a handful of photographs and started flipping through them.

“You know,” he said, “if you really wanted to punish Trixie, you could have made her do something a lot harder than traveling around Equestria planting flowers.”

“But I didn’t want to punish her. I wanted her to make up for what she’d done. And bringing beauty to places that need it is a great way to accomplish that.”

“So it’s kind of a quest?”

“Exactly. I gave Trixie a goal, but meeting that goal will give her a chance to learn something even more important.”

“You really think she can do that?”

Twilight took hold of a picture and held it up. The picture was different than most of the others, for it showed Trixie in a small village, having evidently just completed a show. Her wagon was parked in the background, but the stage was up and Trixie was not using it. Rather, she was standing with her audience. A pair of young foals capered on either side of her, one of whom she had let try on her cloak and hat. Several other ponies were holding fireworks, which Trixie must have given them, either for their own use or because she had invited them to be part of her show. Whoever had taken the picture had clearly done it without Trixie’s knowledge, since she was partially turned away from the camera, unaware that she was being photographed. And that made the radiant smile on her face all the more meaningful.

“Yes,” said Twilight softly, “I think she’ll be just fine.”

She put the pictures back in the package and closed it.

“Come on. Let’s see if we can’t whip up some new recipes, to tide you over until your book arrives.”

“All right!” said Spike.

He turned around and rushed down the hall. Twilight took one more look outside to watch the rising sun move over Ponyville. Then she closed the door and followed the scent of blueberry muffins into the kitchen, where Spike and breakfast would be waiting.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Was Darkness destroyed or sealed away?

[Yubella]

“Trixie, haven’t you learned anything? What happened with the Ursa Minor was all because of your boasting. As for the Alicorn Amulet, you’re the one who thought it would help you take revenge on Ponyville. And when that didn’t work, you even asked me to forgive you!”

Still blaming her for the bear. As for the amulet I can still understand and blame her but not by much.