Sitting down at a picnic table behind Applejack's house with a delicious slice of pie in front of her, and a lovely fiancé by her side, Trixie was happy as could be. Of course it wasn't just the pie, or her lover making her happy. In front of them with his own slice of pie sat her old mentor, the closest thing to a father figure she'd ever had, and one of Celestia's previous pupils, Shadow Heart.

Shadow Heart, with his face looking more like cracked earth from all the scars was smiling warmly. It made her heart soar to see him so happy. Twilight seemed absolutely enthralled as he was going on about some story from his youth. "So that's when Celestia made the biggest mistake I'd ever seen. One that would have lasting consequences for a very long time."

Twilight gasped. "She made a mistake?"

Shadow Heart laughed. "Oh yes she did, she introduced me to the mare who'd become my wife."

Trixie giggled. "Oh such a horrible mistake indeed. Accidently hooking ponies up for marriage. One could write a terrible story about such a thing, perhaps even her and Luna accidentally marrying a bunch of ponies themselves."

Twilight gave her look that said she was going to be grounded if she kept interrupting.

Shadow Heart continued. "Yes, it was a mistake, but the good kind. I don't think she minded me retiring to get married and have a kid. In fact, she actually joined us for dinner once a month or so. She was a regular part of the family, my daughter even called her Auntie Celly. It was adorable."

Twilight smiled warmly. "I knew she did good things too."

Shadow Heart met Twilight's eyes, something in his look had changed, Trixie wasn't sure exactly what he was thinking. "Oh, you have reason to suspect she does anything else?"

Twilight stiffened as she sat upright. "N-no, of course not. She’s perfect as perfect can be. She’d never make horrible mistakes, or nearly kill me and my friends, or ruin my mind and life."

Shadow Heart was still smiling as he shook his head slowly and closed his eyes. "Seems like you've seen a glimpse into the real Celestia. As much as we may love her, she is still a pony at the end of the day, and sometimes ponies do things they regret. It is of course, our job to help prevent those regrets, or fix them once they happen when and where we can."

Twilight glanced over at Trixie. "I guess so... but I'm happy here." Twilight's hoof landed on Trixie's. "Even if Celestia didn't introduce me to Trixie herself, I think I kind of understand how that might change your perspective on things."

Shadow Heart took a bite of his apple pie. "Mmm, Sweet Apple Acers has always had the best pie. Don't let anypony tell you different."

Trixie took a bite of her pie and agreed whole heartedly. Of course she was looking around for somepony in particular and saw them. Luna was over by some trees and talking to Big Mac. The two of them were both red in the face and not able to look at one another directly, but they were talking. It was adorable how slow they were taking their relationship. Trixie was always in the mindset of getting her prize early though, so she was glad to have already taken her prizes from Twilight, and looking at how happy Twilight looked in this setting, she was sure that Twilight agreed with her.

Trixie looked down at her plate, she was half way through her pie and she knew that as nice as this moment was, there were questions and concerns she had. Ones that she'd knew she would never get an answer if she didn't ask now. She looked back up at Shadow Heart to see that he was looking at her. Concern was written in his eyes. She met those eyes with a steely gaze of determination. "Shadow Heart, Trixie needs to ask you something."

He let out a quiet sigh. "I knew you would. You surely have a lot of questions."

"What did Celestia do to Trixie, and why?"

He closed his eyes, his smile fading for a moment as he seemed to contemplate something. "Trixie, she saved you. That's what she did. As for why, it's because this time, I was the one who screwed up."

Trixie hated the vagueness of that answer. "Trixie's mind was messed with here, she demands to know more."

He blinked and looked at her. "Trixie, it really would be best to forget about that part of your history."

"Well Trixie cannot. And if she's going to continue with attempting to date both Celestia and Twilight at the same time she cannot afford to let go of this."

He stood up with sudden speed and his eyes widened. That smile completely gone. "You're dating Celestia?"

Trixie wrapped a leg around Twilight's waist pulling her closer. "We both are."

His pupils shrunk a little. "Is... isn't there a little bit of an odd... problem with that? A problem with um… how close she is… you know…"

Trixie nodded. "Yes, she's a giant and pleasing her really does take the combined effort of both a pregnant Trixie and a hapless Twilight."

Twilight glanced at her. "Hey... I'm getting better at the sex."

"Yes," Trixie licked her lips. "You most certainly are."

That made Twilight's face turn a deep shade of red as a blush blossomed over her cheeks. She looked down at her own plate which was empty of pie as she'd eaten it long ago. Shadow Heart seemed to force himself to sit back down. "And there's nothing else that would make that awkward?"

Trixie blinked as she looked at him. "No, why would there be?"

He bit his lower lip. "Damn it, Celestia, just how much of her memory did you take?"

Trixie narrowed her eyes. "That is a good question, how much of Trixie’s memory did she take?"

He shook his head. "Not important right now. So long as you’re happy, that's all that matters. I will... speak with her though. Make sure she understands how important it is to make you happy. You deserve it."

Trixie didn't like this run around. It felt like she was being handled, but she wasn't going to be able to force him to do anything. No, she'd have to work her ways elsewhere. In fact she had some ideas of how to get stolen memories back, but she still had to keep in mind, her most important task was to her unborn foal, to her Applebutter. She rubbed at her belly, she would wait to discover her own personal mythos if she had to for her sake.

Twilight was looking down at her plate now. "I, um, well hey, you know maybe Trixie might have lost some of it when she put on the Alicorn Amulet? That's how she got herself pregnant after all."

Trixie shot a glare at her. "Oh, make it sound like Trixie just does irresponsible things and gets pregnant while not in a sober state of mind."

Twilight looked at her. "That is what happened though."

"Sure, but it still sounds rude. Trixie prefers to say that after wearing the Alicorn Amulet, she was gifted with the love of a giant stallion and a baby."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "It takes away all responsibility towards you."

Trixie nuzzled into Twilight's side. "Now you're getting it."

Shadow Heart laughed. "I'd have assumed you were fighting just now, but the way you two smile and look at each other. You’re both horribly in love."

Trixie glanced at him. "We are. Trixie- I love Twilight Sparkle with all of Trixie's heart."

Twilight giggled. "And Twilight loves Trixie with all of her heart."

Trixie glanced back at Twilight. "Speaking in third person is my thing."

Twilight put a hoof to Trixie’s chin lifting it up and turning to face her. "Maybe it's something I stole from you."

Trixie blinked. Their lips were dangerously close, she could taste Twilight's breath upon her lips. Trixie's entire body was growing tingly from the contact, she was so close, yet it seemed so far. For a long moment Twilight just stayed there, staring into her eyes, not moving an inch. This was torture, couldn't Twilight just do something already?

Twilight's head shot forward and their lips met for a quick, but furious kiss. Once Twilight pulled away she was blushing even more yet, Trixie had realized that she lost that engagement. She was okay with losing though, because when Twilight took charge, she went from sexy to divine goddess sexy in a heartbeat. Trixie scooted closer to Twilight and nuzzled in. This was her rightful place, and she'd not give it away for the world. No secrets, no amount of memory loss, no nothing would take this away from her. It was only after a few seconds she became increasingly aware of the fact they were not alone.

Trixie glanced at Shadow Heart. "Sorry, Trixie and Twilight are still very much a thing."

He only smiled in response. "Don't worry about it. Just seeing you happy is all I could ever ask for."

He was too kind, so kind in fact that Trixie found herself not trusting him fully. Sure she had positive memories of him and knew he was a good stallion at heart, but she also knew something was wrong here. She couldn't quite place it either, but she would accept it, for now. The mystery would unravel itself one way or the other eventually, and once it did she would have her answers.

His smile faded a little before he asked a question that seemed to send shivers down Trixie's spine, "You said you got pregnant while wearing the Alicorn Amulet?"

She nodded. "Trixie did, why?"

"Although I'm sure your fine from any further corruption, I'll ask Luna to double-check later, I need to ask how you found the Alicorn Amulet?"

Trixie bit her lower lip. "Trixie... can't remember."

He nodded. "How did you discover it in the first place?"

"Trixie... can't remember."

He leaned back in his seat and tapped his hooves together. "Do you recall anything about the Alicorn Amulet?"

"Not really, it's like Trixie found it, in some merchant's office, put it on and then she woke up later running away from Ponyville without the amulet, vague... images still in her mind of what it was like wearing it. Almost like when a pony wakes up from a dream, Trixie doesn't remember everything about it, or everything before it, or everything from when she wore it. She can hardly even remember the rock farm she was working on to get the money to purchase it... though Trixie suspects she didn't actually purchase it."

Twilight's body had stiffened once more. She looked down at Trixie. "Trixie, are you okay?"

Trixie nodded. "Trixie is fine. She has you, she has Applebutter, she has friends and a home."

Shadow Heart let out a sigh. "I suppose I can't keep all of our secrets from you, not if they'd already put you at risk like this."

Trixie looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Shadow Heart nodded. "Do you remember being my assistant?"

Trixie could recall a few very vague memories, and one very striking one of helping him as he sought after and defeated the dark things that Celestia chose to ignore. "Yes, we fought the darkness, the shadows cast by Celestia's holy light."

He nodded. "One of those tasks we had was to archive ancient artifacts. One such artifact was of course the Alicorn Amulet. You had touched it, and its power had infected you. Something I didn't catch, but it happened. We had attempted to destroy the amulet, but it got lost somehow. I feared we'd never find it again, or maybe I was hoping we wouldn't let that dark thing remain in the shadows forever I say. It would seem you had bonded with it though. Celestia was supposed to remove it from your heart and your mind, to keep you safe you see, but it seems she failed."

Trixie looked over at Twilight. "Maybe she failed, but Twilight succeeded."

Twilight smiled softly. "Thank you."

He looked over at Luna. "If you don't mind, I'm going to ask Luna to examine your heart and mind for any leftover traces of darkness. I just want to make sure you are safe."

Trixie's nightmares about her baby came to the forefront of her mind. "The amulet won't have affected Trixie's baby would it?"

He offered a weak smile. "I, don't think so, but I can have Luna check."

Trixie nodded. "Please, Trixie couldn't bear it if anything happened to her baby. She needs her baby."

Twilight added. "We need our baby. I'm going to be a mommy too you know."

Trixie nuzzled back into Twilight's neck. "Yes, you will be. Trixie promises."