The Magician's Bubblegum

by Starlitomega


Celebration

The atmosphere at Sugarcube Corner seemed to buzz in anticipation. Ponies were already milling about outside, lining up and peering in through the window to watch the future party take shape. She recognized several of them trying to sort them in the categories of ‘ponies who still seemed to hate her’ and ‘ponies who were tolerating her presence.’ At first she was surprised to see a few from the former list until she remembered that the draw of a Pinkie Pie party was second only to free food in Ponyville. Trixie was so engrossed in this that she barely noticed when the bakery fell deathly silent.

“Ya’ll might wanna take cover, Sugarcube,” Applejack said, gently tugging Trixie’s shoulder.
It was only now that Trixie noticed that the other ponies present were hiding behind the tables, the counter, chairs, and anything that would at least partially obscure them. The peculiar scene reminded her of magic kindergarten when they did regular drills to duck under the desk in case of spontaneous explosive magic discharge.

“Does everypony know something I don’t?” Trixie asked. She already knew the answer was yes, but knew she had to ask the question anyway. It was the same force that made a solitary wheel roll out of a wreck, or the last dish spin to a halt after a kitchen disaster.

Applejack pulled her behind the table with a much firmer hoof this time. “We know that you never want to take a point-blank hit from Pinkie’s par-”

“Party cannon time!” Pinkie exclaimed.

She followed this exclamation by pulling a large blue canon out from her back the way one presents their wallet, or a breath mint. The problem in this scenario is that Pinkie had no pockets to speak of, and that the cannon was a fair bit larger than a breath mint.

“What in the hay is that?” Trixie shrieked.

Pinkie Pie jumped nearly three feet in the air before slamming her hoof down onto the device. It erupted with a deafening party explosion, spontaneously producing decorations, several tables and streamers at a time.

Morbid curiosity took Trixie’s thoughts. “Has anypony ever been hit by her party cannon?”

“Twilight did on one occasion,” Applejack said, her countenance grim. “She was sneezing and belching confetti for at least a week. I warned her not to be reading those books of hers before one of Pinkie’s parties.

Everypony watched as from the safety of their cover as Pinkie spread decorations all over using the cannon. As quickly as the chaos started, it stopped, and the room fell silent.

Applejack hazarded a glance above the table and then tapped Trixie on the shoulder. "C'mon up, it's safe now."

Trusting Applejack's words and her far greater experience with Pinkie Pie, Trixie slowly rose up from behind the table, letting her eyes pop up first. The cannon was no longer in sight and seemed to disappear as abruptly as it had appeared. Fluttershy, Applejack, and the Cakes all took cautious steps toward Pinkie who was busy scribbling on a banner.

"Pinkie? Why are you throwing a party?" Fluttershy asked.

The pink pony grabbed the banner with both hooves. Trixie was sure Pinkie’s front legs weren’t quite that long earlier, or the day before, or ever for that matter. As her eyes started to cross, she quickly decided that it wasn’t worth thinking about. She watched Pinkie dash to the counter, still holding the banner. Tacking up each side, the pink mare did a backflip off of the counter and tossed her hooves skyward.

"Ta-da!"

Pinkie stood below the banner on her hind legs, obviously proud of... whatever she had accomplished. The banner read: ‘Congratulations Twilight and Trixie!’

Trixie tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Seems a bit vague..."

Pinkie scoffed. "I know, right? I started by writing 'Congratulations Trixie on not being declared guilty and sentenced to hard time, and Twilight for beating a super smart pony at something you've never done before', but there wasn't enough room. So, I flipped it over and wrote this instead."

Trixie walked behind the banner and looked up at the writing. "Oh, yeah. I can see some of that..."

The front door swung open, jingling the bell wildly and drawing everyone's attention.

"Sorry for keeping you girls waiting." Twilight traipsed into the shop, stopping just in time to keep from crashing into Pinkie Pie who had suddenly appeared before her.

"Hey! It's the other guest of honor! Don't worry, Twilight, I was just going to grab some snacks and mix up the punch," Pinkie shouted as she started for the kitchen.

Trixie waited long enough for Twilight to draw a relaxed sigh before sidling up to her.

“Did you find out anything?” she asked.

Twilight shook her head with all the remorse she could muster under the circumstances, which if she were to be honest, wasn’t all that much. After all, she just decimated a courtroom legend for Trixie. She was due for a break and some gratitude. Nevertheless she put on a good show of it.

“Sorry, she wouldn’t tell me who called for her.”

Trixie frowned. “That was the best lead we had too. How hard is it to do a shimmer spell anyway?”

“Not hard. The spell isn’t difficult, but finding it is. It’s a spell that only somepony with access to the Canterlot Library could possibly learn,” Twilight explained.

Trixie furrowed her brow. She didn’t think of herself as the thinking type. Not that she couldn’t mind you, but thinking was the sort of nonsense that usually happened to other ponies. However, as she struggled to turn a new leaf and put her past behind her, she realized that she was having to think more and more all the time. It was quite tiring.

“So, who could possibly have access to the Canterlot Library?”

“Me, any of my friends, the princesses, Moondancer, and anyone she would allow in there… lots of ponies. Take away ponies with a motive, and it gets slightly easier.”

A terrible thought occurred to Trixie. One she didn’t even want to consider. “Twilight, would anypony who attended Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns have access?”

Grimly, Twilight nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

Bright pink exploded between the two ponies as reality bowled aside to let Pinkie squeeze between them. “Hey! No more frowny frowns, or gloomy gussing! This is a party, and it’s time to have fun!”

Pinkie’s legs took off before her head did, apparently a little late on getting the memo. Once all of her had arrived at the record player in the corner, loud music kicked in, filling the entire bakery. It was at this moment a thought occurred to Trixie.

“I’ve never been invited to a party,” she admitted sheepishly.

Twilight adopted a smile and threw a hoof across Trixie’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, we’ll break you in gently.”


Over the course of an hour, Trixie received a crash course on Pinkie Pie parties. Crash being the operative word. Pinkie was generous enough to give her a tour of the party, but Trixie came to the realization that the scant ten seconds of hurried speech didn’t exactly stick in her mind. Luckily enough, Fluttershy quietly and patiently showed her around. There was enough cake, punch, and snacks to sentence a pony to the dentist for decades. Games and activities were stationed all around the bakery like emergency exits. Trixie also noted the vague purple magic field that encapsulated the staircase. A magical field, Fluttershy had explained, so that the Cakes and their little ones could actually get some sleep on the night of a Pinkie Pie party.

Feeling a bit self conscious, Trixie wandered near the dance floor and began doing subtle motions that might be confused for a dance. Once she realized no one was judging her performance and that the ponies already engaged in the act looked much more ridiculous than her, did Trixie really let herself go. She bounced and threw her head from side to side, feeling the music travel through her like a lightning rod.

She was so caught up in her dancing that she barely noticed Applejack’s brother doing a rather impressive dance that one might confuse as a mating ritual for blind ponies. His legs splayed and flew out at many angles. He was so entranced, he didn’t even notice his rear hoof kick out and strike a bucket of ice on the nearby table sending it hurtling through the air. The scene looked to be in slow motion once she realized it was heading straight for Pinkie Pie. She wanted to scream, to shout, to warn the oblivious mare in some way. It was then Trixie noticed it.

Pinkie’s tail, looking like a clump of candy floss, wiggled insistently. The pink mare turned her head, clutching it in a curious manner. Her eyes flew skyward, instantly locking onto the ice bucket sailing straight for her. With speed that would make a mantis shrimp do a double take, she threw out her hooves, catching the ice bucket and the cubes that had errantly left during its flight. Like a mad queen, she crowned herself with the ice bucket and carried it to the table, placing it safely where it belonged.

“How in Equestria did she do that…” Trixie muttered, her jaw halfway to the floor.

“Pinkie sense,” replied the soft, sophisticated voice next to her.

Trixie frowned. She recognized that voice all too well. It was one that hadn’t yet been associated with terribly good memories. As much as she didn’t want to, she felt compelled to turn to its owner.

“Pinkie sense?”

Rarity nodded. “I have absolutely no clue how it works, but Pinkie Pie gets these, shudders if you will. They tell her all sorts of things.”

“Like, ‘Hey, a rogue ice bucket is about to hit me in the head’, sort of things?” Trixie asked.

“Not quite. Did you see her tail twitch?”

Trixie couldn’t help but see the bushy tail flop about. “Yes?”

“Well, that tells her something is about to fall,” Rarity explained. “She has all sorts of twitches and aches. Twilight studied her for quite awhile before conceding defeat.”

“I see…”

Rarity paused at the silence. It wasn’t a normal silence. It was the sort of silence that swallowed everything up like a black hole. In the middle of a party with more than twenty guests and a record player to boot, this silence was strong enough to cast all of that noise into nothingness, belch, and then ask for more.

“You’re probably wondering why I’m even speaking to you,” Rarity said, turning her head in a fashion that Trixie could mistake for shame.

“Well… yeah, actually.”

Rarity went through the motions of taking a seat, only stopping for a brief moment as her magic pulled a cushion to break her rump’s fall.

“This trial nonsense had me thinking that maybe I have been a bit too harsh on you. I realized that I wasn’t being generous enough in giving you a second chance.”

Trixie felt awkward. She gave the imaginary shirt around her neck a bit of a tug and threw on a friendly smile. “Even if I was under the influence of a magical amulet, I did do some nasty things. It’s only natural some ponies would be a little… upset.”

Rarity gave a sheepish smile. “As somepony else who was possessed by a magical object, allow me to say they’ve been a bit harsher to you than they were me.”

“Magical object? What kind?”

“A book.”

It suddenly occurred to Trixie that maybe there were a few magical trinkets banging about Equestria which should be better protected. Maybe Twilight could send a little to the princesses about that.

“Point is,” Rarity started, interrupting Trixie’s train of thought and sending it crashing into the valleys below. “I’ve been a bit too harsh on you. I want you to know I’m terribly sorry, and if I can make it up to you in anyway, please, just say the word.”

Giving a grateful nod, Trixie smiled. “Uhhh, well, thanks.”

The unicorn got up, taking her cushion along for the ride. “Remember though, if you get any funny ideas about splitting up our friendship or some other nonsense, I will make you regret it. Are we clear?”

“O-of course not! I mean, of course! It never even crossed my mind!”

That was a lie of course. The moment Trixie put on the alicorn amulet she thought of little else but destroying Twilight and her friend’s friendship. It was, in fact, her first move when she returned to Ponyville. However, that was before, and Trixie reasoned that since turning over a new leaf, it hadn’t really crossed her mind. Truth be told, the only evil thought that crossed Trixie’s mind was usually an act of violence against whatever awoke her before the crack of noon.

Unless they were pink.

“Ta-ta!” Rarity called out as she disappeared into the crowd of ponies.

Once again, Trixie found herself in possession of a smile that she didn’t quite understand, but enjoyed immensely. She silently hoped that many more were to come.


"Oof!"

Trixie fell face first onto the floor. Despite the nausea and dizziness, she laughed just as hard as her new friends. Slipping the blindfold up, she saw that the tail had not been placed correctly. Thanks to the power of stories, this tail had been firmly placed on the pony’s nose.

"I don't think that's where it goes!" Pinkie giggled as she fell backwards into a laughing fit.

It was astounding to Trixie. Ponies were laughing at her, and she wasn't mad, nor was she angry about it. In fact, much like the magic show, she enjoyed it. It was a different kind of laughter, one that fell in pleasant layers around her.

"You know it’s been a rough game of pin the tail on the pony when the tail on the ponies hoof is the winner," Rainbow cackled.

The peals of laughter slowly died out one by one as the fatigue of the night’s events finally hit the partygoers. Tears of joy were swept aside, sighs of contentment wafted through the crowd, and many yawns spread like wildfire.

Applejack finally stood up, having previously fallen from her attempt at pin the tail on the pony. “Ah don’t know about you gals, but I’m beat. Ah think it’s time I hightailed it back home.”

Had she been conscious, Fluttershy would have agreed with her companion. Curled up in the corner, Fluttershy had fallen into a blissful slumber. A blue aura lifted her gently from the hardwood floor and swept her onto Rarity’s back. “Poor dear let herself get carried away I’m afraid. I’ll take a detour and bring her home. Good night, everypony.”

After waving Rarity off, Rainbow Dash managed to stagger to her hooves as well, bleary eyed from the night’s revelry. “Yeah, I got cloud duty tomorrow. It sure was fun though."

"Bye girls! Take care!" Pinkie shouted as they headed for the door.

One pony stood alone by the punchbowl, quiet and contemplative.

"Are you staying late, Twilight?" Trixie asked.

The purple pony jolted, as if struck in the flanks.

"Huh? What?"

"The girls just left. You can stay the night if you like, it could be a sleepover," Pinkie offered, her eyes shining with hope like bright blue gems.

"Sorry. Maybe another time."

Trixie couldn’t even pretend to know Twilight very well. Until a couple weeks ago, she thought the alicorn a boastful and mean spirited noble pony. This, of course, was due to their personal history. Tonight, Trixie had been doing her best to read Twilight, and it was clear something was bothering her.

"You've been very distant, Sparkle. Is something wrong?"

"There is, actually. I'd like to know who was trying to frame you."

Trixie growled at the thought of the imposter. "Right. Isn't there some way we could catch them?"

"Technically, unless they try again, no... but I have an idea. Do you think I could borrow your cape?"

"Sure, if you think it will help." Trixie started to stand up, but she was quickly overcome by lingering dizziness. Her motivation faltered, and in that moment, decided it would be better to stay down.

So she did… with a muffled thump.

"Don't worry Trixie, I'll go get it," Pinkie said, disappearing in a pink blur. A moment later she returned, magical cape in hoof. "Here you go, Twilight. Take good care of it," Pinkie said, patting the alicorn's head much like Applejack would pet Winona.

"R-right. Thanks for the party, Pinkie. You two have fun." Twilight walked out the front door, Trixie's cape safely tucked away in her saddlebags.

Trixie let out an exhausted sigh. "Well, that was something. Now I know why everypony calls you a party pony."

An eerie silence fell over the sweetshop. Trixie finally rose to her hooves and looked toward the pink pony. A frown had mysteriously appeared on her once bright face.

"Pinkie Pie... are you okay?"

The edges of Pinkie's face curled up slightly. "I'm alright. I'm always like this after a party. All my friends have to go and I have to clean up. It's always a bummer."

Trixie's horn ignited with its signature red aura. She lifted several piles of trash from the floor. "You're not cleaning up alone tonight. Not after throwing me my very first ‘Pinkie Pie party’."

"It's okay. You can go to bed if you want. I'm used to cleaning by myself," Pinkie said while pulling down a set of streamers.

Over the last few months, Trixie got to learn about a mysterious force called, her conscience. It never troubled her before. Only recently did she find that this mysterious force could rob a pony of a good night’s sleep, the enjoyment of ill-gotten gains, and the willingness of taking candy from foals of a far younger age spectrum than herself. Even if she could bring herself to leave Pinkie Pie to clean up the mess, she knew that she wouldn’t enjoy a single wink of sleep the entire night. Oddly enough, another force, one much more mysterious and foreign to her told her this wasn’t an option.

"Nonsense. Trixie is going to help you clean this mess up, and she won’t hear otherwise," Trixie proclaimed. She looked up at Pinkie and gave her a smile. Naturally, Pinkie looked back at her. The pink pony's ears flopped about and she rapidly blinked her eyes like mad. "Aachoo!"

"Gesundheit," Trixie said with a smile, before returning her attention to a nearby pile of trash.


After a night of sleeping on what felt like paper towels, soft sheets were a luxury Trixie would not take for granted anytime soon. Slipping beneath the cover on Pinkie's oversized bed, she felt a shiver of happiness start at her hooves and work its way up to her very core before exiting as a contented sigh.

"What was it like?"

Trixie let the question sit in the air for a moment, not to build suspense or to wait for clarification, but more so she could properly answer the question. Summing up such an experience so hastily was not something in the long list of things Trixie felt like she excelled in.

"It was... awful. The cell itself wasn't that bad, really. It was more just knowing I was trapped. Suddenly, I realized I was helpless. I couldn't leave anytime I wished. I couldn't go outside when I liked... I couldn't even eat anything but what they brought me. I guess it felt exactly like it should. A cage."

Trixie stared up at the ceiling. The shiver of happiness she felt earlier now seemed like a distant dream. She gasped as pink filled her eyes. Pinkie had thrown her hoof around Trixie's neck. Her poofy mane brushed against Trixie's face, forcing her to smell Pinkie's bubblegum scented shampoo.

"Uhhh, Pinkie? Are you okay?" Trixie asked.

"Mmhmm. You just seemed like you needed a hug really bad."

Trixie smiled and placed a hoof around Pinkie's shoulder. "Thank you. I guess I did."

Pinkie lifted her head and pulled away, smiling all the while. Rolling over to the lamp, she switched it off, bathing the room in darkness. Through the curtains, slivers of moonlight strayed through the window, painting the floor in its glow.

"Good night, Trixie."

"Good night, Pinkie."