Despite the best efforts of my traitorous mouth, Starlight didn't withdraw the invitation.
She did give me a 'look' involving a raised eyebrow, but it was far from the worst 'look' I've had aimed at me. I told her I'd be right behind her, and urged her out of my wagon. If I was going to do this, I was going to do this. I rummaged around in my trunk until I found the (slightly battered) gift I'd thrown into it the day before, and tucked it into the largest of the hidden pockets in my hat before I rushed out the door to catch up.
As it turned out she hadn't bothered to go on ahead and was waiting for me. Together, we set off at a brisk trot towards the castle.
With every clop of our hooves on the hard-packed dirt my anxiety rose higher. The castle. Twilight's castle. Castle of one of the four alicorn princesses of Equestria, who held political and magical power that was unmatched by anypony other than Discord. Well, on the magical front, anyway. I don't think Discord dabbles in politics. Although, honestly, there were some cities where I'm not sure anypony would notice the difference if he ever did.
It figured that Starlight would be the personal student of the one alicorn princess that I'd personally offended. Twice. Or thrice. Bakers dozen at most. To be fair, I wasn't trying to offend her every time. Technically.
The rest of her friends were a concern as well. Rarity sounded like she'd buried the hatchet enough to not make a scene, but what about the others? The little dragon definitely hated me. He'd egged his friends on in the heckling, literally begging Little Miss Friendship to try to show me up. The one I'd tied up or the one I'd spun out or that pink one that bounced a lot? I had no idea. The yellow pegasus, Fluttershy? Even less of an idea. I'd only learned her name because of a specific question I'd asked after the 'incident'.
I stopped at the base of the stairs leading up to the door. The castle seemed so much bigger than the last time I was there. And darker. And more jagged. And full of danger. Starlight made it halfway up before she noticed I wasn't following her.
“Trixie?”
“This is a mistake.” I wasn't talking to her, not really. I'm not sure who I was talking to.
“Trixie, it'll be fine.”
“They hate me.”
“Oh, they hate everypony who tries to enslave them at first. They get over it.” Starlight's smile was a little nervous. “Mostly.”
“Not helping!”
“Sorry. Look, Trixie, if you really don't want to come I won't make you but…” She pawed at the stairs a little. “I'd really like it if you did. And, and if you're not welcome then… then I'm not welcome either!”
“Starlight-”
“No, I mean it!” She stomped her hoof on the crystal step with a snow muffled clop. “You're my friend and I'm not going to have you left out.”
I looked up at the looming spires of the castle. Twilight was in there along with all her little minions. The slightest show of weakness, even just one hoof out of line, and they'd pounce, I was sure of it. I'd been in such a rush that I only had the hoofful of smoke bombs that I kept tucked into the lining of my hat. And the other hoofful in my mane. My police check-ins got a lot more complicated when I forgot to leave those in my wagon.
...But wouldn't it be just wonderful if I could manage to pull off a normal evening right under Little Miss Friendship's nose? Oh, I bet that would just burn her, to watch me at her party, with her student-
No.
I was not going to turn this into another feud with Twilight. Not this time. This was for Starlight, for me, not her. I'd made that mistake once already, and it had nearly cost me the best thing that had happened to me in years. Never again.
“Alright,” I said. I started up the stairs with muzzle held high. “But only because you asked so nicely.”
I was mostly worrying for nothing, as it turned out. Starlight hadn't been kidding when she said half of Ponyville was taking part. I don't think anypony even really noticed us coming in. It probably helped that I didn't announce myself with fireworks. Or loud bragging. Or dark magic.
Starlight lead me to the heavily laden snack tables, insisting that I had to try the cider. There were several large barrels of it on offer, all being overseen by a hulking, red, wall of a stallion wearing a sturdy yoke.
“Applejack's family makes it. Everypony in town is crazy about it. You should see how worked up Rainbow got earlier...”
It was good. Very good. Good enough that I was mildly perturbed when the red behemoth answered my request for a second mug with an emphatic “Nnnope!”
“Sorry, one mug each,” Starlight said as she dragged me away from the cider table with her magic. “Apparently there are supply issues. The punch is pretty good though.”
“Ugh. Fine. Now put me down.”
The punch was… acceptable. Enough for a few glasses worth, anyway. I shot a few looks at the cider stallion while I drank it down, idly wondering just what it'd take to get him to look away from the barrels for a few minutes. The dessert table got my mind off cider for a while. I was always wary of buying anything but raw ingredients in Ponyville. Given my history, I wouldn't be shocked if somepony I'd particularly victimized decided to do some... 'tampering' to punish me.
“Pretty good stuff, huh? A lot of it's from Sugarcube Corner. Mr. and Mrs. Cake make some fantastic cakes. So does Pinkie… usually. I wouldn't eat the yellowish-green ones if I were you. I like pickles as much as the next pony, but in cupcake form? Not so much.”
Starlight and I basically spent most of the evening that way. Sampling the various foods and drinks, talking about magic and stage magic and whatever else came up. I saw her of course. And her friends. Every so often Starlight would break away for a moment to speak to one of them. When she did I'd hang back and make a point of being very interested in something else. Each time this played out she'd give me this disappointed look. Not a 'look', just a glance with a twinge of some kind of unhappiness that I wasn't making friends. Perhaps someday I'd humor her. Someday when I could look at them without gut wrenching guilt.
“Come on,” she urged after the fourth time this happened. “Isn't there anything you want to say to anypony?”
“No.”
“You can't just avoid them forever. They're my friends. Sooner or later you'll have to interact with them. I can't just pretend they don't exist every time we hang out.” I glowered at my half empty glass of punch. “Just one of them? It doesn't have to be Twilight.”
I sighed. “Fiiiine.”
Starlight beamed. “Great! I know just-”
“But I'm picking!” Her smile faltered.
“Uh-” I ignored her and scanned the room. I did have something to say to one of them. Something other than ashen-flavored apologies, anyway. She was a little hard to spot, tucked away into a quiet corner well away from the main throng of ponies, like she was trying to be unnoticed.
“Her.”
Starlight followed my gaze and tilted her head in confusion. “Fluttershy? Why-?”
I was already moving. I weaved through the crowd with Starlight right on my tail, and punch still firmly in aura. I'd already rehearsed what I was going to say to her when I finally had this conversation. I wrote it out moons earlier, before I'd even met Starlight. Back then I wasn't sure I'd ever actually get the chance to say it. Now that the opportunity (or obligation) had arrived, I could finally get it done.
She didn't notice our approach until we were already in speaking distance. Up until then she'd been too busy watching the rainbow one talking with the one I'd tied up, and a group of fillies I only vaguely recognized.
“Oh, um, hello Starlight and, um… Trixie.”
“Hey, Fluttershy,” Starlight said. “Sorry to bother you but apparently-”
“Trixie has something she wishes to say to you,” I interrupted.
“Oh! Um, okay? If that's what you want.” It was hard to believe how quiet this mare was. To think that she was the one to pull it off. That I owed it to somepony that unassuming. I took a deep breath.
“Thank you.”
She stared at me with those big, blue-green eyes like she had no idea what I was talking about. Perhaps not unexpected, given the circumstances.
“Um… you're welcome?” she ventured. “...For what?”
“For escaping Ponyville and telling Princess Twilight what she needed to know to stop me.”
Comprehension dawned. “Oh! Oh, it was really no trouble. I mean, I was terrified the whole time and I thought for certain you were going to catch me but, um, it wasn't that bad. I should thank you, too.”
It was my turn to stare. “...What?”
“For letting my beaver friends though the barrier. I know you wouldn't have done it if you knew I was in the log, but it really was very nice of you to let them out when you thought they were just innocent little animals going about their business.”
“Wait, you were in that log? That's how you got out?”
“Yes. It was a little bit of a tight fit, but, er-”
I stared, open mouthed. I had assumed she'd used some hidden exit I didn't know about. Or that some unicorn had been able to find a weakness in my barrier and slip her through. Instead, she'd gotten me to just let her out. No magic, no spells, just good old fashioned guile.
Maybe Starlight's other friends weren't so bad after all.
“Oh, um-” Fluttershy looked pretty confused now. Her eyes were going back and forth between Starlight and I, as though asking her for help.
“Trixie? Are you okay?” Starlight asked.
I shook myself lightly and fixed my stage-face back where it belonged. “Trixie is tired now. She believes she will take her leave. Happy Hearth's Warming.”
“Um, happy Hearth's Warming,” Fluttershy called after my already retreating tail. I just caught her and Starlight exchanging some quick words that I couldn't quite make out before Starlight trotted back up beside me.
I could feel her eyes on me.
“Should I ask, or…?”
“Nothing important. I was just taking care of an old issue from a previous visit.”
“Isn't that what you said about visiting the police yesterday?”
My next step landed crooked. “Er-”
“Actually, I think that's exactly what you said about visiting the police yesterday. Word for word.”
And that is the downside of rehearsing.
“I think I'll call it an evening,” I said. It came out harsher and more abrupt than I'd expected.
“Wait!” Starlight hurried to get in front of me and held out a hoof. “I'm sorry, I won't pry. Just… you don't have to go yet, do you?” I shot a glance at the crowd of happy ponies. The way they were starting to sort themselves out and gather together said 'song incoming'.
“I think I've had enough of the party.” Starlight's look of anxiety got more pronounced.
“But that doesn't mean you have to go! We could, uh, take a tour of the castle?”
I snorted. “Yeah, let's just wrap ourselves in the glory of Princess Twilight's royal estate.”
“She doesn't live in all of it! I have my own room. And my own study!”
I was about to make some snarky comment to that. I'm not sure what. Something about how obvious it was that a 'student' would have a 'study'. I'd have made it work. But first I shook my head, which shook my hat, which made it slip when the object inside shifted a little in its pocket.
I had unfinished business. An unfinished plan.
“Alright.”
“Wait, seriously?”
“You may show me around,” I affirmed, casually adjusting my hat back where it was meant to be. Starlight's grin came back full force.
“Great! I won't show you everything. This place is a lot bigger than it looks from outside and, well, you've seen one broom closet you've seen them all. Seriously, Twilight has the contents itemized. There's an inventory checklist on the wall inside each one, and they're all the same...”