"A...what?"
It was all Twilight could think to say. She was still off balance from dealing with whatever was wrong with the locals. Twilight tried to think of what an ‘Information Lockout’ could be, but nothing was coming to her mind. She had no idea what it could be, assuming she ever knew in the first place. She made to get up, if for no other reason than to see who this was. Whoever they were, she seemed familiar with Twilight.
Rising from the ground, Twilight looked ahead. The pony that the voice belonged to on the other side of the dumpster was slowly revealed as Twilight stood.. The first thing she saw was a unicorn horn. A blue one...
Her eyes widened immediately as a derisive laugh could be heard from what Twilight knew to be a mare. "And you don't even know what an Information Lockout is? Oh Twilight, you really are useless without help." She insulted, looking pityingly at the other unicorn.
"Trixie..." Twilight whispered under her breath. She couldn't believe that it'd taken her even this long to remember that voice, the one she assumed was permanently burned into her memory. She thought that no amount of time would be enough to forget, but apparently eight years was enough.
This blue unicorn, the owner of the smuggest grin Twilight had ever known, looked back at her, her amusement clear as day. "The one and only." She walked closer to Twilight, studying her features, before walking past. "With that look of utter confusion, I'd say it looks like you've seen a ghost."
She then laughed as she turned back around, Twilight having followed her with her eyes. Twilight was far less amused by the joke. "Though, that's the funny part isn't it? In our line of work, it's ironic that I see you haven't."
Twilight was upset, more than she thought she would be. How could Trixie be here, in Partyville, what did she have to gain from being here? "Why are you here?" Twilight asked, finding her voice.
At this question, Trixie raised an eyebrow, though she never lost her grin. Twilight felt her scowl returning. "Well now, that's the million dollar question, isn't it? What would a seasoned professional like myself be doing in such a lovely district as this one?" Trixie inspected the alley as she spoke, a particular piece of wall graffiti seemed to catch her interest. "There's so many places I could be; purging an infestation for the clans, tracking down a Sight, inscribing runes for somebody with more money than sense, I'm a busy woman after all. But I find myself here, why?"
Twilight couldn't help but feel a headache forming, Trixie was always bragging about how successful she was, about how much better than Twilight she was. It didn't matter how much time had passed, she'd never change. Twilight felt she had changed though, and while in the past she might get fed up and attempt to assert some kind of dominance, nowadays she was better than Trixie, she'd matured.
She wasn't just some kid that had a tantrum every time somebody upset her: Twilight was smarter than that. And while she may have just had a bit of a panic attack, a small one, she was feeling better. "Maybe you're just lying abo-"
"Oh I wonder," Trixie interrupted, probably knowing exactly what was about to be said, "What could possibly be worth my valuable time? Perhaps an old friend?"
That did it. "Friend?! We were never friends!" Twilight yelled, a vein forming on her forehead as she stomped a hoof into the ground in front of her.
Trixie just grinned. "No, we weren't, but we were partners once upon a time."
"Nobody cares!" Twilight almost said, but thought better of herself; they both knew that Trixie just wanted to get under her skin, just like she always did when they worked together. That did beg the question, though, of why was Trixie suddenly talking to Twilight after eight years of nothing? After a moment to calm down, Twilight narrowed her eyes. "What do you want with me right now?"
This got another laugh from the blue mare, her swirling toothpaste-coloured hair bouncing slightly with the movement. "Am I not allowed to come say hello to the great Twilight Sparkle? Has she gotten so powerful that I'm not worth her time?" She held her hoof to her forehead in mock offense.
Twilight was not amused, she wanted nothing more than to just no longer be anywhere near Trixie. Eight years wasn't long enough, and that was no more apparent than right then. Unfortunately for her, Trixie had information. She knew about whatever was going on, about why everyone is town was suddenly cold and closed off. But how could she ask about it without giving Trixie some kind of leverage over her?
That superiority complex was bad enough, she didn't need to lord her answers over Twilight's head as well. "What's an information lockout?" That was the question, that was what Twilight needed to know. She could guess what it was based on context clues, but she needed specifics in order to do anything about it, and she hadn't read anything about it the entire time she was researching earlier. So either it wasn't written about, or Trixie was full of it.
Well, Trixie may have been full of herself, but she wasn't a liar. If she claimed to know something that meant she did. Then again, had she? She was a master of word use, so did she actually claim to know what that was? Twilight inflated slightly, now having an in. "Do you even know what an Information Lockout is?"
The immediate laugh made Twilight deflate again. "Oh Twilight, how naive you are, trying to outsmart me. It's adorable really." Trixie brought her hooves to squeeze Twilight's face; the purple unicorn shot away from the touch before either of them could blink. "The only way you're getting through this conversation is by doing what I want."
"Who do you think you are?" Twilight thought in defiance. But she already knew, Trixie was the grand Hunter extraordinaire of Vaultly! There was nobody better. It made Twilight's blood boil, or at least it used to. She’d always told herself she changed, that she wasn't the same angry girl she used to be. Twilight was approaching her 30's, this was child’s play.
Trixie raised an eyebrow ever so slightly and leaned in to say, "Silence is unbecoming of you, you were never this speechless before." Twilight almost didn't think anything of the comment, but then, out or nowhere, Trixie grinned quite darkly. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're in over your head."
"WHAT?!" That did it. Who did this bitch think she was? Twilight had been a Hunter for fourteen years! "What did you just say to me? In over my head? WHAT?!" Picking something up from the alley floor in her magic, Twilight flung it at Trixie fast enough to do serious damage. It never made impact.
Trixie's own magic easily deflected the projectile, as well as the next three Twilight decided to follow up with. Trixie rolled her eyes at the effort before giving an exaggerated yawn. "I do know better though, and what I know is that Twilight is well aware of what's going on, isn't she?"
The purple unicorn in question had stopped throwing things, but her teeth were grinding in anger, and her eyes were staring harshly at Trixie. "She hasn't been sitting around all these years, oh no, she's been keeping busy, and knows everything there is to know about being a Hunter." She began to walk around Twilight slightly as she spoke, "So as the gracious person I am, I'll allow her to enlighten me in just what a Lockout is."
Twilight was having trouble keeping herself from beginning to scream, but using every ounce of willpower she had, she managed to force a single sentence out through her unmoving teeth. "What is an Information Lockout, Trixie?"
Trixie raised her hoof to her chest in over-exaggerated surprise. "Oh, Twilight, are you even slightly suggesting the mere idea that you don't know what that is?" The shit-eating grin never left her face. "And here I thought you knew more on the subject than I did! Well, since you asked so nicely, I can't help but impart my wisdom to my old assistant."
Using her magic, Trixie pulled up a wooden crate from further in the alley to sit on, before silently motioning for Twilight to take a seat as well. when the purple unicorn didn't move, Trixie merely shrugged and got comfortable on her crate. "An Information Lockout, my dear Twilight, is what the learned among us have dubbed the phenomenon of being excommunicated by the local community."
Twilight was still just barely keeping herself from wrapping her hooves around the neck of her old partner, but she listened; it was useful information after all. "Specifically, it relates to a Hunter and a ghost community. When they find out one of us is nearby and seeking answers, they'll instill the local Breathers with aggression, noncompliance, and furthermore just an overall sass that's hardly appreciated."
"There's two main causes of a Lockout, both bringing with them some interesting implications." Trixie smiled smugly, "Twilight, just what have you been up to?"
Twilight was getting close to losing her mind: just having to spend these horrible couple minutes having to listen to this voice again was reminding her of all the days that Trixie would be there, talking down to her, making her feel like shit, constantly going on and on about how little Twilight actually knew or was able to handle. It was the exact reason she left in the first place.
The five years she spent learning under Trixie would probably haunt her for the rest of her life. Maybe not the voice, since Twilight had apparently forgotten that, but not the self-esteem issues. It was because of this bitch that she was so untrusting. So hesitant to talk to anyone, and especially for her fear of rejection.
But Twilight stopped, mid thought, when it occurred to her that she didn't actually need to deal with Trixie, not anymore. She could leave just like last time, so she did. Being angry was bad for your coat anyway. As she turned to walk away, though, she heard a laugh from behind her. Twilight exhaled through her nose before stopping again.
"Do you really think it's just that easy, Twilight?" came the harsh cutting question Twilight despised hearing. "The Colonies here are beyond you and your little pet dragon. Significantly so. While you could have gotten away with being so sloppy back in Vaultly, mistakes like yours won't cut it here."
Twilight was shaking, her head hanging down in an attempt at appearing calm. In truth she was far from okay. "Partyville is out of your league Twilight, give up. There's nothing for you here except more failure and disappointment. You're wasting your time, and quite frankly, everyone else’s."
"The only thing that will happen is you'll get yourself Bound or killed. And after that all Hunters will have to go into hiding because of your stupid mistakes. The balance will be toppled and the ghosts will take over. Is that what you want? To be responsible for the loss of our position on the city stage?"
She wasn't crying. She wasn't crying. She wasn’t. She wasn’t crying because she learned long ago that it served no purpose, it just made things worse. Showing weakness to anyone meant it'd be exploited by everyone. That's why she wasn't crying. No, what Twilight was doing was seething. She was breathing heavily, eyes seeing nothing but red. A small voice in her head told her she was just wasting time, but it was by far the quietest among every facet of her mind. Everything else told her to do one thing.
Twilight turned around, walked directly towards Trixie, brought back her hoof and swung it at the blue unicorn's jaw.
Or at least she thought she did.
When her vision came back into focus, she saw the blue magical field around Trixie, one that was probably put up in defense. She was unharmed, her stupid face remained unchanged in every regard except one. Trixie's face was completely serious, the grin was gone, and there wasn't an ounce of amusement in that stern glare.
Twilight took a step back, reeling both from the shift in expression and the pain in her hoof from hitting a magical field as hard as she could. Trixie, instead of being angry herself, looked impatient. It almost felt like instead of dealing with somebody attacking her, she was looking at a child throwing a tantrum.
"You don't get it do you?" Trixie asked, the air around her intense and bearing down on Twilight, "There's something bigger going on. This Lockout? The fact that it happened less than a day after you showed up? It's a sign that there's somebody pulling the strings. Somebody more powerful than any one Hunter."
Trixie stared directly into Twilight's eyes. "If you don't stop what you're doing you'll endanger everyone. No games, no jokes, nothing. Look me in the eyes and tell me you'll stay away from the farmer."
Twilight...felt something. She'd never seen Trixie this serious before, this scared. It frightened her. "The only thing more powerful than a Hunter is an Executioner, and they..." The thought made Twilight shiver, there was nothing more bone-chillingly terrifying than an Executioner, especially one that was working against the Hunters. She looked directly into Trixie's eyes and nodded. "I'll stay away from the farmer."
"Good. I don't know what an Executioner wants with a Bound farmer, but there's nothing you can do about it," Trixie finally said, before letting a silence fall on the alley way. Twilight slumped to the ground, emotionally exhausted, and Trixie sat back down, when had she stood up? Twilight didn’t know.
The silence lingered for several minutes before Trixie looked down at Twilight, irritation forming in her usually condescending eyes. "Because I don't trust you," she said, Twilight slowly lifting her head to look at Trixie, "I'll let you know what you can do something about."
"I'm listening." Twilight finally spoke, having been speechless for almost the entire encounter.
"A filly named Applebloom hired me to kill you, so she's probably worth looking into." Trixie stood up and started walking out of the alleyway, "And one final thing: if you screw this up, and anger the Executioner, I'll personally see to it that you're buried in multiple districts."
And just like that, Twilight was alone with her thoughts. The death threat from Trixie was nothing new, still intimidating of course, but nothing she wasn’t used to, just another part of her day. Somebody actually being hired to kill her wasn't though. Just who the fuck did Applebloom think she was?
Twilight had some words she wanted to share with that bow-wearing little bitch.