The damage to East Glade was extensive and it would take days merely to clean things up, much less start rebuilding what was destroyed. Luckily the damage was essentially only in property and not lives. The evacuation had gone well and the only ones left in serious condition after the attack were Gizzard, Garry, and Gullet. Thankfully now the three of them were stable and resting up just fine in the mayor’s house. A lot of other homes being destroyed meant that many of the residents at East Glade were bunking with others and things got a little cramped but the familiarity everyone had with each other kept things warm enough.
Trixie did her part to help clean up too. After everyone got done throwing her up into the air and cheering her name. Which took a while.
But now that it was in the days after and things had settled down a more somber atmosphere had taken over as everyone realized just how much had been lost. Gabriel was already floating the idea of starting a street party to try and lift everyone’s mood, and the merpony’s especially could use it considering their entire row house was smashed to pieces. Still, even with East Glade being more devastated than ever before, the people were still here, the village was still here, and they’d persevere like always. Thanks to Trixie. The outsider and her friends did their best to keep things positive in the village while things were cleaned up and the most pressing matters attended to.
She considered putting on another show but in the end actually decided against it. For possibly the first time in her life Trixie was too tired to bother with being the center of attention. And besides, the entire village got a show of her fighting the golem earlier anyways. Right now, after the many things she had gone through in East Glade, she wanted to relax and then soon get ready for her departure. No offense to anyone else, but she was more than ready to leave.
Everyone was at least giving her respect and not badgering her or asking for things at the moment, partially from gratitude and partially because they knew she deserved the time to herself after everything. This thankfully meant no more lessons, no more requests, and no more of the mayor’s kids hopping around her. Not that she wasn’t fond of them or anything. Just that they could be a little taxing.
Maybe it was just blind luck or fortune deciding to smile on the village, but while everything was being cleaned up and repaired there weren’t any monster attacks or strange weather phenomena or any other weird occurrences that struck the village. Maybe East Glade was being allowed to get some rest too. The carrot farming had been going well and the merponies had temporarily relocated to that side of the ravine, living in tents for now. Daylight’s shack was currently also being used by Vector and Speckle Wood as both of their homes had been destroyed.
It was simultaneously so quiet and busy in East Glade since everyone was just working to get things back to normal. And finally on one of those quiet mornings Trixie had for once gotten up early and walked to the mayor’s house. On the way she waved and said hello to any villager that was out and about but she stopped for no one, The Great and Powerful Trixie was going to tell the mayor that she was leaving.
“We really can’t implore you to stay any longer?” Gabriel asked her as she stood on his doorstep, his wife by his side.
“I’ll be staying the night so I still have enough time to say goodbye to everyone but I’ll be on my way first thing tomorrow morning,” Trixie replied. Her mind was made up at this point.
“I’m glad you at least came by to tell us that,” A voice from deeper inside the house said and then Gizzard hobbled into view, still bandaged up after his electroshock-therapy.
Trixie tilted up her chin and grinned. “The Great and Powerful Trixie does at least owe it all to you.”
“Please say you’ll at least come to dinner tonight? My wife and I would love to throw you a goodbye feast,” Gabriel pleaded.
The blue unicorn sighed but kept up her grin, she had figured something like this would come up and in truth she wasn’t against it. “Very well, I would be honored to have one last meal with everyone.”
“There are a lot of other guests who are gonna want to come to that dinner party,” Gizzard said to Gabriel and Giselle. “Better get ready.”
He wasn’t wrong about that.
A few other tables had to be put together, and a separate one set up for the kids in the other room, as later that night everyone got together so they could say goodbye to Trixie and enjoy one last little special event with her. Vector, her students, Senax and Vahar, Gizzard and his grandsons (even though the three of them were already here in the first place), and Daylight of course all made it to join in. There were others who might wanted to have come too but Gabriel felt Trixie would want a more personal dinner considering she was just leaving out of the blue in the first place.
“Everyone’s really going to miss their favorite hero,” Vector said as he despondently looked down at his soup.
“You most of all?” Daylight teased, trying to cheer him up.
Vector blushed in embarrassment. “Maybe just a little. I mean it’s only normal to be upset when you have to say goodbye to a friend, right?” His eyes looked over at Trixie. “And Trixie is… special. Everyone in the village would agree with that.”
“Yes, Trixie is very special. There’s no denying that,” Trixie more than willingly said about herself.
“Well Vector is right. It’s not going to be the same around here without you anymore, Trixie,” Gabriel said.
“With Goliath gone I think things’ll mostly be okay but we’ll still have to be on the lookout for any other trouble without you to rely on,” Gizzard said. “I imagine quite a few of the residents of East Glade will be worried that their hero isn’t going to be around to protect them anymore.”
“That’s what you have me here for!” Speckle Wood suddenly interjected before anything else could be said. “Gold Embrace and I are The Great and Powerful Trixie’s students, we’ll use her teachings to defend East Glade.”
There was a moment of silence at the table while the golden unicorn mare just mentioned slowly raised her hoof.
“Er, I’m just a housewife really. I only started taking the lessons out of necessity since I was one of the few unicorns in town and I didn’t want my children learning anything without my supervision. Now that Trixie is leaving and things here seem to have settled down I wouldn’t really put myself forward as a fighter or anything. I just did what I needed to at the time,” She seemed to shrink down in her seat. “Sorry about that. If I ever need to do something again I will but I don’t plan on becoming one of Gizzard’s deputies or anything.”
“Well I guess that’s fine...” Speckle Wood said. “I plan on training and developing my magic as much as possible though, I’ll definitely make you proud, teacher.” He finished, looking at Trixie with a fierce determination in his eyes.
Trixie shrugged. “You already have. You’ve all really come a long way.”
“I really can’t thank you enough though! Even more than the average villager,” Speckle Wood stood up from his seat, getting overly excited. He was more grateful to Trixie than he could put into words.
“It’s okay,” Trixie beckoned him to sit again. “All of you and everyone else, I know what things were like here before I came. So it’s only natural to feel a little anxious or get a little overly emotional about me leaving.”
“You’re very good at twisting everything to make sure it comes back to you,” Daylight said as she took a sip of water.
“I am the pony of the hour after all,” Trixie glared at her.
Daylight smirked at her. “Oh yeah? Well sorry, but Senax and I have to steal a bit of your thunder.”
Trixie looked over at the leader of the merponies, who awkwardly smiled back at her. Everyone else at the table was surprised too, even Vahar, they didn’t know what Senax had to say. The green-maned merpony’s tail was swishing around behind her and she shifted back and forth in her seat a few times, it seems whatever she had to talk about was a big deal and it was making her pretty nervous. She took a drink of water and gulped it all down quickly before breathing deeply.
“Okay… I’ve decided that I’m going to be leaving the village as well,” The merpony leader said.
Immediately Gabriel and Vector bolted up, accidentally knocking over their chairs, Vahar’s jaw dropped and everyone else except Daylight wore a measure of surprise on their faces. The mayor was stuttering as if he couldn’t find his words and Vector was just looking back and forth between Senax and Daylight.
“But, but, but… what?” Gabriel finally said.
“Yeah, “what” is right. What do you mean you’re going to be leaving?” Vahar asked the other merpony.
Senax closed her eyes and took another deep breath to calm herself down. Exhaling, she opened her eyes and turned to Vahar.
“I’m sorry for revealing this here but I do plan on telling the others soon. It’s something I’ve only just recently decided on for myself,” Her eyes drifted to Trixie. “And it’s thanks to you that I’m doing this, Trixie.”
“Me?” Trixie pointed a hoof to herself.
“Yes, you,” Senax smiled. “For too long we merponies have been away from our true home. I’m finally going to go search for it. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to find it but I’m going to try.”
“Our ancestral home has been completely lost to myth...” Vahar pessimistically muttered.
“Even if that may be the case it did exist. And whatever is left of it is somewhere in the Grand Ocean,” Senax persisted. “We were all content to live here for the rest of our existences, but East Glade is not the kingdom created by Ponyseidon where merponies belong, as nice of a home as it has been. Trixie… her coming here and showing me what just one pony can do with a little determination and will, she’s inspired me to finally act.” She turned in her seat and took Vahar’s hooves in her own. “You will lead the merponies here while I am away. And when I do find our lost home I’ll return and take you all back with me.”
Vahar was quietly crying as Senax finished up but she nodded all the same. “Okay. You just better come back, cause I’m gonna want to show you how much better I’ve gotten at magic tricks too. Will you be taking the Horn?”
The merpony leader bit her lip but nodded too. “Yes, it may be important and help me with finding our home. Or at least a trace of something.”
“Well I’m happy for you all but I have a question,” Gizzard said, cutting between them. “What does this have to do with Miss Daylight?”
“Oh, right,” Senax got herself back in order and smiled at the white unicorn. “I will be traveling with Daylight Gleam. Since I’m not exactly worldly I thought it would be a good idea to tag along with someone who has been all over, and it turns out Daylight was planning on going to the Grand Ocean soon as well anyways.”
“You were?” Vector asked, looking at her with big, puppy-dog eyes. Obviously upset that so many were going to be leaving in short order.
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Vector, I was. I’ve already stayed in East Glade for far too long and there are still people I promised a friend I would look for. First I’m heading up north right into Bug Bear territory though. There’s a griffon by the name of Gilbert I was asked to find out about and that’s the last place anyone heard of him going. So sorry, Senax, but our trip is gonna be a little crazy before we actually head out to the Grand Ocean.”
Senax shook her head. “That’s alright, I knew from the beginning that this was going to be a long trip.”
“Everyone’s leaving...” Vector sighed, hunching over the table.
“Sorry Vector,” Daylight apologetically shrugged.
“Bug Bear territory huh? Well good luck up there, Bug Bears are nasty,” Trixie said to Daylight.
“Yeah, not looking forward to it but oh well. And besides, pretty sure I’ve dealt with worse things in East Glade by now anyways,” She answered.
“Hummm...” Vector let out a big exaggerated sigh as his chin rested on the table like a dog begging to be taken on a walk.
Daylight groaned. “Vector, I know you’re not used to it but you’re gonna have to accept the fact that friends leave sometime.”
Trixie nodded. “My assistant is right. Trixie has often had to say goodbye, temporarily or not, to many on her travels. It’s unfortunate but her life choices mean that even her best friend back in Ponyville is sadly robbed of her presence for long stretches of time.”
“I’ve just never had to say goodbye to a friend before, and now not only are you going but Daylight and Senax as well?” Vector gloomily said. “You’re the most amazing pony I’ve ever met, Trixie. I was already sad enough knowing you would be leaving one of these days...”
Trixie got out of her seat and walked over to Vector, affectionately patting him on the shoulder. “If it makes you feel any better I promise to come back someday. East Glade deserves another show.”
“You really will?” Vector looked up at her with a hopeful expression.
“Yes, I promise,” Trixie couldn’t help but roll her eyes at his childishness. It was endearing though.
Just then the door leading into the next room swung open and five kids fell onto the floor. It seems the mayor’s and Gold Embrace’s children had been listening in the whole time. The five pushed and stepped over each other trying to get up while their parents just watched in embarrassment. Finally, one of the twins (impossible for any but their mother to tell which one specifically) extricated himself from the mess and ran over to Trixie.
“Miss Trixie! Are you really leaving?!” He asked her.
The other four finally got themselves untangled from each other and ran over to join him, crowding around and jumping up and down at her.
“Is it true? Is it true? You’re not really gonna go, right?” Gabriel Jr. asked her.
“Hold on just a second!” Trixie, for who knows how many times since coming to East Glade, had to push the kids away from her. “I’m sorry to say but yes, it’s true. I’m leaving first thing tomorrow morning. But like I just explained to Vector I’ll be back one day.”
“But what about our magic lessons!” Both Gold Box and Gold Fortune asked at once.
Trixie looked to Speckle Wood. “I’m sure Speckle Wood would be more than happy to help you with that.”
The green unicorn seemed surprised but he quickly smiled and nodded his head in affirmation. “Yes! If Trixie thinks I can do it then I’ll do my best to train you!”
“But what about the rest of us? East Glade is gonna get so boring again without you around...” Gabriel Jr. said.
“Again?” Trixie scrunched up her face at that, considering this place seemed to have regular monster attacks and had to deal with Goliath before she got here she couldn’t really imagine this place as boring ever. Must’ve been different to kids who grew up knowing nothing else. “Well be that as it may you’ll simply have to adjust. Besides, things will be different in some ways with all the great accomplishments of mine out her after all.” She glanced over at Vahar. “Why not continue practicing magic tricks with Vahar?”
“I could always use others to bounce ideas off of and test new tricks with,” The pink-maned merpony beamed.
“Well I guess that doesn’t sound so bad...” Guyaven said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Trixie was reminded that none of them really took to learning magic tricks too well. Or more accurately it was that they weren’t really interested. She smirked and herded the three over to Vahar’s seat.
“Now, now, even if you aren’t too interested in learning the tricks yourself anymore I still think it would be good for you to help out Vahar. Just think how grateful all of East Glade will be when they’ve got their own new magician?” She winked at the merpony.
Vahar blushed and turned away. “You’re thinking too highly of me right now...”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie feels it is her duty to support her burgeoning apprentice when it comes to the world of magic tricks and performance art,” Trixie shrugged.
“I don’t really think I can be called your apprentice either, but thank you,” Vahar giggled.
“It’s just lame that you’re leaving without putting on any more shows,” Gower said from beside them, the small griffon crossing his arms and pouting.
Well, he did have a point there. Part of the reason she was leaving without putting on another show was because she wanted it to be as grand as possible when she did, and she had to return to Equestria to stock up on things and bring Starlight back with her for that. She didn’t want to give East Glade something that didn’t have 110% of Trixie put into it. Not to mention it would take a while for her to perfect certain new tricks she had thought up recently…
She couldn’t muddy that grand event. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t put on a private little farewell show just for her friends here.
“You do have a point there,” Trixie said as she smiled at him… and then teleported directly onto the middle of the table. “The Great and Powerful Trixie would like to announce that she is giving you a special, one-of-a kind, once in a lifetime opportunity! As a thank you for being so hospitable and praising Trixie at every turn, she will give you one last magic show!”
Everyone at the table happily clapped for her and the children cheered, jumping up and down.
Trixie’s eyes wandered over to Daylight and the blue unicorn gave her a smug smirk. “Would my second best assistant be willing to offer some help as well?”
Daylight grimaced and her shoulders slumped. “Do I have to?”
“Yes,” Trixie frowned. “Now get up.”
After that the evening was a blur. Vector cheered and smiled the whole way through. Gizzard laughed… and then coughed. Daylight frowned and dragged her hooves through the entirety of the show. Senax quietly watched and clapped her hooves when appropriate. Vahar paid close attention and took notes the entire time. Garry and Gullet cheered once and then winced from their still not fully-healed wounds. Speckle Wood and Gold Embrace both watched their teacher’s last show with rapt attention, showing her their respect. The mayor and his wife held their talons and leaned up against each other while they enjoyed the performance. And all the kids showed the same boisterous delight that they had the first time Trixie rolled her wagon into the town’s square.
And at the end of it all, while everyone scarfed down dessert, Trixie said goodbye.
If she had any smokebombs left she probably would’ve thrown one down and teleported out the window. It would’ve made for a decent disappearing act.
The following morning things in East Glade had been completely cleaned up. There were still some holes and missing buildings in the town but thanks to the efforts of everyone the village no longer looked like a wreck. And now right at the crack of dawn, Trixie was getting ready to move her wagon and make her way out of these mountains. It’d be a long trip back to Equestria but nothing she wasn’t used to. She didn’t want to be waylaid and make a fuss with several hundred villagers so she was leaving unannounced to most, it would just drag out her departure probably another whole day if she didn’t do it like this.
With a tug of the belt she tied herself to her beloved wagon and turned to start making her way west.
Then the sound of hooves clopping on the ground reached her ears.
“Yes, Vector?” She asked without turning, merely glancing over her shoulder.
Sure enough it was the dull orange earth pony walking towards her with a smile on his face. “Guess you figured I’d want to come and give you one last goodbye. I know you didn’t want to be bothered or have to go through the motions again but I couldn’t help it.”
“It’s alright,” Trixie smiled at him. “If you want you can even walk with me a ways.”
“No, I won’t bother you any more than this,” He shook his head. “I’ve been enough of a fanboy. I just wanted to be here when you left.”
“I’ll be coming back you know? The Great and Powerful Trixie almost always keeps her promises,” She stated. Whether she was being sarcastic or not was impossible to tell.
“I know. The rest of East Glade will be looking forward to that, since they don’t know you’re leaving yet,” Vector glanced back at the town, the two of them only a short distance away from the outskirts.
“Guess you’ll have to let them down gently,” Trixie winked and started walking away.
“Yeah,” Vector stood by as the wagon pulled away from East Glade, led by the most amazing pony he had ever met. “I’ll be waiting for you, hope you have a safe trip.”
“I will!” She waved her hoof once in the air without looking back or pausing.
“Goodbye!” Vector waved after her. He stood there watching her the whole time until she disappeared out of the valley that held East Glade.
Trixie had now finally put East Glade behind her. Not for good since she would be returning, but her initial goal had been met. The meaning of her trip, having become so muddled by all the chaos of this crazy place, was to help her grow and become stronger or at the very least learn something new and unique. And with the wagon she was pulling that was absolutely overflowing with Suggestion Crystals, Trixie was pretty sure she accomplished that. Oh she could already see the look on Twilight Sparkle’s face when she got back to Equestria to show them off.