Cast your mind back long ago, Twilight, before you or I were born. My father, Jack Pot, used to bring his travelling show to Transylmaneia regularly as well. He performed for the common ponies and for the nobility, even royalty. He was invited to perform for Queen Heartslash, and over time his magic show became a regular feature at the palace. As a commoner, an outsider and a non-batpony, the nobles all mocked him. But the Queen became fond of him, became friends with him… even became rather more than friends with him, if you know what I mean? Wink, wink.
The Queen always enjoyed his visits. But then one time when he came by again, there was a newborn royal foal… but the Queen wasn’t married. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, I didn’t have bat wings, did I? And the Queen wouldn’t want to face questions about how this foal came to be a unicorn rather than a batpony. Trixie would not be a convenient royal foal for the Queen to have to explain to her subjects.
So with heaviness in her heart, the Queen resigned herself to never seeing her child again. Jack Pot found himself with a filly to take care of while running a travelling magic show, but he was up to the task, and he taught me everything he knew. But when our tours brought us back to Transylmaneia, he thought it would be best if he avoided the palace and stuck to touring the outlying areas.
The Great and Powerful Trixie was an adept student, and learned all she could from her father. When Jack wanted to settle down, Trixie loved the travelling magician’s life too much, and so set off with his blessing running her own magic show. I toured Equestria and made a name for myself in my own right.
The life on the road is a rewarding but hard one; it’s tough to make friends. It was in Ponyville that your student Starlight Glimmer trusted me enough to become my friend, and having a soulmate here in Ponyville made my travels sweeter. So I started making friends with other ponies in the places I travelled to.
And I always enjoyed visiting the bat country. I love it when you’re just travelling up the mountain trail towards Transylmaneia and the sky turns dark with the Penumbra… you know about the Penumbra, Twilight?
“Why yes, Trixie, I do know about the Penumbra, Trixie.” Twilight’s tone was biting. “Do you know why I might know about the Penumbra, Trixie? Do you think, Trixie, that it might be that the Penumbra has been expanding beyond the bounds of Transylmaneia, Trixie, and threatens to cover all of Equestria in a blanket of endless night? Do you think that might have something to do with it, Trixie?”
Trixie sulked. “I was just telling the story…”
“Well, your story is exactly why you’re here now stuck in this room with me, and for that matter why I’m here now stuck in this room with you. So why don’t you carry on telling your story and we might get to the bottom of this before the Transylmaneian night takes over the whole world!”
Trixie gave Twilight an insincere smile. “Do you want to take a couple of deep breaths first?”
Twilight’s eye twitched. She didn’t quite trust herself to speak, so she settled for glaring at Trixie, who shrugged.
“Suit yourself. Now, as I was saying…
That brings us back to this latest tour. I have made friends in one or two Transylmaneian towns, which is why I headed to Whickerton to see Tatterdrop. I wouldn’t say she’s as close a friend as Starlight, but she’s still somepony I look forward to seeing whenever I’m in the province; and I figured if anyone would let me in on what was going on, it’d be her.
And when she did explain... It was shocking to hear that Queen Heartslash was sick, and the province was having to make plans for her to not be around much longer. And the question naturally arose, was it time to give the Transylmaneians the princess and heir that they needed? Could Trixie rule this land and lead it to greatness? And once I put it like that, the answer was obvious.
“The answer’s obvious to me too, but I’m not sure it’s the same answer,” Twilight muttered under her breath.
“What was that?” asked Trixie sweetly.
“Nothing!” said Twilight hastily. “But there’s something I’ve been wondering. I know you didn’t have bat wings last time I met you. You said yourself you didn’t have bat wings as a foal. Why — and for that matter, how — did you get them now?”
“Why, Twilight. Is it too much for you to believe that I ascended to alicornhood? Are you that jealous of your uniqueness?”
Twilight looked at the green crystal, then looked pointedly back at Trixie. “Could you rephrase that in the form of a statement, please?”
“I’d hope that the Princess of Friendship could believe that the Great and Powerful Trixie might be the next alicorn to join her august ranks…”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed to slits. “A statement with no dependent or subordinate clauses, please.”
Trixie gave a theatrical sigh. “Ah, trust is always the first casualty… Fine. Although I might hope that you might believe I earned my wings in the natural way… the truth is that I’m an illusionist by trade, and I don’t make all my own props; I know a couple of artisans and costumiers.” She smiled at her interrogator, and splayed her bat wings high, in a manner that would be intimidating if she hadn’t just admitted they were fake. “I needed the wings to have some motive ability, so that’s controlled by a little button under my knee here, you see? All a matter of knowing the right costumier with a flair for the dramatic.”
“I imagine the two of you must get on famously.”
Trixie ignored the barb and continued, “The ‘why’ is pretty easy as well. I was preparing to make my grand debut as the long-lost princess of Transylmaneia and win the hearts of the commoners and nobles alike. Obviously that’d be easier the more they thought I was one of them. The less often I had to explain my time outside Transylmaneia, the better.”
“So you admit you deceived the citizens of Transylmaneia?” exclaimed Twilight, watching the verity crystal carefully.
“It was only a little deception. I knew it was for the good of the people,” Trixie replied breezily.
The crystal was still a cheerful green. Telling me the truth about having lied in the past… okay, I guess it makes sense that’s green, Twilight thought. But I need to watch her words carefully.
Out loud she asked, “So was it as simple as marching up to the palace and revealing yourself to be… the queen’s long-lost filly?”
“Not exactly…
I decided it was worth starting small. I went to Batlanta, a town I hadn’t toured much with my magic show. That’s a city with a great divide between the rich and the poor, let me tell you. One of the skills you pick up as a travelling magician is identifying the character of different districts of a town. So I found a watering hole in a poor neighborhood, and asked them how they were feeling about the Queen’s illness. Sure enough, they were worried. I asked how they’d feel if the Queen’s lost filly were found, and although they didn’t believe it’d ever happen, they said they’d love it.
With a dramatic twirl I removed my cloak and flexed my wings, flaring my horn at the same time for emphasis. The reaction was everything I’d hoped for. “She’s... here?!” “It’s the princess!” “Can it be?!” Not everypony believed, even in the face of the horn and wings, but enough that I started to believe I could really do this thing.
Obviously I stood up and gave a magnificently inspiring speech. Dawning of a new era, justice for the downtrodden, yada yada, you can imagine the rest.
But even with some fine artificial wings, one does not simply walk into Nightcrag and claim the throne. For one thing, it’d be good to track down my other friends so I had more of a party to travel with.
And for another… I didn’t want to just depose Queen Heartslash, I wanted to meet her. All my life, I’d… never had anypony to call mother. Could I go up to this mare who rules Transylmaneia with an iron hoof, and just become family with her, for whatever time she had left? I wasn’t sure whether I even wanted that. But I wanted to at least meet her and find out what she was like for myself.
So no, I didn’t just march up to the palace and reveal myself. I took my wagon from Batlanta to Hackabout and on to Whickerton, gathering friends each time. I brought my little group of followers up to Tatterdrop’s bakery and told them to wait for me outside. When I went in, I saw Drifting Melody was hanging out there as well… I think it’s where she sits to relax when she’s not playing music. That was helpful — it meant I didn’t need to talk to both of them separately.
I caught both of their attention and proclaimed, “Tatters. Melody. It’s time you know the truth. I am the princess of Trotsylvania.”
Tatterdrop was… less impressed than the bar patrons had been. But that’s one of the things I like about her too. Drifting Melody… it’s hard to tell quite what’s going through her mind, if anything. She can come across as spacey, but I think she understands more than she lets on.
It was Drifting Melody who spoke up first. “Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”
“I liked being a travelling magician. The Great and Powerful Trixie did not want to be chained to a throne. But… having seen the way you get treated by the nobles, and with what you were saying about the Queen being sick… I realised it was time to face up to my responsibilities and defend you. The situation is the same across all Trotsylvania, and somepony needs to champion the cause of the oppressed.”
Tatterdrop wasn’t impressed. “So you’re here to protect all the poor ponies of this land now?”
“Basically, yeah.”
“And you think you can just march up to the palace and they’ll welcome you with open hooves?” Sometimes Tatterdrop reminds me of you, Twilight. That’s a compliment!
Drifting Melody saved me from any more withering comments from Tatters, by saying, “I like your wings. They’re pretty.”
I said, “Thanks!”
“Does that mean the gargoyles will obey you now?” she said, and added, “I like gargoyles.”
That I had no idea about. “We’ll have to see!” I declared. “So will you join me?”
“What do you want us to do?” asked Tatterdrop sceptically.
“Come up to Nightcrag with me. Help me claim my rightful place as the ruler of Transylmaneia. I don’t know what will happen in the capital, but I know I could use some friends there.”
Well, it took a little arranging and persuasion, but they agreed. And so it was finally time to go to Nightcrag.
...There’s lots to explain about what happened in Nightcrag too, but… is there any chance I could get some food? We’ve been in here a while...
“All right. I guess that’ll be all for now.” Twilight put away the scroll on which she’d been taking copious notes. “There’s more to hear, so we’ll need to get you back in here tomorrow. But for now you’re free to go.”
She glanced at the verity crystal, which had maintained its green radiance the whole time through. “Thank you for telling the truth to me.”
Trixie gave Twilight a comradely grin as they walked towards the door. “Well of course I did! You can trust me!” She closed the door behind her, leaving the red glowing crystal in the empty room.
Rarity cleared her throat. “Thank you for coming, Baroness Ethereal Requiem.”
The batpony in question gave Rarity a glare full of disdain and replied icily, “That’s Princess Ethereal Requiem!” This chamber in the Castle of Friendship had plenty of furniture, but the occupants were both standing. And despite Rarity’s best disarming manners, the air in the reception room was distinctly frosty.
“Ah… My apologies, Princess.” Rarity gave a conciliatory bow. She had, of course, noticed the visitor’s tiara as soon as she arrived: it managed to be both subtle and ostentatious, in a way Rarity couldn’t help but admire. “But I was given to understand you aren’t exactly currently occupying the throne?”
“I should be,” growled Ethereal Requiem. “And I will be. The blame for the delay lies squarely at the hooves of the upstart Trixie Lulamoon. How much has she told you about her meddling in Transylmaneian affairs?”
“I’ve read her first statement, which has been validated by this verity crystal.” Rarity gestured towards the device, which had been relocated after Twilight’s conversation with Trixie. “But there are some details I’d like to clarify with you…”
“Good,” Ethereal Requiem said, and since Rarity was watching her closely, she noticed an understated but savage grin. “Verity crystal or no, I would wager there are many key facts which that charlatan omitted. Did she even tell you that there were two of us in line to the throne, and we both had to garner support from the court to prove our worth?”
Ethereal Requiem had in turn been watching Rarity’s face closely, and gave a grim smile as she continued, “It appears she did not. As I suspected. I believe the time has arrived to tell my side of the story...”