The Legend of Trixie

by Ninjadeadbeard


Day 8: Second Entry - A Command Performance

Returning to Trixie's misadventures, I'm sorry it's taken a while to get this compiled. A lot of the journal has slowly disintegrated in its tomb, so I've been painstakingly preserving the text while translating and annotating. Yeah, translating. Trixie's hoof-writing is pretty abysmal, and I think as she went on she subconsciously started using more archaic terminology. Most of it, I've fixed to be legible. Some of it, I've left. Mostly because she didn't always use it correctly, and that's hilarious!


Alright, so while Trixie may have called Hyneighria a dump before, she would like to amend that statement by stating that while it is indeed a dump, it is also full of appreciative, wonderful fans.

The day after I arrived here, I had a whole list of errands to run. I needed to get a new hat and cape made, load up on supplies for running my shows, as well as food for when I hit the road next, and buy a wagon. A traveling magician needs her wagon, after all. It’s part of the uniform.

Unfortunately, I would have to spend the morning with Sparkleshine, teaching her how to teleport, even when I myself was not an undisputed master of the technique yet. And so, at the crack of dawn right around nine-ish, Trixie had to rise from her cot and get the ball rolling.

That Swirly kid wanted to come with, and Trixie would never deny one of her fans the chance to be her go-fer, so I naturally allowed it. He helped convince the kitchen staff (both of them) that I was a big, important guest of the Mayor, which I was, which got us our breakfast for the day. Compared to most travel-food, it was alright. Stale haycakes and iffy cheese. It was no Spike-made pancakes, but then I wasn’t expecting fine dining.

You may already know this, Princess, but your Royal Adviser's cooking prowess is kind of a legend in and of itself. I remember right after my adventure with Rarity (Daring Do and the Curse of Skull-Smasher Island) he treated us to some of those pancakes Trixie's talking about.
I had pancake withdrawals after that. Just saying.

Sparkleshine was eager to begin as I entered the main hall.

“Ooh! I’m so excited!” the pink unicorn pony practically pranced

Right, enough of that. She was happy to see me. Unlike some Sparkles.

Now, teleportation is tricky magic. Not just anypony can master its secrets. That’s why only myself, the Princesses, Starlight, Shining Armor, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Disc

Not just anypony can master it. So, I gave Sparkleshine a little lecture and some demonstrations. It felt good to finally hold something over a pony that looked so much like Princess Twilight. I will admit, in my past I had something of a rivalry going with her. But then, I was mature enough to move past it, while she held the grudge long into her princesshood.

Sparkleshine, I will admit, is a natural at this magic business. Must run in the family, so at least Twilight can’t claim she’s so high and mighty just from studying. Sparkleshine was teleporting mugs and chairs within minutes. She was so happy, so full of excitement, that Trixie even got a little worried.

Genealogical records are pretty accurate for the last two-hundred years or so. But it's hard to find records of non-nobles past that, and Pre-Celestial records on families is non-existent. So, we can't prove that Sparkleshine is your ancestor, Your Highness, but there are a few myths and legends that could help. Starswirl drifted away from most everypony mentioned in this journal after a few years, so we don't have a lot from him, but he did turn me onto a few mentions of a pink unicorn who founded one of the early Sorcery Schools in the Post-Grogar Era. Might have some luck looking there.

She almost reminded me of Pinkie. And just like Pinkie, she got carried away. Thankfully, Captain Bowtie and his sister Ribbon had joined us for the demonstration. Ribbon had been happy enough to teleport her brother’s helmet across the hall, and didn’t seem like she wanted to push the envelope (not like those exist yet).

Unlike Sparkle, who decided to try teleporting herself, despite Trixie’s warnings. I panicked along with everypony else. While I would never admit this to her face, as much as our rivalry has been a thorn in my side, I would never wish actual harm onto Princess Twilight. And causing her ancestor to vaporize herself through a bad teleport would be the worst possible thing.

I’d never have met my Bestie, Starlight, without the Princess.

Thank Celestia (who isn’t born yet) Bowtie found her on the roof. Turns out, she was afraid of heights, so it would take a few hours to coax her down. I took that opportunity to get my shopping done.

Again, Swirly tagged along. I get the feeling he’s taking notes on all the magic stuff despite not writing anything down. Paper’s pretty expensive, all things considered. I showed Swirly’s mom, Page Turner, the paper-making spell my first night sleeping in her library, and she seemed super-duper happy to learn it.

Confirmation of one of Starswirl's parents' names. Something so simple, yet so mysterious. Starswirl apparently doesn't like talking about his parents. It doesn't sound like a happy ending there. Sorry.

I think I accidentally invented that spell in this timeline. I have to stop doing that.

Get used to reading that. I wouldn't put it past her to accidentally invent the spell that let unicorns move the sun and moon.

Related: Trixie makes a lot of observations about how the natural world worked back then that makes it clear, at least to a laypony like myself, that the whole planet used to take care of itself, seasons and all. Might want to cut those parts if you let this thing get published. Don't want to prop up those Climate Changers in parliament, right?


The seamstresses were on the other side of town, so I decided to turn the tables on the pipsqueak and ask him some questions.

“So, Swirly,” I said, “How’d your folks get to be the librarians around here?”

“My father was born here, in Hyneighria,” he said, after thinking it over a second or two. He tends to do that, I noticed. Paranoid little fella. “And his kin served the Sparkles for generations. But my mother came from Roam, seeing as how she’s a unicorn.”

Okay, big revelations all around. Page Turner was from Roam? And if Starswirl specifies that she was a unicorn, does that mean his dad wasn't? Again, there's no information to go on.

Roam, at least, I can elaborate a little on. The Eternal City, it was called. Trixie's right in that it's a pretty legendary place of magic and mystery. It's currently a crater since a gang of thieves activated an ancient self-destruct device while trying to steal a vault under the city (Daring Do #34: All Roads Lead to Roam). Also, sorry.

“Your mother’s… from Roam?” I was shocked! Even I’ve heard of the legendary city. It was supposed to be a unicorn-paradise, a city of wizards, at least in the stories mom told me.

Swirly nodded, “Aye, at least until they threw her out.”

“What happened?”


T̵̺̾h̸͎͂e̷͕̞̖̰̊̇ṙ̸̩͎̒̍ȩ̸̹͔̊͊̐̈́ ̸͈̮͚̙͊͛i̴͓̎͐s̵̺̝̩̲͐̽͑ ̸̱̖̺̲͑͌n̸̙̘͗̓͝ò̸̮̀͘t̶̬̗̹͓́̒̄̇h̴͙̑͛̀͝i̵̹̦̦͂n̸͚̖̗̋̄͠g̷̼̅̑̕ ̷̮̟̺̩̓̏̑t̷̼͋͛o̸̢͋̽̎͗ ̷̦̀̃̑r̸̘͉̗͎͋̉̍̾e̵̬̟̰̾͘ą̶̜͕͔̀̚ḏ̴̜̰͓̉́͠ ̸̺͕̦̥̂̂h̶̖̖͆͌ͅe̵͓̲̾̈́̉r̶̬̪̪͊͠ȇ̸̺̝͖̈́͗͆,̴̡̂̓͒̆ ̵̪̈́͑͋̅s̶̹̼͇̞̓͆̈́͛ṱ̵͖̻̱̿́o̸̞̔̈̈́p̶̞̣͈͂̎̈́ ̵͔͇͖̫̓̍̚͝ṫ̷͍̝͖̦̽̋r̷̗̣̀̓͊ÿ̸̭͛̈́ỉ̵̻͚́̅͑ň̸̫̤͂͛̄g̸̙̟͔̊̏̂.̶̰̈́T̴͔̳̈h̶̢͔̖͓͆̆̏̂ȇ̷̫r̵̛̪̲ę̸̃ ̷̦̦̖̊̀͝í̷̘̞̭͜s̷̠̫̈̆͝ ̵̮̖͈̘̔͠n̵̢̦͕̍ơ̸̳̫͉͋̾̀t̴̮͐͝h̶̨̯̮͌̈͘i̴̥̩̝̍̍̕n̷̮͒͜g̸̢͉̮̿͠ ̶̘̦̎̅̈̚t̸͍͒͆͐o̸̗͍͉̽̏ ̵̹͎̦̯̒r̶̛͍̄̔͐e̴̻͇͎͠ä̵̧́̄̈d̷̼̯̙͎̔ ̶̙̣͐̀̀͑ḧ̴̭̩̼͂̆̕e̶̜̠͑̀̋́r̷̟̭͝ȅ̸͙̬̣̾̈́̚,̴͎̫̠̝̀̒ ̴̮̭͉͑̔s̴̟̥͙͊͜ẗ̵́̌͂͊͜ỏ̵͖͂͝p̸̨͙̀̌͒͝ ̵̢͎͇̯͌̔t̶͓̹͑̆͝ŗ̴̛͍̻̂̀y̵̲͋͂̚i̶̼̥̮̥͊̓ņ̴̪͓̭͋̀̈́̄g̸̠͋̂̌͝.̴̨̧̤̹̎̽̽Ṫ̴͚̿͝h̷̙̣͑̿ę̴̛̭̦̕̕r̸̲͗̍̈ḕ̷͔͛̕ ̵͈̖͘i̷̝̰͚̦͗s̷̢̯̹͙̽ ̸̖͍̄̽͜͠n̶̖̟͌͂͒̌͜ő̴͎͖͊t̸͍͛͐h̶͍̬̻̠̉i̸͙̮͉̔̾͒ṇ̵̏g̴̱̤̟̀͘ ̴̖͜͠ẗ̴̙͍̥́͊͠ȏ̸͚̤͔̟̇ ̸͈͊͐̊r̴͓̈͌è̶̱ã̴̖̀̌͐d̷̗͎̤͈͗̐̒ ̴͇̫̩͋̽̽ͅh̷̦̬̏̔͝ẽ̴̠r̷̹̩͖̠͑̐́͝ḙ̷̲͕̥̆͌͠,̶̦͌ ̶̘̼̫̆͌̉͜s̵̗͉̳̥̎̀̊t̸̢̟͆̕ͅỏ̸͍͍̝͍͛͆p̵̢̗̗̘̑͒͝ ̶̢̐̉t̸̼͛͜͠͠r̵̰̯̃y̵͊̀ͅi̸͍͋͗ñ̵͚́g̴̳̎͛͠.̵̛͇̺̭T̶̉͌ͅh̴͓̬̍̓͂e̸̼̜̊ͅr̷̨̗̯͉̃͝ē̶͎̥̼̬͐ ̴̤̮̂̊i̶̡̹͌̓̂ś̷́̉ͅ ̴̫̤͝ṅ̸͈͛̆͊ó̷̧͚̘ẗ̷͇̺̰̲́̏͠ḧ̸͖̘̮́̆i̷̠͆̋ǹ̸̹͌̐ǵ̸̞̝ ̶͈̆͒̾͆ẗ̴̯̱́̿ŏ̴͕̼͔͊ ̷̤͇̣̳́̓ṙ̶̞̙ḛ̷̾̽̉a̴̖͠d̵̢̡͔̤̈͐ ̶̨͉̫̝͠ḩ̴̯͇̅e̷̱͍͔̿̓ṛ̸͗̿͛ȇ̷͍͂̍,̴̙̯̿͜ ̸̛͔̼̣s̷̗̮̔̀̏t̷̢̰̘̟̿͛o̷̻̰͂͜p̸͖͚̣͛̾̊̈́ ̶̞̄͂̎̏t̷͉̀̂r̸̢̟̫͆̋͂y̸̘̺̪̦̑̾ï̷̡̝̞̈́ņ̷̰̣̰̆̌͆͝g̸̭̭͚̫̅̏̓͠.̷̞͙̳͂͌͜Ț̷̓h̷̠̳̑̇͋ẽ̵̮̠̩̂̈́̔͜r̵͓̽̾̈́e̷͇̭͌̈́́ ̶͈̯͑̀̚i̷̝̼͖̋̽͜͠s̷̡͔͍͌͐̕ ̷̠̤̂̽̓͝ṋ̵̛̕o̵̡̝̼̥̓̐ẗ̵̙̻̗̘̽̈́͐h̶̻̹̲̤͆̽̍́i̷̬͝ǹ̷̢̧̫͕͋̑̄ǧ̴̤͝ ̶̣̣͙̳̋̋̇t̴͓̱͆̀̊ǫ̸̖̻̆͝ ̶̪̹͓̄̐͝ŗ̶̫̠͗̇̚͝e̸͇̺͎͆̈́́å̶̺͍͕d̸̥̹̍ ̶̖̠͝ͅh̸̟͠ͅe̴̬͙͌͂́̋r̵͕͊̀͗̇é̵̫͓̰̕,̵̨̛̼̀̀̓ ̸̛̭̖̯̈́͝s̵͙̣̩͔̾t̷̲̬̆͛̈́̆͜͜ȍ̸̡̙͕̓̊p̷̖͖̒͐̚͝ ̶̳̑̅̚͠t̷̼̩̳̕r̸͔̋̉ẏ̵̨͕̿̚͝ḯ̶̡̪̣̲̈́̈n̶͍͗͌̍͝g̴͉̽̅͠.̶̮͝Ṭ̶͔͑̀̈́̚ḧ̴̲̝̊e̸̲̭͑̃̓ṟ̴̩̭̊ę̴̜̮̟̃̅̇̓ ̵̞̮͑̈́ī̴͚̄̏s̴̛͉̣̒ ̶̼̱̻̣̓͊ṇ̷̑̕̚o̷̖̼͐̔́͜t̴̺́̈́h̴̨͓̾̀̈́í̴̗̲̟́n̴̦̞̗̲͋͑̀̎ğ̸̠͜ ̸̱͛t̵̡̪͔͛̆ô̵̻̭̲͕͐̊ ̸̫͔͈̊̕ŕ̷̘e̸̛̛̞͖͆̏͜a̸̪͇͇̗̕ḏ̵͎̗̜̓̚ ̵̛̟̖͇̔͘͠h̵͙̣̓̿͠e̵̲͎̅͜r̴͉͉̯̍ë̴́͜,̴̢̗̫̑͋̋ ̷̠̱͝s̵̜̹̝̼̒t̵͉̚ơ̷̳̻̔̂p̸̨͚̙̔̌̈͗ͅ ̷̡̫͘t̷̝̀r̸̪̿̐̐͠y̷̆̑̽͜i̵͙̰̇n̴̗͓̻̈g̵̟̣͉͑̄̓͠.̷̫̞̮̱̎̍̈́T̶̢̺̀͐͋h̸̦̞͙̓̇͂ȩ̵̗̣̠̈̿r̷̡̦͊̈͘e̸͇̘̳͍̊͆̓ ̸̪͕͖̺̃̉̅̚i̴̥͈̻͋̅s̶̫̉̄̑ ̸̣̼͈͗n̴̪̦̳̈́̈́ǒ̴̫̰̽͑t̶̩̋̀h̸̺͈͊ȉ̵͖̦̙͑ṅ̵̜̳̤̼́̆g̴̙͔͑̓̒ͅ ̶̞̀͗̾̾t̶͚̂ŏ̷̯͐ ̴͌̇͜r̴̢̟̘͐̆͆̒e̷̗͔̗̚ä̷̺̩̳͇̆̿̀d̸̲̄͌̐̾ ̶̟̳̋̐h̸̨̰̬̳͛̅̔̎e̷̡̬͙̒̎̓r̵̯̊e̸̲̘͈͇̾̾͘,̸̫̫̭̎̀̔͜ ̷̘̹̜̀͌s̶͉̰͑̍ţ̸̬̩͛̕͝ò̸͓͠p̷̲̔͋ ̸̧͚̍̑̃̚ẗ̸̤͔̞́͊̂͐r̸̡̧͙͑̾̉̍y̷̩̥̞̅i̷̩̓ṅ̴̼̞̬g̸̛̕̕͜͠.̵̪̦̽̇T̸͍̩̍̽͠͠h̴̯̖̭̟̕e̵̝̜̟̅͝r̸̠̹̅͋e̵̮̳̩͐̅ ̵̼̃̈́̅̇͜i̴̬̭̣̐̌͜s̴̹͔͇̺̃̋ ̵̭̜̻͋̋ņ̵̻͔̮̈̅͑o̶̱̼̠͂̌̌̕ţ̸̳͇͈̚h̸̡̽̅̇̽i̸̝͐̍̀n̵̟̹̬̾̕ͅǵ̷͙͑ ̶͉̲̣̐͗̕ţ̵̖͕͖́o̷̞̞͊̄̊͝ ̴̞͋̑̆r̴̹̒ẹ̶̓a̷̲͛̀̒d̸͕̗̻͝ ̸͇̖̋̐̃ẖ̵̘̦̳̂͑e̵̠͔͒͑̽͘r̶̻̱̪̙̆̌ę̶͇͇̹̅̊,̷̹̫͍̟͛͑̅̀ ̵͍̠͙̓̈́́̇s̵͖̋ț̵̛̠̀͊̾o̷̫̰̠̫̍͠p̸̧͕̟̒ ̶͈͖̽͜ẗ̵̟͙̭̟̍̄͑r̶̝̍̃͠y̸͎̱̤̼̑̾͗ȋ̴͉̓ņ̴̔̔̽͛g̸͉̼̰̐.̸̭̂͛͝T̵͎̆͛h̴̜̫̝̑̐͛͝e̵̖̗̖͋r̴̢̪͊ę̸͇̪͂̀ ̶͈̩̈́ͅi̶͖͈̖̽s̶͎͙͔͎̀ ̵͓̱̌̀ṋ̴̛̩͖̲̍͝͝o̶̰͙͌͋ͅť̴̘͖̺̓͠h̵̰͑̔͑͝i̸̘͌n̴̢͇̪͂́g̵̬̀ ̶̱͚̅t̶̨̫͇͔͠ò̸̡͊̊ ̷̛̠̻́̍͆r̷̪̹̤̀e̴̪̐a̷̙͐d̴̰͊̏́̒ ̸̢̪͖̪̅̋h̴̥̟̻̅̒ͅe̸̤̤͈̥̐̈́r̷̮̓ẻ̵͔̝͓̇͑̚,̷̬̞́͝ ̷͙̈́̉̚͜͝s̷̩̽͋t̵̪̖̆o̷̺͈̼͈̅͆͆̀p̷̧̖̩̺͂ ̷̨̮̳͇̊͛t̸̙͓͑͆r̸̢̨̛̤͙͐y̷̨̤̙͋͝i̵̡͙͎̩̕n̶͎̼̟͌g̶̣̭̿̂̓.̴̤̦̳͆T̷̠͇͈̝̿̑̂̍ḩ̸̟͚̇͝e̷̞͈̽r̵̮̜̀ȇ̷̥̲͊̆ ̷̛͚̏̐̒i̴̜͐s̶͉͓̳͊͆̇̀ ̴͔̼̝͍̉̾n̶̰͓̞̦̓o̶̧̙̜̦̔͊̕͠t̴͈̳̑̊h̷͔͈͙͂̉̄͌͜i̸̛͚̣̚n̷̡̥̤͍̊̇̀̋ĝ̸͈̦ ̸̳̤̀͑ṭ̸̢̻̈͆̓͛o̶͉͂͋̃ ̷̢͕̟̅r̵̹̽ͅè̴͓̖͙ͅǎ̷̛͖̫̱͊d̸̡͕̖̏̆̚ ̸͔̺͒h̷͚̮͗͜e̷̜̒r̶̙͑͑̓̑e̷̎ͅ,̸̧̤̗̹̉̇͠ ̶̯̼͍̀̌ş̶̨̱̃t̶̼̜̓͑ͅó̶̜̼̻p̷̫͕͕̰̄͠ ̴̨̠̹̓͂t̴̯̔̐̓r̵̫̱͝y̷̨̺̍̅̀͜i̴̖̻͑͜n̸̳̓̎͛͠g̸̢̔.̴̞͛̂T̸̥͇̹̑͜ḧ̴́̿̌͜͝ĕ̸̠ȑ̸͎̣e̵͖̳̳̰͋ ̸̡̠̪̍ǐ̶̯͍̑s̶͓̺̗͐̓̎ ̴̙̦̼̏n̵̡̫̻̜̐̑͝ó̷̪͂͂t̴̡̧̥̖̅͝h̶͇͙͊̌̽ĭ̵̜͉͖̀n̴͇͂̋͗̌ġ̷̻̖̯̈́̅ͅ ̴̡̛͓̯̻͋̅̎ț̸͖̾́ọ̵̢͉̗͐́̊̀ ̷̘͕̅͑̓r̶͕͔̃ḛ̴̢̟͇͝a̶̢͉̖͆̌d̸̲̈́̏ͅ ̷͔͙̘̂́̚ȟ̷̖̺ę̷̖͝ṙ̷͍̮͎̿e̴͙͎͂,̴̩͔̪̊̓͌̊ ̵̭̺͕̔͝s̵̢͎̻̠̏t̵͎̽̍o̵̯̚p̵͔͎̣͔̽̈́̚ ̸̨͇͖̄͠t̶̞̀͗̾ͅř̵̠̹̥̓͜y̶̜̘͊̄̎͠i̷̪̋͂ń̸̼̙̗͙̓̇̓g̶̠̎̅̔̔.̸̘̦̎̆Ṭ̷̟̫̋̕h̵̫͐̍ë̵̫́̓͊͂r̶̮̀͘͜ẻ̴͎̒̏̄ ̵̢̗̤̍̈͑̎i̴̛͕̞̓̇͜š̸̻̼̟͊̃͘ ̷̖͜͝n̵̡̲̐͜ó̵̧̱̹͊͘͠t̶̳̔ḫ̶̑̉i̷̲̎̽̐͠n̸͈̔̉͠g̵̢̠͓̼̈́̍̿ ̴̫́̌̉͜t̵͔́o̴̻̻͎͠ ̶͉̞͖̽̄͘ṟ̷̰̹̾̇̕è̶̞̖̩ạ̸̅̈́̂d̴͇̰͇̈́͋̈́ ̴̹̲͉̎̌͂h̴͖̞͔͔͐́̈́͝e̶̠̟͈̓̾̓̚r̸̹̣͓̾̉͐e̴̋̄̕ͅ,̴̮͙̠̎͛̄̄ ̵̡͓͈̫̎͝s̵̛͖̅t̴̼̱̳͝ŏ̷̡̩̼͎̿p̴̬̣͇̌͐ ̷̡̥̬̥̊t̸͎̾͛ŕ̸̢͇ÿ̸̦̠̄̃ȉ̷̙̞̤͈͋͐n̶̺̪̪̠̏ǵ̶̼̠̉̆.̸̢̩̱̹̍T̷̈́͘͜ḧ̵̜͎́͂e̷͚͇̳͚͘ŗ̶̾̈͊̓e̵̛̮̣͔̔ ̸̡̨̺͙͝ȋ̵͈̬̤̏̈́͠s̷̯̳̯̽̀̅ ̶̦̹̋̽̔ṉ̵͖̝̇̆ó̷̮̯̹t̸̛̙̑͝ḧ̴͚́̈̎̎i̶̮͈̋̂̈͜͝n̴̳̙̳̎g̵͕̝͓̑̎̍̆ ̶̗̼̜̗̉̄̃̎t̴̹̳̣͗ͅơ̵̺̘̭ ̸̙͇̮̔́̚͜r̸̦̘̰̺̐e̶̝̥͗̽͌ǎ̵̺͔͉̼̈̏d̷̨̞͈̾̐̋͝ ̵̡̜̐̆́h̵̘͆ȇ̷̝̥̳̰̇̍r̶̻͚̞̓ḙ̵̯͛,̴̡͉̥͂ ̸͖͋̔͠s̵̬̆̉t̵̝́̌͐̇o̴̟͒p̷͙̗̼͖̌͆͌ ̵̼͋t̸͙͕̬̲͂̍r̴̭̠̈́̏͂ÿ̶̤̱͍͓́í̸͈̮̍n̸̳̭͉̆́͊̕g̷̨̲͒.̷̼̗̼̠̿̇̍T̵̯̖̖̾̃̄̓h̸̗̜͇̒̋̿e̵͎̻͝r̴̜͆̒̓ḛ̵͇̇ ̸̣͋̌ì̶̼̖͌̓͘s̵̡͍͙̐͂̚͠ ̸̧̭͑̈́̕ń̶͎̉̀o̶̧̩͆̅͂ṱ̵͖̓̂h̵͉̼̐̎̈́i̶̧̹͎̹̇̈́n̵̯̻̈́̈̐͊ğ̵̹̐ ̸̢̛̼̺̤t̷͙͑̃̔͒ǫ̵̱̺͇̅ ̴̨̢͉̈́̈́͛r̷̥̬̈́ę̶̂ȁ̶͉d̶̰̾ ̵̙̪͕̭̈́h̶̗̆̏̽e̶̼͛̈́̀̓r̴̢̿̕͝è̸̡̊͌̓,̷͈̩͈̂̌̾ ̴̭̦̰̠̓̋s̵̫̗͂̈́̎͝ṱ̷͓̒o̸̖̽͗p̷͍̏̄ ̷̛̪͚̲͋̀̋ṫ̴̟̚r̸̨̎̈́͗ỳ̷̹̔i̷̪̲̳̚n̵̩̭͚̝̓̎͘g̷̮̲͎̾̎̈́̕.̵̨̨̟͉͂̇̇̚T̴͚̮̼̅̉́̕h̴̡̤̑̌ë̴͓̀̕r̴̮̰͚͂ȩ̷̦̀̈̇̽ ̶͇̊͝͝i̷̩͎͊s̵͙͑̀ ̷̝͔̝̟̕̚n̷̮͑̀̀̓ő̷̻͈͓̊̎t̶̟̏h̴̦̔̎̉͜͠i̷̡̘̺̿̚n̷̨̦̎͆̀g̷̢̟͆̋̿͌ ̸̧̧̚t̸̠̏ó̷̟̔ ̷͙̲̀̈́͝r̸̡̯͗́͆ę̴̨̺͎̄̅ȃ̸̟̫̑͊͜͜d̸̥̯̙͉̓ ̷̭̤̭̺̿͝h̸̘̰͙̓̾̃e̷̝̗̋r̷̯̟̭̃̆̽͜͝ȩ̴͈̝̺̂̎͝,̷̛̙̄̈́ ̴̣̤͇̳̅̒s̶̛̬̝̠̲͆͋͝t̸͕͍̮̓͋̄͌o̶̖̜͠p̵͎̣͂ ̶̣͍̄t̵̹̤̮̘͗́͠r̵̗͓̹̓̉͝y̵̫̞̩̿i̶̢̞̅̂̿n̵̘̬̗̒̒̒g̷͉͈͔͑.̴̘̳̋͜T̴̢͚̓̃̽ĥ̶̦̯̿͒̈́e̴̛̞͙̬͚͒͐r̵̩͍̰͕͗͗̀ḙ̸̒̄ ̶͈̽̿̓̕ỉ̷̼͖̹͝ş̶̥̝̳͌̑ ̵̡͚̝͎̆͒̔̕ñ̴̙̇͘o̴̗̎ṭ̵̫͓̝͛̿̍̿h̷̬̤̗͍͌̇i̶̡̺̐̓̇n̵̦͔͓͈̿g̴̣͆͜ͅ ̵̹̊̈͘t̷͔̹͕̙̉̓̋͠ǫ̸͊̂ ̵̖͕͌̀̇̀r̶̤̮̿̔̔e̶̢͎͔͜͝ä̸̭̜̳͍͠ḋ̷̡̦̠͗̓ ̴̟̃̃ḣ̴̝͍́͒e̶̲̮̓͋r̶̦͛̂͌̕e̵̞̯̦͊͊͝,̴̨̮̂̋ ̸̨̗̤̫̆̽͝s̷͈̘̋̃t̷̨͔́̾o̷͇̠͙̒͌p̵̟̠̓͋̀ ̶̛̮̞͌͒̕t̴̻͈͕̿̔͝r̷̖͓̋̈̏̊ỹ̶͚͕̰͔̍͑̕į̴̫̪̞̆̌́n̶̢̻̦̱̄͊͝g̸̲̤̎̓̍.̷̾͒͜T̷̡̈́̋h̸̻̏̇͌ͅȇ̷̯̜̣͛ͅȑ̴͖͆̈̂e̷̫̠͆ ̸͚̋͜ỉ̶̹̅̎s̵̹̻̔ ̶̢̨̛̻̹n̷̻̲̈́̈͆̀͜͜ớ̸͈̭̝̊̊t̵̛̝̖̽̋h̶̩̓̌̐͠i̴̞̩̺̺̓ň̶̛̘̟͔́ğ̴̨̛̥͖͑̐ ̵̡̞͇̺̓t̶͍͂̔̿ͅò̷͖ ̴̰̭̘̊͝r̸͓̰̟͋̂̈́͘ę̵̝̩̌̈ạ̵̾̔͘̚d̸͇̝͒̌ ̸̦̪̳͔̀̂͊h̸̟̬̱̄̂̏e̵͓̎̆̀r̵̞̆ȩ̸́͗̈́̉,̸͎̤͠ ̵͖̓s̴̺͂͋͊̔t̵͉́̉̚ö̴͈̗́̃p̴̲͔͓̽̓͛̕ ̶͖̂̓̕͜t̴̞̥͉̔ŗ̴̢͖̺͂̅͊͝y̶̋̃̈ͅì̷̛͍̪n̸̮͇͆g̶̛̺̼͊̋.̴̰̗̑͂̈́͘Ţ̸̘̳͕̍̌͝͝h̷̡͔̎ę̴̨̛̉r̴̛̻̻̀͐̽e̷̢̧͊̈ ̶̼̀͌͛i̷̡̾͝s̸̨̏ ̶̢͚͔̯̓n̴̯̲̮̏̔͝o̵̧̩̺̖̾̈̍͗t̶̙̉͂ḥ̴̡̙͒̀͐̌i̸̦̝̍͂ṅ̸̟͚̳̔̍g̴͔̖͓̹͒͝ ̷̡͈̮̭́̾̽͛t̷̢̧̯͋ò̵̮͓̳͌̚͝ ̴̻̠̰̾̊ŗ̸̠̈́̀͑̄e̵̱̣̪͉͆̓̌a̵̗̖̻̿̃̕͝d̴͍̠̒̒ ̴̜̻̌͗͘h̸̢̟̝̾̈́̊ë̴̠̯́̌̓͌r̸̡̳̃͐́͌e̵̟̍̉͝,̵̢͍̱͉̄̓̚ ̷̜̳̍͆͒͝s̷͇̺̯͋̋̏ͅt̵̨͚͓̜́̀o̷͇̼̮͗̋͋͝p̵̥̪͖̀͌͋͜͝ ̴͖̯͎̻́͠t̵͙̠̑͘͝r̵̨̦͓̾͂ỹ̵̼̘͚̄í̷̘̉̆͠ṋ̶̂́͝g̷̡̨̻̥̕̚.̵͉͈̏̆ͅT̵͕̏͆͝h̶̠̝͠ė̴̡̦͛r̸̹͊̒͂͊e̶͍̋ ̴̛͓̌͠͝i̵̗̖̰̽͘͝ṡ̶̯̲̬̔͊͜ ̷̣̬̞̌̊̀͜ñ̸̯͕̀̋͝ǒ̶̩̼̪͓̃̃͘t̷͔̩̹̎ḧ̸̰̪̈́̓͝i̷͔̻̓̀͛n̸͚̥͉̏͑̌̂ǧ̷̥ ̶̡̧̭̈́͋͠ṫ̶̲̫õ̴̘̮ ̷̨͉̟́ŗ̵̞̼̔͆̈́͝e̸̥̦͒̈̃a̵̰̩͆d̴̦̹̺̤́ ̷̣̿̅̓h̴̗̦̿̑̌̒è̶̺̗͜r̶̟̋̓̇̑e̵͔̭̅̌͜,̷̡͙͎͊͋͠ ̶̛̥̘̺̭̉s̴̒͂̾̒͜ẗ̴͖́̑̎ȯ̵̖͚̬̤̽p̵̩̓ ̴̘͈̽̉t̴̥̤͖̮̅͑̕ṙ̴̩͕͇͙͐y̶͛͜i̴̖͆̄̂͂n̴̳͚̠̗̔͐g̸̛̺͚̀.̷̞̾Ṱ̴͕̂h̶̛̟̤̙̙̒͒ę̷́̆̈́r̵̫̥̆e̸̬̤̯̦͂ ̴̰̫̄ȋ̵͍̫̯͂͒́š̴̼͘ ̶̱͒̄͝ñ̸̞͙̫̤͐ȏ̶̩t̷̘̖͔͛̊͜ȟ̵̡̛͠i̵̱̊̈͗̈́n̵͈͚̺̈̈́͠͠g̶̹͓͗̕ ̶̤̮͐̌t̷̞͎͕̲̀ö̵̢͚̀̚ ̷̬͓̈́́r̷̗̥̅͂̒̽e̵̢̦̓̓̕͝ã̵͇͙̤̀̚͠d̴͔͓́ ̸̱̎̋h̷͉̠͋͠e̴͇̗̓͒͂̉ṟ̸̰̓͝e̶̱͍̮̟͋̔̕,̷̜̞̼̂̋̐ ̴̡̧̲͉̃ş̶͖̝̳̾ẗ̷̟̘̀͑̑õ̵͕̳̻̙p̵̢͈̐͂͂͜͜͝ ̸̧̱̘̣̍̌̿̚t̷̬̫͎͓͛̄r̶̫̀͗̿̅ẏ̷͔̻̥̆̿͝ĩ̵̪̝̼̍ṇ̷̳͊̇̕g̸̉ͅ.̸͇̠̿̍̄̄Ṱ̵̐́͊̀h̷͇͍̩̃̀͂̕ȩ̸̡̊͘r̸̟͈̄̓̈͛ḛ̵̩͙͆̀ ̴̟͖͑̉̀ͅi̷̢̽̂̎̀s̴̙̬̲̊͒͝ ̶̩̅̏̏͛n̷̟̊̓̈́̽o̵̪͈̲̎̂͆̿t̷̺͚͋h̷̢̡̩͎̅̿̚i̵̢̦̍̽͊n̴̡̖͚͕̋͘ģ̶̐̚͠ ̷̟͉̜͈̃t̸̺͍̞͖̒͗̐ò̸̞ͅ ̷͈̟̠̋̆͐̒r̶͓̪͕̃̅̿̌ê̵͇̦͔̣a̸͖͇͂d̴̺̮͔͖̿̈́͝͝ ̸̨͂̓h̵̹͖̭́͜e̴̻͎͝r̸̝̝̋͌͝é̷̙͒̄͠,̵̯͔̤͋͆͝ ̴̔̕ͅs̵͉͎̄̈͆t̵͎͇̺́̓͆ȯ̷̬͆́̄p̶͇͇͘ ̸̳̭͗̋̈́t̸̢̕͝r̷̳̅̈̅y̵̹͎̣̐̾́͜i̴̡̡̛̖̦̿̀͌n̶̥͐̓͝g̵̥̼̚.̴̨͈̱̳͗̕͘

The entire page has been scratched out with silver, magical ink. Starswirl did some editing of his own here, there, and during the final entry (you'll see when we get there). When I demanded to know what he'd crossed out, the old stallion said he was "Tired of erasing [my] memory, so please drop this inquiry." I honestly don't know what to think about that, so I stopped asking that question. Any chance I could ask you to double check my brain later?


I didn’t quite know what to say. Poor Swirly.

“But what about your kin?” he asked, “How mighty is the house Lulamoon to where you could cast such a mighty spell?”

“Spell?” I asked reflexively. Remember, reflexes of a Tiger.

“The… teleportation which brought you here? You said you came from someplace called Equestria.”

Shoot, I thought. I wish I’d been a little more discreet before. But I couldn’t just say nothing. Old traveler’s code says, a story for a story. And after he just sort of opened up like that, I had to.

“Well,” Trixie said this a few times to buy time to stall, “Back home I live in a magical tree that was grown from a crystal! And I work at a school.”

All technically true. As you know.

“A magic school!?” I swear he had stars in his eyes.

Stars. Swirly. That rings a bell. Gotta check with Starlight when I get back.

“A school of Friendship,” I corrected, “But since friendship is magic…”

“That’s not magic!” he cut the Great and Powerful Trixie off, “There’s hardly any fire or lighting! You need that for real magic!”

Trixe huffed at that little remark, but since Swirly was just a kid, she decided not to hold it against him much.

Especially since his next question was, “What about your family?”

“What about them?”

“How fair they? Your folk, your kin? I only have my mother and father, plus my brothers Starmane and Pen Stroke now this past year. Not since winter took my sister.”

Yeah, I know. He’s like, ten or something. Trixie knows she wasn't much older when her mother--

Sorry, he just corrected me. Twelve. He’s twelve. But he’s also good at guilting me without knowing it. Little smarty-squirt.

“Trixie’s mother died passed away when she was very small,” I said. “My father was never around, and ran away to Las Pegasus at the same time.”

Joking aside, part of the reason Trixie seems to have left CSGU was that her grades were steadily dropping during her last quarter there (prior to the firework instance) as her mother's health declined. Records indicate she ran away from home after her mother's passing and her expulsion, rather than face living in Canterlot Orphanage.

Agents of the Crown have made inquiries on our behalf (thank Bon Bon and Octavia for me!) that seem to indicate Jack Pot, a Las Pegasus resident and travelling magician, is the most likely candidate for being Trixie's father. There's is a strong familial resemblance, both in coloration and profession, as well as the fact that Trixie was arrested two years ago by the LP Police Department for savagely beating the stage magician during a performance. No charges were filed. Yeesh.

“Las Pegasus?” Swirly asked, and once again I found myself mentally facehoofing. I have to stop bringing up the future around Swirly.

But he kept on going, “Is your father a pegasus?”

I don’t like talking about my dad, but I figured it couldn’t hurt this once.

“No, he’s a unicorn.”

This definitely confused him, “But the pegasi and the unicorns hate each other. There was a war only a few years ago. My dad served in the earth-militia.”

I stopped. We’d arrived at the seamstress-place, but it was what Swirly said that really made me stop in the street. Ponies fighting ponies.

Ponies. Fighting. Ponies.

I remember the Hearth’s Warming story, of course, who doesn’t (in the future, I mean)? But I guess I never really thought about what it meant that all three tribes came together under the Fire of Friendship back then.

Swirly told me a little about the fighting. Then, and later that night. I never really thought about how even kids back then right now have to live through these kinds of things. He’s such a little sweetheart, but then he can just casually talk about ponies killing each other.

Trixie appreciates that old story a lot more now. I tried to explain to Swirly how, where I was from, all ponies lived together peacefully.

It's strange to think back to that time and realize how different things were. Ponies had to face death and starvation regularly in a way that we can't really conceive of anymore.

I don’t think he quite believes me. But I had to see the seamstresses, so I left it there.


If I’d seen an off-color Rarity working at the seamstress’s hall, I think I would have screamed and started begging Luna to rescue me from the coma.

As it turned out, Ribbon had beaten me and Swirly there

Sorry. Swirly and I. Swirly is a know-it-all NERD who wants me to write correctly, even though he probably can’t read modern Ponish.

Apparently, he can. So now I gotta hide this thing whenever he’s snooping. Great.

I really hate Trixie. Not only does she get to hear real Old Ponish accents, but she gets to experience written Old Ponish, and she didn't record any of it for us. I hate her so much.

Ribbon, as it turns out, is just as interested in magic as Sparkleshine, but her talents lend themselves more towards fashion and alchemy, according to her. Which, as she explained to me, is how Hyneighria became famous for colored clothing.

Also known as Ribbon Wishes in the historical and mythological record. She seems quite feisty in Trixie's account, but all the tales and stories that came down to present day paint her as a sort of mother-figure of the early Equestrians, often invoked by expecting mothers and angry ones who just caught their foals sneaking extra snacks at night. Everypony remembers the old rhyme meant to shame misbehaving foals: Mother Ribbon, Mother Ribbon / Isn't it shameful that love's a given?

Apparently, Trixie’s old magician cape and hat’s shade of purple is considered almost impossible, even with alchemy, magic, and dyes to create. Dark blue, though, is easy, Ribbon tells me. So after she took my measurements, she told me she could make it blue with any highlights I wanted. A little disappointing, but them's the breaks. I figured I could experiment with magic later, anyway.

She liked my sketches of what I wanted in terms of stars. And she really liked my stitch-work. She called it unique.

I kinda like Ribbon. She’s bubbly, but not like Sparkleshine. She reminds me of Starlight, actually. She gets this gleam in her eye whenever magic comes up, just like Starlight, and Swirly for that matter. Very excitable. Best of all, she could whip up some straight-jackets! I could perform a few of my world-famous escape tricks for the town!

Such escape tricks include straight-jackets, water-traps, a bricked-up shed, and the occasional angry mob, such as when that whole Ursa Minor thing happened.

Once she’d taken my order, Ribbon had to get back to work, so I decided to get going and get the local grocer to get my supplies. Food could wait, but paint and wood and curtains and such stuff was necessary for my show, which I did promise these ponies.

On the way, Swirly apparently hadn’t stopped thinking about Equestria, since he began to elaborate on exactly why all three tribes couldn’t work as one nation.

*following section illegible, coffee stains*

“- unicorns and earth ponies?”

“It’s not like we can’t work together,” Swirly said, “But to say that all three tribes could live together under the same system-“

*following section illegible, coffee stains*

Merry Weather came around with coffee again. I’m really regretting teaching her how to make that stuff.

Did I mention how much I hate Trixie? Because right now, I want to have some tea just to spite her in spirit. A young Starswirl, sharing political philosophy? And coffee stains stole it away from us? Hate. Hate. Hate.

Swirly and I were arguing so much that, well, Trixie can never be blindsided, but she will admit to being distracted enough by the little shrimp that she couldn’t get out of the way before a bright red pegasus smashed into her from out of nowhere.

I went flying, metaphorically. Just me and this pegasus who kept screaming ‘look out’ as we rolled down the dirt street. Once I got back up to my hooves, coughing up a small hill’s worth of mud I’d swallowed during the crash, I almost lost my cool and shouted at that stupid Rainbow Dash.

Which was when I got a good look at the mare before me. I don’t know what is with Hyneighria, but half of these ponies are dead-ringers for all my friends back in Ponyville! And this one was no exception! It was almost exactly Rainbow Dash, shaggy mane and all, just with a bright-red coat. Her mane was a rainbow still, just one that ran from dark blue to white (which still counts!).

“Sorry about that!” the pegasus apologized as she hopped back up. She had on a large burlap sack that had been strapped tight to her, and I could hear a bunch of jangling sounds from it, like she'd dumped a whole kitchen drawer full of spoons in it.

“Morning, Firefly!” Swirly greeted her warmly.

Firefly seemed to notice him, and I almost balked at how Dash the look she gave was. Like if you tried to explain advanced thaumological equations to Applejack.

Remembered in myth and legend as Dux Firefly, one of the legendary founders of Cloudsdale, as well as the first (alleged) pegasus to perform the Sonic Rainboom. As with your own royal self, records fail to indicate if Firefly was an ancestor of Rainbow Dash, but from reading ahead, Trixie might actually provide us a concrete answer to that question. But you'll have to keep reading to find it.

“Uh, hey Star,” she said, “Who’s the new-girl?”

“She’s the Great and Powerful Trixie!” he informed her, to my great and powerful pleasure, “She’s a real wizard!”

Firefly raised an eyebrow at me, and Trixie will admit that it felt like getting the third degree from a guardpony who’s just jealous that they didn’t get a comp’d ticket to the show. I know what it’s like to have an inquiring, judgefull* eye on oneself.

I'm not here to correct Trixie's spelling.

“Yeah, okay,” Firefly finally said, then held out a wing to shake, “Sorry about crashing into ya like that. Caught a downdraft wrong and came down hard.”

“No worries,” I decided to be gracious, despite the way my withers ached from the crash, “Trixie knows what that’s like.”

“Flying?”

“Crashing,” I said, laughing a little, “some performances can get rough.”

“So, you’re a performing wizard? That’s...” Firefly didn’t seem to know what to say. I suspect somepony dropped her as a foal.

“Cool?” I offered.

“Why would it be cold?”

“No,” I said, still forgetting not to do what I was about to do, “Cool as in awesome.”

Firefly’s eyes lit up.

I did it again.

“Like, inspiring awe? Awesome…” she whispered to herself, “I like that word.”

What else could I say? “Uh, you’re welcome.”

Firefly thanked me for the new word (I’m terrible as a time traveler) and was about to take off again when Swirly said, “Wait! We were coming to see you!”

“We were?” I asked the little colt.

“Firefly runs the grocer here,” Swirly nodded.

Said grocer had apparently been on a return trip for supplies when she decided to practice some aerial maneuvers (seriously! Wake me up, Princess Luna!) and lost control.

This day was so weird.


Well, colored me surprised, but Firefly had a pretty large and varied stock. I will admit, I’d written off Hyneighria at first as being in the sticks, but their storehouse, which I’d assumed was just a big barn someone put inside the city walls, had everything I could have ever needed, except for the wagon (but I’ll get to that).

I made sure to ask Firefly about canvas, bags, rope, basic tools, smoke powder (ingredients, anyway), utensils, flasks, lanterns, butter, cloth, some canned rations, etc etc. And while the mare seemed to keep up with what I was saying, I couldn’t help but think half of what I said had simply flown over her head. But, a few minutes later, she had basically everything set up for me.

The Guild of Equestrian Magicians (of which Trixie is a longstanding member) holds a monopoly on the stage-magician's profession in Equestria, so it's no surprise Trixie would keep their secrets even here. Talking with Starlight Glimmer, it sounds like Trixie may be using physical spell components as a shortcut in her spell-casting. Trixie's renowned impatience is probably the only reason she'd need such a shortcut considering her talent in some areas of magical knowledge.

“Don’t know what tin will do ya, unless you’re a tinker,” she said as she dropped a couple tin plates on the counter in front of me.

Tinkers were an itinerant profession in Pre-Classical Equestria known for doing odd jobs, and especially for doing repair work for other trades, mostly involving metal like tin. Hence, tinkers.

I sighed, and tried to speak slowly for her benefit, “Trixie said tin rations. Like, some beans? Or canned corn?”

“Silly,” she shook her pseudo-rainbow mane, “You can’t eat tin! It’d hurt your teeth!”

So, I didn’t realize they didn’t have canned goods yet. That was not ideal. Any traveling pony will tell you that canned anything is worth its weight in gold when you’re on the road and there’s not enough grass to eat.

“Alright,” I rubbed my head and tried to think of something else, “What do ponies around here normally pack to eat on long journeys?”

“Depends. How long are ya looking to travel?”

I had asked Swirly about other towns the night before, but from what I could gather, this place that would become Equestria was mostly scattered farmsteads and a few minor towns. The maps in Sparkleshine’s library were almost useless for anything except broad-strokes directions.

“I’m a traveler,” I said, “So I guess I never stop traveling… but the next place on my itinerary looks like Gallopoli. How far’s that?”

Gallopoli is an ancient city, currently known as Baltimare to modern Equestrians. Though now a hub of trade, back in this time Gallopoli is better known as a farming community that just so happens to have a port and ships. It was the sight of an ancient battle of some sort (few first-hoof records survived), from where we get the famous Equestrian folk song, The Star Spangled Mare.

I am terrified to find out if Trixie had anything to do with that.

Firefly smirked at me, actually smirked!

“Well, that depends,” she said, leaning on the table she used to lay out all the tools and food I was buying from her. “Most pegasi can get there in a day or so. If you’re hoofing it, Gallopoli’s closer to a week away.”

“Too bad there’s no train,” Trixie may have tried muttering under her breath, but years of stage-whispers and voice-projecting has given Trixie an unparalleled stage-presence, so Firefly heard what I said.

“Wagon trains would be even slower, to be honest,” she shook her head, then flexed her wings in front of me again, “Too bad you don’t have these!”

Now, I will admit that, once upon a time, in a Ponyville far, far away, I’d once had to deal with a heckler that Firefly was reminding me sorely of. An arrogant little pegasus named Rainbow Dash who didn’t seem to understand what performer’s do. She was the one who led her friends in heckling my show all those years ago in the future whenever.

But that was years ago. And I consider Dashie to be a very close friend of mine now. Even a Great and Powerful friend, on a good day. So, having her stupid doppler dipp dopplen Firefly here acting so smug and so arrogant really rubbed my horn the wrong way.

“So,” I said, in spite of a little bit of Starlight screaming in my head to not, “You think you’re the fastest pegasus around?”

“Around?” Firefly scowled, “Nah. I’m the fastest thing of all time! Trust me, I can get from here to the Canterhorn and back in half a day.”

Good to know it’s always been called Canterhorn. Nopony seems to have heard of Canterlot, however.

Canterlot shouldn't be founded until the Unicorn Separatist Movement some two-hundred years after Trixie's journeys. At least, that's how the story traditionally goes. It remained a backwater mountain-fortress for centuries until Celestia made it the seat of government following the Nightmare Moon Incident, mostly due to its central location and lack of painful history for her, no doubt.

“That might sound impressive,” I checked out my hooves, just to sell how bored of her nonsense I was, “But if you can’t even make a Sonic Rainboom, you can’t really call yourself the fastest.”

For the record, Starlight, I'm so, so sorry I said that. And, Rainbow Dash, if you ever find this, and you can get somepony to read it to you, know that Trixie is sorry for basically everything. Firefly's eyes lit up like the Summer Sun Celebration, and she started salivating. I really had no choice but to tell her about the Rainboom at that point. Which wasn't easy, since Dash never showed me how she did it, flying not being my specialty.

I suppose my explanation must have made sense, since she took off at that point to practice it. And for the rest of the day, I could hear her trying to break the light-spec light speed barrier. But, Swirly and I had one more errand to run, so we got going.

See, as Trixie said before, the main thing you need as a true wandering showpony is a wagon. It's not just a home, or a means of travel. I once met a pirate named Blackhoof down in Tierra Del Potro who said it best. To paraphrase: "A wagon means being Free." So, I needed a wagon. Ipso facto, dulce et decorum est.

I don't think she knows what that means.

"Well, we don't have much call for building new wagons hereabouts," Swirly pondered when I asked about them, "But I assume the Peach family will be your best chance..."

He paused, and we both watched Firefly crash through somepony's thatch roof trying to do her own Rainboom.

"That won't be a problem," I assured the lad, "Trixie still has most of her gold."

But Swirly proved that it doesn't take a purple princess to be a killjoy. "It may not be a question of price, but of material. The Peaches may simply not have a spare wagon built."

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. That's what I should have said. Would have been a good thing to say. Instead, I sputtered something out, not really responding to Swirly. This was because, in a way very typical of this entire crazy town, I'd just spotted a pink Applejack walking down the street.

I admit, in hindsight, I could have handled it better.

"Applejack!?"

The pink Apple pony saw me, and right away I could tell she was scared. Many are, rightfully, intimidated by the Great and Powerful Trixie, so I know what I'm talking about when I say she had a look in her eyes. She looked about nervously, like I'd just called her up as a volunteer for the sawing-in-half trick.

Not-Applejack then pulled a lasso from her mane, I kid you not, and she tied me up! Me! And, just like that, Trixie found herself getting dragged into the nearest alleyway

Trixie graciously followed Not-Applejack into the nearest alleyway, not that I had much of a choice. She was monstrously strong, as all earth ponies are, and Swirly kept telling me not to rile up Peachy.

So, now I had a name to the all-too-familiar-face.

Peachy Peaches. Surprisingly, there's a ton of info on her in the historical record. Zap Apple and Petrification "Petra" Dendrite Pie, of all ponies, recently compiled an exhaustive list of Apple and Pie relatives throughout both families' extensive histories. I think you were made aware of a common ancestor of theirs by the name of Applesauce Apple, but that was only one of the more recent shared relations. Turns out the Pies and Apples have been criss-crossing genes since, well, Peachy Peach. I'd make an inbred joke, but that'd be crass.

Peachy, and her five children, formed the basis of the Apple, Pie, Peach, Pear, and Cake families, incidentally.

"How?" was the first thing she asked me, once we were out of sight.

Trixie will also admit to being nervous. She's met one too many ponies in dark alleyways not to know how these things usually went. And as Trixie was wrapped up in rope this time as well, she was already hard at work trying to work her way out of her constrictors.

But, in the meantime, I had to play along.

"How, what?"

"How'd you know?" Peachy glared at me with her bulbous, blue eyes (which, now that I'm not directly under them, sort of reminded me of Pinkie Pie's), "Sweet Tooth and Bumblebee were the only ones at the wedding!!"

And there it was. This Peachy had eloped with somepony.

"She's a Great and Powerful wizard!" Swirly announced, "She could probably tell just by looking at you."

I love that kid. If I ever swing back this way

*scribbled in the margins*
For the love of Celestia, Starlight, you better get me out of here before then or I will have kids just so there's a line of Lulamoons throughout time looking to kick your flank when you show up!

Now, you and I both know she got back, but wouldn't that have been amazing to see?

If I ever swing back this way, I'll have to teach him some tricks.

"Oh really?" Peachy narrowed her eyes at me, suspicious-like, "If you know so much, then what am I thinking about?"

Trixie would normally be amazing at cold readings. It draws crowds like Changelings to a faulty lamppost. But just then, with my back against a wall and a pair of hooves holding me by the scruff of my neck, I wasn't feeling it.

"A-apples?" I choked out. Really, earth ponies need to learn how to not strangle unicorns they're accosting.

Peachy's eyes did something then that I've only seen Pinkie Pie do, and Derpy Hooves that one time she got hit by an out-of-control wagon that, for legal reasons, I will state was not mine. Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull, looked in different directions from each other, and got all glassy-looking. When Pinkie did it, it was just a Pinkie Thing.

This was downright weird. Didn't Trixie hear about Applejack and Pinkie being related once?

"You really are a wizard!" her eyes lit up like stars.

Her star-struck gaze was most appropriately timed, for it was at that moment I had managed to dislocate my forehooves, giving me a bit of slack, and causing the ropes to simply fall away from me. Trixie even managed to stick the landing, allowing her hooves to imperc unnoticed-ally snap back into place. Sure, there'd be swelling later, but at least I didn't break them this time.

Hospital records from Manehattan would attest to Trixie trying, and failing, to do this many times. Apparently, her first show in Ponyville was a comeback tour as well, after she managed to dislocate her hips and withers trying to get out of a safe. So, in hindsight, getting heckled by your friends on her first day out of a full hoof-and-horn cast probably didn't do her any favors.

Now, that bit of totally intentionally-planned

Fine. Swirly says I didn't plan that. Little runt. He's gonna drive some mare crazy one day, the way he nags.

Anyway, where was I? Why did Trixie write down that question?

Peachy was suitably impressed with my rope-skills, and the fact that I was a great and powerful wizard. It was easy enough to get her to back off then, and she even apologized for roughing me up.

"I'm awfully sorry about that," she said, "It's just... it's always been a bit of a prickly situation with my pa."

She half-turned, and showed me her flank, which, oddly enough, had an apple Cutie Mark. Five of them, to be exact.

Peachy was in her own world for a moment, then said, "It was a disgrace to the Peach family, since our greatest rivals were the Apples from the other side of the village. But..." her eyes went all lovey-dovey just then, "Then Malus Apple came into my life... and I couldn't imagine living without him. We've been planning on telling my folks for a while, but..."

"Say no more!" said Trixie, quickly spooling up the forgotten rope with a spell, "I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, have seen this sort of thing before. And I would never think to reveal another's secrets."

Which was true. Magicians never shared their secrets, except for once a month at the spa with Rarity. But, she was further sworn to secrecy, so that's fine.

But Peachy's eyes narrowed towards me. "I hate to ask... but I need ya to promise me ya'll never speak a word of this."

"Isn't what I said enough...?"

"PROMISE!"

Pinkie Pie or Applejack. I'm not sure whose ancestor Peachy is now. But she's scary. Scary enough that I even went ahead and made a Pinkie Promise right then and there.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," I solemnly repeated, even doing the silly motions with the promise.

"Eh, what's that?" Peachy asked.

Trixie shrugged, and said, "Oh, it's an ancient wizard's promise. It's very important. So important, that I could never break it. My lips are sealed, forever."

Peachy seemed to like that explanation. Her mood improved instantly, and the alleyway took on a far less foreboding feeling than it had before.

Oddly, I could have sworn I almost heard Pinkie Pie's voice saying 'For-EVER' somewhere nearby. Spooked me good until Swirly pointed out Firefly was still zooming about above us, trying to master the Rainboom. Probably just wind, I guess.

There isn't much to tell about Peachy after that. She's like Applejack with a helping of sugar on the side. A very sweet mare. She was even willing to help Trixie out with her wagon issues, so score! Trouble was, it would cost most of Trixie's bits. Wagons are really expensive, even here. But, it was a necessary thing, so I went ahead and promised the payment.

Hopefully, I'd make some of that back in performances here. I was down to about ten bits.

Sparkleshine had been fished down from her roof by the time Swirly and I got back, so after a quick evening meal with her and Swirly's folks, I decided to prep for my show before heading to bed. Guild rules prevent Trixie from remarking upon the specifics, but I did find a bit of time to teach Swirly how to

*half a page has been ripped out here*

Never again. Swirly likes fire too much to learn sleight of hoof.


Day 6

Not much happened. Just helped Peachy and Sparkleshine learn more about plumbing and outhouses. Page Turner and Swirly were horrified to learn about toilet paper. Something about 'desecrating a medium of knowledge' or something, blah blah blah, whatever.

Point is, nothing happened. At all. Nothing.

BULL. I called shenanigans as soon as I saw this bit, and I was right on the money. Starswirl was more than happy to fill me in on the juicy deets, as my kids say.

From the Desk of Starswirl, the Bearded

As much as I don't care to keep secrets from my wife, let it not be said that I don't know how egotistical she can get. And so, in the interest of proving her claims and showing the world what an amazing mare she really is, I shall humbly relate to you, Your Majesty, the events of that day. The day that Trixie Lulamoon invented the Outhouse. Once this report goes out, and she gets the recognition she deserves, this will be a humorous way to pony-ize my Trixie.

Now, Hyneighria was not a large city. We were a fairly small town back in those days, and so there wasn't really a need for a large-scale plumbing and sewage system. We had simple drainage canals cut into the roads, and there were plans to build a cistern. But, Trixie brought a lot of innovations to our town that I suppose would have either taken years to develop, or were straight from the future. Now, the present, as it were.

She began with a review of our systems, and I will admit, even then we were impressed with how much she actually knew about such systems. Now I am aware she briefly lived in the vast, underground sewer-city beneath Ponyland, Oregano Country, during her 'wandering' phase, but back then, I was astonished by her knowledge. I suspected she wasn't as great and powerful a mage as she claimed, but her ingenuity won me over. Not that I had much say in things, being a colt at the time. But Mayor Sparkleshine appreciated the information, especially that of hygiene.

It was the Pre-Classical Era. We didn't have paper or antimicrobial soap. Give me a break here.

But that wasn't what you wanted to hear. No, what you and any future readers of this account would love to hear about is how Trixie went out, into the Apple and Peach fields, and actually tried to show how we could make better drainages and outhouses. The Outhouse was a truly marvelous innovation at the time for us townsponies, and I would caution making fun of such an important improvement to health and saftey.

Sure, Trixie might have fallen into the various sewage pits she was constructing and helping to construct. She might have even fallen into the used drainages and canals over a dozen times. There was even a time she fell into a drainage, tried to climb out, and then fell in again.

I'll admit. It was funnier than I'll ever let her know. Peachy and Ribbon were howling with laughter, and even Bowtie had some fun at her expense. But we all appreciated her efforts, and she likely caused a revolution in hygiene that saved lives throughout Equestria in the following centuries.

So, there it is. My Trixie is the reason nopony dies of infection when they get a little cut these days. You're welcome.


Day 7

Trixie was very proud of her first performance in another timeline. Or, era. Whatever. She was very proud, regardless.

But it could have all turned out so much worse had I not realized my mistake right when I got up out of bed that morning. I had procured enough material for my spells, fireworks, and other tricks. I had costumes and a stage all set up (courtesy of Sparkleshine allowing me to use the front of town hall).

What I had completely forgotten about, however, was getting an Assistant for the show!

*page stained by coffee*

Assistant at hoof, Swirly and I raced for the stage, and our destiny!

Swirly is concerned Trixie is overblowing her performance. Little does he know that Trixie's shows always blow!

Trixie planned to perform during the lunch hour rush, so as many ponies as possible could see her great and powerful magnificence on display. Plus, crowds are easier to mess around with when they're bigger. Something my old CSGU Professor Candy Crush always used to say was that ponies have a herd mentality that makes them easier to dupe when there's a bunch of them.

Kinda like when Cozy Glow took over the school and almost destroyed the world that one time. Again, not blaming Sparkle, despite it being under her watch at the time, but just saying.

So, we were just about to set up, when suddenly

*page water-damaged beyond legibility*

Yeah, sorry about the damages here. In my defense, two-thousand year old water stains are a nag to get out.

Once that was taken care of, and Peachy could sit with her hubby in public next to the rest of the Apples and Peaches, Trixie was finally ready to put on her show, now with a newly appreciative audience. My hat and cape were ready, courtesy of Ribbon Wishes, and Sparkleshine had, admittedly, done a grand job organizing the stage decorations we'd talked about. All that we needed now, was a little magic!

Naturally, I started with a bang! Literally. The powder in this time may not be quite the same as back home, but I was able to get it to work with my firework spells, so I had a bright blue smoke cloud set up right at the beginning, with just the right amount of OOMF, you know?

I don't know why I asked you that, journal. You can't answer.

Trixie is off-track. And apparently lonely enough to write all this in her journal

That bit of razzle-dazzle clearly dazzled had the crowd excited. They'd probably never seen fireworks before, or at least ones as Great and Powerful as Trixie's.

Again, just to point out, Trixie's fireworks are apparently very famous amongst the magician community.

Too bad they wouldn't be invented, normally, for another six centuries. And about a continent away.

I went through some of my best routines. Some sleight of hoof with what passed for playing cards around here got the kiddies to come up close to the stage. Get the kids, and you've got their parents' wallets. That's what Grey Prancer always said, and he never went hungry. I followed that up with some acrobatics, using teleportation and smoke to show off how quick and impossibly fast I could be, at least when nopony was looking where I didn't want them to.

Misdirection! Another one of Trixie's Great and Powerful tricks!

The show was going well, though that didn't surprise me at all. Trixie knew she was a marvel of a magical mare. It was gratifying, all the same, to have even this little town recognize that fact. There was applause! There was cheering!

But then, instead of the clatter of bits on the stage, there was screaming.

I could see some sort of commotion going on near the town's main gate. At first, Trixie was worried that an angry mob had formed again, but that soon proved not to be the case. For one thing, I almost recognized the loudest screaming of them all.

That donkey, Bray, was racing up the road towards the center of town, shouting for help, and right on his hooves looked to be trouble. Behind him were four huge pigs, or boars, or whatever. Bigger than any I'd ever seen, even bigger than that one prize-winning pig Applejack raised last year for the big rodeo in Appleloosa.

Trixie apparently had some sort of adventure with your friend Applejack about a week after the whole Terrible Trio thing. Sounds like they had a rough time of it, as Rainbow Dash described it. Lots of calamity and stampeding pigs. And then they learned that the real giant pigs, were the friends they made along the way.

Or, it was something about respecting the special talents of ponies you don't otherwise like or get along with. You'd have to ask one of them about it if you didn't get a friendship letter.

Worse! These didn't look like regular giant pigs. They were wearing armor of some kind, and had axes hooked onto their tusks!

"Help! Help!" Bray was screaming, guardponies scattering as the warpigs slammed into them. I watched as Bowtie came thundering in after them, but it was clear this wasn't a good situation. I've seen things like this before (Manehattan, Celestia 1111, the Tartarus Alicorn gang, who I had hired as private security for my show, decided to start a riot. And this was looking about the same), and I wasn't happy to see it again.

Luckily, my show was only half over. And nopony nopig was going to interrupt my show!

Alright, Trixie won't sugarcoat it. I talk a good game, but I know where my real talents lie. And fighting four burly boars wasn't that. Never telling Swirly this, but I was just about to teleport backstage and make a run for it when I realized Sparkleshine was stepping in front of those monsters, and her horn was projecting a shield spell.

Why is that important? I hear you ask, journal. Well, because, as I've established, these ponies are backwards. And, Trixie, despite being a showmare, is still the most powerful mage around at the moment. And the most knowledgeable. And the best looking. And the smartest. And

Point is, Trixie remembers her Spell Combat courses from CSGU. Professor Snake may have been a gloomy guss, but he knew his stuff, and he was one of the only teachers I could stand. So, it was obvious to me that Sparkleshine was in trouble, with her magic shield barely measuring at a paltry second-level. First level shields help manage light rain and weather, or at least keeping it out of your eyes while traveling. At second level, you could stop a tenneighs ball.

Four murderous thugs, each the size of Big Mac? That wasn't happening.

Like I said before, I can almost tolerate Princess Sparkle at the best of times. But without her, I know my life would be miserable. How else would I have met Starlight? I suppose I owed her this one. And by 'this one', I meant, 'making sure she was born'.

Trixe snatched up some rope in her magic. She was going to impress everypony with a cut-rope-loop later on, but that would have to be postponed. She leapt into action, and sent the rope snaking down through the crowd.

I had the rope whip its way around the legs of the first pig, tripping him up, and sending the brute skidding to a halt on his chinny-chin-chin. That slowed the other three down, who saw their companion drop, and glared up at me.

"Ha!" I tried to laugh, but it came out as a bit of a cry, "You dare to intrude upon the performance of the Great and Powerful Trixie!? How un-neigh-borly of you!"

The crowd ate that one up. Despite more than a few ponies looking worried or scared, Trixie knows how a good laugh can take the fright out of anything.

"Grrr!" one of the pigs snarled in my direction, then slapped his companions and shouted, "Get that wizard!"

Wizard. I love hearing that.

I had a lot less love for the pig who reached my stage first. This big old brute just cracked the front of the stage with his tusk-axe, and shook the whole thing half to pieces. Even with shaking me up as well, I finally got a good look at these ambush-hooligans. Old chain mail armor, like you'd see at one of those Re-enactment Fairs, wrapped around a creature that honestly smelled like you'd expect a four-hundred pound pig to smell after running a few miles under a hot sun.

And those eyes

Creepy eyes, and familiar. Yellow eyes, with red irises.

I barely met the guy, and I could already tell Discord had something to say about all this. Creep just said 'Spoilers' and turned my hat into a piranha. Jerk.

The pig started churning up the stage, literally ripping it into bits and pieces, like he was a shark carving through water! Trixie

I was scared. So scared. The last time I'd done something that stupid and dangerous, I at least had Starlight to get me out of danger afterward. This was something else. And, I'm not proud to admit something. I

*Trixie has scribbled over the next section, apparently drawing several pigs in armor, badly*

I leaked. I was so scared that I mana-leaked. I haven't done something like that since foalhood. Even the ursa didn't scare me like watching that pig cut through wood like water.

You probably don't need reminding about Mana-Leaks, being a unicorn, but take it from somepony who had a unicorn foal and didn't have a clue about it, it's scary, and upsetting. Both of my foals are older now, but Zaldia had that problem real bad growing up. Me being a pegasus, and Cab being an earth pony, we really didn't know how to help her.

Heh. Another weird similarity between me and Dash, huh?

But, as it turns out, it was all a part of Trixie's Master Plan! My horn sparked, ever so slightly, the sign of an immature unicorn foal trying magic for the first time, unable to control her mana flow. But, this was all Misdirection!

My little mana spark just so happened to not be a failed magical blast at all, but rather fell down beneath the stage floorboards on purpose. The pig laughed, and kept up his charge, completely unaware of the cache of explosive spell-material stashed right below his hooves.

The stage vaporized in a wave of flashing blues and greens and purples! The sound was incredible! I'm absolutely sure I would have got tinnitus from that if it weren't for the Bell incident (ask Starlight, only witness). Trixie only just avoided going skyward with the pig, teleporting out at the last possible second. I grabbed Swirly, who was trying to drag one of the escape jackets out to me when the whole ordeal sprang up, and managed to clear half the town square.

Sure, I reappeared about ten feet up and landed in a chicken coop. But it was still a successful operation.

"Run!" I could barely make out through the reverberating sound of that firework explosion and shrieking, panicked chickens, "She's a real wizard!!!"

Oop. Hang on.

*the whole page is covered in coffee stains*

Gotcha that time, Merry!

Maybe Trixie shouldn't gloat about giving Derpy's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother a caffeine addiction.

So, there I was, lying in a broken chicken coop, my new hat and cape covered in straw, smashed eggs, and probably poop. The whole stage, and probably most of my props and equipment were either dust, or sailing through lower orbit with

Ha! I just got it! I made a pig fly!!!

Anyway, Swirly was hugging me and trying to pick me up, when Trixie had a sudden grip of panic. This is a natural thing for anypony who's seen so many other ponies crowd around them before. Last time, had it not been for my quick thinking, tiger-like reflexes, and a good right hoof, I might have had to give out a refund!

This time though, all the village ponies were making a strange sound. It sounded like cheering, but the show was a disaster, as far as I was aware.

The concussion prevented Trixie from fighting back or teleporting away when they laid their hooves upon me. But then, instead of tossing me out of town, they started cheering again. It was so surreal that it took me a few moments to realize what was happening.

And just like that, Trixie was surrounded by all those familiar-but-not-familiar faces.

"You were amazing!" Ribbon was at my side as the crowd set me down, "You were like 'Haha! You'll never best me, villains!' and then you were like, ZAP! Ka-POW!"

Sparkleshine was (annoyingly) also smiling, "I've never seen magic like that! How'd you get past Sew Crates' Paradox with the rope? That sort of fibrous material shouldn't..."

Bowtie slapped me across the back just a little too hard right then, and Trixie will not lie: she almost threw up a little.

"Such sorcery!" he said once he had picked me up again, "You wouldn't happen to be looking to join the guard sometime, would you?"

It was all so disorientating. It took everything I had to shake the cobwebs loose and get my bearings straight.

"What just happened?" was all I could think to say. "Who were those pigs? What were they doing here? Why did they interrupt my show!?"

The whole crowd, a moment ago jubilant and praising me, fell into utter silence. Trixie checked her ears again, just to make sure it wasn't the tinnitus.

"Wow," Rainbo Firefly stage-whispered next to me, "She really isn't from around here."

"Of course not!" Swirly stepped up, shooting me a look I'm still not sure what it was. "Trixie is a Wizard of the highest caliber! She can make books out of magic...!"

I think Sparkleshine started drooling at that one.

"... She can turn bits of dust and flour into exploding magical powders! And she's seen things nopony else would believe! The Great and Powerful Trixie has even been to a place where ponies of every tribe work together!"

"Ya'll saw how she mended my family's strife," said Peachy, nuzzling quite close to Mal Apple on the edge of the crowd, "She knew about me and Mal before I ever spoke to her, using her mystical powers!"

Still can't believe we lost that passage. Gotta remember to ask either her or Starswirl about what happened.

I was blushing somewhat by this point. I mean, Trixie knows she's great, and all. But it's not everyday that she meets ponies who really see her in the same way. Ponyville's the closest I've ever come to this level of fame and appreciation, and even then I had to wallow in shame and obscurity for a long, long time before then.

I somewhat earned my poor reputation there, of course. But here? No Ursa Major story and no idiots to misinterpret. No neighsayers heckling my show and forcing me to put them in their place.

Okay. Pig monster attack. But who's counting?

"You actually don't know," Firefly said again, this time less incredulous, and more incredibled cred ib

She didn't ask it like a question, alright? She said it like, 'oh wow! that's amazing' or something.

"Those brutes," Sparkleshine said, this time with that same, Princess-y tone that the real Sparkle always did when she was lecturing me on something. But, this time, I decided to listen. Trixie had almost been killed, after all.

Right, anyway.

"Those brutes," she said, "Were Troggles. A tribe of boars who serve the will of Grogar, the Dread Ram."

"Grogar?" I asked, the name just barely registering as something I'd heard once before, but couldn't place, "Who's that?"

"An evil Ram, whose black magic allows him to create terrible monsters," Swirly took a turn for the serious, "He's been terrorizing the lands for years now, but besides Gusty..."

"Oh, hush now!" a callous, crackly voice rang out over the town.


Things were moving so fast, I realize. Trixie didn't have a chance to think over what anypony was saying. But, sitting here and writing it all out, I do remember something about this Grogar character. I think there's a fairy tale about him and Gusty.

Mom used to tell me that story.

I miss her. She had a beautiful voice, I think. Don't really remember what she sounded like, or looked like. But I remember she was a dancer, and a singer. So, of course she could sing and dance. She must have been so great. I can only remember the words to one of her songs, but it's usually enough.

Right, Bray.


Bray walked back through the crowd, his sour little face making me think he was a relative of Cranky's. The donkey looked fine, considering he'd just been chased back to town by a band of monsters, but his muzzle couldn't have ever once been happy, the way he carried himself.

"Everycreature knows that Gusty's just a myth! There ain't no way someone could stand up against Grogar."

He turned his face back towards me, and through clenched teeth, he added, "Thanks, by the way. For saving me. Wizard."

"Eh, don't mention it," I said, knowing full well what he was going through. Trixie may be many things, but proud is certainly one of them. I know whenever my flank's been pulled from the fire, I've never liked thanking the other party for it.

*the following was clearly written at a later date, in Starswirl's hornwriting*

Why didn't we piece it together sooner? It was so obvious. He was so obvious. I wish Luna had been around then, some nights. At least then, I might have found some solace from the nightmares.

When I asked a few donkey-historians about Bray, they spat on the ground before they'd talk about him.

From the play, Bray, written by Playbill Shake-Spear.

BRAY: I have done a thousand dreadful things as willingly as one would kill a fly; And nothing grieves me heartily indeed, but that I cannot do ten thousand more.”


Well, the performance was a bust. But, Trixie found her time in Hyneighria well-spent, regardless. That whole day, she was treated like royalty by the townsponies. I guess beating a couple of Troggles was a big deal around these parts. So, I got some great haycakes, some funky peach cider, and enough cake to make Celestia happy.

Best part? My local suppliers were more than happy to help me replace all the stuff that got blown up! I was even in such a good mood, I promised to do another show the next day!

Day Eight of being in the past went a lot better than Day Seven. Well, mostly. Don't get Trixie wrong, not having to deal with a farmpony rivalry or a bandit attack was nice, but things got a little hectic right at the end there, just a few hours ago from when I'm writing this down.

Things started off fine. Got in a nice breakfast. Watched Sparkleshine and Ribbon practice magic a bit. Sparkle lost, so even better! Took Swirly down to Peachy's place to pick up my new wagon. Nicely built, too! It looks a little like the number I had back when I first reached Ponyville, though a bit more open. It even had the same red roof.

Trixie sort of wonders now if technology ever moves forward in Equestria.

So am I at this point. The change in models Trixie's talking about probably refers to the fact that the wagon she purchased before Ponyville was a Suncruiser Mk XII. A popular model for travelers and vacationing families. After Princess Luna's return, the company, Alfalfa Romeo came out with a star and moon-themed wagon, the Dream Astral, which Trixie purchased some time after the Alicorn Amulet incident. With what money, I don't know.

Though, since Las Pegasus banned her for life around the same time, I have a few guesses.

That done, I went ahead with my show. And this performance went off without a hitch. The stage had to be rigged up at the last moment from scraps, and none of my cloth supplies had been dyed yet, but nopony seemed to mind. Heck, I could have sworn they were enjoying the show more than yesterday.

I don't often get to say this, but for a while, I finally knew what it was like to be loved.

I was in such a good mood after the last trick, where I put all my illusory skills to work making my assistant Swirly appear to grow into an adult stallion, that I went looking for that Bray character. Couldn't seem to find him though. Hope he's okay. Trixie knows from experience how bad a hurt ego can be.

Swirly's complaining that I didn't get his look right. Apparently, he should have a beard, like his dad. He seems really insistent on it. Hang on.


Okay. That wasn't a good idea. And for a couple of reasons.

First. He looked good. With the beard, I mean. Trixie will admit (I just realized I'm saying that a lot) that her skills at illusions are second to none, and I take a lot of pride in my work. But I work with what I got, and Swirly has got a lot going for him in the genetics department. If he turns out like my spell, then he'll probably be a mare's stallion when he grows up. That kid will be beating them off with a stick.

But, second reason that wasn't a good idea.

I know him. I recognized him.

Swirly. Bearded Swirly. Starry-eyed, bearded Swirly.

Starswirl, the Bearded. The Great Wizard. He Who Wore the Bells. I don't know if that's a real title of his,

He took that one after reading this journal, apparently. I suspect he gets his hooves on this before too long.

but it might be. At least, what I recall from CSGU. And from Princess Twilight. And that one time I kinda bumped into him in the Crystal Empire.

According to Starswirl, he legitimately didn't recognize her when they met up in the Crystal Empire Library. He chalked it up to him being tired and suffering tunnel-vision from his current project, plus no small amount of emotional distancing. I guess he thought she might have been a relative or distant cousin or something. It wasn't until she returned from this adventure that he got around his own mental and emotional blocks and realized who was standing right in front of him.

It's romantic, and tragic. Nice? Glad that he did remember her, in the end. Their kid sounds like a swell pony.

Oh, Buck. I almost killed Starswirl the Bearded.

Okay, you can't tell anypony about this, journal!

Which you won't. Because you're a book. *Trixie drew a frowny face here, it's cute*

Trixie needs a moment. And a stiff cider.


I'm back. Okay. So. I almost killed the greatest conjurer of the Pre-Classical Era. No big deal. Time travel's a crapshoot anyhow, right?

After my show, Swirly Starswirl Swirly and I mostly hung around town. Most of my packing was done, and I was ready to take off the next day (tomorrow morning), so I took things easy. He showed me some of the other foals playing in their little common area. That was nice, until I realized most of them were on break-time, and had to go back to work.

Foals with jobs. Guess I forgot that was a thing.

But I also got a good look at a little playhouse. It was puppets, but I'm not some snob who dislikes puppets. And for what they were, they were cute. They were putting on a historical play, according to Swirly. The Tale of Princess Amore.

Apparently, when this Grogar fellow came to power, ponykind did something bad (I was only half-paying attention at that part) that made all the Alicorns abandon them to his dark cruelty. All except for one, the Crystal Princess, who led a small group of ponies north, to a fabled land of ice and snow, but that was protected from Grogar's evil.

For once, I kept my mouth shut about the whole Crystal Empire thing. See, Starlight? I'm learning.

Less fun was learning how there weren't any Alicorns around. Swirly said they ascended or something. Not sure exactly what that means, but I figure it was bad. I do wonder what ponies did that ticked them off so much they'd leave us all behind like that. Must've been bad.

If Celestia or Luna ever talked about where Alicorns came from, you need to spill, now! Trixie is not a font of information on this. She does meet up with one later, but even that's such a tease!

I'm stalling. Trixie is stalling.

That night (um, a couple hours ago), everypony decided to gather at the top of a nearby hill. If I was a betting mare, I'd say it was the same hill Starlight likes to fly her kites from, but that'd be crazy

Who am I kidding? This place is almost definitely Ponyville in a few thousand years.

Everypony was there. Peachy, Sparkle, Ribbon and Bowtie, and even Firefly, a little more bruised than when I last saw her. And they were all there to watch some fireworks. I'd managed to work up a doozie of a rocket, and I'd sort of promised fireworks, so that's what I was there to do. I set it up just on the edge of the hill, and used a few planks of wood to hold it up and steadied.

"Can I light this one?" Swirly begged me. At the time, I couldn't resist his almost puppy-dog stare. How was I supposed to know he'd be important?

"Sure thing, shrimp," I said, totally oblivious to how many ways Equestria could turn into a sandy wasteland with that one remark.

Anyway, so, we get underway. I give a big ole speech, like I do. Trixie was all "Great and Powerful", and "Behold" and such and such. It was a grand spectacle.

Sorry. I'm just not feeling it all of a sudden. I know this is for posterity, or so that Starlight can find me again. You're taking your sweet time, by the way. But, I can't get over how close I got to

Right. Rip the band-aid off.

Swirly sparks up his horn, just like I showed him. And he pranced right over to the rocket, which I'd managed to make over twice his size. I mean, the blasting powders for that thing are dirt-cheap in the past, and there's so much of it!

He lights the rocket, and after a few tense seconds, it roars to life! This thing was a lurid yellow, the cheapest color they could find me, and in an instant, it would be sailing off into the night sky at the end of a bright-red trail. The only problem with this would be that it took off with a bit of the rope used to haul it out here. Normally, not a big deal.

This time? The other end of that rope had coiled around Swirly's hind legs! The poor kid was yanked off his hooves, and sent soaring after the rocket!

All I could do was stare. The whole evening had gone so well thus far. Everypony was having fun. We were all talking about what our plans were. Sparkle was thinking of opening a school. Ribbon wanted to travel. I was planning on keeping a low-profile from here on out.

And now, the most important foal in the world was about to explode.

It was my fault. I must have been so caught up in the glory and the praise that I got sloppy.

Could really use Luna right now. My dreams will not be fun tonight.

But then, just as Swirly went sailing to his doom, there was a red flash, and I could see Firefly racing to catch him! I couldn't believe how fast she was! It was like watching Rainbow Dash again! But, there was a part of me that knew she wouldn't make it in time. She wasn't that fast.

Or was she? The rocket reached the middle of town, though several hundred feet up. The red streak followed it, just to the edge of sight. Trixie almost couldn't bear to watch. She knew what was about to happen.

And it did. The firework detonated, and sent out a wave of gold and blue flames across the heavens.

But then, a rainbow followed.

My jaw dropped as I saw it. The sound was incredible, like an electric guitar opening up all the valves and bellowing out across the sky!

This metaphor confuses me because I know she knows what a guitar sounds like. Trixie's being deliberately Trixie here.

My heart soared with that sound, and with the rainboom blast that flew out over the town. And when I saw the rainbow itself form and fly straight from the explosion back towards our little hilltop party? I was so thrilled. So happy.

Firefly came down lightly, like she hadn't any energy to spare and was trying to not crash. Admirable, especially seeing as how she held little Swirly in her hooves.

"Anypony drop something?" she smirked.

Trixie hardly cared. She rushed to the pegasus' side and wrapped my hooves around the shuddering little unicorn.

"I'm so sorry!" I cried out, scared, but not nearly as much as I probably should have been, "Swirly! I'm so sorry, I didn't see that rope...!"

"It's alright!" he hugged me back, at least for a moment, before he realized he was acting like a scared little foal. He pushed me off, and got back to his hooves, "It was I who missed the rope, Ms Trixie. I... I didn't see it."

However, if there's one thing Trixie has learned, it's to take responsibility for her own mistakes.

"Well," I said, "Mind your surroundings next time. Firefly won't always be there to save you."

I never said I was good at taking responsibility. Just that I know I should.

But bringing up the egotistical pegasus brought me and Swirly Swirly and I both up sharp. We spun around, and found the entire hilltop engrossed in a new spectacle.

It was like looking at Rainbow Dash again. Firefly's whole mane and tail radiated rainbow light. The trail of rainbows that hung over the town still stopped mere feet from where she stood. It was the most amazing thing I think I've ever seen. I sort of wondered what it would look like up close, but Dash hadn't ever shown me the trick in pony like that.

"You did it," was all Trixie could manage.

Firefly was equally engrossed in her new do.

"Awesome!" her smile could be seen from orbit, no doubt. "This! WOW! This is the... the Awesomest thing possible! What was that!? How did I!? WHAT!? WOW!!!!"

Nopony seemed much to care that a foal had almost exploded. Everypony circled around Firefly, Swirly included, and just took in how astonishing her mane and tail looked. Even as the rainbow faded from the sky, it remained as vibrant as ever on Firefly.

"Ha!" she suddenly pointed a hoof at me, her face full of triumph, "And you said I couldn't do it!"

"But she said it could be done!" Swirly shot back in my defense. Then, he turned back towards me, as did everypony else, and stared with awe.

"She predicted it," he said, quietly. Every head was pointed my way now, and from Sparkle to Firefly, it was all I could do to not see the sheer adoration in their eyes.

I guess, in a way, they all thought I'd caused this. Huh.

"Well, of course!" I said. Can't spoil a trick, after all. Even one I didn't mean to perform. "Now, do you all see? I am indeed a Great and Powerful Magician!"

They cheered Trixie. Of course they did. How could they not, after I'd predicted the Sonic Rainboom, and then seemingly performed it? I allowed Firefly to be changed by its magic, but to all those ponies, it was my trick.

The adoration was intoxicating. I really am going to miss it. Hyneighria wasn't so bad, as a first place to visit when lost in time.

Merry just came by. Looks like I'm the last one up, and she got worried about candles being left burning in the library. I can see Swirly sleeping on one of the benches next to me. I should have known he was being too quiet.

Oh well. Guess that's it for Hyneighria. Next time, I should either be in Gallopoli, or near by it. But, for now, I'd better get my beauty sleep. I've got a few friends to say goodbye to before I leave in the morning. Can't let myself sleep in again.

Hopefully, once I get out of here, I can stop threatening the time-space vacuum, or whatever Starlight called it. Things turned out well so far, but I couldn't live with myself if something happened to Starswirl before he gets as famous as he does.

Til next time.