The sun shined through the window on the top level of the Library Treehouse, hitting the closed eyes of the little purple dragon, deep asleep on Twilight’s bed. He arose from his slumber and peered at the outside world, watching the red and orange leaves blowing by before stretching his arms. A peek of the sun revealed the time of day.
“It’s an hour to noon. Twilight should have woken me up already…and yelled at me for sleeping on her bed.”
Spike dragged himself down the stairs when he saw a letter pinned to the door. He pulled it down and read it:
***Begin Letter***
To all my friends,
I, Twilight Sparkle, have decided to no longer be Princess Celestia’s apprentice and instead, will go on the road and become a traveling magician. This decision was very difficult but I know it is the right one for me. My humblest apologies for departing without saying goodbye but I thought it would be for the best. Please do not follow me and try to change my mind.
Sincerely,
Twilight Sparkle
***End Letter**
The parchment was hit by one tear, then another, then a few more fell at once before the little dragon whimpered “She…she’s gone. But…but why didn’t she…”
Spike scrambled up the stairs of the Library Treehouse, hoping to see the sight of the purple unicorn but she was nowhere to be found. He searched through the basement, hoping Twilight was working on a scientific experiment but the machines downstairs were silent. As he came back to ground level, the little dragon started bawling and he ran outside, letter in hand, his instincts telling him to see a certain white unicorn.
Inside the upper floor of Carousel Boutique, the clattering of the sewing machine reverberated throughout the room, drowning out the constant meowing of the big, white cat sitting on a padded cushion on the bed. Rarity continued on with the stitching of a dress as she addressed the cat.
“My apologies, Opalescence, but I told you already that you’re on a diet.”
The cat meowed with an attitude.
“I said no. Your current figure is simply unacceptable and I will not stand by and have other ponies calling you a fat cat.”
Opal hissed and dug her claws onto the bed, ready to tear it into shreds.
Rarity stopped the sewing machine and stomped her hoof. “Don’t…you…dare!”
The cat gently stroked the delicate fabric below her, each slight motion making the white unicorn fret and fret some more.
“No, don’t, that’s, you can’t, please! All right! All right! How about some fish?”
Opal meowed in content and let out a sly smile as the white unicorn opened a narrow china cabinet and levitated out a glass of milk and a pouch with a picture of a blue tuna fish. As she filled the cat’s bowl with milk and sliced tuna, Rarity’s ears picked up the cries of the little purple dragon which grew louder and louder until Spike barged through the door. He made a beeline right to Rarity’s hoof and hugged it tightly.
Rarity looked down at her crying friend. “What’s wrong? Did something happen? Oh, don’t tell me you ate all that spicy food again.”
Spike let out incomprehensible words. “Twilight…she…but we were…I don’t…”
“I don’t…I don’t understand.”
He waved the rolled up letter in his hand which then glowed blue and brought up to the unicorn’s eye level. Rarity unfurled the letter and she mumbled the words.
“Please don’t tell me this is a joke” Rarity flatly said.
Spike shook his head.
The letter fell to the ground and Rarity’s lips quivered. She pulled out the red chaise lounger and with Spike still clinging to her hoof, she laid down and went into despair. “This can’t be! Our beloved and cherished friend has departed us to pursue a career in a questionable profession? This is…THE, WORST, POSSIBLE, THING!”
Opal rolled her eyes, having seen the routine two times already during the week.
“Spike! We must gather all our friends and decide on our next course of action! We must hurry!”
Amongst the tears, the dragon replied “Thank you, Rarity.”
The sun continued its journey to the top of the sky as the wooden box standing on the top of a green hill made cracking sounds. Then, a large blast of purple energy ripped from the inside, scattering pieces of broken branches everywhere. From the newly created hole emerged a tired azure pony. She turned around and looked over the wooden box that had served as her prison.
“Trixie has more magic than I thought. Still, that should have held me for days but it only took a few hours.”
Twilight took a few steps to look at the edge of the hill towards Ponyville. She thought about what Trixie mentioned earlier, about her plan to ditch her friends behind and go on the road to be a magician. Her mind, still retaining all her memories and deductive skills, ran through various scenarios on how the trickster would pull it off. As she thought about it some more, the same dilemma came up for solutions to each potential situation. She was in the body of Trixie and given her questionable reputation, convincing her friends she was truly Twilight Sparkle was the hard part.
Suddenly, she saw a cyan Pegasus and a small purple dragon exit the Library Treehouse and after Spike hopped on the back of Rainbow, she took off coming right at Twilight.
“Oh no! They can’t see me right now!”
Twilight instinctively climbed up the tree and grabbed to one of the larger branches. She wriggled forwards until she reached the end and with her horn, she parted the leaves just enough to give her a glance below just as four cyan hooves landed by the telescope.
“So, are you sure this is the last place you saw her?” asked Rainbow.
“Uh, huh” sniffed Spike.
Twilight’s motherly instincts told her to come down and hug the dragon but knew she couldn’t.
“Huh. Nothing unusual here” remarked Rainbow.
Spike pointed at the wooden box “I don’t…remember that being there.”
Rainbow glanced through the hole and scratched her head. “Well, this is odd but then again, this is Twilight were talking about here. She probably was doing something nerdy with this.”
Twilight shouted in her mind “I am not a nerd! I am just smart.”
Spike wiped some tears off his face. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
He then turned to the telescope which he had assembled earlier and he thought about the last words he heard from the purple unicorn.
“She…let me go home early…so that…she can leave town without any pony knowing. She…didn’t even take her…tele…scope….” Spike started sobbing, prompting Rainbow to shake her head in anger.
“Well, I don’t believe it for a second! She would never leave us hanging like this! C’mon! We’re going back to the Treehouse!”
The little dragon hopped onto Rainbow’s back and she blasted off back towards the Treehouse, sending the telescope twirling around before tipping over. It came to within inches from the ground before a purple haze glowed all around it.
“Whew! Nice save! Ok, I still to come up with a plan but first, I should sneak up to the Treehouse and see what my friends are doing.”
Twilight looked at the grassy floor below which in her eyes, moved further and further away. She tightened the grip on the limb she was holding onto.
“Help!” she muttered.
Outside the purple tent within Whitetail Woods, a purple unicorn adorned in a crimson red cape adorned with stars was furiously working her horn building a wooden chariot using the trees around her.
“Wonderful! Sparkle’s Traveling Chariot is finished! A brilliant work of craftsmanship from the greatest magical equine in all of Equestria!”
Trixie’s moment was interrupted by a mocking quacking sound. She turned around and saw the same aviary bird that tried to pilfer the amulet yesterday now laughing at her creation. She turned back around and saw the wheels were more like ovals, the door swaying in the wind before falling off, and the sign which had her acquired cutie mark hung crooked.
“How dare you mock the Amazing and Wonderful Sparkle!”
The horn of the purple unicorn brimmed with red energy before she pointed her horn at the bird. The release of energy made Trixie twirl, missing her target and zapping the chariot, sending it ablaze. The duck quacked in merriment and flew off before the unicorn could make a second attempt at retaliation.
As the remains of the chariot turned into ash, Trixie stomped her hoof at her misfortune before she noticed the smoke had cleared the treeline, potential revealing her location.
“This calls for a hasty departure for Twilight!”
Trixie used the teleportation spell once again and the unicorn disappeared from sight. Then, she reappeared a foot from where she departed. She stomped her hooves in anger.
“Must Twilight dirty her hooves again and walk?” whined Trixie.