Weeks passed. Another town, another performance...
"Thank you! Thank you all! You've been a marvelous audience!"
The Hoofington ponies applauded readily as Trixie concluded her show. Then they got up and departed for their various shops and homes. And Trixie wearily wound shut the stage front of the wagon. Then she retired inside, to count the morning's take. It wasn't huge, but if stretched, it might last the week. But she was definitely improving. Word-of-mouth was becoming good enough that she might even consider raising ticket prices for the evening show.
And Trixie was loving the showpony life: travelling all over, a new locale every few days; giving performances in villages, small towns, hamlets, anywhere that had a crossroads and a likely populace of entertainment-hungry ponies; wowing the inhabitants with her talent and natural showponyship.
Yet it was exhausting. Every day, she gave performances, and in between she practiced hoof-magic until her fetlocks cramped. Every night, Nightmare Moon appeared in her dreams, and rigorously schooled her in illusion, deception, and simple sleight-of-hoof, drawing on her recollections of some of the greatest prestidigitators in history, until Trixie was fully at home with every prop and piece of equipment in her wagon. Not to mention a few additional items that she'd fashioned herself, once the Mare had taught her about them.
The Mare also schooled her on local gossip, so that Trixie never entered a town without knowing exactly what was going on, who she needed to impress, and what to say to every official she met. It was kind of an illicit thrill, looking around, knowing everypony's secrets: what they had to hide, how it could be turned against them. Keeping them constantly on the wrong hoof, in superstitious awe of her uncanny talents and away from the door of her wagon.
The Mare occasionally gave Trixie lessons in spellwork too, gradually improving Trixie's skill in levitation, pyromancy, and a few other simple techniques that would prove useful for her performances. Trixie was particularly fond of the firework spell she'd mastered: it could cause blasts of colored sparks, and even project images in the sky. She used the spell every chance she could during her act. She simply adored flinging her hooves wide, sending loud bangs and sparkling flashes flying everywhere.
But lessons in magic were few and far between. Nightmare Moon seemed diffident, even bored, as she observed and commented on Trixie's progress. And she had yet to teach Trixie any really powerful magic: curses, summonings, energy beams, and suchlike. She was reticent whenever Trixie timidly raised the subject, and would say only that Trixie was not yet ready.
"To wield a blade properly," she would say, "one's hoof must first be steady. Practice, Trixie... Practice!"
Though one night she did relent, and unexpectedly so...
------------------------------
It was a night when their conversation during the lesson had turned to the Nightmare's ability to visit the dreams of sleeping ponies. And Trixie had impulsively begged the Nightmare to teach her how to do dream-walking, too.
For a while, the Mare had eyed her coldly, as if offended. Then suddenly, a grin spread across her face.
"Thou are still not ready to attempt it thyself," she said sternly. "Yet if thou promises to do just as we tell thee... we shall show thee how it is done..."
Trixie readily promised. The Mare sniffed doubtfully, then directed Trixie to tuck herself up safely in her bunk. And then to relax, and allow the Mare to direct her thoughts.
"Allow us control, little one. We shall perform the spell, and bring thee with us."
Trixie willingly shut her eyes. She felt the cold touch of the Mare's will, settling into her mind. And suddenly, it seemed like she was the Mare -- as if the Mare was looking out, through her eyes.
"Now, small one, come with me..." Nightmare Moon said. And then somehow she turned a corner that Trixie had not even known was there, and took Trixie along with her...
There was a vast space, filled with cyan mist and stars... and a seemingly endless row of doors, which whipped past faster than Trixie could count them. Finally, one set of doors, tall and grand with inlaid silver scrollwork, was standing before her.
"Open them," the Mare had directed her.
Trixie did so, reaching up her hooves to work the handles. She stepped through, and found herself in a night-dark, echoing marble corridor, with plush carpeting and hung with elegant tapestries. Brilliant, silvery moonlight cascaded through the windows on the left side of the corridor, casting pools of gleam and shadow on the carpet.
Where are we? Trixie wondered, staring at it all.
Where else? Nightmare Moon replied smugly. Canterlot, in the Royal Palace itself. A little preview, as it were, for your eventual arrival here.
At the end of the corridor was another set of doors, tall and silver, engraved with images of crescent moons hanging in the sky over fields and forests.
Two gold-armored guards stood before the doors, one to either side. As Trixie approached, they eyed her suspiciously.
"Halt!" the left one demanded. "Who goes there? State your business!"
Allow us to speak, little one, the Mare told her. And then, with Trixie's voice, she said:
"Her Highness has requested that Princess Luna's quarters be inspected by a student of the legends concerning the Princess of the Night." Trixie felt herself being curtseyed, subserviently. "Summoned, we come. Oh, and before thee asks, Melvin the Manticore sends his regards."
The guards eyed each other.
"It checks out," the senior one said. "The passphrase and everything. The Chief Steward did mention it." He looked skeptically at Trixie. "Seriously? At this hour?"
"Well," the Nightmare replied, "the Princess did request discretion, did she not?"
Still looking uneasy, the guards relented. They turned and quietly opened the doors, ushered Trixie inside, then shut the doors behind her.
The Chief Steward, poor thing... Nightmare Moon muttered amusedly in Trixie's thoughts. He has so many tasks on his mind lately... he will not even recall giving the order in the morning...
Trixie wasn't listening -- she was staring around the room in awe.
It was a regal suite, decorated with opulent tapestries and candelabra. There was a carriage-sized bed, with a canopy shaped like a crescent moon. The ceiling was covered with a map of the night sky. It was pristinely luxurious. Yet there was an empty, unoccupied feel to it as well: as of a room carefully maintained just as it had been, year on year, in hopes that its occupant might one day return.
This must be Princess Luna's room, Trixie thought to herself.
And heard the Nightmare cackling in her mind.
Ah, yes! she laughed. Dear Celestia! She misses Luna so, for Luna has been away so long! Celestia wants everything to be just right, in hopes that Luna will one day return, and just move right back in. Even in her dreams, Celestia has Luna's room made ready to welcome her -- over and over...
"Wait --" Trixie looked around again. "This is a dream? But it feels so real!"
Nightmare Moon snickered. According to some theories, consciousness itself is but a variety of lucid dream. And alicorn dreams, being so powerful, rather muddy the philosophical waters. But in this case... The Mare sounded disgusted. Celestia has always been rather... literal in her thinking, even in the dream realm. She dreams about what is, not what might be. But that simply makes this all the easier for us. Come, Trixie. We must act quickly, before she knows we are here.
The Nightmare brought Trixie out onto the suite's broad balcony, with its magnificent view of the city spread out far below -- unnervingly far below. The drop beyond the balcony made Trixie gasp, and she came to a frightened halt at the railing itself.
Worry not, the Nightmare told her. We shall show thee another spell now: self-levitation...
Trixie felt her horn light up. She felt herself lifted up by the spell, and carried across a dizzying drop to a nearby balcony, where she was set lightly back on her hooves again.
Trotting forward into the room just to get away from the vertiginous drop outside, Trixie found herself in another royal suite, this one decorated in sun motifs.
And on the bed nearby there was a large, winged, ivory-white pony, huddled under the light covers, tossing fitfully in her sleep.
Princess Celestia? Trixie was stunned. She'd hoped to one day see the Princess, perhaps up on a distant balcony from the other side of a large crowd. And here the royal alicorn was, barely a dozen steps away.
Indeed, Nightmare Moon snarled viciously. The usurper! She banished us, Trixie! Sent us away, and hoped it would be forever. But we shall have revenge, my student. We shall show her she cannot stand against the Night!
Trixie shivered at the venom in the Nightmare's thoughts. But... if you could sneak me in here so easily, Trixie asked, why haven't you taken revenge already? You know, send somepony in here with a poison dagger or something?
There was silence in Trixie's mind for a moment. Then Nightmare Moon cackled.
Pardon us, small one. We were forgetting the refreshingly honest savagery of the young filly mind. No, my student, that will not do. Celestia can defend herself easily against such simple usurpations, or she would not have ruled this land unopposed for close to a millennia. No, it would take something a bit more... subtle than that. And we have some ideas along those lines. But let us leave that aside for the moment. Celestia appears to be having a bit of a restless night. Go to her, Trixie! Whisper comfortingly in her ear. Tell her this...
Trixie listened carefully. Then she nervously tip-hoofed over to the side of the bed. She leaned close, and carefully whispered in the Princess's ear. The effect was immediate, and surprising. The Princess visibly relaxed, settling herself comfortably under the covers, smiling contentedly.
And then she suddenly began to snore. Loudly, in a most unregal way -- like a clogged bathtub drain.
Trixie heard the Nightmare chuckle. Well, she seems more comfortable now. Let us not disturb her further, Trixie. Thou will see her again, soon enough.
Trixie was puzzled. She wasn't certain why a vague, fortune-teller-like prophecy about meeting some pony on a road would be so comforting to Princess Celestia. But maybe that was what Nightmare Moon meant, about me meeting Celestia soon? Maybe Celestia will meet Trixie herself on the road? And invite her to come to her School?
Trixie also wondered about what had happened to Princess Luna. Did Celestia banish her too? Then why did she want her back? Why did she keep the Princess's rooms so carefully preserved and tidy?
It all seemed mysterious to her. Still, she assumed that her teachers -- one or the other of them -- would eventually see fit to explain it to her, so she didn't press the subject. She allowed Nightmare Moon to work the dream-walking spell once more, carrying her back through the cold, starlit void, and bringing her home to her bunk in the wagon.
And then the Nightmare abruptly and unexpectedly ended the night's lesson. She commanded Trixie to go to sleep, and swiftly departed, cackling madly to herself.
For days after, Trixie begged to be taken to other places via the dream-realm. But Nightmare Moon tersely reminded her that she was "not yet ready", and directed her back to her studies. And she seemed even more reluctant now to move Trixie on to more advanced lessons in dark magic.
But Trixie didn't fret about the slow pace of her magic lessons. She had more than enough work already with learning and perfecting the hoof-magic tricks that she needed for her stage show. And too, she was on her way to Canterlot, to study at Celestia's School.
There'd be plenty of time to learn real magic then.
------------------------------
Along with perfecting her stage skills, and earning the spare bits she'd need to live on in the expensive royal city, she needed lessons in deportment: the manners and cultured grace required to navigate the upper echelons of Canterlot society.
Princess Luna saw to that, during the day, whenever Trixie's attention flagged or her thoughts wandered. A quick lesson on proper address here, a swift tutoring on the hierarchy of the government and the Palace there, small hints and nudges in everything Trixie said or did, constantly shaping Trixie into a proper young filly, cultured and refined.
It was wonderful, and Trixie was grateful for the attention lavished on her by her teachers. Yet there was a downside as well. The constant, unstinting pressure, the endless rounds of lessons, every minute of the night and day, left her feeling well and truly bushwhacked. She felt constantly on the go, never a moment's rest. Day blurred into night, so that she wasn't entirely sure when she was awake or asleep.
She found herself longing for the bliss of simple, dreamless sleep at night, or an idle moment to herself during the day.
That will come, Trixie sternly reminded herself. For right now, it's nose to the grindstone, young lady! The show must go on!
She sighed, relieved that this morning's show was over at least. The Hoofington ponies were a demanding bunch, though they were also unstinting with their applause at the end, which pleased Trixie immensely. She'd accommodated them with several encore tricks, buoyed along by their enthusiasm. But that had meant an overlong show and now she was even further behind schedule for the rest of the day.
Locking her bit-bag in the safe hidden beneath the floorboards, Trixie flopped back on the bed and shut her eyes, hoping to catch at least a few quick winks before she needed to start preparing for the evening's performance.
She'd almost dropped off when a familiar voice whispered to her:
"Trixie... where are you, our diligent student?"
It was Princess Luna. Trixie groaned, dreading yet another lesson in properly holding a teacup, passing a plate of scones, or smiling blandly in the face of a noble's ridiculous joke. She nevertheless hauled herself up, straightened her hat and cloak, and moved to the door.
"Trixie is here, Your Highness," she said dutifully. "What is Trixie to learn today?"
"No lessons today," Princess Luna's ghostly voice replied. "Thou has been working hard, our diligent student, and doing very well. Thou deserves a little reward..."
"Oh?" Trixie paused, hoof on the door-handle. "What kind of reward?"
"Come visit us," Luna called mysteriously, "and find out!"
Puzzled, Trixie pulled open the door...
... and found herself stepping down from a golden carriage, onto a soft crimson carpet, on a warm and sunny afternoon. The carpet led up a grand stairway, to the main entrance of the Royal Palace in Canterlot. And all around her, hoofponies and guards stood waiting, their heads bowed respectfully.
Surprised, Trixie looked behind her, seeing no sign of her wagon, just the carriage. She noticed as well that her hat and robe had gone up several notches in both quality and grandeur. They were now made of fine, shimmering satin, with elegantly hoof-stitched stars, and were as breathtaking to look at as they were comfortable to wear.
A liveried hoofman bowed genteelly to her. "My Lady! An honor to welcome you back again!"
"The pleasure is all ours," Trixie replied automatically. "We are expected?"
"But of course, Your Ladyship! This way, if you please."
"So kind. Do lead on!"
Trixie was surprised at herself. She'd been practicing her courtly manners, but she was still far from able to carry herself with such refined poise and assurance. It must be Luna's doing, Trixie thought. She's conjuring this, like a pleasant dream, allowing me to experience what it's like, living here in high society, without any effort at all...
It was nice.
I could get used to this! she thought.
She allowed herself to be conducted up the stairs and into the Palace, then along echoing marble corridors hung with elegant tapestries. She was passed from guide to guide with the smooth and practiced ease of long familiarity.
She was brought finally to the set of tall silver doors, engraved with images of crescent moons hanging in the sky over fields and forests. A pair of dragon-winged, lantern-eyed guard ponies stood to either side of the doors, and they snapped to attention at her approach.
Trixie nodded to the guards with calm superiority. "Announce us, please!" she commanded, though with a gracious smile. "One does like to hear one's name announced, even though it might be redundant."
The guards compliantly swept open the doors, and in unison called out: "Her Esteemed Ladyship, the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
Trixie stepped into the familiar royal suite, gazing around at the opulent tapestries and candelabra, the carriage-sized bed with its canopy shaped like a crescent moon, the ceiling covered with a map of the night sky. As before, it all took her breath away. Yet she recalled her lessons, and stood where she was, maintaining a cool, aloof demeanor until she was summoned further.
Across the room, Princess Luna sat at a table on the balcony. The table was set for midday tea, and the Princess gestured welcomingly with a hoof.
"Lady Trixie! So good of thee to come! Pray come sit with us, and be at ease!"
Trixie nodded dismissively to the guards, then trotted over to the table, seating herself primly and proudly next to Luna. The guards bowed, and pulled the doors shut.
Luna and Trixie eyed each other, coldly, archly, austerely...
... and then Luna's mouth quirked, giving just a hint of a smile.
Despite herself, Trixie smiled too. And in moments, their decorum had shattered, both of them laughing uncontrollably.
"We noticed that thou were weary," Luna said, when they both could speak calmly again, "So we thought a quiet break was in order. A pleasant hour or two with no lessons, no shows to give. Just tea, and agreeable company."
Trixie nodded. "The road has been rather long and hard. But we do not complain. We adore the showpony life! We would not trade it for the world!"
"We are glad for thee, our student," Luna said. "And we are proud as well. Very proud, Trixie! Thou art a fine young mare." Luna reached out, gently placing a hoof on Trixie's shoulder. "We could not wish for better in our student... our trusted confidant, and dearest of friends!"
Trixie stared up at her teacher... her kind, caring teacher. The Princess wanted nothing more than to see Trixie be the best at her innate talent. To be respected and adored for who she was, for what she could do...
Trixie's eyes suddenly welled up with tears.
"What is it, our student?" Luna asked, concerned. And that concern -- instant, focused, and unstinting -- only made the tears flow harder.
"Everypony else," Trixie whispered, "makes me feel like I've done something wrong, like I am wrong somehow, just by being here. But you make me feel... right, somehow... like I'm welcome. Like... like I belong here..." Trixie shut her eyes, felt tears running down her face.
"... like I'm not alone..."
"Thou are never alone, Trixie," Luna assured her. "Not ever. I am here for thee, whenever thou has need of me." Luna gazed out, over the balcony, at the spires of the palace around them, and the grand city beyond. "And in my dominion, Trixie, thou shall have a place of trust, of authority. Thou shall belong. Thou shall be welcome. None shall ever question thee, none shall ever doubt thee. In my dominion, Trixie, all shall be as I wish it -- as I command it! But first... first I must return to my dominion. First, I must be restored to my throne. I must be free once again..."
Luna looked down at Trixie again, her proud smile fading away -- to be replaced by quiet sorrow.
"My student, I must ask a great favor of thee."
"Absolutely! What?"
Luna abruptly waved a hoof. In a flash, the Palace, the sunlit balcony, the tea-setting, all of it vanished. In its place there was only darkness... a cold, mist-like, wraith-like darkness, filled with a sense of looming, impending doom.
Luna was there, lying forlornly in the midst of it all. Pained, helpless, and utterly alone... save for Trixie.
"I am imprisoned," Luna said abjectly. "Lost, so far away from home. I dearly wish to return, but I cannot do so... not on my own. I need your help, my diligent student. I need you to find me... to rescue me."
Trixie stared at her, astonished. "Of course, Princess! I'll do anything to help! Anything at all!"
Luna nodded thankfully. "You are kind, my student. So kind, so diligent, so dedicated. I am glad to have found somepony like you."
She sighed. And weakly waved a hoof again.
In a trice, the grand Palace, the sunlit balcony, the tea-setting, had all reappeared. And Luna was her proud, smiling self again.
"There is much to be done yet, Trixie," she said. "A long road ahead for both of us. But you will get there. And so will I. We both will, my diligent student."
She smiled down at Trixie.
"And then, then we shall be together, Trixie... forever and ever. You and I shall never be alone again..."
Astonished, Trixie reached up. She want to hug her kind and caring teacher, wanted to never let go of her, not ever...
A loud thumping sounded at the door, shaking the wagon.
Trixie snapped awake, abruptly and hard. Wiping her eyes crossly, she hauled herself up, stumbled over to the door, and yanked it open.
"Yes?"
An officious-looking stallion in a gray vest stood at her door, carrying a clipboard in his hoof, with a pair of town guards standing behind him.
"You are the showpony named Trixie?" he said, in that particular laconic, indifferent tone that presaged a world of officious and expensive bureaucracy.
The tatters of the dream still falling to shreds around her, Trixie drew herself up haughtily. "We prefer our full title: we are the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
"Uh, huh," he replied, unimpressed. "Well, Great and Powerful Trixie, do you have a purveyor's license for this little travelling show of yours? And have you formally registered as a busker with the town registrar? I assume you've also paid the traditional groundskeeping deposit for parking your wagon here? And the amusements and games tax?" He pretended surprise. "No? Well, I'm afraid that's going to go hard with you, young lady, very hard indeed. See, we like to do things properly here in Hoofington. Helps keep everypony on the up and up, eh?"
Trixie eyes glared. In her mind something snapped shut, cold and hard, like a bear trap. Caution was thrown to the winds.
"How dare you!" she snarled.
"Excuse me?" the stallion replied.
"How dare you disturb the Great and Powerful Trixie with such... plebean foolishness!" Trixie crossed her forehooves, her snout high and aloof. "You pathetic, over-entitled, money-grubbing little peasant!"
"Oh, really?" The stallion looked like he was going to enjoy this. "Well let me tell you --"
Trixie didn't let him finish. "You see those guards over there?" She pointed across the square to where two gold-armored Guard ponies happened to be passing by. "Suppose Trixie were to summon them over, and suggest to them that they might be interested in what happened to Hoofington's contribution to the roads and bridges fund this year?"
"Er... what?"
"Or," Trixie went on, acidly, "about that cousin of yours who has held the office of assessor three years running... despite never once winning the vote?"
"How did you --"
"Or!" Trixie whispered dangerously, "why a certain young mare left town so suddenly and unexpectedly -- with no explanation... and no forwarding address?"
The stallion stared at Trixie's sharp, unrelenting glare. He looked suddenly anxious and sweaty. "You have no proof..." he whispered desperately.
Trixie sneered, and matched him, whisper for whisper. "Oh, the Great and Powerful Trixie does not need proof! All she has to do is flick a hoof --" She motioned with a forehoof, "-- and the dominoes start falling, one after the other. Just one... little... flick..."
Despite himself, the stallion flinched. "Ermm... uh..."
Trixie smiled at him, darkly and supremely confident. "Now, get thee from our sight," she hissed dangerously. "And do not trouble us again!" She smiled sweetly. "That is, if thou values thy comfortable -- and potentially oh-so-short -- life..."
The official cleared his throat nervously.
"Erm. Yes. Well, all seems to be in order here. Come along, officers!"
He departed with unseemly haste, and the guards followed him in some confusion, apparently surprised they were not arresting anypony.
And Trixie snarled under her breath -- viciously, unrepentantly.
Princess Luna was lost, imprisoned. She needed Trixie's help. And nopony -- nopony -- was going to stand in Trixie's way!
Then Trixie shut her eyes, and sighed unhappily.
I never even had a chance to find out what flavor the tea was...