//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: A Long Shot 
// by Near Miss 
//------------------------------//

After an uneventful breakfast, Near Miss, Long Shot and Spleens walked into a snow covered Ponyville shortly before 10:00 in the morning. Near, having been to the CASTLE OF FRIENDSHIP before, knew de wai, and thus it was well before noon when Near Miss knocked on the doors.

From inside the CASTLE OF FRIENDSHIP	came a loud crash, followed by swearing, and eventually sompony opening the door.

"What do you want?" Said a rather irritated light blue unicorn as she poked her head out the door.

"Um," Near replied, "You asked us to get a thing for you?" Near said as she levitated the scroll they had received over to Trixie.

After a quick glance at the paper before her, Trixie's eyes lit up and she enthusiastically said, "OH YES! The Great and Powerful Trixie has been eagerly awaiting your arrival. Please, come inside."

Inside the CASTLE OF FRIENDSHIP, there was a small mountain of furniture heaped together, some of it still slowly collapsing.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie apologies for the mess, She was practicing for Her next Great stage act, wherein she will play Jenga using audience members instead of wooden blocks. For some reason, nopony was willing to help The Great and Powerful Trixie practice this stunt, so Trixie had to use most of the castle's furniture instead. Please, have a seat and tell Trixie what it is you have come here for."

Near gently and politely righted a few upturned chairs with her magic, before sitting down and answering, "In your letter, you said that Hoofdini's wand was last seen in Gallifrey Gorge, do you have anything more than that for us to go on?"

Trixie reared onto her hind legs as a few fireworks burst above her as she said, "No!"

After settling back onto four legs, Trixie continued, "All that The Great and Powerful Trixie knows is that Hoofdini's wand was last seen in Gallifrey Gorge, and sadly, Trixie has no further information to impart beyond that."

Long Shot rolled her eyes so hard they almost escaped from her skull.