By unspoken agreement, Trixie left her wagon parked where it was, tucked under the tree behind the lighthouse. And she lived in it, quietly and unobtrusively. If one wasn't looking for her specifically one might never have known she was there.
Which is not to say she was a hermit. She joined the group each morning when they gathered for breakfast, either at the lighthouse or down in the town. She seemed particlarly fascinated by the gadgets in Sunny's spartan-but-efficient kitchen. She stared in bafflement as Sunny ran a small blender that she used to make juice infusions. And she spent quality time flicking the wall switch, watching the light above the desk in the corner go on and off, apparently trying to work out how the two were connected.
Yet when Sunny explained electricity to her, Trixie seemed almost disappointed. "So," she summed up, "when the other kinds of magic went away, you got used to doing it all with... what, everyday-object magic? Physical magic?"
"Physics," Sunny said, nodding. "Electromagnetics and electrostatics, mostly. Like the force our hooves project when we grab things. I imagine it'll get interesting now that there's other kinds of magic available."
"Oh, you've no idea." Trixie shook her head. "When I think of the kinds of insulation I had to wrap around every gadget I used on stage, just so some wiseacre in the audience wouldn't prank me. The tinfoil in the hat was just the start..."
True to her calling as a Counselor, during the day Trixie mentored Izzy, or tried to, as the unicorn eagerly worked her way through Flurry Heart's book. Sunny would often come across the two of them sitting at the table in the ground-floor room, reviewing Izzy's latest attempts at spell-writing. And Sunny often had to suppress a laugh at the look on Trixie's face. Izzy was probably the only unicorn in the history of spellcrafting to scribe her spells in day-glo markers.
At one point, Trixie became truly fed up with Izzy's chronic distraction while attempting a simple multi-object levitation spell.
"No no no! Like this!" Trixie stamped a hoof, at the same time powering up her horn.
And all round them, chairs, tables, and other loose objects flew up to the ceiling. Where they stuck, pinned by the force of the spell.
Trixie stared up at them. "Well," she finally said. "That was... unexpected."
"Oooh!" Izzy nodded. "You know, that'd be a really useful spell to know when I'm sweeping the floor back home. How'd you do it, Trixie?"
Trixie looked like she honestly hadn't a clue. But she quickly put on an austere, unruffled expression. "I think it's best if we leave that as an exercise for the student, eh?" And then, very carefully, Trixie worked on peeling the furniture off the ceiling without dropping anything.
For the most part however Trixie was quietly patient, doing her best to serve as a sounding-board for Izzy's sometimes shallow, sometimes disconcertingly deep questions. "I may not have the answer," Trixie said at one point. "In fact, I almost never do. But I can always help you talk it out yourself. It's what a counselor's for, right?"
Trixie also obligingly joined Sunny for "tea and research" as Sunny put it. Sunny eagerly peppered Trixie with questions: about Twilight, about ancient Equestria, about pony customs, about everything and anything that came to Sunny's mind. And Trixie did her best to answer, apologizing for not being a more useful resource. "I was never much of a history buff, even in my own time," she admitted. "I tended to focus only on what mattered, for me and my magic show."
Trixie willingly ran errands, and seemed to welcome it as an opportunity to learn her way around town and meet the locals. She took an interest in the group's safety too, advising Sunny on setting alarm wards on doors and windows, the same as she did with her wagon. Trixie also identified several weak points in the patrols of the pegasi guards keeping watch on the lighthouse. Hitch quickly found he had nothing to complain about in that regard. If he needed to know how things were up at the lighthouse, he could just ask Trixie whenever he saw her.
At night, Trixie would retire to her wagon, shut the door, and all but vanish from the world until morning. True to her word, she was quietly, resourcefully helpful, the perfect house-guest.
Yet for all that, there remained about her an air of quiet sadness. She gently deflected compliments, and said little if anything about her career as a stage performer. Quite often, in the midst of delivering a sharp retort or a grandiose peroration, she would abruptly catch herself, fall silent, then shrug gently. As if it didn't matter, really.
Sunny was puzzled by this, and increasingly concerned. Initially she assumed it was simply because Trixie was tired of her life as a showpony, tired of being seen merely as a conjurer or performer, and was trying to move on.
But then Trixie happened to spend a couple hours with Pipp one afternoon, learning about Zephyr Height's cloud network and how Pipp used her phone to keep in touch with her legion of followers.
And Pipp was simply gushing about it afterwards.
"Seriously, Sunny! I barely had to show her how live-streaming works. She just seemed to get it right away. She even obliged me by doing a few hoof-worked tricks on camera for the PippSqueaks. And I swear, the views were going up every second she was on. She did this mentalist act -- oh, I wish you'd been there, Sunny, it was a riot! I could see how she used the fixed angle of the camera to make it work, but still, I was in awe how smoothly she pulled it off with zero rehearsal. And when Trixie saw the views herself, I could see her eyes lighting up. No question, she's a performer like me. She loves the attention. If Trixie ever wanted to do shows of her own again, I'd be in troubllllle!"
So, there was that. Sunny didn't want to intrude, didn't want to pry. But equally she couldn't let it go. She'd never been able to see a pony suffering and just let things be.
It's how I got the horn and wings, she thought. So it's my responsibility...
------------------------------
The next morning, Sunny invited Trixie to sit in while she raised the Sun, up in the lamp-room atop the lighthouse. Trixie watched in awe as Sunny, her ethereal horn and wings glowing, slowly and determinedly lifted the Sun above the horizon and set it on its way.
Trixie was silent for a while after that.
"I always wondered," she finally said, "what it was like for Celestia -- or Twilight for that matter -- doing this. And you make it look so easy, Sunny. Thanks for sharing this with me."
Sunny dismissed the horn and wings, then smiled uncomfortably. "Can I share something else? Something kinda personal?"
Trixie shrugged. "What's a good former Student Counselor for?"
"I'm scared, every time I do this," Sunny said. "Up to now, my entire life, the Sun and Moon were simply there, up in the sky, eternal and unchanging. They rose, and they set, and it had nothing at all to do with me. And now? Suddenly something that matters so much to so many ponies is my responsibility. Me, personally, every single day! I'm terrified I'll get it wrong. I never do, and with practice it's gotten easier. But all the same, I never stop worrying, deep down."
Trixie nodded. "If I were Twilight, or one of her friends, I'd say something about believing in yourself. That you're the right pony for the job and so forth. But that's not me. And speaking for myself, a little worry isn't such a bad thing. It helps keep you sharp, keeps you from taking your skills for granted. And you're right: with great power comes great responsibility. I mean, isn't that what they always say?"
Sunny nodded. "It's what I tell myself. Sometimes it even helps."
Trixie glanced around, then lowered her voice. "Don't tell anypony this, but I've been there myself, actually. Once, I experienced what it was like having that level of magical ability." She gritted her teeth. "Trust me, it did not go well. It drove me completely round the bend! I ended up not trusting wheels, for pony's sake! I've given up trying to figure out where my head was on that one..."
"That does sound pretty bad," Sunny agreed.
"Yeah. Unlike you, I don't know how to handle power. I always go too far."
"The Great and Powerful Trixie?" Sunny guessed.
"Huh?" Trixie looked surprised. "Oh, that. No, that was just my stage persona. But even there, I did tend to go over-the-top as a rule. I think it's because my skill with magic is so weak, I kept ginning up my stage act to compensate. After a while, it got to be a habit even in private conversation. The Great and Powerful Trixie somehow never left the room." She rolled her eyes. "I'd even talk about myself in the third person, if you can believe it."
Trixie paused, and sighed, with a pained look.
"And it got to where even I could see it was doing more harm than good. Every time I let the Great and Powerful Trixie off the chain, bad stuff happened. I made mistakes, I hurt ponies' feelings, I ruined things. So when Starlight asked me to be the School's Student Counselor, I decided to hang up the cloak and hat for good, and do things right. I'd just be Counselor Trixie, see if I could make that much work. And I did. Well... pretty much..."
Then she shut her eyes tightly, fighting back tears.
"Until that last time. When I forgot, and let Trixie off the chain again. That time I lost everything... all my friends..."
Sunny put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "Not all of them, Trixie. You have friends here. You're not alone."
"Thanks." Trixie smiled gratefully. Then she looked puzzled. "Why are you so nice to me, Sunny? I mean, seriously. You don't know me from that guy who runs the smoothie stand down by the bay. You don't know the kind of pony I was."
"Because in a way, you remind me of me," Sunny said.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Before all this, before magic came back. Before the wings and the horn and raising the Sun. More than once, I found myself feeling worthless. Like I could do nothing but mess things up, landing all my friends in trouble. All because I was so determined to bring the three pony tribes back together. Towards the end, I was almost convinced I was wrong. And then, suddenly, I discovered I was right."
Trixie nodded. "And now you have to live with that?"
"Uh huh."
"I hear you. But I still don't see why you're so willing to trust me."
Sunny smiled. "When you showed me that inscription, from Starlight in her book? I could tell. Anypony who had a friend like that, who'd leave that kind of farewell message, not even knowing if you'd ever see it... well, it kinda said it all. You're a good friend, Trixie. As far as I'm concerned, that's all that matters now."
Trixie smiled back, even seemed to relax a bit. But she still felt hesitant and conflicted, Sunny could tell.
"Well!" Trixie said briskly. "Don't you worry, Sunny. I'm gonna be the best Counselor-slash-Librarian-slash-Friend-You-Share-Sunraisings-With you've ever seen!" Then her eyes widened. "Oooh! Which reminds me..."
With her magic, Trixie picked up a book she'd brought with her, and flipped it open to show Sunny.
"It turns out you were right, about there being other books on magic left. I was poking around the Library down in the town, seeing if I could help out. Maybe learn a little about what a librarian does, aside from sorting books. And I came across this. It's not a book about spells or spellcrafting or anything. But it does talk about some of the early mages, like Sacanas and Star Swirl. It's even remotely accurate, near as I can tell. So there are books like this out there." She raised a hoof triumphantly. "And I shall find them! I promise! I shall search far and wide, leave no page unturned! I, the Great and Powerful..."
And then she clamped her mouth tight shut, hunching in shame. When she spoke again, it was quiet, sedate, and professional.
"...Trixie," she whispered. "Just Trixie."
Thanking Sunny again for sharing the sunraising, Trixie hopped on the lift, went downstairs, and returned to her wagon.
And didn't show her face again all morning.
------------------------------
When night came, Sunny lowered the Sun as usual, and raised the Moon in its place. Then she retired to bed, still a little wired from the raising-and-lowering ritual, as she thought of it. And also worried about Trixie.
Shutting her eyes and muttering to herself, Sunny gradually drifted to sleep.
And found herself dreaming. It was the same dream, the one she'd had several nights running. Unsettling and frightening, it always started the same way...
It was dark.
Sunny stared around, unable to see anything, apart from the small spotlit circle she was standing in. And she had that uneasy feeling one gets, in a dream about to go bad: the feeling that any second now she'd discover just how alone she wasn't...
"Hello?" she called, not expecting a reply. There usually wasn't one.
But this time, she was wrong.
"Sunny? Is that you?"
Turning, Sunny found herself facing... Trixie. The mare was standing in a similar spotlit circle, which paced her as she trotted over to join Sunny. But this was a very different Trixie. She was wearing a magician's robe and a peaked sorcerer's hat. And her whole demeanor was different. She carried herself confidently, proudly, even a little swaggeringly. As if she was the most important pony present, just by being there.
"Trixie?" Sunny stared.
"Well, obviously." Trixie essayed a bow. "Though the Grrreat and Powerful Trixie is... a little confused. Is this your dream, or Trixie's?"
"I... assumed it was mine," Sunny said.
Trixie shrugged. "Well, you'd know. Trixie was pretty sure it was hers, but stands willing to be proven wrong."
"What are you doing here?"
Trixie shrugged. "How should I know? If this is your dream -- which I still doubt by the way -- then this is you talking to yourself. I'd be saying whatever you expected me to say. And if it's Trixie's dream..." She looked confused. "... then it's Trixie talking to herself. Which is par for the course actually. So you can see how it's hard for me to tell."
"Either way, I'm glad you're here," Sunny said. "Because this is where it usually gets ugly."
"Oh? Well, fear not!" Trixie flourished a hoof. "Neither foe nor fiend nor fearsome phantasma can challenge the awesome might that is the Grrreat and Powerful --"
A crash of thunder sounded all round them. The ground beneath their hooves shook.
"...Trixie?" she whispered, wide-eyed. And hunched, seemingly trying to hide inside her cloak and hat.
Sunny stared around into the dark. In the distance all about them, a sickly green glow was forming, like a hideous, poisonous dawn. It backlit smoky, fog-like clouds, which steadily advanced on them from all sides.
They were surrounded.
"Sunny," Trixie suddenly hissed. "Why haven't you powered up? You know, the wings and horn? Whatever you call it."
Sunny winced. "That usually just makes it worse."
"Ohhhh... one of those dreams, huh?" Trixie snorted. "Yeah, Trixie gets them too. But you know Trixie's secret? Trixie never lets 'em see her sweat!" She winked reassuringly. Then she set her hooves squarely, lifted her snout, shoved the magician's hat back on her mane, adopted a pose of utter fearless calm.
"Bring it, whatever you are!" she growled.
Though not too loudly, in case whatever it was actually heard her.
Despite her fears, Sunny smiled at Trixie's brittle bravado. Then she gritted her teeth, summoned the ethereal horn and wings. And turned to face the advancing green horror, still feeling helpless.
Trixie nudged her. "How many of 'em you think you can take?" She peered around, eyes narrowed like a gunslinger.
Sunny blinked in surprise. "There's just the one big evil-looking cloud, all round us."
"Huh! Well then it's two against one, right?" Trixie giggled, and then pointed a hoof. "You take that side, I'll take this side. And nopony fight in the middle. You get crossfire that way."
"Trixie!" Sunny wanted to laugh. "Why aren't you like this normally?"
It was Trixie's turn to look surprised. "Trixie is always like this. Or hadn't you noticed?"
"It's just, you're so quiet most of the time."
"Yeah..." Trixie looked briefly sad. "Trixie doesn't get out much these days."
The oily green fog was nearly on them. They stood back-to-back, facing it together.
"Ya know," Trixie observed, almost casually, "if you've had this kind of dream before, then it's just gonna get worse. We need to do something about that. Assuming we survive, of course..."
"Like what?" Sunny asked.
"Oh, go for ice-cream to celebrate," Trixie said breezily. "But on a more practical note, we should figure out why the horn and wings don't help. Because they should, right? Isn't it what they're for?"
"I'd assumed so," Sunny agreed. "They appeared when the magic came back."
"So? Then maybe there's still something left to do," Trixie suggested. "Some part of the trick you haven't gotten to yet. We need to figure that out, and fast!"
"How?"
Trixie put up a hoof.
"Hold that thought. You're gonna want to remember it later."
And the swirling clouds pounced upon them...
------------------------------
Sunny jolted awake, and sat up.
She was in her own room, in the lighthouse. It was still night outside. All was quiet, apart from the distant soughing of waves on the shore below the cliffs.
Getting up, Sunny went to her window and looked down. And saw Trixie's wagon, parked under its tree beside the lighthouse. As she watched, a light came on inside. A moment later, the curtains of the side window were tugged open, then the window sash lifted. Trixie peered out, wearing a sleeping cap and looking blearily confused.
Then Trixie looked up, and spotted Sunny at her own window.
The wagon's window slammed. The curtains yanked closed. The light went out.
Trixie had disappeared again.
Like a magic trick... Sunny thought to herself, the memory of the dream fading even as she tried to recall it. One with a part we haven't figured out yet...