//------------------------------//
// 34 - Two Things, Actually. 
// Story: Trixie's Greatest Trick 
// by theworstwriter 
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“So Euro destroyed the orb and Trixie kept the sun and moon apart while Luna recovered,” Trixie said.

“And even though we might have accidentally almost destroyed Equestria one or two times, the second time we actually did you a favor,” I added.

Celestia regarded the two of us a with a stern squint.  “Not possible,” she blurted.  “I hate to be so blunt, but you,” she said, pointing at me, “wouldn’t have had the strength to break it and you,” she said, pointing at Trixie, “aren’t organized enough to manage all that or magically gifted enough to pull it off.  There are very few ponies that powerful, and I tend to keep tabs on them.”

Trixie cleared her throat.  “The Prodigious and All-Powerful Trixie can demonstrate, if it would please your highness.”

Celestia regarded her with a puzzled look.  “You can’t be serious.”  She turned to face her sister.  “Do you know how few ponies have traveled through time?  Touched the heavens?  Both?”  She returned her gaze to Trixie.  “Do you have any idea?”

“Do you have a better explanation?”

That familiar old *vwoomph* rang out from a space just to my left, and Trixie stepped forward in her original costume to stand beside herself in her new one.  The two showmares drank in the stunned silence, almost imperceptibly posing in place beneath flowing red and purple capes.  “Trixie would guess between three and seven,” she yawned.

I smiled.  “Oh good.  You can do it instead!  I’m sure Trixie could use some rest.”

“Neigh.  The feat is all the more impressive if done when not in peak condition.  Trixie will prevail.  Trixie only appeared here to give her highness a little nudge in the right direction.  She really must be going.  Trixie’s return to the finally properly wound future should be the last time travel.”

“The last one?”  I blinked a few times.  “As in, after this, we’re done and everything gets to make sense again?  And we can finally go get that dinner!”

“Trixie hopes it is worth the ridiculous wait.”

Trixie winked at herself.  “The wine is excellent,” she said before trotting back into the portal and disappearing.

Luna clapped her hooves together.  “You see, dear sister?  They speak a reasonable approximation of the truth.”

“If she can really move the moon without aid when already drained... just—”  Celestia sighed and put a hoof to her head.  “Just show me.  I hope you’re right so that I can wash my hooves of this entire incident.”

I chuckled.  “I hope she can so we can get off this monster of a roller coaster before it explodes.”

“The ride has ended,” Trixie said.  She exhaled slowly and took a deep breath.  “There will be no more knots in the timeline from here.  Everything is correct.”

After a short silence, I grabbed her hat and lifted it off of her head.  I kissed her softly on the forehead, just to the side of the horn.  “You’ve got this.”

She nodded.  “Trixie knows.”

I clenched her hat tightly to my chest, trying to muffle the sound of my desperately beating heart.  The end was in sight.  Our stupid, stupid adventure could come to a close and we could live happily ever after — or whatever ridiculous jazz you want to call it.  Really, I had no reason to be so nervous.  Even if Trixie failed, which she wouldn’t, this was just a formality.  An epilogue.  The real trials were over and nothing else could go wrong.

Trixie grunted and sweated and strained and pulled and the moon inched just a smidge backward.  Celestia smiled, but my heart kept hammering away.  Had we forgotten anything, I wondered?  We couldn’t have.  Everything was good and right and... the wine was excellent!  Future Trixie from the future after the future had said so.

And then, with a crack of thunder, the laughter started.