//------------------------------//
// 4 - An Exhausting Evening 
// Story: Covering for a Magician 
// by Chromentazol 
//------------------------------//

Dashing through the streets, Starlight was at the precipice of a complete mental breakdown. What was Trixie doing here, walking so openly in the streets? Something must have gone incredibly wrong, Starlight thought. Why else would Trixie come back to Ponyville before Starlight had a chance to clear her name?

With her eyes locked on the magician, Starlight completely ignored the other ponies around her, shoving a few unfortunate souls around her. While Starlight did hear somepony yelp and fall because of her, her brain didn't fully register it due to Starlight's mind being absolutely flooded by worry, stress and anger. Finally reaching Trixie just as she was about to casually trot toward an alleyway, Starlight quickly sparked her horn to activate her magic. She tackled Trixie, dragging her behind a large trash can, before releasing her spell.

Trixie shouted in surprise at being dragged so violently and quickly got up on her hind legs, ready to defend herself against whoever had attacked her, but Trixie raised an eyebrow upon seeing a frazzled Starlight nervously glancing around them. Around the two of them, a faint shimmering orb of almost-transparent energy slowly flickered in the air. All Trixie could hear was her own breathing as well as her friend's, though Starlight's breathing was much more laborious. No other sound was able to pierce through Starlight's magical orb, whether to go in or out.

Going back on all four, Trixie tilted her head as Starlight caught her breath. "Uh... Hey, Starlight. What's up?"

Starlight's eyes went wide before she shot her friend an accusatory glance. "What's up, you say? What's up?! How about, what the buck are you doing in town! Are you insane?"

Trixie chuckled. "Only insanely grrreat and powerful... But you already know that. What's the deal with the fancy ball around us?" Trixie asked as she playfully poked the edge of the sphere with a hoof, causing small ripples to spread across its surface.

"Don't change subjects, please," Starlight sighed. "I thought you were skipping town for your own safety. Besides, didn't you have a show planned somewhere?"

"Oh, uh, about that... I may have gotten the date wrong. Seems like Manehattan will have to wait another week before they can experience the great and powe—"

"Still! You weren't supposed to be seen in town, you said it yourself! It's too dangerous," Starlight whisper-yelled despite the silencing bubble around them.

"Huh? Starlight, what are you talking about?"

Her eyes twitching with a furious intensity, Starlight stared intensely at Trixie. "... Are you bucking kidding me?!"

"I'm serious, I don't remember... Oh, wait, about last night's little oopsie, you mean? C'mon, I know you've got it under control, don't you? So, what's the deal?"

"Wh... What?! Did you seriously expect me to deal with this whole mess in just a day?! I'm nowhere near done, Trixie! By Celestia, I still have no idea who we buried last night!"

"Well, I'm sure it'll be fine. I, uh, may have another issue I want to talk to you about..." Trixie said with a nervous chuckle, looking to the side, before picking up on her friend's word choice. "... Wait, did you say 'who we bu—'"

Trixie was cut short by Starlight suddenly placing her hoof on the magician's mouth, shutting her up. "Trixie, I feel like I'm about to snap at any moment, so I'm going to need you to be focused. Is this new problem of yours in any way related to this whole mess we're already dealing with?"

After thinking for a moment, Trixie shook her head side to side, Starlight's hoof still shutting her up. In response, Starlight took a deep breath. "... Alright, so let's ignore it for now. This is more important. Let's go back to my house so we can discuss more freely. I don't want to risk having anypony hear us."

Nodding slowly, Trixie decided against talking about her more recent issue for now. For some reason Trixie couldn't quite grasp, Starlight seemed to be a lot more worried about her little adventure from last night. Best to keep that for later, Trixie thought.

And so, as the two mares slowly attempted to sneak through Ponyville — Starlight failing completely due to her stress and Trixie barely playing along, stopping once to perform a quick magic trick for a group of foals as they went along, they eventually reached the entrance to Starlight's house. While Starlight quickly scanned the streets around to see if anypony was following them, Trixie waited near the door, looking through a window with a bored expression. Even though the lights were turned off, the magician noticed some faint, barely perceptible movement inside. Chalking it up to her imagination, she turned her head toward Starlight.

"Can we go in, now, Starlight? I'm hungry and your fridge always has the best snacks."

"... I think we're in the clear. Let's go in. Also, this isn't the time for snacks," Starlight replied as she opened the door and ushered Trixie in. As soon as both mares were inside, Starlight locked the door behind them. Seeing her magician friend about to turn on the lights, she whisper-yelled in panic. "Don't! We can't risk having anypony know we're here. Lights off, no snacks, let's just focus on this mess."

Trixie, her hoof halfway raised toward the light switch, slowly turned toward Starlight. "... Uh, Starlight, are you sure you're alright? You seem kinda... Well, kinda like a whole mess."

"Hell no, I'm not alright! I've been wracking my brain for the entire day trying to figure out what happened last night and who was after you. I get that your hooves were tied back then, but I need to know, Trix'. Please... Just, let me help you," Starlight practically begged. In return, Trixie closed her eyes for a brief moment and took a long, deep breath.

"Fine. Just... I didn't want to tell you because I was afraid you'd end up thinking that the Great and Powerful Trixie... Wasn't so great and powerful after all," she said while looking to the side in shame. Feeling the comforting presence of her friend's hoof on her shoulder, Trixie looked back up and cleared her throat. "But no matter. What do you want to know, Starlight?"

Letting out a relieved sigh, Starlight was glad to finally be able to get answers. She closed her tired eyes as she wondered where to start, ignoring an awkward cough coming from inside her home and assuming it to be coming from Trixie. Eventually, she stared at her friend directly in the eyes and asked her question. Trixie, however, kept throwing a worried glance to the side, though Starlight attributed it to mere stress from revealing a painful truth. "Alright, Trixie, let's start from the beginning. Who exactly did we bury last night?"

Trixie froze, then looked at Starlight with a bemused expression. The magician was just about to answer when a voice suddenly boomed from behind Starlight's couch. "Wait, you girls buried somepony?!"

Feeling the colors instantly drain from her face, Starlight slowly turned her head toward the voice. There, rising from a hidden position behind her couch, stood Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie holding a large cake with writing on it. Blinking a few times, Starlight stammered as she attempted to find a way to explain herself. "Wh... What? What are you... All doing here?!"

"I was going to throw you a 'you-need-to-chillax-right-now-because-you've-been-acting-like-a-maniac' party, duh!" Pinkie said while throwing her cake behind her. "But now, I see I should've made a 'you-two-buried-somepony' party!" Everypony in the room blankly stared at Pinkie, who reconsidered. "... That's something we should celebrate, right?" She whispered, asking Twilight.

Finally finding a way to defuse this situation, Starlight took a deep breath. She glanced at Trixie, who remained motionless as she stared at the group of mares in front of her, visibly stricken with fear. "... Alright, girls, please let me explain. You see, it's just..."

Everypony in the room waited for Starlight to finish her sentence with bated breath. Eventually, Starlight yelled. "... Trixie! Smoke bomb!"

Acting on pure instinct, Trixie reached under her hat and grabbed two small smoke bombs, which she then proceeded to throw at the floor. Twilight shouted "Wait!", but the room was already filling up with thick smoke. The next instant, the sound of shattering glass echoed through the room, followed by Starlight yelling as she jumped through her now-broken window.

"Trixie, run!"





Starlight was running like she had never run before. Her legs moved, fueled by pure instinct as her mind desperately tried to find a way out of this mess. If she and Trixie weren't incriminated before, they for sure were now. Barely paying any attention as to where she was going, she focused on getting as much distance as possible between her and the mares she assumed were hot on her and Trixie's tails.

Dashing through streets, shoving ponies off her way — both with magic and physically, all she could hear was Trixie's voice resonating in her head, repeating last night's scene on repeat. "Think, Starlight, think!" She said out loud, going over every single detail she knew about.

Trixie was involved in a murder. The body, whose identity was yet to be determined by Starlight, was already cold and stiff when she helped bury it. Trixie was also very probably involved with the breaking in of Fluttershy's animal sanctuary, as well as the fight that happened outside Rarity's boutique. When Starlight found Trixie that night, the magician was holding back tears and badly bruised. She said that somepony in town was after her, and that Starlight couldn't talk to Twilight about it... But Twilight already knew, somehow, and gave Starlight a test to prove her abilities as a future headmare.

Starlight needed more time, more clues to find a way to help Trixie clear her name. Of course her best friend wouldn't murder somepony in cold blood like that... Right? But then, why go steal those dangerous supplies Fluttershy mentioned were at her sanctuary? Did that not mean that the act was at least somewhat premeditated?

Now that she was thinking about it, Starlight finally noticed that she didn't actually know what was stolen at the animal sanctuary. Suddenly skidding to a stop while mulling over that specific detail, she quickly heard the exhausted calls from Trixie running behind her, completely out of breath.

"Star... Starlight... Please, just... Stop running... For, like, five minutes, please..." Trixie asked in-between laborious breaths.

Just as she was about to answer, Starlight looked around her and gasped. In her frantic escape, she instinctively ran back toward the burial site, both unicorns now standing mere inches away from the grave. "Crap," she said, before turning toward Trixie. "Listen, Trix'. We don't have much time before the others catch up to us. We need a place to hide. Now, it may sound dangerous, but maybe we can sneak inside the Everfree and —"

"Uh... Sure, Starlight, but I think there may be a small misunderstanding."

Starlight groaned. "I know, I should've known Pinkie would try and throw a party at my place. Honestly, I was stupid to even bring us here... I'm sorry, Trixie."

"Not... Exactly what I meant, but you're forgiven. Now, uh, we proooobably should talk about what happened last night."

"As I said, Trixie, we'll have all the time to discuss that once we're hidden. If we keep wasting another second, they will..."

Before Starlight could finish her sentence, two ponies suddenly came down from the sky next to them. Twilight and Fluttershy landed right behind them, barring them from going toward the Everfree forest, while Rarity and Pinkie Pie came running from the opposite direction.

"... Catch up to us," Starlight finally said.

"Okay, no more running," Twilight said with an authoritative voice. "Whatever is going on, you two need to tell us about it."

"Crap... Trixie, please tell me you have more smoke bombs?" Starlight whispered.

"Nope. I'm all out," Trixie replied while lowering her stance in fear.

Twilight stepped forward while Fluttershy stayed put, afraid of the confrontation that was about to take place but worried for her friend nonetheless. "Just talk to us, please. Running from your issues won't fix them, Starlight," the purple unicorn said.

"That's the thing, though," Starlight began. "I need more time! I can't... I can't pass this test unless I have more time to investigate. I don't even know who Trixie killed last night!"

Everypony around Starlight gasped with the exception of Trixie. "Uh... Yeah, Starlight, about that... I think you might have misunderstood the situation..." Trixie softly said. "Though, there is something else you—"

"What do you mean, I misunderstood the situation?" Starlight asked. "Who did we bury last night, then?! The bag was covered in blood!"

Avoiding everypony's gaze, Trixie chuckled nervously and looked to the side. "Well, it's kind of a long story, anyway, and who's got time for that? There's something a bit more important that you should know, anyway..."

Twilight sighed. "No, Trixie, I think you owe everypony here an explanation... Especially Starlight."

"Indeed," Rarity said. "The poor mare has been a complete and utter mess all day long, from what I've gathered."

"She did seem pretty stressed out when I saw her this morning... And when she shoved me out of the way in the streets earlier," Fluttershy added.

"Trixie... What the heck happened last night?" Starlight finally asked, feeling completely lost.

Seeing that she had nowhere to run and no way out of this mess she created, the magician took a deep breath before speaking up. "Alright, but please, don't be mad at me, Starlight..."

"I will try not to be," her best friend replied.

"That's... Yeah, no, that's fair. So, it all began yesterday evening. I had this super idea for a new trick for my shows, but I needed some... Supplies. And to be fair, it would've been an awesome trick! A real showstopper kind of deal. It's your typical 'saw a pony in half' kind of trick... But with real blood, to make it seem more realistic! Honestly, at times, my genius surprises me —"

"Get to the point," Twilight groaned.

"Rude, much?" The magician grumbled before continuing. "Right, so I needed some special supplies... And I couldn't really get to the store or anything, since it was already quite late in the evening. But since I didn't want to let this awesome idea slip away from me, I decided to find these supplies in a less... 'Legal' kind of way?"

Starlight sighed while Twilight facehoofed, already tired of Trixie's antics. Fluttershy, beginning to piece out the puzzle together, stepped closer to Trixie. "Wait... Was it you who robbed the animal sanctuary last night?"

"Eh, I don't like the word 'rob', it kind of holds a negative connotation. I'd rather say that I... Forcibly borrowed some blood bags from inside your medical inventory. Besides, you got loads of the stuff!" Trixie argued.

Tilting her head to the side, Rarity spoke up. "Wait, Fluttershy, why do you store this kind of thing in your sanctuary, dear?"

Fluttershy, who was staring intensely at Trixie with fury in her eyes, replied without breaking eye contact. "I need to keep a good reserve in case some of the animals get hurt. Some of them, especially the carnivores, tend to be a bit... Violent, sometimes, and I'd rather be prepared in case I don't have the time to take them to the veterinary. It's also very expensive and difficult to find..."

Trixie, already wanting to shrink into non-existence under the crushing weight of Fluttershy's gaze, forced another nervous chuckle. "Well, I wasn't going to rob the hospital. There's too many potential witnesses, too, and they'd obviously recognize me for the legendary wandering magician, the Great and Powerful —"

"We get it, Trix'. Just... You stole some blood bags. Let's not dwell on how much of a stupid idea this was. What did you do after that? And who was in that bag we buried?" Starlight asked, glancing toward the dirt mound next to her.

"Right, uh... So, after that, I placed the blood bags in another, larger bag. Then, I needed another thing. Since I couldn't really ask anypony to practice this trick because it was so late, I needed something pony shaped. And it just so happened that I walked by Rarity's boutique... And saw that a window was open... And saw one of the mannequins..." Trixie's voice became increasingly quieter as she suddenly felt another set of eyes beginning to stare deeply into her soul. This time, Rarity was the one to step up right next to her.

"My dear, dear Trixie... You wouldn't happen to be in some way involved with the kerfuffle outside of my boutique last night, by any chance?"

"Well... Funny you should say that... I may have taken one of the mannequins without paying too much attention and was about to run off when I noticed this fancy blue dress on it..."

"A fancy blue..." Rarity said before her eyes went wide. "Oh dear. Were there, by any chance, an assortment of rare gems right next to the collarbone?"

"Uh... It was very shiny?" Trixie replied. "I tried to get it off the mannequin and put it back inside your shop, but it was really dark outside and I... May have struggled a little."

"Trixie," the fashionista began as a wide, terrifying smile adorned her face. "Where. Is. The. Dress?"

Trixie, really regretting no longer having any smoke bombs to get away from this, squealed in fear. "... It was really dark outside. I... Practically had to fight with the mannequin to get the dress off of it."

"Wait, so, the bruises on your face..." Starlight asked, finally beginning to piece together the chain of events.

"... I really, really struggled, okay?!"

"You fought against a mannequin and lost?!" Twilight shouted in disbelief.

"Wow, that's kind of incredible, Trixie. Not in a fun way, more in a 'wow, you've got beaten by a bunch of plastic' kind of way... Which is pretty fun, now that I think about it," Pinkie added.

"Yes! I did! And I lost, like really badly, okay? That's... That's why I was crying, back then, Starlight... I didn't want anypony to see the Great and Powerful Trixie defeated by an inanimate object..."

"Just... Wow. I don't even know what to say," Starlight whispered to herself. Feeling her legs becoming weak all of a sudden, she sat down as the world spun around her. Fighting through the dizziness, Starlight finally looked up to see Rarity breathing heavily. Fluttershy, her fury clearly eclipsed by Rarity's, had taken a few steps back in fear.

"Trixie, my dear, I won't repeat myself again, so just answer me... What happened to the dress?!"

Trembling in fear, Trixie struggled to keep looking at Rarity. "I... Ended up ripping it and... Shoving it in the bag, with the mannequin... But I shoved it a little bit too hard and... The blood bags popped all over them?"

Trixie offered an apologetic smile, but Rarity simply froze in place. "You... You did what?"

"I'll pay for it, I swear!" Trixie shouted as she threw herself to the floor, protecting her face with her hooves. "... As soon as I get the money for it!"

"I'd like you to also pay for the medical supplies you've stolen at the sanctuary... As well as the broken padlock," Fluttershy added.

"I can't believe it," Starlight began. "I... I really thought you'd killed somepony. And the mare you wanted to stay hidden from was..."

"Oh, so you were also planning on hiding from me?!" Rarity asked, finally snapping out of her daze. "You're lucky I'm a classy mare, otherwise I would break every single one of your legs, dear."

"Okay, that's enough for now," Twilight interjected. "I think we can all piece the rest of this scene together... Right, girls?" Looking at everypony around them, Twilight saw Starlight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy all nod in agreement. "So, you see, Starlight? Trixie isn't a murderer... She's just an idiot."

"Hey, that's uncalled for!" Trixie shouted, still in a defensive position on the ground.

"Oh, I can throw a 'your-friend-is-not-a-murderer-but-just-really-dumb' party, then!" Pinkie Pie said jovially as she bounced in place.

"But Twilight... Earlier today, at lunch, you told me you already knew what Trixie did? If so, why not confront me directly about it, since I was involved?" Starlight asked.

"Wait, what? ... Oh. Right, I remember. I was talking about the fact that I knew Trixie used my shower last night. I found some of her mane hair near the drain... As well as a large 'Trixie was here' written with lipstick on the mirror."

"What can I say? You've got some fancy conditioner, kinda selfish to keep it all to yourself... Besides, it's wasted on your mane," Trixie taunted Twilight who, in return, simply shot a furious glare at the cowering magician.

"You're also going to pay for that bottle, since you've used it all up. It's almost fifty bits, you know?" Twilight added.

Feeling an incredibly heavy weight lift off from her shoulders, Starlight remained sitting down as the other ponies around her kept arguing, Trixie having drawn the ire of every single mare around. She felt an immense wave of relief washing over her body. Not only was her friend not involved in a grisly murder, but Starlight did not jeopardize her future by helping her. And while she would certainly want to have a stern talk with Trixie in the near future, all she wanted to do right now was to go to sleep.

And so, she did, finally falling asleep after staying up for a full day and a half. Quickly, the shouting and arguing around her ceased as everypony noticed the snoring headmare. Carrying her with her magic, Twilight gently brought Starlight back in town, in her room for a much-deserved rest. And while this whole situation would have been avoided if Trixie had been clearer, or if Starlight had spoken up sooner about all of this, Twilight was proud to see her student ready to stand up so tenaciously for her friends... Even if it meant helping to cover for a murder. Twilight did feel partly responsible for this situation, however, as Starlight was clearly overworked and becoming increasingly more stressed due to her new position. Deciding to give Starlight a week of vacation, she closed the door to her room, heading back to her study room to write what was going to be a long letter for Celestia.

In the meanwhile, Trixie had been forcefully dragged inside Rarity's boutique so that the fashionista could begin making the bill for the dress the magician destroyed. Feeling incredibly guilty for putting her best friend through her mess, she swore to herself to make it up to Starlight, somehow. She could probably hit up Maude so that the three of them could spend an afternoon or two together...

As Rarity began producing the bill, Trixie's mind did wander back to her other issue, the real reason behind her trip to Manehattan being cut short. And although it was a fairly pressing matter, Trixie knew that now was certainly not a good time to bring it up to anypony. "Oh, well," she thought, "out of sight, out of mind. Besides, it's not like that guy's gonna come back to life anyway."





In a small patch of dirt alongside the road leading out of Ponyville, a half-buried shape jolted awake. A large stallion looked around, noticing blood dripping from the back of his head onto his yellow coat. Feeling a pounding headache, he groaned as he stood back up and shook most of the dirt off him. He groaned as he attempted to remember what had happened to him that morning when he saw the tracks on the dirt, as well as his own wagon parked to the side.

He remembered having broken a wheel, stopping on the side of the road to fix it up, before somepony else came next to him. Wanting to ask for help, the stallion remembered standing up, taking a step forward, and slipping on the paved road, still wet from the night's storm, before smashing his head on the ground... And before the other wagon rode over his head, knocking him out.

He groaned. "... That crazy mare tried to bury me alive!"