//------------------------------// // Fighting for the Users // Story: It's The Thought That Counts // by DerpyMuffins15 //------------------------------// “A field trip to the Everfree forest?” Moonlight asked worriedly. She flashed her horn for an identification spell and found that the parent signature sheet was legitimate. Checking it twice, to see if it could somehow been forged, Moonlight discovered the same results. “It’ll be fun!” cheered Twilight. She quickly packed her saddle bags, going down a mental checklist as she went. Bug spray, check! Bear spray, check! Manticore spray, check! Dragon spray, check! Hmm... What am I forgetting... of course! Holy Water! “Yea!” Trixie agreed. Instead of neatly stacking essentials, the rowdy filly packed everything she could possibly need for a good time. Fireworks, check! Manticore pheromone, check! Mom’s secret spell book, check! Trixie giggled deviously as she hid the magical journal under mountains of paper and ink wells. “I promise I’ll behave,” Trixie said politely. Moonlight raised a skeptical brow and looked her birth daughter from top to bottom for any contraband the sneaky filly could have hidden. “Give me a better reason and I might think about it,” she answered staring at Trixie in particular. Trixie gave a hurt look to her mother for the actuation, which wasn’t that far off, but Twilight vouched for her. “Don’t worry Mom, I’ll watch out for Trixie,” Twilight reassured. Next the extra-organized pupil stacked a set of aerophysics textbooks into the stuffed bags for some light reading later. Moonlight was reluctant against signing the sheet, even with her favored daughter’s testimony. Twilight’s sheet was already signed and neatly folded into her saddle bag, but the mother let her quill float aimless over Trixie’s. Sighing, she gave in and inscribed her signature onto what would be a death warrant. May Faust have mercy on my soul, she prayed. The paper was neatly folded before Trixie stuffed it into a random place in her saddle bags, using whatever system she had for important homework. Beside her, Twilight tried on her saddlebags to check for an equal distribution of weight. Perfect on the dot, she thought, trotting around to see if anything loose would shuffle around during their trip. Trixie struggled to close her bags, but clasped them shut with a forceful push of magic. She breathed a sigh of relief and threw her heavy bags next to the door. “All set,” Trixie declared, triumphantly. Twilight stared at her sister’s disarranged bag; her left eye nervously twitching at the lack of organization. She carefully set down her saddle bags neatly next to their dresser and levitated Trixie’s to be repacked. While Trixie lounged on their beds reading a book, Twilight shook all the stuffed items out in the open and color-coded them. Moonlight sighed at her daughter’s laziness and walked out the door, mauling over the decision. Trixie watched with caution as the door closed, allowing her to drop the act. She ripped the bag from Twilight’s grip with magic and received a stare from her sister. “You go do something else, Twilight, I can reorganize this bag by myself.” Giving an extra-large smile, Trixie tried to casually hide the forbidden contents in her bag. Twilight stared with a confused eyebrow raised at Trixie. While she admitted it was nice to see her sister take initiative, there had to be a logical reason behind it. “Are you alright, Trixie? Feeling lightheaded lately?” She asked, inspecting her sister for signs of madness. “No...Why do you ask?” Trixie returned, looking just as dumbfound. She latched the bag and hid it under a pillow just as Twilight jumped on their beds for a better look. “Are you sure you’re ok? Didn’t hit your head or anything that would cause trauma to the head and memory loss?” Twilight asked again, poking and prodding the strange creature that looked like her sister. “Wh- ar- yo- doin-STOP!” screamed Trixie as she pushed her prying sister away. Undiscouraged, Twilight yanked off a strand of hair as she fell onto the soft mattress. Her horn brightened and the single hair burned from one end without the obnoxious smell. Yup it really is Trixie, Twilight concluded as the Call to Arms spell was completed. “Then again, you could just be a clone,” she said out loud, wondering it as she tapped her chin. “Hey! Is it so hard to believe that I want to do something for myself?” Trixie asked defensively. Twilight nodded her head yes, prompting Trixie to shot her an angry glare. “Are you sure you’re okay Trixie?” Twilight asked for the last time. She looked at Trixie with a worried stare, watching as her sister sighed and took out the hidden saddle bags. “Yea I’m fine,” Trixie answered. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to redo my bags for tomorrow.” Twilight offered. “I could help-” “No, really, I can do this on my own,” Trixie insisted, with a tentative smile. “You go do something else, Twilight. I appreciate it, but just let me do this myself for once, okay?” “A-alright...,” agreed Twilight reluctantly. She stared at her now independent sister and felt an unknown feeling swell inside her. Pride, Twilight concluded after some thought. Her confused frown grew into a bright smile as she hopped off the bed. “I’ll catch you later then,” she said, exiting through the doors. Trixie exhaled a heavy breath she didn’t know she had been holding and dumped out everything left in her bag. On top of the pile was her mother’s private magic journal, a book of arcane spells that she was told never to read or touch. She flipped to the first page, finding the names of all her past relatives inscribed, or as many as she could remember. Seeing that the list continued on for the next five pages, she decided to skip to the good stuff. Quickly however, she stumbled onto her first problem. Trixie triggered the first defense mechanism the book had, a literal firewall. Sapphire flames engulfed the book, causing Trixie to panic and throw the book into the safest place she could think of, the fireplace. Soon, the wooden logs in the hearth burned as hot as the book, disintegrating in a matter of seconds. Trixie didn’t realize it, but she was on the brink of hyperventilating and felt her heart trying to thump out of her chest as it raced beyond abnormal. A trickle of sweat streamed down her left forehead, which she wiped away with a hoof and began to utilize breathing exercises in an effort to regain control. Her pulse slowly returned to a calmer beat, letting her analyze the situation. Gathering up enough courage, she carefully approached the book. As a precaution she grabbed the canteen of water the lilies were held in and tossed it into the fire. The liquid turned to steam instantly, as Trixie backed away from the sound of it sizzling. That could have gone better. She approached the book again and noticed a lack of something important. There’s no... heat. Trixie thought about her available options and found she only had one left. She covered her eyes with one hoof and reached with the other, blindly sticking her hoof into the fire. All she felt was empty space until she felt the rough leather cover. Peaking one eye open, she saw that her hoof was unharmed and breathed another sigh of relief. She quickly grabbed the book and blew out the flames. That wasn’t so hard. Again she opened the book to the first page of spells, and found it filled to the brink. Duplication spells! Gravity and Space charms! Oh Mom, you really have been hiding all the fun stuff. Oooo! She flipped through the pages and found a spell she liked more than the rest, the power to invade dreams. Trixie smiled wickedly and stared at her grandmother’s clock. It was only ten minutes until supper and bedtime was soon after. “You always were a dreamer, Twilight.” Trixie laughed like a mad scientist in her lab, booming her wild chuckles through their tiny bedroom before she choked on her own spit. “A-chh...” |~|~|~|~|~| “Please tell me you aren’t going to do what I think you are going to do.” Rarity asked, with a growing frown. Her needles stop in mid knit as she stared attentively at her storyteller. “What do you mean?” Trixie asked back, confused. “Invading Twilight’s dreams?” Rarity cleared. “That’s downright evil, if not an invasion of privacy. I mean, this is your own sister here!” “Adopted sister,” Trixie returned. Rarity gave her a funny look, almost disappointed. “Besides, I didn’t use the Dream Wandering spell on Twilight.” “Then who did you use it on?” Rarity asked again. “Well...” Trixie answered nervously. “It turned out that I wasn’t the only one that knew the spell. Not to mention being a first time user, I got lost pretty fast.” Trixie ceased the motion of her needles and took several shots of scotch. “The Dreamscape is one messed up place, especially for fillies.” “Did something happen?” Rarity gasped. “Yea,” Trixie grimaced, “and I ended up having to be saved.” “Did anything happen to Twilight when she tried to save you?” “I’m afraid Twi is gonna have to sit this one out.” “Then...who saved you?” Rarity asked, rather intrigued. Trixie began grinning at first, breaking into a full ensemble of uncontrollable laughter. Rarity stared at her like she had gone insane and shifted nervously in her seat. Her eyes bounced around the room, looking for a quick exit strategy in case thing got too heated for the fashionista. The lightning fast yank startled Rarity into the corner of her seat. She felt her nerves stand on edge as Trixie stared at the broken chain connected to her amulet. Her heart thumped abnormally in her chest but was drowned out as the window opened slightly; the sound of deafening air speeds then whooshed through the room. “What are you doing?!” Rarity screamed at the top of her lungs, getting up on her hooves and tried to close the window. Before she saw it, Trixie threw her heirloom out the window and locked it shut again. “Why did you do that?!” Rarity asked in shock, falling back onto her seat. “I thought it was a priceless amulet passed down in your family!” Rarity gasped. “You mean this amulet?” Trixie flashed a shiny crescent moon necklace in front of the stunned mare.“It’s charmed so that it always returns to the most current generation of Lulamoon no matter what.” She laughed. Rarity nervously gave a few giggles of her own but kept up her defenses. “What do you mean by most current?” Rarity cautiously asked. Trixie’s chuckles died with a sigh, as she looked attentively into the gems and rubbed a hoof against the ever-glossy metal. “Most current as in: still alive and kickin’.” Trixie explained. “Y-you’re joking, r-right...?” Rarity stuttered. She watched as the mare opposite her stuffed the heirloom back into her saddle bags and returned her a plaintive smile. “It’s a vicious cycle, but yea...it’s true. Lulamoon mares have the tendency of having untimely deaths. Don’t you just love family traditions?” Trixie tried to giggle, but it came out more of a sigh. “What exactly is the family tradition?” Rarity asked. She braced herself for the worst, but kept her optimism high. “Well, as you know, the way all traditions go.” She said waving a hoof in the air. “You may not like it, but it’s tradition. What can you do?” She tried to joke. “Grandmother died of a heart attack at the age of thirty, quite tragic.” Trying to make a face of grievance, Trixie failed and giggled instead. “S-sorry-hahaha!” Rarity sheepishly smiled at her, joining her with weak chuckles of her own. “A-Anyways...,” Trixie continued as she collected herself. “Great-grandmother was mauled by a bear, her mother disintegrated, and her mother froze to death. It goes on and on but you get the point, Lulamoon mares don’t live past their thirties. Forties if we’re lucky and forty-five if you lived a life of solitude.” Trixie tried to laugh at the silliness, but instead glued her vision to the ground. “I’m deeply sorry,” Rarity tried. She reached to hoof and gently pat Trixie’s shoulder. “How much time does your mother have?” She softly asked. Trixie raised her head and met Rarity’s understanding eyes. She pondered for a while and decided it was probably for the best. They might have just met, but the patient mare had already shown she could be trusted. “If anyone can break the cycle, its Mom,” Trixie cheered. “She’s already living past the average Lulamoon age, and she’d be damned if she let something like an old curse get her.” Rarity stared at Trixie’s mocking smile, one she knew all too well. Being a mare of higher class, she has seen the same smug grin all Canterlotians wore. It was a sign of victory, and that whoever the look was aimed at was bound to lose one way or another. “Curse?” Rarity asked with interest. “What curse?” Trixie sighed and looked to the table attached to the window. On top were several bottles of various alcohols from various origins. She stared at each bottle with detail to attention. She locked her eyes with one in particular, a musty bottle of scotch her father had been saving for quite some time. Her magic wrapped the glass sealant, tipping the jar and pouring the contents into an iced glass. She daintily sipped on the cool, well-aged scotch. Swirling the glass around, she took another nip and pondered what to say next. “All Lulamoon die young. No matter what we try or do, it will always be in vain. We can’t escape fate... only prolong the inevitable. Luckily I won’t have to worry about it too much.” She sighed. “Y-you’re not g-gonna do what I t-think you are going to do... Are you?” Rarity hastily asked. She made sure to dull all sharp objects in the compartment and securely lock the window. Trixie giggled as she heard the clicking of the window. “That’s not what I meant.” She sipped from the scotch and stared out the clear glass. “I am the first Lulamoon to not have the curse,” Trixie smiled. Out of her peripheral, she saw Rarity brighten up. “But...,” Trixie closed her drowsy eyes and sipped from her cup again “Mom was the last to be cursed... and spent most of life trying to find a way to protect me from it.” “I’m sorry to hear that,” said Rarity, trying to console the other mare. Trixie kept staring aimlessly out the window, which Rarity gave a respectable silence for her. She sighed and shifted through her saddlebags. She pulled out a handkerchief and gave it Trixie. “Life’s just a bitch like that...”Trixie sniffed. “Sorry,” she apologized for the foul language. Rarity left the soft cloth next to her, and returned to giving silence. “Don’t worry about it too much. Like I’ve said, Mom’s a fighter. If anything, Death will eventually come to her, but it’ll have to be on her terms.” She stiffed a dry giggle, refilling her now empty cup. “H-how’d she do it?” Rarity asked, breaking her silence. “I mean, if this curse is as old as you say it is how come it took so long for someone to finally end it?” “I’d be lying if I said my Mom wasn’t a strategist, a long-term one at that. She’ll wait till the end of her days just to see a plan come to fruiting and longer if it’s necessary. All that bad blood between her and me, it was meant to distance us so I’d never end up with the amulet in the first place. She thought that if she could die with it, she’d at least spare me before the time came. Starting to get the picture yet?” Trixie asked amused. “It certainly explains a lot, but I thought she had given it to your sister?” Rarity reminded. “Yea...,” Trixie dryly giggled. “Twilight was the incoherent variable in our linear equation of a family.” Rarity raised a confused brow, telling Trixie not everyone spoke geek. “Just think of her as the wildcard in a fixed deck,” she smirked. “Oh! Why didn’t you just say that earlier?” Rarity exclaimed. She then gestured for Trixie to continue. “Sorry,” Trixie said, rubbing the back of her neck. “Just another thing I picked up from Twi, how to speak dweeb or nerd if you’re unfamiliar.” “No harm done, dearie.” She dashed her eyes to a pair of newly knitted socks next to Trixie. Even by her standards they weren’t half bad; a little practice and the novice might even be good. “Just how old is Twilight gonna be this year?” Rarity inquired. “Twenty-three in a week,” Trixie clarified. “Money is of no concern as you can see, hehe.” She giggled. “Nothing but the best for good ol’ Twilight.” “So, why did Twilight get the special treatment?” Rarity wondered out loud. ‘More like cattle waiting to be slaughtered...’ Trixie mouthed inaudibly. “What?!” Rarity gasped, reading Trixie’s lips. “Oh... you heard that...? Err, I mean... W-what?!” Trixie tried to act. She grinned sheepishly, then turned and whistled inconspicuously, looking around the room to avoid eye contact. Rarity shifted uncomfortably, looking in the opposite direction everywhere Trixie looked. “I-I’m sorry... I just thought you said something about a slaughterhouse,” Rarity said. She gave a positive, weak smile and chuckled dryly. “So... you did hear it...” Trixie mumbled to the side. She bit her lower lip nervously, almost tasting blood. “T-then what’s this about your sister and a... s-slaughterhouse?” Rarity hesitantly asked. “No... I compared her to cattle,” Trixie corrected. Her mind quickly wandered back a few moments ago, double checking if she had mistakenly spoken the words out loud. “Pardon my choice of words, but... do you mean she’s husky, then?” Rarity politely inquired. “Well... sort of I guess,” Trixie answered, shrugging it off. “Then, can you answer my question earlier? Why does Twilight get the special treatment all of a sudden?” Rarity asked again. “Well... what you’d consider as a kind stepmother taking favor over her own blood daughter, I consider a long chess game of sorts,” Trixie truthfully answered. Rarity arced another brow, telling her to elaborate. “Please,” Trixie pleaded, in a softer tone. “Don’t judge my Mom too much. She was only doing what she thought best for her family and only daughter.” Rarity gave a reluctant nod, picking up her needles once again and soundproofing the train cart with a flash of blue light. Trixie hung her head low, downing an entire shot of scotch before refilling. “From the start of my birth, Mom knew it was only a matter of time before the curse got to her, and eventually make its way to me, a Faust given birthright, but twisted by Death. “A few months after my birth, Star Shine said that Mom went crazy; she locked herself in our studies with no outside contact for days on end. She kept scouring through books, scrolls, and ancient tombs, anything she could get her hoof on about our family line and origins. So, six months in, she finally got something; something unbelievable I remember Star Shine saying,” Trixie emphasized. “Then... she changed... everything just stopped... everything she used to do with me; it just ceased. I was moved from my crib in their room to the opposite wing of the mansion. When I finally grew out of diapers, Mom put as much distance as she could between the two of us; ignoring me as much as she could and… she just stopped being a mother, I guess.” Rarity pursed her lips into a frown, tempted to say something about Moonlight’s parenting’s skills, but reluctantly stayed silent. “Then came the whole brouhaha of Twilight.” Trixie hesitated with her words, slightly trembling with her scotch. She steadied herself and gulped the shot, setting aside the glass altogether and took the whole bottle of brownish delight. “Your mom didn’t exactly like Twilight at first; I get that. What does this have to do with giving your sister the special treatment?” Rarity asked. “One: to spite me and make me not want to have anything to do with the family. Maybe she even wanted me to run away from home. Two: to give the curse to... someone else,” Trixie mumbled. She glued her vision to the ground, unable to meet Rarity’s judgmental eyes and face the truth. “Y-you mean...?” Rarity left the sentence unanswered. Trixie slowly bobbed her head, which Rarity took as a yes. Alright Rarity, just be level headed about this. Take deep breaths and let Trixie continue. “So that’s why she gave the special treatment to Twilight; just to spite you?” “More out of pity than anything,” Trixie sighed. “Please understand... if my Mom had to choose any foal to die, it would always be anyone else’s but her own. So why not one whose parents are dead?” Rarity gritted her teeth, trying her best to stay bias. “That’s rather...” She talked through her clenched teeth, thinking of the right words to describe Trixie’s mom. “Shallow and cold?” Trixie answered for her, staring directly at the composed mare. Rarity barely nodded, but Trixie noted the tiny gesture. “I mean, why not her? It’s not like anyone’s gonna remember or care if a single orphan dies let alone miss her,” Trixie grumbled. Rarity’s frown came as quick as lightning, which her student ignored as she down the bottle of scotch. Out of anger, her alabaster hoof smacked the glass out of Trixie’s hoof. The expensive scotch bottle shattered against the window, splattering the brownish liquid on the clear glass. Trixie stared blankly at the empty space where her scotch used to be, looking up to meet Rarity’s glare. “T-this isn’t just s-some unknown orphan we are talking about!” Rarity lectured. “Twilight is your own sister!” “Adop-” “No, don’t give me that.” Rarity exclaimed “You tell me this whole time how ungrateful you are for making her do all this burden and now she’s just another means to end? Is this why you’ve asked me to teach you to knit? So that you can please your dying sister?” She tried her best to keep a calm tone, gently putting down her needles. “So, is that how you think of me? Well... no point in beating a dead horse.” Trixie outstretched a hoof and grabbed another bottle. She pulled the cap off with her teeth and began downing more wine. She was regarded with a deathly glare from Rarity as she sighed. “P-please...tell me you’re joking...” Rarity briskly asked. “Don’t worry about it too much.” Trixie dismissed with a wave of a hoof. “Twilight will probably live longer than I will anyways,” she giggled with a wave from her wine bottle. “So this is how you treat your mother’s gift to you? By wasting away while your sister pays the price for it?” “Is that what you think?” Trixie giggled. “I’m sorry but that’s not at all what I meant to get across.” Rarity breathed a sigh of relief on the inside, but kept her look of anger aloft. “Don’t worry about Twilight; she doesn’t have the curse anymore.” “Anymore? How did she manage that?” Rarity questioned. “Well... you could say that wishful thinking that did most of the work.” Trixie snickered. “I beg your pardon?” “Oh, it’s nothing. Just a little inside joke between Silver, Twi, and I,” said the fain mare. She emptied the rest of the wine bottle in a swig and tossed the glass to a gathering pile of trash. “We would always get into the best kinds of troubles; us three amigas.” “There’s a good kind of trouble?” “Not exactly for Twilight, but it was fun for me,” Trixie dreamily sighed. “You’d be surprised at how well manticore pheromone works.” “Just where did you get these pheromones?” Rarity stressed. “Black market, grey market, white market: anywhere that doesn’t require a real ID,” Trixie specified. “H-how young were you again?” Rarity hesitantly asked. Trixie lightly tapped her chin, trying her best to remember the dates. “About eight or nine; you’d be surprised at how easy it is to fake an ID at that age,” Trixie beamed. “Ehuh...” Rarity nodded. “Anyways, back to the field trip,” Trixie began again. Opening up a bottle of champagne, she poured the bubbly drink into two dining glasses, passing the other to Rarity. “Might as well have a drink; this is a rather long story.” Rarity stared at the glass, but reluctantly took it with her magic. “Cheers!” Trixie yelled, clanging her glass against Rarity’s. “Cheers...”Rarity weakly sighed as she took a sip. Hmm... Trixie’s got good taste in champagne... I’ll give her that... Rarity thought as she took another sip. |~|~|~|~|~| “Alright class, single file now,” Dr. Whooves asked politely. “You can’t tell me what to do!” Blueblood objected. “I’m a-” “Prince; yada yada yada. We GET IT you dweeb. If anything you’re a royal pain in the butt.” Vinyl hollered for the class to hear. Everypony began to snicker at the prince’s expense, murmuring as Blueblood grew red with anger. “I’ll have your family dungeoned for that you loud mouth!” The uptight heir threatened. The pony with the electric blue mane pony gritted her teeth, but restrained herself as much as she could. She turned her back on him and grumbled to the pony next to her, Neon Lights. “Now, now class we didn’t come here to start a fight. We can all do that later in detention if any of you want to continue this behavior,” the teacher calmly spoke. Everypony quieted themselves, as Dr. Whooves shot Blueblood an I-dare-you kid glance. “Does everyone have their partners?” He asked out loud. His students all gladly nodded, even the obnoxious prince, all but Silver. The snow white epona stood hidden out of view atop a hillside, staring starkly into the creeping shadows. Looking through her peripherals, she saw a duo of sisters packing their stuff; one neatly organized as the other tipped over with an unbalanced bag. Silver flared her horn with turquoise mana, distorting the space in front of her and walked through it. “Ahhh!” Trixie squealed in ear bleeding decibels as an unsuspected unicorn appeared from behind. Twilight remained calm and collected at the sudden teleport, but giggled at Trixie’s expense upon looking at her frozen expression. “Nice of you to join us, Miss Swirl,” Dr. Whooves said, nodding to her. “I hope you don’t mind but I’m gonna have to assign you to the Lulamoons. I’m not stupid enough to trust those two and let them wander into something as dangerous as the Everfree Forest unsupervised.” “Hey!” The sisters protested in unison. “It’s no problem,” Silver replied to their teacher, smiling to new partners. “I certainly hope not,” Dr. Whooves said in a strict tone, staring at Trixie in particular. He then returned his attention to the class and finished checking his attendance sheet. “Alright class, does everyone know what they’re doing?” The younger learners all nodded and spread out, the different pairs tackling the eerie forest from separate points. The cautious stallion kept his vision aligned with the trio as they disappeared into the treeline and proceeded to follow Blueblood’s group of rowdy colts. |~|~|~|~|~| “Trixie look at this! These vermillion stones can only be normally found in cinnabar, but are here as a natural appearing rock!” Twilight excitedly recited. Her magic took the form of a small pickax as she hacked away at the tony rocks for samples. “Be there in a minute, Twi,” Trixie called back, a short distance away. The non-attentive filly had her eyes glued on the musty pages of the book she had borrowed last night. She flipped through another dozen pages before coming across the next chapter. “It’s blank...” She quietly mumbled, flipping through the rest of the book. “What’s blank?” Twilight asked out of nowhere and suddenly in front of her. “Ahh!” Trixie screamed, jumping back out of fear and hiding the book behind her. “What’cha reading?” Twilight asked, walking around and behind Trixie to get a look at the covering. “Oh... nothing really...” Trixie answered through clenched teeth. As Twilight swerved behind, she would switch the book to the other side. “Well, don’t take too long then. We have a project to do and we can’t idly sit and read all day,” Twilight mildly scolded. She walked away with a clipboard in her aura, writing down the composition of the special mineral she just found. “Twi! Wait...” Trixie called. Bringing the book into the light, Trixie showed her bookworm sister the leather covering. “You can try reading it, but it’s mostly blank besides the first chapter,” Trixie said, turning to the last visible page. “That’s because you haven’t unlocked the book yet,” Twilight answered with a moment’s glance at the magical layer shielding the book. “Unlock?” Trixie asked back, a brow raised. Twilight softly snatched the book with her aura and swept through the pages; her eyes scanning each of them for traces of other magic. “Unlock as in: you haven’t unsealed all of the protective spells. From the looks of it...” She trailed off, sparking the tip of her horn. “What from the looks of it? Trixie asked anxiously, dancing on her tippy toes. “Where did you get this book?” Twilight asked. She clasped the book shut and waited for her sister’s answer. “Umm.. Mom gave it to me...” she lied with an innocent smile. “Really? Mom gave you this book?” Twilight asked in with skepticism laced in her tone. “Yea... She said to err... St-... Umm...” Trixie mumbled, trying to think of a worthy excuse. “Study?” Twilight substituted. “Yea! She said to study the book and... err... Oh! Mom told me to give you the book and tell you to unlock it with me!” Trixie thought of in that moment. “Wouldn’t she just unlock it herself?” Twilight asked again. “Err... Yes... but, umm... She told me that... that she wanted us to, err, do... teamwork! Yes! She wanted us to be a team and work together to unlock this book!” Trixie explained with a sweet smile beamed at her sister. Foolproof! She complemented to herself. “Oh! Why didn’t you say so earlier? I love magical puzzles!” Twilight cheered, clapping her hooves together. “Wait...,” Trixie interrupted looking to her blank worksheet. She let her eyes wander to her sister’s completed work and glance at Twilight with interested eyes. She gestured a hoof to the clipboard, which Twilight sighed and levitated it over. “Fine...,” Twilight reluctantly caved. “But only this once! You need to do some of the work for yourself!” Twilight scolded. She reopened the book and flared her horn brightly. The adaptive filly then scanned the book further for hidden traps. “Are you sure we’re allowed to read this book?” She asked again. “Of course, I’m as positive as a proton!” Trixie exclaimed. |~|~|~|~|~| Moonlight was bored out of her mind and it was barely ten before noon. Ten agonizing minutes before lunch break and more paperwork. Even though she had barely gotten through the first set of laws waiting for her approval seal and merely scratched the Mount Everest size tax appeals. She duly sighed and rested her head on an arched hoof. Blinking her drowsy eyes, she let out a yawn before sweeping all the paperwork aside to be done later. Her calm aura wrapped the handle of small cabinet on her work desk and pulled it out. The mare stoically stared into a blank space inside the cabinet, looking at a dust-free spot where a personal book would have been. At first she repeatedly opened and closed the drawer, hoping each time that she was just hallucinating, but after the handle came off, she became trapped in a fit of hysterical laughter. Her mad chuckles bound around the abnormally large office, as she waved the broken handle in the air. She threw the knob towards a trash bin and walked to a side desk against a wall. Her magic wrapped the unopened cork of whisky bottle and yanked it open. She shakily poured herself several shot glasses and downed each one as quickly as she filled them. “I’m going to kill Trixie when she gets home today,” she said with a smile and twitching eye. |~|~|~|~|~| “Come on, Twilight! Shouldn’t you be done by now? You’re supposed to be the smart one!” Trixie whined as she paced back and forth impatiently. “It’s a lot harder than it looks, Trixie,” Twilight answered back in a tired tone. “Mom has more experience with magic than I do,” she said for Trixie’s sake as well as her own. “When she wiped this book, she wanted to make sure no one would be able to read it again but her.” “Well... Do something!” Trixie shouted. Twilight lowered the book and stared at her with a mild frown, looking exhausted and to the point of breaking a sweat. “I mean, you can do it Twi! I know you can!” She cheered. “Yea... well don’t hold your breath. Mom made sure to wipe all traces of the spells she used on the book and if I try to piggyback on her magical signature, it scatters the trail and encrypts it in a different pattern each time. On top of that, if I try to decrypt the encryption, the spell goes into a lockdown and just replaces it with my own so I can’t trace the source. There’s a backup plan for every backup plan and failsafes for the failsafes.” “But you can unlock it... right?” Trixie pleaded. “I mean, you don’t want to disappoint Mom do you?” Trixie said in a solemn tone. Twilight kept her vision glued on the book, but noted her sister’s words. She channeled more magic into her horn, flaring it to a dangerous molten white. “Well, seals are just like locks; if you don’t have the key, you’re just gonna have to smash the lock.” Twilight said in an exasperated tone. Trixie slowly backed up and hid herself behind a tree, as Twilight pulsed more and more magic into her horn. Trixie turned herself away from the blinding light her sister’s magic produced, sealing her eyelids tight. She clasped her hooves over her ears as crackling began behind her and continued waiting. One lavender flash later, Trixie began opening her eyes. She blinked them several times to adjust to the brightness and stumbled back to where Twilight stood. Her sister lay next to the book, gasping heavily for breaths of air to satisfy her burning airways. “You still alive, right Twilight?” Trixie asked, curiously poking Twilight’s shaking body with a stick. “Just peachy,” Twilight grumbled. “Can-you-stop-poking-me-now?” She gasped quickly, trying to get back on her hooves. Trixie shrugged her shoulders and threw the stick behind a bush. She magicked the book up and looked to pages. “It’s still blank,” Trixie said in a whiny tone. She continued to flip through more pages, and only found a single new page unlocked. “It’s partly my fault on this one,” Twilight said, dejectedly staring at the ground. “I didn’t realize Mom would put a contingency spell on the book. When I tried to overload the seal, it only allows me to unlock a single page before all the excess mana is shot back at me.” She explained, rubbing the back of her bruised head. “So we’ll just try again,” Trixie thought. “Simple as that.” “No it’s not as simple as that,” Twilight retorted with an angry frown. “If we i.e. me, keep trying to unlock pages one at a time, I’ll literally burn myself up. It’s obvious Mom wants us to try another approach.” “Yea... That’s what Mom wants...” Trixie hesitantly answered, trying to remember all her lies. “She did give you the book right?” Twilight questioned again. “Of course!” Trixie said defensively. She hastily looked around them and tried her best to look inconspicuous with a calm whistle tune. |~|~|~|~|~| “Are you alright, Madam? Your blood pressure is awfully high today.” Alfred asked, carefully checking Moonlight’s pulse. “Just keep the drinks coming Alfred...” Moonlight mumbled. She was face down on her desk with a shot glass in her magic. “I thought you had quit drinking, Madam,” he noted, refilling her glass with whiskey. “And I thought Trixie was going to grow up a sensible, wise girl. Not all plans work out, Alfred,” she glumly sighed. “Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree does it?” He remarked. “I pay for service, not sass.” She grumbled, lifting her head just high enough to take a sip of the whiskey. “It’s a full package, Madam,” said the snarky butler. “Your employment is on thin ice, Alfred,” Moonlight’s muffled voice said. “Sorry, Madam. Just trying to lighten the mood,” he answered. In his hoof, he shook an enclosed silver container and opened the cap. “Your martini; shaken, not stirred.” Alfred said, mixing the drink with her whiskey. “Faust, I hope Trixie doesn’t become a drinker.” Moonlight sighed. She gulped the concoction in one go and poured herself more. “Shall I get the book back, Madam?” Alfred offered. Moonlight stayed silent, keeping her head glued on her desk. She moved her head slightly, staring with apathy into the opaque ice cubes within her glass. “No. Not this time Alfred.” “Madam?” He asked with actual surprise on his face. “If she wants to play with fire, who am I to stop her?” Moonlight asked in a sultry tone. “You don’t respect fire by learning about it; you respect it when you fear it.” “As you wish Madam. What shall I do once I pick her up?” “Take a breather today, Alfred,” Moonlight smirked. “Send... Nighting Gale instead.”