//------------------------------// // 1. An Arrival // Story: I'll See You Soon // by RainbowDoubleDash //------------------------------// Everypony always focused on the upper echelons of the Night Court, and the shadowy games and manipulations of the lives of countless ponies that was the food and drink of the nobles that populated the government of Equestria – where a well-placed word could make careers, or end them; where favors were traded back and forth and terrible prices were paid in the name of advancement, or so the stories went. Ponies who thought of the lower rungs of the Night Court – that was, the adjutants, the pages, the servants and the municipal representatives, and not the full landed nobles of the Court itself – usually imagined it as being nothing more than a smaller-scale version of the big game. It was the impression that most of Night Court's lesser functionaries liked to give, and it was certainly what Dame Trixie Lulamoon, Representative of the Night Court of Luna to Ponyville, had imagined. What she had not imagined was paperwork: ceaseless, mountainous, soul-draining reality. “Right!” she declared loudly and suddenly from her desk, causing her assistant to jump in surprise, after she realized that she had read the same paragraph on the paper in front of her no less than three times. For the life of her, she could not remember what the bill was about. Trixie stood, a look of righteous determination on her face. “Right,” she repeated, trotting towards her office’s door. “I’m going to get oil. We’re going to burn the house down. Then we won’t have to do paperwork anymore!” She grinned at her genius plan that carried no negative consequences whatsoever. Her assistant, Pokey Pierce regarded her with half-lidded eyes. “No,” he pointed out. “The Princess will probably make you fill out a form explaining how the Residency burned down.” “Zut alors!” Trixie exclaimed. “You’re right, she does technically own this house, doesn’t she…” Pokey waved his horn at Trixie’s desk. “Back to farming reports,” he commanded. Trixie eyed him. “You can’t order me around. I’m your boss.” Pokey stared at her. She matched the glare for several moments, but at length let out a long sigh, trudging back behind her desk, muttering something in broken Prench under her breath. “If I do set the place on fire, I’m not warning you,” she stated. “Of course, boss,” Pokey responded, as he used his telekinesis to levitate out a notebook and mark a tally on it – that made it the ninth time this month that Trixie had proposed something drastic to get out of work. On a separate list, he marked that this was the seventh time that she had actually listened to him. According to his numbers, Trixie was actually, gradually, getting better. She really had matured after the whole incident at the Grand Galloping Gala, and shortly thereafter her trip to another world. Pokey still wasn’t sure what to make of that one. The stallion stood himself, stretching a moment. “Tell you what,” he said. “I’ll get us some coffee. That’ll help.” “Feu aiderait.” “I don’t speak Prench, Trixie.” “Ce n’est pas ma faute.” Pokey rolled his eyes, trotting from the office, up the hall, and into Trixie’s kitchen. By now he’d learned to deal with his boss’ quirks – simply put, he wouldn’t have lasted long at all in this job without having done so. Among the quirks were her weekly decisions to burn down or otherwise abandon her job – never mind that this would simultaneously leave her homeless – and, on a note related to what he was doing at the moment, the bizarre ingredients she liked to have in her coffee: strawberry milk, cinnamon, and a pinch of lime. Although, admittedly, the cinnamon turned out to be a great idea. Pokey let out a long sigh as he waited for the coffee to brew. At least they had finally caught up on all of Trixie’s missed paperwork from her little trip to the other Equestria, and it had been a slow week besides. Almost too slow – Their coffee finished brewing at almost exactly the same time that there was an orange-yellow flash from down the hall, in the office. Pokey’s eyes widened. “Trixie!” he exclaimed, galloping. “I swear to Luna if you really did set the house on fire – ” Trixie stumbled backwards and out from the office, her own eyes wide, and clutching her hat in her mouth. She quickly put it on her head as she stared into the room. “I didn’t!” she swore. “I didn’t do anything – look!” Pokey did, squinting against the glare. In a way, he was relieved to find a lack of fire. The swirling storm of multihued magic, which was creating a small windstorm and loosing bursts of magical lightning, was something he could have done without, however. “What is that?” Pokey demanded. “I don’t know!” Trixie exclaimed, horn glowing bright blue. Even as she was about to cast an identifying spell, however, the magical whirlwind drew into a tiny, quivering pinprick of light, and it seemed to take all light and sound from the room with it. “Oh that’s not going to end well,” Trixie noted. It didn’t. The orb exploded in a burst of arcane power that sent Trixie and Pokey both stumbling backwards against the hallway’s wall. By the time the magic and light cleared, Pokey considered himself to have been thoroughly rattled, and Trixie didn’t look any better. The two helped each other to their hooves, staring at each other for a long moment, afraid to look into the office and finding out what had been produced by the magical burst. Finally, Trixie gulped, Pokey steeled himself, and the two turned and looked in. Staring back at them was a gray-coated unicorn mare with a blond mane and yellow eyes that were currently wide in a mixture of surprise and shock. Also, she was wearing a wedding veil. “Um…” she said. “Hi.” --- My little pony, my little pony Ahh ah ah ah… My little pony – Friendship never meant that much to me My little pony – But you’re all here and now I can see Stormy weather, lots to share A musical bond, of love and care Teaching laughter, it’s an easy feat And magic makes it all complete! You have my little ponies… How’d I ever make so many true friends? --- Trixie stared at the intruder, who had broken eye contact with her and was looking around. Trixie noted a cutie mark of five four-pointed yellow sparkles, one large one with the four smaller ones forming an almost crescent shape. “So, um…” Trixie said, blinking a few times, as the pony continued looking around, her eyes finally settling on Trixie’s desk. “The veil intrigues me.” The pony turned and looked at Trixie, staring uncomprehendingly, before glancing at her head. “Oh!” she said, horn glowing lavender as she removed it, holding it carefully. “I, um…it’s complicated.” “Are you getting married?” Pokey asked. The pony considered. “Complicated,” she repeated. “Okay,” Trixie said. She took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. It helped. “Who in Tartaros are you?” Shouting helped more. The pony rocked back at Trixie’s demand, eyes fluttering rapidly. “Oh, um…” she said. “D – Dazzler! Yes. My name’s Dazzler.” “Hello!” Trixie exclaimed, stomping forward. “Why did you teleport into my office?” “Well, strictly speaking I didn’t teleport – ” “Whatever!” Dazzler blinked, as she gently set her wedding veil down on Trixie’s desk. “I didn’t mean to,” she said, holding up her hooves. “I’m – I’m from Hoofington, and I’m getting married…well, I was supposed to be getting married. It’s…complicated. Anyway, I teleported. I didn’t mean to teleport here specifically, though.” She offered a bright, innocent smile. Trixie didn’t return it as she glared. “You got pre-wedding jitters and so teleported from another town all the way here. At random.” Dazzler giggled a little, rubbing a hoof behind her head. “Y-yeah,” she said, eyes closed. “I…I guess when you phrase it like that, it sounds pretty unlikely.” She looked to Trixie. “Although, now that I’m here…could I talk to you, Trixie?” Trixie took a quick step back. “How’d you know my name?” she demanded. Dazzler bit her lip, glancing around at the room as though trying to get her bearings. “Gala…?” she asked tentatively. Trixie tensed at that. “What about it?” Dazzler breathed out a sigh of relief for some reason. She glanced at Trixie. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I was there, and I saw what you did. The way you and everypony else worked together and took down Zizanie…that was awesome! Scary, but awesome! I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.” She giggled again. “Trust me.” Trixie couldn’t help herself as she puffed out her chest a little at the praise, standing up straighter. Despite her instincts, however, she made sure to keep herself on task and focus on this unicorn mare that had appeared, uninvited, in her office. “You’ll forgive me if I’m not really in a mood to answer your questions,” she said, glancing around her office, “since I suddenly find I have a lot of cleaning to do…” “By which she means me,” Pokey said. Indeed, he had already begun to pick up the area around his desk once it was obvious that Dazzler didn’t intend the two of them any harm. Dazzler looked around the office herself again, biting her lip. “Oh, um…” she said, closing her eyes and setting her horn glowing. “Here, let me – ” There was a burst of magic, then suddenly, everything in the office – every loose paper, flung book, tossed trinket, fallen inkwell, indeed, even the drops of ink that had fallen out of the inkwells, came alive with bright lavender magic. Dazzler flicked her head, and suddenly the whirlwind that had brought Dazzler into the room and half-destroyed the office in the first place seemed to reverse itself. Pens and paper went sailing through the air, missing Trixie, Pokey, and Dazzler by a hair’s breadth, the former two yelping and ducking and diving out of the way, though not once did either of them actually get hit. Dazzler even improved upon the office, in that Trixie’s desk, by the time the spell ended, was neatly organized – a stack of finished papers on one end and unfinished ones on the other. The only thing out-of-place on it was Dazzler’s wedding veil. Dazzler’s eyes fluttered open, and she let out a steady breath. “There we go!” she said, turning in place and smiling as she took in her work. “Much better!” Some part of Trixie’s brain registered that with her desk organized, suddenly it didn’t seem like she had as much to do anymore. However, the larger part of her attention was wide-eyed focused on Dazzler, and more to the point, the sheer amount of magic that she had just casually displayed. Yes, the task it had been bent to was mundane, but that didn’t change that Dazzler had just casually re-organized an entire room without so much as breaking a sweat. Trixie had only ever seen one other unicorn with that kind of power, and Twilight Sparkle was currently under house arrest in Canterlot awaiting her formal sentencing to Ponyville’s library for community service. “Um,” Trixie said, blinking. She grunted after a moment. “Yes. Well…um. I appreciate the help, I do. But…well, it’s the principle of the thing. Yes.” Dazzler looked to Trixie. “Please?” she asked, eyes wide, hooves pressed together. “Please please please please please…?” Trixie wanted to say no. She really, really, on the principle of not helping ponies who mess up her home, even if they cleaned up afterwards, wanted to say no. But looking into those wide, yellow eyes, glistening slightly as though she would break into tears without Trixie helping her… “Okay okay okay!” Trixie said, stomping a hoof. “Fine! The Great and Powerful Dame Trixie will lend her wisdom to you! Just…stop with the eyes!” Dazzler clapped her two front hooves together, smiling brightly. She winked at Pokey. “Works every time,” she noted. Trixie huffed. She knew she had just been subject to the puppy-dog stare; she didn’t need it highlighted, especially seeing as even with it having been highlighted, it was unlikely she would change her mind. “What’s your question?” Dazzler bit her lip, looking at Trixie and suddenly seeming to be very serious. Trixie looked back, shifting a little under the intensity. “How do you know if you’re making the right decision to marry somepony?” Trixie blinked. “What?” she demanded. “Well, come on!” Dazzler said, throwing her hooves wide. “I was wearing a wedding veil, Trixie! What else did you think I was going to ask?” Trixie sputtered. “Wh…why would I know the answer to that?” “Well, you just always seem so sure…” Dazzler said, though she started a little at her own words. “I mean, that’s what I hear. And what I saw at the Gala, too. So I thought that maybe you’d know?” Trixie stared. “I mean, I’m not asking about the…well, honeymoon,” Dazzler said, blushing and shifting uncomfortably. Trixie, meanwhile, went white at the implication. “I can figure that part out on my own. I’m talking about the commitment…it’s huge! And I was sitting there in Hoofington thinking about how big of a change this is going to be for me…I’m going to be living the rest of my life with this stallion! I mean…we’re gonna sleep in the same bed! Wake up every morning together!” Dazzler shifted from one hoof to another, looking to Pokey. “Same question, by the way,” she said. “I’ll take any help I can get.” “I…think the Representative is going to need some time to think this one over,” Pokey said, trotting forward and laying a hoof on Dazzler’s withers. “And…well, without knowing you, or who you’re marrying, I’m not sure I can answer that, either. That has to come from you.” Dazzler sighed. “I know, that’s what everypony keeps telling me. But I’d appreciate input!” “What’s his name?” “P – um. Plum. Yes.” “Well, you didn’t leave Plum at the altar, did you?” Dazzler’s eyes widened, and she shook her head. “N-no! I’d never do that to him!” she exclaimed. “No, I’ve got, um…plenty of time to get back. I’m not getting married today, or tomorrow. Trust me.” Oddly, Pokey found that he did, though he wasn’t sure why. The fact that she’d cleaned up the mess and, therefore, made his own life easier, probably helped. “Look,” he said. “Why don’t you go out for a little bit, clear your head. Ever hear of Bon Bon’s Confectionarium?” At a nod and a wry grin from Dazzler, he escorted her to the Residency’s front door. “Go there, get some sweets and just stop worrying about it for a little bit. Come back in, say, an hour or two. Trixie might have an answer for you then. But again…this is really something only you can answer.” Dazzler chewed on her lip for a few moments as she stared out the front door, seeming unsure for some reason. “Oh, what the hay,” she decided at length, stepping outside. Her horn glowed, and a pink ribbon manifested from nothingness, weaving its way through her mane and tying itself into a bow. “Okay, I’ll be back soon.” “Just use the door this time,” Pokey insisted. Dazzler giggled, nodding as she trotted off.