//------------------------------// // XIII. The Braggart, The Fox, and The Princess // Story: Twilight's Dollhouse // by Kaidan //------------------------------// Silver sighed, tearing another page out of the comic book. She wadded it up and threw it at the waste basket. It hit the rim, bounced into the wall, and fell down into the pile of missed shots. The waste basket was only half-full and she’d nearly torn all of Spike’s comics apart. “Why did Twilight have to tell me to stay in here? This sucks. It’s not like I would tell Luna about our little secret.” She tossed the entire comic into the trash, grunting as it landed flat on top without going in. “I’m outta here, I’m going to play with the dolls.” Silver walked to the door and opened it slowly. The house looked empty, so she quickly headed down to the basement. The door was locked. “Darn, maybe I can read a book?” Silver looked at the bookshelf and saw books on everything from Quantum Mechanics to String Theory. “Or not. Maybe Lyra and Big Mac are in Twilight’s room!” She ran up the stairs to Twilight’s room, her small hoofsteps echoing around the empty library. She opened the door and saw Mac and Lyra sitting on the window sill. “Finally, I’ve been so bored I spent half the day talking to myself.” Lyra turned around and saw Silver standing in the doorway. She frowned, knowing well how the filly liked to play dolls. “Mac, we’ve got company.” He turned around and saw Silver in the doorway. “Hey, what are ya doin’ here? You really helpin’ Twilight out?” “I sure am! She’s going to make me a princess.” Silver trotted over to the toys and propped her front legs up on the ledge. “She’ll teach me everything, and we’ll capture all the nice ponies and get to play together.” “This ain’t a game,” Mac stated. “Sure it is. As long as nopony finds out we can have all the fun we want. She can fix the broken dolls. Even Applejack got turned into a doll after dying. . .” Mac stood up and looked down at Silver. “She’s got my sis’?” “Yeah,” Silver said. She put her forelegs back on the ground and walked over to the bed, sitting down. “It was really hard to clean up, even with magic. I didn’t know there would be so much blood, it was never like that with my dollhouse.” “Did. . . did Twilight make it quick?” Mac asked. “Please, Mac, let it go. Nothing good can come from this. Don’t agitate her,” Lyra begged. “Oh, I guess it was quick. I mean, I’ve never killed anypony before. . . the way she looked at me, it’s like I saw all the light in her eyes vanish. Then she collapsed. It was,” Silver took a deep breath and smiled, “exhilarating.” The plush Macintosh leapt from the window sill. He was still Twilight’s size, so he was slightly larger than Silver. He ran over to the bed and tried to tackle her, bouncing harmlessly off her. He landed on the floor with a soft thud. “It was you? Ya killed my Sis!” Silver jumped down and pinned Big Mac. For all his strength in life, he was nothing but cotton and polyester now. “Of course I did, she tried to kill Twilight! She’s a princess, and everypony knows that only bad guys attack princesses!” Silver laughed and put a hoof on Mac’s muzzle, silencing him. “I think we’ll go to the kitchen and play. I wonder if you can learn to walk on two legs if I cut two of them off.” Silver bit Mac’s muzzle to keep him silenced and began to trot out of the room. “Silver Spoon!” Lyra shouted. “You drop him this instant!” She dropped the doll and put a hoof on him to keep him from wriggling away. “Or what? You want to find out what it’s like to be frozen in a block of ice? I’m going to be a princess too, you know! You have to do what I say.” “And you have to do what Twilight says. If you hurt Mac, she’ll never forgive you. We’re her favorites, remember?” Lyra walked to the edge of the window sill, never breaking eye contact with Silver. “She’d just fix you anyway, sheesh, you’re all so boring. I miss playing with the crusaders. In hindsight,” she glanced down at Mac, “I know why Apple Bloom was screaming so much.” He began struggling again, his fluffy arms doing little more than ruffling a few of Silver’s hairs. “What’d ya do, ya monster?” Silver spotted a trunk in the corner of the room. “I played with them, just like I want to play with you. I’ll just have to ask Twilight first, but I’ll be back, Mac. If I cut you up too, then I’ll have killed the whole Apple family! Maybe you can be an evil train robber, or you can be King Sombra and I’ll be Princess Cadance!” Silver dragged Mac over to the trunk. She opened it up and tossed him in. The heavy lid slammed shut, trapping him in with some of Twilight’s winter clothes. “As for you,” Silver said, “Why don’t we pay a visit to the ice box?” Lyra jumped from the ledge, bouncing off the floor. She quickly scrambled towards the bed to hide. She was nearly there when a hoof came down on her, pinning her to the ground. Silver bit down on Lyra, holding her firmly in her teeth as she trotted out of the room. “You used to be such a sweet girl! What’s wrong with you?” Lyra asked. “Why do you have to torture us?” “Ish fun,” Silver explained. “Ever shince Diamond leff I haven’t got to torshure any fillish. Shure, Diamond got in mosht of the trouble, but I really enjoyed sheeing her put poor poniesh in their plashe.” “She’s going to capture you to, you know! Especially when she finds out how you’re treating us. If they didn’t like me for being Twilight’s friend, imagine what they’ll do to you when you’re a doll!” “Eh, ish no problem. Your just dumb toysh now anyway, and she’ll never hurt me. I’m her pupil.” Silver opened one of the lower cabinets got a glass out. She dropped Lyra into it. The tall glass made it impossible for her to get out. Silver watched in amusement as she tried to use her magic to topple the glass. Grabbing a nearby chair, she dragged it to the sink. She then lifted Lyra’s glass up and filled it halfway with water. Lyra began swimming around the glass, though her plastic form made it unnatural. She soon found herself sinking to the bottom, and gasped for breath. Once she realized she didn’t need to breath, she calmed down and managed to rear on her back legs and poke her head over the water. “I won’t forget this! Twilight’s gon—” Silver poured a little more water in, so Lyra could no longer get her head above it. She resumed her attempts to swim, but it proved more comical than effective. Silver dragged a chair over to the refrigerator, jumped on top, and placed the glass into the freezer. “Sweet dreams,” Silver cooed. Lyra pounded against the glass one last time as she realized how cold the water was. Silver seemed to be enjoying the show as Lyra struggled, finally realizing that being frozen while unable to die would be very uncomfortable. She mouthed sorry from underwater, but Silver had already closed the door. Silver began to walk back to play with Big Mac when the front door opened. She hid in the kitchen doorway and peaked her head out to an unusual site. A bat winged pony had carried in a hogtied unicorn. She appeared to be a traveling magician Silver had once seen perform in town. Echo set Trixie down near the wall. The magician’s cheeks were stained from tears and she was still trembling. Echo set about loosening her ropes for her comfort. “Trixie, it’s going to be all right,” he said. “You can call me Echo. You’re not in as much trouble as it seems.” He took the muzzle off, allowing her to speak. “N-not in as m-much trouble? I didn’t hurt anypony! I was just w-worried for Colgate,” Trixie explained. She swallowed a lump in her throat and shifted around in the ropes. “I need you to tell me what happened, from the start.” Echo rummaged through a nearby closet, returning with a blanket and tossing it over the shivering mare. He sat down in front of her to listen. Silver had never seen a bat-winged pony. She had only heard about them in school. Their race became known as the Sarosian’s and they went into hiding after the failed rebellion of Nightmare Moon. “B-but Twilight w-will be back any minute! She’s c-crazy!” Trixie said. Silver found herself biting her lip. She knew the nearby drawer had a couple knives in it but she couldn’t take on an adult pony. If Trixie really did know about Twilight, Silver would have no choice but to try. “Trixie, I will not let her hurt you. Now, why did you come to Ponyville?” he asked. Trixie took a couple deep breaths, “Promise?” “Yes. You are under Luna’s protection now.” Having calmed down considerably, she rolled over and rested on her haunches under the blanket. The ropes had loosened enough that the posture was almost normal, yet her legs were still fixed to each other. “The Great and Powa—” Trixie stopped when she saw Echo roll his eyes. “—I have never been a popular magician. I worked hard, visited many towns, and had begun to build a reputation. After visiting Ponyville, that reputation was ruined. The only fans who still liked my show were in Cheerilee’s class. They would write me every week, asking when I would come back to Ponyville. Snips and Snails had their own little fan club, and they stopped writing. I had been planning another trip back here at the time, and decided to come see why they had stopped writing. I found out they and everypony else had left town.” “So why stay in town if all your fans had left?” Echo asked. “I ran into Colgate. She told me how everypony, including her friends, were leaving without saying goodbye. Colgate said Bon Bon’s teeth had been removed before the house exploded. She saved some of them at her house, and we were going to talk about it and see if we could figure out what was really happening around here. It—” Trixie sniffled. “I was finally going to be the hero, solve a great mystery and become famous.” “I see. And when Colgate didn’t meet you?” Echo pulled out his quill and a piece of parchment, and tossed his saddlebags near the kitchen door. “That’s when I went to the Dentist office! I found it just like that, I swear!” Trixie shouted. “Calm down, I believe you.” “So, I went in to her exam room and I could sense the magic. I knew it was powerful, dangerous even, but I got too close. I nearly triggered it and died. That’s when you walked in with her. I always knew Twilight was up to no good.” “Twilight isn’t being questioned, you are. You will leave her to me, and you will focus on my questions. So, you believe Colgate had evidence proving foul play, and planned to find the culprit?” Trixie tugged against the ropes which had started to bite into her legs. “Yes. With the teeth, and the fact Twilight kept telling ponies everypony was moving to Manehatten!” “Did Twilight tell you that?” “No, but Colgate said—” Echo interrupted her, “but Colgate isn’t here, is she?” Trixie fought back tears, her mind filled with images from prison cells to guillotines. She shook such ridiculous imagery from her head, but the thoughts that something horrible was about to happen wouldn’t leave her mind. “No. Twilight was grinning at me when the trap nearly killed me! It’s got to be her, she’s the only unicorn who could have cast that trap!” Echo smiled. “Yes, our suspect is most assuredly a unicorn. However, with no physical evidence so far we can not throw a princess in jail. All we found today was a toy doll,” Echo motioned towards his saddlebags, “and the trap you nearly set off. It’s not much of a case.” Silver looked at the saddlebags. They were only a few feet from the kitchen door. When Echo turned his attention back to Trixie, Silver crept out and opened the flap. There inside was a small green unicorn with blue hair and white highlights. She had dental floss as a cutie mark. Silver grabbed her and quietly shuffled back into the kitchen. “Please, you have to convince Luna I’m innocent! I’d never hurt anypony, and Twilight’s going to try and blame it on me, I just know it! I was so mean to her, and then there was the alicorn amulet... She’ll never forgive me!” Trixie began to cry. “I don’t want to go to jail!” Echo could see how shaken and scared Trixie was. He looked around to make sure they were alone and the windows were still closed. “You mistake our intentions, Trixie. We were sent here to investigate, and Twilight is a prime suspect. Only you or Twilight could have cast the spell in the dentist office. Without hard evidence, we can’t convince a court, let alone Celestia, that her pupil is up to something.” “Wait, you mean you’re not going to lock me up? You do believe me?” Trixie smiled weakly and breathed a small sigh of relief. “I promise you will not come to harm. We must continue the investigation, until I have more than circumstantial evidence I can’t bring Twilight in as a suspect. If it is her, and we move too hastily, we’ll never figure out what really happened to the citizens of this town.” In the kitchen, Silver had begun to hyperventilate. Echo and Luna were really here to catch Twilight! She had to get rid of the doll before Luna could discover how it had been made. Trixie gestured at her legs, which were beginning to cramp from the ropes. “So. . . you are going to leave me tied up until we can find evidence against Twilight?” “I shall take you back to the hotel when Luna arrives, until then continue this ruse. Say nothing of this conversation to Twilight. I will complete my investigation into Colgate’s fate, and continue to build my cas—” Movement caught the corner of Echo’s eye “Who is there?” Silver dropped the doll in her mouth and kicked it under the fridge. She opened the door and pulled out a juice box, taking a deep breath before turning to the door she knew Echo would be standing in. “Oh!” Silver gasped, dropping the juice box. “Sorry, I just came to get a drink.” “What are you doing here?” Echo walked towards her, glancing around the room. “Twilight took me in—my mom left! I mean, she didn’t leave she uh—a stallion. He visited the house and I never saw her again. I was so scared I came here.” Silver was shaking now. She knew all about the Lunar Guard, mostly from campfire stories. One of them had just caught her with a hoof in the cookie jar. Silver felt as if Echo could smell the deceit wafting off of her. It was going to be her fault Twilight got caught. Echo tilted his head, unsure if the filly had heard their conversation of the investigation.  “I’m Echo, Luna’s guard, and I won’t hurt you little filly.” “P-please, I just live h-here now,” Silver said. “I don’t want to disappear! Twilight’s protecting me from the monster” Echo chuckled. “It’s okay, we didn’t mean to startle you. We’re having an adult conversation, and we need you to go back to the guest room, okay?” “Uh, okay!” Silver grabbed her juicebox and glanced at the refridgerator. Suddenly freezing Lyra and hiding the other doll there didn’t seem like such a good idea. She trotted up to Spike’s room under the gaze of both ponies. “She seem weird to you too?” Trixie asked. “Yes, she does,” Echo stated. He followed Silver up, locking the door behind her to make sure she stayed in her room. “Couldn’t you just read Twilight’s mind? Why waste time looking for evidence? Just prove it’s her once and for all!” “Trixie, you know it is against the law to probe another’s mind. In this case, her being an alicorn she would be able to match Luna’s power and shield her mind. Even then, violating the law to catch a criminal is defiling the very laws I’m here to uphold. If we can find the evidence to support your claim against Twilight, then she’ll be imprisoned. Until we find the missing ponies, evidence, or a confession, you’re going to have to play your role.” Trixie gasped as the muzzle flew back towards her, silencing her protest. She stared daggers, before wriggling around to hide herself under the blanket and relieve the tension on the ropes. “Well, this has been a waste of time, Twilight,” Luna said. All the houses Twilight had led her to had proved fruitless. “The most logical course is to examine the houses in the order the ponies disappeared,” Twilight explained. “Maybe we’ll have better luck tomorrow when we get around to examining the latest disappearances.” “I get the feeling there won’t be any evidence when we visit them tomorrow.” She glared at Twilight. “What? All we know so far is ponies are vanishing, and a unicorn was at the dentist. We’ll need some evidence to convict Trixie. When we get back, I’ll interrogate her,” Twilight said. “That won’t be necessary, Echo will take care of it.” Twilight stopped in her tracks. “Really? You’re trusting him to get the truth out of her? Luna, he can’t even use magic. I’ll just read Trixie’s mind to prove it’s her.” Luna stopped, and faced Twilight. “You know that’s a violation of the law. Any tampering with the mind is forbidden.” So is turning ponies into dolls. “I know you don’t like it, but these are my citizens vanishing. Leave me alone with Trixie for five minutes and I’ll get your confession.” “No.” Luna turned and began walking back towards the library. Twilight was furious. It was hard enough continuing her work with every pony running and hiding in fear for their lives. Now, she had to finish her work with Luna and that damnable Echo breathing down her neck. If either of them found physical evidence, it’d link back to Twilight. If they were to interrogate Trixie alone, further suspicion might fall on her. There was nothing she could do directly to Luna, yet. A dozen plans ran through her mind, from poisoning to an outright attempt to murder her to protect her secrets. None of them seemed satisfactory and had large margins for error. Until Twilight had a better grasp on the players in this game, she would have to play defensively. As soon as she had an opening, she would go on the offense. She would capture Luna and move the dollhouse to her backup location in the Everfree. Celestia would doubtless come looking for her, but the hidden alcove had already been warded by Twilight in the event she was forced to retreat. “Twilight?” Luna asked. They had walked from the dentist to the library, and Twilight had barely lifted her eyes off the ground. “Hmm?” She responded. “You looked lost in thought. We’re here.” Luna gestured with her head towards the library. “Thanks.” Twilight pushed the door open and entered. She found Echo drinking some water and sitting at the table. Trixie was curled up against the wall under a blanket. The door closed as Luna entered. “Shall we start questioning her?” Twilight asked. She looked at Luna, who was looking at Echo. Before Twilight could turn to face Echo, he had nodded his approval to Luna. “Yes, we can question her,” Luna said. “Wake up, Trixie,” Twilight ordered. She levitated the blanket off from around her and removed the muzzle. Trixie looked back and forth between Luna and Echo. Twilight didn’t understand why. “You’ll look at me when I’m addressing you. What did you do to Colgate?” “Me? I didn’t d-do anything!” Trixie said. “Lies, what were you doing casting black magic in her office?” Trixie pushed herself up, stretching the ropes taught. “I wasn’t casting it, I tripped the spell that was already there!” “Hah!” “Twilight, you should relax. She is not on trial—unless you’ve found some evidence you didn’t share with the rest of us,” Luna said. “Evidence?” Twilight looked at Luna while pointing back at Trixie. “She was at the crime scene. Nopony else knew Colgate was gone!” “You did,” Trixie stated. “Huh?” Twilight spun to face her rival. “How did you know Colgate was missing? I knew because she missed lunch with me. How did you know to look for her?” Twilight was flustered, doing her best to hide a look of shock from the others. She ended up biting her cheek and focused on the pain. “She missed our dentist appointment yesterday, it’s in her receptionist’s log. I’m not the one caught red-hoofed, though. Last I heard you live in Manehatten, what are you even doing here?” Trixie shrank back as Twilight advanced on her. She glanced towards Echo for support, before diverting her gaze. “I—my fans stopped writing. Please, I didn’t do anything wrong, Twilight.” “I’ll be the judge of tha—” A knock at the door interrupted them. “Twilight, I think that’s enough,” Luna said. She turned and opened the door. “Noctis, reporting as ordered.” A Sarosian guard and two dozen other members of the Lunar Guard stood in formation outside. “Good. Echo will come outside and dispatch you to the remaining crime scenes. You and him will report back to me when done,” Luna ordered. Echo stepped outside, flashing Luna a glance of concern. Luna smiled, “Don’t worry, Echo, I’ll be fine alone for a few minutes.” Luna closed the door, leaving her and Trixie alone in the room. “So, Trixie, what really happened? Are you running ponies out of town for revenge? Fillynapping the children for ransom?” Twilight walked over, flaring her wings and staring down in hatred at Trixie. “Are you murdering innocent ponies?” “Enough,” Luna said. “There’s no need to badger her; she isn’t going anywhere. We’ll resume the investigation tomorrow.” “I guess you’re right,” Twilight admitted. She hovered the muzzle towards Trixie. “Wait! Please, can I have something to drink?” Trixie asked. “Oh, of course, where are my manners?” Twilight dropped the muzzle and trotted into the kitchen. “I’ll be out with some fresh tea in a few minutes.” She smiled as she realized exactly what she could put in the tea. Even an alicorn wasn’t immune to radiation. They had a higher resistance to it, yet it would be a week or two before a dose of polonium would kill Luna. By then, Twilight would have escaped suspicion. Luna would probably be back in Canterlot. She could get sick and die of radiation poisoning far from her killer. It would take Trixie too, likely in a day or two. Having them both here with her, alone, gave her the perfect chance to end them. Twilight began boiling the water and opened the cabinet with her toxins in it. Behind the measuring cup and tea saucers was the false panel. Inside was a lead vial of polonium containing enough to kill a pony if ingested, yet not so much as to harm her from being in the same room as it. The polonium powder was placed into two of the tea cups. If all other plans failed, Luna would still die. Twilight chuckled softly. She had feared it would be harder to protect her dream of a pefect Ponyville from the princesses. If they were half as smart as they claimed to be, they would already have arrested Twilight. They’re so gullible. Twilight carried the empty tea cups out, pouring the hot tea into all three glasses. She passed one to Luna and one to Trixie. She couldn’t resist smiling widely at Trixie. “Oh, you can’t levitate your cup? Allow me to help,” Twilight said in a mocking tone. Trixie’s throat was parched, yet the sudden change in Twilight’s attitude was enough to scare her. “No thanks—I changed my mind,” Trixie said. Twilight levitated her own cup over and sipped it. She then gestured back to Luna, who had lifted it with her hooves to sip the tea. “Don’t be rude, Luna and I are enjoying the tea. What are you trying to prove by not drinking it?” Trixie wriggled back a little further, her mouth flopping open as she looked for an excuse. “I—uh it—” Twilight shoved the cup into Trixie’s mouth, sending tea flying everywhere. Most of it spilled, and Trixie choked, spitting out the remainder. “Fine, you want to be rude then that’s all you’ll get to drink from me.” Twilight grabbed the muzzle and slammed it onto Trixie’s face, cinching it down as tightly as it could go. Trixie began to cry again as the leather of the device cut into her flesh. “Twilight Sparkle!” Luna shouted. “You will cease your uncivil behavior at once!” Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll put the tea up. At least you had the courtesy to drink your tea.” She grabbed all the cups and the teapot in her levitation and took them to the sink, setting them down inside. Twilight was pleased to see Luna had finished her tea. Regardless of the outcome of this investigation, she had gotten one princess out of her way. Trotting back into the entryway, she saw Echo and Noctis step in from outside. “It’s time, Princess, let us retire for the night,” Echo said. He headed over to Trixie, hoisting her onto his back with Noctis’ help. He grabbed his saddle bags, giving them to Noctis. “Very well, we shall leave you until the morning, Twilight. Sleep well,” Luna added. “Wait, you should leave Trixie here. She’ll be more comfortable in my guest room,” Twilight said. “After you offered to read her mind?” Luna said. Echo turned and looked at Twilight in shock. Even Noctis looked uncomfortable. “No, she stays with us. We will not have confessions forced or laws broken to find your missing citizens.” Twilight frowned and shook her head. “I’ll do whatever it takes to find them,” she said. “As will I,” Luna replied. She turned and walked out the door, followed by Echo and Noctis. Waiting a moment to be sure they were gone, she slumped against the nearby wall and exhaled. It had been a long day. Now, she would have to go check on Silver and the dolls to make sure everything was okay. Then she could cuddle up with Big Mac and Lyra to get some well deserved sleep. How on Equestria am I going to get the rest of the town with two dozen Lunar Guard patrolling it? Perhaps it’s time to cash in and flee. . . but I’d never admit defeat. I’m smarter than them, better than them. I can achieve immortality, and so can my friends.