After a long day of reading, it was time for Trixie to go home.
She sighed. Plenty of ponies had come in and out of the Bearded wing, but nopony gave her more than a glance.
Using a memory spell, she was able to record nearly the entire wing, and would be able to recall it later in perfect detail. And because of a suggestion from Star-Sparkles guide to powerful magic, she made sure to keep her magic on full blast for as long as possible, maximizing the memory spell and keeping the documents in the exact location she desired while reading.
Trixie debated just walking through the door and away from the castle grounds, since nopony seemed to care, but why waste a good spell? Well, she could save the gravity cloak for later... but she wasn't going to take any chances with the guard ponies.
Trixie pulled out her hour-glass from her cloak and turned it over, starting the spell. She turned towards a bookshelf and slowly walked through it. She wasn't sure what she expected, but the inside of the wood and paper was just blackness, which made sense, since no light would be able to reach where she was looking.
She walked through the next book shelf, then the next, then the wall. Now she was back in the hall. Looking to the right, she could see the unsuspecting guard. She looked back at the wall in front of her and continued through it, entering the Canterlot gardens. She looked around for a different out of sight location and spotted a large bush.
Bored, she walked behind the bush and removed the cloak. She still had 19 minutes left!
But for now, it was time to go home and practice some magic! And maybe recharge her cloak too. Twilight may have had some driving emotions to power her magic, but now Trixie had that too, and now she also had her memory spells along with her artifacts. Either way, she was still the most powerful unicorn, but she didn't want to fall behind Twilight just because she gained some wings. And maybe now that she was competing with alicorns, she would have to see how powerful Celestia or Luna were too...
Anyway, In two days, she would have the greatest show ever!
Lightning Dust listened to Celestia, and now Luna, talk about the ancient pony and old friend Aero. He reminded Lightning of some of her old role-models.
The stories and conversation did a wonderful job of getting her out of her continuous cycle of regret about not making it into the wonderbolts. Once she got home, she would accept a lower tier job in the weather-team and move all of her belongings to a less expensive apartment. She'd also make sure to see some old friends sometime, maybe visit Celestia or Luna when possible. Heck, maybe she'd even visit Rainbow Dash and apologize for her friends sudden arrival to a sealed off training area in an air-balloon... Nah.
And after all that, when the wonderbolts applications came around in the next few months, she would apply. She would make sure she had a story to tell them by then, a story that would blow their fancy goggles off.
She looked up at Luna and spoke up, smirking, "Sorry, but I've got to practice now." She crouched, ready to fly off through the window behind her.
"So soon?" Luna had a sad expression.
"I've been here the whole day. I know I remind you of an old friend, but that doesn't mean I can stay forever." Lightning explained, still crouching for take off.
"Very well-" Luna started.
"But first, I hope you don't mind if I borrow your maze gardens." Lightning Dust took off.
Luna walked over to the window, "What wouldst thou require of our gardens?" She pondered.
Looking through the window, she got her answer.
Above the bushes, one could see a light-teal blur quickly worming its way through the maze using the right hand rule. Every 90-degree turn resulted in a flash of sparks that looked like fireworks. After about a minute of the mesmerizing display, the maze must have been memorized, because Lightning Dust started shooting between random points in the maze as fast as possible.
Discord sat on top of Canterlot castle watching the sunset come. He felt an approaching apex would be missed if he didn't do something, and if that happened, well, that would be both boring and disappointing.
Discord checked his watch. Surprisingly, it told him the time. What were the chances of that?
Anyway, Lightning Dust had been flying through the maze at break-neck speeds for several hours, and he could tell she was about done.
Exhausted but satisfied, Lightning Dust walked out of the maze, ready to fly home... just as soon as she found a map. Suddenly, Discord popped up next to her holding a platter of the best food that the reader can imagine. Lightning Dust wasn't hungry when she was exercising, but while walking out of the maze, her appetite slowly surfaced.
"Worked up an appetite yet?" He asked.
In response, Lightning Dust dove at the meal, landing instead on a chair at a table that held the meal. She quickly devoured it, she was too hungry to care about manners.
"So, you probably want to fly home sometime soon, right?" Discord asked.
Lightning Dust simply nodded, not taking her attention away from her meal.
"You hardly did anything at all though." Discord lamented.
Lightning Dust looked up with her head tilted.
"I mean, you may have talked with a few nice ponies," Discord threw his mismatched arms out and spun, "but you haven't even began to experience this place."
Lightning Dust searched the table for her silverware with her hoof while looking at Discord. Once she found it, she continued eating while staring at Discord.
Discord's head and legs stopped spinning, but his main body did not, "I mean, have you ever enjoyed Canterlot theater before?"
Lightning Dust shook her head, continued eating her food and gave Discord a blank expression.
"Well, we'll simply have to do something about that!" Discord stopped spinning and clenched his paw into a fist.
Lightning Dust noticed that there was no longer delicious food below her. Oh well, she had almost eaten too much already anyway. Instead, she was surrounded by several high-class ponies walking in front of an important looking marble building titled "Canterlot Cinema". On the wall, there were billboards for several plays. She walked over to the first one, a typical gushy romance play...
"Why do you think I would like this kind of... stuff?" Lightning asked, slightly insulted.
"Oh my, not that one. That one's terrible," Discord gagged. "You know there are other movies right?"
Lightning walked over to the next poster, "Ooh, an action-adventure! Daring Do, Treasure in the West... It's got good reviews too... showing... exactly two days from now at 4 pm."
"Not bad," Discord adjusted his shades and ate some of his pop-corn. "Let's see what's next."
Lightning walked over to a very extravagant poster titled "the Great and Powerful Trixie!" It showed a blue unicorn on stage wearing a starry cape and wizard hat throwing her hooves out while streamers and fireworks shot away from her. Lightning Dust smirked at this. So this mare thinks she's special huh?
"Interactive magic show," Lightning read, "You decide the rules to the competition, Trixie blows away the competition."
Lightning chuckled. It also started two hours after the Daring Do movie.
"hmm," Lightning Dust shrugged, "after I watch Daring Do, I can show that mare a true winner."
"Deal." Discord caught his paw in his claws and grinned.
"Why are you doing this?" Lightning squinted, "I already told you that hug thing was a gross misunderstanding."
"hmph," Discord shrugged and raised his arms up, "What else is there to do?"
Well, Lightning Dust thought as she looked back at the poster, what did you expect? He is the god of chao-
"Aaand goodbye!" Lightning Dust heard Discord start.
"Huh?" Lightning Dust looked back just in time to see Discord swing a giant hammer on top of her. She didn't have the time to dodge before she was hit.
Opening her eyes, she discovered herself back in her old apartment.
"Well, might as well take care of a few things." She said to herself, ready to change apartments, rejoin the weather team, and start her next application to the wonderbolts.
The crowd of ponies at the theater were already wary of Discord, but when they saw him crush a pony with a hammer, that wariness transformed into panic.
Discord threw his arms out and basked in the ensuing chaos.