//------------------------------// // 4. Potent Potables [End of Part 1] // Story: Longest Night, Longest Day // by RainbowDoubleDash //------------------------------// “Rainbow Dash?” Trixie asked, looking the pegasus mare over. Rainbow Dash’s own eyes copied the movements as she took in Trixie’s appearance. “Yeah,” the pegasus answered. “Who are you supposed to be?” she looked between Trixie and Ditzy Doo. “Oh, and which one of you scared Fluttershy?” Ditzy Doo waved her hoof a little. “Didn’t mean to,” the gray-coated pegasus apologized. “Is she okay?” Rainbow Dash stepped to one side, pointing into Fluttershy’s home. It was decorated beautifully, adorned with all sorts of odds and ends that gave it a very homely, cozy appearance. However, a table and everything that had been on it were knocked over, along with a vase of flowers sitting near the stairs to the cottage’s second floor. “Does it look like she’s okay?” Rainbow Dash demanded. “Way to go, Derpy.” Ditzy Doo grimaced slightly at Rainbow Dash’s accusation and name-calling. Trixie felt a surprising amount of furor rising in her chest over that. “Hey!” she exclaimed, stepping forward and placing her face right up to the pegasus’ own. “Leave Ditzy Doo alone!” The cyan pegasus’ eyes widened a little at Trixie’s words, as though they had jogged a memory for her. After several moments of staring, she shook her head, clearing it. “Who are you?” she demanded. “Trixie,” the unicorn introduced herself. “Representative Trixie of the Night Court of Luna. I’m also here as the Longest Night festival overseer, so I need to speak with Fluttershy about the music she volunteered to handle.” Rainbow Dash bristled a little at that, in a mixture of defensiveness and embarrassment. “She’s doing just fine,” the pony proclaimed. “Alright, but I need to talk to her.” “No.” “No?” “No,” Rainbow Dash repeated firmly. “Not now. Come back later.” The pegasus made to close the door, but Trixie blinked, and each of its hinges were wrapped in a blue magical aura, holding the door firmly open. “Why?” Trixie demanded. Rainbow Dash stared. “What?” “Why should I come back later?” Trixie clarified. “I’m here now, Fluttershy is here now, provided she hasn’t run out a back door or something – ” “Hey! Lay off of Fluttershy! You don’t even know her!” “True enough,” Trixie admitted, as she grinned. “But I do know that of the four ponies at this house, you’re the only one who isn’t supposed to be here.” She jabbed a hoof back at Ponyville. “You’re the weather patrol manager, right? Your team is wondering where you’ve gone. They’re practically threatening to quit.” Rainbow Dash grunted, pointing up to the sky. “If those lazy bums can’t even handle a few cirrus clouds, then they shouldn’t be calling themselves pegasi.” “Not those,” Trixie continued, pointing past Fluttershy’s house and into the darkening skies over the Everfree. “That. There’s a huge storm brewing over the Everfree and Raindrops said that – ” “Raindrops?” Rainbow Dash asked, then threw her head back and laughed. “Raindrops worries about every little stray cumulus ‘cause of how slow a flier she is. And nopony should be worrying about that Everfree storm, it’s nothin’ I can’t handle.” Trixie blinked. “By yourself?” “Uh, yeah,” Rainbow Dash proclaimed, as though the answer should have been obvious. “I’d love to see you try and back that up.” The pegasus opened her mouth as though to claim that she would, and right now at that, but stopped halfway and grimaced. “Look, I’m weather manager and I know what I’m doing. If that storm becomes a problem, I’ll deal with it. But right now I can’t leave Fluttershy hangin’, so if you’ll just go away and take Derpy here with you – ” Trixie’s eyes narrowed, and her horn glowed dangerously. “Don’t say that again,” she threatened. Rainbow Dash grinned at how Trixie seemed to be taking the name worse than the pony it was directed at. She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything Ditzy Doo interposed herself between the weather manager and the Night Court representative, taking turns to glare at each of them, eyes focused and wings spread wide. “Stop,” she said, her voice firm, like a mother scolding children who were misbehaving themselves. “Now.” Trixie glared past Ditzy Doo, at Rainbow Dash, who matched her stare unflinchingly. Neither of them, however, made any move to continue their argument. After a few moments, the gray pegasus turned to Rainbow Dash. “I’ve known Fluttershy since she moved here,” she said. “Nearly as long as you. So I’m going to go see my friend.” Rainbow Dash shook her head, appearing to have genuine concern for the pony who was even now cowering upstairs somewhere. “No, not right now. She’s really nervous and – ” “Rainbow Dash, get out of my way.” The other pegasus didn’t move for several moments, but the unflinching, unblinking stare of Ditzy Doo eventually wore her down. She backed away from the door, making enough room for the gray pegasus to step into the cottage. Once inside, she folded her wings back against her sides and turned around to look at Trixie. “What did you want to ask Fluttershy?” She asked. “Just how the music preparations were coming along,” Trixie answered, making a point of not looking at Rainbow Dash, even peripherally. “Although now I’m kind of curious about how she could be friends with a stuck-up – ” “No,” Ditzy Doo ordered with surprising firmness, jabbing a hoof at Trixie, suddenly enough to make the unicorn stumble backwards a few steps. After a few moments, she turned around and trotted away, heading upstairs, although she spared a final glance at the two other ponies. She didn’t speak, but the glare’s meaning was obvious: play nice or I will ground you for a month. Trixie wasn’t certain why such a look had an effect on her, but it did. Silence lingered between the pegasus and the unicorn that Ditzy Doo left behind for some time. Eventually, however, Rainbow Dash glanced to Trixie, looking her over again. “Nice hat,” she intoned, smirking. “Nice dye job,” Trixie countered without hesitation. The pegasus’ grin widened as she ran a hoof through her mane. “It’s not dyed,” she proclaimed proudly. “I’m all-natural.” Trixie seethed, but didn’t rise to the bait as she chose to focus on the ground under her hooves and not the grin of triumph she knew was on Rainbow Dash’s face. Instead, she ran through her mental list of Things She Hated About Today. Previously, the Apple clan had been topping that list, but Rainbow Dash had managed to shoot past all competition and settle into an easy first place. Yay. After an eternity of silence, the sound of hoof-steps from the floor above them signaled Ditzy Doo’s return. The gray pegasus trotted down the cottage’s stairs and up to Trixie, a sad look on her face, eyes once again having wandered apart. “Fluttershy isn’t going to be able to do the music this year,” she said sadly. “Rainbow Dash here talked her into volunteering but now she’s too frightened of being in front of so many ponies. Rainbow has been trying to convince her not to be worried, but Fluttershy’s mind seems made up.” Rainbow Dash grumbled under her breath as she sat back on her haunches, crossing her front hooves in front of her. “I bet I would’ve been able to if you hadn’t frightened her.” “She seemed pretty determined,” Ditzy Doo said, then considered her words. “Relatively, anyway.” Trixie was wide-eyed, mouth hanging open slightly and blinking only slowly as she took in what Ditzy Doo had said. “What?” she asked. “No. No, it’s only two days to the festival. She said she’d handle the music, volunteered, filled out the paperwork – ” “…actually, that was mostly me,” Rainbow Dash admitted sheepishly. Trixie’s eyes somehow managed to open even wider as she turned her gaze slowly onto the cyan pegasus, who’s expression had changed to one of embarrassment. “I mean, you should hear her sing, and she’s really good with animals and I’ve even seen her arrange a bird chorus, and I suggested that she should volunteer and get her birds to help, and she said she’d love to, and I thought it was maybe a chance to get her to open up…but then she got cold hooves a few days ago.” Trixie’s mouth opened and shut of its own accord a few times before words managed to come out. “I’m going upstairs,” she said, taking a step forward. Instantly, her path was blocked by a pair of pegasi, wings spread defensively. “No,” Ditzy Doo said. “I don’t think so,” Rainbow Dash added. Trixie looked between the two. “But…but…it’s the Longest Night!” Trixie exclaimed. “The halfway point of winter! And we don’t have music arranged for when the Princess raises the moon, and the catering is gonna be awful, and there’s that storm coming – ” “Are you still on about that?” Rainbow Dash asked. “ – and I’m gonna get blamed for this!” Trixie exclaimed, stepping forward again, but only to get close to the two pegasi as she looked between the two. “This was my big chance to show Luna that I can handle responsibility and everything is heading straight into the sun!” “Well, deal,” Rainbow Dash said. Ditzy Doo rolled her eyes at Rainbow Dash’s advice, before turning back to Trixie. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I really am. But Fluttershy is just too delicate. Even if you convinced her somehow, she’d probably freeze on stage on the Longest Night anyway.” Rainbow Dash shot Ditzy Doo a glare at that, but the gray pegasus only shrugged, and after a moment Rainbow Dash sighed and nodded in confirmation. Trixie’s head snapped between the two a few more times, before she let out a low groan of frustration. “Fine,” she spat, turning around and stomping out the door, making a point of letting the anger she felt rise visibly to the surface, projecting the perfect image of a pony that nopony would want to be within a hundred feet of if they could help it. As expected, Ditzy Doo didn’t follow her; indeed, the two pegasi soon closed the door to Fluttershy’s cottage. Once it was shut, Trixie stopped her angry pace, eyes narrow as her horn glowed beneath her hat, casting a spell that was almost as familiar to her as basic unicorn telekinesis. Her color and form seemed to simply bleed out of reality, becoming nothing more than an odd smudge on the air, and soon afterwards not even that as her invisibility spell wrapped itself firmly around her body, hat, and cape. A second, similarly familiar spell encircled each of her hooves; she pranced in place on the dirt path beneath her a few times to confirm that her silencing spell had taken effect, before making a beeline straight for Fluttershy’s cottage. The closed door presented little deterrent, as it hadn’t been locked by either pegasus, and Trixie opened, passed through, and closed it before anypony inside the house could notice. She saw Rainbow Dash in Fluttershy’s kitchen, brewing up tea – and helping herself to a rather ample cookie supply – while Ditzy Doo wasn’t in sight, probably having gone up to the second floor. Trixie grimaced as she began to climb the stairs, slowly and carefully despite the sound-dampening spell that extended in a six inch radius around each hoof. In just a few moments, she was upstairs, and making her way down a hall and into a room with its door wide open, in which soft voices could be heard conversing. “…okay, Fluttershy,” Ditzy Doo said, as Trixie entered the room. Fluttershy’s bedroom was decorated much like the rest of her house; dominated by a bed with a green, thick comforter. laying on top of the bed was a yellow pegasus with a pink, thick, long mane, staring intently at her own front hooves and seemingly like she was trying to hide her face in it. Her cutie mark was a trio of pink butterflies. Sitting opposite her on the bed was Ditzy Doo, both eyes focused forward. “O-okay…?” Fluttershy stuttered. Her voice was amazingly soft; Trixie had to lean in to hear it. “Yeah,” Ditzy said, leaning forward cautiously and gently nuzzling the yellow pegasus. She flinched initially, but after a moment leaned in to the friendly sign of affection. “It was really brave of you even to volunteer.” “Oh, I don’t know…” Fluttershy intoned. “It was Rainbow Dash’s idea, I never would have been brave enough to even try without her, and I only did it because I never thought I’d ever actually get the position…” “Well, you did,” Ditzy Doo said as she pulled away. “It was a big step forward.” Fluttershy looked up at Ditzy Doo, and Trixie took a step back. Her eyes…Fluttershy’s large, teal eyes were stained red from tears. “I-it doesn’t feel like one…” she said. “Oh, and that Trixie sounded so mad…I’ve made such a mess of things, I never should have let Rainbow Dash talk me into even trying, but she seemed so sure that I could do it that I didn’t want to let her down, but now I have…” Trixie did not, by any stretch of the imagination, consider herself an affectionate pony. It nevertheless took every ounce of willpower she had to not leap atop the bed and give Fluttershy a warm, tight hug. She looked like she needed one; then again, if she had flinched from even a gentle nuzzle, she wasn’t certain Fluttershy would be able to survive such an outright show of affection. The unicorn pony also wanted to let out an annoyed sigh, but practice at sneaking around held that in check, as well. She had come up here with the intention of de-cloaking herself where there was nothing Ditzy Doo or Rainbow Dash could do to stop her from seeing Fluttershy and demanding the pony perform in the Longest Night festival, but what she’d seen in just a few seconds of observing Fluttershy made it painfully obvious that the she was never going to be able to perform on stage, no matter what Trixie either threatened to do to her or offered to bribe her with. The blue unicorn instead turned around and made her way from Fluttershy’s cottage, back out into the waning winter day. --- “Trixie, I’m sick of apples,” Luna said. “Me too, princess.” “Yes, but you see, Trixie, it was your job to make sure that catering went smoothly. Now, because of you, I’m going to destroy the Apple Trust and outlaw apples across Equestria. Anypony caught eating one will be hanged, drawn, and quartered.” “I’m cool with that,” Trixie said, beginning to seek out an apple, “but do you really want to go outside in this?” Luna looked outside, at the massive snow-rain-wind-thunder-lightning-ice-and-acid storm that was even now destroying Ponyville. “I’m an alicorn, I can deal,” Luna remarked, opening the door to the town hall and trotting outside. Immediately, she began melting, and freezing, and being flayed. Dramatic music probably should have been playing, but it was completely, notably absent. “Great,” Luna objected as her body was destroyed. “This is the last time I invest any responsibility in you, Trixie.” “I know.” There was a pause. As Luna was reduced to nothing more than a head, she raised one eyebrow and appraised the interior of the town hall with her one remaining eye before it was destroyed. “The decorations are quite lovely, though. Good job.” Trixie snickered at her own morbid fantasy as she made her way through Ponyville’s streets, looking for the building that would be serving as her home while she was living in the town. It wasn’t particularly hard to find, being located near the center and bordering the cobblestone plaza that surrounded the town hall. It was a two-story, thatch-roofed house, distinguishable from the other residencies in Ponyville only because it was surrounded by a short iron fence – only about chest-high – and a small garden, currently buried under snow, as well as a hanging sign outside of its front gate that read “Residency of the Representative of the Night Court of Luna,” the words printed over the Equestrian coat of arms. After the hectic day of disappointment, shocks, and nearly being trapped outside at noon, she was severely hoping that the pantry of her new home was fully stocked, or at least contained a decent supply of potent potables. She trotted inside with eyes half-lidded, finding the door unlocked and the house inside dark. She hung her hat on a stand just inside the door, but kept her cape on – the house was probably cold, and she wanted to continue benefitting from the warming enchantment woven into her cape until she could get a fire going. “Ugh,” the unicorn groaned as she made her way towards the door that, if she were designing this house, would contain the living room. “Where’s the light – gah!” Quite suddenly, someone had turned on the gas lights in the room she had wandered into – and Trixie found herself surrounded by ponies of every shape, hue, and tribe, all of whom took the opportunity to shout surprise! at the top of their lungs. Trixie all but leapt from her coat at the sight, and nearly stumbled to the floor as a certain vibrantly pink pony was suddenly standing right in front of her. “Surprise!” The pony exclaimed. “I’m Pinkie Pie and I threw this party just for you. Were you surprised? Were you? Were you? Huh?” Trixie stared at the wide-grin, the manic look. It was, for some reason, far too easy to imagine this pony doing horrible things to her. “You see, I saw you outside of Rarity’s, remember? You were all ‘stars above!’ and I was all gasp, remember? You see I never saw you before, and if I never saw you before that means you’re new, ‘cause I know everypony, and I mean every pony in Ponyville, and if you’re new, that meant you hadn’t met anypony yet – ” “I’d met a few ponies, actually…” Trixie interrupted as she picked herself up and started looking for something that would destroy her liver in short order. Pinkie Pie didn’t slow down or acknowledge the interruption, and followed Trixie as she walked. “ – and if you haven’t met anypony yet, you must not have any friends, and if you don’t have any friends then you must be lonely, and that made me so sad, and I had an idea, and that’s why I went gasp, I’ll just throw a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everypony in Ponyville! See? And now you have lots and lots of friends!” Trixie had found a table laden with glasses and bottles that contained vibrant warnings about their contents. Checking a few labels, she chose one with the largest number on it and began pouring it into a glass, while turning to regard Pinkie Pie and the party. “Everypony in Ponyville?” Pinkie Pie’s head bobbed up and down rapidly as Trixie finished pouring and took a swig of what she’d poured for herself. It burned pleasantly on the way down her throat. “There’s maybe two dozen ponies here.” Pinkie Pie didn’t deflate at all from Trixie’s remark. “A party is still a party even if everypony doesn’t show up!” She exclaimed, bouncing happily in circles around Trixie. “Besides I don’t think your house could fit everypony, not that I wouldn’t mind trying! And there’s still plenty of ponies here!” She smiled as she dragged several into a group-hug, which they went along with surprisingly easily. The mugs of something foaming held in their hooves may have had something to do with it. Trixie blinked a few times, remembering Lyra’s advice about Pinkie Pie’s parties. The pink pony was genuinely enthused and seemed intent on making this Trixie’s best night ever. And she’d just had an awful day and could use any excuse to just forget it. Tomorrow might be worse, after all, what with having to find a new music venue on such short notice, not to mention that meeting with Rarity – Ugh. The blue unicorn drained what remained of her drink in one fell swoop, and then began pouring herself a new glass. As she did, an old earth pony salute came to mind: eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die! --- Lyra and BonBon passed through the front gate of the residency of the Night Court Representative with trepidation, especially giving the volume of music that was coming out of it – and above that, on occasion, the voice of Pinkie Pie. “Do we have to?” Lyra asked as they stood outside of the door. Lyra was once more in her wool cloak and Gatsby, while BonBon was bedecked in a cloak and wide-brimmed hat of her own. With the sun having settled beyond the horizon, the night’s temperature was plunging rapidly. A chill wind answered her question as it cut through their garments, driving both of the ponies inside quickly to get out of the cold. “So what’s Trixie like?” BonBon asked. “Kind of a jerk.” Lyra admitted. “But I think she’s under a lot of stress.” “Hmm. Maybe this party will do her good, then,” BonBon observed as the two shucked their hats and cloaks, leaving them in a pile that had been formed near the front door. Several ponies had escaped from where the main party seemed to be going on, standing in the hallway; they politely greeted BonBon and welcomed Lyra back from Canterlot. “But we have to be in the same house as Pinkie Pie…” Lyra objected. “Hush, she’s easily my best customer,” BonBon responded, gently knocking her flank against Lyra’s own. The unicorn put on a suitably mollified-looking face as the two ponies approached the main room. Before they could enter, however, a certain blue unicorn in a purple cape came stumbling out, no fewer than three different glasses, each containing liquids of different color, grasped in her telekinetic aura. Lyra and BonBon froze as Trixie’s violet eyes looked in their direction. They were glazed over, at first, but came swiftly into focus as she saw Lyra. “Heartstrings!” She exclaimed. Something seemed…off…about her voice, and not simply the slur it had picked up from the concoctions held in each vessel she carried. “Y’all made it!” “Y’all?” Lyra echoed, as Trixie stumbled forward and gave Lyra a tight hug, which the mint green unicorn returned if only to increase her chances of it ending quickly. As it did, Trixie turned to regard BonBon. “You!” Trixie exclaimed, then paused, eyes squinting a little as she stared at BonBon. “Ah’m afraid ah have not yet had the pleasure.” Lyra blinked a few times, realizing the problem with Trixie’s voice – her accent had changed, not quite to the country drawl that was common to the rural parts of Equestria, but similar. The Canterlot lilt to her accent had completely disappeared, however. “Uh,” Lyra said. “Trixie – ” “Trixie?” The unicorn asked incredulously, looking insulted. She put a hoof to her chest. “Ah’m wounded! Ah thought we were on better terms, mon amie Heartstrings! Je m’appelle Lulamoon!” Lyra’s eyes grew larger than any plate found outside of the Griffin Kingdoms at that demand. “Lulamoon?” she asked. “Oui!” Trixie drew Lyra into a deep hug, again, as BonBon stared with a mixture of confusion and mirth. “Ah’m so glad you’re here, Heartstrings! Come on, come on, come on, y’all have to see this!” She stumbled away and back into the main party room. BonBon blinked a few times, then looked back to Lyra. “She seems very friendly,” the earth pony remarked. “I don’t know what you were worried about.” Lyra was actually growing quite a bit beyond "worry" as she and BonBon made their way into the living room, where the music was loud and the ponies were dancing, or recovering from long dancing sections, or just talking to each other. A pink blur moved between them all, making sure that neither glass nor mug remained empty for very long. Once inside, Trixie took them both by the hoof and dragged them over to a wall, on which a beautiful, stylized mural had been painted. “Regardez! Look!” Trixie said, jabbing a hoof at the painting. “It’s the story of – of – well, Ah don’t want to say her name in polite company, Heartstrings, but you know.” Lyra blinked, inspecting the mural. While done in gentle, story-book quality – and ending with Luna standing triumphant, sun and moon balanced on either wing – the mural clearly depicted the story of the fall of Celestia, the former alicorn princess and Luna’s elder sister, and her transformation into the fiery, wrathful, and greedy mare known as Corona, followed by the epic battle between Luna and Corona for the fate of Equestria. It featured Luna’s victory prominently, but Lyra nevertheless felt a shiver go down her spine at the sight, even in storybook fashion, of the alicorn that to this day was trapped inside the sun. Trixie nodded as Lyra looked over the mural, a wide-grin on her features. “Story of Corona,” she said, apparently forgetting her earlier concern. “Oui. Somethin’ like this is in every royal appointment in Equestria, mon amie. Reminds us to do our jobs n’ such.” Trixie drained one of the glasses she held, then turned to Lyra and BonBon. “Do you know what Corona said, just before Princess Luna trapped her in the sun?” She put a hoof to her chest as though stabbed. “Ahh!” The unicorn laughed at her joke and drained her second glass, but quickly noticed the mortified looks on the faces of Lyra and BonBon. “Ne me regardez pas comme ça!” She exclaimed, stomping forward and jabbing a hoof slightly to Lyra’s left. “C’est un boum! Y’all are supposed to enjoy yourselves!” Lyra stared, having a very, very difficult time reconciling the pony in front of her – who was draining her final glass – with the pony she had left earlier in the day. “Are you alright?” she asked. Trixie glared at Lyra, before her gaze softened noticeably and she stumbled forward, tapping Lyra on the nose. “You know,” she said, “you are very cute for a musician. Or because y’all are a musician. Whatever.” “Uh,” Lyra responded. “She’s taken,” BonBon said quickly, stepping forward defensively between Trixie and Lyra. Trixie regarded her, and beamed. “Ne vous inquiétez pas! You’re very cute too!” She stumbled backwards a little, as Pinkie Pie arrived and re-filled her drinks. Trixie looked to the pink earth pony and smiled widely. “And Pinkie Pie, you’re cute too, in an annoying sort of way…” “Thanks!” The earth pony exclaimed. Trixie laughed. “Everypony’s cute!” she exclaimed as she began walking/stumbling towards the nearest table and climbing it. “Everypony’s cute! Even I'm cute, non?” Trixie stood atop the table, rearing up on her hind legs and throwing her forelegs wide, telekinesis seizing her cape and causing it to billow as though in a strong wind. “But in purple? Ah'm stunning!” With that, the unicorn collapsed, falling from the table and onto the floor, grin never leaving her face. Her eyes were closed, but she was still breathing, so Lyra assumed she was alive and mostly unharmed. Pinkie Pie smiled widely at the sight. “She’s become one with her inner self!” the party pony exclaimed. “She passed out,” BonBon remarked. Pinkie Pie nodded at her fellow earth pony. “That too.”