Chapter 3, New Light, Trixie's Answer
Trixie went around the library and gathered up the other ponies. They all reconvened inside the main room, with her as the center of attention. A smug grin was on her face because she had all the information about the previous day. She had all the power right now!
"Ah hahaha!" Trixie laughed. She soon stopped when she realized how crazy it made her seem and how everypony else was staring at her. "Ahem. I have now gotten all six of your storied. TGaP Trixie shall now reveal the truth of what happened yesterday! And what? Believe it or not, I do get tired of saying my full title all the time, too."
Trixie swept across the six ponies with her cloak billowing in some conjured wind. "Now, after listening to all of your stories, I am ready to say exactly what happened yesterday."
"Wait!" Twilight called out. Everypony else was giving her the sideways eye, but she merely said, "Have you seen Spike at all? I haven't seen him all morning, and I'm worried."
Trixie let out a chuckle. "Spike, I'm sure he'll be back before long. Now, let me tell you what happened." Her hoof whipped out towards Pinkie Pie. "You, you are the cause of all this!"
The six friends let out a gasp, Pinkie most of all. "How could I?" she said accusingly of herself.
"It all started yesterday morning," Trixie explained, "when Pinkie Pie was bouncing through the puddles for fun. She didn't realize it, but the mailpony had crossed her path at that time. That large splash she made caused the mailpony to stumble over and drop all of his packages and letters.
"From there, Applejack told me that she helped the mailpony pick up the presents, but she accidentally put the wrong address card with the wrong present, because some people didn't decide to wrap something on the outside of the entire present. Rainbow Dash usually gets a present from her dad this time of year. I'm guessing the card is usually rainbow-colored, right, Rainbow Dash?"
"Yeah." Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane. "It's just like this styling do."
"The present from Princess Celestia also used rainbow-colored wrapping paper, though I'm thinking it's more like Princess Celestia's mane-color from your descriptions. That's why Applejack placed the card with the address for Rainbow Dash on the present from Princess Celestia."
"What?" Rainbow asked. She was suddenly glaring daggers at Applejack. "Did you know this?"
"Did I know what? I'm sorry, I was looking at my hat." And by looking at her hat, Applejack meant holding the hat in front of her face.
"AJ."
"Ok, fine, I did know," Applejack cried out. "I was planning on going to the post office today and getting your real present, but I couldn't do that without Princess Celestia's present."
"If you're going to react like that, I can't be too mad. So you really didn't take the present last night?"
"On my honor as an Apple, I did not take your present last night."
Trixie rubbed her chin and mumbled, "How interesting. Anyway, continuing on, the present from Princess Celestia actually was not going to Rainbow Dash. Fast-forwarding a bit to the night, I say that Twilight was the one that took the present!"
Everypony else gasped again, and Pinkie yelled, "How could you, Twilight?"
"But-" Twilight sputtered before being cut off.
"Twilight might not have been anywhere near the present," Trixie stated strongly, "but she can just use magic to move it if needed. Twilight has been suspicious of the present, so she had to get rid of it when Rainbow Dash was about to open it. Only Applejack and Twilight were really in a position to move it, and after hearing Applejack, I conclude that it must be Twilight."
"Then, then where's the present?" Rarity asked. "We searched last night and all morning and haven't seen a trace of it."
It was Twilight that answered in a meek voice and a downcast expression. "Remember when the window broke? I tried to use magic to transport the away Princess Celestia's present just at that time. I was so shocked that I think I transported it somewhere else entirely, and I don't know where."
"Oh, Twilight," Rarity said. "Accidents happen to the best of us."
"So Princess Celestia's present is lost completely?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Trixie was still looking smug. "Not so at all. The present that you were all seeing during the party was a fake!"
Pinkie was about to gasp again, but the others just placed a hoof on her mouth. Nothing was going to surprise them anymore.
"So what happened?" Rarity asked.
"It was during the afternoon that the real present was stolen. You described the wrapping paper as shimmering, glowing almost. In the darkness last night, it would have been easy to see, unless Twilight really transported it far away. Oh, silly me, I'm getting ahead of myself."
"Just tell us what happened," Applejack growled.
"Forgive me for trying to build a moment." Trixie sniffed in derision. "In the afternoon, Pinkie and Spike were decorating the space for the party and Twilight was in her room, looking for magic that could see into the present. There were several times when the main room was left completely empty, however, and that was when someone came in and took the present.
"Rarity was the one that came in here and took something!"
"It was a scarf!" Rarity protested in a pitch higher than normal. She had recoiled back and was holding an arm up in front of her chest. "Don't any of you remember me showing off my lovely scarf?"
"Not really," most of them admitted.
The white unicorn let out a frustrated grunt. "Why do I even bother trying to look nice for you girls?"
Trixie waved her hoof to regain everyponies' attention. "Rarity taking it is just a hypothetical. But you might be asking yourself, how did the present come back? Don't think being quiet and hiding in the back will keep me from remembering." Her hoof shot out with enough force to make speed lines. "Fluttershy made a fake gift."
The only thing the trembling pegasus could do was let out a weak, "Meep."
"Originally," Trixie started again, "Fluttershy told me that she had taken the gift, but I thought it was not really in her character. But if she was trying to cover for somepony else, then she might admit to a crime she didn't commit. Fluttershy thought that Rarity had taken the gift out of jealousy. That was why she confronted Rarity about it while having a fake present."
"Oh," Rarity exhaled as a previous conversation came rushing back to her mind. She turned towards Fluttershy. "Darling, I didn't take it, really."
"You didn't?" Fluttershy asked.
"No. Was I jealous? I admit I was for a bit. But really, I wasn't about to just take Rainbow Dash's present."
Trixie nodded. "That's right, Rarity didn't take it."
Fluttershy's head hung low, and her main brushed against the floor. "I'm sorry for thinking you did, Rarity."
"Don't beat yourself up over it, Fluttershy." Rarity nuzzled her friend on the nose.
Trixie walked over to some books on the ground. From underneath them, she plucked out a dull, rainbow wrapping paper. It looked much like the one around Princess Celestia's present, but it didn't shine. "This was used to wrap up some books so it was about the same shape and size as the present. It probably came loose when Twilight teleported it, but you girls didn't find it because you weren't looking for books."
"Hey," Pinkie Pie said, "Isn't that part of my banner? No wonder it got shorter, and I had to improvise a new hanging location."
"I'm sorry, Pinkie," Fluttershy said.
The pink pony just shrugged. "Oh well. No big deal."
"Then I'm certain you're all wondering where the real present is," Trixie said. "Consider who came by to the library in the timeframe where it was taken. Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy. Neither Rarity nor Fluttershy took it. Twilight and Pinkie Pie never left. But none of you can account for Spike's whereabouts during that time, can you?"
Uncertain mumblings rang out among the group, but Twilight stepped forward. "Spike wouldn't do something like that!"
"He was here at the right place and the right time. And he had a reason to as well."
"What reason could that be?"
"It's simple," Trixie said. "Spike was ordered to take the present. I believe it was sent here in error, and he's returning it to the sender right now. He couldn't do it yesterday, since, as Applejack said, the post office was closed. But this morning, that would be his first task. That's why he's not here."
"How could you possibly know any of that?" Rainbow Dash said.
"A magician never reveals her secrets," Trixie said. "And I am TGaP Trixie, after all."
"Really, how did you know?" Twilight asked, though her tone was one of genuine curiosity.
"Magic! Believe me, Spike took the present and returned it to the sender."
Rarity scoffed and flicked her mane. "I suppose you'll be able to tell us about the note as well. Why would my dear Spike say that he was Stars?"
Of course Trixie had an answer for that. "That was because of Applejack and Fluttershy. They wanted to see the night sky, but that could also mean the stars. Look at the note. Stars isn't capitalized, so it's not a name. Spike was writing one A M stars, as in, you were scheduled to go outside and look at stars at one in the morning."
"That's," Rarity sputtered, "that's very reasonable."
"What's your answer for the window, then?" Rainbow Dash shot.
What answered her was a knocking on the front door. It was such a surprise for someone else to come into their day that none of the ponies moved to open it. Twilight shook her head when she realized this was her home, so it was logical that she should open the door.
"Um, hello?"
"Hiya, Twilight," a grey pegasus mare said. She had yellow mane and tail, and her eyes didn't seem to point in the same direction. A saddle was strapped across her back, and a large brown box was tied to it. "Here's your new window. I'm sorry about breaking yours last night. I was just so excited about the new year that I wasn't watching where I was flying. I don't know how to install a window, though."
Applejack raised her hoof. "I do, I suppose." She sounded uncertain but was dragged along by the flow of things.
The grey pegasus unhitched the window from her saddle. "Well, here you go. Sorry again, Twilight. I hope you forgive me."
"Yeah, sure," Twilight said, though she was in a sort of daze at how fast things were happening. With a smile, she received the window, and then the grey pegasus flew off.
Everyone was still standing around in confusion when Trixie placed a hoof on the newest delivery. "You're welcome for me solving the window problem."
Still staring at the door, Twilight passed the window over to Applejack. "You'll get on that soon?"
"I'll get on that soon." Applejack slid the window in between her legs.
"Um." Fluttershy raised her hand. "Does this mean Spike will come back if we just wait around?"
"I imagine so," Trixie said.
Wait around they did. An awkward silence hung in between six of the ponies. They all wanted to speak, to break up the barrier in between them, but none of them could. The gloomy feelings made the apparent coldness in the air that much harsher. Each wind through the open window was like a frigid gale. Trixie was feeling no such effects and was just sitting around.
The door opened with a near-deafening crack. Spike just strolled in with a bright smile and a spring in his step.
"Spike!" Twilight rushed forward, nearly tackling him. She pressed her cheeks up against his.
His little arms flailed. "Whoa, Twilight, what's going on?"
"Where did you go, Spike? I was worried about you."
"I went to the post office," Spike answered. He immediately wished he hadn't as six ponies were now staring at him with large eyes. "Um, what? Is-is something wrong?"
Rarity asked, "Spike, darling, why did you go to the post office?"
"To send a package of course," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. And it was, logically, one of the few things ponies would go to the post office for.
"Hmhm," Trixie chuckled. She threw her arms out, causing her cloak to flare up. "See, TGaP Trixie knows all and sees all!"
Twilight looked at her assistant. A soft smile was on her face. "Spike, you went to mail Princess Celestia's present, right? Tell us what happened yesterday."
"Don't you know?"
"Please do it. There are some things I want to clear up."
"Okay, sure." The young dragon was still looking between everypony. Worry and confusion fell over his expression, but he maintained a smile.