A melancholy tune played over the radio on an open windowsill as Blossomforth drearily hovered by, her legs hanging freely as she looked down on the small grass clearing near the city's outskirts she passed by. The small, empty clearing that seemed so much bigger nowadays, especially that large barren rectangular piece of dirt in the middle, an indication that particular spot had been frequented by some cart or wagon of sorts.
The music carried over into the Bridleway area, where Honey was passing by on the way to her museum. She paused for a moment to look up at the grey, overcast sky, then to the side of a decommissioned performance hall. It was all run down and boarded up, but some of the old showing posters, faded and ripped as they were, still hung from cracked and rotting frames. One in particular showed a mystical azure unicorn, surrounded by flashy lights and sparkling objects. The archeologist continued to glumly stare at the advertisement until a stray gust of wind finally managed to peel it off the wall and send it sailing off out of sight.
The song continued to echo throughout the busy streets, right up to a quaint corner avenue outdoor cafe, where Orange Sherbet and Octavia sat at one of the tables. The Orange matron had a cheek deeply pressed into her hoof as she banally stirred her served tea, while the cellist had her hooves folded over the table, just staring down at the plate of sugared biscuits, stale from not having been touched for hours. Simultaneously, they both looked over to the side, where there was nothing but a vacant seat, a bottle of fizzy soda pop, and a packet of peanut butter crackers. They sighed.
Twilight lay on her backside, staring up blankly at the penthouse ceiling of the Orange apartment, a stray leg hanging over the edge of the couch. Next to her, hunched on the ottoman, was her assistant Spike. In fact, every one of her friends were strewn about the living room, lazily slouched over a piece of furniture.
Honey finally lifted a leg off the armrest, reached blindly out to the coffee table in the middle and smacked her hoof on the radio's off button, ending the sad montage.
"This sucks," Blossomforth broke the dull silence that seemed to hang over everypony.
It had been a full week since that night at the Latigo, where they had seen the Great and Powerful Trixie for the last time before vanishing without a trace on the morning after. They all knew it was the only thing on their minds at the moment.
"You never know what you truly have until it's gone," Octavia murmured.
"I miss her third pony references," said Honey.
"I miss her whimsical, superfluous nature and anecdotes," added Twilight.
"I miss her hat."
Everypony looked at little purple dragon with an expression that could only be interpreted as 'Say what?' He retaliated in kind with a shrug. "What? It's a really cool hat she's got."
Mosely walked in, placing a bowl of peeled oranges on the table edge closest to his wife. "Here you go sweetums, a little pick-me-up from our kitchens."
"Thank you darling." As Sherbet pulled a slice off and chewed slowly. As she pulled another one apart, she stopped and looked at the slice, turned it over in her hoof, and then gave a quiet chuckle.
"What is it, Auntie?" Twilight asked, curiosity piqued.
"Oh, just thinking back..." she rambled, staring longingly at the slice she held up like a little smile. "Remember Babs' birthday two months ago? At her family's new orchard? She was the special entertainment and," she chuckled a few more times before continuing, "for one of her tricks she took the fruit platter I brought and rearranged it into a bunch of funny faces? It was so simple, and yet it was my little filly's favorite. Even I laughed when she decorated Redwell's mouth with a banana smile."
Blossomforth giggled. "Heh, you know what my favorite one was? That one time in Central Park, during a picnic, when you, Daring, said I talk so much about flowers you could swear they were practically growing out of my ears. She made a pair of tulips sprout out of them!"
"And then you said you prefer jonquils," Honey snickered. "Yeah, and how about that time when I unveiled that new fifth century tapestry exhibit from Tapiria? She practically scared all the visitors out of their coats when she got the embroidery of Uchchaihshravas* to start dancing across the scenery. Boy, what a crazy day that was."
Octavia smirked. "And there was the Harvest Day parade..."
"The library's book fair..." Twilight reminisced. "She livened up almost everything in this city...and our lives..."
"And now she's gone..." Honey grumbled.
Twilight blinked, and a steely visage of resolve hardened across her face. "No...NO!" She leapt straight from her backside to all fours as she rolled off the couch. "It's not going to end like this! I won't let it! Trixie is our friend, and friends are worth fighting for! I refuse to just lay down and die anymore! We've just got to show Moonlight and the rest of the Lulamoons that Trixie is not their property!"
Honey pulled herself upright, then gave a little smirk. "When you're right, you're right, Twilight. We're not gonna accomplish anything by just sitting around like a pile of sad sacks. It's time for action!"
Blossomforth piped up next. "Yeah! I'm done moping around! I want to have fun again...with ALL my buddies!"
Octavia curtly nodded alongside Sherbet, who spoke foxily. "So Twilight, I presume this calls for a little business trip?"
"Yes!" Twilight declared. "We're going to Canterlot, and bring Trixie home!"
If they hadn't cheered when they did, they might have been able to hear the faintest sounds of tiny hoofsteps galloping away from the room and down the hall.
"This blows."
Babs lay on top of Tangerine's bed, blowing her forelock our her eyes for tenth time since she got there for their crusaders meeting. "I haven't been able to come up with a single thing to crusade for ever since Trixie left! All I can think about is her and that dumb Moonlight mook who stole her from us!"
"It is rather depressing," Tangerine agreed. "I was at Cutup and Spec's fanclub meeting the other day. They could not even find an appropriate comic analogy for how unhappy they were."
The streetwise filly rolled over onto her stomach to better converse with her cousin. "You think they got it bad? Take a look at Firecracker over there, she's crushed!"
The two looked over to the corner, where their newest member, a thin legged, light orange unicorn with a slightly long horn sat huddled against a pair of teddy bears her size. They had met the filly at school a few weeks ago, and had almost given up trying to recruit her when she walked away without a word. It wasn't until they met again at one of Trixie's shows did they find out just how open she could be, and that she was an even bigger fan of her work than the comic reading duo. One thing led to another, and after helping them hunt down a rogue fire starting phoenix, it was clear she was crusader material. Of course, that was an entirely different story for another time.
"Poor girl hasn't said a peep in days. It's like a piece of her got ripped out or something! I've tried everything to perk her up, the pizza parlor, the sundae shop, half price day at the arcade, nuthin' works!"
"It did not cheer me up either," Tangerine reasoned.
Babs sighed. "Yeah, I guess youse right. But beans and cheese, there's gotta be something we can do ta get everypony outta this slump! I'm tried of being miserable and sulky!"
"I am sure if we all put our heads together, we can figure a way to return things to normal."
"Yeah? Well we better think of it soon, cause it's not like an idea's going to come barreling in the room or anything."
Just then, the door flew open and the Manehattan pegasus member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders came stumbling in. "Girls! You'll never guess what I just overheard in the living room!" Featherweight exclaimed.
"I have a possible pink poofy maned sugar loving cousin?" Tangerine asked.
"There's a lost kingdom that's just reappeared after a thousand year curse?" Babs guessed.
"No!" the camera wielding colt shook his head fervently. "The grown ups are all heading to Canterlot to rescue Trixie!"
Firecracker's head shot up, eyes wide and lit up.
"Really?" Tangerine asked. "That is wonderful news!"
"Yeah! I'll bet they'll give those no good noble punks the ol' one two and-"
"WE'RE GOING TOO!!"
The three of them jumped back at the sudden outburst of their unicorn friend, who was stuffing as many items and supplies as she could into her bulging saddlebags. "We're going to Canterlot too, and we're going to help them save the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
The foals were at a loss for a few moments there. Firecracker was never the idea pony nor the pointmare for any activity, even during their crusading. Babs however, soon mirrored Firecracker's gusto.
"Hey yeah! We could totally help 'em get Trixie away from those chumps, we may even get our cutie marks for pony rescuing!"
"That does sound like a wonderful cutie mark to get," Tangerine bubbled, now in full foal mode. "And even if we don't, I'll bet there's a ton of things over there to crusade for that we couldn't do here! Octavia's told me about so many amazing things ponies did there while she was growing up."
"Yeah, like...castle building!"
"Croquet playing!"
"Palace guarding!"
"Opera singing!"
"Uh, girls? Are you sure the grown ups are going to let us go with them to Canterlot?" Featherweight interrupted.
The four of them stopped and pondered for a moment.
"Oh yeah..." Babs muttered. "There's no way sis is going to let me go anywhere outta Manehattan without her, and she and mom are gonna be busy all weekend pruning."
"Mother has said I am not old enough yet to accompany her on any of her business trips," Tangerine added.
"I'm pretty sure my parents are going to say no too if we ask them," Featherweight agreed.
"Then we don't ask them!" Firecracker firmly stated. "We'll just go!"
Again, they were surprised how bold Firecracker was being. Then again, it was her lifetime hero and idol they were talking about here.
"Firecracker, you haven't been on as long as I have so you probably don't realize this yet but...things we don't ask the grown ups about, we usually get in trouble with afterwards."
The unicorn filly stared intensely at the pegasus colt and emphasized every word in her sentence. "We. are. going. to. Canterlot. to. save. the. Great. and. Powerful. Trixie. end. of. discussion."
Babs brushed her forelegs. "Okay, let's say we beg for forgiveness later. But then how're we gonna get all the way to Canterlot by ourselves?"
The unicorn pulled the crusaders together in a huddle. "Don't you worry, Babs. I already got a plan. It involves this trick I once saw the Great and Powerful Trixie do..."