//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Shadows of Canterlot 
// by Prane 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 2


The Royal Vault’s doors closed back with the emerald placed safely inside.
Trixie sighted with relief. She had nothing against Conclave assignments but delivering parcels was boring – not to mention it was way below her potential and interest. Now she will wait for another mission, hopefully an opportunity to amaze the world with her skills.
‘Thank you, Princess.’, Trixie said as Celestia has finished sealing the Vault.
‘Thank you for taking care of the fire in the Everfree Forest. If it weren’t for you, the whole region might have been put in jeopardy.’, replied the regal mare.
Trixie and Celestia went back through the long corridor decorated with stained glass.
‘Well of course I…’, azure mare hesitated as she spotted the picture of six ponies creating a bubble around a black, armored mare. One of them was strangely familiar. ‘I mean, Twilight Sparkle helped as well.’
‘She is a resourceful student. I heard you are quite talented, too.’
‘Yes, they say that.’, Trixie agreed, wondering if one can be banished for not being humble enough.
Celestia just smiled.
‘I think both of you could learn a lot from each other. You should visit Ponyville soon.’
Trixie didn’t know what to say. The village itself was a nice place to live, but how would the Ponyvillians react? They were probably still laughing at her failure with the Ursa. So showing up there would most likely lead to an embarrassment. And if they accepted her, rather than taunting, the embarrassment would be even greater.
‘Well, maybe… someday.’, Trixie answered.
‘I see.’, Celestia nodded then stopped. They were in the entry hall. ‘Please excuse me but I have other affairs to attend to. Rest assured that the gemstone is well guarded.’
‘Of course.’, Trixie bowed. ‘Princess.’
‘Have a pleasant day!’
Trixie went out of the Castle and headed towards the Promenade – Canterlot’s main street. It was a troubling matter that even Princess Celestia didn’t know anything about the emerald, but hay. It was a thing for the Council now.
It was around midday, so the Promenade was very lively and crowded. Some ponies were sitting in the expensive restaurants, discussing everything from the weather to philosophy, others were buying luxurious goods just for the sake of showing them off to their neighbors. There were also tourists visiting this jewel of Equestria and small fillies and colts playing around. They were all busy and had the most important, in their opinion, things to do. As did Trixie.
First, she visited Hoity Toity’s boutique. Well, it was actually Madame Marekin, Hoity Toity’s assistant who worked here as he was constantly away in a search of new designers. Trixie needed a new cape – her previous one was too torn after her last fight.
Madame Marekin was a pink, chubby pony with short white hair. Always greeting her customers with a smile, she offered a large variety of clothes for any occasion. Trixie wasn’t into fashion. Of course she understood that proper clothing make a good impression but she hated those very formal, extremely elegant garments. In fact, there were no formal attires around, only those casual.
‘Can you sew on some pale blue and yellow stars?’, Trixie asked as she chose a dark blue material.
‘Of course dear, but it will take a while’, answered Madame Marekin. ‘We have an awful lot of orders because of the upcoming gala at the Castle.’
So that’s why there is a shortage of elegant attires. They’re all sold out.
‘It will be ready in a few hours, come back in the late afternoon.’
Trixie was back in the streets, bought a few donuts – extra sprinkled – at Pony Joe’s, then went back to her suite in the Residential district. It was a quite comfortable and well furnished apartment. Conclave surely takes care of their agents’ needs.
‘What’s up furball?’, Trixie greeted the raccoon.
He didn’t seem amused.
‘Okay, I’m sorry.’, Trixie laughed. ‘Here, have a donut!’, she said sharing one of the baked rings.
While he was devouring the snack, Trixie approached the wardrobe. Some time has passed since she cleaned up and sorted her magic scrolls. Luckily, she had a simple system of cataloguing the spells. Some unicorns did it by the difficulty: easy, medium, hard. Others did by type: conjures, alterations, curses and so on and so forth.
Trixie had: “I already know that” type and “I don’t need it” type. Simple.
This time she knew exactly which spell she wants to practice. She took out the scroll from the second pile. It was a spell allowing instant travel over a short distance.
‘Now, for that teleportation spell…’, Trixie headed back to the table. Only raccoon’s tail was visible, the pet itself got into her bag again.
‘Hey! That’s my lunch!’, she shouted, saving the last donut just in time.
The raccoon was puzzled.
‘Of course I’m angry, you’re just… you’re just so...’, Trixie said but saw the raccoon lowered his head. ‘You’re just so adorably annoying.’
Little pet was apparently content as it grabbed the scroll and passed it over to Trixie. She immediately unrolled the parchment and began studying arcane symbols and inscriptions.
Unicorns were one of the few beings in Equestria capable of using magic. The process was quite simple. While casting spells, there were no incantations, no hoof waving and no external components, though they all helped, sometimes. It all began in a pony’s mind – imagining the effect of a spell, understanding how it will alter the reality and believing that the outcome is possible. When the image of a spell was clear, a certain amount of energy was needed to cast it. The energy itself was drawn from the users body – everyday tasks were simple and did not use much of a typical unicorn’s energy while complex spells were quite exhausting. The last thing involved in the magic was the unicorn’s most important attribute – the horn. It acted like a catalyst, helped in gathering enough magical energy to unleash it in the form of a spell.
‘Come on, Trixie… you want to be there. Not here, there!’, Trixie tried to concentrate.
While she was reading the scroll, some thoughts invaded her mind.
She was acting strangely over the last few days. It was definitely not Trixie’s usual behavior. First of all, why she accepted Moonwarden’s point of view about the night? He was right, a month ago she’d just criticize him.
‘Okay… it’s simple… appearing in another place…’, she tried to regain her focus.
Or today? Princess Celestia complimented her and her alone, yet Trixie felt that she should mention Twilight Sparkle. It was, after all, sharing her accomplishment with others – why do so?
‘Get out of my head, Sparkle…’, she murmured, then closed her eyes thinking about the other side of the room.
What has got into her? She never thought she’d think about friendship and accepting other ponies instead of mocking them, but look – she adopted a pet! That is definitely not the Trixie she knew. And it seems that this other Trixie couldn’t concentrate on her spell!
Light blue aura appeared around her horn, ready to reveal its outcome. Trixie thought of the place a few meters away and…
Nothing happened.
Well, that’s all. Trixie was still in the same spot. Teleportation spell didn’t work even though she gather enough willpower. It failed because she couldn’t fully concentrate.
‘I wonder if Twilight can-’
Why is she thinking about Twilight again? Why is she even thinking about somepony else? That all friendship babble has serious side effects.
‘That Sparkle… stop messing with my mind!’, Trixie said shaking her head.
She decided that she needs a place to rest. Not to rest physically – neither her muscles nor her hooves were overworked. Trixie needed a place to withdraw from her problems and let them drift away for a while. 
There was one place.


* * *


Trio of fillies entered the cave-like formation literally carved in the mountain Canterlot was built on. It was the rim of the city, slightly below the streets level. It was difficult to get there, most of the paths around Canterlot were blocked by waterfalls and of course there was no reason to have a convenient road here. What is more, there was absolutely no reason for anypony to venture here as it was quite possible to get into trouble.
‘That’s ah long way down.’, observed the yellow filly, stepping back from the ledge.
‘But the view is spectacular!’, yelled the orange Pegasus with excitement. ‘I can see Cloudsdale from here!’
‘You know we’re not supposed to be here, right?’, asked the unicorn filly.
‘We’re supposed to be back within the hour, just as Miss Cheerliee told us to. Look! There’s Ponyville!’, said the pegasus.‘ And what if our special talent is being in places we’re not supposed to be in?’
‘How does it fit for a cutie mark? It doesn’t make sense.’, marveled the earth pony.
‘Does so!’, opposed the pegasus.
‘Does not!’
‘Quiet you two! Somepony is coming!’
‘Quick, let’s hide behind those stalactites!’
‘These are called...’, started the unicorn but was immediately pulled by her friends.
The trio jumped and hid in the back.
They saw an azure mare entering the cave. She kept her head low, just as if there were matters troubling her greatly. She sat on the pile of rocks and just stared at something far away.
‘She seems sad.’, whispered the yellow filly.
‘Maybe she doesn’t have her cutie mark either.’
‘She has, look – it’s a… uhm… star-shaped wand surrounded by a sparkling mist?’
‘Why would anyone with a cutie mark be sad?’
‘I still think we should try tiger taming…’
Suddenly, a new voice interrupted the trio’s discussion.
‘You have something I want.’
The azure mare turned around.
‘Excuse me? Who do you think you are?’, she answered, annoyed that somepony intrudes her even here. Well, not just anypony.
He was a well-build stallion, an earth pony wearing a suit which covered his whole body including the face. There were some silver markings on his clothes, looking like vines or thorns.
‘I will not ask again.’, slowly said the stallion. ‘Give me the gem you recovered from the Everfree Forest. Or don’t. It will be more fun.’
‘You surely have the wrong address. I am…’, Trixie didn’t finished as the brown stallion charged at her.
The azure mare jumped back and used the magic to fire a set of blazing sparkles towards her opponent. He screamed but quickly recovered. Trying to hit Trixie, he came closer and punched with his hooves. Trixie barely avoided the attack, then used her magic again to rise some rocks from the ground and strike the mysterious assailant. He covered himself and tried to dodge the upcoming missiles. She ran towards him, he dashed back. Trixie was in advantage. Stallion galloped towards the wall, jumped and bounced back from the rocky surface, landing behind the mare. She immediately turned around but her adversary was faster. He stroke with his back hooves, dazing the mare for a while. The attacker grabbed her. 	As Trixie was struggling to free herself, both ponies rolled towards the ledge. In her last resort before the inevitable fall, she conjured a blinding flash, which confused her enemy. She hit him if the face to weaken the grab, then kicked him and let him disappear beyond the ledge. There was no way anypony could survive the fall.
‘Trixie is once again… triumphant!’, the azure mare said breathing heavily. She looked around but didn’t see any more hostiles, so she took the path back to the streets level.
After a while the hidden fillies went out of their hideout with their eyes and mouths widely open.
‘What was that… I don’t even…’, the little unicorn said.
‘She is super awesome!’, yelled the winged filly.
‘More awesome than Rainbow Dash?’, asked the yellow pony with a grin.
‘Well, no, but Dash is a pegasus and she is an unicorn. And she surely is the best unicorn around!’, shouted the orange pegasus. ’Come on Crusaders, we’ve got the name. Let’s find out more about this Trixie!’
And the trio went back to their teacher, taking one final look at the amazing view. There were more and more dark clouds coming from Cloudsdale’s weather factories, heralding the change of weather. Fillies wondered who can know something more about the azure mare. They also noticed that there is no cutie mark for watching pony combat from a concealed spot.