//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Welcome to Frostglade // Story: The Mares of Many Hues // by Dusk-Spark //------------------------------// Tap tap tap Tik tok tik tok 'Were pocket watches always that loud?' For what must've been the dozenth time in the past 30 minutes alone, that one sentence ran through Trixie's head. But the pocket watch was merely a distraction, 'Focus on the letter!' Trixie's gaze was fixed on the white sheet of blank paper, the tapping of the quill and the ticking of the pocket watch were the only sounds that bounced off the walls of the wagon. It was a bit ironic; on stage, at the height of her popularity, in front of hundreds of ponies, she could perform feats of magic the likes of which few could ever hope to accomplish. Yet, here she was, utterly baffled by a blank sheet of paper. If she had been on stage, she would be (what her sisters would call) bombing. Trixie took a deep breath, "Focus, Trixie. Get it done and over with!" "Dear-" And that's where Trixie decided: "This is stupid!" Then immediately crumpled up the paper, opened the window, and tossed it out on the side of the road, not giving two turds about the fact that she was littering. Immediately after the deed was done, she felt something akin to regret somewhere inside her. 'Whatever.' She had no time to sort out her mixed feelings, since a yawn from the front of the carriage carried along on the cold morning breeze. Trixie trotted over to the front of the wagon, opened the windows, and looked down at Sunset (who paid her no mind). "Aren't you tired?" "Nope." Sunset immediately responded. For a unicorn and someone who clearly wasn't used to manual labor, she had managed to pull the wagon for quite a while without stopping. Trixie would've been impressed, but then Sunset followed up with: "If it means no more of your stupid shortcuts, I'll pull this cart to another continent." And that took away any chance of a compliment being thrown Sunset's way. Trixie groaned. "Are you still going on about that?" Of course Sunset had to bring that up, she'd only brought it up EVERY HOUR since they got past that whole incident.. "YES!" Sunset shouted in response! "How does the Great and Powerful Trixie, not know the difference between a turtle and a tortoise?!" Last night "I know a shortcut to Frostglade, she said. We'll be there in no time, she said. I'd be a fool not to take it!" Sunset complained while hanging upside down, trapped in a net of rope, suspended under a bridge. The only thing that kept her from falling into the abyss, to an early grave, was the bridge troll's fingers wrapped tightly around the the net's long rope. "Oh but Sunset, why haven't you just teleported out?" Sunset asked in a mockingly dismissive voice that was clearly meant to be Trixie. "BECAUSE THE NET IS LACED WITH LEECH SEED!" "If you're expecting an apology from the great and powerful Trixie, the frozen north will become a tropical paradise before that happens." Of course Trixie knew what Leech seed was. She'd studied it back when she attended Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, it was one of the few things worth remembering during her brief time studying at the massively overrated school of magic. Trixie shoved the memories of her time at school down into the depths of her subconsciousness, this was no time for a trip down memory lane. All Trixie needed to know was that: As long as Sunset was touching the Leech Seed laced net, her magic would be severely limited. Teleportation was out of the question for a unicorn as pathetic as Sunset Shimmer (of course, Trixie could've gotten out of it no problem). The bridge troll, a rather scrawny, hairy, disgusting, bipedal thing, cleared his (for it was certainly a male) throat to grab Trixie's attention. "If the two ponies are done with their bickering... you, blue pony. It looks like Ugoki has caught a rather big breakfast today! Lucky him, lucky him. Not so lucky for your pony friend, crossing Ugoki's bridge, there was a non-Ugoki bridge just down the road." The troll's butchering of language and constantly referring to himself in the 3rd person was starting to wear thin on Trixie's already stretched nerves. 'Seriously, what kind of self absorbed, egotistical, fool does that?!' Everything about this troll made Trixie want to throw them over the bridge (with or without Sunset). "Two things: One, she is no friend of Trixie's. Two, this can not possibly be your bridge!" His eyes widened and his mouth hung agape in shock! "Oh, not your friend? Guess you don't care what happens to her then?" He released one finger, the net swayed, causing Sunset to dip to one side! "TRIXIE!" "Okay fine, she's my... friend." Just saying that sentence made Trixie feel like she was swallowing a spoonful of bile. She was definitely going to need to wash her mouth out with soap later. The troll laughed in response, swinging the net around precariously as if threatening to drop it just because he felt like it. "Oh now she's your friend? Don't lie to Ugoki, he doesn't like being lied to!" At the drop of a hat, his carefree, sadistic persona did a complete 180! "And It is SO Ugoki's bridge! Look!" He pointed to a weather-worn sign by the end of the bridge closest to Trixie. The sign read: "By royal decree, the sole owner of this bridge is recognized as Trollbert of the Frozen North." And then what followed was a bunch of legalese that Trixie didn't give a crap about reading. 'Whose royal decree is that? There's no way it could be Princess Celestia's. The fool probably just made it up or-.' Trixie examined the sign once again, noticing a small detail that she'd missed earlier. "...That says Trollbert." Trixie pointed out, then a lightbulb went off in her head. "Wait, your name is Trollbert?" Trixie mocked, struggling to keep a straight face. For some reason, Trixie found the troll's real name to be absolutely hilarious. The troll growled, apparently not liking his birth name. "That's strike one!" He released another finger. "TRIXIE WILL YOU STOP ANTAGONIZING THE TROLL?!" "Okay fine!" Trixie covered her mouth to hide her smile, "W-what do you want?" "Trollber-- UGOKI, wishes to play a game you see, I want you to answer my questions three." He was clearly ripping that phrase off from a pony who was most likely far superior in intelligence, but Trixie couldn't be bothered to remember where the line originated. "Don't you mean riddles three?" "No, Ugoki meant strike 2." Just one finger left. "TRIXIE I SWEAR TO FAUST, IF I DIE, I WILL SPEND ALL OF ETERNITY HAUNTING YOU!" Sunset said while clinging to the net for dear life, as if that would help at all. It took every bit of Trixie's boundless willpower to not respond, and Trixie wouldn't be exaggerating if she called it a Hercu-ponian task. Trixie may not have been particularly fond of Sunset, but she wasn't a heartless monster! "Okay... fine. The great and powerful Trixie will answer your questions." "Now, question 1!" He paused for dramatic effect, probably hearing a drum roll somewhere in his demented mind. "A turtle favors the land! True or false." 'What kind of question is that?' The answer was so obvious, it hurt Trixie's massive intellect! Trixie opened her mouth, this was gonna be easier than she thought! -Present time- "IT WAS A TRICK QUESTION! HOW DID YOU NOT KNOW THAT?!" In Trixie's defense, she'd always thought it was a dialect thing, she didn't know they were two different animals. She wasn't a damn veterinarian, why couldn't Sunset just let it go?! "Trixie got us out, didn't she?" She proudly proclaimed. Sunset groaned in response. "You challenged him to a rematch, picked up a rock, then knocked him out while his back was turned. Then we ran like hell, got lost, chased through the forest, and then we had to hit him in the face with a tree." "Exactly as Trixie planned!" It totally was, and Trixie will fight any pony to the death if they dare think that the great and powerful Trixie would ever panic in any situation, and be forced to think on her hooves! Before Trixie could go on and bask in her brilliance for another few hours, she noticed a partially snow covered sign with a frame made of stone and bricks, on the side of the road. When Sunset ground the wagon to a halt, Trixie jumped off and took a closer look. 'Can it be...' She wiped away the snow covering the writing on the sign... Welcome to Frostglade 10 miles north In Trixie's youth, she had gotten quite enamored with the world of literature. Trixie could honestly say, that it was because of this fascination with the tales of great ponies, that she could play to a crowd's sense of wonder. She'd learned quite a bit from those dusty old books sitting in her 2nd eldest sister's mini-library. So, it was only natural that Trixie had several different ways to describe the Town of Frostglade: "It was a beautiful, peaceful town wrapped up in a blanket of snow." Would be her favorite way to describe the town. It was midday when Trixie and Sunset rolled into Frostglade, they were greeted by a very kind, jade coated pony, who Trixie assumed was something akin to a welcoming committee. That was half true, the mare WAS part of a welcoming committee, but she was also part of the town's guards against whatever monsters inhabited the Frozen North and the occasional criminal type. The mare was probably one of the friendliest ponies Trixie had ever met, but she also mentioned that if they made trouble she'd knock Trixie's flank up one end of the mountain and down the other. Trixie wasn't sure if she was joking or not, but regardless, Trixie had no intention of making trouble. They were just here to drag a certain mare back to Equestria. Trixie got a whiff of what smelled like fresh bread straight out of an oven, the smell led her muzzle to the window of what appeared to be a bakery. She looked through the window and saw the baker merrily having a conversation with another pony who Trixie assumed was their special somepony (how Trixie knew? Mare's intuition). From the conversation of the baker and their friend, from the guard's welcoming nature, to the foals building their snow ponies and having their snow battles, Trixie couldn't help but a get a sense that the residents truly enjoyed the peace there. To Trixie, it was just a frozen wasteland far removed from the civilized society of Manehattan or Canterlot, to them it was a quiet little town where they lived. Trixie and Sunset asked around town for the whereabouts of Twilight Sparkle or this clinic, after a bit of walking and clearing out rats from the resident's basements; for some reason, certain ponies wouldn't tell Trixie what they knew until she did a favor for them. While it didn't take the pair long to find the clinic, it could've been a lot easier (Trixie was thinking about retaking her earlier comments on the resident's friendliness and replacing it with: lazy jerks). It was a sturdy looking establishment, two floors, very nice wood exterior. Trixie briefly wondered if the townsfolk were ever concerned about a possible avalanche considering how close they lived to a sky-impaling mountain? The clinic looked as though it could survive, not just an avalanche, but a megaspell explosion. Trixie had no idea what a megaspell explosion was, but she felt like it would be something really, really destructive. "Well, here it is!" Sunset announced in a joyous tone Trixie had not heard since... well... ever. Sunset stopped just short of knocking on the door, "...If this turns out to have been a wild goose chase, I'm going to turn the Frozen North into a puddle." Sunset was probably exaggerating. . . . . . Then again, Sunset Shimmer was a stupid, violent, lunatic. At least Trixie's time with the psychopath was nearing its end, then they could split up and never, ever, ever have to speak to each other again. "For once, Trixie shares your sentiments. If someone asks the Great and Powerful Trixie for another favor, she can't be held responsible for her actions!" Sunset knocked on the door several times. Several seconds later, "Coming." A familiar voice called to them from inside. The door slowly swung open to reveal a mulberry coated unicorn mare, with a dark blue mane and a pink and purple streak in her mane and tail. "Yes? Can I help you?" Trixie's eye twitched. 'That's all you have to say? Trixie just trekked through this snow covered wasteland for months, and all you have to say is: "Can I help you?" Wait a second, what?' Why was that all Twilight had to say? Trixie narrowed her eyes, noting down several details about Twilight: -The raised brow indicating confusion -The shape of the mouth and the angle of the ears indicating discomfort -The closed body language indicating unfamiliarity with Sunset and Trixie It all started to click in Trixie's brilliant mind. However, before Trixie could say anything, Sunset spoke first. "Hi there," the tone and body language was so unlike Sunset; warm and inviting rather than Sunset's usual cold and hostile exterior, "I'm Sunset Shimmer, this is Trixie Lulamoon." "...Hello?" She greeted nervously, she raised her hoof halfway but seemed to decide against the gesture. "And your name would be..." "Twilight... Sparkle?" She answered hesitantly. Her body language and the way she constantly looked back into the clinic further cemented the evidence that Twilight was uncomfortable with Trixie and Sunset. "A-Are you two sick or injured?" Sunset pulled off Trixie's hat (an action that Trixie did NOT appreciate), "Well, this hamster might have an abnormal growth hormone." She said while levitating Ser Whiskers III off of Trixie's head. "I think I might also be sick of her." Sunset points to Trixie with her hoof. "Does that count?" Twilight nervously laughed, "Er... no. And, I don't think anyone here is a veterinarian." Twilight moved in a bit closer to look at the abnormally large... hamster. "Are you sure this is a hamster?" Twilight asked while pointing a hoof to the hamster's bushy tail. Before that conversation could go any further, "Twilight~" A warm, motherly voice called out from floor above them. "Who's at the door?" "Um, two unicorn mares. One's azure and the other's amber, I'm pretty sure they're from out of town, were you or Xira expecting company today?" "Not that I'm aware of. Any o' them sick or injured?" "Their hamster might have an abnormal growth hormone?" "We ain't a vet, hon. Send 'em down to Jira's place." Twilight turned back to Trixie and Sunset, "Jira's the local vet, their clinic is right down the block, and keep going down and you'll eventually find an inn to rest in." Twilight looked past them, to their wagon. "Unless... you were planning to sleep in there. It gets pretty cold up here, I wouldn't recommend it or-" "Thank you!" Sunset interrupted, turning on her heel and then dragging Trixie by the tail before Trixie could open her mouth. "Well that was fun." Sunset's sarcasm meter might've broken with that comment. The two mares retreated into Trixie's wagon, and Trixie just sat in the corner, feeding her hamsters. They looked quite cute as they nibbled on the small treats Trixie held with her telekinesis, it was all she could do to keep her mind off Twilight Sparkle. . . . . . . . And that was a losing battle. "She doesn't remember Trixie? How could she forgot THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE?!" For some odd reason, that even Trixie wasn't entirely aware of, she felt insulted by Twilight being unable to recognize the great and powerful Trixie! It was a feeling akin to having someone steal the wheels off Trixie's wagon (AGAIN)! 'Also, she insulted my wagon! HOW DARE SHE INSULT MY WAGON!' "She doesn't remember me either." Sunset put her hoof up to her chin, "that means one of three things. One, She took a blow to the head and her memories are scattered. Two, we have the wrong mare. Three, she's faking it." Trixie's memories were still fresh: if the uncanny resemblance wasn't enough, the wings and horns certainly were. 'Alicorns are not born, they are made. There's no doubt, that mare is Twilight Sparkle!' The red eyes flashed in Trixie's memories. Trixie glanced over to the picture of Twilight Sparkle on the wall. Sunset got sick of Trixie asking for one of the photos when they went out gathering information, so (against Trixie's will) they nailed one of them to the wall so they could commit her appearance to memory (the rest were either in Sunset's cloak or in a locked box that Sunset had the key for). 'Violet? But that's impossible...' Everything other than the eyes were a spot on resemblance, so why were the eyes a different color? 'Whatever.' Trixie would have to put a pin in that, and deal with it later. "Well, why not just tell her the truth?" Sunset looked at Trixie as if she'd said the stupidest thing ever (or just anything in general), "You're a showmare, and you've called yourself a genius on more than one occasion. You tell me how anypony would respond to a pair of unicorns from out of town telling them that they're some kind of missing princess from a land far away, and that they have to go right away to fulfill their responsibilities?" "..." When Sunset put it like that, Trixie could see her point. 'If it were me, I'd have jumped at the possibility.' Trixie thought. "Did you not bring any proof before you went on this crazy quest? Why not just use the pictures?" A picture spoke a thousand words. "She might just say the pictures are forged, I can't rely on them completely. I did take a few things I thought might be useful, but I need to think about how I'm going to use any of it." Sunset sighed and quickened her back and pacing, "I hate diplomacy! I wish we could just... knock her out and drag her back to Canterlot. Let them sort it all out, cause I am sick of having to fight snow monsters every other night!" 'Knock out...' It was as if a light bulb turned on in Trixie's head. She had an idea, it wouldn't help with whatever's going on with Twilight's head, but it might help Trixie open up the door to that clinic and have some time to sit down and talk about things. Trixie got up and walked over to her chest of props. Meanwhile, Sunset was going off on a long rant about... a plan or something, who cared! Trixie certainly didn't, she tended to tune out most of what Sunset said anyways. 'Stupid Sunbutt.' Trixie already had a plan, and it all started with something in the chest. The fancy, mahogany chest was made by Trixie's-- someone from Trixie's past! Because of Trixie's occupation, it wasn't uncommon for travelers, to leave their wagons unattended, and then find scavengers raiding it for supplies. Trixie once traveled with a small troupe who routinely had that happen in some of the less than reputable venues. Trixie's chest of props held many magical and expensive treasures, it would be a DISASTER if any of them were to be stolen and sold to some unscrupulous shop... or a newspaper. She opened up the secret compartment inside her chest, disabling the defense mechanisms and pulling out what appeared to be a pretty blue flower with orange tipped petals. Now it was time to begin step one... "Uh-huh, great, whatever." Trixie interrupted Sunset's rant. "Trixie has a plan, and it involves this flower." Trixie thrust the flower towards Sunset, stopping just short of hitting her in the face. "Sorry, it's rather cramped in here." Sunset sniffed, her eye twitched at the pungent scent. Good, the chain reaction was starting up. Sunset stared at the flower, the look of confusion on her face brought joy to Trixie's heart. "You have a plan, huh?" "Yep." "And it starts with... whatever the hell this is?" "Yes, it starts with a flower." Sunset glared at her, "What," she yawned in the middle of her sentence, "What... kind of flower..." Her eyelids slowly started to droop as her sentence trailed off. Trixie said nothing more, she just continued to hold the flower in place. "And 3, 2, 1." Thud! On cue, Sunset toppled over. From the steady breathing, it was clear that Sunset was out like a light. "Works every time." Rather, it's only worked twice since Trixie set it up: once on an actual intruder, and once on Trixie herself when she came home drunk. 'I should restock when I get back to Equestria.' Trixie put the little flower back in its container in the chest. She turned to her hamsters, who casually watched the whole incident go down. She levitated her hat off her head and pointed up, "Come on troupe." Trixie let her little rodent companions climb up to her head in order for them to take their places under her hat, while Trixie hoisted Sunset's unconscious body over her back. All the while, Trixie had the biggest grin on her face. "Time for a performance." Trixie stopped just short of knocking on the door. She cleared her throat, and took several deep breaths, she needed to get into the role, to make this convincing! There was no reason for Trixie to start getting stage fright, it was just another one of her performances. 'No reason to get nervous, Trixie, you've done this a million times. You can do this now!' "Don't just read the lines, be the character. Under the spotlight, you are not Trixie the unicorn, you are the character you choose to be." The words of Trixie's playwright sister rang in her ears, a piece of advice she'd learned long before her traveling magician days. While Trixie did not have the best of relationships with her family, the lessons she'd learned in her youth continued to serve her well into adulthood (though she hated to admit it). "Show time." Trixie frantically knocked on the clinic's front door! "Coming!" Twilight's voice urgently called from inside once again. 'Cue the scene...' Trixie contorted her face into one of desperate worry. The door flung open to reveal Twilight Sparkle, then the expression on Twilight's face went from concerned, to neutral, to mildly confused at the sight of Trixie standing outside. "You again? Did you get lost or-" "Doc, please! You have to help my friend, she collapsed outside!" Trixie feigned concern for Sunset. If this were one of Trixie's old Oubliettes and Ogres campaigns, she'd have rolled a natural 20 to bluff. Of course, if this were one of Trixie's campaign with her many friends (and not just playing by herself), her natural 20 would've backfired and ended up convincing TRIXIE of her own lie! Her character would then honestly believe that her friend was deathly ill and then spend the rest of her life by her bedside, waiting for her to recover. Trixie's character's whole life would pass by and they'd have squandered it, waiting for a pony who'd never wake up. It was rather tragic, really. . . . . . . Good thing this wasn't one of her O&O campaigns. Twilight took one look at the unconscious Sunset on Trixie's back, as if she was trying to roll for sense motive. "Hmmm..." She sighed in defeat and stepped aside, "Come in, we'll take a look at her." Apparently, Twilight was terrible at O&O, or maybe she just had cursed dice? 'Enough with the O&O references!' Trixie stepped inside, desperately fighting back the urge to break out into her standard victory dance at her perfect performance. 'You nailed it, Trixie! But the show's not over yet!' "Kira, we've got a patient! I'm taking them to room 01!" Twilight called out while leading Trixie through the foyer to room 01. "Are they the same crazy unicorns?" "Yes, Kira!" "Did ya take their coats?" "They don't have coats, Kira." Twilight watched a quartet of hamsters jumped out from under Trixie's hat and then scurried across the hardwood floor to parts unknown. "Also, the azure one brought hamsters. And I think they went into the kitchen." ".....Twilight. Don't take their coats." They put Sunset down on one of the many empty beds in room 01. "Okay, Kira's the local physician on duty right now. She should be down in a minute to-- why are you staring at me?" "Shh, shh, shhhhh..." Trixie locked eyes with Twilight, staring intently into them, as if she was trying to unravel some web of lies that Twilight had made up. '...She's not lying. There's no way Sparkle can pull off a performance that could almost rival my own! She probably doesn't even play O&O, if she did there's no way she'd have put any points into bluff.' Trixie sighed. "You really don't remember the great and powerful Trixie, do you?" "I don't." Twilight looked Trixie up and down, "It'd be hard to forget someone who... stands out like you do." Twilight's suspicious glance changed several seconds later; her eyes started to widen and she looked as though she was halfway into a gasp, as if something had finally registered in that brain of hers. "Wait, do you know who I am?" Trixie nodded in response, "Trixie has indeed met you before in her many travels." Some little voice in Trixie's head told her that it was best to leave out the details of their meetings. Before Twilight could say anything anything else, a patch-cloaked zebra stood in the doorway. Before she could say anything, her eyes locked onto Trixie, and then onto Sunset in the clinic bed. "Figures. I leave for 10 minutes and we get patients, who are they? They're not with those pushy sales ponies from yesterday, are they?" Twilight's line of sight drifted to the ceiling, "I don't think so? They do have a wagon but I don't really-" "Cause if they are, I think I was very clear about where they can stick their amazing deals." "Trixie is no common salespony!" She shot back! "Trixie is just a wandering magician of great renown, who just happened to pick up this short-fused, violent, psychopath months ago, and we came all the way up here to-" "Hey there! What's all the commotion about?" A gryphon, carrying a red medical bag around her neck, had entered the room. If a minotaur or Santa Hooves were to show up next, Trixie was going to assume that this was all one big dream (then she would form a bust of Trixie and then use it to beat Maybe-Sparkle's head in). The gryphon greeted Trixie with a casual, friendly wave from the doorway, "My name's Kira, I'm the resident doctor in this town. I see you've met Twilight, our new nurse. And Xira, my partner in crime." "Oh you're the resident doctor now?" Xira quipped. "So, what's the story with her?" Xira asked while pointing to the unconscious, groaning, Sunset Shimmer. "She didn't stop by Razor's diner did she? I thought we dealt with that contaminated food issue two days ago?" Whoever Razor was, Trixie would never figure out, nor did she really care all that much to go searching for information about a commoner who probably wasn't worth Trixie's time and energy. "According to this mare, her friend-" Trixie scoffed at Twilight's assumptions that Trixie and Sunset were friends. 'As if the great and powerful Trixie would be caught dead socializing with such riffraff as this.' Trixie ignored the fact that she'd been traveling with said riffraff for months now; it was totally different though! "...Suddenly collapsed. It could be due to exhaustion or maybe she's sick? She seemed fine when I talked to her outside. Then again, I've read that some ponies don't even know they're sick until they collapse." Kira set the red medical bag down on the table by the bed, "Uh-huh..." From inside the bag, she pulled out a small, talon-held, light. She leaned over to Sunset, and then proceeded to examine Sunset's unconscious form for several minutes. "Hm?" She seemed to notice something around Sunset's muzzle. "Well, ain't that interesting." She took out a cotton swab from a set in the bag, and then stuck it up Sunset's nose, she pulled it out after several seconds. It came back... well... not in a color that most ponies would expect of snot: It was blue and orange, in addition there were yellow spores attached to the cotton swab. "What the hay is that?" Twilight asked, taking two steps away from Kira and the cotton swab. Trixie saw her nervously eying a square, white case nailed to the wall with a big, yellow and black bio-hazard sign printed on the front. "These are spores, but not just any ol' spores," she said while pulling out a sealable storage container from the bag, "these particular spores comes from a pretty lil' flower called Noxium." She carefully inserted the cotton swab into the container. "It's a flower that causes near instant knock out. It's pretty much harmless in small doses, I hear some pharmaceuticals use it as an ingredient in sleeping pills or something. The good news: she should recover on her own in a few hours." Xira chimed in at last. "Or ya could just give her one of your potions." Xira raised her brow and frowned. "Oh, just because I'm a zebra, that means I'm a potions master? I suppose you'll want me to start rhyming in cryptic metaphors too?" "So ya don't have any potions that can help us?" "...." Xira just sighed, left the room, and then came back shortly afterwards carrying a little case (which had another bio-hazard sign printed on the front). She set it down on a different table, then pulled out a green vial with a big red warning message displayed prominently on the vial (which Trixie couldn't read from that distance). "Just pop the cap, and hold it under nose." She said while passing the potion to Twilight. Using her telekinetic grip, Twilight popped open the cap, groaned at the foul smelling vapor coming from the vial's contents. She then did as Xira instructed and hung it under Sunset's nose. "Careful not to drop it Twilight. I really don't want to have to section off this part of the clinic and then spend weeks decontaminating the room." Sunset's nose twitched. Once. Twice. Three times. Then her eyes immediately shot open! "SWEET F**KING CHRIST AND FAUST IN EQUESTRIA, WHAT IN THE MANY CIRCLES OF HELL IS THAT?! IT SMELLS LIKE RANCID GARBAGE TOOK A BATH OF FECES!" Sunset was fully awake now and flailing around like a mad pony! "Just be glad you don't have to drink it." Trixie said while Twilight put the cap back on the vial. Xira looked to Trixie and Sunset. Then, once Sunset had finally stopped squirming, she separated her friends and the two mares she'd just met. "So, why are you two here? That plant isn't native to this part of the world. My guess would be someone must've poisoned you or-" "I think they know me." Twilight Sparkle cut into the conversation after securing the vial back in Xira's potion kit. It was about time Twilight remembered that; they were just about to have that conversation before... they were interrupted. Still, Trixie would count this as a victory. Kira looked as though her jaw was about to hit the floor, "Wh-what, really? That's wonderful! Wait, ya sure this ain't a scam or somethin'? Those sales ponies were pretty aggressive in their stories and they had a catchy tune, how do we know this ain't some kind of ploy to... get us to buy somethin' stupid or whatnot?" Trixie's horn sparked to life, at once everyone other than Sunset tensed up! "Relax." Trixie could feel their tension, "Trixie is just gonna get something out of her cloak." She spoke very clearly, and very slowly as she pulled out what appeared to be a photo from one of her many interior cloak pockets. She then levitated it over to the trio... "This is... a photo of me?" Twilight Sparkle asked in disbelief. Sunset cleared her throat, once she got her wits about her, "Her name is Twilight Sparkle, she was born in Canterlot, she was the princess's personal apprentice, she's also the holder of the Element of Magic, she's the newest princess, and half of Equestria is trying to bring her back home." Twilight's mouth hung open, she was left completely speechless at the sudden declaration. Trixie sighed, realizing that this was not gonna be easy. "You might want to sit down for this." Meanwhile, Sunset dry heaved over the bed. "Will someone get her a bin before she embarrasses herself by losing her breakfast." "Up yours, Trixie!" Then she lost it.