Twilight’s talent for story telling was, in Trixie’s professional opinion, a train wreck. Like a true academic, Twilight merely reported her findings and the process she’d used to arrive at her conclusions. It was not a terribly engaging story, but it was at least excruciatingly informative. Amidst the sea of seemingly endless detail, Trixie had to fight to keep herself from drowning, and retain something in the process.
At some point during the lecture, Trixie very briefly caught sight of Spike and Fluttershy. Spike took two steps into the room, took one look at Twilight, then he made an immediate about-face and marched right back out of the room. Fluttershy was one step behind him, but she was quickly, and quietly, ushered out.
It was a good thing Trixie already knew much of the general gist of the story, or she wouldn’t have been able to follow the events. Still, she had to conclude that Fluttershy was right. Talking to Twilight about this was enlightening.
Especially interesting was the part about Nightmare Moon’s destruction of the elements. Somehow the six of them had created new ones on the spot.
“So, that is what you meant before? When you told Trixie that the Elements of Harmony are inside you?” Trixie asked, looking down at a scroll with six illustrations of the new elements. Receiving a simple nod from Twilight in return, Trixie carried on. “Huh…Perhaps those shattered stone globes were never more than mere conduits in the first place, in which case, perhaps the same is true for the tiara and necklaces now?”
“Yes, that is possible. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to run any tests. For instance, it would be interesting to know if the physical representations are all that are needed to use the elements, or if the original bearer is the requirement.” Twilight flipped through the pages of her book. “It doesn’t look like anypony has ever tried to find out anything about it, or at least it is not written down,” she said with a note of disapproval. “Hay, nopony even knew what the sixth element was!”
Trixie perked up. “Are you sure about that?”
“Of course, listen…” Twilight dragged ‘The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide’ towards her, and read aloud. “There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery.”
“Trixie is not sure that is true. Doesn’t the story say that Princess Celestia used them to banish Princess Luna a thousand years ago? She must have known what the sixth element was. She seems to know a lot about them, actually…” The more Trixie thought on it, the stranger it became. Celestia knew what Twilight needed to bring out the elements, but withheld a lot of vital information. There never had been an official explanation for Celestia’s disappearance that fateful night.
“I… hadn’t thought about that,” Twilight mumbled while she stared down at the page. She looked as though she’d just discovered that putting two and two together produced three, and she had to make sense of it.
Staring at the suddenly silent Twilight, Trixie wished she hadn’t opened her big mouth. Oh no, this is something Trixie has to stay as far away from as possible. Trixie pulled the book away from Twilight, prompting her to remember Trixie’s existence.
“Hey!”
Trixie gave a disinterested shrug. “What? It’s obviously a thousand years out of date. Trixie is not surprised. The only two ponies that could have given any updated information were either on the moon, or had very painful associations with the elements. Of course they wouldn’t be available for interviews.” Trixie pushed the book back onto the shelf it came from. Which wasn’t hard, since it was the only one with any room on it. “So, that makes you the expert, and Trixie already knows you don’t know anything.”
“I don’t know anything?” Twilight asked incredulously. “Well excuse me for not having a comprehensive grasp of some practically mythical magic artifacts that I’ve spent barely ten minutes worth of time with!”
“Trixie is just saying it’s kind of a pattern. Elements of Harmony, dragons, weird spellbooks. You didn’t know more than a little bit about any of them, but you take those in stride.” Trixie threw her hooves up in the air. “But Trixie says she beat an Ursa Major, and all of a sudden you have to check every little detail.”
“What? That doesn’t logically follow, does it? Is that what this is about? You’re sore that I fact checked you? It’s not like I planned to bring it up.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “I only looked it up because you intrigued me. Shouldn’t you be happy you had such a big impact on your audience?”
“Oh, that is such, erm. That is so, ugh.” It was difficult to be a blowhard when somepony just took the wind out of her sails like that. So inconsiderate. Begrudgingly, Trixie folded her hooves over her chest, and looked off to the side. “T-that’s one way of looking at it… Trixie supposes… Did you really?”
“Of course. I said it before. Don’t you remember?”
It wasn’t really how Trixie had ever pictured influencing another pony. Her shows were definitely intended to inspire, but only awe and respect, not learning. “…Not so much. It’s all a bit blurry,” she lied. Even now, she could remember everything crystal clear. The shaking of the ground with each thunderous footstep, the deafening roars, the monstrous teeth… Trixie quickly shook her head, trying to ignore the cold chills that ran down her spine. “Yes, blurry… Probably due to the concussion. For the longest time, Trixie thought your name was Twilight ‘Sugarcube’.”
Twilight snerked, quickly raising a hoof to her mouth. “Sugarcube? I never took you for a country pony, Trixie.” She quickly tried to recover. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be laughing. You must’ve been hurt badly.”
“Please, as if something like that could ever be more than a minor inconvenience to The Great and Powerful Trixie.” She shook her head with a chuckle, then briefly looked toward the door Twilight had inadvertently pointed to a while ago. Presumably, her book was in that direction. “By the way, what did you mean before? When you said something was wrong with the spellbook?”
Twilight blushed with embarrassment. “Oh, erm, well… I, I guess I should apologize for that too. I kind of assumed that you already knew what was in it. Heh… So I didn’t go into detail. I’m sorry for accusing you like that, Trixie.”
“Trust Trixie, she is used to false accusations by now. It would be a nice chance for Trixie to actually know what is going on for a change.”
She cleared her throat, and went silent for a moment while she held a contemplative look. “It’s… difficult to explain. They are spell formulae, but nothing like I’ve seen before. It’s a bit like reading a book without vowels. Things that should be there, aren’t. It looks wrong, but it might actually work. I just… I can’t really think of why anypony would want to.”
Trixie tried to appear relaxed, by forcing herself to think about the last time she watched the sunset from Fluttershy’s bedroom window. It actually worked pretty well, as she found herself softly smiling. “You’re being vague again. Come on, you’re a smart unicorn, just say what you think.”
“Sorry. I suppose that, well… just keep in mind that this is only speculation, because its only showing part of the spells.”
“Understood. Spit it out already,” Trixie said impatiently.
Looking extremely uncomfortable, Twilight nearly whispered, “Well, uhm… I think… these spells, or well, at least some of these spells… are meant to hurt ponies…” A pale look of nausea clung to her face. “C-can you imagine? Magic isn’t meant to be used that way, but I think the author of the book disagrees.”
Trixie swallowed nervously. She finally found out how much Twilight knew, but just how much she could piece together from just fragments was frightening.
Catching on to Trixie’s reaction, Twilight quickly shook her head. “Ah! No, don’t worry, Trixie. It’s nothing like your show. You just roughed them up a little. I am talking about real harm, like… well, I don’t want to give any examples. It makes me feel queasy just having the book here, but tomorrow I’ll have Spike take it to the post office and send it to Princess Celestia. She’ll know how to break the illusion, and what to do about this.”
“S-send it tomorrow?” Trixie asked, pale faced.
“Honestly, I’d much rather have Spike send it by dragon flame. Just so this thing is out of my house by tonight. But, I don’t know what kind of reaction the book might have to that. For all I know it could self-destruct!” She paused briefly, with a look of shock on her face, then sheepishly added. “Erm, which I guess could have also happened while I was experimenting on it.”
There was no actual chance of that happening, but Trixie wasn’t about to tell Twilight that. “Yes, good idea.” At the very least that gave her a couple more hours to figure out something she could do about it. Other than engaging Twilight in mortal combat, and cement her place in history as worst pony ever. Like what? Ask her nicely to give it back when she’s done? Fool! If Celestia finds out Trixie has a book like that… She shivered, then noticed Twilight staring at her.
“Trixie? Hello? I asked, where should I say you found the book? Do you remember? The more details the better.” Twilight held a quill, posed to strike the parchment she was apparently using to document Trixie’s description.
“Uh, well, erm, you see… Trixie is not sure. When a pony travels as much as Trixie does, it is unfeasible to remember every little shop and merchant. Trixie’s selection of books tends to rotate, selling off old books to afford new ones, so there is no telling.” Trixie nodded, trying to keep a neutral face.
Unperturbed Twilight scribbled something down then looked up at Trixie again. “Alright, so what towns have you visited? Just a general list will do.”
Trixie felt sweat running down her forehead. “Uhm, it, uh, escapes Trixie right now.”
Twilight raised a brow, but remained pleasant. “…okay, how about a direction? Did you come from the west? East?”
Providing Twilight with a route she had traveled wasn’t something Trixie wanted to do. It was much too easy to track down her old life if she told the truth. She could lie. Of course she could. But, if she gave Twilight a false list than it would be trivial to ascertain she had not actually been to those towns. To start with, she was not exactly low profile at the best of times. On top of that, if she were asked even basic questions about any unknown towns it would be obvious she had not visited them.
“Trixie thinks it may help jog her memory if she sees the book.”
“Uhm.” Twilight sounded unsure for a moment, regarding Trixie quietly for a moment before she nodded. “Okay. Follow me.”
It was a relatively short trip. Trixie was proud to discover she had, for the most part, deduced the books location correctly. The one thing she had not counted on though was the underground cavern that was apparently passing for a basement.
Judging by all the strange technology, wires, blackboards, beakers, and suspiciously flammable looking liquids, Trixie concluded the basement had to function as some sort of laboratory. Part of her wondered if this was part of the original building, or if it was built specifically for Twilight.
Trixie’s eyes were drawn to the worktable pushed up against the far wall. ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ was laying right there in plain view. Funnily enough it was surrounded by several other books, propped open and displaying various different magical equations, presumably related to Twilight’s efforts for cracking the enchantment.
Well. That was easier than Trixie thought it would be. So this is where she’s keeping it.
Feigning a moment of clarity while she observed the cover, Trixie brought a hoof to her forehead. “Ah! Yes, of course! Trixie met a traveling merchant on the road west of Ponyville. He was really stingy and rude when Trixie asked to see his wares and… erm…” She looked up at Twilight uncertainly.
Shooting her a confused look, Twilight tilted her head. “What?”
Fighting to contain her grin, Trixie gave her a worried look. “Trixie, uh, may have helped herself to some compensation for his unacceptable behavior.“ As Twilight raised an eyebrow, Trixie defensively added. “He was charging way too much! It is not Trixie’s fault! So when he wasn’t looking Trixie pulled one of his books out of his bag. It wasn’t even worth it, because Trixie didn’t like it.” She huffed, as though blaming the merchant she stole it from for not telling her it was a boring story.
“I-I’m sorry what? Actually, you know what. Never mind. What did he look like?”
“Oh, uhm. A unicorn stallion with a brown coat, blond mane, green eyes. Trixie remembers pretty well because she remembers pitying him for being so generic.” She grinned sheepishly as Twilight simply stared at her. “What? He started it! Trixie was perfectly nice until she lost patience with him.”
“So you stole his book?!” Twilight blurted out, much louder than Trixie expected.
“Erm, yes. Though Trixie prefers to think of it as involuntary compensation.”
Composing herself, Twilight pressed a hoof against the bridge of her nose, carefully stroking away an impending headache. “You stole a book, most likely containing illegal spells, from what may or may not have been some kind of evil wizard? I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you might have actually lucked out when you just fell off the face of Equestria for two weeks after pulling a stunt like that.”
Before Trixie could reply, Twilight suddenly gasped and covered her mouth with her hooves. “Wait! That’s not why you were hurt, is it? Did you get attacked?!”
Oh, you don’t know the half of it. The alluring prospect of the look that would be on Twilight’s face if she told her about Rainbow Dash’s outburst was nearly tempting enough for Trixie to reveal how close Twilight actually was. Shaking with barely contained mirth, Trixie shook her head. “No, of course not.”
“Are you sure? I mean, well. What did happen?” Twilight stepped closer.
Trixie took a half step back. “A tree. Trixie was running in the dark and hit a tree.” She would have to remember to give herself a pat on the back later for just how many honest answers she was giving Twilight. She most certainly had done exactly that, it just wasn’t why she had a concussion… or maybe it had contributed. Huh, Trixie should consider that. It might make Dash feel less guilty.
Curiously, Twilight did not seem convinced. In fact, she looked terribly concerned. “A tree. Trixie, I, uhm… It’s not that I don’t believe that is what you remember. I do not think you are lying, but have you ever heard of memory spells? What if you were attacked and your attacker erased the deed from your mind after he realized you did not have his book at the time?”
Ugh, great. She rolled her eyes. “Trixie is quite sure nopony has been messing with her head.”
“So you wouldn’t object if we checked? I think I might be able—” She took another step closer.
A hot flash of anger coursed through her veins. Trixie snapped at Twilight “No!” It came out a lot harsher than she thought it would, causing Twilight to freeze. “Trixie is not consenting to letting you experiment on her! Have some sense of privacy will you?”
It slowly dawned on Trixie that, in her efforts to spin a story that would get her off the hook, she had made several claims that would raise alarm bells for anypony that considered memory spells a viable possibility. A uselessly generic description, an uncorroboratable and unreasonable explanation for her injuries, poor recollection of previously visited locations, and now refusal to allow examination.
Hm, Trixie might be able to use that for something? She could not think of any way that could be useful, which only left her to conclude she was being an idiot. Too caught up in her immediate needs to consider the consequences of what she was doing. That sounded awfully familiar.
“I, yes, sorry…” Twilight deflated and pinned her ears back. “Of course it is your choice. I was only worried you might be in trouble… I don’t really want to think about what would happen if the owner of this book caught you.”
Trixie stiffened, there it was again. “It, uh, it’s fine.” She tried to avoid looking directly at Twilight. “Well, when you put it like that… Good thing Trixie didn’t get caught then.” Her mind raced, looking for anything she could say to look somewhat less suspicious.
Twilight did not look the least bit reassured.
Just great. This wouldn’t have been a problem if she hadn’t just happened to be dealing with the one pony in Equestria that considered absolutely every obscure and next to impossible piece of magic to be just as likely to be in any unicorns arsenal as she would a basic levitation spell…
Wait, that’s it! For the briefest of moments, she felt a sly smile flash across her face before it was rapidly disguised as a mere weary smile.
Sighing softly, Trixie sat down on the floor, and motioned for Twilight to do the same. “Look. Trixie appreciates your concern. But you and Trixie both know that spells like that are incredibly complex. Not every unicorn is like you. Those are simply not spells that most unicorns could even think of doing.”
The embarrassed blush on Twilight’s face, accompanied by a hint of poorly disguised pity, told Trixie she was making some progress. Still, she retained a look of worry. “Well… but… even if it is rare—”
Trixie shook her head. “Why would any supposed ‘evil wizard’ go through the trouble? They wouldn’t, they’d have just killed Trixie.” She briefly glanced up the stairs, ensuring they were alone, then stared down at the floor. She kept her voice low. “It would’ve been easy… Trixie was hurt really badly. One more tap to the head would have done Trixie in. It makes no sense to assume somepony would beat Trixie to the brink of death, and then decide to go through all the trouble of changing her memory, before leaving her to die in a forest. Over a book.”
“I’m sorry.” The sympathetic look on Twilight’s face was surprising. “You’re right. Nopony would do… well… that… I hope.”
At the very least Trixie had thought Twilight would be skeptical of her story, but perhaps she knew more than she had been letting on. Trixie has to wonder if Dash or Flutters let something slip by accident, it wouldn't be the first time... Or perhaps Applejack? Dash did say that cowpony was bad at keeping secrets.
“Not without suffering the worst case of indecision Trixie has ever heard of at least.” She smirked, trying to lighten the mood somewhat. When that failed, she motioned back to the staircase. “Can we get out of here? That book is giving Trixie the creeps.”
“I agree, lets go.” Twilight lead the way back up the stairs, with Trixie close on her tail. “I think I have everything I need for a full report now. Let’s see if we can figure out what happened to Spike and Fluttershy.”
Weaving a web of lies was tiresome business. At least Trixie got a slight bit of catharsis out of the notion that she herself had now joined the apparently popular club of ponies accusing her of things she had not actually done.
The Great and Powerful Trixie. Wanted for fraud, reckless endangerment, assault, foalnapping, terrorism, witchcraft, and now... book theft.