One Night Standoff
Techorse series: #9
By Spirals95
Ponyville was never a place known for rejecting newcomers. It welcomed each visitor with a smile and a tour if you happened upon the right pony. This was well understood by the residents, any pony looking for a place to stay in Ponyville even for a few hours was to be treated as if a best friend. But sometimes a pony or other sapient creature developed a bad reputation in the town and was ignored or pushed out by the residents. The mayor certainly didn't approve of this behavior of the ponies she represented, but knew that keeping the troublemakers out of the town would overall improve life for the citizens, and so rarely said anything about it.
There were often times when these known "undesirables" would come through town seeking a place to spend the night. Many ponies shut the door on them, not wanting anything to do with these folks. But one pony and his friends always left a room open in his residence in case someone needed refuge. His name was Techorse, and he lived in the small sized castle on the edge of town, more of a fortress that was closer to the mountain ranges than the Everfree forest. The inventor, having some wealth but wishing to always do good things with what he had, provided shelter for travelers and guests no matter who they were. Ponies left and right warned the boy that he was setting himself up to be robbed, or worse. But Techorse ignored them with a smile, and welcomed anyone into his home with open mechanical arms. In his mind, it was unjust to not provide shelter to ponies in need, even if you didn't like them. Being the element of Justice, Techorse made sure to treat all ponies equally and fairly, not showing favor based on merit. One spring day in Ponyville would teach the colt the importance of choosing carefully who you entertain.
"Hey PAL, I'm going out into the woods for mushrooms. You want to come?" called the inventor with cheer in his voice.
The metal humanoid robot replied from down the hallway, "No thank you, master. I'd like to catch up on my cataloguing of the castle library. Have a good time though, and don't eat any of those mushrooms until you check them out back here. The last thing we need tonight is for you to have your stomach pumped by nurse Redheart!"
The green coated pony rolled his blue eyes and shook his head. Despite having built and programmed the robot, it frequently treated him like an idiot. Techorse thought deeply, causing the mechanical arms to snake out of the robotic saddle he was wearing on his back. The hands grasped a wooden basket in front of him, and he carried it out the back door of his castle. As the rear entrance door closed behind him, Techorse stared out into the depths of the woods. The sun had just started to set over the town, and the shadows of the trees began to lengthen. The male brought the basket closer to him and began his walk into the forest, making his way towards the spot he knew the mushrooms grew.
Techorse reached the area he had in mind and set the basket down in the soft green grass. The trees of the woods opened up at this point to reveal a round lake. The lake's water was crystal clear, and Techorse could see the occasional fish jump out of the water to snatch an insect. The pony made his way to a log sticking out of the water, where he found several different-colored mushrooms. Having studied a book beforehand, Techorse was able to identify which ones were safe and which were poisonous just by looking at them. The more colorful mushrooms were usually the ones filled with either toxins or hallucinogens, so he simply avoided even touching them. Using his thin robotic arms carefully, he plucked the brown-colored mushrooms and dropped them in the wooden basket next to him. The rotten wood provided a good amount of nutrition to the fungi he was picking, and the large caps filled the basket rather quickly. Techorse continued to work on his project until he heard a sobbing noise.
Some ponies may have kept on going without bothering to pay attention, but Techorse knew he couldn't simply leave a miserable being alone without at least talking to them. The colt stopped picking the mushrooms and retracted the metal arms back into the gray saddle on his back. Looking around, he spotted a mare at the edge of the opposite side of the lake. Techorse walked around the lake as quietly and as carefully as he could so as not to attract attention. When he got to the other side, he peered from around a boulder and looked closely at the sad one. It was a dark-bluish unicorn mare with a white mane looking down at her reflection in the lake. She was trying to avoid crying, but occasionally a tear would fall into the water, breaking her image with ripples periodically. The mare wore a magician's hat with white stars on it, and a cape with a similarly star shaped buckle.
Techorse wondered why a mare dressed like a mage would be so miserable, so he called out to her gently, "What's wrong?"
The mare looked up at him, dried her eyes quickly with a hoof, and then turned to face away. The inventor moved closer to her and sat down beside her, trying to get the girl to make eye contact with him.
"Come on, you can tell me what's wrong." He said, encouraging her to give the reason for her sadness. Techorse received no response from her, so he asked, "Can you at least tell me your name?"
"Trixie." she responded with a sniff.
"That name's familiar. My name's Techorse." He said slightly awkwardly. In truth, he had no idea who she was, but figured at least pretending to have heard of her would boost her ego high enough to get her to stop crying.
"I was once the Great and Powerful Trixie!" she continued, "But I was chased from Ponyville after I made a dreadful mistake. I wish to return, but I can't. They will not let me, Techorse!"
"Why not?" he asked, confused as to why she was banned from town.
"The mistake that I, Trixie, have made was so dreadful that they would try to hurt me if they ever saw me again. The name Trixie is cursed in Ponyville." She said before promptly bursting into tears again.
"What did you do?" came another question from Techorse.
Trixie dried her eyes again and muttered, "I put on magic shows for Ponyville, and they all loved me. But one day I made a claim that I could defeat an Ursa Major in one blow. Some foals brought a real one to town, and once it was defeated, I was blamed for all the trouble. Now all the towns refuse to have me there, because they're afraid I will cause the same thing to happen again!"
Techorse had heard stories about a gigantic bear attacking Ponyville and remembered that Twilight had lulled it to sleep. This event had occurred months before he had arrived in Ponyville. However, based on the low amount of damage the monster had caused, Techorse couldn't believe that the residents of Ponyville were mean enough to want to beat up Trixie for it showing up in town.
"Trixie, I can get your name cleared in Ponyville again." said Techorse, smiling.
"Really? You have that kind of influence?" she asked with a hint of joy in her speech.
"Hey, I do live in that castle back there." Bragged Techorse, "The ponies here tend to listen to me."
Trixie's eyes widened, "That's your castle? You must be the prince of Ponyville! Oh thank you, a pony who finally understands Trixie for who she is!"
Techorse laughed knowing he had taken his showing off too far, "No, I'm not royalty. But I can still help you out. Want to spend the night at the castle while I sort things out for you?"
Trixie smiled and stood up with him. She regained her confidence and said, "The Great and Powerful Trixie would love to!"
Techorse took her back to the castle's rear door and opened it with a combination pad to the side. The wooden door rose quietly, and the two walked into the castle with smiles on their faces.
"You have such a beautiful home!" complimented Trixie as she looked at the paintings and electric lights which filled the castle with a welcoming atmosphere.
"Thanks Trixie." He replied. After a short pause he added, "Hey, you know what? I spend so much time with unicorns that use real spells, that I haven't seen magic tricks in a long time. Want to show me some after dinner?" Techorse smiled when he saw Trixie nod.
They rounded the corner ahead and walked towards the dining hall. As they strolled down the stone floor, PAL came around from the end of the hallway they were walking through and intercepted them. Trixie half hid behind Techorse as the large machine towered above them. She relaxed when the robot's kind and friendly voice failed to match his big and scary appearance.
"Welcome back Master, did you get the mushrooms?" he asked with a grin.
Techorse slapped his face with a hoof, "Dang, I left the basket back in the woods! Sorry buddy."
The robot shut his eyes and waved a hand, "Forget about it master, there's plenty of mushrooms in the pantry to use for the stew tonight." PAL finally took notice of Trixie when he opened his eyes and asked, "And who might you be, miss?"
Techorse pushed Trixie from behind him and moved her in front of PAL. He said to his robot butler, "This is Trixie, PAL. I found her in the woods today. She's in trouble with the residents here in Ponyville, and tomorrow morning I'm going to make sure her name gets cleared."
PAL crossed his arms and said, "I can't believe the citizens of this town would be so rude as to banish such a beautiful pony. What, with that cute outfit and all."
"I'm a magician." said Trixie. She fluffed her cape out a bit as she became comfortable with the robot's presence.
"Finally!" shouted PAL, "A unicorn who does magic tricks rather than spells. Can you show me some tricks?"
Techorse heard his own voice in the machine, and said to him, "That's exactly what I was thinking, and she promised to show us some after dinner. Can you make us something now?"
"Of course!" said the machine, giving a salute, "The stew will be right up."
PAL made the two a large hearty stew made from previously collected mushrooms, potatoes, and artisan cheeses made in town. The thick brown liquid had just the right amount of salt and flavoring to it, as PAL's robotic mind let him judge the measurements perfectly every time. Techorse finished his bowl of stew as fast as possible in order to watch Trixie eat. He wanted to make sure that she got a warm meal in her so that she would feel good about herself. Although he had just met Trixie, he saw helping other ponies as his duty to society due to his success in the business world.
Once the mare had finished her dinner, Techorse asked, "Well, what do you think of the stew?"
Trixie swallowed the last bit of the mixture and said, "It's wonderful. That steel golem of yours is quite the chef."
Techorse laughed and said, "That's a common misconception about PAL. You see, he's not a golem, he's a robot!"
"What's that?" she asked, giving him a puzzled look.
"A robot is large machine built from different parts, which must be programmed to do what you want it to. Except that I chose to let PAL program himself by taking in information, so that he can be alive like you and me!" he explained cheerfully, loving to talk about his inventions.
"What's programming?" asked Trixie, still not understanding.
Techorse said to her, "It's sort of like writing a book of instructions for a robot to read. Unlike golems, robots follow code that you have to put into their hardware…"
Trixie didn't understand a word Techorse was saying, but nodded her head and pretended to take interest in his line of work. She knew she'd never get why PAL was alive without magic of some kind, but accepted it as fact anyways.
"So anyways, PAL is alive because he knows how to make his own instructions, rather than through a spell!" finished Techorse.
"That's rather interesting." lied Trixie, pushing the wooden bowl in front of her to the side. She only cared that the loving colt in front of her had been nice enough to give her a meal and a place to stay for the evening. "Would you like to see that magic show now?"
"I would love to!" he replied, "Let's go to the roof."
Trixie put on her best performance for Techorse and PAL once they reached the roof of the castle. She conjured objects from her hat, made them disappear again, did tricks with rings and cards, and even sawed PAL in half. PAL thought he could see his metal footpads far away from him, but he realized the trick was false when his damage sensors didn't pick up anything, and decided not to ruin the fun for his master and remained silent as he let Trixie move his "halves" apart. The mare went through her entire routine for Techorse, who laughed and cheered her on, enjoying the entertainment. When it was over, she packed up her tricks and sat down on the cool stone of the castle roof. PAL went back inside to clean a few things up, as it was now night.
"So, what did you think?" asked Trixie as she walked up to the colt.
"That was amazing." He replied excitedly, "I can see why ponies loved your act!"
"Loved…" sighed Trixie as she walked over to the edge of the roof and looked out at the lights of Ponyville.
Techorse walked up to her again and said, "Trixie, I promise that tomorrow morning, you will be able to go into Ponyville again without worry. I won't let a pony lay a hoof on you."
"You'd do all this for me?" she asked, "Even after what I did? You really are some kind of a prince on the inside, Tech."
"Thank you." He said softly as he watched the beautiful town below. Inside her heart, Trixie felt something for Techorse that she was aware she shouldn't be feeling. But she knew she had to repay the inventor somehow for his ultimate justice and fair treatment of her. Perhaps just a little peck on the cheek would be enough to say thank you.
"You know." She said smoothly to him, "I do know one more magic trick."
"And what's that?" he asked as he looked her in the eyes.
"We'll need some jackets for this," She said gently, lowering her eyelids a bit to make her eyelashes more obvious.
"Don't have on on me," said Techorse, "but I can check the closet in my bedroom."
He innocently walked over to the stairwell access and opened the door with a robot hand. Trixie followed him down the stairs and across the hallway of the castle's second floor. They entered Techorse's master bedroom. The large space consisted of a queen-sized bed against the back wall, covered in a beautiful blue comforter. An oak nightstand with an electrical lamp and a book Techorse was going through stood to the right of the bed, and to the left was a dresser that contained what little clothes he liked to wear. Across the room was a television monitor the colt used to observe the status of his castle. To the right of the plasma screen was a simple door which led to the master bathroom. A large white multi-paned window was on the wall opposite where they entered, and the curtains flapped gently in the breeze as the warm spring air entered the room. Trixie used her magic to close the windows gently, and the red curtains fell down limp.
"Why'd you do that?" asked Techorse.
"Oh, this trick is rather secret, and the Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't want anypony else to see it," She said with a hint of teasing.
Techorse, still blissfully unaware of what was going on, went over to the closet opposite the door leading to his bathroom and opened it. He searched for a wooden cane to use for the magic trick, but couldn't find one.
"Sorry Trixie." He said, "I don't think I have an extra jacket here, maybe some other time."
"Just sit down on your bed, and let Trixie find one for you," she said.
The colt removed his mechanical saddle, and threw the device in the corner. He hated wearing the gadget when relaxing on his bed. Techorse then climbed up and relaxed, letting his four legs lie down on the blue cloth. He watched curiously as Trixie motioned towards him with her front leg. She was smirking and swirling her front right hoof, as if to indicate he needed to rotate. Techorse got the message and leaned backwards, reclining back and letting his head rest on one of his pillows. He let his legs sprawl out on the bed a bit but was careful with his hind ones and tail. Techorse was now propped up against the backboard of his bed and looking straight at Trixie. To his curiosity, she removed her hat and cape and set them down gently on the foot of his bed, before also climbing up to join him.
"Um, what are you doing?" he asked nervously, just now realizing what she might have meant to do.
She replied, "Don't talk Techorse. Just let Trixie perform her trick." The mare crawled towards him on all four legs, slowly approaching him on the bed.
"I'm not comfortable with this!" he said, scooting back a bit more.
Trixie's horn glowed, and she picked up a rope from the closet behind her. The rope flew across the room and bound Techorse, tying up his hind legs so that he couldn't possibly escape.
"You've been kind to Trixie." She said, now in his face, "and now I want to reward you with cuddles!"
Techorse looked like he was about to burst into either tears or screaming.
"Don't do this!" he said, "You'll regret it, Trixie!"
She ignored him and said into his ear, "And what Trixie wants, Trixie gets…"
Just then, the door to the bedroom burst open, and there stood PAL with a metal tray. On the tray were two hot-fudge sundaes he had prepared for dessert.
"I brought you two some ice cream and…" The robot stopped short when he saw his master tied up and Trixie nearly on top of him. Techorse and Trixie looked at the robot in embarrassment. PAL reacted by giving a huge smirk at his inventor.
"Master…" he said jokingly, "I didn't know you liked this sort of thing!"
"This is not my idea!" shrieked Techorse, "She's making me do this!"
Trixie stood back and had a look at her work, and realized that she had probably taken everything a bit to far for what she was actually planning to do.
She said sheepishly, “Well, the truth is, it's just cuddling! Perhaps I got a bit carried away.”
PAL put on a serious expression and said to Trixie, "Miss Trixie, master Techorse is already in love with another mare. I can understand wanting to cuddle up, but please let him go."
"Oh no!" she said, frowning and getting off of him immediately, "I'm so sorry! If you had said you already had somepony to hold, I wouldn't have tried any of this.”
Techorse silenced her, "Just untie me Trixie."
She bowed her head and removed the ropes magically, discarding the jute off to the side. Trixie then picked her hat and cape up off the ground and put them back on her body. She continued her defeated look as she left the room. Techorse jumped off of the bed and followed her out. PAL shook his head, then closed the bedroom door and locked it. The lock to the bedroom only worked with hands, it was nearly impossible to open a locked door in the castle with hooves. He then trudged down the hallway, a mechanical sound with every heavy step.
The colt caught up with Trixie and shouted, "Hey, where are you going?"
Trixie looked back and sobbed, "I'm leaving. Trixie has lost her chance to be reconciled with Ponyville."
Techorse approached her and shook his head, "You had no idea that I already had a marefriend, Trixie, and I forgive you for trying to kiss me. It's my fault for not picking up on what you meant earlier."
"Really?" she asked, lightening up.
"Yeah, really." He replied, "Now can we just be friends?"
"Sure." She replied, "But Trixie would like to know who the lucky mare is who has won your heart."
Techorse sighed and smiled in joy as he looked up and said, "She's the most beautiful and fun mare in all the universe to me. I don't know what I'd do without her."
"But who is she?" demanded Trixie, curious as ever.
"Twilight Sparkle." He replied, "That's her."
Techorse frowned as he watched Trixie's expression go from intrigued to hostile.
"You love Twilight Sparkle?" she asked through gritted teeth.
"Yes I do, is there a problem?" he asked, backing up a bit from the angry mare.
"She's the one who got me banished from Ponyville!" she shouted, "If you're her coltfriend, you're her source of happiness."
"I wouldn't say that." said Techorse, trying not to make Trixie any more upset than she was at this point.
Trixie shouted, "Well, if Twilight's going to get Trixie hated by all of Ponyville, then Trixie's going to make her miserable. I'm going to take out her joy in life!"
Techorse asked with fear, "Take out her joy in life? Trixie, that's nuts! Look, I'm still willing to get you re-aquanted with the town if you'll just..."
Trixie smiled sinisterly and laughed, "Forget the town! I'm going to have my revenge on you, Twilight Sparkle!"
The mare's horn glowed, and she telekinetically removed a heavy battle axe from a rack on the wall of the castle.
"WHO LEFT THAT AXE THERE?" wailed Techorse, blaming PAL for the convenient placement of the deadly weapon.
He turned and ran, narrowly avoiding the first swing from Trixie, which tore through a nearby vase and shattered it. Techorse galloped down the hallway to his bedroom door where he knew his battle saddle was. Unfortunately, PAL had locked the door, and he couldn't open it fast enough with his smooth hooves. Looking quickly at the approaching Trixie and the doorknob, Techorse continued to flee down the hallway. Somehow he was going to have to beat Trixie without the use of his laser cannons.
"I know!" he said to himself as he ran for the front door, "I'll get Rainbow Dash to airlift me out of here!"
The green colt nearly made it to the front door and prepared to push the red button to begin opening the huge double wooden doors. The battle axe flew through the air and embedded into the button panel, causing electricity to play across the damaged controls. With the automatic opening system ruined, the only other way to get the front door open would be to manually crank it open, which would take way too long. Techorse decided to start running again, hoping he would find a way to survive the night. With Trixie hot on his heels, and with the battle axe floating near her again as her magic picked up the weapon, he understood that he might not last much longer.
Techorse reached the guest bathroom in the castle and flung open the door before locking himself inside. Trixie hurled the hatchet again, and it stuck into the white-painted door of the restroom. She walked up, rage still in her eyes, and tried to remove it. The handle broke off of the blade, effectively destroying the weapon. Trixie grunted and picked the lock on the door with a quick spell before jumping inside to deal with her new enemy. The vengeful pony shut the door behind her and locked it, then turned to look for Techorse. He was hiding inside the large bathtub, with the water level all the way to the top. The scared pony was submerged beneath a layer of bubble bath, hoping Trixie would pass by without noticing him. Initially she didn't, she scanned the bathroom and couldn't see the colt she was looking for. But with no windows in the bathroom she knew that he was still in the room somewhere. Techorse started to run out of oxygen underneath the bubble bath and tried his hardest not to sputter lest he give away his position. However, he knew drowning couldn't possibly be any worse than facing the psycho Trixie, so he shot up from the water and gasped, hoping she wouldn't take his head off in one swing with the axe.
"Gotcha!" shouted Trixie, pointing at the colt whose mane and coat was now thoroughly soaked.
Techorse noticed the axe was missing from her magical grasp and asked her smugly, "With what?"
Trixie laughed menacingly and activated another spell to pick up a hairdryer from a medicine cabinet above the bathroom sink. She plugged it in the wall and nonchalantly threw the appliance into the bathtub with Techorse.
Outside, the inventors' screams as he was electrocuted were heard by PAL who was at the moment walking outside of the door. Of course, being the less than perfect machine he was, he believed his master was having "trouble" with his bowels.
PAL knocked on the door and asked, "Master, do you need a magazine?"
Techorse groaned, "PAL, she's trying to kill me! Help me!"
PAL snickered and said, "Nice try, but I know Trixie wouldn't try to kill you. This is another one of your jokes, isn't it?"
Techorse threw open the door, his coat now splotched with burns from the electricity that had shot through his body. The colt ran down the hallway, soaking wet and with his mane sticking up from the shock. Trixie attempted to follow him, but PAL now knew that his master was truly in danger, and grabbed Trixie, pulling her up from the ground.
"Let me go golem!" she shouted, kicking at the machine.
"You're trying to get rid of my master!" he replied sternly, "I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen!"
Trixie said to the machine, "You can't stop the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
She cast a spell, and as her horn started to glow, PAL noticed a heavy stone from the wall of the castle begin to dislodge. The stone finally detached and whacked him in the legs, knocking him over and ruining the motors in his limbs. PAL tried to crawl away on his damaged legs, but Trixie brought the stone back up and smashed the large machine's body with it. She then fired a special ray of magic energy at the crippled robot, and PAL quickly found himself uploaded into a mearby wall socket and transferred into the closest device, a toaster. Trixie walked up to the culinary machine and gently unplugged it from the wall, ensuring PAL could not "possess" any other electronics in the castle, which would allow him to help his master survive the night.
"Great, first I get decapitated, and now I'm stuck in this toaster!" bawled the machine.
"I'll be back for you." said Trixie as she galloped down the hallway to find Techorse. PAL waited until she was gone, then gathered up his strength and began to hop as the toaster down towards an open window.
"I have to go get help!" he said as he leapt out the window onto the grass below.
Techorse had reached his castle's kitchen and was looking for a place to hide. Underneath the counters and cooking equipment seemed like a good idea to him, but he considered the fact that he wouldn't be able to escape as easily if caught and decided not to. Before the colt could choose another hiding spot, Trixie entered the kitchen and took off her hat. She released a huge cloud of trick smoke from the pointed hat, which filled the kitchen and made it hard for Techorse to see. Trixie then replaced her hat and took a large knife from a nearby wooden holder.
Techorse looked around in the thick gray smoke and called out, "Trixie, if you can hear me, I can still get your name cleared. But if you get rid of me, it's actually going to make your reputation worse! Think about what you're doing."
No response came from the dense fog, and Techorse felt the most intense fear in his life that he ever had. Unarmed and unable to put up any sort of a fight, he was a sitting duck until someone came to help him. A slight movement of air across his rear leg made him yell in surprise and jump forward. The knife came down and plunged into the tile floor behind him, the small amount of warning provided by the air had saved his life. Techorse ran to the other side of the kitchen and grabbed a frying pan from off the counter with his teeth. Without the robotic saddle he loved to use, he couldn't hold things as weapons effectively. Another knife appeared through the smoke and flew towards his face, but he managed to deflect it with the pan, sending the cutlery flying to the side. Trixie appeared through the smoke with a rolling pin, her horn glowing a soft blue as she used her magic to wield it as a club.
Techorse dropped the frying pan with a resounding clang on the floor and raised his front legs to try and keep Trixie a good distance from him.
"Please!" he said as he tried not to cry, "Don't do this!"
"Twilight Sparkle will pay for what she did to me!" replied Trixie, raising the rolling pin to bash Techorse in the head.
The inventor fled out a nearby door as the smoke began to lift. The rolling pin smashed into the counter and destroyed the colander sitting on top of it. The near miss made Trixie grunt in frustration, and she abandoned the wooden pin in favor of continuing her pursuit.
Two miles away from the castle, a small silver toaster had hopped all the way to the Ponyville library, and was furiously knocking on the door with its power cord. The red door was answered by Spike, who was enjoying a sip from a canned energy drink.
The toaster shouted, "Spike, where's Twilight?"
Upon hearing the toaster call his name and realizing that it had knocked on the door, Spike stopped drinking from the can and decided to have a look at the ingredients list.
Understanding that the drink was not causing him to see things, Spike called out to the back of the tree building, "Twilight, there's a toaster here for you. I'm not kidding."
Twilight walked up to the front door and casually looked down at the small toaster on her doorstep. She laughed a bit and said, "Well you sure are a brave little toaster, coming all this way to see me."
"There's no time to explain!" shrieked PAL, "Come with me!"
Twilight recognized his voice immediately, and her eyes grew wide.
"PAL?"
Back at the castle, Techorse was once again fleeing for his life, his heart rate far above what it should have been. He was aware that he couldn't keep this up forever, and that eventually Trixie would catch him and finish him off. But he wouldn't give up, and kept running down the wide hallways of his home. Techorse reached the armory in the building and quickly punched the combination number. It was considerably more difficult because he was left with only his hooves, but somehow he got the combination in and was able to enter. Techorse ran amongst the metal containers, searching for the perfect weapon to defend himself with.
He found a crate marked "spare cannons." and pried it open with a crowbar which he found attached to a hook on the armory wall. The inventor stared into the crate at the copy of his robotic saddle, which featured only the laser guns he loved to us so much. But as he reached for the weapon, he had second thoughts. His nature of loving justice began to take over. In his mind, Techorse knew that he couldn't shoot Trixie. Despite her trying to hurt him this entire time, he was aware that she was only upset over her banishment from Ponyville. Being sent away from most of the towns she had visited had likely built up these crazy thoughts in her mind, and if he could break through them, chances are she wouldn't even remember her rampage!
Techorse closed the lid on the crate and said out loud, "I need to reason with her even if she does end up hurting me. There's still hope for her."
The colt heard banging on the heavy metal door that led to the armory and heard Trixie shout, "Come out of there, Techorse!"
The colt swallowed hard and slowly approached the barred vault door, walking as slowly as he could. Carefully grasping the wheel to open the door with his front legs, he turned the lock open and pushed the fire door outward. Trixie was not standing in the doorway as he had expected, so with caution, he slowly crept out of the armory and closed the door behind him with his hind legs. Techorse looked left and right down the hallway as if he was about to cross a street. No sign of Trixie anywhere.
"Where did she go?" He asked aloud after taking a deep breath.
Trixie was standing right behind him. She had hid behind the armory's large door as it had opened, and pounced on Techorse. He shouted in surprise as Trixie knocked him to the ground, burying his face in the stone floor and hurting his jaw. Techorse rolled over to avoid any weapons she might have on her, but to his relief was only having to avoid punches thrown by her hooves. Techorse stood up and dodged another swing from Trixie's leg by ducking downwards.
"Come on!" he urged her, "Settle down and talk to me!"
"Never!" she responded, "I will make Twilight pay!"
"You're crazy!" he said as he jumped to avoid another wild swing, “I know it must have been hard being rejected so much, but you have to think!”
Trixie spotted a fire emergency box on a nearby wall and smashed it open with her hoof. When Techorse saw this, he snickered and said, "I don't keep any fire axes in there. Nice try."
Trixie took out a fire extinguisher with her magic and broke the handle sharply on the stone floor. The pressurized contents quickly came out, propelling the large metal bottle forward. It hit Techorse in the front and wrapped him around it, sending him screaming down the hallway of his own castle. The impromptu rocket pack smashed into the pipe organ of the castle, exploding and burying Techorse hind legs first into the right-hand stack of brass pipes. The inventor's head stuck out from the tubes, and he struggled to get free from the twisted metal. Trixie came down the hallway slowly, and the closer she got the faster he wiggled to try and escape.
"Now I have you, Techorse." She said menacingly as her horn began to glow.
The metal pipes holding Techorse in the organ began to warp and twist around him, and soon a metallic knot was tied around the green colt. Any chance he had of escaping the twisted wreck of the instrument was ruined now. Techorse felt the cold brass squeeze him into place, and when Trixie's horn stopped glowing he knew he was finished. She had him right where she wanted him.
Trixie looked at a segment of pipe lying on the ground and picked up the blunt heavy object. She brought the golden tube in front of her face, making sure it was suitable for what she was about to do. With a laugh, the mare turned the pipe upwards and raised it high above her head.
"That was a great try, Techorse. But no one escapes the Great and Powerful Trixie!" she said to him as she prepared to deal him the finishing blow to the head.
Techorse stopped moving and looked up at her. He said as a final warning, "Trixie, I understand that you're upset with Twilight. She managed to get you banned from Ponyville, and I can see why that would make you bitter. But getting rid of me won't make Twilight sad or miserable. It will make her furious, Trixie. Everypony will be hunting you down!"
The pipe didn't drop to the floor.
"Listen to me!" he pleaded, "Despite everything, I can still clear your name. I'll give you money, anything. Please don't do this, you have no idea what the consequences are!"
Trixie hesitated for a moment, the logic of the situation had finally shown through. Techorse was willing to do anything to survive, and had promised so much. It was also very clear to her that Twilight Sparkle and her friends would certainly be even less happy with her if she hurt Techorse. Now, she had regained her sanity, and stood there frozen in place with the piece of pipe raised over her head.
Techorse shed a few tears, thinking this meant that Trixie had decided to go through with her attack, and accepted her decision. Shutting his eyes, he braced himself for the inevitable impact on his head. Trixie finally realized what she was doing, and did not want to swing the pipe anymore, and tried to put it down. But something had stopped her, for some reason she could not get the pipe to move down. She tried again and again, but the piece of the instrument refused to move out from where she was levitating it in the air.
"I'll take this, Trixie." said Twilight Sparkle. Her magic was overpowering Trixie's, and she moved the pipe out from over her and near her own head.
Trixie turned around and saw Twilight and Spike, who was holding the toaster PAL was trapped inside of. Now that she was sane again and had blown off all her steam from being rejected, she understood that she was still guilty of attacking Techorse, and had probably invoked Twilight's wrath! Instantly she was struck with fear and panic, and attempted to flee. The toaster leapt out of Spike's arms and into her path, tripping the mare and bringing her down on the floor. PAL wrapped the toaster's cord around her hind legs to keep her from trying to escape again.
"She's all yours, Mistress Sparkle." said PAL, giving a small laugh.
"Thanks PAL." She replied, "But first I have to get my coltfriend out of this instrument. That doesn't look too comfortable."
Twilight cast a spell, and her horn glowed purple as the metal pipes began to groan and bend. Eventually Techorse was able to step out from the bundle of pipes, and walked up to Twilight.
"Are you ok, Tech?" she asked, noticing the burns.
"I am thanks to you, Twilight!" He said in joy, "You've saved my life again!"
Techorse and Twilight kissed quickly, to which Spike rolled his eyes. To him, now was the time for punishing Trixie, not affection.
Once the two had finished their kiss, they turned to look at the defeated Trixie, who was struggling to use her magic to disappear. Twilight walked up to her and knelt down, giving the unicorn mare a stern look. Trixie looked up at the angry Twilight above her and frowned.
Twilight said angrily, "Trixie, last time I let you go because I thought you deserved a second chance. I don't know if I can trust you enough to do that again."
The bluish mare looked away from Twilight, then looked at the stone floor and shut her eyes. She knew that she wasn't going to get away with what she had done, and was sorry for everything, but that wouldn't take away the consequences of her actions. It was too late now to tell herself to calm down and control herself.
She said while covering her eyes, "Just… do me in quickly!"
Techorse frowned, realizing that she had recovered from her temporary rage and said to Trixie, "Trixie, this whole time I didn't think you were conciously trying to go after me. I thought that your banishment had made you go crazy, and I was willing to keep running away until you came to your senses! I want to help you, I don't want to see you done in!"
Trixie looked at him and asked with tears in her eyes, "You mean you forgive me?"
"Of course I do." He replied, "Sure you electrocuted me, nearly chopped me up, and a whole bunch of other things I won't go into, but getting revenge on you won't solve anything."
Trixie put her attention back on Twilight and asked, "Can you forgive Trixie, Twilight, for everything she has done?"
Twilight smiled and said to her, "Trixie, when I watched you run away from Ponyville, I hoped that one day you would return wanting to make peace. I'm sorry that I made it seem like you were no longer welcome in town, it's just that you sort of developed a bad reputation after the incident. But after seeing how horribly crazy this made you go, I think I want to help you too. No pony should have to deal with isolation and insanity like that. I can personally forgive you."
"Aw man." Said Spike in disappointment, hoping to see some vigilante justice get dealt. Techorse put a cross look on his face and nudged Spike with his front leg.
"I mean, way to go Twilight!" corrected the dragon.
Techorse shook his head and put his focus back on the two mares.
"Well, what should we do now that it's all over?" asked PAL as he untied his power cord from Trixie's legs.
"I say we go home and get some sleep." said Twilight, "Tommorow's going to be an interesting day trying to convince everyone Trixie's back and better."
"I think they'll welcome her!" said Techorse with confidence, "I certainly like her."
"Why? She tried to smash your head!" asked Spike, exaggerating with his arms to show his disgust.
The colt responded, "Tonight's events have shown me a weakness I have, Spike. I need to work more on defending myself without my battle saddle. I lost it early on and was nearly helpless."
PAL interrupted sarcastically, "Oh please, you were helpless? Let me give you some burnt toast to show my sorrow for you."
"Don't worry PAL." Laughed Twilight, "I'm sure Tech will repair you soon."
Trixie got up off the ground and straightened her hat, then said to Techorse, "Thank you for all your understanding. Some day, Trixie hopes to repay you for your kind acts." The mare turned around and left to go to her room in the castle for the night.
"Hopfully in a more... reasonable manner." said PAL without thinking.
Spike asked the toaster, "What do you mean?"
"I'll tell you later." whispered the machine.
The next day brought startling news to Ponyville as Twilight and Techorse worked together to re-introduce Trixie to the town. Although many of the residents were still a little uneasy, especially Rainbow Dash, they quickly learned that she meant to do good now. She was able to restart her show later in the week, although as many traveling performers do, she had to leave the next one after that. Apparently once Ponyville had accepted Trixie, the other towns had followed suit. Kindness and understanding had won the day again, as the Great and Powerful Trixie was once more able to do the tricks she loved and was welcomed wherever she went.