Trixie might not have believed it under ordinary circumstances, but CSFGU's library really was very peaceful. Even during the day! She had been here for an hour and a half now, and nopony was making the slightest effort to detain her or tell her she wasn't allowed to be there, nor even give her funny looks for longer than a few seconds. Trixie knew, of course, that they were simply struck dumb by the fabulosity of Trixie's Wondrous Hat and Magnificent Cape!
Yes, even the ones that smiled behind their hooves as they would at a little filly cosplaying as Starswirl the Bearded (those that recognized the costume, anyway) on Nightmare Night, which Trixie only did that one time, thank you very much!
The library was peaceful, just like Moondancer said it would be. It had been explained to Trixie that Princess Celestia was furious (not outwardly, but nopony in the Day Court was fooled. Or able to sleep that night.) that one of her students had been hurt on school grounds, where they're supposed to feel safest. As such, guards were posted accordingly and rules of the most horrific kind known to Canterlot ponies were put in place if anypony attempted injure, detain, or otherwise menace a student from CSFGU on school grounds; Very Heavy Fines. This extended to ponies operating by proxy, such as any who might hire bounty hunters to retrieve somepony in their stead.
Not that I'm sure that will be enough, Trixie thought bitterly, bits were the most they ever were willing to spend on me.
Well, now wasn't the time for that, Trixie had research to do. She was just sitting at a lone table, paging through Cover? Check. Paper? Check. Words? Check: Let's Make A Checklist! when a soft, almost angelic voice drifted down to her.
"I was told I might find you here."
Trixie didn't quite jump, but she did turn around faster than was strictly necessary, her eyes wide and worried. "Princess Celestia. Hello."
Celestia smiled warmly. "Hello, Trixie. It's been a long time, how have you been keeping up?"
Trixie scratched her just-slightly-worried head. "Keeping up? Like, with the news, with life in general, with my studies?" She glanced to the book on the desk. "Because I can answer at least one of those right now."
Giggling softly, the princess took it as a good sign that Trixie might have been a little nervous, but wasn't outright afraid of her. "It's good to see you. Do you have some time to talk?"
Trixie smiled a little. "I, y-yes, sure." She took her hat off and placed it on the table behind her, turning to face it as Celestia took a seat across from her. "T-Trixie would ask how Canterlot's been, but I-she's kinda visited a few times before today."
Trying to decide exactly how she felt about the third-pony routine, Celestia nodded once. "So I've heard." She conjured two cups and a tea kettle, the latter filled with a soothing mixture and used to fill both glasses. "It was a lovely city even centuries ago, and remains so today."
Trixie held her cup in both hooves, looking more at it than Celestia. "You want to know why Trixie left?"
Celestia blinked once, not quite having expected Trixie to be that direct. Smiling down at her, she levitated her cup close to her lips. "It was on my mind for a while after, yes. If it's not too personal a matter for you...?" She took a sip awaiting a reply.
Taking a calming drink of tea, Trixie began her tale…
---
Hearing about what Trixie had been up to all these years, Celestia smiled wider and wider as the story went on. When it was finished, it was all she could do not to swoop Trixie up in her forehooves and cuddle her like the cute, boisterous little teddy bear she was!
Cute, boisterous little teddy bear that knew some advanced magic, but still.
"So," Trixie continued, her face inquisitive, "My Dar-... P-Prince Blueblood left too. Trixie asked him about it the last time we spoke, but the answer, um…” she scratched her head lightly, “didn't really make much sense."
"My nephew made some new friends and decided on a new direction in his life, not unlike you, Trixie." As she'd partly hoped, Trixie's face colored with a bashful kind of delight. If Trixie was still going for Blueblood, Celestia was happy to push that forward with all the gentle nudges in the world. "Speaking of friends, have you met any interesting ponies recently?"
Trixie averted her eyes. "Maybe?"
"You're not in trouble."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Not even for-"
"No."
"Oh." Trixie smiled. "Yes, Trixie has met some interesting ponies! Time is a little short, so she will go by recent examples. One was a mailmare with a fondness for foals and bakeries, though perhaps a little too much of the second one. Another was a weather pony with some, eh," Trixie tinted red, though Celestia pretended not to notice, "extensive experience in the field of courtship. Then there was a seamstress, but-"
Giggling, Celestia opted to streamline things a little. "Anypony around here?"
"Oh, yes! Three, in fact! One was very knowledgeable in magic and almost a match for Trixie!"
She's met Twilight, good. "Do tell?"
"Well, Trixie hasn't known her for very long, but Trixie learned a little about cold flames from her!"
Wait, what?
Trixie moved on before Celestia could ask. "Trixie has read about elemental ponies before, a mythical tribe thought to wield forces of nature instead of special talents, dating back to before the first documented sightings of Windigos! Trixie doesn't know about that, but Sunset Swimmer reminds her of those stories, a pony that embodies fire!"
Oh. "It's Sunset Shimmer."
"Trixie knew that!" Shifty eyes. "A-and then there came the kind and giving maiden who shared Trixie's status as a bearer of the moon!" She shifted just enough in her seat that Celestia could see her cutie mark.
Celestia was rapidly learning the new language of Trixese. From the sound of things, she'd met Moondancer. And now there are three 'Moonbutts'. Good for you, Luna!
...Would Sunset agree to be Sunbutts with me if I asked, or does that sound dirty?
She really didn't want to risk another student falling for her, even if Sunset was perhaps the least likely candidate for that to happen again. "Kind and giving?"
Trixie nodded, reaching up to hide a little hint of a blush with her hat before remembering she'd set it on the table. "Yes. Trixie misplaced her wallet in a dining establishment once and out of nowhere comes fair Moondancer, who paid for the whole thing! Trixie caught up with her again later, actually..."
---
I don't do drugs. I don't do drugs. I don't do drugs.
It was true, Moondancer had never gotten into that stuff because she'd never needed it to have a good time. That, and a tiny fear that her mother would hear she'd touched a narcotic substance, demand to know where she got it, and then have that whole part of the city burned to the ground. Still, that didn't explain why a floor tile in a dorm hallway just spoke to her.
"Pssst! Moodancer! Down here!"
The voice sounded familiar, though. "Uh... hey there."
"Are you alone?"
She slowly peered around, not a soul in sight. "Looks like it. Why?"
The tile popped out of the ground, revealing Trixie's smiling head, wearing the tile like a flat hat. "Perfect!" Glancing around, she slipped out of... wherever she was that allowed her to hide under a floor tile and set it back where it had been. Before Moondancer could ask, she was cut off by a little bag of bits levitating in front of her face. "Fourteen bits, repaid in full!"
Connecting the dots, Moondancer smiled. "I told you you don't have to pay me back, my family is pretty rich." Though she knew she couldn't get away with, say, buying a whole bar of sailors a round and seeing where things went from there. Darnit.
Faced with this information, Trixie grit her teeth. Fourteen bits might not have meant anything to Moondancer that day, but they meant a lot to her, and pretending otherwise would mean living with the debt. That was not acceptable. Idea!
Trixie smiled. "If money will not sway you, fair Moondancer, Trixie recalls that you were promised hugs?"
As nopony was around, Trixie was glomped immediately.
---
"And that is how Trixie learned that there are definitely nuances to cuddling a mare as opposed to a stallion."
"She accepted payment for the fourteen bits in cuddles?"
"Pretty much!"
Celestia giggled. "I see." She chose to hold off on bringing up the extended rules regarding pegasi, as it would give her another thing to talk about with Moondancer. "Anypony else?"
"Well, one more, an odd pony that goes all crazy-twisted-justice for dubious reasons, and klutzy enough to hurt herself in the pursuit of it. Still," Trixie added with a grin, "she proved to be very organized, outside her reasons for chasing ponies around in the dark."
Blinking slowly, Celestia waited for more. "Aaaand...?"
Trixie shrugged. "That's kinda it, Trixie doesn't know her all that well." Grinning again, she levitated the book. "Still, thanks to her, Trixie will be that much more Great and Powerful for the day she returns for her beloved!"
So she's met all three of them, at least. It's a start! "Trixie, how would you like to join them? Here at the school?"
Trixie drew in a quick breath. She'd been waiting for this. "W-well..." Glancing worriedly at Celestia, she saw only a patient smile, indicating that she did have a choice in the matter. Something else her parents never really gave her. "T-Trixie is sorry, but, she can't stay in one place for very long. At least, not yet."
To Trixie's immediate relief, Celestia nodded. "I understand." Then she wore a small, concerned frown. "Though, I'm afraid I must ask, the ponies that have been seen attempting to bring you in..."
Trixie started to sweat. "I-I haven't done anything criminal, honest!" Apart from swiping a bag of bits the day she ran away, but she did eventually mail them a bag of the exact same make filled with exactly as many bits. The Great and Powerful Trixie did not like having debts, after all.
They probably gave the bag more love and appreciation, too.
"Can you tell me who they are? What they want with you?" A princess had her means of investigating, but it never hurt to hear it from the horse's mouth.
Seeing Trixie cast quick, nervous glances in several directions before casting what felt like a modified detection spell of some kind, though Celestia couldn't guess what exactly Trixie had done to it. Somehow, that alone made her proud.
"Well," Trixie began tentatively, "those ponies are, they, w-well, when you say 'ponies that have been attempting to bring Trixie in'...?"
Now Celestia was worried. "Is there more than one such group? Witnesses mention something about taking you home. Could you please explain the situation?"
Trixie sighed, lowering her head. "They're bounty-hunters. The ones in suits, the ones in armor, even the ones in wigs. Please don't ask, I didn't. They all work for the Lulamoon family, but I do not wish to return 'home.'"
The princess nodded once, her tone as gentle and sympathetic as possible. "Why do your parents send bounty-hunters and not, say, letters? Asking how their daughter is doing?" Once more, horse's mouth.
Trixie wore a few different expressions at once, like she was simultaneously sad, giving Celestia a tired 'oh, what the buck do you think?' kind of look, and trying to stop herself from from making such a face at the same time. "Some ponies, some wealthy ponies, don't think about much besides getting richer, more influential, more prestigious."
Celestia nodded, a little part of her wondering what Sunset Shimmer's family got up to these days.
"Some try to do it by marrying their offspring into richer families," her voice grew quiet, her tone bitter as she glared down at her tea-cup. "even to the point of neglecting the only one of the four they can't find a good match for, instead devoting their time, their energy, their precious money, and everything else to those they can."
She chuckled humorlessly. "Imagine how they'd react if they learned one of their foals, the one they never even bothered to ask why she spent so many nights out late, had actually been chasing none other than the princess's nephew? That if they gave her more than a sideways glance, maybe they'd have learned the reason she didn't even come home some days was everything they could have ever wanted in their stupid little quest for status, that maybe they'd have even tried to help her catch his eye? Even when it was too late, would it be any surprise if such ponies were to send others to bring their ticket to royalty back, by any means necessary?"
Trixie looked up, her face solemn. "I don't want their 'help', I don't want anything to do with them anymore." The expression softened considerably as she started to smile with a sort of wicked confidence. "Trixie will affirm her own love, titles and houses be damned."
Once more, Celestia felt the urge to pick up and cuddle Trixie. This time, though, it was less because she had said or done something adorable, more because she felt the young mare badly needed a hug. Would her pride allow it? There aren't too many ponies around right now, but the last thing I want to do is push her away by coming off as pitying, so-
"On that note," sighed Trixie, "you're wondering how Trixie is any different from them, how you know she doesn't just want to marry-" she barely stopped herself from reciting the list of titles she'd come up with for him, if only the most recent fifteen, "-Prince Blueblood in the hope of becoming 'Princess Blueblood'?"
Shaking her head, Celestia smiled. "I remember when we spoke in this very library all those years ago, Trixie, the way you looked at me when I mentioned him, the way you smiled when he looked at you after, and your eyes whenever you caught sight of him from then on. I have lived a long time, seen many that would use love as a facade to further another agenda, and I know that you are not one of them."
Not unlike the first time they spoke, Trixie looked away and shifted in her seat, unable to immediately articulate a reply amid giggly blushing. Then she stopped, looking at Celestia with a hint of worry. "Oh, Trixie actually has to get going, but, um," she quickly put her hat back on, "thank you for the tea!"
"You are welcome to stop by more often, if you like." In response to Trixie's slightly confused look, her old teacher smiled, conjuring an all-access pass not unlike Twilight's. "Take this, and you'll be allowed on school grounds day or night, without question."
Taking it, Trixie beamed. "Th-thank you, Princess Celestia!"
Celestia smiled beneficently. "You are welcome, and I hope we'll be able to talk more from now on."
Levitating her book back to its original shelf, Trixie nodded once, still smiling. "Sure thing, see you around, Princess!"
Watching her go, Celestia found herself already looking forward to their next talk. Trixie might not have been accepting her parents' help, but she was sure she could offer some tips! Then a thought occurred.
Wait, 'Princess Blueblood'? Does she not know that Prince is his name, not his title?
Oh, well, there'd be time for that later.