Chapter 7
Back to Ponyville
The sound of sirens pierced Trixie’s ears as she found herself standing in front of the burnt remains of her old house. “Darn shame,” said one of the police officers next to her, “First, he loses his wife in a stage accident, and then his daughter runs away when he becomes abusive.”
“He felt bad about chasing his daughter away, of course,” said the other police officer, “And while she’s away at Celestia’s High School for Gifted Unicorns, he’s making a ruckus every night about how he wants to change what he’s done. Finally he snapped and burned himself alive along with the house.”
“Shame she had to see it though,” said the first police officer gesturing towards Trixie, “It will probably scar her for life, poor thing.” Trixie walked over to were the burnt body of her father lay.
“Trixie’s sorry,” She said as tears welled up in her eyes and she sank to her knees.
“You had to leave,” her Dad said before turning his head towards her, “You had to leave me. I just couldn’t take it, could I? Obviously, I couldn’t, seeing as how I’m burnt to a crisp and dead as a doornail. It’s your fault I’m like this; all you had to do was stay.”
“Ma’am,” said one of the police officers approaching her, “We’re going have to take him away now.”
A sharp knocking sound pulled Trixie out of dreamland and back to reality. She sat up and looked over at the clock. “It’s six in the morning,” She muttered, “Who’s knocking on Trixie’s door at six in the morning?” She got out of bed and walked over to the door. She looked through the peephole and saw a light blue eye staring back at her.
“Hello in there,” an energetic voice called through the door, “I’m supposed to pick you up so we can leave for Ponyville.” Trixie opened the door and standing there was a girl her age wearing a pink button-up shirt and skirt, the latter of which had the image of three balloons in a triangle. The top balloon was yellow with a blue string and the bottom two were blue with yellow strings. Her dark pink hair was unnaturally puffy, like cotton candy, and she had a hyperactivity to her that made her seem like she had drank too much coffee. “Are you ready?” she asked before looking Trixie over, “Guess you’re not, by seeing as how you’re still in your pajamas. But, I guess that’s okay, I did stop by out of the blue. So, why don’t you get changed, gather your stuff, and say your goodbyes, and then we can leave for Ponyville.”
Trixie got changed into her usual outfit, gathered up her stuff, said her hug-filled, heartwarming goodbyes to Octavia and Vinyl, and then after attaching her traveling house to the back of the girl’s bright pink car found herself in the passenger’s seat of said car heading towards Ponyville. “I’m Pinkie Pie,” the girl said after a long silence, “But, I’m sure you already knew that, because I’m sure you remember me from your two visits to Ponyville. You do remember me, right?”
“Of course,” Trixie answered, “Trixie’s sorry about what she did.”
“It’s alright,” Pinkie said, “Seeing as how you just wanted to be a stage magician, I’m sorry we jumped to conclusions and assumed you were just showing off. I actually feel kind of bad for us ruining your career. If I would have only known before that you were trying to follow in your mother’s footsteps. I mean I didn’t know that until I read the story so far.”
“Do you think Trixie met Sunset Shimmer too soon?” Trixie asked.
“I don’t think so,” Pinkie answered, “Sure some people might think it was out of the blue. But, I think it was really nice of her to help you out. I mean who wouldn’t want someone like that as a friend.” A moment of silence followed her words as if she was thinking about what to say. Finally Pinkie asked, “So was your first performance really in Ponyville?”
“Yes,” Trixie replied sorrowfully, “Trixie hyped it up and made everyone think she had been performing for a while. She knew she had to start somewhere, and Trixie thought Ponyville would be a good place to start. But, before she knew it her career was over before it began. Trixie means, why else would every other town react to how you thought of her and made her a social pariah. The only reason they’d react that way was if they hadn’t seen her perform before.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Pinkie said thoughtfully, “After all, I never saw it that way before. Because if the other towns had seen you perform before we did we couldn’t have influenced them to change their opinions about you.”
Thirty minutes passed in silence before Pinkie asked “Did you hear about Flash Sentry?”
“No,” Trixie replied, “What about him?”
“He’s been arrested,” Pinkie answered, “It happened after Twilight discovered the book that connected her to Sunset Shimmer; basically, the book allowed Twilight to go to the alternate world after the portal closed and the sirens decided to show up. Anyway, Twilight was going through it and noticed there were conversations between Sunset Shimmer and this world’s Flash Sentry. It turned out our Flash Sentry was a spy who was feeding Sunset information. He told Sunset that Twilight was in Canterlot the night Sunset stole her crown. Apparently, the portal opens once every two and a half years. See, each moon is a month in its most basic form and Luna said that the portal opened every thirty moons, so that’s thirty months or two and a half years.”
“Let Trixie guess,” Trixie began, “The portal had opened more than once since Sunset ran away to the alternate world, hadn’t it?”
“Exactly,” Pinkie replied, “One of those times it opened Sunset came through to make amends with Celestia but found out she already had another disciple. Sunset then tricked Flash to help her steal Twilight’s Element of Harmony. After all she had learned about them during her studies with the Princess. All Sunset had to do then was to steal the Fall Formal Crown and hold onto it until Twilight returned to Canterlot with the crown. It was pure luck that it happened to be when the portal had opened.”
“Did he confess?” Trixie asked.
“Him and Sunset both,” Pinkie answered, “They both confessed after Twilight found the entries.”
About an hour later Pinkie Pie’s car pulled up in front of Sugar Cube Corner. After unloading Trixie’s luggage from the car, Pinkie walked up to the front door and unlocked it with a key that resembled a candy cane with red stripes adorning its shiny, white metal. “You’ll be staying here with me,” Pinkie said pushing open the door. Trixie followed her inside and up the stairs. At the top of the stairs they reached Pinkie’s room. “Go ahead and put your stuff anywhere,” Pinkie said smiling at Trixie, “Just make yourself comfortable.” Trixie walked over to the wardrobe and put her suitcases next to it. “We’re going to Twilight’s after this,” Pinkie said as Trixie started unpacking, “She said something about discussing something with everypony, but I think we should be able to get breakfast first. You haven’t had breakfast yet, have you?”
“Well you did come by Trixie’s hotel room and woke her up,” Trixie said looking over at her, “So, she hasn’t had breakfast yet.”
“I’ll go make my special pancakes then,” Pinkie said getting up, “Come down when you’re done unpacking.” With that Pinkie left the room.
Trixie came downstairs about an hour later and wandered into the dining room. Pinkie had just finished cooking and was putting two plates of pancakes on the table as Trixie walked in. “You’re just in time,” Pinkie said without looking up, “You get to try my famous confetti pancakes.”
“Confetti pancakes?” Trixie asked confused.
“Yeah,” Pinkie replied before noticing the look of confusion on Trixie’s face, “Don’t worry there’s not actually confetti in the pancakes. I just call them that because I throw sprinkles into the pancake batter and they come out all colorful.” The confusion left her face as she went and sat down at the table.
“Why do you think the Princesses want us to find the Alicorn Amulet?” Trixie asked trying to make casual conversation.
“Don’t know,” Pinkie answered, “But if the Princesses want us to find it, they have a reason, and any reason the Princesses have must be important.”
They arrived at Twilight’s castle thirty minutes later. A guard led them through the halls to the Throne room where five other ponies were sitting on their thrones waiting for them. To the left from where the had entered sat a light pink haired pegasus. She was wearing a yellow sweater with a pink skirt and her blue-green eyes just couldn’t seem to meet Trixie’s. Next to her sat Rainbow Dash. Her rainbow hair seemed messier than usual and she looked like she really didn’t want to be there. Next to Rainbow Dash sat a kid of about ten years of age. He was wearing a purple shirt and green shorts and a mess of green hair sat upon his head. He glanced at Trixie with his green eyes before turning to the chair right next to his, where Twilight was sitting, and whispered something in her ear causing her to look at Trixie with her purple eyes. On Twilight’s other side sat an orange haired earth pony with light green eyes. She was wearing an orange shirt and blue jeans. Cowboy boots graced her feet and a brown cowboy hat sat upon her head. Next to her sat Rarity. Rarity was wearing another white dress, but she now was wearing a purple gemstone necklace with it. Next to Rarity was an empty throne. On the back of the throne was an engraving of three balloons in a pyramid, the top one was yellow with a blue string and the bottom two were blue with a yellow string. At this point Pinkie left Trixie’s side and sat in the throne.
“Trixie Lulamoon,” Twilight began, “You’re here because Princess Celestia has given you a chance to make amends for taking over Ponyville while under the influence of an ancient magical artifact.”
“Don’t forget bringing an Ursa Minor to town,” Rainbow Dash interjected.
“Dashie,” the pink haired pegasus said turning towards Rainbow Dash, “That was actually Snips and Snails fault, wasn’t it?”
“Fluttershy’s right,” Twilight added, “Snips and Snails brought the Ursa to town, not Trixie.”
“Stop defending her,” Rainbow Dash shot back, “It’s all a ruse to get you to let your guard down. You believe me, right Applejack?” As she asked this she turned to the country pony.
“I think we should give her a chance,” Applejack replied, “After all, if Twilight believes in her, I do too.”
“I agree,” Rarity said, “We should trust Twilight’s judgment. Besides, she didn’t seem that bad. I should know, I bumped into her in Canterlot, literally.”
“I ran into her too,” Rainbow Dash said her anger rising, “She was sitting with DJ Pon-3 at a café in Canterlot.”
“Didn’t DJ Pon-3 defend her too?” Pinkie asked standing up, “You trust DJ Pon-3 right?”
“Yes,” Rainbow answered, “And I trust Twilight too. But, I don’t trust Trixie. I still say she’s up to something.” At this point all the ponies started arguing with Rainbow Dash, except: Fluttershy, who was sinking down into her throne; Twilight, who looked like she was getting more and more irritated; and the kid, who hid behind his chair like he knew what was coming.
“Enough,” Twilight shouted effectively ceasing the girls’ arguing. She let herself calm down a little before turning to the kid’s chair. “Spike, you can come out now,” she said before turning towards the girls as Spike came out from behind his chair. “Now,” she began, “Thanks to Rainbow Dash, I think we should spend a week getting to know the real Trixie.”
“What do you mean, Darling?” Rarity asked confused.
“Over the next week we will each spend a day with Trixie,” Twilight replied, “On the seventh day we will set out to Zecora’s to find out where she had the Alicorn Amulet hidden away.”
“How are we going to decide the order, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
“We’ll draw straws,” Twilight answered, we’ll decide the order based on the length of the straws. The pony with the shortest straw will go first, the next shortest will go second, and so on.”