//------------------------------// // #39 - Shame and Fortune: Part I // Story: Techorse Short Stories // by Spirals95 //------------------------------// Shame and Fortune: Part I Techorse Series: #39 By Spirals95 The strip of road outside of the Golden Oaks library was beginning to get marred by the constant pacing of Twilight Sparkle, who was eagerly awaiting her mail. For a while she had what was a huge honor for someone like her, a pen pal, and was happy to read a new message from her friend. But within the previous month, no letters had shown up from her friend, and even the daily paranoid letters of panic from Twilight had not been met with even a postcard in response. Spike was standing nearby, crossing his arms in disgust at Twilight's behavior. “What if she's been in the hospital, or gotten deathly sick?” she wondered, a droplet of sweat escaping out from underneath her striped mane, “Or maybe she just doesn't want to write me anymore.” Derpy Hooves landed near the simple wood and iron-post mailbox out front of the library, and opened the hatch carefully to put Twilight's mail for the day in, when she was nearly tackled by the mare. “DERPY!” she shouted, violating her friend's body space. The hapless mailmare jumped at the surprise, and got her hoof stuck in the mailbox, ripping the container off of the post, and leaving it stuck on her front leg like an oversized metal shoe. “Oh, hey Twilight,” she said, frowning as she looked at the damage she had done, “sorry about your mailbox. I jumped.” “That's ok, I can put the mailbox back together,” answered Twilight, waving a woof and smiling, “so what's in the mail today?” After removing the mailbox from her hoof and resting it back on top of the post, Derpy Hooves dug into her mailbag, and removed two letters plus a yellow envelope from her canvas bag strapped across her body. Twilight grabbed the mail away from her with her magic, and looked over the letters quickly before developing a disappointed look on her face. “Is this it?” she asked. Derpy Hooves frowned as she focused her good eye on Twilight, “Yeah, sorry, I guess I could have left something back at the post office. Want me to check?” “No,” Twilight sighed, her ears drooping, “I'm just waiting for somepony to write me back is all. It's been forever.” Twilight inspected the envelope and turned to Spike, “Here you go Spike, this must be the comic book you ordered in the mail.” “Nice!” he responded eagerly, grabbing the envelope. Derpy Hooves bid Twilight farewell, who still had a heavy heart about the situation and was now looking down at the ground in disappointment. Spike thought about digging into the first issue of the new spin-off series he was getting into, but knew his best friend's needs came first, and he went and placed the yellow envelope down on the front door of the library before returning to Twilight. “Aw, cheer up Twi,” he said, stroking her side with a scaly hand, “I'm sure whoever it is you're waiting to hear from, they'll get back to you. They're probably really busy.” “I sure hope so, I was really happy to have a pen pal this year!” answered the mare, looking up at the young dragon. Rainbow Dash, who had watched conversation while moving a few wisps of clouds out of the way of the sun for the afternoon, paused her chores and landed down on the ground in front of Twilight. She thought it would be a good idea to help cheer Twilight up, especially if it meant getting out of work for a while. The pegasus folded her wings at her sides and asked, “Hey Twilight, what's going on?” “Oh hey Rainbow Dash,” Twilight responded, taking a quick glance at the damaged mailbox before returning eye contact, “what are you doing here?” She answered with a smirk, “I can't leave you totally gloomy down here. Wouldn't be too cool of me. So what's wrong?” “Well, my pen pal hasn't written back to me in a month and I'm starting to get a bit worried,” she confessed. “A pen pal?” asked Rainbow Dash, chuckling, “Are you serious? Who does that anymore?” “Yeah I know, it's a little out of date,” admitted Twilight, laughing a bit and rolling her eyes at Rainbow Dash's question, “but I'm writing back to her because she's special. This is a sompeony who's progress I've needed to keep in touch with.” “Oh neat, who is it?” asked Rainbow Dash, “Is it Moondancer, or one of the other eggheads you used to talk with back in Canterlot?” “Actually no!” said Twilight, smiling widely, “It's Trixie Lulamoon.” Spike and Rainbow Dash immediately gasped and grew wide eyed at the news. “TRIXIE?” shouted Rainbow Dash, nearly recoiling in shock, “Why in Equestria would you want to have anything to do with that loser?” Spike pounded his right fist into his left hand to make a point, “Yeah! She tried to knock Tech's lights out, or worse!” “But when I confronted Trixie, she made a promise to change and try to become a famous illusionist again,” protested Twilight, “Honest! We've been writing letters back and forth on a weekly basis so that I could keep up on her progress and cheer her on. In fact, I think we were really close to being...” “Hey wait a minute,” interrupted Rainbow Dash, not wanting Twilight to use a certain word to describe Trixie, whom she hated, “so you're saying Trixie hasn't written back in a month?” “No, and it's making me worry,” said Twilight, breathing a sigh of discomfort. “Pfft, easy answer, she's done with us!” finished Rainbow Dash with a scoff in her voice. Spike didn't have the same opinion however and crossed his arms, “Hey! If anypony could change Trixie's mind about how to act, it'd be Twilight Sparkle. I might not like her either, Rainbow Dash, but something might really be wrong here!” Twilight smiled at Spike for the compliment, “Trixie's letters never took on a sour tone. She sounded really happy about what she was doing, I just don't know why they've cut off.” Her ears and eyes perked up when she realized the answer to her problem, “Wait a minute, the cutoff! If I go back and look at the very last letter Trixie sent me, maybe I can figure out where she is and go check up on her myself!” “I still don't see why you care, she's a jerk,” grunted Rainbow Dash. She was outvoted to search the letters two to one, and reluctantly agreed to drop her attitude in order to help Twilight out. The group headed back inside the library, where Twilight dug out a shoebox containing the older letters she had exchanged with Trixie earlier, and the contents were dumped out onto Twilight's writing desk in the corner of the rounded room. “Spike!” shouted Twilight, “I already had those organized by date, you could have just taken the top one out of the stack.” Spike shrugged and sifted through the contents, making a note of the dates on the corners of each letter, until he found the most recent one. “Here it is, from last month,” he said cheerfully, handing the piece of paper to Twilight. Twilight accepted the letter with her front hoof and set it in front of herself and Rainbow Dash on the desk while Spike started to put the letters back in the box, haphazardly tossing the them back into the cardboard container until a stern look by Twilight reminded him to put them back in the correct order. While Spike finished sorting the letters, Twilight read the part of the letter key to what they were looking for, “Although I have done well at employment, Trixie's travels have taken her all over Equestria, and she seeks a more permanent place to host her show. The latest chance at this will be at the Stained Glass Resort near Salt Lick City,” she read. “Salt Lick City?!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, “That's pretty far, Twilight. Maybe we should just wait for her to get back to us, ya know, instead of obsessing over her not writing?” “Well, what if I got us all some vacation time from Princess Celestia?” offered Twilight, desperate to go and help out. Rainbow Dash doubted it, “How are you going to do that?” She answered, “Princess Celestia has been interested in hearing about Trixie ever since I told her what happened between us and Tech. She's been looking forward to hearing if she's changed or not. I'm sure if we asked nicely and informed her about how much we could learn about friendship helping Trixie out, we could go.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, “I really doubt it. But hey, if it means we get to take a few days break from work, I'm all for it!” Spike offered, “And I could probably get PAL to help me out with the library while you're gone!” Twilight Sparkle opened her desk and removed a slip of parchment paper and a quill, already dipped in fresh black ink. While she began to write the letter to Princess Celestia, she instructed Rainbow Dash to go pack herself an overnight bag so that they could stay at the resort without needing to teleport back and forth or find another place to stay the night. Excited to be taking a break from her job, Rainbow Dash zoomed out the door of the library and took off into the afternoon air to race back to her home and pack a small suitcase for the trip. While she was tearing through the skies, reaching way faster of a speed for how low she was flying than she should have, she flew past Applejack's cart in the middle of the town square, dislodging the umbrella and sending it flying. Applejack held down her hat, along with many others in the square trying to buy apples, as the gust of wind nearly sent all of their hats and other loose items away with the umbrella. “Rainbow Dash!” she shouted angrily, “Hang on just a minute!” The Pegasus stopped her flight, and turned around, spotting the hapless umbrella rolling around a good distance from the cart, and picked it up with her front hooves before returning to Applejack. “Heh, whoops. Sorry Applejack,” she said, putting the umbrella back into its holder on the cart. Applejack quickly dropped her anger, knowing Rainbow Dash hadn't meant to do it, and asked, “Now what has you in such a rush?” “Twilight's going to get permission from the princess to let us go to Salt Lick City!” she said, squealing, “Isn't it cool? I gotta pack my bag for the trip.” “Salt Lick City?” asked Applejack, smiling, “Why, I got a distant relative out there.” The cyan pegasus laughed and shook her head, “You have relatives everywhere! The Apple family is huge.” “You'd be right about that, Rainbow Dash,” she continued, “but that means ya got somepony to stay with if you need to. What are you and Twilight gonna do out there?” “You're never going to believe this, but we're going to go save Trixie Lulamoon's sorry butt. Or at least, we think we are,” she snickered in response. Some of the townsponies overheard the name and began to whisper and murmur about Trixie's previous bad deeds in the town. “Yeah, I know, right?!” said Rainbow Dash sarcastically to the crowd, being met with a few nervous laughs and some false hoof claps on the ground. “Now this I gotta see,” said Applejack, “and we can go see Apple Oil and his artificial apple flavoring nonsense he's been going on about for years!” “Are you sure you can get time off too?” asked Rainbow Dash, “I mean, it'd be really sweet if you could go with us.” Applejack nodded, “Let me finish helping these folks here, and then I'll get Big Macintosh to take over. We got a bet back at the farm that our second cousin's made nothin' in the past two years, and we gotta settle that bet!” “All right, cool! We'll meet you at the library!” said Rainbow Dash, turning around more carefully this time to avoid knocking away the poor umbrella again. As soon as all of the team's bags were packed for the journey, they assembled at the library, with Twilight having gone and gotten Techorse and PAL. Twilight had received clearance from the princesses to go and assist Trixie if indeed something was wrong, and Rainbow Dash had given the day off thanks to a note from Princess Luna sent to the weather factory in Cloudsdale. Each of the different colored suitcases sat in a pile outside of the library doorway. “So, how are we going to get there?” asked Rainbow Dash, impatiently tapping her front hoof, “Are you zapping us over, Twilight?” “I think for the sake of the luggage we're going to end up taking the train this time,” she answered, looking at the suitcases. “Sounds good,” agreed Applejack, “we gonna head out then?” Techorse finished zipping up his small suitcase with his robotic arms, and then turned to face his friends. “Yup! Just needed to finish putting the hotel reservation papers in my bag,” he answered. They headed for the train station and boarded for a long trip to Salt Lick City, knowing it would probably be night by the time they reached the resort. As the train pulled away from the station, Techorse saw the worried look in Twilight's eyes as she sat next to him on the train. “Come on, Twilight,” he encouraged, “Trixie's come a long way since your first met her.” “I know, it's just I was really hoping that Trixie and I could be friends someday,” she answered. “What?” asked Rainbow Dash, flopping her front legs over the seat in front of them and looking back, “Why would you want to be friends with her? She tried to humiliate us, and then came back and tried to axe Techie!” “Trixie was nearly banned from every town she came to because of the previous incident she had in Ponyville,” reasoned Techorse, giving Rainbow Dash a stern look, “I think that's enough to drive anypony crazy, don't you?” “Well maybe, but it's a lame excuse,” scoffed Rainbow Dash. Applejack ignored the conversation between the three and went back to reading over the recipe book she intended to share with her family member. She was fairly sure that Rainbow Dash was going to forgive and warm up to Trixie anyways once they'd settled the issue. Looking at the recipe she was going to show Apple Oil, she read over the instructions to make the perfectly shareable apple crumble pie. Normally, apple crumble would fall apart so easily that it would be impossible to create perfect slices, but Applejack's family had a recipe for an apple crumble pie that would not only slice perfectly while still tasting great. The picture in the family recipe book showed the dessert, golden brown on the top with a few cuts to let out steam, and slices of fresh green apples on the top to indicate where a piece should be cut. Applejack's hope was that sharing the new recipes with her family member would help him to come back to his roots of natural apple flavors. By the time night had fallen, the train had reached the station at Salt Lake City, a busy stop where ponies were running around trying to catch the late trains out of the town. Twilight and her friends collected their bags from the cargo car on the train, and caught a cab to the Stained Glass Resort where Trixie was supposed to be located. The four ponies crowded into the taxi cab looked out the windows as it pulled up to the building. The Stained Glass Resort was a massive hotel spanning several dozen acres, twelve stories tall, and true to its name, each room featured a beautiful stained glass window with a unique decoration, flanked by two ordinary windows to make sure each room was well lit. The front of the building was built in the shape of a horseshoe almost, curving around in front of the central courtyard area, with a pathway in front lined with cherry blossom trees. Although the more arid environment of Salt Lick City would normally not support the beautiful pink-blooming trees, several gardener earth ponies watered the trees and kept a pipeline system going that kept every plant on the premise in top shape. To top off the outdoor garden, a massive fountain stood over the open entrance to the resort. It was a rounded, marble structure with a sculpture of a massive playing card in the middle that slowly rotated as the jets of water at the sides shot into the center and made the entire fountain make a bubbling noise that could be heard from several feet away. “Wow!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she pushed open the door of the taxi coach and exited into the night air, “This place is amazing! No wonder Trixie didn't write back Twilight, she probably loves it here.” But Applejack, noticing how expensive the entire setup was even for a resort out where property wouldn't cost much, stated as she exited the cab, “I'm not so sure, Rainbow Dash. Somethin' is up with this here resort.” Twilight Sparkle finished paying the ponies who had pulled the cab to the resort, and made plans with them to bring them back to the train station in a few days. Techorse added his own tip, and then followed her away from the cab with his friend's bags in tow. An employee of the resort wearing a bellhop's uniform ran up to him and loaded the bags onto his baggage cart with a broad smile on his face. “Welcome to the Stained Glass Resort!” he said, “We're so glad you chose to stay here with us for your vacation.” “This is just for a few days,” said Techorse, helping him load up the bags, “I made reservations.” “Really?” Gasped Rainbow Dash, flying up into the air and putting her hooves to her cheeks, “You mean you got rooms for us here, Techorse?! Oh my gosh, thank you, this is gonna be so much fun!” “Oh, so all of a sudden, you want to help out with Trixie?” he asked, teasing her. Rainbow Dash landed on the ground and regained her composure, “Well, sure, if it means getting to do all the stuff the resort has to offer.“ “You'll love it here, really!” assured the bellhop, the grin on his maroon face not leaving anytime soon, “We have rock climbing, an indoor and outdoor pool, wingball, and many game tables!” The cyan pegasus was clearly overjoyed upon hearing about all the different activities and knew she was in for a massive treat over the weekend. “We're going to be in room 31A,” Techorse said to the bellhop, “let me give you a little something for taking it there.” The bellhop suddenly changed his attitude, “Um, sorry, can't accept any tips! But I really appreciate it.” Twilight noted that he seemed suddenly nervous and asked, “Why not?” “It's just, against the rules is all,” he said, visibly upset, “we're not allowed to take tips from patrons. You guys are so nice though, really!” He pushed the cart of luggage away quickly without saying another word, hoping to get away from them as fast as he could. Twilight and her friends were all left stunned at the pony's weird behavior, and looked at each other with dumbfounded expressions. “Weird, nopony would overreact that badly to being offered a tip,” mused Techorse, breaking the silence after a short while. “I told ya something is wrong with this resort!” reminded Applejack, pointing at the direction he had left, “The workers are all runnin' around acting like rabbits with a hot foot!” Rainbow Dash shook her head at the weird figure of speech, “They're probably just not allowed to take tips because it's a rule they have at work. Whenever I'm moving clouds around, I'm not allowed to take any money to make sure the week's rain misses your house.” “But that's a bribe, not a tip sugarcube,” argued Applejack, “I really don't like what's going on here everypony.” “We're only going to be here a few days to figure out what happened to Trixie,” said Twilight, smiling nervously, “so we got one employee with a bit of a problem. I'm sure everypony else here is just fine! Let's head in and see if we can find her.” The friends walked down the well-kept path in front of the resort, and entered through the front doors into the lobby. It was lined with red carpeting on the floor, vast marble columns kept the ceiling up overhead, and bright electrical lights marked a tiled pathway throughout the room. There was a small bar off to the right side of the main hallway, and many, many felt gaming tables topped with green. Fancy wooden chairs made from cherry and oak carved into ornate shapes sat many ponies who were playing games against each other. In the very front of the huge gaming room was a set of dining tables and a big show stage with a large blue curtain hiding what was behind it. All sorts of Equestrian card games and games of chance were being played for prizes or for fun while patrons ordered food and drinks from the kitchen. Based on the number of waiters and waitresses running around, it became clear to Techorse quickly that drinks were likely the primary source of income behind the games. Not all of the games seemed to be pure gambling, in fact, many of them were games of skill and strategy against “the house” that could result in a very unique or rare prize being won, such as a designer purse or a brand new set of expensive silverware. But the most impressive feature of the room was a large piece in the center of it all. It looked like a large square arena, with many square subsections carved out of white polished marble stone, and two podium like structures at both ends. The entire square structure was flanked by small, foot-high walls, and four strange stone statues carved in the shape of dragons perched over and carrying gemstones in their front claws. “Look at all these games!” gasped Rainbow Dash excitedly, “I gotta try some of them.” “We're not here to mess with the games,” urged Applejack, “we gotta find Trixie and talk to her.” “Yeah yeah, well, I'm more likely to see her if I sit down and play some cards,” chuckled Rainbow Dash, going over to a counter to buy some chips. “I guess we could all play a little bit while we look,” said Techorse, smiling, getting the urge himself to have a little fun. “Then let's enjoy ourselves, and try to find Trixie!” said Rainbow Dash, “It'll go a ton faster if we have a good time.” “Rainbow Dash is right,” agreed Twilight, smiling, “if we blend in, we'll see her as we explore the resort. Just make sure you let me know if you see her first, ok?” “Sure!” answered the peagsus, not really paying attention as she reached the head of the line to get her basket of playing chips. Applejack looked around as her friends all split up to go do their own things, and realized she was left alone standing in the middle of the room. She decided she was going to go sit at the front near the stage and wait for her friends to be done, as she had no interest in the games. Techorse and Twilight had gotten themselves a bucket of playing chips and headed into the center of the room to check out the structure that was being tended to by a white pegasus pony wearing a yellow hard hat. He had opened a hatch behind one of the dragon statues, and seemed to be working with a set of stones and wiring. “Hello!” said Twilight Sparkle to the repair worker, “Can you answer a question for me?” “'Sure miss,” he answered, slamming the door on the statue, “What can I do for you?” “Well, what is this thing?” she asked cheerfully, “I noticed when I got here that a lot of ponies were talking about it, but I'm still trying to figure out what it is.” The engineer smiled and petted the statue with his left wing, “This here is the resort's brand new attraction and the only one of its kind in Equestria. It's a magic-display hex-powered holographic Dragon's Tower gaming system.” Twilight's eyes grew wide and a bright smile overtook her face in awe, “Wow! You mean, this is a game powered by magic?!” “Yup, two hundred and ten runes powering a holographic display system that reads the game cards and projects what's going on right onto the stone tiles below,” he said, “course, only tournament players are gonna get to play a game of Dragon's Tower on it. Tomorrow's the grand opening tourney.” Techorse was highly impressed by the idea of a magical system projecting holograms and running code for a game instead of a computerized system, and inspected the statues carefully to see if he could get a hint as to how it worked. “So what's Dragon's Tower?” asked Techorse, “Sounds like a fun game, but I've never heard of it.” The pegasus tried to answer his question as best as he could, “It's the most popular card and board game combination in Salt Lick City, and maybe even Equestria someday!” “Well, how do you play?” asked Twilight, curious about seeing the system in action. “You're in luck, there's a demo explaining the rules tonight!” he answered, laughing, “Be here at ten you two, and you're in for a great time! I guess you could also try playing it with some of the other patrons here against the house. Good luck!” The engineer left them there, Twilight still amazed at the magic technology hybrid system in front of her. But she had a goal to finish, and stepped away from the arena. “Let's come back at ten, Tech!” she said, “We can play together later.” “All right sweetheart!” he answered, grabbing her tail with his as they walked into the depths of the gaming floor. While Rainbow Dash was off trying to win herself an interesting prize to show off to the ponies back home in Ponyville, Applejack would have none of the games or activities herself. She had simply plopped herself down on a nice sofa near the bar area, and removed the recipe book she intended to show her distant relative from underneath her stetson hat. While she turned the pages for a good hour, going over each different apple-based goodie, she listened in on some beautiful piano music in the lounge. The smooth notes relaxed the busy atmosphere of the gaming center, and it provided a good way for Applejack to take her mind off of her worries about the place. She was rather impressed by the jazz and how soft it was despite how hard it must have been to play piano in such a distracting place, and she looked up from her book to see who was playing. In the corner of the bar area sat a black grand piano, a silver chalice balanced on end being used as a tip jar. The white-coated unicorn pony playing the massive instrument was wearing a pair of sunglasses over his eyes, his horn glowing a soft orange as he moved a sheet of music over to make room for the next one seamlessly as he used a combination of hooves and magic to hit the keys just right. Black messy mane hair spilled over the sides of his head, striped with soft white, to match his tail. The stallion finished playing his piece, and Applejack approached his piano, smiling. She took out a gold bit from under her hat and tossed it into his chalice. “Why thank you very much, lady,” he said, moving his sunglasses to reveal his chestnut brown eyes. “You're welcome! It's great hearin' something besides ponies shoutin' about the games in here,” she said. The unicorn pony shuffled off of the piano bench to greet her properly, revealing his cutie mark, a set of three white and two black piano keys with a red eighth note over the top, “Yeah, no kidding. Not easy playing with all the yelling. I doubt they're evening listening to my music.” “Well, I sure am!”, she said encouragingly, “Name's Applejack.” “Nice to meet ya, I'm Flaming Ivory,” he answered. Applejack remembered that she had tipped him, and worried again about the bellhop who had refused his tip. She decided to ask Flaming Ivory about it in case something really was wrong with the resort. “Are you one of the resort's workers?” she asked. Flaming Ivory shook his head, “Nah, but this is a horrible gig. Pay's not that great, and I hardly ever get any tips.” He noticed her frown, unaware that it was because his answer hadn't helped her learn if the employees at the resort were hiding a secret. Instead, he believed she was frowning because he wasn't doing very well at the resort. “Ah, but don't worry about me,” he continued, rubbing the back of his neck with a hoof, “sooner or later someone else will pick me up and I'll be doing concerts for the big bits!” Applejack nodded, “With that kind of talent, ahm sure you will, Flaming! I've got some friends here I've been trying to pull away from the games. Maybe your music will help 'em slow down a bit.” Flaming Ivory smiled, “Well let's go find your friends while I'm on break, it'd be nice to finally know some ponies around here. None of the other guests pay any attention to me.” It was slightly tempting to Applejack to peer into the chalice to see if her coin was the only one, but she dismissed the idea as rude, and led Flaming Ivory to go locate her friends. She found Techorse and Twilight Sparkle observing a game of Dragon's Tower, attempting to figure out the rules by watching others play. Rainbow Dash was nearby, having already won a sizable pile of credits to redeem, much to the jealousy of some of the other ponies. Clearly, more effort was being put into having a great time than trying to locate Trixie, and Applejack decided to bring this up. “Hey Techie, Twilight!” she said, “Just found a new friend over by the bar. His name's Flaming Ivory, you wanna introduce yourselves?” The words “new friend” gained Twilight's attention, who turned with Techorse to meet the new pony. “Hello!” she answered, smiling at him, “Nice to meet you, my name's Twilight Sparkle, this is my coltfriend Techorse, and over there cleaning out the table is Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow Dash looked up momentarily from her card game and waved before returning to her opponents. “What? Twilight Sparkle, Techorse, and Rainbow Dash? The Element Holders? The guys who beat the stuffing out of those aliens a while back?” he asked, astonished. Rainbow Dash heard the compliment and got out of her chair after cashing out from the game, and approached the stallion, “I know, right? Pretty awesome, but it's what we do.” Techorse asked Rainbow Dash, “Are you sure you wanted to leave your game like that Rainbow? It looked like you had quite the pile of prize credits going there.” “Well, I'm taking a break, I have a nice cold strawberry tonic coming!” she answered, scraping at the ground with her hoof as if winning was nothing to her. One of the prize credits in the bag fell out, the square chip landing on the floor softly. Flaming Ivory noticed to stray in-house currency, and offered to pick it up for Rainbow Dash. “Whoops, you dropped a credit, let me get that for you,” he said, charging his horn. As his horn glowed orange, his eye color suddenly changed from brown to the same orange color, startling Techorse and Rainbow Dash as he picked up the chip and moved it back into the neck of Rainbow Dash's saddle bag. Twilight Sparkle's eyes twinkled with absolute delight, she knew exactly what was going on with their new acquaintance. “Oh my goodness! You have Magika Irdiocrhomia!” Flaming Ivory tilted his head in confusion, not knowing what she was talking about. He then remembered he wasn't wearing his sunglasses to hide his condition, and his ears sank back in embarrassment. “Sorry Flaming, Twilight loves to speak egghead a lot,” joked Rainbow Dash, snickering at the nerdy phrase. “What's that phrase mean Twilight?” questioned Techorse, curious. Twilight swished her tail merrily and answered, “It's a rare condition I've read about in one of my medical books. It only affects one in every ten thousand unicorns, and even then, it's not usually that acute. The condition's only symptom and namesake is the unicorn's eyes changing color when using spells.” Flaming Ivory tried to put his sunglasses back on, “I'm a freak, I know...” “But your condition is benign, and really interesting!” protesting Twilight, demanding he take his sunglasses back off again, “You ought to feel special.” “Well I didn't exactly fit in at school because of it, I'll put it that way,” he answered, removing his glasses, “but I'm glad you guys like it.” “It's neat!” declared Rainbow Dash, legitimately taking interest. “I've never met anypony who thought it was that cool,” he answered, “but I really do appreciate it, guys. Want to head back to the bar for some music?” Rainbow Dash was starting to wonder what was taking her strawberry tonic so long, and she impatiently tapped her front hoof, looking around for the nearest waitress. She heard grumbling as a pony pushed her way through the crowd playing the games, making her way through until she reached the area where Twilight and her friends were standing. It was Trixie, carrying her strawberry tonic on a tray floating near her via magic. The pale blue mare was wearing a white feathery cap and a white dress, obviously serving as a visual perk for ordering one of the drinks. She met Rainbow Dash's eyes, and knew immediately the drink was for her, letting out a subtle gasp. “Trixie?!” asked Rainbow Dash. Twilight and her friends turned around from Flaming Ivory, who tried to peer over the top of the others. Trixie Lulamoon and Twilight stared at each other for a few seconds. Twilight smiled brightly and started to walk up to Trixie to greet her, but Rainbow Dash ruined the mood. “Trixie's a showmare?” she snickered. Rainbow Dash burst out laughing and rolled onto the floor, kicking her legs and gaining the attention of several of the ponies in the room. Trixie blushed, lowering the tray to the ground, and slowly trying to slink off with her ears and tail lowered underneath the ridiculous dress. She vanished into the crowd, shame in her eyes. “Trixie, wait!” called Twilight, concerned for her. “Rainbow Dash!” snapped Applejack, “Now you've gone and made her upset. Shame on you!” The pegasus got up from the floor and cleared a tear from her eye with her left wing, “Heh, I'm sorry. It's just, so funny to see that pest get what she deserves for going after Techorse and nearly smashing Ponyville to bits! You can't just let that slide.” Techorse joined in on berating Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow, I told you I forgave her. Seems the only pony not letting anything slide is you.” Rainbow Dash realized that she had several pairs of angry eyes directed at her, except for Flaming Ivory, who was thoroughly confused by the situation. She looked around a bit sheepishly, as her outburst had gotten her several mean looks even from the random guests at the resort. “Think it's funny laughing about her job?” called one of the patrons, “Would like to see you try it.” “H.. hey!” she answered, angry. Twilight Sparkle looked Techorse in the eyes and told him,”I'm going after Trixie. I'll find out what's wrong, and why she's not doing her magic shows here.” “Good luck Twilight,” he responded, nodding. Twilight galloped off into the depths of the crowd in hopes of finding Trixie again. As her striped tail disappeared behind a gaming table, Techorse turned back to Flaming Ivory. “So, you're a musician?” asked Techorse. “Yup, piano,” he answered. “Can we listen to you play? I think we need to get out of here before Rainbow Dash gets into more trouble,” he asked, pointing to the patrons glaring at the mare. Flaming Ivory pointed over to his piano on the opposite side of the room, “Grab her and let's go. We'll smooth things over with some music!” Twilight exited the resort through one of the fire doors located on the sides of the building, and caught up to Trixie, who had removed her stupid looking dress and discarded it in a nearby wooden crate. She was facing away from Twilight, trying to keep her away. “Trixie, please!” pleaded the lavender mare, holding out a hoof,” I came here to help you.” Trixie slowly turned around, fixing her white mane with her magic, “Why did you come here Twilight Sparkle?” Twilight Sparkle answered with a confident look, “Because you stopped writing me, Trixie. I figured something had gone wrong. Every time you had a successful magic show or made a new friend, I heard about it from your letters.” She simply answered in a snippy manner, “Trixie wrote those letters to avoid arrest. Princess Celestia was going to have me locked up if she heard about what had happened in Techorse's castle.” “But that's not true, I told Princess Celestia what you did, and she agreed that it was better if you were free. We knew you had suffered, and wanted you to change,” argued Twilight, “plus, I was kind of hoping that we could...” “Could what?” she asked indignantly. “Be... friends?” asked Twilight, smiling gently and giving her a kind look. Trixie felt a tinge of emotion welling up in her eyes, but she held it back, and coughed. She wasn't about to get emotional in front of Twilight Sparkle, her “nemesis”. Twilight continued, “Please, we can leave and help you find work elsewhere.” She was relieved that Twilight had provided a way out of the question, “Leaving is impossible.” “What? Why?” asked Twilight, a little annoyed. Trixie pointed behind her, “Because of her.” Twilight turned around, and found herself facing the owner of the resort, being flanked by two burly stallions working security detail. She was a unicorn mare like herself, about the same size, and white in color, with soft red mane hair that flowed straight. She wore two tiny white earrings shaped like dice, and a blue dress that better suited a spy trying to stay undercover than an owner. Her cutie mark, barely exposed under the end of the dress, was a playing card with a heart on it, matching the fountain out front of the resort. “Excuse me m'am,” said the unicorn mare with a hint of french in her voice, and rather cross, “conversing with the employees outside of the building is prohibited.” Twilight Sparkle answered nervously, “Oh? Didn't know.” The owner continued, “Who are you anyways? Normal guests don't run after employees like this.” “I'm Twilight Sparkle,” she said, answering honestly. The owner smiled in surprise, “Ah, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's 'prize student'. It's an honor, I guess.” Twilight wondered how High Stakes had known the princess, but decided that was best asked later and simply decided to ask, “Thanks. Now, who are you?” She flipped her mane hair in response, “High Stakes, owner of the Stained Glass Resort.” Twilight Sparkle oohed and asked, “The famous card player? You own this resort? I thought you still liked to play games for prizes.” “Oh I still love a good game miss Sparkle, but ownership of your own gaming parlor is where the money is these days,” she answered, glad to be connecting on a topic she liked. The security guards could clearly see their boss was going to have a friendly conversation with Twilight, and so left them alone, entering back through the alleyway. “So what are you doing out here with Trixie?” asked High Stakes. “Trixie hasn't written me in ages, and seems to be serving drinks. She's an illusionist, not a waitress,” explained Twilight, “I think there must be some kind of mistake, she's supposed to be performing up on that stage you have.” “I assure you there's no mistake here,” answered the owner, smirking and smiling, “Trixie Lulamoon signed a contract with me when she got here to work her way up to performing on stage. She still has quite the debts to pay off before I let her.” “Debts?” asked Twilight. High Stakes laughed as Trixie hung her head in shame, “Ha, she didn't tell you? Trixie couldn't make any money after wrecking a small town she went to, so she racked up thousands of bits in debts in order to survive. She was running from the debt collectors when she came here, like so many of my employees. So I had them sign a contract. I'll pay the debt collectors, if they'll stay here and work under my terms. It's cheaper than hiring actual wait staff for sure.” Twilight Sparkle got angry, and sternly told High Stakes, “So you've enslaved them?” “Hardly,” she answered in a snooty voice, walking past Twilight and approaching Trixie, “my employees would be in jail for unpaid debts if it wasn't for me settling their bills. I merely ask for fair compensation. I suppose they could run away if they wanted to, at the risk of being caught by the royal guard. But hey, I love a good gamble.” She hugged Trixie quickly, whose skin seemed to crawl at the false gesture of concern. “That's indentured servitude,” growled Twilight, “which is illegal under Equestrian law.” “So's failure to pay off debts, it's fraud,” countered the owner, “go ahead and summon your princesses, Twilight. They'll send Trixie, and all the other employees here to prison. If I go down, they go with me.” Twilight Sparkle tried to think of something to say, but she knew that High Stakes wasn't joking. If she tried to get Princess Celestia or Luna to help them, chances are the employees would be investigated for their debts, and would get into serious trouble. High Stakes started to walk back inside and said sternly, “Get your outfit back on, Lulamoon, and get back to serving drinks. As for you, Sparkle, I expect you and anypony else with you to be off my property soon if you're not planning on paying for anything here.” “Don't worry, we've bought a room,” she answered through gritted teeth. “Excellent, and don't forget about the demonstration of Dragon's Tower. It's my new favorite game,” she said, “Maybe it'll help you forget about this little moment.” High Stakes smirked and entered the building again, leaving the two other mares out in the alley. “Trixie appreciates you trying, but I'm stuck here for good. She deserves it for her terrible deeds to you and Techorse,” she answered, going back to put on her dress. “Trixie, you know that's not true, and please keep the dress off,” said Twilight, “we're going to get you out of here, and I think High Stakes has given me the answer.” “How?” she asked. “We need to go get the others,” answered Twilight, opening the door, “but I have an idea.” Trixie looked at the white dress in her hooves, and nodded with hope in her eyes before discarding it permanently in a nearby trash can. She followed Twilight Sparkle back into the Stained Glass Resort, silently pleading that there was a way out for her and all the others trapped there. To be continued...