Trixie is walking. It’s all she has left.
She remembers having more once, but that was a long time ago.
A lifetime ago.
Her lifetime.
Trixie keeps on walking, through what once was Equestria. Not anymore.
Trixie is now very old and she’s been walking for a long time. Trixie has walked hundreds of thousands of kilometers across Equus. Across the realms. Trixie has seen the light of suns in every scale of the spectrum, each shining brighter than the previous one. All of them now extinguished, leaving an endless darkness that is Trixie’s domain.
Trixie has seen the rise of ponykind beyond what many thought possible. She bore witness to the old world falling apart slowly, fighting against extinction, and saw it rally, to beat back the inevitable, only to fall into ruin once more. Trixie saw the best and the worst of ponies and the like as life refused to go gently into that long night. But at the end of life’s day, death took over and Trixie is now all that stands to witness Equus’ last twilight.
Twilight.
Trixie remembers that name. That’s all she can do now. Rejected in life and denied the peaceful rest of death, Trixie now wanders among the little that’s left, alone, remembering.
Forever.
“Gah!” Trixie woke up. That wasn’t the first time she had that nightmare. Ever since she was pulled back from the realm of death, Trixie has had the same thought, over and over:
“What if I can’t die?”
Trixie shook her head to get rid of the poisonous thought. Even if it was true, she still had friends to help her along the way.
“Friends who can, and will die. Eventually.”
No, she shouldn’t let herself fall into the abyss like that. Trixie has already been there and she knew nothing good came from the darkness. She shook her head once again in an effort to fully rid herself of the feelings. She decided against going back to sleep and got up. Maybe, if it was early enough, she could surprise Twilight by cleaning the library. Or maybe breakfast again for all of them. After all, she owned it to Twilight for letting Lightning Dust crash there. Granted, it was Twilight’s idea to let her stay and Lightning did promise it wouldn’t be more than two weeks until she could get a stable job.
Anyways, cleaning would also give Trixie something to do while the others woke up. With her resolve ready, Trixie tried to get out of the bed, but she couldn’t move her back legs. They felt as if they were stuck. She looked down and realized she was already on the flo--
“Oh,” Trixie muttered. Somehow, in her sleep, she crawled up to the roof and slept hanging by her back legs. At least that’s how it looked.
So much had changed since Trixie first came to Ponyville.
She grimaced and tugged at her claws again before giving in and looking up at the floor in resignation.
“Now how is Trixie going to get down from here…” she muttered.
“You sure you want to do this, Dust? It’s not too late to walk away.”
“‘Course not, Dash. We both know we need this.” She bit the teeth protector. “Aso, I on’t ike t’e easy way out.”
“Alright,” Rainbow bit her protector too. “It’s on!”
*Ding!*
Lightning attacked first, rushed but not reckless, moving from side to side. The moment she was in range, she released the hit from her right hoof. Rainbow couldn’t dodge it in time so she had to cross both of her hooves to stop it. Lightning threw all her weight in that punch, forcing Rainbow backwards. Rainbow replied immediately, throwing three hits in rapid succession, all of them hitting their marks. Lightning had to retreat to avoid the fourth one.
She came back straight away, jumping in the air and falling with her left hoof towards Dash. Rainbow dodged it and, once again, assaulted Lightning with a series of quick hits. This time however, Lightning was prepared and managed to block most of them. She ended up grabbing Rainbow’s left hook and spun around to throw her away. But Rainbow held on too, using her wings to force the spinning more than Lightning expected getting them both off balance as they separated.
Pretty much like with the Dizzytron, both of them recovered the balance immediately, but Rainbow was ever so quicker and landed a clean hoof on Dust’s chest. She had to retreat, slowly as they both locked gazes. Lightning smiled at Rainbow, dusting off her chest. She went back at it, straightforward this time. Both of them exchanged hits and blocks until Lightning got the upper hoof by hitting Rainbow’s side. Rainbow was knocked back a few paces holding her ribs. Lightning held back, circling.
“Come on, Dash,” the turquoise pegasus growled. “Stop holding back.”
“Holding back? Hey, I’m not the one that hits like a little filly.”
Lightning snarled and launched herself into the air, intending to dive-bomb her opponent. Rainbow never gave her a chance, intercepting her mid dive and landing a devastating blow on her muzzle. Lesser ponies would have been knocking out to their air from that blow, but Lighting Dust was certainly not that. She pulled herself up at the last second, looping back to re-engage, much to the cheers of everypony watching.
“What the hay!” Twilight shouted as she entered the Weather Team’s gym and saw Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust in full fighting gear over the ring. Most of Ponyville’s pegasi population was there, either sitting down or hovering around the ring, all loudly cheering on the two competitors.
Nopony seemed to notice her or Spike, who seemed inappropriately entertained over the fight. Twilight’s first reaction was to go and stop the fight, but as she pushed her way through the crowd, she found Applejack, Trixie and Pinkie Pie on the front row. In a way that couldn’t make any sense to Twilight, they were cheering.
“Come on, Rainbow!” Applejack punched the air. “Show ’er how we get things done in Ponyville!”
“Trixie had to vouch for you!” Trixie’s growl-like voice came from under her mask. “So don’t screw it up, Lightning!”
“Loud noises!” Pinkie joined them.
“Girls!” Twilight shouted at them, getting the trio’s attention. “What are you--” She looked back at the ring, where Rainbow and Lightning were grappling with each other in midair, their wings beating furiously as each tried to overpower their opponent. “What is even going on?!”
“Twilight, Spike.” Trixie greeted them by waving them over with her paws. “Get over here, it’s almost over.” She and Applejack moved aside so the others could sit down. However, Twilight stood still in front of them, glaring at her friends. She was about to admonish them further only to be interrupted by Spike.
“Come on, Dash!” he cheered, jumping up and down on the bench next to Applejack. “Are you going to let her do that to Equestria’s greatest flyer?”
Twilight turned and looked back up and at the ring. Lightning had managed to twist herself around in the grapple, but that only allowed Rainbow to get her into a headlock. The blue pony was getting a rapid series of elbows to the ribs for her trouble.
Grumbling unhappily, Twilight took a seat within the mob of ponies. She vowed to give Rainbow an earful when this was all over.
Lightning’s writing and hitting eventually broke Rainbow’s grip on her, but when she turned and tried for an uppercut, she was instead met with a pair of vicious jabs to the head that stunned her and allowed Rainbow to deliver her coup de grâce, an overhead strike that knocked her out of the air and sent her thudding onto the canvas of the ring below.
*Ding!*
“Alright, time’s up!” Twilight looked over and saw it was Blossomforth manning the ring’s bell and that it was she that had called out. The pinkish-grey pegasus flew up between the two fighters. “Match is over everypony!” She looked between Dash and Dust. “You two good with that?” Both were panting heavily, Lightning staggering to her hooves in the ring below and pulling her wings back. Still, both gave nods of assent. Blossomforth nodded back and loudly addressed the crowd. “Looks like we’re done here and matters have been settled. I’d like to thank everypony for coming and witnessing this! Have a good day, all!”
Twilight could only stand and gape as the room around her erupted into cheers and applause again, ponies shouting congratulations to both Rainbow and Lightning for the match. She was even more surprised to see Rainbow land next to the still woozy looking Lightning Dust and pat her fellow pegasus on the withers, trying to steady her. Trixie, Applejack, Pinkie and Spike had started climbing into the ring and Twilight rushed to keep up with them.
“Look Dust, are you sure you’re alright?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah, it’s all good now,” Dust replied, taking a towel from Pinkie and wiping off her bloody nose with it. “I just need a nice cold beer and I’ll be fine.”
“Heh, you buy me a cider and we’ll call it even,” Rainbow replied with a good, solid swat on the back. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to Berry.”
The two fighters were surrounded by Dash’s friends, Spike riding on Pinkie Pie, and swiftly led out of the ring. The only two left were a still-befuddled Twilight Sparkle and an amused Trixie, the latter swishing her long tail about behind her.
“Trixie...” Twilight’s voice had that high pitch, near panicked tone it got whenever she didn’t understand something. “What, in the name of Celestia’s shoe just happened?!”
“Heh, pegasi. That’s what happened,” Trixie told her, her amusement clear despite her gravelly voice. She chucked at Twilight’s still confused look and beckoned her towards the door. “Have you looked much into pegasi culture?” Trixie asked once they were both outside.
“Some,” Twilight told her. “I know they’re still predominantly nomadic, thanks to their settlements being cloud based. Clouldsdale and its weather factory are of course the most well known on this coast, though other cities around Equestria perform similar functions for their regions. Historically, the tribe was the most militaristic, often remembered for extorting food from earth ponies in exchange for optimal weather in which the earth ponies could grow food, or in the worst cases, keeping the weather fair so that food even would grow. Wait, hold on.” Twilight pointed back to the library. “This way, I want to update your measurements today before I forget.” Having reoriented themselves, Twilight continued, “But what does pegasi culture have to do with what happened here today?”
“Well, for starters, pegasi have a real penchant for theatricality.” She shot Twilight a smirk. “They like to ham it up.” Trixie sighed wistfully. “Sometimes I wonder if Trixie is a pegasus inside of a unicorn.” Through the mask’s eyeholes, Twilight could see Trixie’s eyes gleaming mischievously. “And, as you said, there’s also the part of pegasi still holding to centuries-old martial tradition…”
Trixie suddenly stopped talking when they passed by Berry’s stand at the market. Twilight looked at Trixie and realized she was standing still, looking at something. She turned around completely and saw what was distracting Trixie; Berry and Ruby were promoting their newest batch of wine. The green bottles has a new label picturing a dark blue silhouette of a pony with red eyes and claws under the name ‘Night Devil’. She gulped at the sight and looked back at Trixie, but she had already made her way over to the stand.
“So…” Twilight heard Trixie’s low voice reverberating with the metal of her mask. “This is how Trixie will be immortalized?” Trixie picked up one of the bottles between her paws, turning it over and over, her claws rasping on the glass.
Twilight gasped as she tried to come up with a way to avert the impending conflict, but it was too late.
“Berry!” Trixie called out. “Explain to Trixie the meaning of this!”
Behind the stand Berry Punch had been talking with her sister, Cheerilee, when Trixie’s demand for explanations was heard. She winced and went over to Trixie, her ears folded down sheepishly. Berry opened her mouth to explain, only to have the words dry up on her tongue from the heat of the glare Trixie was giving her. They stood there, in front of each other, without moving a muscle. It wasn’t the first time Berry would face an angry customer, but due to her mask, Trixie’s face was inscrutable. A silence settled around the booth, the only noise being the clicking Trixie’s claws one by one against the bottle’s glass surface. The other ponies around them stopped what they were doing to see the scene unfold.
*click* *click* *click*
“Well?” Trixie spoke again. “Trixie is waiting.”
“I…” Berry began.
“Trixie, do you like my drawing?!” A third, more energetic voice joined them, breaking the tension.
“Ruby?” Trixie looked down in surprise. If it wasn’t for her nerves being steeled in the weeks she lived around Pinkie Pie, she would have dropped the bottle. “You… made this drawing… of Trixie?”
“Yeah, you like it?” Ruby Pinch seemed too proud of her own work to notice the red glimmer coming from the mask’s eyes. Trixie let out a sigh and looked back at the silhouette drawn in the bottle.
“Any special reason to call Trixie a devil?”
“Cool, isn’t it?” Ruby started to bounce around Trixie, her tail swishing behind her merrily. “Mamá promised me I could name and brand my own wine when I could make a decent batch.” She took another bottle out of the stand. “At first, I was stuck on the name, but then I saw that awesome devil tail you had when you came to apologize to mamá the other day.” Trixie looked back at the aforementioned tail, which in fact looked pretty devilish. “So I thought ‘Hey! That’s something neat to name a wine after!’ and bam! I had it.” She stopped her bouncing right in front of Trixie, standing tall and prideful in front of her. “I figured if Great Grandma could name hers after Princess Luna, I could name mine after you!”
“…” A soft breeze ran over the two of them.
On the one claw, Trixie wanted to set fire to the drawing on the bottle. But on the other claw, she appreciated the filly’s effort and didn’t have the heart (probably literally) to say anything bad about it. On a third claw, she missed the ability to get drunk. But back on the previous two claws, the more Trixie thought about it, the more she realized the drawing wasn’t that bad. Heck, if one of her mentors went through life being dubbed ‘Hell’s Blazer’ then she could deal with being called ‘Night Devil’. Couldn’t she?
“Yeah…” She began, setting the bottle back over the counter. “I guess it is a good drawing, after all.” She adjusted the mask over her face and then took off her roani hat. Trixie put a gloved claw inside it and drew out a bag of coins. “Alright Ruby, Trixie will buy herself a bottle of her own wine.” She looked at Berry, who had stopped sweating bullets. “And you, how much is the bottle?”
“Ah, we’re just starting, so it’s at an introductory price until demand rises.” Berry explained. “It will only be five bits.”
“WHAT?!” Trixie’s howl was heard across Equestria.
“That could have gone better,” Twilight said once they finished shelving all the wine Trixie bought. “I still can’t believe you just bought the entire batch just to ‘raise demand’.” Twilight thought about it for a moment. “Where did you get the money to do that anyway?”
“From you!” Trixie said happily while opening one bottle with her tail as corkscrew. “It was what was left from what you gave me the other day.”
“Trixie,” Twilight growled. “That money was supposed to last a month, not a day!”
“And tomorrow starts the next month,” Trixie took off her mask, showing off her smug grin. “So the money’s purpose was fulfilled.” She raised the bottle in a toast. “Trixie obeys the letter of the law, if not the spirit.”
“I…” Twilight sputtered. “You…” However, her brain got stuck on the logic paradox used against her. “Look, just… let’s go to the living room.” She hastily went for the stairs. “I really need to update your medical chart.”
Trixie followed, her devil’s tail wrapped around the neck of her bottle of devil’s wine. She surprised herself trying to suppress her laughter. That wasn’t something the old Trixie would have done in this situation. But then again, the old Trixie had legally died in a lonely road, selling her soul for power. Trixie recounted how much things had changed because of that and, despite it all, how they had actually changed for the better, at least once she got to actually know Twilight and the others. All in all, in the deepest and darkest side of Trixie, she liked her life now.
Instinctively, Trixie put a paw over the restraining collar around her neck. Suddenly, she also felt the weight of the restraining ring in her horn too. Restrainers, designed to keep the Alicorn Amulet’s corruption at bay, at the cost of her own magic. It had been barely a month, but for her, it felt like a year already. Free, but still trapped. That was a feeling Trixie despised with all her being. The sole idea of not being permitted to do all she could was suffocating. Trixie could feel the anger rising inside her as she trotted. The relentless fire of rage consuming any other thought...
Except…
Except for her friends. She had friends now, and somehow, that was almost as good, maybe better than having her magic. Trixie didn’t want to admit it to herself, but her magic was a fair price for keeping her friends safe. She could live exist without it.
“Here.” Twilight’s voice cut Trixie’s train of thought. “Let’s start with the weight first.” Trixie looked back at Twilight, who levitated a scale in front of her. “And while we’re at it, why don’t you finish telling me what the hay was going on at the gym?”
“Alright,” Trixie stepped on the machine. “As Trixie was saying, the pegasi are still a very martial tribe.” While she talked, Twilight took off her clothes with magic. “Despite being centuries since the unification of the tribes, they still glorify the concepts of army and military order. I guess that’s one good reason Trixie wouldn’t really fit as a pegasus, despite their other qualities.”
“Wait,” Twilight scribbled Trixie’s weight, which was surprisingly high, even with her altered size. “Rainbow Dash isn’t like that!”
“Maybe,” Trixie shrugged while stepping off the scale. She trotted over to the mirror Twilight had set up during their initial research. “But she grew up in Cloudsdale, so she was exposed to all of that.” Trixie admired her reflection for a moment. Despite being taller, her face’s features were thinner. “That implies she knows the old customs her tribe holds so dearly.” She opened her mouth, examining how all of her teeth were now pointed. Trixie ran her tongue over them, confirming they were as sharp as the mirror suggested. She made a sharp “Grk” as Twilight used her magic to keep her mouth open and get her own poke inside.
“So, what happened there?” Twilight went next to Trixie with a measuring tape. “You said it was some kind of pegasi-only thing after all.”
“Let’s call it a ritual. It was all Lightning’s idea.” Trixie extended her left foreleg first. “The way it works is that the parties with a grievance or disagreement against each other come together and are given an opportunity to work out their frustrations or animosity in the ring.” She saw Twilight measuring her barrel, but the feeling of it was numbed. “The rest of the community bears witness to the fight to ‘officiate’ it.” Trixie noticed how, despite getting most of her senses back, she was still having problems with feeling touch. “Once the fight is over, the matter is considered resolved, both parties are welcomed back to the community, and harmony is restored.”
“Wow, I’m impressed, Trixie. I didn’t know you knew so much about pegasi,” Twilight admitted as she loosely wrapped the tape measure around Trixie’s neck.
“You can thank Rainbow Dash for that,” Trixie informed Twilight as the purple unicorn moved on to take measurements of Trixie’s back half “After she got the best of Trixie, just before Pinkie’s welcoming party, Trixie dedicated a good many hours of her non-Amulet research time to looking into pegasi culture so that the same thing wouldn’t happen again.”
“So ancient tradition was the reason Lightning wanted to fight you back at the bar?” Twilight made one last measure from tail to head and began to write it down. “She wanted to settle things with you the only way she really knew how?”
“Heh, yeah…” Trixie said again, though this time sounding dejected and ending with a soft sigh. “That’s, uh, partly why I did what I did,” she confessed softly.
“What do you mean?” Twilight stopped taking notes to look at Trixie, who had her head low.
“Talking to Lightning in the bar there,” Trixie glanced up at Twilight and then looked back at the floor. “I realized just how alike the two of us really were. We both wanted to be the best and were heedless of our actions until they smacked us right in the face.” She chuckled darkly, almost back at her now-usual growl. “I forgave her because when Trixie was in her position, that’s what she needed somepony to do for her. After the incident with the Ursa, when I ran away from here, what Trixie really needed was for somepony to come after me, to stop her.” Trixie stopped talking, as if gathering the courage to go on.
“I needed somepony to tell me that while Trixie made a mistake, it didn’t mean I couldn’t try to amend it.” Twilight put a hoof over Trixie’s shoulder to support her. It wasn’t easy with Trixie’s height, but she needed it. “That ponies could forgive me for what happened, if I had the courage to ask and the sincerity to mean it.” She looked up and around the room, blinking several times to clear her eyes. “Things could have been so different if I didn’t let that once incident colour everything after.”
“You really think that Lightning Dust would have sought out some lost, powerful artifact in an effort to get revenge on Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked, a forced bemusement in her voice trying to lighten the mood.
“Ruby Bolt’s wingblades, Queen Steel Sky’s crown, Hurricane’s champron. How many other lost artifacts did our research turn up that were designed for pegasi to use?” Trixie gave Twilight a sad smile and shake of her head. “Trixie did it, she could believe other ponies could, too. Hell, even this thing,” she pointed at her chest, “can boost other pony types. It’s called the Alicorn Amulet for a reason.”
Twilight nodded slightly. She remembered one of the few scraps of information on the Amulet they had found was in a folk book. It told the tale of an artifact that could turn anypony into a god among mortals, at the price of their sanity. It was Twilight herself who considered the possibility of the book describing the Amulet. She was proven right when they found on the following page a crude drawing of a black triangle with wings and a red spot in the middle. As with many folk books, that one had no known author and the story never went into details about the Alicorn Amulet beyond its appearance in a short fable about the price of ultimate power.
“Then I’m glad you did the right thing,” Twilight congratulated Trixie with a pat in the back. Trixie looked up, meeting her smile. “Trixie, I’m proud of you.”
“I…” Trixie’s lip quivered. “Thank you.” She pounced at Twilight, trapping her in a bear hug. “Thank you for everything.”
Twilight gurgled inarticulately in response, trying her best to not be crushed by the half-demon pony who doubled her in height and weight. With inequine effort, she tried to tap on Trixie’s back to tell her to stop, but Trixie interpreted it as a friendly tap and kept it. She only broke the hug after Twilight’s tapping got quicker and more desperate. When they got away from each other, Twilight was gasping for air.
“Aaaaaaaaaa,” Twilight breathed in as much as she could. *cough* *cough* “Celestiagh--” *cough*
“Oh my stars, Twilight, I’m…” Trixie tried to apologize, but couldn’t find the words. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?” Twilight shot her a glare that could put Fluttershy to shame. “I know, standard question.” Trixie looked aside, scratching the back of her head behind her folded ears. “So…” As with a show, when in doubt, distract the audience. “How’s the medical chart doing?”
“Well…*cough*” Twilight’s voice was very soft. She reached out with her magic, floating up the notes she took. “Comparing it with Rarity’s measurements for your first outfit, you’ve got an almost thirty-seven-point-five percent increase in volume.” Trixie tilted her head while Twilight went on. “Which I suppose is good news. Unlike the last time, you’re no longer losing body mass.”
“So… Trixie is bigger and is staying like that?” She ventured.
“Indeed,” Twilight answered with a more consistent tone. “In fact,” she quickly ran up and down the pages of the notebook she was holding. “It seems the necroplasm’s higher density in comparison to blood has transferred to the rest of your body, making you heavier than the calculations predicted you should be at your volume.” As she went on, she was talking faster. “In conclusion, your body is denser than a standard equine one.”
“Twilight, Trixie has traveled throughout Equestria and prides herself in being a competent linguist,” she said that as a matter of fact. “And yet, she hardly understood a word you said.”
“Okay,” Twilight looked up from her notes. “It means you’re heavier than you should be--”
“Are you calling Trixie fat?!” she loudly exclaimed.
“No! No, absolutely not!” Twilight protested. She rubbed the back of her neck. “What I mean to say is that you’re denser than the average pony.”
“So Trixie is stupid now?”
“Trixie! Come on, you know that’s not what I mean.” Twilight bluntly answered, stamping her hoof. “What I mean is that your body -- your current body -- has been changed in a way that the material making it up is denser and heavier than normal equine bone and tissue. We’d have to do biopsies and examine the samples in more to get a clearer idea of exactly how you’ve changed, but it’s safe to say your entire anatomy is now almost wholly different from the equine one it started out as.”
“So, it’s true, isn’t it?” Trixie trotted past Twilight and towards the coatrack where her outfit was hanging. “Trixie is so far gone into the darkness,” she said while closing the vest and giving a hateful look at the markings of the Amulet in her chest. “She isn’t a real pony anymore.” Trixie closed the vest and quickly covered the rest of her body with the cape. She hadn’t felt the need to do that in a while.
“Now Trixie.” Twilight went to Trixie’s side. “What counts is what’s in the inside.” Trixie looked back at her. She already had the mask on. “And please, stop using that stupid mask, it’s not your face.” Twilight tried to pull the mask with magic.
“Neither is the one under the mask,” Trixie swung a gloved claw at the aura, somehow cutting the magical feed. “Or at least no more than the bones and muscle under that face.” She sighed in defeat, taking the mask off with her own claws and holding it high to examine it. Twilight recognized the pose from a famous theater play. “Truth is that Trixie died alone on road. I may share her name and memories, but beyond that, I’m a different animal.” Twilight trotted closer. “One that dreamed of once being a pony and now has woken up.” She suddenly threw the mask away. “Truth is… I don’t even know who or what I am anymore.” Two blackish green lines ran down Trixie’s face.
Without any warning, Twilight wrapped Trixie with her magic and pulled her closer while also turning her around to face her.
“You are Trixie Silverlight Lulamoon,” Twilight began in a dead serious tone. “You’re the daughter of Hope Pearlshine Lulamoon, born into the road and raised by the stars.” She put her hooves on Trixie’s shoulders. “You carry the legacy of the Roa and the teachings of your masters.” More black tears ran down, accompanied by Twilight’s own. “But overall, you are my friend.” Twilight hugged her. Trixie wanted to return the gesture, but she didn’t, afraid of hurting Twilight again. “And Spike’s and Pinkie’s and Rainbow’s and everypony’s.” Twilight pulled back to look at Trixie’s eyes. “None of that has anything to do with what you are or how do you look.”
“Twilight…” Trixie felt Twilight’s hooves caressing her face.
“So please,” she brushed Trixie’s forelock away to have a better look at her face. “Stop hiding yourself.”
“I…” She doubted for a second. “Trixie will.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Twilight let her go, smiling. “So, Trixie, there’s only one thing left to finish your medical chart.” She turned around and picked the notepad and the measuring tape. “Your horn.”
“Twilight, my friend,” Trixie said while picking up the mask and hanging it in the nail next to the library's entrance. “What the hay is up with you and measuring horns?!” Twilight looked back at Trixie, who had one eyebrow lifted high above the rest of her face.
“It’s a normal part of the unicorn body and a necessary measurement, like any other.” Twilight held her nose high as she approached with the measuring tape. “Now hold still.”
Trixie wanted to take the measuring tape and eat it, so Twilight couldn’t use it. But after the talk they just had, Trixie was willing to humor Twilight. Still, she felt very uncomfortable once the measuring tape made contact with her horn. Again, Trixie noticed how little touch she was feeling, even in such a sensitive area like an exposed piece of her own skull. Once she saw Twilight taking away the tape and scribbling down the results in her notebook, Trixie yanked her head away to prevent any other invasion of her personal, very personal space.
“Oh my,” Twilight whispered “Well, like the rest of you, it’s now rather larger than unicorn average…” She reviewed the previous notes she had. “It’s just too bad we can’t get an accurate comparison since somepony threw me against the wall when I tried before.” She gave Trixie a mean look.
“In Trixie’s defense,” she raised her claws in the air. “You approached her from behind without warning or even buying her dinner first.” She suppressed a small laugh. “I mean, you don’t go measuring unsuspecting ponies horns without even making small talk first.” Trixie had to press her mouth shut with her claws to avoid breaking into another of her laughs. After enough tests, and a full dive bar being emptied in less than a minute, she knew her laughter had some… interesting properties. “I me-mean *heh* you at least do the small talk first!”
“Har har, I get it, Trixie,” Twilight put the notepad aside. “But still, because of your outburst, now we have an incomplete medical chart and can’t do a truly accurate comparison.”
Trixie noticed how foul Twilight’s tone sounded, but could also tell she was poking fun back at Trixie, at least in her own way. Against her better judgement, and with a healthy mouthful of pride, she decided to tell Twilight the truth.
”Go friendship,” Trixie thought as she leaned over Twilight’s ear and whispered the length of her original horn before she wore the Alicorn Amulet.
“Oh! Th-thank you Trixie,” Twilight exclaimed, having been caught off guard by the gesture.
“Don’t mention it,” Trixie told her, wondering if it was possible to blush with necroplasm. She surely wasn’t feeling any warmer. “And Trixie means that literally.”
“That’s…” Twilight couldn’t help commenting as she wrote in the numbers. “That’s bigger than…” Trixie noticed how Twilight made a hint of touching her own horn with a hoof but quickly caught herself.
It seemed Trixie wasn’t the only one blushing now. “No way,” she muttered, her teeth appearing all at once in the smile that stretched across her muzzle. “Bigger than what, Twilight?”
“Ne-ne-never mind!” Twilight stammered back, her cheeks having gone unmistakably bright red.
Trixie couldn’t resist any longer and galloped to the bathroom, where she let out a howling bout of laughter that would have given any pony within earshot a cardiac arrest.
The day was drawing to a close when Twilight and Spike entered the kitchen.
“Hey Trixie, are you almost--” She took a second look at Trixie. “Wh-what are you doing?”
“Hm? Oh, Trixie is being more efficient. I thought that you, of all ponies, would appreciate that,” she explained before sliding over a stack of zucchini slices and starting on the next one.
“You’re using your claws… to slice vegetables?”
“Indeed.” Trixie lifted her paw and gave her claws an admired little wiggle before turning and waving them at Twilight and returning to her task. “Trixie found out, rather by accident, that being a good deal sharper than your kitchen knives, they make a better job of cutting and slicing.” She shot a look back over her shoulder. “I did wash up first, of course.”
“Well that’s… good, I suppose,” Twilight conceded as she watched Trixie make astonishingly short work of the vegetable before her. “Are you almost done?”
Trixie swept the slices into a bowl beside her with the rest of them. “I am now.” She nodded to Spike where he stood beside Twilight. “Prep is done, the rest is yours, my good dragon.”
“Thank you, Trixie.” Spike folded his paws together and pressed outwards, cracking his knuckles. “Now if you ladies would excuse me, it’s time for the master to get to work.” Trixie wasn’t sure where he pulled out the chef’s hat he put on, but it was probably the same place Pinkie kept her emergency party supplies.
The two mares chuckled indulgently as they exited the kitchen. Twilight nodded her head up the stairs. “Trixie, if you would come up to my room with me? There’s something I need to discuss with you.”
Trixie’s brow twitched with a frown, but she followed nonetheless. After they entered the room, Twilight shut the door behind them and went to stand next to her desk. Trixie couldn’t help notice the unfurled scroll on it, the broken seals not only that of the Solar crest, but the Lunar one as well.
“I received a message from the Princesses about an hour ago,” Twilight began. “It relates to you and your condition. Princess Celestia has an idea that she thinks could help but it’s… risky.” Twilight folded her ears back, seemingly unable or unwilling to look at Trixie directly. “She figures that it could take some time, several days or more, to prepare. Because of what it involves… during that time, the Princesses have asked that you not be in town. What we’re doing is risky enough as is, and we don’t want to introduce any unpredictable elements if we can avoid it. By the same token,” she rushed, before Trixie could say anything to object, “I don’t want Spike anywhere near Ponyville either. Same for Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. Now, I know that they’ve all been on a camping trip just a little while ago, but the rest of the girls and I feel that it would be best if they weren’t in town either.” She heaved a sigh. “Trust me, we’re going to have enough on our hooves to worry about without them.”
Trixie stood there a blinked for several seconds, trying to comprehend what she had just been told. “Wow, Twilight. I am… very humbled that the girls and you would trust Trixie enough to look after your little sisters and Spike like that.”
“They would. I would,” Twilight affirmed with a nod.
“Then Trixie shan’t let you down,” Trixie replied, standing straighter and prouder. “Though I must ask,” said Trixie, having realized the amazing irony of the situation. “What is it that the Princesses intend for Trixie that worries them enough to temporarily exile her from town?”
Twilight chewed her bottom lip, trying best to decide what to say. Eventually she asked, “Tell me, Trixie, what do you know about Discord?”