Marionettes

by Godzillawolf

Eyes Over My Shoulder

Commission: MLP: Marionettes
Chapter 1: Eyes Over My Shoulder
By Kendell2
Commission by Alexwarlorn

“Thank you! Thank you!” called the azure unicorn, standing atop a stage with applause from the crowd, purple cape and hat billowing. She bowed as her grand finale fireworks finally died down, the majestic rainbow waterfalls that gave Rainbow Falls its name flowing down behind her stage reflecting the light to improve the spectacle.

The cheers, the crowds. The claps (and clops, depending on the species in question). It made her feel like she was alive. Like there was electricity running through her. And any who knew Trixie knew she enjoyed every moment of it.

The showmare took one final bow. “Thank you for coming to see Trixie the Magnificent! Do have a safe trip home!”

The mare went backstage and pushed a button, causing the stage to cleanly fold up into her carriage. It'd taken her quite a long time to get enough bits to restore it to how it was before, but she would certainly never claim it wasn't worth it to have her life back.

The unicorn paused for a moment, thinking back on that statement. What had her life been like back then? Doing the same show over and over again more or less. Telling the Ursa Major story, waiting for naysayers to make a fuss, then challenging them to a rigged contest then tripping them up on their own special talents. Repeat on loop. She blinked at the realization she couldn't even remember how she came up with that silly Ursa story anymore.

Trixie gave a chuckle. “...My, uncreative one, wasn't I? Hehe...At least now I have an actual exciting tale to tell. And a newspaper to prove it.”

The mare gave a proud smile as she put a hoof to a framed newspaper clipping, the picture of herself, Applejack, Applebloom, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Babs Seed, along with the notorious thief Rough Diamond being loaded into a police cart.

“And the crowd simply adored it today. Another fantastic show Trixie, time to reward yourself with a nice, cold hay smoothie.”

The unicorn rarely found herself sweating, but she did heat up quite a bit from her performances and needed something to cool off after wards. Given it involved a large number of fireworks, it was little surprise.

“Ugh, am I really out?” she lamented, looking at her now empty cabinet that was normally stocked with various refreshments. “Well Trixie has been on her biggest tour yet, she supposes it's only natural she needs to restock.”

Trotting out, Trixie put up an 'Away' sign on the door to her cart and headed out...but nearly ran into an orange mare with a slightly darker orange mane and carrot Cutie Mark. When it clicked in her mind just who it was, her face contorted in a snarl. “You!”

Carrot Top blinked in confusion. “Um...yes?”

“Are you here to vandalize Trixie's cart and laugh at her again?!”

Orange Earth Pony blinked, taking a step back from the angry unicorn. “Um...I did that?”

“You don't even remember?!” Trixie focused and summoned an illusion of her second cart with a crudely spray painted Ursa on the side, the mare being laughed at by the same orange mare in front of her, as well as two others. While without her power being boosted by the Alicorn Amulet, the illusion wasn't quite as stable or smooth, but it got her point across. “Now do you remember?!”

The orange mare cocked her head, looking at the image with perplexed eyes. “I don't...are you certain it was me?”

“Who else could it be?!”

“Maybe a look alike?”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Oh really? Why should Trixie believe that?”

Carrot Top pointed nearby. Trixie followed her hoof to see two identical brown stallions with brown manes and hour glass cutie marks talking. The only difference was one was a Pegasus and the other an Earth Pony.

“Oh come on, tell me how it happens!” the Earth Pony asked.

“Sorry, spoilers,” replied the Pegasus with an amused expression.

“Ooookaaay...Trixie sees your point...just, well, that incident was part of the reason Trixie...you know...”

Carrot Top nodded slowly at the guilt in the unicorn's face. “At least you had a good reason, the other two tyrannical despots that tried to take us over were just psychopathic brutes...besides we've had to get used to a reformed Discord being a regular sight in Ponyville and the former Nightmare Moon visiting our dreams every night...I was mainly just going to compliment the show. You've gotten a lot better.”

Trixie gave a bow. “Trixie thanks you!...Wait, don't you live in Ponyville?”

“My sister Noi wanted to see Rainbow Falls again and she had today off, she loved your show though.”

Trixie gave a sincere smile. “Well, Trixie the Magnificent shall be stopping in Ponyville next, she shall see you then!”

As Trixie trotted off, she paused to give a confused look back. “I swear it was her...but she couldn't have forgotten a meeting with Trixie! Trixie's Trixie! She's rather hard to forget!”
---
The azure unicorn continued to trot towards the local grocery store...until music and the sound of cheering hit her ears. “Huh? Trixie didn't know any other performances were happening tonight...”

Standing on atop a nearby platform were two near identical light yellow unicorn stallions, each wearing a white and blue striped shirt with a big black bow tie. Their manes and tails were white and red and they both wore a straw hat, but one's Cutie Mark was a three-thirds of an apple with his twin's being the remaining slice, the former also having a mustache.

“Just step right up and test it out
You'll be satisfied we have no doubt
Can we hear everyone now shout it out?
The Peelcore Eight Thousand!” the twin brothers finished singing, several boxes standing behind them in a pyramid. The name of their device was on a plaque above them in big bold letters, and each were holding a strange crank powered device in their green telekinesis. Each of them stabbed an apple onto the end and cranked it rapidly, causing the apple to be peeled in perfectly and the core removed with most of the actual fruit untouched.

Trixie jumped back as the crowd swarmed the stage and bought up the strange devices...then gears started turning in her head. She recalled something Applejack had warned her about once and gave a glare to the two as the crowd dispersed with their purchased wares.

“Hey, you two!”

The brothers blinked, turning to the mare. “Hello there miss!” said the mustached stallion.

“Heard about our one of a kind, simple and easy, no mess Peelcore Eight Thousand?” the other brother asked.

“Trixie heard about you two constallions from a friend of hers,” Trixie said, feeling a bit proud of herself for catching them. Not that it was difficult when they were shouting their names loudly.

The twins looked at one another, then gave a chuckle. “We were constallions, but not any more,” Flam replied.

Flim nodded, then demonstrated their product again, peeling the apple perfectly fine. “Our patented Peel Core Eight Thousand is made from environmentally friendly recycled metal, with zero rust. Pick any of our ones at random, my dear. You won't find one spec of rust.”

Trixie kept her serious look and pulled one random box from the pile, opened it, and examined it incredibly closely. Not one tarnished bit of metal. She put it back and pulled another for examination, then another, and another. “But...How?!” Applejack said they'd scammed Ponyville last she heard!

“Simple, my dear, thanks to a dear friend of ours, we've gone straight,” Flam replied.

“Seen the light and made a switch,” Flim continued, both smiling conversationally.

Trixie gave a suspicious look. “Really? And when did THAT happen?”

Flam gave a nostalgic chuckle. “You see, my dear, my brother and myself had a bit of a falling out, a beautiful mare caught our eye.”

Flim gave a genuinely sad sigh. “Dreadful fight to be honest, would've been the end of the Flim Flam Brothers for sure...but then a wise mare named Granny Smith stepped in and helped us be brotherly again.”

“And after we'd done her and hers wrong twice, how could we not be moved by such kindness?” Flam continued, giving a shockingly genuine smile.

Trixie blinked. “Wait...Granny Smith, Applejack's grandmother?!”

“Indeed! You know Miss Applejack?”

Trixie gave a proud stance. “Trixie is a close friend of Applejack! Together we captured the infamous phantom thief Rough Diamond!”

“Well well then, looks like a friend of a friend, brother of mine,” was the mustached brother's reply. “We've actually buried the hatchet with the Apple Clan, mutually beneficial arrangement Miss Smith set us up with you see. We sell products that promotes the purchase of apples and apple products, and the Apple Family will help us advertise, so long as we're on the level of course.”

“And of course we get a lot more mileage out of our inventions,” the clean-faced brother continued. “Turns out you can sell a lot more of something without ponies calling the Guard on your ventures every three days or so.”

Trixie looked a bit suspicious. Was this turn merely a money grab? With a pair of, hopefully former, constallions, it was hard to tell. Trixie would know as a former hustler herself.

“Right...well, Trixie hopes you are being truthful, she has a haysmoothie to go get.”

“Alright, see you later, Miss. Do stop by if you're in the market for an apple peeler, we make the absolute best of the best!”

As the mare walked away, the brothers looked to each other. “Hmm...do you think we could do something with a smoothie maker?” Flim questioned, producing some cold cider for himself and his brother, both rather hot from their song and dance.

“Hmm...would be a good deal more expensive to make than the Peelcore 3000 to make, but if we push apple smoothies as the main course, we could cash in on the deal with the apples...yes, I think that might very well work, brother of mine,” Flam replied with a smirk. There was a spark that seemed to flash between the two, a certain excitement akin to Twilight's when the prospect of something new. “Though we'll need a catchy name.”

“Oh certainly, the name is the first impression! Once we're done here, we can hit the drawing board. Been awhile since we've invented something.”

“I know, brother, I know. The last thing we invented the peeler. And before that there was our cider machine and...” Flam blinked, putting a confused hoof to his chin. “You know, brother of mine, I can't really remember anything we invented before that.”

Flim mimicked his brother's confusion. “Neither do I actually...Guess we got so sidetracked by our formally nefarious schemes it slipped my mind. How did we get started on actual scams anyway? I can't remember.”

Before the conversation could continue, the two were interrupted by the sound of hoofsteps coming towards them.
---
Trixie stood in the local grocery store, searching for more supplies. Markets often did have a refrigerated section, primarily utilizing crystals imbued with a freezing spell to keep stuff cold, a recent contribution from the Crystal Empire alongside memory imbued crystals. The mare had recently learned a freezing spell to keep her ice box cold (and also for various tricks), but hadn't quite learned the gem imbuing spell, but she most certainly had big plans for when she did.

However, as she looked into the foggy surface of the glass between her and the refrigerated goods, she suddenly noticed the glass next to her reflection turn black and gray. Trixie stiffened, finding herself suddenly feeling ice cold. The mare quickly raised a hoof and began wiping the fog away, but the moment she put her hoof down, the glass was back to only her own beautiful face and nothing more.

The azure turned around quickly, but there was nothing behind her. Just one or two ponies buying things and the cashier taking bits from costumers. But no one was black or gray in color. Some white, some cream...but no black or gray.

Trixie gave an involuntary sigh of relief. But for some reason couldn't stop herself from trembling.

---

Trixie gave a thoughtful look, taking a sip of her smoothie while emerging from the store, both the beverage and a bag of supplies held in her telekinesis. “...Maybe Trixie should give those two the benefit of the doubt...after all, we reformed baddies have to stick together...” she muttered, quoting a surprisingly wise little brown filly from Manehatten. “Trixie supposes it wouldn't hurt to stop by their stand on her way back and have another word with them...”

The azure mare changed direction and headed back to where she'd last seen the two brothers...and blinked at what she found; their stand, with no sign of either of brother. Taking a closer look, she found the profits the two had made laying in plain sight in simple bag, instead of being concealed or hidden in any way.

Trixie trotted around back and looked all over it, the twin brothers nowhere to be found. The only thing in sight were a few panting Earth Pony joggers out for an evening run and nothing more. “...Trixie doesn't know those two all that well...but Trixie knows traveling ponies, and she knows you just don't leave your money laying around unattended.”

It was simple logic: a traveling pony of any career never knew when their next paycheck would come. Even Trixie had never been arrogant enough to keep her bits laying out when out and about. The ones she didn't have with her were safely in a safe back at her cart.

The mare put a hoof on the money bag, expecting the two stallions to come running. But even slightly picking it up did nothing. She left the bits back where she'd found them and slowly backed away. “Must have stepped away...” she said slowly, a slightly disturbed look on her face. “...But there's two of them...if they're confident enough their money's safe as to do that, they're more confident than Trixie, and no pony is more confident than Trixie the Magnificent!” the mare announced to herself, putting a hoof to her chest with a dramatic flourish. “...Though they may simply be more arrogant than she is...that's probably it...”

Trixie slowly turned and started back towards her cart. “Trixie will just have to stop back in the morning she supposes...”

The azure unicorn trotted onward...but now couldn't help feeling like something was...off. Like that same feeling of unease from the market just wouldn't leave. As her mind tried to figure things out, she heard the clopping of hooves. Ones that seemed almost perfectly in sync with her own, only directly behind her. Turning back quickly, she saw no pony. Rainbow Falls was a popular location, but Celestia had lowered the sun and Luna raised the moon. Trixie's eyes batted back and forth, unable to shake the feeling she was a fish with sharks circling her.

“...Trixie hopes crazy fans aren't about to try and kidnap her...again...”

---

The showmare finally got inside her cart. She kept looking over her shoulder, uncertain why she couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched. She swore she'd heard hoofsteps behind her the entire way back to the cart. Trixie simply latched her door before putting her newly acquired supplies in her ice box and doing a quick freeze spell to keep it chilled again.

Trixie gave a sigh, just listening to the crickets chirping outside, the only noise breaking the silence. “Come now, Trixie, it isn't like you to be startled by a few little things! This is most unbecoming of a Great and Powerful Unicorn such as yourself!”

The azure unicorn decided to take her mind off her unease and prepare for the show she was going to put on in Ponyville. Originally it was just going to be visiting the others there on the way to the next city, but Twilight had suggested she perform.

“Hmm...Trixie could do the Rough Diamond story again...but if this is her way of showing Ponyville the new Trixie, she needs to do something a bit more impressive than a simple show...after the Ursa Minor and Alicorn Amulet, a good impression is everything in show business!”

However, before the mare could continue her planning, there was a rattling at her door, as if somepony was attempting to carefully open it against the lock. Trixie tensed up, staring at it for a moment, not making a sound. Normally, Trixie would be shouting who dared disturb her....but something inside her told her she should stay quiet and not make a peep.

The rattling became an almost mechanical knock on the door.

Trixie froze up, watching the door. The knocking rang out again.

The mare growled at herself. “Come now, Trixie. You're acting like there's an...an Ursa at the door!” she chastised herself.

Getting to her hooves, Trixie trotted over to the cart door and undid the latch.

What she found on the other side didn't seem like much on the surface.

Two stallions standing before her. One was a light gray pegasus with a black mane, the other a dark gray unicorn with a white mane. The former's Cutie Mark was a pair of black sunglasses and the latter's a chariot wheel. Both had the same black suit with a tie, the same black sun glasses, and the same flat top mane style.

Simple enough, but...for some reason Trixie felt an instinctual dread rise up inside her. A small voice in the back of her head screaming run like these two were a pack of timberwolves.

'Just Trixie's nerves is all.'

“Hello...”

“Hello, Miss Lulamoon,” said the dark gray Pegasus, in a monotone, methodical voice. “My name is Gearshift, this is my partner Cover Story.”

“Alright...and what can Trixie help you with?”

“Can you please look at this piece of paper, miss?” asked Cover Story, presenting a piece of paper in front of her muzzle in his dull gray telekinesis.

Trixie blinked, eyes focusing on the piece of paper. All that was written was a series of numbers in an odd shade of green. '19 8 21 20. 4 15 23 14.'

The mare felt the oddest sense she'd seen it before...but it was like a circuit refusing to complete itself. She just couldn't connect it with anything.

“Yes?”

The two stallions looked to one another. “Just 'Yes?'”

“Yes, what is this supposed to be?” the azure unicorn questioned, narrowing her eyes. “Trixie was practicing for a very important show, she'd prefer not to be interrupted for trivialities.”

The two stallions looked at each other in a bit of panic. Trixie couldn't help but feel a bit of pride that these two that had managed to inspire an irrational fear in her now seemed panicked...that is until she found her leg caught in Cover Story's telekinesis. “Hey! Unhand Trixie!”

Trixie felt that instinctive panic force its way back up. This time she made no attempt to force it back down.

“Don't fight. You've caused us enough trouble as is,” Gearshift said in the same emotionless tone, leaping at her. She reflexively set off a firework, but the duo's sunglasses protected them from being blinded and they remained stern and unmoving as Gearshift tackled her and held her along with his partner's telekinesis.

“We know what you can do, resistance is futile.”

The azure mare gave the duo an indignant glare. Being telekinetically and physically restrained or not, a showmare was a showmare.

Looking down below her attacker's hooves, she focused and used the ice spell on the floor, sending both slipping as their hooves lost traction.

“What?!” Cover Story exclaimed, looking down in disbelief.

“I'll have you know I went to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns! 'Futile' isn't in my vocabulary!” Trixie spat, then promptly used her own telekinesis to give them a push and landed with a grunt. Getting back to her hooves, she followed up with a wind spell, sending the two sliding along the ice she'd made and out of the door, which she promptly locked using her telekinesis.

“Ha! That's what you get for daring to try kidnapping Trixie the Magnificent!”

The showmare jumped as one or both of them tackled the door with enough force to crack it. Then gave a scream when Cover Story followed by shooting a beam of magic straight through the door. “Horseapples!”

Trixie looked around for something to defend herself, but in enclosed quarters, that was easier said than done.

The azure mare grabbed a spare wooden plank she normally used to repair her cart in her telekinesis and smacked the first foreleg she saw come through the blasted hole reaching for the latch, earning a cry of pain. While the stallion pulled his hoof back, her weapon was wrenched from her by Cover Story's own telekinesis.

Before she could grab something else, she had to duck under an electric spell fired at her from Gearshift's wings.

The mare snarled and retaliated with a magic beam that knocked both stallion's on their flanks...but also destroyed the door. 'In retrospect, that wasn't the best idea.'

She quickly followed up with another shot...but Cover Story raised a shield spell to block it and his partner nearly hit home with a lightning spell counterattack.

As the two stallions came at her with Cover Story's shield blocking her counterattack attempts, Trixie did a quick scan of her surroundings for anything she could use.

The showmare used her telekinesis to undo it's parking break and then a good old fashion buck to ground to send the cart, and her, careening backwards away from her attackers.

“Ah hah! May you remember this as the day you almost kidnapped the Magnificent Trixie!” celebrated Trixie...then realized something she hadn't thought of before. While this course of action solved one problem, it created another.

“...This place is on a mountain, isn't it?”

Trixie had to rush to the cart window and force it open so she could see where she was going, having to use her telekinesis to force the wheels to keep it away from the edge with a large amount of effort.

Thankfully, she'd lunched in the right direction to redirect herself down one of the paths to safely leave the mountain top, but going down a mountain path in an uncontrollable carriage was still going down a mountain path in an uncontrollable carriage.

“Trixie is beginning to regret this decision!” the mare exclaimed, barely able to keep her wheels on from going off the side of the mountain. “Okay, Trixie is not going to go flying off the side of a mountain to her doom! And neither is her home!”

Trixie threw open the front door of her cart and telekinetically hooked herself up to the harness. She leapt out and planted her hooves, putting all her strength into stopping her cart, hooves ripping up the ground. When that wasn't enough, she manifested some long handkerchiefs and tied them to any sort of anchor point she could see.

The cart slowed but didn't stop all the way, coming dangerously close to the edge of the cliff now. “No! Trixie the Magnificent is NOT losing her home again!” The azure unicorn manifested a couple metal steaks normally used to secure tents and stabbed through two new hankerchiefs and deep into the ground as deeply as possible.

Finally, the cart came to a stop about an inch from the cliff face, Trixie collapsing with a relieved sigh. Her chest and legs felt like they were on fire, but she'd had worse days. When one had to haul their cart across the entire country singlehandedly, then spend several months as a rock farmer, becoming a good bit stronger than expected of your race came with the territory and she'd never been as happy about that fact as she was now..

Trixie gave a tired chuckle. “Haha! And so Trixie the Magnificent makes a great escape!” she exclaimed, putting a hoof to her chest in triumph...then had to jump to the side to evade a lightning bolt. “Oh come on!”

Flying down at her was Gearshift, his partner riding on his back. “Just leave Trixie alone!”

“I'm afraid we can't do that, Miss Lulamoon.”

The azure mare had to jump back from a stun spell from Cover Story, the stone faced unicorn's face unreadable. She felt that unknowable fear grip her heart again. She quickly cut all the handkerchiefs and other anchors, and pulled her cart around as quickly as she could and put all of her strength into taking off. To her confusion, Cover Story took a moment to vaporize the discarded objects as they passed over them rather than instantly focusing on her.

The duo continued to rain down beams and lightning at her as the high speed chase continued, forcing her to dodge as best she could while pulling her cart. Even then, her home took several blasts, blowing pieces of wood off of it.

Snarling in rage at the sight, Trixie charged up her horn and fired several beams of various types at the duo, but Gearshift banked and swerved to dodge her beams while his partner continued to fire spells of his own back at her. Trixie didn't know much about stun spells, but she knew one shot could be the end of her escape...or cause her to trip and go flying off the edge.

The mare retaliated with a bolt of magic that exploded into a massive fireworks show in front of the two, but her face fell as they flew straight through the smoke as if she'd done nothing at all. Trixie yelped as she had to jump to narrowly dodge several lightning bolts, nearly causing her cart to tip over.

She made the attempt to form a large blanket normally used for disappearing acts in front of them to try and catch them up, but Cover Story merely blew a huge hole right in it.

“At least they're still quite a ways back...” Trixie admitted, hoping there'd be something up ahead she could duck into.

“You won't escape us,” Gearshift stated.

“Better shift into high gear, partner,” Cover Story replied, neither stallion showing the slightest hint of emotion.

Gearshift nodded, beginning to beat his wings faster and faster as if he'd switched into a different gear. His speed nearly doubled in an instant, allowing Cover Story's shots to become more accurate owing to the decreased distance.

“Trixie supposes he wouldn't be called Gearshift if he didn't have another gear...”

The mare cringed as she had to duck under a beam that blew a hole straight through her cart's roof and through the side. “LEAVE TRIXIE ALONE!”

Trixie's horn glowed as several lightning clouds formed between her and her pursuers, sending several bolts there way. Cover Story merely formed a forcefield around the duo, blocking the bolts, only lowering it to fire several of his own beams. This time one came dangerously close to striking one of the cart wheels head on.

The desperate mare's eyes darted around, looking for something, anything she could use to fight back more effectively. Her eyes fell on one of the many rainbow waterfalls coming down the mountain, causing the mare to get a smirk as she noted something up ahead on the path. Focusing, she sent a lightning bolt plowing straight through the waterfall, causing a gigantic plumb of fog to billow out in all directions.

Her pursuers flew through the fog and out the other side...but stopped, noting Trixie was nowhere to be seen. Spinning around, Gearshift used his rapidly moving wings to blow away the fog...revealing nothing but blank mountain path.

“The target must have leapt off the side,” said Cover Story, the two landing and the unicorn getting off.

Gearshift finally ceased his beating wings, breathing heavily and covered in sweat, but otherwise showing zero emotion. “Or the target is now capable of cloaking spells.”

“That's the worrying thing, most of our profile on the target dictates she's not capable of freezing or wind spells. Lightning magic is the most advanced she should be able to do,” Cover Story replied, the unicorn producing a glass bottle of what looked like salt water and handing another to his partner before taking a big swallow.

“We need to get the other two back to headquarters, we can report this,” was the pegasus' reply, taking a few sips.

“No, we can't afford to lose track of the target now, she's been off our radar for months and resisted the paper. If we lose the target now, we may never find her again. At least not before she causes more trouble than she already has.”

“Alright, then I'll call base and have reinforcements pick up our primary targets. Hopefully they'll catch her if she goes to the guard...and aren't you afraid of getting smashed?” Gearshift questioned, finally showing a small bit of amusement as he took another small sip of the salt water and his partner had finished the whole bottle.

“I don't get drunk easily. Now let's go, we've got a target to catch.”

“Agreed...”

After the two had departed, the cliff side was silent and still...until Trixie's head popped out from behind what had looked like a simple cliff side that distorted like fabric as she did. She gave a smirk and pulled down the 'cliff side' to reveal it was merely a large piece of magically generated fabric, a color changing spell used to match the cliff side perfectly. Her cart set nestled into a crevice in the rock face, hidden from sight by the fabric. “The Magnificent Trixie has outdone herself with that marvelous disappearing act, if she says so herself!” she stated proudly...then her face fell, looking at her cart.

From the various beams and damage inflicted on it, the cart was naturally in rough shape, with scorch marks and holes straight through bits of it. Going inside, she found her bed had been scorched to the point of being unusable and burned, many of her supplies burned and damaged. Even her cape had a hole blown straight through it.

The mare sniffled slight at the sight. Images of an Ursa Minor's foot crashing her cart flashed before her eyes. She gave an involuntary shudder, having to fight the urge to sit down and curl up into a ball. “...T-Trixie...you'll be fine...this...I just need to get those brutes arrested and I can rebuild things...again...at...at least it wasn't completely destroyed this time...”

After looking over the damage for a few moments with a forlorn face...Trixie finally slowly rose up and headed on, forcing herself to think. “Alright so Trixie just needs to tell the Guard...except those to expected her to do that...”

Trixie's expression dropped. Pursued by two determined and dangerous enemies, who's words implied they weren't alone, and going to the authorities would simply expose her to them. And all of this was on top of that strange feeling of existential dread that gripped her heart so tight. Like something about those two made her a filly fearing the boogiemare again.

The azure mare shook her head to clear it. “Trixie is not a coward. She will not be intimidated by these brutes!...She is a magician! Knowing what her foe expects is the greatest weapon of any magician!”

Trixie put a hoof to her chin, looking back around her cart. “...They expect Trixie to go for the guard...” the mare muttered, looking to the cracked, but still intact framed newspaper clipping. “But not a princess! Twilight will most certainly help Trixie!...That is a sentence Trixie never believed she'd say...then again so was 'get Rainbow Dash's help to be freed from being queen of the Diamond Dogs...'”

Trixie prepared to hook herself up to her cart and take off for Ponyville...then paused, a thought entering her mind. “...They know Trixie has this cart...” she then looked up to the train tracks heading off from Rainbow Falls. “So she thinks she'll take the train...”

Giving a sad, forlorn look at her cart and taking what supplies she felt she'd need, she quickly put the fabric back in place. “...Trixie isn't going to let this mess destroy her life...not again!”

Comments

[Ultimate Warrior of Zera]

Is Trixie a clone? That's kinda the vibe I'm getting.

[Reddened Chaos]

6548268 I'm confused too....just what the hay is going on...

[Godzillawolf]

6548268
6548362

I'm glad I managed to keep it a mystery and get you wandering, it IS a mystery story...which unfortunately isn't a tag :)

[Reddened Chaos]

6549102 well, how much I follow this story depends on me, but I will admit, you have my attention. just who are these stallions, what's with the paper when they claim she 'resisted the paper' just what is going on.....

[Ardashir]

Okay, I'm eager to see where this goes.

[Ri2]

Shut Down, huh?

Okay, I'm guessing there's a government organization designed to brainwash ponies into being evil solely to create conflicts which can be solved to teach lessons in friendship and love and justice. Wouldn't be the first time.

[Biker_Dash]

6548268 a synth?
6573063 the Institute