• Published 7th Dec 2015
  • 3,428 Views, 66 Comments

We Rent the Night - totallynotabrony



Trixie chooses to join the Lunar Guard instead of serving prison time.

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Chapter 4

Putting together a whole new stage presence and an outfit to go along with it wasn’t easy when Trixie had absolutely nothing to use.

Frustrated after scrounging the entire Guard compound and turning up nothing, Trixie finally found some material from which to fashion a cape and a hat.

The wrecked kelping boat at the base of the lighthouse still retained scraps of sail, and Trixie was able to salvage enough to create an outfit. She didn’t have anything with which to dye the material, but was able to draw a few bright yellow stars for decoration with the “cheez” from her macaroni.

Perhaps the hardest part of her costume was the new name to go with it. Trixie was quite attached to herself, and coming up with fake identities was not her strong suit. It was the next evening, when her little performance was scheduled, before she finally settled on a choice.

As the sun began to set, Trixie appeared at the waterfront with her hat and cape. Ponies were already starting to stare. Between the outfit and the fact that Trixie was usually seen around Wash Margin while wearing her armor, she was confident that the disguise would work.

Apple Waves, one of the obligatory estranged relatives of the Apple Family that could be found all across Equestria, was unloading his boat. He wore an old hat and suspenders, which was slightly odd considering his lack of pants. Trixie spotted an old apple crate and asked, “Could I borrow this?”

He grunted and shrugged, which she took to mean yes. Selecting a position on the wharf, Trixie stepped onto the crate and called, “All you who see me gaze with wonder on the Amazing and Superb Sapphire, the most awe-inspiring magician in Equestria!”

And if that didn't get their attention, the short fanfare of fireworks from her horn certainly did. She already had a small crowd watching and more ponies were coming closer to see what was going on.

Trixie spotted Melon out of armor and standing with his back to a nearby building. He was supposed to be watching the crowd for any sign of the pony who’d rolled the wagon after them, but Trixie occasionally saw his eyes stray to her act. Lieutenant Mirror had said that she too would be around, but Trixie hadn't seen her. The other Guards were supposed to be camped out and waiting behind a building one block away.

Putting on her best showbusiness grin, Trixie launched into the performance. “Prepare to be amazed as the Amazing and Superb Sapphire performs tricks never before seen by pony eyes! Tricks that will astound, amaze, and astonish! Tricks that will blow your mind!”

“What about blowing something else?” a sailor called. The crowd chuckled.

Trixie pointed her horn at him and cast a spell with a flourish. Foundation, rouge, and lipstick popped into existence on the stallion’s face and Trixie conjured up a mirror just so he could see what she had done as well as anypony else could. Trixie winked. “Sorry sugar, I don’t swing that way.”

The crowd roared with laughter. Trixie pulled out a deck of playing cards she’d taken from the barracks and spun them around her. A couple of clamshells she’d found empty on the beach clacked along as they circled her on the makeshift stage.

A filly had managed to get to the front of the crowd. Trixie offered shuffled the deck and presented it. “Pick a card, any card.”

The little pony plucked one out. “Remember it,” Trixie said. The filly nodded and Trixie shuffled the card back into the deck. She closed her eyes for effect and turned her head away.

“And...this is your card!” Trixie presented it. In the overall glow of her magic, nopony noticed that Trixie had kept a special grip on the returned card the whole time. Really, magic was kind of like cheating.

The filly and the rest of the crowd loved it, though. Trixie tossed the cards into the air in a spray, bringing them down to hover around her again.

While the crowd was distracted, Trixie took a moment to look around. Dozens of ponies had shown up and more were on the way. One of them was an orange pegasus stallion with a spiky yellow mane and tail. Trixie’s eyes narrowed. His coloring matched the brief glimpse she’d gotten the previous night. Him being a pegasus could explain how he’d escaped so easily.

Suppressing her feeling of foolishness at forgetting to check the sky, Trixie put her plan into motion. She pointedly glanced around the crowd. “For the next act, the Amazing and Superb Sapphire will need a volunteer.”

Hooves went up. Trixie pointed. “You there! What’s your name?”

The orange stallion she’d indicated hadn’t been volunteering, but he replied, “I’m Shock Factor.”

Trixie remembered him now. He ran an emporium and used high-pressure sales tactics. “Would you come over here? I won’t bite.” Wink. “Much.”

Shock Factor looked reluctant, but with his attitude around town for boldness, he couldn’t back down. He walked over to where Trixie was standing.

Melon had started to move through the crowd, but hadn’t timed it well enough to catch up to Shock Factor. The plan had been for him and Mirror to arrest whoever Trixie identified as the culprit, the “volunteer.” Failing that, the other guards could move in for backup.

Seeing that Melon was lagging behind and still not seeing Mirror, Trixie decided to take matters into her own hooves. “The Amazing and Superb Sapphire will now make this stallion disappear!”

“Wait, what?” said Shock Factor.

Trixie blasted him. Sure enough, there was a sparkle of colored lights and he vanished. If Trixie had aimed right, he would reappear on the next block in the midst of the other three Guards. Shock Factor certainly wouldn’t be expecting that.

Though, it was just about that time that Trixie realized a kink in her plan: if she was doing her tricks right, nopony would be expecting what happened next.

The crowd certainly hadn’t expected it. All of them broke into wild cheering. Staying in character, Trixie fired off a grand finale of magical fireworks and took a bow. “Thank you all, you’ve been a wonderful audience!”

Internally, she hoped Hasta, Meteor, and Dusty had the presence of mind to arrest Shock Factor when he appeared suddenly. Heck, Hasta would probably arrest him for being a public nuisance for having the audacity to be surprise teleported.

Trixie stepped down from the crate. The audience started to disperse. The murmurings sounded positive and a genuine smile found its way to Trixie’s face.

“That was nice. I enjoyed that.”

Trixie turned to see who had spoken and almost jumped out of her skin. She was sure Lieutenant Mirror had absolutely not been standing beside her a moment before. She’d evidently been watching the performance, but now was the first time Trixie had seen her.

Melon found his way through the crowd. “I just saw Dusty down the street. She was calling us over.”

The three of them linked up with the other guards. Shock Factor was tied up from tail to muzzle, his nose in the corner of a building to keep him from looking around.

“Let’s get him back and see what he knows,” said Mirror. “Shame to tip his conspirators. In a town this small, they’ll surely see that we’ve arrested him.”

Well talented with illusions, Trixie had a solution. She took off her cape. “We could cover him. Maybe lay him across Melon’s back. It would look a little lumpy, but nopony could see what we were carrying.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Mirror. In just a few moments they had Shock Factor rigged for transport and hustled him back to the camp.

There was a tiny conference room in the headquarters building. They put Shock Factor in a chair on one side of the table and left him to sit there. Trixie put on her armor and went to rejoin the others.

“Alright, here’s the plan,” said Mirror as the group gathered in the hallway outside the conference room. “At minimum, this guy’s looking at assault. Maybe we can even call it attempted murder of two Guards. We can use that as leverage to get him to give up his cultist buddies. Trixie, you come in with me. We’ll play this good cop-bad cop.”

Trixie was about to ask who was who but Mirror had already opened the door and gone in. She sat down in the chair in front of Shock Factor. Left without a seat, Trixie leaned against the wall and tried to look impassive.

“String?” said Mirror, offering the ball to Shock Factor. He stared at her. She shrugged and bit off a piece for herself.

“Do you know why you’ve been detained?” asked Mirror.

“Detained? I haven’t been arrested?” Shock asked. “That other guy read me my rights.”

“We haven’t yet charged you,” said Mirror. “How that goes depends on what you tell us.”

“Why did you try to kill me?” said Trixie.

“Huh?”

Trixie walked closer and pointed a hoof at him. “Last night. You rolled a wagon that nearly ran over my partner and I. Tell me why!”

Shock glanced at Mirror. “But she doesn’t look anything like your partner.”

“Who said she was?” Trixie demanded. “So clearly you remember the ponies you actually attacked. That’s practically a confession right there.”

“Look, this doesn’t have to be difficult,” said Mirror soothingly.

Shock began, “Okay-”

Mirror flipped the table, baring her fangs and screaming, “Tell me who you’re working for!”

Looks like Shock Factor got a little bit of a shock factor, Trixie thought as the prisoner squeaked and recoiled, upsetting his chair. She set him up again. “We don’t think you’re working alone. Just tell us who else is involved.”

“I...I can’t,” Shock stuttered.

“Why not?” Trixie asked.

“Because.”

“Because why?”

“When they return, if...if I tell anypony, the Gods of War will eat me.”

The other Guards had been listening through the thin walls of the conference room and were fully caught up when Mirror and Trixie came out.

“Forget jail, he needs a cuckoo cage,” suggested Hasta.

Mirror shook her head. “Cultists.”

Trixie added, “Imbeciles.”