• Published 7th Dec 2015
  • 3,427 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 6

Trixie and Melon dragged Steady Measure and her toolbox back to Camp Driftwood. Even being restrained, she still periodically launched into tangential lines of conversation. Trixie saw that the soft brown color of her mane hid a scattering of wood chips in it, which seemed to fit her personality perfectly.

Lieutenant Mirror was pleased to see them with another arrestee. Since the conference room already held Shock Factor, they put Steady in Mirror's office. Trixie detailed the details that had led them to make the second arrest.

“We’ll have to move fast with this questioning,” said Mirror. “I suspect Steady tried to run because she knew what had happened to her beau Shock. If we don’t quickly get the names of the other cultists from Steady, they could disappear.”

“A word of warning before we begin,” said Trixie. “She’s kind of weird.”

Mirror nodded. The two of them went into the office. Steady was blindfolded and tied to a chair.

“Can I get you something to drink? Coffee, maybe?” Mirror offered.

“No thanks, I’ve already got enough caffeine in me to be able to thread a running sewing machine,” Steady quipped.

Mirror chuckled. “I know that feeling.” She sat down in her chair and turned to the items of Steady’s that Trixie and Melon had recovered. “I’d like to talk about the contents of your toolbox. Is this a copy of Spidermare issue five?”

Trixie frowned, wondering why Mirror was starting off talking about comic books. However, it got a reaction from Steady. “It sure is. I really enjoy how Spidermare used to be so carefree in the early issues. In my spare time, I was working on a painting to capture the innocence of it all.”

“I totally support that,” said Mirror. “How do you paint? Do you like polka dots?”

“I totally do!” Steady grinned and lifted her hooves, playing an invisible guitar. “I wanted to form a band and call it The Polka Dots.”

“I’m so into music,” gushed Mirror. “It reminds me of life.”

“I like life. It’s so lifey. It’s what I base most of my poetry on.”

“I know, right?”

Trixie stood silently by the wall and stared at the two of them. She thought about intervening, but wasn’t sure if that was a good idea.

Mirror went on. “I think life is just so mind-blowing. I want to go out and put up my manifesto everywhere.”

“I know what you mean,” agreed Steady. “To leave my mark and let the world know I was here.”

“I really want to be a part of something big,” said Mirror. “That’s why I volunteered for the Guard, but sometimes I wish I hadn’t so I could help set the world on fire.”

“I completely know that feeling!” Steady leaned forward. “Just doing what you feel and expressing yourself!”

Trixie couldn’t stand it. “Isn’t that what got you here?”

“What-” Steady turned her head in the direction of Trixie’s voice. “Are you saying this is my fault?”

“Well, you did attack a pair of Guards,” Trixie reminded her.

“Like, that isn’t exactly helpful,” said Mirror. She glanced at Trixie, but her look was more interested than annoyed.

“Yeah!” agreed Steady. “You can’t see me for what I am. You don't have what it takes to change the world. I bet little miss Guard couldn’t hack it at her special talent, so she became a show horse for her precious princesses!”

“Now hold on,” said Mirror. “Private Trixie here once put an entire town under a dome and challenged a princess to a duel. What did you do to change the world?”

“I’m putting up notices to tell everypony about the Gods of War. Shock and Share wanted me to wait, but it’s too important!” Steady sat back and crossed her hooves.

Very sweetly, Mirror asked, “Who are Shock and Share?”

Steady’s mouth dropped open and she started stuttering. “No, no, I can’t tell you!”

“Shock Factor, your fiance,” said Trixie. “And I’ll bet the other one is Sea’s Share.”

Even blindfolded, the look on Steady’s face told her she was right.

Trixie and Mirror left the office. Most of the Guards were standing in the hallway.

“What did she say?” Hasta asked.

“She gave up another cultist,” Mirror replied.

“Melon and I can go pick up Sea’s Share,” Trixie said.

“Another detainee? Really?” said Hasta. “I just got a message from central. The transport to pick up the ones we already have won’t be here for another two days.”

Lieutenant Mirror put a piece of string in her mouth and lit up. She snapped her lighter closed. “Sergeant, come with me and we’ll talk about it. Privates Trixie and Melon, go get Sea’s Share.”

The two of them left the compound. Trixie hurried, and Melon kept up.

“Do you think she knows we’re onto her?” he asked. “Should we expect trouble?”

“From some old earth pony mare?” Trixie snorted.

“Sounds like my grandmother,” said Melon. “So yeah.” He paused. “Do you think that’s it? Only three of them?”

“Small town, small cult. Maybe. We’ll find out.”

They made it to Sea’s Share’s house. There were no lights in the windows. Trixie knocked on the door.

Melon shifted his hooves. “What if she goes out a window?”

“Can your grandmother climb out windows? How about getting away quickly?”

“What if she’s asleep?”

“Then we’ll keep knocking.” Trixie raised her hoof again, but a faint scream interrupted her. Her ears tipped forward. From inside the house, faintly, a voice cried, “Help!”

Trixie stepped aside and jerked her head at Melon. “Get us in.”

He knocked the door off its hinges with one kick and the two of them ran into the darkened house. The light from Trixie’s horn lit up the old-lady decorations and aged wallpaper. They did a quick sweep of the living area and kitchen. Another cry came from behind a door.

Without even checking to see if it was locked, Melon cannonballed through it. He tripped and fell down the staircase to the basement below.

Trixie rushed down after him, stopping short as she entered the basement. Sea’s Share wore a robe and stood in the middle of an intricate design drawn with chalk on the floor. Small clay bowls were placed around the perimeter. Off to the side was the neighbor kid, Rough Tide, looking bug-eyed and fearful, though completely unharmed.

The situation didn’t make much sense and Trixie decided she had better take control while everypony was still off balance. “Freeze, Lunar Guard!”

“Yeah,” contributed Melon weakly, from his facedown position on the floor.

“Th-the ritual! They’ve messed up-” Rough Tide stuttered.

Trixie wasn’t certain what Sea’s Share was doing, but she had a good idea.

And when the air split open in front of her, revealing an ethereal void, it seemed that all doubt had been removed.

A very large pair of hooves reached through the tear and grabbed Trixie by the throat, lifting her clear of the floor. Armored protection or not, Trixie gasped for air, legs kicking.

A very deep voice reverberated through the room. “WHO HAS SUMMONED THE GODS OF WAR?

Rough Tide shrieked and dove behind a wooden box. Sea’s Share’s eyes were so wide that some of the wrinkles had disappeared from her face. She’d backed up against the wall and looked like she was trying to force her way through it.

The pony attached to the hooves around Trixie’s neck stepped into the room through the fissure in reality. His head nearly brushed the ceiling and his entire body seemed to be made of a dark miasma. He stared at Sea’s Share. “WAS IT YOU?

“N-N-” it took her a couple of tries to get the words out. “No! I was blocking you out of this world! Begone!

The abhorrent stallion stepped closer. “TELL ME YOUR SINS AND PERHAPS I WILL RECONSIDER YOUR FATE.

Share made another false start before blurting, “I didn’t think you were real. It was all just a story to convince the others.”

The hard stare of the stallion continued to bore into her. Share looked away. “They couldn’t know about what I was doing, about my business. Steady Measure brought the goods off the boats at night and Shock Factor used his merchant contacts to make connections. They’re the ones you want!”

BUT WHERE DO YOU COME INTO THE PLAN?

Share cringed. “I-I had to do something to convince them it was for a reason, something they had to keep secret. I made up the story. Or I thought I did.”

The apparition leaned forward, looming over Share, carelessly dragging Trixie along. Share cowered, looking more frail and elderly than ever before.

They were nearly nose to nose when Trixie turned her head and winked. “Sea’s Share, you’re under arrest.”

The phantom and the portal from which it appeared evaporated. Trixie smirked. “I have to say, as far as cons go, you could have done so much better. Convincing ponies that they were smuggling for you in order to stop some kind of ancient evil?”

She glanced to the side, spotting Rough Tide peeking out from where he had ducked. “Is...is it over?” he asked.

“It never was,” Trixie replied.

Rough raised his head and looked at the complicated setup in the center of the room. “Are you sure? It looks real.”

Trixie dug her hoof into a nearby bowl and tossed some granular material into the air. It crackled and sparked. “This is dragon dust.” She touched the contents of another bowl, blowing her hoof off to reveal a glittering cloud. “And this is star powder. Ponies who can’t do tricks themselves use things like this for illusions.”

She glanced back at Share. “And if you got your hooves on dragon dust and star powder, what else were you able to get? Sounds like you had some kind of smuggling operation going on.” She walked over to the box and lifted the lid. It was full of salt, but by stirring it around with her hoof, Trixie uncovered the glint of gold. She lifted out a heavily bejeweled goblet.

“Smuggling?” Share refuted. “That’s bought and paid for!”

Trixie turned the goblet over. “This says it’s property of the Saddle Arabia History Museum.”

The way Share suddenly found the floor very interesting seemed to indicate that she’d conceded the argument. Trixie turned to Rough Tide. “Just how did you come into this?”

“Ms. Share said I had to help her stop the Gods of War,” he replied. “I...I didn't know what to do. I didn’t want anypony to get hurt, so I helped. She said I couldn’t tell anypony.”

“Sounds familiar,” Trixie observed. “Steady Measure and Shock Factor grew up near each other. Did you recruit them as kids too? How long has this been going on?”

Share didn’t reply. She slumped against the wall, doing an old mare’s version of a pout.

By this point, Melon had sat up and gotten his bearings. Trixie wasn’t sure how much of her performance he had seen, but the way he looked at her, it was enough.

“We should get them out of here,” said Trixie. Under Melon’s guard, Share walked sullenly up the stairs. Trixie supervised Rough.

Outside the house, Trixie spotted Meteor and Dusty across the street at Rough’s house. His parents were talking to them, looking worried. A couple of the neighbors, Strawberry Rhyme included, were curiously looking on.

“There you are!” Rough’s mother exclaimed as she saw him. She met Rough halfway across the street, scooping him into a hug.

“I guess we’re canceling that missing pony report,” said Rough’s father. “Sorry about that, Guardsponies.”

Meteor and Dusty looked relieved that they didn’t have to deal with a missing kid, but curious as to how Melon and Trixie had come into it.

“What’s going on?” Meteor asked.

“So it turns out the whole Gods of War thing was a coverup for some kind of smuggling operation.” Melon shrugged.

“Which we stopped,” added Trixie. “Quite spectacularly and theatrically.”

It was bait, and Dusty bit. “What do you mean?”

“The Gods of War story was made up by Sea’s Share to recruit and control collaborators. We caught her using it on Rough Tide in a fake ritual in her basement. Imagine her surprise when the Great and Powerful Trixie created an impromptu illusion of said Gods. Share was practically falling all over herself to beg for forgiveness.”

“Why recruit a kid that young?” Meteor asked.

“It’s possible she picked up Steady and Shock that young. She probably grabbed Rough because he conveniently lived right next door. While Share didn’t really care about the salt, maybe she thought she could expand her market with the novelty salts Rough’s mother makes.”

“You’ve got this all figured out, don’t you?” said Dusty.

“When you need illusions, or you need somepony’s illusions broken, let the Great and Powerful Trixie handle it.” She winked and turned away.

Melon was still standing with Share when Trixie came over. They started to walk back to the compound to deal with the latest detainee, but Strawberry Rhyme intercepted them. Trixie gestured for Melon to keep going and stopped to talk.

“So, I heard something about smugglers?” Strawberry said.

“They were packing contraband items in boxes of salt to ship them all around the world,” Trixie confirmed.

“You solved the case?”

Trixie took a bow. “That’s right.”

Strawberry looked impressed. “Wow, that sounds complicated.”

“Sea’s Share recruited others to help her, using a made up story about gods of war that would come to Equestria and wreak havoc. She somehow convinced them that what they were doing helped stop the world from being destroyed.” She put on her best showbusiness smiles. “The Great and Powerful Trixie put together an illusion so complete it made a believer out of Sea’s Share who created the story in the first place. She admitted everything, thinking that an actual god had come to pay her a visit.”

“You’re talking like she’s already been convicted,” Strawberry noted. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about drunken misdemeanors, it’s not over until the trial’s decided.”

“Are you saying you don’t trust my work?”

Strawberry shook her head. “No. In fact, from what I’ve seen of you all, you’re probably the best Guard on the island. It just seems weird that you’d be so good at your job and also so boastful about it.”

Trixie stared at her. “What’s wrong with taking pride in being a hero?”

“If you’re truly a hero, or good at magic, or your job, or whatever, others will tell you.”

Trixie’s ears laid back. Since when had she been a hero? Since she’d called herself one? Who else would, after that stunt she pulled in Ponyville?

And why was she taking pride in this mandatory sentence as a Guard anyway?

She shook her head. “Okay, no, not a hero. Instead, you just get Trixie.”

“Hey, you’re still the best Guard around, like I said earlier.” Strawberry smiled. “Just if there’s one thing I’ve learned about getting hammered every night, try to avoid shooting your mouth off.”

Trixie frowned. “Are you drunk right now?”

“What if I am?”

Trixie shook her head and turned away. Still, it was a realization. Nopony liked her, and, Strawberry’s inebriated musing aside, she might have just explained why.

Walking back towards the camp, Trixie knocked a hoof on the side of her helmet. “Imbecile.”