The Pony-Filled Life of Alexis Creek

by NightmareMoon

A Meeting With Trixie

"I'll need something to put it in," Shining Armor said. "Do you have any sort of container? It doesn't have to be airtight - well, that would be ideal, but I doubt you have something that is - it can be anything. No matter what size. Magic isn't like air. It can fit into any container."

My hand goes to my neck. My locket. I hand it to him... His horn glows, but from the start I can see it: he isn't going to make it to the locket.

And then everything goes black.

I wake up, startled.

I've been having terrible dreams for the past few days - a side effect of being zapped with magic (which hurts, a lot). Having to hunt for Sombra doesn't help, either. Or the Crystal Heart.

But I have a good lead, and I'll try to find it. I will find it - the Crystal Fair is going to be finished today, and if I don't find it today, we're in trouble. And I think I know where it is - but first, I have a place I want to go, and a pony I want to meet.

Now that I have the magic locket (gosh, that sounds cliche) I have a teensy bit of defense, at least. And Shining did put a lot of magic in there - he said it would be good for three or four spells, depending how hard they were. So I'm on my way, and the faster the better.

* * *

The book left specific instructions: 21 Crystal Lane and 48 Crystal Drive. As you can tell, they're really creative with names here, and not at all slightly obsessed with crystals. It told me not to be too late or too early, and that I'd know when to come - I had no idea how or why, but that was what the book said.

And now I know I have to come.

I was at 21 Crystal Lane and 47 Crystal Drive when I saw some weird things. Like, extra weird, which was really hard to accomplish in an empire like this. It was completely empty, as if something was guarding against everybody else.

By 21 Crystal Lane and 48 Crystal Drive, I knew there was something up. Broken mirrors, black cats, and other signs of bad luck littered the floors (ultra creepy. I'm superstitious). There was a lone Crystal Pony, chanting "The Darkness, the Shadow has come!" Over and over again, as if trying to convince himself.

Other than that, everything was empty. It was eerily perfect, not a hair out of place. Except, in this perfect street, in this perfect place, in this not-so-perfect scenario, where was everybody?

I saw a mare wearing a purple cloak that covered her eyes - almost an exact match to that of Trixie's. I ran towards her, and she turned towards me. She slowly took her hood off to reveal...

Twilight?

No, it wasn't Twilight. It was Trixie, but for some reason she had dyed her hair and her fur. Well, tried to dye it. It didn't look very convincing; from far away, she had fooled me, but up close I could see some areas where the dye hadn't covered, and besides - her mane didn't look anything like Twilight's.

"Hello, Trixie," I said, not sure whether to be enthusiastic about the whole thing or wondering why the heck she's disguised as Twilight. "Um, why are you dressed up as Twilight?"

Trixie sighed. "It's the only way I can get around town without being laughed at and having tomatoes thrown at me. I'm even a failure in the City of Crystals. I need the cloak so that they don't actually realize I'm not, in fact, Twilight. You've read my book, I assume?"

"Yes," I said. "Let's go somewhere more comfortable, 'cause you've got a lot of explaining to do."

* * *

Trixie explained that she didn't want Sombra, at least once she realized he was evil, terrible, and just kind of wanted the destruction of Equestria and nothing more.

She had grown up with fairytales about Sombra the Great and Mighty, and wanted to be just like him. Ever since she was a foal she'd dreamed of the Great and Powerful Trixie, ruling the Crystal Kingdom with her best buddy, Sombra. He was an "old family friend," she explained. Well, sort of. Long, long ago one of her ancestors had helped Sombra, and now she had been "chosen" to help him.

I didn't really get the "you're chosen, therefore you must do all my evil bidding" thing, but like I did with the Crystal Ponies I just sort of nodded and smiled - or, in this case, frowned sympathetically.

"I didn't know any better," she explained. "When I grew old, I became a showpony. I didn't really care about Sombra anymore, and he hadn't visited in such long - well, I say 'visited,' but I mean in dreams, because if he came in his physical form everypony would freak out. And then he came back, when I was lonely and weak and thrown out. I agreed to help him. But now I know that that was the worst mistake in my life. I know where the Crystal Heart is, and I'll help you get it."

My eyes widened. Trixie? Help me? Crystal Heart? My mind slowly processed everything. "Well?" Trixie asked impatiently. "I haven't got all day." Well, I guess that sympathy couldn't last long. It is, after all, Trixie we're talking about.

"Yes," I said quietly. "I'll do it."

She led me into her house - for some reason, she lived here - which didn't look like much, just a dusty old place littered with magic books of all kinds (sort of like Twilight's tree library, except much less neat) and a few couches. Until her horn lit, and there was just suddenly... a hole in the ground.

Don't ask me how. When I asked Trixie, she replied: "Magic telepathy link, except unlike yours - I was the one to disable it, and for that I'm sorry - it only works if you already have established a connection."

I have no idea what that meant, but Trixie quickly explained what the heck she meant. "It means it only activates with my magic, like a lock. And it's telepathic, so you can just think it. It's very useful. Except the telepathy thing takes a minutes of screaming inside your head, 'Open the door! Open sesame!' so I just used magic. It's the same deal - it only works for me - except it's much easier. But the telepathic way is a lot more secret."

I understood her second explanation, and I slowly went down to the basement, wondering what was in it. And if I'd ever come out.