The Haunted Dressing Room

by JesterOfDestiny

Chapter 6

“Trixie, is indeed innocent!” Lyra declared.

“Finally, you admit that.” Said Trixie.

“I don’t know,” Hendrix added, “thinking about what I’ve been told, it’d make sense. Especially now”

“No, just think about it,” Lyra began, “Trixie isn’t very good at magic...”

“What? The Great and Powerful Trixie is a great magician!” Trixie shouted.

“Yes, a great magician,” Lyra explained, “but Trixie specializes in trickery and spectacle and sleight of horn.” She began pacing around. “But a sleeping spell? An entire wall rebuilt? I mean look at this.” She put her hoof on the wall. “The hole the explosion left was large enough to fit a grown donkey inside and still leave room. Yet the wall that’s been rebuilt over it has not a single scratch. This isn’t sleight of horn! This is advanced solid material reconstruction. This was the work of some very powerful magic.”

“Very powerful magic?” The officer wondered. “But that only leaves one option.”

Everybody looked at Starlight. She looked back at everybody.

“Wait, you’re accusing me?”

“Starlight, you were the only one to stand up to Trixie.” Lyra continued.

“Well of course! She’s innocent.”

“Right,” Lyra nodded, “and you know that, because you were there when the explosion went off.”

“Yes. I was nearby and when I saw the explosion, I came in and Hendrix was already gone.”

“Except he himself has just said, that he saw you come in! Which means, he was still conscious and outside the wall when you found him.”

Starlight got visibly very nervous. “I... I can explain.”

“No need to. I can explain it myself. You came in after the explosion and you were the one who put him under the sleeping curse!”

“No, I...”

“And then you put him inside the hole-“

“No!”

“-and then you rebuilt the wall around him, hoping that nopony would ever notice a thing.”

“No, I...” Starlight sighed. “Yes, that was me.”

A shocked silence lingered for a moment. We looked at each other with great confusion.

“But why?” Trixie asked, voicing the source of everypony’s confusion.

“Everypony was so mistrustful of you.” Starlight began to frantically explain. “We were so careful about everything, because even a tiny mistake would be called sabotage and ruin your career. Hendrix was kind enough to give you the benefit of the doubt, but then the explosion happened and even that was lost. When I came in, he was blaming you. Imagine what would have happened if he told the media. Your career would be in ruins.” After a bit of a pause and a sigh, she continued. “I thought, that if I placed the blame on a ghost, then I could keep at least some of your positive image.”

A bit of silence lingered as everyone took all of that in. Tears of regret appeared on Starlight’s face.

Trixie put her hoof over Starlight’s shoulder. “You risked your own future and the life of one of the greatest musicians of history, just so you could save my career?”

Starlight sniffed. “Honestly, I wasn’t thinking when I did it. But yes, that’s what I did.”

Trixie pulled Starlight closer. “Hey,I appreciate it, even if nopony else does. I’m glad to have a friend that would risk everything to defend me.” They then hugged. “Just maybe next time, try not wall up others to do it.”

Starlight was crying and laughing at the same time.

Hendrix let out an audible aw. “Isn’t friendship wonderful?” He said.

“Sir, she almost killed you.” The officer said, but Hendrix just shrugged it off.

Hendrix stepped up to them. “Look Trixie, I’m sorry for accusing you. As she said, everypony was so suspicious of you and I guess they filled my head with all that and I put the blame on you the first chance I got.”

“The Great and Forgiving Trixie forgives you.” She smiled.

“I’d like to try this again. Just no explosions this time.”

Trixie chuckled. “Deal!”

“Wait,” the officer interrupted, “we still haven’t got any answers on who caused the explosion.”

I had an idea, but I dared not to say it. I knew somebody who’d do such a thing and I hoped that I’d never cross paths with him again. I came up with an explanation quickly, to completely avoid even the possibility of bringing him up.

“Could the fire orb have been defective? I mean, it’s still an experimental invention, it’s bound to misfire occasionally.”

“Well, I know for sure, that I’m never using them again.” Said Trixie. “I’ll stay with regular ol’ fire. You’re not gonna lose track of that.”

“Honestly, I might have picked one up without thinking.” Hendrix shrugged.

“Yeah, I’d personally wait with any experimental inventions,“ I added, “let it go through rigorous testing first.”

“So,” the officer took out his hoofcuffs, “shall I hoofcuff her or, what?”

“No, that won’t be necessary.” Hendrix smiled.

“But sir…”

“She was just defending her friend, no need to punish that.”

The officer blinked a few times as he slowly put his hoofcuffs back onto his belt. “Well… Alright then…” That’s all he had to say to that.

Suddenly, the entrance guards barged into the room. “We’ve heard an explosion! What happened?

“You heard him,” the officer yelled at them, “no charges pressed!”

“What?” The guards said in unison.

“And what’s with that awful response time?” The officer led the guards out of the room. “You two are simply the worst night guards I have ever seen! Missing two break-ins like that!” His voice slowly faded, as they left.

Trixie and Starlight began leaving the room as well.

“Wow, you’re really good at getting off scot free.” Trixie turned to Starlight. “How do you do it?”

Starlight thought for a moment. “I guess explaining your actions, will bring out the sympathy in others.”

“Huh, I should have thought of that before.” Trixie chuckled. “Can you imagine what I could get away with if I just made up a sob story?”

“Trixie!” Starlight groaned.

“What? It’s not my fault my parents left me when I was a little filly.”

Their laughter is the last thing we could hear of them. We were just about to leave as well. But then Hendrix stepped up to Lyra.

“That was some impressive detective work back there.” He said.

“Oh, it was nothing.” Lyra waved that compliment off, as her face turned as red as a ripe apple.

“May I ask for your name? Just to know whom to thank in the interview.”

“Lyra… Heartstrings…” She could barely pry the words out of her trembling mouth.

“Lyra Heartstrings? That’s the prettiest name I’ve heard.”

“Hey, Hendrix,” I leaned on Lyra, “you know, this mare is not only a fine detective, but also a wicked lyre player. She didn’t get a lyre cutie-mark for nothing!”

“A lyre player? Ooh, I have an idea! How about you perform with me and Trixie on our next show? A show to symbolize the end of a grudge, featuring the detective-musician who got both of us out of trouble! How does that sound?”

Lyra opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out is a faint sound somewhere between an excited gasp and terrified screaming.

“She says yes.” I answered for her, because she wasn’t able to at the moment.

“Great!” Hendrix shook Lyra’s hoof, who was still unable to react. “I look forward to playing with you!” He then let go of her. “When shall we begin?”

Lyra stood there, still frozen. Her mouth was moving slightly and faint sounds came out, but nothing intelligible.

“I suggest, we let her gather the pieces of her mind first.” I said.

Hendrix chuckled. “It’s okay, I can wait. Here,” he handed us a card, “you can contact my agents here, they’ll help you get in touch with me.”

I took the card and we left the room. I had to push Lyra outside, because she temporarily lost her ability to react to anything. At the same time, I was preparing for the sudden outburst of energy once she snapped out of it.