Photographs, Celestia, and Trixie
Tempest had to hand it to Celestia, she had a much better poker face than her sister. No facial reactions, no unusual muscle tension. Not even a tightening of the jaw. But there was a definite change she was detecting. The question had taken the principal off guard.
“Yes,” Celestia began. “Firecracker Burst. I'm not entirely certain how I can help you there, Agent Shadow. We received a call from her parents a few days ago informing us she ran away from home and to be on the look out for her.”
“Were there any indications she was preparing to run away?” Tempest asked. “Slipping grades, excessive absenteeism, that kind of thing.”
“Not to the best of my knowledge,” Celestia answered. “May I ask why the interest in her?”
“I make it a point to be thorough,” Tempest answered. “During my investigation, I discovered she had disappeared around the same time as the incident at the mall which originally brought me here.”
“I see.” Celestia leaned back in her chair. “Well, I'm afraid there's not much that I can tell you. I've had very little interaction with her. She's never been a problem student. No real issues with her grades or behavior. I believe she's a member of the Drama Club. Naturally, I feel terrible for her parents, but otherwise, I don't really know why she chose to run away.”
Tempest was silent for a moment, then got to her feet. “Well, thank you, Principal Celestia. You've been helpful.”
Celestia got to her feet. “Always happy to be of assistance, Agent Shadow. Have you finished your interviews?”
“Not quite yet. In fact, could you please page...” Tempest glanced at her phone. “Trixie Lulamoon, please? I'd like to talk to her next.”
“I'll have her paged right away.”
“Thank you.” Tempest stood up and left the office. As she headed back down the hall to the conference room, a series of pictures on the wall caught her attention. She paused and looked at them. There were half a dozen framed pictures of teenage girls in formal wear on display. Tempest noted with interest that three of the pictures were of Sunset Shimmer, with each picture featuring an increasingly arrogant expression. The last one, however, was different. An attractive purple girl with a modest smile and an air of innocence.
Tempest looked at the plate at the bottom of the frame.
Twilight Sparkle?
Tempest looked back at her notes. According to her other interviews, Twilight Sparkle had transferred to CHS back in April following the Friendship Games. And yet, the date on the picture was almost six months prior to that.
Tempest jotted down another note, Perhaps Miss Sparkle could shed some light on the matter later.
As she waited in the conference room, Tempest mulled over her conversation with Celestia. She hadn't really expected much out of her inquiry about Firecracker Burst, but there was something off about the story. She wasn't sure what, however. It was an echo of the way Blazing Spark had reacted when she asked Firecracker's parents about their runaway daughter.
If she had, in fact, run away.
She was certain of it now. Something was going on at this school. The stories she'd heard from everyone she had interviewed were cohesive, but slightly off. Like looking at the reflections in a cracked mirror. Everything seemed to make sense, but as she talked to more people, the agent was getting the sense not of a whole picture, but more the outline of one created by the negative space within the pattern of stories she was being told.
Something was being hidden from her. Something big and it seemed like nearly everyone in town was doing all they could to keep it a secret. The questions, as always, were what secret and why did it need to be kept in the first place?
Tempest was so lost in thought that when the door to the conference room burst open, accompanied by a thick cloud of purplish-blue smoke, she yelped in surprise and pushed backin her chair so hard it tilted over, crashing to the ground and spilling the agent out.
Her hands instinctively went for the pistol in her shoulder holster, but the realization that pulling a gun in a high school might not be the best idea the world stayed her hand. She got to her knees and peered over the top of the table.
“Behold! The Great and Powerful Trrrrrrixie has arrived!” cried the girl in the blue hoodie that stood in the doorway. Tempest blinked and stared as Luna appeared behind the student, looking cross.
“Trixie,” the vice-principal began, “Didn't we have a discussion about smoke bombs on school property last week?”
Trixie plastered a smile on her face. “Sorry, Vice-Principal Luna. The Gorgeous and Impressive Trixie wanted to make a good first impression on your guest.”
Luna looked back at Tempest, who was getting to her feet and righting the chair. Amusement flickered in her eyes. “Oh, I'm sure you've done that. Sit down, Trixie. Agent Shadow has some questions for you.”
All three women took their seats, Tempest taking a moment to cast a suspicious look at Luna before straightening the papers in front of her.
“Miss Lulamoon,” she began. “I won't take up too much of your time. I'm sure you have class to be in.”
“Take as much time as you want,” Trixie replied. “The Athletic but Hygenic Trixie has PE this period. I hate being sweaty.”
Tempest shot another look at Luna that asked Is this girl for real?
Luna's answering look said I'm afraid so.
Tempest visibly stifled a sigh and turned back to Trixie. “You participated in the Battle of the Bands last November, correct?”
“The Talented and Musical Trixie--”
Tempest loudly slapped her hand on the table, causing the teenager to jump in her seat. Luna quirked an eyebrow. Tempest got herself under control and assumed a neutral expression. “If you don't mind, Miss Lulamoon, can we do without the extraneous titles?”
“Tone it down, please, Trixie,” said Luna.
Trixie nodded and continued in a small voice. “Um... yes. Yes, I did.”
“From what I understand, you got fairly far.”
“The Superlative – er – excuse me. Yes, my band and I made it to the finals against the Rainbooms.”
“And you took second?”
Trixie nodded. Tempest leaned forward.
“That must have made you angry.”
“No,” Trixie said, confused. “Why would it? They had the better song and visual effects.”
Tempest's lip curled up. “Sea monsters and unicorns, right?”
Trixie nodded. “It was quite the spectacle. I even asked DJ PON-3 for advice on how to incorporate something similar into my act.”
“DJ PON-3?”
“Vinyl Scratch's stage name,” Luna explained. “She's our resident DJ.”
“I see,” Tempest replied. She returned her attention to Trixie. “And you weren't irritated or angry about losing to the Rainbooms at all?”
“Trixie is nothing if not a good sport. They won fair and square.”
Tempest's eyes narrowed. “And what about the Dazzlings?”
Unlike Celestia, Trixie's poker face was terrible. There was a split second of surprise on her face before the teen magician spoke. “Well, um, they were there, of course, but they didn't make it to the finals.”
“Why not?”
“Trixie... that is... I don't really know. They took third overall, didn't they, Vice-Principal Luna?”
“Yes, they made it far, but not to the finals,” Luna confirmed.
“What about Sunset Shimmer?” Tempest asked.
“What about her?” Trixie asked in return.
“One of the other students mentioned she interfered with the Rainbooms performance. You would think the disruption would mean they couldn't have performed well enough to move on to the finals.”
Trixie was flustered. “Well, yes, she did. We all thought it was because she was jealous because they didn't let her be in the band.”
“They didn't? Why not? They're all friends, aren't they?”
“Y-yes,” Trixie stammered. “But for some reason Rainbow Dash didn't ask her to be in the band when she formed it. And, well, she was kind of a bully before the Fall Formal so we all thought maybe her trying to be nice was all an act.”
“So,” Tempest began, “Sunset Shimmer, who was not in the band, interfered with the Rainbooms' performance, but despite this, they still made it to the finals and now she is part of the band. Am I understanding this correctly?”
“That... sounds about right,” Trixie said, her voice uncertain. “She sang with them in the finals.”
“Did she?” Tempest looked at Luna. “Was that allowed under the rules? It hardly seems fair to allow a band to add members right before the climax of a competition?”
“Things got very competitive and heated during the event,” Luna explained. “It was our first competition of this kind and Principal Celestia and myself were making judgment calls as each situation came up. We discovered several other students were interfering with the Rainbooms' performance at the time and Sunset Shimmer was attempting to stop them. We allowed the Rainbooms to move onto the finals because they were doing well enough before the trouble started. We also allowed them to add Sunset Shimmer to the group as an extra backup vocalist when the girls told us they had been having some internal issues as a band and wanted all of their friends included. We didn't see the harm in it.”
Tempest was silent for a long moment. “I see.”
She looked back at Trixie. “One last thing, Miss Lulamoon, was Twilight Sparkle also singing with the Rainbooms during the competition?”
“Oh yes,” Trixie said. “She showed up to help them. I didn't really mind. At that point they needed all the help they could get. The Great and Powerful Trixie is just that good.”
Trixie was so enamored with herself, she failed to see the warning look Luna shot her. Tempest was busy jotting down another note and also failed to see it. The agent looked up from her notes and smiled.
“Thank you, Miss Lulamoon. You've been extremely helpful.”
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trixie, you dun goofed up bad
Trixie, you f
up:
Thank you for answering the question I had on my mind for weeks, which I don't why I kept myself asking to you; the next chapters will be different than the ones in 3 parts I've been used too.
Meaning we're just getting started, but not done yet.
Although, you wrote that Tempest went and stopped by the pictures of Sunset when she was younger, and won the other Formals, Flings, etc.
So, her getting rid of those pictures in "My Past Is Not Today" doesn't apply here (unless I (must have) missed something somewhere when you said that you don't take and include everything's cannon in your stories, or parts of it, idk)?
The Great and Powerful Trixie needs to learn how to bluff.
If Luna doesn't find a way to warn Sci-Twi before her interview, the poor girl will be walking into a trap.
Dammit Trixie...
9722506
Music videos are kind of nebulous in what is and isn't metaphor. In this case I'm picking and choosing.
I want to say i love this but the suspense is killing me!
I really hope Luna sees the simple solution of duck out to “use the bathroom” and call Sunset so she can fill in Twi.
Oh no, she's seeing the Twilight Parodox...
Dun Dun duuuuun
...Sheeeeeeeeit.
9725735
When an individual is located in two places at the same time.
Such a cool name for such an underwhelming event.
Again I said this is not good for any of them and furthermore Trixie really should not play poker