The Archivist

by Lets Do This

A Late Return

"Uh... hi! Are you Sunny Starscout?"

Sunny drew back in surprise, staring at the unfamiliar mare waiting by the front door of the lighthouse. Bright azure in color, with an ice-blue mane and wearing a trim, academic-style dress suit with stars on it, she all but radiated nervous professionalism. As if, for some unspoken reason, she was fiercely determined not to say the wrong thing.

Sunny and her four friends had just returned from an impromptu ice-cream party in Maretime Bay, celebrating Sunny's two-week anniversary: a whole two weeks of raising and lowering the Sun, as Sunny herself put it, without actually setting fire to anything...

And now there was this strange unicorn, waiting at her doorstep with an anxious smile.

"That's right," Sunny replied. "Sunny Starscout. That's me."

Zipp's eyes narrowed. "You want to make something of it?"

Sunny put up a hoof, and the pegasus reluctantly fell silent. With all that had happened recently, Sunny had gotten very used to ponies she didn't know stopping her in the street. She put on the cautiously friendly smile she'd learned seemed to work best.

"Nice to meet you. And you are?"

"Patricia Pot," the mare said hurriedly. Then she winced, as if she'd somehow already put her hoof in it. "But... most ponies just call me Trixie."

"And what's this about, exactly?" Hitch had taken a half-step forwards. Not quite putting himself between the two of them, but not far from it either.

Trixie glanced around. "Can we discuss this privately? This is kinda important, and it might take a little while."

Nodding, Sunny led the way into the lighthouse. In the ground floor room the ponies gathered around the dining table that Sunny had set out as a kind of makeshift desk for meetings like this.

"So," Trixie said once they were all settled, "this is going to sound way out there, I know. But trust me, it's all for real. And it has to do with the return of magic."

"Oooh, magic!" said Izzy. "You've come to the right place for that. We know all about magic." She smacked her forehooves together twice, and her horn blinked alight.

Trixie looked uncomfortably indulgent, as if forcing back a cutting remark.

"Uh huh," she allowed. "Very nice. But, sooner or later you're going to realize there's only so much you can do with a charged horn and a few paint-by-number spells. And that's where I come in. Or rather, the organization I represent." She took a breath, then dove into it. "In olden times -- what you think of as 'olde Equestria' nowadays -- there was this center for magic research, located in Canterlot..."

Sunny's eyes went wide. "The Royal Archives!"

In response, Trixie blinked in astonishment. "Exactly! Huh, this might not take as long as I thought. Yes, the Archives. Which, amongst other stuff, took care of stockpiling every last scrap of knowledge ponies had about spellcrafting."

"You mean magic?" Hitch asked.

"Unh-unh," Trixie said. "Spellcrafting is to magic what a cathedral is to a stack of lumber." She drew herself up proudly. "It is the rarest and noblest of the arts, the weaving together of simple incantations into the grandest and most elusive of spells. Unparalleled feats of algorithmic complexity," she went on, her tone waxing lofty and dramatic, "reaching heights of expressiveness and elegance undreamed of by mortal pony minds --"

She abruptly came to a halt, a hoof still lifted in the air. Glancing around sheepishly, she brought the hoof down and coughed lightly into it.

"Yes, well. That's how it was described to me, anyways."

"So, this Archives..." Sunny said excitedly. "Is it still around? Do you work there? Are you one of their researchers?"

"Umm... not exactly." Trixie looked uneasy. "I work for them, you could say. They sent me here."

"Well, does this Archives still exist? Can we go visit it?"

"Oh, it exists all right," Trixie said. "In fact... you're lookin' at it."

"Huh?" They all stared at her.

Trixie nodded sadly. "I'm what's left of the Archives. It's kind of a long story, we can go into it later. But first, come with me." She waved a hoof. "Let me show you."

Turning, she led the way out through the front doorway and around to the side of the lighthouse building. Where there was a wagon, parked under one of the trees. It was about the size of a trolley, with windows and doors and a stovepipe chimney. It had a harness hitch in back, and was painted a warm purple with stars on it.

"Hope you don't mind me stashing it back here," Trixie said. "Didn't want somepony running off with it." Coming to a halt before the wagon, she turned to face them, gesturing with a forehoof. "And here we are! The Rrrroyal Canterlot Archives! Ta daaaa!"

Zipp sniffed. "A bookmobile?"

"My wagon," Trixie replied tartly. "After all, I told them if I was going to lug around a bunch of books I wanted to do it in style."

Her horn glowed softly, and the back door of the wagon swung open. From within a large red trunk levitated out. It settled with a thump in front of the group of ponies.

"This is just the highlights, you understand." Trixie flipped the lid open with her hooves. "The ones they told me to take extra special care of." With her magic she lifted out books, and passed them out to the group.

A stack of thick volumes landed in front of Sunny. "The Art of Spell Crafting," Sunny read from the cover of the topmost book. Then her eyes went wide. "By Star Swirl the Bearded!"

"Heard of him, huh?" Trixie smirked. "Yeah. He wrote some good stuff."

"Structure and Interpretation of Incantations," Zipp read from the book in front of her, "by Glimmer and Sunburst... uhh, sounds deep," she offered.

"Starlight, Rarity, Octavia," Pipp read, "a Reflective Stylish Orchestration!" She grinned. "Oh, I've so gotta give this a read! It sounds right up my alley."

Hitch stared at his book doubtfully. "Spell Libraries: Principles, Techniques, and Tools." He scratched his mane. "Huh. Sounds a little dry, if you ask me."

Trixie nodded. "That's why everypony just called it the 'Dragon Book'. Because of the purple dragon on the cover, see."

"Ooooh! Look at mine!" Izzy crowed, holding up a small book with a picture of a hippo on the cover. "The Little Spellcrafter, by Flurry Heart. Now this is what I need to get started."

"The Mythical Pony-Moon..." Sunny read from another book Trixie had given her. "By Celestia and Luna. Is this one about spellcrafting too?"

"Mm hmm." Trixie nodded. "Everypony says it's a classic. Not sure I see it myself. It just says weird stuff, like adding more ponies to a task makes it go slower. I mean, how in the world could that be?"

With her magic, Trixie reached into the trunk and brought out one more slim volume, landing it in her own forehooves. She stared at it, a conflicted look on her face.

"Starlight's Incompleteness Theorem," she read.

And suddenly held the book close, a wistful look on her face. "Sorry," she finally said. "This one's kinda dear to my heart. It's an original signed copy, see?"

Flipping open the cover, she showed Sunny the title page. On it was an extremely sloppy signature, and beneath it in the same hoofwriting were the words:

Trixie, if this finds you someday,
know that I'll never forget you.

Trixie abruptly shut the book. And held it out to Sunny.

"Here," she said, with an air of resigned finality. "These books, and the rest in there. They're for you."

"For me?"

Trixie nodded. "They told me that someday, somepony might bring magic back. Somepony who'd be the new de facto Princess of Equestria. And that she'd need all these books. Because otherwise, it's gonna take you simply ages to rediscover everything ponies once knew about spellcrafting. I mean, it might still take you a while. But with this lot to give you a shove in the right direction, we're talkin' moons instead of centuries."

Sunny stared at the book being held out to her. And then at the look on Trixie's face. The mare looked like she was giving up something extremely precious. Her last connection with something... or somepony.

Somepony very important, it seemed.

With an understanding smile, Sunny gently pushed the book back. "Why don't you hang onto this one for a while?"

Trixie hugged the book again, relieved. "You mean it?"

"Sure! I mean, it's not like you're in a hurry, right? You don't have to rush off somewhere, do you?"

"No. Not really." Trixie sighed. "Truth be told, I wasn't sure what I'd be doing at this point. My job was basically to deliver these books, explain what they're for, how much they mean and so forth. And then, well..." She stared around uneasily, looking a little lost. "Figure out what to do with the rest of my life, I guess."

"Oh?" Sunny asked, concerned. "Well, if that's how it is, why don't you just stay here with us?"

"Could I?" Trixie looked inexpressibly grateful. "I mean, I wouldn't be in the way, would I?"

"How could you be? There's always room for one more in this madhouse."

"Seriously," Zipp added dryly. "If the inmates don't drive you crazy, nothing will." She nodded at Izzy, who as usual was beaming with disturbingly cheerful innocence.

"And like you said," Sunny went on, "you're the keeper of the Royal Archives now. Or the closest thing to it. And these can't be the only books on magic and spellcrafting left. We're gonna need somepony to help gather them up and keep them organized... a librarian of sorts. And to be honest, I'm not sure that pony should be me."

"This is true." Izzy nodded. "Sunny here tends to organize her books vertically." She gestured with a hoof above her head.

Sunny frowned at her, but didn't object. Instead she looked at Trixie.

"Why couldn't that pony still be you?"

"Me?" Trixie was looking stunned, as though she hadn't even considered it a possibility.

"Sure! That is," Sunny added quickly, "if it's still something you feel like doing?"

Trixie considered it. And looked privately amused for some reason. "Huh. The Princess of Equestria wants me to be her librarian." She giggled. "You know, that's just too perfect for words?" She shrugged. "Eh. I've got nothing else going. Might as well give it a shot."

In spite of her somewhat blasé attitude, the group could see how much it meant to her. They were silent for a moment, hunting for words.

Hitch, ever practical, spoke first. "Okay, so now we've got that settled... how did you come to be here in the first place, Trixie?"

Trixie nodded. "That would be the long story I warned you about. And we should probably adjourn somewhere more comfortable to discuss it..."

------------------------------

Trixie returned most of the books to the trunk, apart from The Little Spellcrafter, which Izzy wanted to hang onto. Then she put the trunk safely back in her wagon, and the group headed back indoors, settling themselves around the table again, with a pot of tea and some cookies to make things more convivial.

And Trixie looked ashamed, as she gathered her thoughts. "It all started," she said, "with a mistake. As usual. It was right after the wedding of Starlight and Sunburst and --"

"Wait," Sunny said. "Is this the same Starlight from that book you showed me?"

"The very same." Trixie smiled. "Good ol' Starlight! The wedding was held a few years after Twilight ascended the thone and --"

"Princess Twilight?" Zipp broke in. "The one Sunny's told us about?"

Trixie eyed her. "You know another one?"

"But she ruled Equestria ages ago!" Pipp objected.

"Yep," Trixie said flatly. "Told ya this was gonna sound way out there."

"Woah," Sunny gasped. "So you've met Princess Twilight?"

Trixie gave her a look. "You could say that. We've crossed paths on occasion."

"Okay," Hitch objected, "now that just doesn't wash, Trixie. Princess Twilight ruled Equestria a long time ago. Am I right, Sunny? So how could you possibly have met her?"

Trixie scowled at him.

"Am I still pouring out my life story here? Or would you all rather sit around debating every little detail?"

Sunny motioned for everypony to be quiet and let Trixie continue. Which the azure mare did, still looking a little affronted.

"Where was I? Right, so after the honeymoon, Starlight and Sunburst pretty much buried themselves in their work, managing Twilight's School of Friendship. Because Starlight had been appointed Headmare by Twilight. And she'd made Sunburst her Vice Headmare, and..." She stared at Sunny. "What are you doing?"

"Getting all this down!" Sunny had pulled out her notebook and was scribbling notes on a spare page. "This is important historical detail. And it confirms so many of Dad's theories."

"Hmph." Trixie shrugged. "Funny, just seems like ordinary everyday life while you're living it. Anyways, so Starlight was busy with work. Really busy. Too busy to have time for all the little things. Like spending time with her best friend." She pouted grumpily. "And that hit me kinda hard. It made me feel like I was just fading into the background. Like I didn't matter anymore. Starlight had appointed me Student Counselor for the School. And I'd been doing a pretty good job, or so I thought. So much so, I'd let my career as a stage magician kinda fall by the wayside."

Pipp stared. "You were a stage performer too?"

"Mm hmm." Trixie nodded. "In my time," she added mysteriously, "I was known as The Grrreat and Powerful Trixie..."

She suddenly paused, her expression turning sad.

"But... that's neither here nor there. I kinda hung up the robe and hat when I took on the Counselor job. Gotta stay focused on the students' needs, after all. But I was so determined to do something that would catch everypony's attention again. A trick to end all tricks!" She pounded the table with a hoof. "I wanted to do something nopony had ever done on stage before. But what, I asked myself? Then I remembered: Starlight once told me that nothing ever just disappears. Soooo... I decided to prove her wrong."

Bringing up an elderly-looking grimoire that she'd brought in with her, Trixie flipped it open, showing a page of detailed notes. "I looked up this spell, the one that the original Pillars of Equestria -- you know, Star Swirl and his crowd? -- used to send themselves and the Pony of Shadows to Limbo. And it occurred to me, if I just tweaked the spell a tiny bit..."

Trixie winced. And shut the book.

"Well as they say, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Suffice it to say the spell worked. First time, I might add, when I tested it. I stepped into my magic cabinet, triggered the spell annnnd..."

She glanced around the table. "Wanna guess what happened? Anypony?"

"You... got stuck?" Izzy said, uneasily.

"Got it in one." Trixie nodded. "I put the cabinet and myself in Limbo. And since Limbo is pretty much a timeless, placeless state, I couldn't cancel the spell and bring myself back out. So I was basically stuck. Until all the magic in Equestria started to disappear, that is. I caught a break there of sorts. My amateur spell revision was one of the first things to fall apart. The cabinet and I plopped right back out of Limbo... and straight into the midst of bedlam.

"There were these academics, you see, from the Royal Archives, busy going through the School's library and records. They were gathering up any materials they could find on spellcrafting. They found me too, wandering around the place trying to figure out what had happened to everypony I knew. And for a while, they pretty much ignored me, having far more important things to worry about." Trixie looked grimly smug. "That is, until they suddenly realized I might be the answer they were looking for."

She glanced around the table, gauging their reactions. "'Cause you see, it wasn't just magic that was disappearing. It was anything -- and anypony -- strongly connected with magic. Entire realms and lands of Equestria were fading away. Spellbooks, grimoires, scrolls, anything written with horn-writing and enchanted ink was disappearing. And ponies too, especially experienced unicorns. The researchers were all experts themselves, and they were literally counting the days by the roll call of their numbers each morning. They were afraid that with them would go all the collected learning the Archives held on spellcrafting, unless they found somewhere safe to stash the important works. And guess who'd just appeared, literally out of nowhere, to show them a way?"

Trixie smirked. "I'd already shown the spell worked. I'd been to Limbo and back and lived to tell about it. So all they had to do was repeat the process, this time sending a choice selection of books into Limbo with a better-designed spell, one that would hold them there until such time as magic returned to Equestria. And they sent me along with them. The researchers weren't sure any of them could go. The way they'd been disappearing, they were afraid they might not exist anymore even when magic was finally restored. But me..."

She looked downcast. "I'll be honest with you. I suck at spellwork. I've managed to learn a few complex spells, mostly by rote. Most of my illusions on stage were just that: illusions, sleight of hoof. I was about the most un-magical unicorn they had available. So they asked me if I'd be willing to go along with the books, and see to it that they were delivered safely to the right pony or ponies, when and if magic returned." She glanced around at them, with a wanly fatalistic expression. "And don't think for a second I'm any kind of hero. Given time and a clear head to think about it, I might have said no. But I was still a little shell-shocked, having lost pretty much everypony I knew to a fit of pique. And who knows? If I'd stuck around, I might have vanished too, like everypony else. You don't know what it was like back then. It felt like the end times, seriously."

Trixie shrugged fatalistically.

"Times being what they were, I took the job. We located my wagon -- Starlight thoughtfully had it put in mothballs -- and shoved some trunks loaded with books and scrolls into it. And me with them, duly invested as the Archive's pro-tempore representative. The mages cast the spell..." Trixie waved her forehooves vaguely. "... and poof, that's all I knew. Until about a week or so ago when magic returned, and I and my wagon popped back into existence somewhere on the road out there." She gestured with a hoof. "Not sure exactly where. Probably doesn't even matter. Might want to put a plaque there someday."

"And then you found your way here?" Zipp asked, impressed despite herself.

Trixie nodded. "I asked around, trying to find out who'd brought magic back. And word gets around, believe me! It wasn't hard to figure out this was ground zero, right here. That Sunny Starscout had shown everypony how to bring magic back. So, I hauled my wagon up here, put on my best suit-coat, knocked on your door in eager anticipation..."

"And we were out," Sunny said. "Down in the town, having ice-cream."

Trixie shrugged. "Story of my life."

"I'm so sorry, Trixie."

"For what?" Trixie waved a hoof. "You couldn't have known. And I'd already spent who knows how long as a nopony in a timeless void. So I absolutely did not mind hanging out up here, enjoying the view, while I waited for somepony to show up."

"So..." Hitch stared at her in amazement. "You're saying you're literally from the time when Princess Twilight ruled Equestria?"

"And before," Trixie said smugly. "You could say I knew Twilight when. She might not be half so famous today if it wasn't for me..."

And then Trixie winced, as if catching herself again.

"But... that's all in the past now. And if I can be any help to all of you to earn my keep here, then count me in."

"Sure!" Sunny smiled. "Glad to have you aboard, Archivist Trixie."

Trixie looked uncomfortable.

"Just... call me Trixie. That's enough for me now. Just Trixie..."

Comments

[AllenVth]

This is tragic, but Trixie's mistake single handedly just saved Sunny and the rest a lot of trouble in re-learning magic.
Even if she doesn't see herself as, she's a hero for the new generation.

[Yoshifan30]

"Patricia Pot," the mare said hurriedly. Then she winced, as if she'd somehow already put her hoof in it. "But... most ponies just call me Trixie."

I'm assuming this Trixie is related to of course Trixie My Little Pony friendship is Magic

[Yoshifan30]

Trixie gave her a look. "You could say that. We've crossed paths on occasion."

Oh yeah the first time in season 1 yeah not really a good expression the first time you go to Ponyville and then season 3 yikes she went crazy with the Alicorn Amulet which hopefully nobody doesn't Discover that thing in this new generation and then season 6 I mean they were okay but still not in good terms until Starlight became friends with her then both Twilight and Trixie really want to put aside for Starlight so yeah their history is a little rocky to say at least

[Yoshifan30]

"Well as they say, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Suffice it to say the spell worked. First time, I might add, when I tested it. I stepped into my magic cabinet, triggered the spell annnnd..."

Trixie you're telling me you got yourself stuck in limbo for a thousand years to be honest that's kind of sad

[Yoshifan30]

Wow that actually kind of blew my freaking mind a little bit so apparently this is the same Trixie waiting for sunny and wanted to give all the knowledge of magic to her so those things can be still in use but instead Sunny wants Trixie to have them because if she's got nowhere to go she might as well just stay here but before then she explained about this whole situation why is she here and apparently she created a spell that the pillars created that trap anybody in limbo and she got herself caught in when she tweet the spell which that is impressive but it must be very sad that Starlight knew that Trixie was gone and Trixie was pretty sad to see everybody that she knows are also gone as well and now she's in this whole new world wow that is something again kind of reminds me of Captain America when he wakes up to the modern year

[Boltstrike58]

"And before," Trixie said smugly. "You could say I knew Twilight when. She might not be half so famous today if it wasn't for me..."

Same old Trixie. Somethings really do never change.

[Steady Gaze]

Structure and Interpretation of Incantations

The Mythical Pony-Moon

Starlight's Incompleteness Theorem

Please know that somepony understood and appreciated your reference to Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. And who could forget The Mythical Man-Month or Goedel's Incompleteness Theorem? But those are all the references I got without looking things up. Slightly regretful that I didn't get the reference to the CLRS initially.

Trixie, if this finds you someday,
know that I'll never forget you.

At first I thought this dedication was just because this story shipped Trixie x Starlight, but this hits different after Trixie reveals that she got stuck in limbo/suddenly disappeared and Starlight lived the rest of her life without seeing her best friend again.

[Fox Jones]

She's not feelin' so great and powerful now... :(

[Reclusive]

11186226
Another two:

The Art of Spell Crafting

This one is The Art of Computer Programming. Hopefully the series was finished in-universe.

Spell Libraries: Principles, Techniques, and Tools.

The dragon book is the dragon book

[silverMEGAlicorn]

Great story so far! I do feel Trixie would still slip into third person mode from time to time, catching herself most times to stay humble

[Lexiebommel10]

That explains why the unicorns were in such a slump the greatest spellcasters and all books written in horn writing oof friends and knowledge double whammy

[Greenhorn]

This is a really interesting idea.

[Joe Toon]

Interesting. The Administration shall monitor this world.

[NotSuspicious366]

11186038
It's more than "kind of sad." It's sad for her when she's out of limbo, and she can remember her friends who died long ago, but when she was inside of it, you can't miss anyone if you don't exist. That's even more depressing. Imagine a world where you get erased from existence. Your family and friends would be very confused, and miss you, but after a while, they'd be dead. Still, civilization continues. While non-existent, you can't think, you don't even know that anything ever existed. Hundreds of years of nothing. All of the sudden, you're in existence again. Everything comes flooding back, but nobody remembers you. You're the only one who remembers the past. That's terrifying.

[Yoshifan30]

11187969
You know what you got a good point there that would be very terrifying coming back from limbo or whatever and coming to the strange world that you're not recognized yeah I would be very scared and still be sad at the same time because everything I know are gone

[Lulamoon-Crystal]

Interesting...