"Most ponies just call me Trixie..." An unusual unicorn arrives on Sunny's doorstep, representing an organization sworn to aid the return of magic... and its new Princess...
"Most ponies just call me Trixie..." An unusual unicorn arrives on Sunny's doorstep, representing an organization sworn to aid the return of magic... and its new Princess...
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.
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."
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..."
By unspoken agreement, Trixie left her wagon parked where it was, tucked under the tree behind the lighthouse. And she lived in it, quietly and unobtrusively. If one wasn't looking for her specifically one might never have known she was there.
Which is not to say she was a hermit. She joined the group each morning when they gathered for breakfast, either at the lighthouse or down in the town. She seemed particlarly fascinated by the gadgets in Sunny's spartan-but-efficient kitchen. She stared in bafflement as Sunny ran a small blender that she used to make juice infusions. And she spent quality time flicking the wall switch, watching the light above the desk in the corner go on and off, apparently trying to work out how the two were connected.
Yet when Sunny explained electricity to her, Trixie seemed almost disappointed. "So," she summed up, "when the other kinds of magic went away, you got used to doing it all with... what, everyday-object magic? Physical magic?"
"Physics," Sunny said, nodding. "Electromagnetics and electrostatics, mostly. Like the force our hooves project when we grab things. I imagine it'll get interesting now that there's other kinds of magic available."
"Oh, you've no idea." Trixie shook her head. "When I think of the kinds of insulation I had to wrap around every gadget I used on stage, just so some wiseacre in the audience wouldn't prank me. The tinfoil in the hat was just the start..."
True to her calling as a Counselor, during the day Trixie mentored Izzy, or tried to, as the unicorn eagerly worked her way through Flurry Heart's book. Sunny would often come across the two of them sitting at the table in the ground-floor room, reviewing Izzy's latest attempts at spell-writing. And Sunny often had to suppress a laugh at the look on Trixie's face. Izzy was probably the only unicorn in the history of spellcrafting to scribe her spells in day-glo markers.
At one point, Trixie became truly fed up with Izzy's chronic distraction while attempting a simple multi-object levitation spell.
"No no no! Like this!" Trixie stamped a hoof, at the same time powering up her horn.
And all round them, chairs, tables, and other loose objects flew up to the ceiling. Where they stuck, pinned by the force of the spell.
Trixie stared up at them. "Well," she finally said. "That was... unexpected."
"Oooh!" Izzy nodded. "You know, that'd be a really useful spell to know when I'm sweeping the floor back home. How'd you do it, Trixie?"
Trixie looked like she honestly hadn't a clue. But she quickly put on an austere, unruffled expression. "I think it's best if we leave that as an exercise for the student, eh?" And then, very carefully, Trixie worked on peeling the furniture off the ceiling without dropping anything.
For the most part however Trixie was quietly patient, doing her best to serve as a sounding-board for Izzy's sometimes shallow, sometimes disconcertingly deep questions. "I may not have the answer," Trixie said at one point. "In fact, I almost never do. But I can always help you talk it out yourself. It's what a counselor's for, right?"
Trixie also obligingly joined Sunny for "tea and research" as Sunny put it. Sunny eagerly peppered Trixie with questions: about Twilight, about ancient Equestria, about pony customs, about everything and anything that came to Sunny's mind. And Trixie did her best to answer, apologizing for not being a more useful resource. "I was never much of a history buff, even in my own time," she admitted. "I tended to focus only on what mattered, for me and my magic show."
Trixie willingly ran errands, and seemed to welcome it as an opportunity to learn her way around town and meet the locals. She took an interest in the group's safety too, advising Sunny on setting alarm wards on doors and windows, the same as she did with her wagon. Trixie also identified several weak points in the patrols of the pegasi guards keeping watch on the lighthouse. Hitch quickly found he had nothing to complain about in that regard. If he needed to know how things were up at the lighthouse, he could just ask Trixie whenever he saw her.
At night, Trixie would retire to her wagon, shut the door, and all but vanish from the world until morning. True to her word, she was quietly, resourcefully helpful, the perfect house-guest.
Yet for all that, there remained about her an air of quiet sadness. She gently deflected compliments, and said little if anything about her career as a stage performer. Quite often, in the midst of delivering a sharp retort or a grandiose peroration, she would abruptly catch herself, fall silent, then shrug gently. As if it didn't matter, really.
Sunny was puzzled by this, and increasingly concerned. Initially she assumed it was simply because Trixie was tired of her life as a showpony, tired of being seen merely as a conjurer or performer, and was trying to move on.
But then Trixie happened to spend a couple hours with Pipp one afternoon, learning about Zephyr Height's cloud network and how Pipp used her phone to keep in touch with her legion of followers.
And Pipp was simply gushing about it afterwards.
"Seriously, Sunny! I barely had to show her how live-streaming works. She just seemed to get it right away. She even obliged me by doing a few hoof-worked tricks on camera for the PippSqueaks. And I swear, the views were going up every second she was on. She did this mentalist act -- oh, I wish you'd been there, Sunny, it was a riot! I could see how she used the fixed angle of the camera to make it work, but still, I was in awe how smoothly she pulled it off with zero rehearsal. And when Trixie saw the views herself, I could see her eyes lighting up. No question, she's a performer like me. She loves the attention. If Trixie ever wanted to do shows of her own again, I'd be in troubllllle!"
So, there was that. Sunny didn't want to intrude, didn't want to pry. But equally she couldn't let it go. She'd never been able to see a pony suffering and just let things be.
It's how I got the horn and wings, she thought. So it's my responsibility...
------------------------------
The next morning, Sunny invited Trixie to sit in while she raised the Sun, up in the lamp-room atop the lighthouse. Trixie watched in awe as Sunny, her ethereal horn and wings glowing, slowly and determinedly lifted the Sun above the horizon and set it on its way.
Trixie was silent for a while after that.
"I always wondered," she finally said, "what it was like for Celestia -- or Twilight for that matter -- doing this. And you make it look so easy, Sunny. Thanks for sharing this with me."
Sunny dismissed the horn and wings, then smiled uncomfortably. "Can I share something else? Something kinda personal?"
Trixie shrugged. "What's a good former Student Counselor for?"
"I'm scared, every time I do this," Sunny said. "Up to now, my entire life, the Sun and Moon were simply there, up in the sky, eternal and unchanging. They rose, and they set, and it had nothing at all to do with me. And now? Suddenly something that matters so much to so many ponies is my responsibility. Me, personally, every single day! I'm terrified I'll get it wrong. I never do, and with practice it's gotten easier. But all the same, I never stop worrying, deep down."
Trixie nodded. "If I were Twilight, or one of her friends, I'd say something about believing in yourself. That you're the right pony for the job and so forth. But that's not me. And speaking for myself, a little worry isn't such a bad thing. It helps keep you sharp, keeps you from taking your skills for granted. And you're right: with great power comes great responsibility. I mean, isn't that what they always say?"
Sunny nodded. "It's what I tell myself. Sometimes it even helps."
Trixie glanced around, then lowered her voice. "Don't tell anypony this, but I've been there myself, actually. Once, I experienced what it was like having that level of magical ability." She gritted her teeth. "Trust me, it did not go well. It drove me completely round the bend! I ended up not trusting wheels, for pony's sake! I've given up trying to figure out where my head was on that one..."
"That does sound pretty bad," Sunny agreed.
"Yeah. Unlike you, I don't know how to handle power. I always go too far."
"The Great and Powerful Trixie?" Sunny guessed.
"Huh?" Trixie looked surprised. "Oh, that. No, that was just my stage persona. But even there, I did tend to go over-the-top as a rule. I think it's because my skill with magic is so weak, I kept ginning up my stage act to compensate. After a while, it got to be a habit even in private conversation. The Great and Powerful Trixie somehow never left the room." She rolled her eyes. "I'd even talk about myself in the third person, if you can believe it."
Trixie paused, and sighed, with a pained look.
"And it got to where even I could see it was doing more harm than good. Every time I let the Great and Powerful Trixie off the chain, bad stuff happened. I made mistakes, I hurt ponies' feelings, I ruined things. So when Starlight asked me to be the School's Student Counselor, I decided to hang up the cloak and hat for good, and do things right. I'd just be Counselor Trixie, see if I could make that much work. And I did. Well... pretty much..."
Then she shut her eyes tightly, fighting back tears.
"Until that last time. When I forgot, and let Trixie off the chain again. That time I lost everything... all my friends..."
Sunny put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "Not all of them, Trixie. You have friends here. You're not alone."
"Thanks." Trixie smiled gratefully. Then she looked puzzled. "Why are you so nice to me, Sunny? I mean, seriously. You don't know me from that guy who runs the smoothie stand down by the bay. You don't know the kind of pony I was."
"Because in a way, you remind me of me," Sunny said.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Before all this, before magic came back. Before the wings and the horn and raising the Sun. More than once, I found myself feeling worthless. Like I could do nothing but mess things up, landing all my friends in trouble. All because I was so determined to bring the three pony tribes back together. Towards the end, I was almost convinced I was wrong. And then, suddenly, I discovered I was right."
Trixie nodded. "And now you have to live with that?"
"Uh huh."
"I hear you. But I still don't see why you're so willing to trust me."
Sunny smiled. "When you showed me that inscription, from Starlight in her book? I could tell. Anypony who had a friend like that, who'd leave that kind of farewell message, not even knowing if you'd ever see it... well, it kinda said it all. You're a good friend, Trixie. As far as I'm concerned, that's all that matters now."
Trixie smiled back, even seemed to relax a bit. But she still felt hesitant and conflicted, Sunny could tell.
"Well!" Trixie said briskly. "Don't you worry, Sunny. I'm gonna be the best Counselor-slash-Librarian-slash-Friend-You-Share-Sunraisings-With you've ever seen!" Then her eyes widened. "Oooh! Which reminds me..."
With her magic, Trixie picked up a book she'd brought with her, and flipped it open to show Sunny.
"It turns out you were right, about there being other books on magic left. I was poking around the Library down in the town, seeing if I could help out. Maybe learn a little about what a librarian does, aside from sorting books. And I came across this. It's not a book about spells or spellcrafting or anything. But it does talk about some of the early mages, like Sacanas and Star Swirl. It's even remotely accurate, near as I can tell. So there are books like this out there." She raised a hoof triumphantly. "And I shall find them! I promise! I shall search far and wide, leave no page unturned! I, the Great and Powerful..."
And then she clamped her mouth tight shut, hunching in shame. When she spoke again, it was quiet, sedate, and professional.
"...Trixie," she whispered. "Just Trixie."
Thanking Sunny again for sharing the sunraising, Trixie hopped on the lift, went downstairs, and returned to her wagon.
And didn't show her face again all morning.
------------------------------
When night came, Sunny lowered the Sun as usual, and raised the Moon in its place. Then she retired to bed, still a little wired from the raising-and-lowering ritual, as she thought of it. And also worried about Trixie.
Shutting her eyes and muttering to herself, Sunny gradually drifted to sleep.
And found herself dreaming. It was the same dream, the one she'd had several nights running. Unsettling and frightening, it always started the same way...
It was dark.
Sunny stared around, unable to see anything, apart from the small spotlit circle she was standing in. And she had that uneasy feeling one gets, in a dream about to go bad: the feeling that any second now she'd discover just how alone she wasn't...
"Hello?" she called, not expecting a reply. There usually wasn't one.
But this time, she was wrong.
"Sunny? Is that you?"
Turning, Sunny found herself facing... Trixie. The mare was standing in a similar spotlit circle, which paced her as she trotted over to join Sunny. But this was a very different Trixie. She was wearing a magician's robe and a peaked sorcerer's hat. And her whole demeanor was different. She carried herself confidently, proudly, even a little swaggeringly. As if she was the most important pony present, just by being there.
"Trixie?" Sunny stared.
"Well, obviously." Trixie essayed a bow. "Though the Grrreat and Powerful Trixie is... a little confused. Is this your dream, or Trixie's?"
"I... assumed it was mine," Sunny said.
Trixie shrugged. "Well, you'd know. Trixie was pretty sure it was hers, but stands willing to be proven wrong."
"What are you doing here?"
Trixie shrugged. "How should I know? If this is your dream -- which I still doubt by the way -- then this is you talking to yourself. I'd be saying whatever you expected me to say. And if it's Trixie's dream..." She looked confused. "... then it's Trixie talking to herself. Which is par for the course actually. So you can see how it's hard for me to tell."
"Either way, I'm glad you're here," Sunny said. "Because this is where it usually gets ugly."
"Oh? Well, fear not!" Trixie flourished a hoof. "Neither foe nor fiend nor fearsome phantasma can challenge the awesome might that is the Grrreat and Powerful --"
A crash of thunder sounded all round them. The ground beneath their hooves shook.
"...Trixie?" she whispered, wide-eyed. And hunched, seemingly trying to hide inside her cloak and hat.
Sunny stared around into the dark. In the distance all about them, a sickly green glow was forming, like a hideous, poisonous dawn. It backlit smoky, fog-like clouds, which steadily advanced on them from all sides.
They were surrounded.
"Sunny," Trixie suddenly hissed. "Why haven't you powered up? You know, the wings and horn? Whatever you call it."
Sunny winced. "That usually just makes it worse."
"Ohhhh... one of those dreams, huh?" Trixie snorted. "Yeah, Trixie gets them too. But you know Trixie's secret? Trixie never lets 'em see her sweat!" She winked reassuringly. Then she set her hooves squarely, lifted her snout, shoved the magician's hat back on her mane, adopted a pose of utter fearless calm.
"Bring it, whatever you are!" she growled.
Though not too loudly, in case whatever it was actually heard her.
Despite her fears, Sunny smiled at Trixie's brittle bravado. Then she gritted her teeth, summoned the ethereal horn and wings. And turned to face the advancing green horror, still feeling helpless.
Trixie nudged her. "How many of 'em you think you can take?" She peered around, eyes narrowed like a gunslinger.
Sunny blinked in surprise. "There's just the one big evil-looking cloud, all round us."
"Huh! Well then it's two against one, right?" Trixie giggled, and then pointed a hoof. "You take that side, I'll take this side. And nopony fight in the middle. You get crossfire that way."
"Trixie!" Sunny wanted to laugh. "Why aren't you like this normally?"
It was Trixie's turn to look surprised. "Trixie is always like this. Or hadn't you noticed?"
"It's just, you're so quiet most of the time."
"Yeah..." Trixie looked briefly sad. "Trixie doesn't get out much these days."
The oily green fog was nearly on them. They stood back-to-back, facing it together.
"Ya know," Trixie observed, almost casually, "if you've had this kind of dream before, then it's just gonna get worse. We need to do something about that. Assuming we survive, of course..."
"Like what?" Sunny asked.
"Oh, go for ice-cream to celebrate," Trixie said breezily. "But on a more practical note, we should figure out why the horn and wings don't help. Because they should, right? Isn't it what they're for?"
"I'd assumed so," Sunny agreed. "They appeared when the magic came back."
"So? Then maybe there's still something left to do," Trixie suggested. "Some part of the trick you haven't gotten to yet. We need to figure that out, and fast!"
"How?"
Trixie put up a hoof.
"Hold that thought. You're gonna want to remember it later."
And the swirling clouds pounced upon them...
------------------------------
Sunny jolted awake, and sat up.
She was in her own room, in the lighthouse. It was still night outside. All was quiet, apart from the distant soughing of waves on the shore below the cliffs.
Getting up, Sunny went to her window and looked down. And saw Trixie's wagon, parked under its tree beside the lighthouse. As she watched, a light came on inside. A moment later, the curtains of the side window were tugged open, then the window sash lifted. Trixie peered out, wearing a sleeping cap and looking blearily confused.
Then Trixie looked up, and spotted Sunny at her own window.
The wagon's window slammed. The curtains yanked closed. The light went out.
Trixie had disappeared again.
Like a magic trick... Sunny thought to herself, the memory of the dream fading even as she tried to recall it. One with a part we haven't figured out yet...
"So," Sunny began, when they'd all gathered around the table for breakfast next morning, "overall we've been doing a great job figuring out the extra abilities that magic gives us. The pegasi have been learning how to use flight, manage the weather --"
"And coming up with a few new rules," Zipp added. "Now that pegasi don't have to use stairs, and can just fly over walls and gates. Gives personal space a whole new meaning..."
"Earth ponies," Sunny went on, "have been working on making use of their increased strength and improved farming abilities."
"I'm just worried about the day somepony gets a little too much on somepony else's nerves," said Hitch, "and I have to lock them both up. The one saving grace of enhanced strength is it floats all boats. If you could defend yourself before, you still can now."
"And unicorns," Sunny pressed on, "have been working on their skills with magic. And thanks to Trixie's library, we've been making progress on relearning how to craft more complicated spells."
Izzy nodded, and gestured with a hoof to her latest creation, hovering in front of her. It was a small translucent shield bubble, within which colorful dots arced back and forth, trailing loops of rainbow color in their wake. "Pipp showed me this awesome thing on her phone called a screensaver. I figured I'd try creating one of my own. Isn't it wild?"
"But... where's the screen?" Zipp asked.
"Hmm? Is there supposed to be one?"
Sunny rolled her eyes. "All of which is fine. But..." She paused, and tried to think how to put it. She didn't think she should go into the dreams. Or nightmares, or whatever they were. She glanced at Trixie. The two of them hadn't said a word about it. Sunny wasn't even sure how to ask.
Did we really face overwhelming, implacable evil together? Or was that all in my head?
"I'm just concerned," Sunny went on, "that the return of magic might not be all upside. That we might wind up facing something... dangerous. Either ponies misusing their new abilities, or maybe... I dunno, something nasty out of Equestria's past coming back to haunt us."
"Like what?" Pipp looked nervous.
"That's just it." Sunny shrugged. "I don't know. But we need to be ready for it. Because it'll be our responsibility. Ponies will be looking to us for answers."
Izzy nodded ruefully. "We are kinda the experts now."
Hitch nodded. "Okay, so what's the plan, Sunny?"
Sunny smiled gratefully. It was nice of him to so readily assume she had one. "Maybe we should start," she thought aloud, "by finding out more about the source of this magic. Where it comes from. How we're meant to use it. That way we'll know our limits, if things get tough."
"But where do we look?" Pipp asked. "I assumed magic was like the cloud back home. It's just everywhere. And you use your phone to tap into it."
"I thought it came from us," said Izzy. "Like, when I'm making stuff, and I need more blue clay or something? I just make some. Although..." she added, "I do get macaroni and gooey bunnies and glitter from the store. So maybe we need to find the store?"
"Really?" Zipp snorted. "Like heading to the local McWings for some take out? That'd be a heck of an order, right? "I'll just have Equestrian Magic, please, with a side-order of fries." "
"Zipp," Pipp scolded, "this is serious!"
"Hey, I am never not-serious about fries."
"Hitch?" Sunny asked. "What do you think?"
He shrugged. "I tend to leave magic to the experts, like you and Izzy. And Trixie now, too." He nodded to her. "Though I would say we should be careful. We go looking for trouble, we're that much more likely to find some."
"Trixie?" Sunny asked. "You have any ideas?"
Startled, Trixie looked up from where she'd been idly pushing paperclips back and forth over the tabletop.
"Me? Um... well, have you found the Tree of Harmony yet?"
"The what of what now?" Zipp asked.
Trixie glanced around at their puzzled expressions. "Big tree? Made out of crystal? Tends to be the source of just about everything weird about magic around here? Trust me, you'd know it if you saw it. I only saw it a couple times myself." She raised an eyebrow. "The students built a treehouse or something around it at one point..."
"Hey," Hitch said, "would that be like, a huge tree? Kinda like an oak or an elm? With pinkish leaves?"
Sunny gasped. "We passed by a tree like that, on the way to Bridlewood! Do you think it could be the same tree?"
Trixie shrugged. "Darned if I know. The tree I'm talking about was pretty definitely made of crystal. Of course, I don't know how long it's been. And it was a magic tree..."
Izzy grinned. "Maybe it pulled a Ponocchio? Turned into a live tree somehow?"
"Well..." Sunny said speculatively, "I guess there's only one way to find out, huh?"
Izzy nodded eagerly. And then she suddenly looked nervous.
"I hope it doesn't turn out to be that tree I knocked down to make a bridge for us..."
------------------------------
Having no other plans for the day, the group set out at once. And it quickly became a kind of procession, since the party included Sunny, plus her friends, plus the two pegasi guards from Zephyr Heights as escort. And Trixie, who insisted on taking her wagon along, the books still loaded inside it.
"It's my home," Trixie said. "I'm used to travelling with it." Having divested herself of the dress suit, she was using her magic to strap herself into the wagon's harness.
"We could at least leave the books here," said Sunny. "We could stash them up in the lamp room, and lock the doors."
"With nopony to watch them?" Trixie shook her head. "Be a fine thing, wouldn't it? Lugging these books all the way through Limbo, then having them swiped in less than a moon? No thanks! This is Trixie's responsibility."
"You want some help pulling the wagon, at least?" Hitch offered.
Trixie gave him an aloof look. "I have traveled hills and dales pulling this wagon. I'm used to it. Plus I'm tougher than I look." Then she looked sheepish. "But, uh... if we do come to any really steep hills, and anypony feels like giving this thing a push, I wouldn't say no."
They set out along the road inland, and soon left Maretime Bay far behind. And Trixie hadn't been bragging about being comfortable pulling her wagon. On flat areas of road or meadow she trotted along easily, as if the wagon wasn't even there. And when they came to a small creek or muddy patch, Trixie lit her horn and carefully levitated the entire wagon, books and all, over it. At first Trixie seemed surprised herself at how easy it was. After a while though, she seemed to take it in stride, not even bothering to unhitch herself or do more than glance behind her to make sure the wagon had settled back on its wheels properly.
And as the group trotted along, Trixie gazed about at the passing scenery, a reminiscent smile on her face. "This is one reason I became a travelling magician," she said. "Between shows I could just roam the countryside. No rules, no schedule. When I got tired I parked my wagon and set up camp. Then I'd set out again in the morning. And when that got old, I'd find a town or village, and do my show for a while. It's nice being able to make your own time, set your own rules. Plus there's spots out here where you can see for miles..."
They were on a trail passing over a ridge at the moment. She gestured with a hoof, at the distant forests and mountains, an almost proprietary look on her face.
"King of all you survey, eh?" Hitch said jokingly. "Sorry, Princess, I mean."
For once, Trixie simply nodded in agreement. "Out here, there's nopony to tell you who you are. So you get to decide for yourself, make it up as you go along." She giggled. "I'd invent new routines on the road, work up the patter out here, where nopony could hear me. Behold!" She called grandly, "a sight you shan't soon see again, not in an age and a half! The Grrreat and Powerful... uh..."
She fell silent, then waved her hoof vaguely. "You get the idea."
It was late afternoon by the time they finally arrived at the daisy-dotted meadow. And before them stood the tree. It was impressive, standing all on its own on a rise of the meadow, massive and time-worn, with its crown of bright-pink leaves.
But apart from its size and age, it appeared perfectly ordinary. Trixie approached it and cautiously rapped the base of the trunk with a hoof.
"In my considered, expert opinion," she said, "this... is a tree."
Then she stared around. "And where's the ruins? There was a ruins of some sort of castle all round here." Her face fell. "Wow... has it really been that long?"
Izzy squinted, her horn glowing softly. "I'm not getting much of a sparkle reading off it. Not more than the usual background, anyways. Maybe it's asleep or something?"
"What about you, Sunny?" Pipp suggested.
Sunny nodded, and summoned the horn and wings. She cautiously felt around with her magic. "Nothing," she said. "I'm not even sure what I'd be looking for."
"Well, I guess it couldn't be that easy." Hitch glanced around. "It's getting kinda late in the day. Maybe we should just set up camp here? See if we can figure out something by morning?"
They did so. And quickly found it was best just to follow Trixie's lead. She almost instinctively found a comfortable, relatively sheltered hollow in the meadow, where there was a natural spring. She parked her wagon, and the others gathered in the open space in front of its end stairs. And in a trice Trixie had set out a small heap of crystals, cast a spell on them that made them glow warmly, then placed a small metal grill over them. On this she set out a cookpot and tea kettle. Then she busied herself placing a ring of focus crystals around the campsite, which she charged with warding spells.
In short order, they had a makeshift camp, which felt comfortable, safe, and lived-in, as if they'd already been there for days.
It was close to sundown by that point, so Sunny summoned her horn and wings again, and carefully lowered the Sun and raised the Moon. And once everypony had gotten over seeing that small miracle happen, the group sat around chatting at length, turning over various ideas for how to awaken the Tree -- assuming it was indeed the one that they were looking for.
Trixie sat on the grass near the steps of her wagon, saying little, staring at the glowing fire-crystals, with a vaguely contented expression on her face.
"I've missed this," she said, seeing Sunny's questioning look. "Being camped out under the stars, miles from anywhere, at the end of a long, hard tramp over the countryside. It's... nice, actually."
"You ever think you might take it up again someday?" Hitch asked. "The travelling showpony life?"
"Mmm... not sure," Trixie shook her head. "I mean, if I'm not doing my show anymore, there's little reason to be traipsing all over Equestria. Still, it would be nice, wouldn't it? Having a reason to be out here again."
After a while the group had talked themselves out, so they all settled down on the bedrolls they'd brought along. As did Trixie, spreading a comfortable, careworn quilt by the stairs of her wagon. She could have just stayed in the wagon itself, but that didn't seem fair to the rest of them. "And it isn't like I can invite you all in, either. With the books and all, it'd be a bit crowded." She shrugged. "I've slept rough before. This'll be fine for me."
And once Hitch and the pegasi guards had sorted out between them which of them was taking what watch, the ponies finally made themselves comfortable, lay down, and drifted off to sleep.
------------------------------
Sunny opened her eyes, lifted her head, and stared around at the camp, and at her slumbering friends. Then further, at the meadow all round them, and the tree in the distance. Its branches were gently frosted by the chill gleam from the Moon overhead.
Everything seemed normal. Sunny almost put her head down again.
Then she noticed Trixie's blanket was empty. The mare was sitting on the steps of her wagon instead, staring disconsolately down at the fading glow of the fire-crystals.
And she was wearing the magician's cloak and peaked hat again.
Trixie looked up in surprise. "Oh, it's you. Look, Trixie is almost certain this is her dream this time. So what are you doing here?"
"I'm not sure. I don't mean to intrude. Maybe it's because I'm worried about you."
"About me?"
"Yeah. And too, I'm still figuring out my powers. Maybe visiting ponies' dreams is one of them?"
Trixie considered that. "Or maybe it's Trixie's fault? That wouldn't surprise me." She gazed up at the Moon. "When Trixie was little, she had a Great and Powerful friend, a teacher of sorts. One who was really good with dreams and such..." The showpony's gaze fell to the fading crystals. "Then suddenly she went away. And Trixie had to figure it all out by herself." She sighed. "Maybe Trixie still has some of her power left. Maybe it's Trixie messing around with your dreams. Sorry about that."
"It's okay. I don't mind the company."
Sunny sat down on the steps beside her, and the two of them were companionably quiet for a while. Then Trixie looked at Sunny.
"You're actually worried about me?"
Sunny nodded. "You seem so unhappy all the time. I wish I could help."
"Not sure anypony can help. Trixie did this to herself." She waved a forehoof at the empty quilt at the base of the stairs. "Little goodie-four-shoes," she sneered. "Trying so hard to fit in and not offend anypony. And she blames me for being stranded here. But the truth is, she's the one to blame. Because... because Trixie was jealous!"
"Jealous?"
"Uh huh." Trixie nodded. "Of Princess Twilight, for being so perfect at everything. Of Headmare Starlight, for being so wrapped up in her work and her relationship with Sunburst that she didn't have time for Trixie any more..."
She gritted her teeth. Then she shook a forehoof angrily.
"And of every unicorn in the entire freaking world!" she yelled. "For having more power and skill with real magic than the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
She fell silent. And looked sheepish.
"I have compensation issues. You can probably tell."
Sunny smiled. "At least you're honest with yourself about it."
Trixie nodded. "But she's right, you know. The Great and Powerful Trixie did get in the way, a lot of the time. And screw things up. Trixie was always a little over-the-top. But... this is who Trixie is! This is who I am!" She shook her head. "It's just never seemed to be what ponies needed me to be... except on stage. Then I was exactly what they wanted: a diversion, a distraction, a bit of fluff entertainment."
She huffed, crossly.
"Well, Trixie is fed up with that. Trixie wants to be a part of things, to really help this time. Trixie wants in!"
She fell silent, shutting her eyes. Her head lowered, her shoulders drooped.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie..." she said, her voice almost a whisper, "...is tired of being a solo show."
Sunny nodded, and put a hoof around her, quietly hugging her.
And thought about it.
She looked up at the tree, looming in the distance. "That ruins you mentioned," she said. "Around the tree? What did it look like?"
"What's it matter?" Trixie said glumly. "It's gone now."
"Maybe. But if this turned out not to be the Tree of Harmony, then knowing what the ruins looked like would help. We'd know what we were looking for."
"Oh." Trixie shrugged. "Well, it was some old castle, like I said. It had a wall around it, which had a front gateway. With doors." She shut her eyes, remembering. "And the castle was tall, really tall... with towers and spires, and ornaments on top. Real fancy, because it was a palace, way back when. And they lived there... the two sisters. That's what it was called, back then, the Palace of the Two Sisters, and..."
Trixie's eyes snapped open.
"Uh... how the hay do I know all that? I suck at history almost as bad as I do at spellcrafting."
Sunny wasn't listening. She was staring. She pointed a hoof. "Was that it?" she asked quietly.
Trixie turned to look. And blinked in surprise. "Yeah. Pretty much."
Before them, all round the tree on the hilltop, there was a ghostly image of a castle. Or rather, as Trixie had said, a palace. It soared into the night sky, with walls and buttresses and towers capped with ornaments. It was grand, imposing, awe-inspiring.
And they could see the stars in the sky right through it.
Getting up from the wagon's stairs, they trotted up the hill together towards it, staring at it. "I only saw this place as ruins," Trixie whispered. "I never saw the original castle. I can't possibly be remembering all this."
"Maybe you're not," Sunny said. "If this is the Tree of Harmony, and you said it was magical... maybe it remembers what this place was like, all those moons ago."
Trixie looked puzzled. And skeptical.
"How can a tree remember anything? And what's its memories doing in my -- sorry, in our dream?"
Sunny shrugged. "How is it I can raise and lower the Sun and Moon? Observe first, understand later when you've got the facts. That's what Dad always said."
They approached the palace doors, which were shut.
And Trixie glanced worriedly at Sunny.
"What do you think is inside? Remember, not everything magical from back then was, well... nice."
Sunny shook her head. "I don't know. But we have to know. So we'll be ready for it."
Trixie nodded. Then she took a deep breath, and she shoved her hat forwards, grimly. "Then let's find out together, huh?"
Sunny nodded willingly. Together, they reached out with their forehooves, pressed them against the doors.
Then Trixie suddenly paused, looking at her. "I only wanted to be Great and Powerful, you know? Somepony who mattered. Somepony they'd never forget."
Sunny smiled. "Maybe you always were," she said. "Maybe you were just living in the wrong time. And maybe now's your chance to get it right, huh?"
"Maybe," Trixie said, nodding. Then she eyed Sunny suspiciously.
"Are you really Sunny Starscout?"
Sunny laughed. "Are you really the Great and Powerful Trixie?"
"But of course!" Trixie giggled. "And thanks, Sunny."
"Not a problem. What's a new Princess of Equestria for, huh?"
Sunny opened her eyes, then blinked and rubbed them.
It was still dark out, but from the pale blue coloring of the sky to the East, it felt close to sunrise-time. Summoning her horn and wings, she raised the Sun. And its warmth and light quickly roused the others, too.
"Wow," Hitch said, as he yawned and stretched. "That's one heck of a wake-up call. Thanks, Sunny!"
"No problem," Sunny replied. She squinted cautiously up at the sky, double-checking her work. "You know, it's funny? I used to hit the snooze button like three times every morning. And now? I'm up at the crack of dawn... because I'm the pony running it."
Pipp smiled. "And we think you're doing a fantastic job. Right, Zipp?"
"Little early for schmoozing, isn't it?"
"Pro tip," Pipp warned her, "always be complimentary to a pony with the power to move the Sun."
"Yeah, point taken." Zipp nodded. "So, what's first on the agenda?" Then she looked over her shoulder, up towards the peak of the hill. "Oh yeah. Right. Tree."
It stood there, stolid and wooden as always, wreathed in early-morning mist that glowed softly and pearlescently in the dawn light.
"Where's Trixie?" Izzy asked, looking around.
They saw the door to Trixie's wagon was open. There was assorted muffled muttering and cursing coming from inside. With the others close behind her, Sunny mounted the steps and peered in.
The wagon's interior was spare and neat, apart from a disheveled hammock strung against a side window. And the numerous trunks and boxes of books and scrolls, stacked everywhere. Trixie was in the midst of these, rummaging in one of them. Bringing out a heavy tome with her magic, she thunked down on the floor, paging through it with rising agitation.
"You'd think," she grumbled, "with something as important as a magical Tree underpinning the powers of the entire realm, they'd have, I don't know, a how-to guide?" She slammed the volume shut. "Unhappily, I don't seem to have anything with me."
"It's okay," Sunny said. "We'll just have to figure it out. Together, right?"
"I suppose," Trixie said, looking doubtful. Nevertheless she willingly set the book aside and followed Sunny and the others, out of the wagon and up the hill, where they all stood looking up at the tree.
"So, what do we try first?" Zipp said. "Thinking happy thoughts? Or singing a song? Or both at once?" Despite all their brainstorming the previous evening, they hadn't come up with anything much more concrete.
"Maybe there's some kind of spell? Or ritual?" Sunny trotted around the base of the tree, looking for a sign, a sigil, markings of any kind. Even a convenient weathered stone marker in the ground with Instructions for Waking The Tree. But there was nothing of the sort. Nothing but the meadow and the daisies and the tree itself.
Trixie was sitting off to the side, frowning and thumping her head with a hoof. "C'mon, Trixie. Think! Think, think, think! What would Starlight do in a situation like this? What would Twilight do?"
And then she looked up. "Which are your Elements?"
The others looked at her.
"Our... elements?" Pipp asked.
Trixie nodded. "Twilight and the others, each of them had some kind of Element, something special about them. It was the same for Star Swirl and his bunch. Starlight explained it to me once. You figure out which element each pony represents, you put them together and..." She gestured vaguely with her hooves. "Hang onto your hat I guess. 'Cause it gets weird from there."
Sunny was nodding. "The Elements of Harmony," she whispered. "Dad mentioned them. They were all aspects of Friendship, somehow."
"One was Kindness," Trixie said, nodding. "I'm pretty sure of that. Another was Loyalty. I think. And, er... sorry, that's all I've got."
Sunny looked around at her friends. "Well, if any of us was Kindness," she said. "It'd be you, Hitch."
"Me?"
"Uh huh." Sunny nodded. "The way you're so patient and understanding. Particularly with the critters when they follow you around."
"Well, what else can I do?" Hitch said, amused. "It's not like I can yell at them or anything. They don't know any better. And I'm the Sheriff, so I have to set an example... critters included."
"And that's why everypony in town looks up to you," Sunny went on. "You're a pillar of strength. They know they can rely on you." Sunny considered it. "Hmm. Strength and Kindness... Authority, perhaps?"
Hitch shrugged. "Works for me."
"And Zipp," Sunny said, "you'd be Loyalty, I think. The way you never give up, and stick by your friends."
"Sure. I've got anypony's back who's got mine." Zipp smirked. "But I don't trust just anypony. I choose my friends carefully. As you can tell from this crowd." She gestured with a wing.
"Right," Sunny nodded. "You're cautious, always seeking the truth..."
"A bit of a skeptic?" Pipp added, smiling. "Maybe more than a bit?"
Zipp shrugged. "Hey, I'll put my hoof up to that. If I'm gonna believe in something, I want to be sure it's the real deal."
"So... Loyalty, plus a healthy dose of Skepticism," Sunny summed up. "Trust, maybe?"
"Suits me," Zipp agreed.
"Oooh! Oooh! Me next!" Izzy beamed. "Uhh... I'm really creative... and have loads of inspiration... and I make friendship bracelets!"
"Plus you can't sit still for more than five seconds," Zipp murmured. She exchanged a smile with Pipp.
"Right," Sunny agreed. "Loads of Energy, and Creativity too. But it's more than that, Izzy. You can always find the bright side to any situation. So... Optimism, I guess?"
"Sold!" Izzy grinned. "Don't bother wrapping it, I'll wear it with pride!"
"And Pipp," Sunny said. "You've got name-brand recognition, and an incredible following. Ponies listen to you and believe in you, because you make them feel better about themselves."
Pipp nodded. "Early on, I learned a very important rule: take care of your fans and they'll take care of you. I've never forgotten it, and it's never steered me wrong."
Sunny nodded. "Okay, so Fame and... I don't know..."
"Networking?" Pipp quickly suggested, with a smile.
"Ding!" Pipp replied. She held up her phone. "And look at that, it's got five plus-hooves already!"
"What about you, Sunny?" said Hitch. "You get one of these elements too, right?" He looked around at the group. "Me, I'd say it's Empathy. Because you always listen to what ponies are saying and feeling. You're always reaching out. You always want to make things right."
"But she also knows," said Zipp, "when to put her hoof down. There's times when you've set us all straight, Sunny, just by being loud and determined about the right way to go."
"Decisiveness," Pipp agreed. "Whenever we're fighting with each other, and can't make up our minds, you lead the way."
"Okay, so... Leadership?" Izzy suggested.
The others nodded.
"Leadership," Hitch said. "Says it all."
"Works for me," Zipp said.
"And me," Pipp agreed.
Sunny smiled at them. "Thanks, everypony. Okay, so we each have an Element, of sorts. But what do we do with them?"
Trixie looked doubtful. "Maybe you gather in a circle around the Tree? And name your elements? I seem to remember Starlight mentioning something like that being part of it."
Sunny and her friends did so. Feeling just a little foolish, they called out the elements they'd settled on:
"Optimism!"
"Authority!"
"Trust!"
"Influence!"
"... and Leadership," Sunny called out, self-consciously.
And then they waited. And waited some more. Nothing happened.
"Anypony got a Plan B?" Zipp said.
"Maybe we didn't pick the right ones?" Hitch suggested. "Or maybe it's something silly, like we didn't say them in the right order."
"No, they seem right to me..." Sunny said. And thought about it. She thought back to the Friendship gem: the three crystals, one for each of the tribes. And how in the end, it wasn't the crystals that were important. It was the ponies they were trying to bring back together.
Then she thought back to Twilight and her friends. And realized...
"There were six of them! Twilight and the others: six elements, six ponies." Sunny looked around at the others. "And there were two of each: two earth ponies, two pegasi... and two unicorns."
"Well, we've got two unicorns," Pipp said.
"Uh huh!" Izzy nodded. "Me and my brilliant study-buddy: Counselor Trixie!"
Sunny looked at Trixie. "How about it, Trixie?"
The showmare looked stunned. "You want me?"
"Yeah, I think we need you." Sunny nodded encouragingly. "To make this work."
"Um. Okay..." Trixie said, trotting forwards. "If you think so..."
The ponies looked at each other. And Trixie looked at them.
"Well..." Trixie said hesitantly, "you did so great choosing your own. What do you think it should be?"
"How about Experience?" Pipp said. "From the way you handle yourself live-streaming, Trixie, I'd say you've been around."
"Plus the way you know how to rough it out here," Zipp added. "I'm proud I can even light a fire. But you know how to live on the road."
"Experience," Sunny agreed, nodding. "That's something you have, Trixie, that none of us have. You know things we don't, because you've been there. You lived in a time when there was magic like this. You remember how things were. We're gonna need that."
"She sure knows a lot about magic!" Izzy said proudly.
Trixie shrugged. "At least, for spells I've practiced."
"And that's something else," Sunny said. "Throughout all this, you've been honest and up-front with us, about what you know and what you can do. Plus you don't sugar-coat things, Trixie. You tell it like it is. We're going to need that kind of plain truth, that kind of tough love. So... Experience and Truth... uh, Wisdom, maybe?"
"Wisdom," Pipp said, nodding.
"Sounds right to me," Hitch agreed.
"Wisdom!" Izzy crowed.
And Trixie gave them all a look.
"If I'm Wisdom," she muttered, "you're all in trouble..."
Nevertheless she stepped forward to join the circle of ponies. Again they named their elements, with Trixie chiming in last: "Uh... Wisdom?"
Again, nothing happened.
Zipp looked miffed. "Okay," she said dryly, "anypony got a Plan C?"
Trixie slumped miserably. "I guess I'm not really the unicorn you need."
"No..." Sunny said, drawing surprised looks from her friends. Then she went on. "We do need you, Trixie. But more than that, we need the real you..."
She glanced around at the others, then looked at Trixie again.
"... we need the Great and Powerful Trixie."
Trixie froze. She looked horrified. "Are you sure?"
Sunny nodded encouragingly. So did her friends.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie," Hitch agreed.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie!" Izzy cheered excitedly.
"Heh. Time to step up to the big leagues," Zipp said.
But to Trixie it was no joke. She swallowed nervously.
"Okay, but... just give me one minute, will you?"
Turning, she hared away down the hill to her wagon, and disappeared inside.
"What happened?" Pipp asked. "Did we say something wrong?"
"I'm not sure," Sunny said. "Wait here." Motioning for the others to stay put, she followed after Trixie.
On reaching the wagon's doorway, she looked in. And found Trixie sitting inside, facing a mirror hanging on the side wall. Trixie had already put on the star-spangled magician's cloak, and was nervously settling the peaked hat onto her mane.
"Trixie never turns down a performance," she said. "But I gotta look the part. Hmph. A little threadbare, but it'll have to do." She gave the brim of the hat a stroke with a forehoof.
And smiled, as if in recognition.
"Ya know..." she said softly, "for the first time in a really long while... I feel like myself again."
She turned to look at Sunny. "Thanks."
Sunny smiled encouragingly. "I know you can do this, Trixie."
"But of course!" Trixie replied archly. "If Trrrixie can't do it, nopony can..." For a moment, she looked uncertain again. "... right?"
Sunny nodded. Together she and Trixie turned back up the hill, towards the tree.
And they quickly met the others, coming back down it.
"Sunny!" Hitch shouted, "something's going on up there!"
Sunny stared. "Trixie, what're you doing?"
"Me?" Trixie squeaked. "I was hoping it was you!"
All round the base of the tree, seemingly out of the sunlit mist itself, walls were steadily materializing. Broken walls, a staircase, doors... a ghostly ruins in fact, which seemed to become more substantial the closer they got to it.
Cautiously approaching the doors, they climbed the stairs leading up to them. Glancing at each other, Sunny and Trixie reached out together and, finding the doors solid to the touch, pushed them open.
In the mist-wreathed courtyard beyond stood the tree, surrounded by the shattered ruins of the ancient palace.
Trixie nodded. "This is how I remember things," she whispered. "So this must be the place. This must be the Tree."
"Why is it all wispy and see-through?" Izzy asked. "Are the ruins really here, or is it just illusion?"
Trixie looked puzzled. For all of a brief moment. Then she lofted her snout proudly.
"Trixie has no idea what's going on," she said. "But that's never stopped Trixie. In fact," she added, "the All-Wise and Thoroughly Experienced Trixie has always played the cards she's dealt. Except the ones she keeps up her sleeves, of course." She mischievously fanned a deck of cards from nowhere, then made them disappear again. "All right," she called out. "If we're gonna do this, let's do it right. Time to put on a show!"
Striding forwards, she turned to face them, lofting her forehooves dramatically.
"Mares and stallions! Fillies and colts of all ages! The Grrreat and Powerful Trrrixie will now attempt the awesomely difficult, and technically unexplainable Waking the Tree spell! With, of course, the kind help of her capable assistants from the audience." She gestured to them all. "Now -- places, everypony! Sunny, you're fine where you are. Hitch, you're over that side, that's right. Zipp and Pipp, over that way, that's fine, but spread out a little. And Izzy, right over there. Perfect!"
Glancing around, Trixie adjusted her hat, then gestured like a conductor.
"Let's make this one count, everypony. Nice and loud, like ya mean it! On the count of three... one, two..."
Once again, the ponies named their elements in order, with Trixie adding hers at the end, firmly and grandly:
"Wisdom!"
And she clapped her forehooves together, setting off a fountain of glittering fireworks.
And... again nothing happened.
In the distance, a bird chirped. Otherwise, all was silent.
"Well, it was a good try anyway." Hitch said, sounding disappointed. The others looked similarly downcast. Sunny in particular, who stared at the tree in bafflement.
"I was sure we had it there. I was sure we'd figured it out..."
Trixie stared as well. Then she frowned. And growled angrily.
Storming over to the base of the Tree, she glared up at it. "Now you listen here!" she snarled. "Tree of Harmony, or whatever it is you are. You've got five ponies here who could really use some help with the magic that's been dropped on them. Plus you've got the Great and Powerful Trixie, who doesn't need help, thanks, but that's beside the point. And these are good ponies, all of them, Trixie can tell. They're pouring their hearts out here, trying to do the thing right, trying to be the ponies this age needs them to be. And you just sit there, like a... like a big freaking tree!"
Trixie was furious. Trixie was livid. And all the more so because the Tree was utterly failing to respond to her tirade.
"Well, Trixie isn't going to stand for it!"
Whirling about, Trixie struck out with a hind hoof, smacking the gnarled bark. "There! Ha! That should wake you up!"
For a moment, all was shocked stillness.
And then, right where Trixie's hoof had struck the bark, a crack formed. It spread, snaking up the trunk and feathering out to the sides. There was a building thrum, a rumbling of tension in the air.
"Aaah!" Trixie bolted, and ended up crouching behind Sunny. "Oh! What the hay have I done now, Sunny?"
"I'm not sure..." Sunny whispered. But she almost was, sort of. Summoning her horn and wings, she waited, watching in awe. Taking their cue from her, her friends stayed put, watching in wide-eyed amazement.
Before them, the cracking of the bark was spreading all over the tree, up its numerous branches. From within, a warm, blinding radiance was leaking out. And before Sunny and her friends could do anything, even just look away, the radiance ramped up into a huge outrush of energy. It atomized the bark and leaves of the tree, whirling them away to nothingness.
In their place, the true Tree was revealed: tall and stately, and utterly ethereal. No longer bound by physical form, it spread branches of sheer magic into the air, and dug roots of power deep into the ground, reconnecting with the restored power of the realm.
A nimbus of gleaming magic formed around Sunny, and around each of her friends -- Trixie included. They were lifted into the air and swept into a proper circle around the Tree. And they could feel the unleashed magic connecting them, linking them all together, in a bond that the realm had known only twice before.
At last, a voice said. Whether it was spoken aloud or just in their heads, it was difficult to tell. The link has been reforged. And not merely amongst your three tribes. But with the past. You begin to remember, as do I...
"Sunny..." Hitch said nervously, "why is the Tree speaking in your voice?"
"Seriously?" Zipp asked. "A tree talking at all isn't weird enough for you?"
This is the voice you listen to, the Tree said. The voice you believe in. The voice you respect... There was a slight but unmistakable edge in its tone.
"Um..." Trixie offered nervously, "Sorry I kicked you. I was a little fed up, that's all."
They felt a gentle warmth, a sparkling in the Tree's magic. It was like laughter, but without the physical expression of it.
Tough love indeed, the Tree said. And just when it was needed. You are true to your Aspect, Trixie Luna Moon. As are each of you. That is well. This will be needed, in times ahead.
"That's why we're here," Sunny said. "We want to be sure we're ready, that we know what to do. That I know what to do," she added with a nervous smile.
Get used to uncertainty, the Tree advised. But trust in yourself and your friends. You all have an unusual destiny. Others before have sought what was already there. But you must now seek what was, reunite the present and the past. Yet you have what you need: ancient magic, and modern technology, and the friendships that you will reawaken, all across this land.
"No pressure, huh?" Hitch whispered, making Sunny smile.
Be on guard though, the Tree warned. Not every creature, not every force you awaken will be friendly. Not everyone who claims friendship will be true. It will be up to you to decide which is which. You are the Aspects of Friendship now. And you will know what must be done...
The power gently released them, and Sunny and her friends settled back to the ground. Before them, the glowing Tree's magic flowed away, outwards and downwards, along otherwise invisible channels in the fabric of magic itself. It slipped away entirely, leaving behind only the creeper-tangled stone ruins, now fully solid once again.
And six utterly amazed ponies.
Sunny and the others crossed to the doors of the ruins, and looked out through them, down the stairs. Beyond they saw only the empty, daisy-strewn meadow. Plus Trixie's wagon, and the two pegasi guards who'd been cowering behind it the entire time.
Sunny and her friends looked at each other, astonished and speechless.
Then Trixie proudly gestured with her hooves.
"Ta daaaa! Now, who's for ice cream to celebrate, huh?"
Sunny and the others laughed.
"Sure," Sunny said. "Soon as we get back to town. And I'm buying."
------------------------------
Late the following morning, they were back in Maretime Bay. The entire group was sitting around a table next to the ice-cream stand on Shore Street, looking out on the bay. And each of them had a dish or cone of his or her favorite flavor.
Trixie had just taken a large chomp out of her cone, and was squinting at the resulting brain-freeze.
"Er, excuse me?" said a nervous voice behind them. "Are you Sunny Starscout?"
Sunny and her friends turned to look, and saw a trio of nervous-looking unicorns, dressed in star-spangled robes, their carryalls loaded down with quills and scrolls and other research gear.
The ginger-haired unicorn who'd spoken touched a forelock of his mane courteously. "We're a delegation from the Archivists," he said. "It's a group dedicated to carrying on the tradition of scholarship established by the Royal Archives of Old Equestria. Up to now, we've had to remain in hiding, but with the return of magic, well... we thought we'd ask if you're considering maybe re-establishing the Archives? We'd be more than willing to offer our services as scribes and researchers. And maybe one day, with diligence and study, we might be able to recover some small amount of the knowledge ponies once had about magic and spellwork."
Sunny exchanged an amused glance with her friends. "Well," she said. "I think you ought to take that up with the current Head of the Archives." She gestured with a hoof. "Which would be Trixie here."
"Oooh..." Izzy warned, "but it's not just Trixie, remember..."
Trixie herself gestured with a forehoof, invoking an ethereal mirror in midair. She used it to make sure her hat and robe were on straight. Then she dismissed the mirror with another wave of her hoof.
And finally turned round, to eye the nervous scholars loftily and scornfully. She smirked.
"How may the Grrreat and Powerful Trrrixie... be of service?"
------------------------------
In another place -- a shimmering, placid realm as distant as a sunset, yet as inescapably encroaching as one's own shadow -- a Princess looked down on the scene.
And smiled, reminiscently.
Behind her, there was a darkly smug chuckle. And Twilight rolled her eyes.
"You are having way too much fun."
She turned her head to look at the flame-eyed, night-dark shape looming behind her, wreathed in coruscating fire. The other Princess shrugged indifferently.
"The little fraud always wanted to be powerful... and great. Who are we not to oblige, hmm?"
Twilight shook her head reprovingly, but didn't object outright. She just kept smiling as she returned her attention to the six ponies -- the Aspects of Friendship -- celebrating that friendship together.
She sighed. The sight made her feel just a little bit better.
It was so like old times...
The End
My Little Pony: A New Generation, its characters and indicia are the property of Hasbro. No infringement is intended. This story is a work of fan fiction, written by fans for fans of the series.
