Author's Note:
This wasn't edited yet. Errors and mispellings ahead. Send me a message telling me where they hide and I'll terminate all of them!

Badlands near Macintosh Hills. A single house on top of a mesa was being surrounded by six pony-shaped creatures wrapped in many layers of linen cloth. Since Twilight had been summoned by Harshwhinny regarding her interactions with the vampire Royal Guard, - in her own words, "safety measure to make sure she is still fit to be part of the Organization" - she was out of comission for a while; that is why Trixie had been chosen to temporarily take her place. And the three of them had just gotten off the carriage that landed there.

"Huh. Two for each one of us. How convenient!" Rainbow Dash said. She grabbed her knives. "Betcha can't finish them faster than me!"

Applejack smiled as she grabbed the spear strapped to her back and spinned it a couple of times. "Challenge accepted, pardner!"

"Is there a time when you two are not competing?" Trixie asked with a roll of her eyes.

Applejack shook her head. "Nope!"

"What she said!" Rainbow pointed at Applejack.

"Anyway, let's just get this over with." Trixie blasted two of the mummy ponies with her magic while Rainbow Dash attacked them from afar with her knives and Applejack charged at two of them with her spear, successfully piercing both of her targets.

"Well, that was easy. Like, disappointing easy!" Rainbow Dash said, then turned to look at Trixie. "So, who won?"

"I don't know and I don't care." she said, walking past the now dead living dead. "The hard part comes now, though." Trixie knocked on the door three times.

"KEEP AWAY FROM OUR HOUSE!" a filly shouted from inside the house, startling the trio. "MY FATHER IS NOT ONE OF YOU!"

"It's okay, kid." Trixie said. "We're from the L.R.E. Organization, we're here to help you and your father."

It took a while but, afew moments later, the door slowly opened a little, though it still had the chain bolt keeping it mostly closed. The pony who opened the door was a little pink unicorn filly, and anypony could see her big, blue eyes were full of fear.

"C-Can you really help my father?" she asked with a trembly voice.

"Trust us, kiddo!" Rainbow Dash said with a wink. "We're the best at what we do."

"An' what exactly are we doin' here?" Applejack asked. "Ah was informed 'bout the mummies, but everythin' from here is a mystery to me."

"We sure can help you and your father, child." Trixie said with a smile. "Trust us!"

The filly closed the door, unbolted it and opened again, this time with enough for the mares to walk in. Rainbow Dash looked around at all the books and scrolls about supernatural beings, ancient curses and similar subjects.

"Wow, whoever lives here is really into supernatural stuff!"

"This is the house of one of the researchers from the Organization." Trixie explained, pointing at a wall, which had a picture of many ponies wearing lab coats and goggles. Sunset Shimmer and Chief Harshwhinny - who looked as unamused as ever - were among them.

The little filly nodded. "Father said that if something ever happened, I could trust ponies from the Organization, no matter what!" she petted a white and grey pigeon who sat on the perch on top of a table. "That's what I sent father's carrier-pigeon as soon as..." she looked at stairs that led to the basement of the house and sighed. "He's downstairs. Don't hurt him, okay?"

"Wouldn't dream of it." Applejack said while patting her back, reassuring the filly.

Trixie was the first to go downstairs, soon followed by Rainbow Dash, then Applejack. It was dark, but they found a lamp with the aid of the unicorn's light spell. There wasn't much in the basement, except for some papers on a table and a wardrobe.

"Three guesses where the father is." Rainbow Dash said before looking under the table. "Two guesses left!"

Applejack opened the doors and was immediately attacked by an unicorn stallion half wrapped in linen cloth, drooling and moaning like the mummies from before. She kicked him off her and reached for her spear, but Trixie levitated the weapon away from her.

"No harming here." she said. "You two, hold him down, I'll handle this."

Both mares pinned the stallion-mummy to the ground before he could get up while Trixie charged a spell.

"Sunset should be the one doing this, she's much better at this kind of spell than me." she said. "Why did she had to go back so soon?" she sighed, then mumbled: "I didn't even had the chance to tell her I slayed the lycan that killed her parents..."

Trixie fired the spell at the stallion, enveloping him in a pink coat of magic. The magic focused itself on the cloth wrapped around parts of his body, making them deteriorate and turn into dust.

"Alright, you can let him go now." Trixie said. Applejack and Rainbow Dash got up, looking down at the stallion lying on the ground, who slowly got up as well.

"That was... An unfortunate event!" he said while rubbing his head. The stallion gasped. "My daughter, is she--"

"Father!" she called as she ran downstairs. She immediately jumped on the stallion and hugged him.

"I'm sorry, sweetie." he said while hugging her back. "I was careless."

"What the hay happened to ya?" Applejack asked.

"A little accident during one of my studies of undead creatures." he explained. "The lack of sleep made me careless, and I ended up casting a spell I shouldn't have." he hugged his daughter tighter. "I should have paid attention to what my sweetie said. I'm sorry!"

"It's okay, father. Everything's fine now!"

"I believe our job here is done." Trixie said. "Let's leave them be, they need some family time."

"Wait! Can you do me one last favor?" he levitated a book in front of Trixie. "Can you take this back to the HQ? And please, tell Chief that the spells in this book should never be cast ever again! You saw what they're capable of."

"Alright." Trixie said while placing it in her saddlebag.

The three mares then left the house, walking back to where the carriage was waiting for them.

"Now that felt nostalgic." Trixie mumbled.

"Nostalgic?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Did you had problems with living dead before?"

"Well, yes, but that's not what I meant." she explained. "I was in a similar situation before joining the Organization. I was surrounded, with nowhere else to go, death knocking on my door, when suddenly a pony from the L.R.E. came out of nowhere and saved my my hide!"

"That sounds like an interestin' tale." Applejack said while jumping on the carriage. "Care to tell us? It will be a long travel back, anyway."

"Well, that's a story that I never told many ponies." she sat beside Applejack, pondering. "But I guess I can trust you. Well, here it goes." she took a deep breath and proceeded to tell them her story.

Four and a half years ago. Trixie used her smoke cloud spell to run away without being spotted, but didn't expected the magic wind Twilight had summoned earlier to still be blowing, completely blowing her cover, allowing everypony else to spot her fleeing the scene.

"Why, that little--" Rainbow Dash said before taking off, ready to chase Trixie.

"Just let her go." Twilight said. Rainbow Dash stopped and watched Trixie disappearing behind some trees after a turn of the dirt road. "Maybe someday she'll learn her lesson."

But Trixie was already too far away to listen. She only stopped running once she ran out of breath.

"Those colts..." she said while breathing heavily. "Are unbelievably... Stupid..." she approached a small river and drank as much water as she could. "Ahh, much better." she crossed the river and kept walking. "But still, what were they thinking? Bringing an Ursa Maj-- I mean, Minor... Into town and hoping for the Great and Powerful Trixie to vanquish it? Trixie is telented, but not to that extent!" she sighed. "That purple mare sure showed Trixie who's..."

She shook her head. "NO! The Great and Powerful Trixie shall never bow down before another! The others bow down before Trixie. Besides, this was just an isolated incident, was it not? Nopony is going to believe that the Great and Powerful Trixie was bested by a bunch of hillbillies from a countryside village where progress has yet to reach? No pony Trixie knows, that's for sure. Trixie will sneak back before sunrise, find her cape and hat, some of her possessions and start all ov--" she bumped on something and fell on her rump.

After rubbing her face a little, she opened her eyes and saw the last thing she expected to see in the middle of a dirt road: a scarecrow. Its head was a sack with two buttons stitched to it, serving as its eyes. There were also stitches forming a curved line, serving as a smile. Its body was a bigger sack stuffed with hay with an old, ripped and dirty shirt covering it. Just looking at it gave Trixie shivers.

"What in the name of the Princess is this thing doing here?" Trixie tried to move the scarecrow, but the stake that kept it standing was probably buried too deep on the ground. "Probably just some stupid prank. Trixie is not amused!"

She dodged the scarecrow and kept walking, still thinking out loud:

"First, Trixie needs a new cart." she said. "The bits in Trixie's bank account may or may not be enough, but maybe Trixie can earn some more in a couple of weeks working at Donut Joe's--" she once again was too focused on her plans to notice something in the middle of the road, once again bumping on it and falling on her rump.

"This is getting ridiculous!" she said, looking up at it: a scarecrow. "Another one?" she turned her head to look at the other one that she had previously met, which couldn't be too far behind. "What kind of pony has so many free time on their hooves that--" her eyes widened when she saw that the road behind her was empty. "Did... Did Trixie walked in circles? But this is a straight road!" she faced forward again and gasped when she saw that the scarecrow was gone.

Trixie immediately got up and looked around, but she didn't saw anything. "Alright, whoever is doing this, Trixie would appreciate it if you STOPPED! I am already leaving your city, no need to chase me out with... With... That thing!"

She received no answer, so she harrumphed and raised her chin as high as she could before she kept walking. Until the scarecrow blocked her path once more.

"ENOUGH!" she yelled before running as fast as she could once again. She ran for nearly half a mile and even went as far as entering the woods nearby, trying to escape from whoever was chasing her. She collapsed in front of a tree, breathing heavily. "Tr-Trixie thinks... She... She lost them..." she took a deep breath, trying to calm down, but her heart skipped a beat when she heard dry leaves and twigs being crushed. She immediately curled up and covered her mouth with both forelegs.

"Why am I even so afraid?" she thought. "It's probably just some stupid teenager trying to scare a poor mare when she's down." she got up and took a deep breath before jumping from behind the tree. "Why are you following Trixie, you--" she looked around, but there was nopony there. She groaned, shook her head and rubbed her temples. "Trixie must be hallucinating..."

She heard noises coming from above and looked up. She screamed when she saw the same scarecrow falling from a branch and about to fall on top of her. Without thinking twice, she charged a spell and fired it at the faling scarecrow. The brute force of the spell sent it flying, shredding it to pieces once it hit the trunk of a tree. Some of the hay straws were even set ablaze by the magic beam. Trixie was pating, still a little shaken by that event.

"There!! Trixie broke your little toy!!" she yelled. "Will you leave Trixie alone now?!"

She turned around with the intention of walking back to the main road, but the scarecrow blocked her path once again. She turned around to look at the pieces of the destroyed scarecrow, but there wasn't a single hay straw left. She looked back at the scarecrow and yelped when she saw that it was so close that she could see many of the straws sticking out of its "body" were scorched. She turned around and ran as fast as she could.

"What the hay is going on here?!" Trixie yelled. "Why won't you leave Trixie alone?!"

Trixie tripped and fell on her face. She turned her head to look at what she had tripped on. Her face went pale when she saw hay straws sticking out of the earth wrapped around her left hind leg. Not too far behind her was the damned scarecrow; the stake was tilted, making it possible for its makeshift hoof to touch the ground. She noticed that the hay sticking out of its burlap hoof had been buried in the ground. It didn't took long for Trixie to put two and two together.

"This... This is no scarecrow!" she said. "LEAVE TRIXIE ALONE, YOU MONSTER!"

She fired another spell at the hay straws keeping her in place, and winced after accidently scorching her leg as well. She got up and limped away. She was almost sure that she had no chance of getting out of those woods alive, but Lady Luck smiled upon her and she smiled back when she saw a small wooden cottage. It looked abandoned and fragile, but no part of it was missing, so it had to do.

She was both thankful and surprised that she managed to get into the cottage unharmed. She slammed the door shut behind her and looked around frantically. She smiled when she saw an empty cupboard not too far from her. Using both her physical and magical strenght, she managed to block the door with it, sighing in relief once she was done. She moved to the window and yelled with a grin on her face:

"Try to follow Trixie in here now, you loser!!" she yelled. She gulped when she saw the scarecrow standing between two trees. If it had real eyes, it would surely be staring at her. She watched as the stitches undone themselves as if they were being removed by magic, but Trixie ruled out that option since she couldn't see any magic aura around the stitches. The black string that kept its "mouth" closed fell to the ground, soon followed by a dark, thick liquid seeping out of its now open "mouth".

Trixie almost threw up when she saw the inside of the scarecrow's mouth: it was full of a liquid that looked like blood, except that it was pitch black. She also saw many rotten, pointy teeth that were also stained with what looked like fresh blood. Trixie immediately ducked, incapable of looking at that thing a moment longer. She was breathing heavily once again. She lied on the floor and covered her head with her forelegs.

"I'm not gonna die." she whispered. "I'm not gonna die, I'm not gonna die, I'm not gonna die, I'm not gonna die, I'm not gonna die, I'm not gonna die..."

Something slammed against the door, making the cupboard shake and creak. Trixie screamed and jumped inside an empty wardrobe on the other side of the cottage. She closed the doors as quietly as possible, hoping that the scarecrow wouldn't hear and know right away where she was hidden. Her heart was pounding so hard and fast that it was painful. She covered her muzzle to make sure her pursuer wouldn't hear her, which left no hoof free to wipe the tears of fear that were blurring her vision.

"I'm not gonna die, I'm not gonna die, I'm not gonna die..." she kept chanting in her head, hoping that any deity would hear her and spare her from a fate worse than death.

"I gotcha!" she heard somepony saying. It was the voice of a mare.

"What the hay was that?" she thought, still not daring to move. "Is that thing emulating somepony's voice to taunt me? Or maybe give me a false sense of security?"

She heard struggling outside, but her will to live was stronger than her curiosity.

"Nothing escapes from me." she heard the voice speak again. "You evaded me for a while, but your time is up."

A whimper of fear escaped from Trixie's throat. It was involuntary, but she knew that it was a mistake that would cost her life. She still didn't moved, hoping that the scarecrow didn't heard her, as unlikely as that sounded.

"Is someone here?" the voice called. Trixie kept silent.

She heard hoofsteps approaching the wardrobe, but she was too agitated to remember that her pursuer didn't made a sound while chasing her. She tried to scream in fear when the doors opened, but the hooves that kept her mouth shut didn't let the scream leave her throat.

"Hello there." the amber-colored mare with bright red and yellow mane wearing a dark magenta suit who opened the doors said with a warm smile. "There's no need to be afraid, you're safe now."

Trixie immediately wrapped her hooves around the mare's neck and cried harder than she had ever cried in years. The mare just patted her on the back.

"It's ok now, it's ok." she said with a tone that sounded like a mother comforting her child. "You're safe, don't worry about it."

Trixie looked at the doorway, where the scarecrow was standing. She would have screamed again if she hadn't noticed all the charms wrapped around its body. Trixie was a dropout from Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, but she spent enough years there to know that those were movement restraint charms, and its purpose was exactly as it sounded: it made any creature affected by it cease each and every movement.

"Th-Thank you..." she said. "You... You saved my life... Thank you so much..."

"Oh, don't mention it, I was doing my job!"

"Your... Your job?"

A second mare appeared in the doorway, this one a grey earth pony with a long, straight purple mane. She was also wearing a dark purple magenta suit, but hers wasn't buttoned, revealing the white shirt underneath.

"So, you did it. I'm impressed." she said, not sounding impressed at all. In fact, Trixie couldn't even tell if the mare was feeling something.

"You're late, Maud." the unicorn mare pointed out.

"Sorry, but I found this komatiite." she said as emotionless as before while retrieving a small rock from her breast pocket. "It's very rare."

"You sure do love your rocks, don't you, Maud?"

"I think I'll call it 'Boulder'."

"Yes, you do that!" the amber mare looked back at the azure mare who was still hugging her, noticing how confused she looked. "I suppose you might be feeling a little lost, not knowing what we're doing or why we're doing, but believe me, being part of the L.R.E. Organization is not only a great honor, but a big responsibility." she said with a big smile.

"'L.R.E.'?" Trixie asked, finally letting go of her savior. "What's that?"

"Oh, you don't know what that is? Well, let me give you the quick explanation: 'L.R.E.' means 'Locate, Restrain or Exterminate'. Basically, our job is to fight monsters threatening our peaceful life in the magical land of Equestria."

"And how do you do that?"

"Well, I guess I could give you the long explanation, but no one likes exposition, right? Don't worry, though. You'll understand soon enough!"

Maud placed the komatiite back in her pocket and ducked under the frozen scarecrow. She got up and lifted it with so much ease that it looked like the creature was as light as a twig. She carried it out of the woods, followed closely by Trixie and her savior. They then started to follow the road.

"You... You never told me your name." Trixie said.

"Oh! Yes, I'm sorry. My name is Sunset Shimmer!" she pointed at the mare in front of them. "That's my partner, Maud Pie! And what about you?"

"I'm... Lulamoon. Trixie Lulamoon!"

"Pleasure to meet you." Maud Pie said, not sounding pleased at all.

A few minutes of walking later and they reached their destination: a place where to carriages were parked; one was a normal carriage pulled by two pegasi wearing golden armor, and the other was a cage, also pulled by two pegasi wearing golden armor.

"Are you from the Royal Guard?" she asked the mare beside her.

"Not really." Sunset explained. "I mean, we cooperate sometimes, but they mind their business and we mind ours. Our Chief, on the other hoof, has the authority of a Lieutenant Colonel; that's why those kind gentlecolts agreed to help us, since all our carriage drivers are busy at the moment. Thank you again, misters!"

All four pegasi nodded. Maud opened the cage and threw the scarecrow in, locking him in there. She then entered the other carriage and sat down, looking at the rock she had found.

"Well, we're all done here. Thanks for your help, Trixie!"

"Help?" Trixie tilted her head.

"We've been chasing that thing for nearly a month now, but it always managed to evade us. Not this time, though, since it was so focused on stalking you that it didn't noticed us approaching. Thank you very much, and sorry for any problems that it may have caused you."

"I-It's okay. I wasn't having the best of nights, anyway... I lost everything I had when my cart got smashed..."

"Really? Wow, I'm sorry to hear that. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I think I'll just keep walking until I figure something out..."

"Don't you have any relatives who you can stay with?" she shook her head. Sunset Shimmer pondered for a few moments. "Wanna come back with us?"

"P-Pardon me?"

"If you have nowhere else to go, you can come to the HQ! I mean, it's because we didn't catch that monster sooner that you lost everything you had, I can convince Chief Harshwhinny to let you stay for a while!"

"Bu-But it wasn't that thing that destroyed my carriage, I--" Sunset Shimmer silenced Trixie by covering her mouth with a hoof. She then winked.

"But our Chief doesn't know that!"

Trixie smiled and both entered the carriage.

"It didn't took long for Sunset Shimmer to notice that I was quite skilled with magic and started training me." Trixie said. "In just a couple of months I was already much better at magic than Sparkle was at the time! Not much later I joined the ranks of the L.R.E. and teamed up with Sunset Shimmer and Maud Pie. Maud went back home for a couple of months and came back with her two sisters. She left our team to work with them, forming a new team called 'The Dolls'. They now walk around wearing some silly clothes with a creepy mask - one of her sister's idea, she says it makes them look scarier, even for the monsters."

"Is that Maud Pie related to our friend Pinkie?" Applejack asked.

"Beats me!" she answered. "Maud never told us much about her family, but one of her sisters mentioned a fourth sibling that 'abandoned the farm to chase after her dreams of being a clown' or something."

"So, what happened next?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well, my first official mission with Sunset Shimmer and Maud Pie was to catch a serial killer. An odd job for an organization that chases after monsters, but witnesses said that the killer didn't looked like a pony, because he was very pale and had a smile too big for his face. Some also said that he was immortal, but..."

Trixie kept telling them stories of her times working with Sunset Shimmer and Maud Pie until they finally landed.

Author's Notes:

Okay, last flashback of the series, I promise you that!
By the way, this chapter only exists because I! FRIGGING! LOVE! SCARECROWS!