Author's Notes:

Added on 11 May 2016

Trixie stands impatiently in a line of dirty ponies outside of a small and extremely crowded soup kitchen that is in desperate need of repair. Like most of the ponies in line, Trixie is starving, dirty, and is wearing a ratty cloak that is shielding most of her body from the painfully cold weather.

When the line shuffles forward, she keeps her head down and tries to ignore the stench of the burning fuel as a clunky motorized wagon drives past her, splashing her and the others in line with muddy slush. Trixie glares at the passing vehicle as she wipes the slush off of her cloak, then she looks up at the thick, gray clouds and the snowflakes gently falling from the sky. She snorts and looks back ahead of the line, then she sees three mares -a unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony- walk next to the line, wearing warm, white coats and hats with suns stitched on them. The earth pony is carrying a cardboard box filled with books, the unicorn is passing out the books, and the pegasus is doing a preaching thing.

Trixie rolls her eyes and tries to ignore them, but her sour look magnetizes the trio to her.

“Ma’am, we are with the Church of Solaria, and we are here to shepherd lost souls to the grace of Celestia” says the pegasus with a warm smile. “Have you accepted Celestia as your Queen and Savior?”

Trixie remains silent, keeping her gaze locked to the pony ahead of her.

“Okay, well here’s a copy of the Book of the Sun for you,” says the pegasus. “If you read it, you will find that all of life’s answers lie within in it and in the grace of Celestia. Inside is a card with our church address on it. Hope to see you there.”

The unicorn puts a copy of one of her books, a pure white cover with the sun stamped on it, in Trixie’s cloak pocket and they move on to the next pony, who was more than happy to accept Celestia’s grace. When the trio of evangelicals are six ponies down, Trixie takes out the book and throws it in the middle of the road right as another clunky vehicle drives by. The book disappears in the mud underneath the wheels.

When Trixie is inside the soup kitchen she immediately feels warmer and the place is crowded to the fullest. She shuffles towards the line of servers, the floorboards creaking with each step. When she reaches the server, she is handed a wooden bowl and spoon and then served a steamy, brown liquid with vegetables and grain floating in it. She looks at it with disgust, but takes it anyway to a table nearest to the exit. She takes a spoonful of it, and it is surprisingly good, but it is mostly broth so all she really gets was a warm drink.

“Ladies and gentlecolts,” says a mare on a podium in the very back, “I know you are hungry, but let us take a moment to bless this food.”

Trixie stops in mid-sip and glares up at the pony, only for her glare to turn to a look of shock and confusion. Standing on the podium, wearing the white robe of the church with warm clothing underneath, is an elderly white pegasus with a gold mane. Trixie remembers her from when her father tried the church thing, which did not last long, and she remembers how extremely unhelpful she was about everything. She also performed her father's funeral and Trixie remembers telling her off. That said, seeing an unwanted face instantly hardens Trixie's heart and she throws down her spoon and slouches in her seat, staring bitterly at the mare as she does a fancy prayer.

While other heads are bowed and eyes are closed, Trixie keeps her head up and eyes open, and when the priestess finishes everyone in the room says “Amen”. All except for Trixie. She snorts and goes back to her food. A short time later, she hears a chair get dragged across the battered, muddy floor and when she looks up she sees the priestess sitting in front of her.

“Trixie, I was not expecting to see you here. How have you been?” says the mare.

“How do you think, Mother Glory?” says Trixie harshly before blowing on her soup.

Mother Glory blows through her nose, her eyes lowering and body sulking. “I can’t believe we’re seeing each other again under these circumstances.”

“Haven’t you heard? Tragedy is a Lulamoon trait.”

Trixie chuckles darkly and decides to forget about the spoon and just lap up the soup from the bowl.

“Trixie, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” says Mother Glory finally after what seems like an eternity of heavy silence.

“Congratulations,” says Trixie.

“I remember when you were little, and your mother passed and you and your father sought solitude. Your father was dead inside and you were burdened with bullies at school and emotional abuse, and both of you came to me for help, but I was not good enough.”

“If by not good enough you mean you did absolutely nothing except pray about it and come to church, then, yeah, that is a very accurate statement.”

Mother Glory nods, unable to look at Trixie. “You are right to be angry with me. After you left I never thought I would see you again, and I was very much surprised to see you at your father's funeral, but when you confronted me about my actions, or lack of, I was upset. However, after some meditation I realized that Celestia spoke through you and condemned me for not being fully committed to the Sun and to the truth of life and salvation. I preached goodwill and servitude towards others, but I never practiced it. I always took the easy route with telling those in distress to pray for deliverance, yet I never raised a hoof to help them. Celestia was upset with my lack of action, so she used you to tell me that I was wrong.”

Trixie finishes her soup and pushes the bowl aside, only for it to be taken by one of the evangelicals making his rounds a couple of seconds later. Trixie then wipes her maw and glares at Glory.

“So let me guess, you opened this soup kitchen to prove to Celestia that you are worthy to be her servant?” says Trixie.

Glory smiles. “Yes, that is right. I’m hoping that this soup kitchen will show those in need that the church sees their needs and that Celestia cares about them.”

“Well she sure has a funny way of showing her care.”

“I know its hard to understand why hard things happen, but it all becomes so much clearer if you free yourself from all your pain and hate and anger,” says Mother Glory. She then reaches out and touches Trixie's hoof. “If you will let me, I can help you, too. I can save you from your pain and bring you peace.”

Trixie scowls, gets out of her seat and hurries towards the exit with Glory trailing her.

“Trixie, wait! Let me talk to you!” says Mother Glory.

When they are outside in the bitter cold Trixie turns around and gives a hard jab to Glory’s chest with her hoof.

“Listen here, Mother, I am not interested in being saved. Not by you or the damn church!” says Trixie.

“Trixie, please, let me help you. I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve changed. I-I am a true servant of Celestia now! I understand what it means to help others!” Glory drops on the ground, staining her white attire with mud, and holds up her hooves in a pleading, prayer position, eyes watering. “Please, let me save you from yourself!”

“If anypony is going to save anypony it will be me! I do not need you or a goddess to save me! I am my own salvation! So you can take your teachings and shove it up your ass!”

Glory drops to her stomach on the ground, and helplessly watches Trixie walk away.

Trixie stomps down the sidewalk, too angry to be freezing, and every pony she walks past moves out of her way and casts her a worried glance. She stops by a theater and stares at a poster with Twilight Sparkle on it, advertising her visit as a guest speaker for the Starswirl Society. Trixie growls and shoots a bolt of lightning that burns off Twilight’s face and most of her body from the poster.

“That was unnecessary,” says Custos from behind.

Trixie jumps and turns to face Custos while placing her hoof over her heart to calm it down.

“What are you doing here?” says Trixie.

“Following you, like I have always done,” answers Custos as he steps next to her. His horn glows and the poster Trixie burnt repairs itself, then he starts down the street. “Walk with me. We need to talk.”

Trixie blows some of her mane out of her face and follows the mysterious pony.

“Where are we going?” asks Trixie.

“To warm you up,” replies Custos.

Custos leads Trixie across the road, to a coffee shop. When they enter the warm coffee shop Trixie wipes off her hooves and walks towards the very back, right underneath a vent blowing out hot air. Custos walks in, but strangely no one seems to care that a unicorn with no features whatsoever has walked in. He actually gets a warm greeting from the mare at the counter. Trixie feels a surge of envy when she sees the reception he is getting, and after Custos takes a seat across from her, she folds her hooves across her chest and looks away.

“So now that we’re here, what is the message this time?” asks Trixie.

“You need friends,” says Custos.

“Uh, yeah, last time I had friends they betrayed me, so that is out of the question.”

“Trixie, you cannot possibly hope to pass the trails or defeat the coming villains if you are alone.”

“By ‘villains’ you mean Brisk Wind, Adanz, and Roar Shock, right?”

Custos nods. “Them and more. If you try to fight them alone you will die, as you’ve almost with Lock and Adanz. And if you do not have friends to help you, you will end up like Roar Shock. Twisted so much from his pain that he no longer realizes that he has become worse than the very monsters he was fighting.”

Trixie chuckles. “Wow, so I need to find friends or else I’ll be locked in a casket or turn into another Roar Shock.” Custos nods and Trixie frowns. “Too bad I don’t have friends.”

Custos' horn glows and little orbs float out with moving pictures of Fancy Pants, Pinkie Pie, Vinyl Scratch and even Monte and Shining Armor. Trixie stares at each of the pictures and slowly shakes her head.

Trixie points at Shining Armor.

“He watched me get tortured.”

She points at Monte.

“He’s a pig who only wants to use me for his own little thing.”

Her hoof moves to Fancy Pants.

“He wants to keep me locked away forever.”

Then she glares at Pinkie Pie.

“And her... I was supposed to kill her, but she survived and pretended to be somepony else. She lied to me. Played me like a fool. And you expect me to forgive her?”

Vinyl Scratch's orb grows bigger, surpassing the other orbs.

“She has been nothing but helpful towards you, even going as far as treating you without anything in return,” says Custos.

“Actually I owe her bleach and lime,” points out Trixie.

“I’m fairly certain she was joking.” Then he shrinks Vinyl Scratch’s orb and enlarges Fancypants’s orb. “You know as well as I do that he cares about you and doesn’t want to see you hurt.”

Now it’s Monte’s turn to take up the stage.

“As for him, if he was so self-motivated, he would not have offered you a job, tried protecting you from Adanz nor would he have carried you to Fancy Pants. He would have abandoned you.”

“He probably helped me just so he can get brownie points and get some leverage so I can act as his bodyguard,” says Trixie.

A waitress slides a tray of steaming hot tea and a plate of bagels in front of Trixie. She stares at the tray, then looks at the waitress suspiciously as she leaves without another word.

“You certainly are tougher than Monte,” says Custos. “That food is for you.”

Trixie immediately digs into the bagels, taking massive bites and barely chewing before swallowing. While she digs into her meal, Custos shrinks Monte’s orb down to size and enlarges Shining Armor’s.

“You do not know the burden he is carrying for allowing what had happened to you to happen,” says Custos. “But you know he wants to right his wrong and is doing everything in his power to do so. So why do you refuse to forgive him?”

“Easy,” says Trixie, mouth full of chewed bagel. “Political gain. He has a vendetta with Brisk Wind and I’m his winning piece. But it doesn’t matter. I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m dead, and if I poke my head out for even a second then I’ll have Brisk Wind and Roar Shock going after me. If I lay low and find proof that Brisk Wind is the evil bitch she is, then I’ll give it to Vinyl and she can give it to Captain Armor. Captain Armor will take care of her and I’ll handle Roar Shock and Adanz. Simple as pie.”

Trixie sips her tea and her blood warms up in an instant, bringing a smile of relief to her.

“Proof that Monte is handing to you on a silver platter,” remarks Cutos.

Trixie frowns. “Monte has another motive, and until I figure out what it is, I’m not doing anything with him.”

“That is your choice, but it is not a good one. You want to expose Brisk Wind, yet you are refusing help from the only pony who can help. Regardless of what you think of him and you need the others. You need them and they need you. How do you expect to defeat the common enemy you share if you are too stubborn to forgive them for their sins against you?”

Trixie shoves another delicious bagel in her mouth and chews obnoxiously loud, causing some heads to turn, but she ignores the condescending stares and keeps her focus on Custos.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s all fantastically deep,” mocks Trixie, accidentally spitting out some of her bagel while doing so. She licks up the food that escaped her mouth, and when she realizes what she had just done, she coughs nervously and looks away. “Are we done? I’d like to wake up and have a real bagel.”

“Almost,” says Custos.

Pinkie Pie’s orb floats in front of Trixie and she scowls.

“Are you going to forgive her, or condemn her for her remaining life as you have for Glory?” asks Custos.

“I planned on it. She played me,” says Trixie.

“And you tried to kill her. Yet she forgave you and renounced everything to ensure that you are taken care of. She saved you from Singsong, courted you, treated you of your injuries, made you an armored suit, and comforted you when you needed it.”

Trixie slams her hooves against the table. “She did that for her own amusement! It was all a joke to her!”

Clak.

“She went to extraordinary lengths for a simple joke, then.” says Custos.

Clak.

Trixie looks down.

Clak.

Trixie’s ear twitches and she looks up quizzically. “What is that noise?”

Clak.

“It is almost time for you to wake up,” says Custos calmly. “Are you going to forgive Pinkie Pie when she apologizes for what she’s done?” Clak. “Or will you treat her as you’ve treated Glory?”

Clak.

Trixie looks down again. “What if I can’t forgive her?”

“Then you’ll lose a friend,” says Custos.

Clak.

Custos then lights up his horn. “Its time to wake up.”

Trixie opens her eyes and turns towards the window while rubbing her eyes. It is dark out, and the moon and stars are hidden behind a thin layer of clouds. She jumps slightly when a pebble smacks against the window, and she climbs out of her bed and cautiously approaches the window when another pebble hits it. She opens up the window and swears quietly when a pebble hits her in the face, then she hears someone apologize in a loud whisper. Trixie looks out the window and narrows her eyes at the pony standing in the garden down below with two saddles.

“Monte, what are you doing?” says Trixie in a loud whisper.

“I came to get you. There's a boat that leaves for Bernese in a few hours,” says Monte.

“What are you doing throwing pebbles at the window?”

“Really? I was trying to wake you up. Now let’s go.”

“I can’t.”

“Why? Are you grounded?” asks Monte with a teasing smile

“Yes.”

Monte’s teasing smile disappears. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. Now go away before I get in trouble.”

“Trixie, you’re a grown mare who can make her own decisions. Now get down here and come to Bernese with me!”

“Give me one good reason to go with you.”

Monte facehoofs. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. We just had this conversation yesterday!”

Trixie opens her mouth to counter Monte, but then she remembers what Custos said about the common enemy and how the ponies that can help need her help as well. Trixie groans and sits on her haunches while rubbing her forehead. A moment of thinking later, she peeks outside and sees Monte is still there, waiting impatiently for her.

“Okay, fine, but I’m doing this for me. Not for you,” says Trixie.

Monte waves his hoof dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, whatever, just get down here.”

Trixie nods and sneaks down the stairs and when she is at the patio she extends her hoof to open the door, tasting the sweet first steps of freedom and justice. But then her eyes are suddenly blinded by the light of the kitchen, making her freeze in her spot and want to die when she sees Fancy Pants standing with his hoof against the light switch. Glaring at her.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” asks Fancy Pants, wearing a bathrobe and levitating a plate of cheese and crackers with a glass of milk.

Trixie looks down and shuffles her hoof on the ground.

“Uh, midnight stroll?” says Trixie, flashing a terribly fake innocent smile with sagging ears.

“Bernese is a long way to take a midnight stroll,” says Fancy Pants.

“How did you hear all that?”

He points to the window. “Window was open. Now off to bed with you. We’ll talk about your unruly behavior when I’m actually awake.”

“Fancy Pants, I can’t stay here! I have to go to Bernese and get those files!”

“Do you honestly trust Monte? He worked for Gilda and she almost killed you!”

“Me and Monte have a common enemy! We need each other if we’re going to take out Brisk Wind.”

Fancy Pants shakes his head. “You aren’t going anywhere. Going against Brisk Wind is too dangerous, and going with Monte makes it even more so. Besides, Captain Armor will find a way to prosecute her with or without your help.”

Trixie stomps her hoof. “But he needs those files! Monte can get those files and I can protect him!”

Fancy Pants sighs and puts down his midnight snack, and Trixie continues to stare at him with defiance.

“Trixie, I’m begging you, don’t do this,” says Fancy Pants. “You have no idea what Brisk Wind is capable of.”

“I think I know what she’s capable of.”

Fancy Pants shakes his head. “You’ve only seen a taste of what she can do. What happened with the griffins is what she can do within the law, and she doesn’t obey the law. The world is her playground and the shadows are her friends. If Brisk Wind has even the slightest hint that there is something on her, she will do whatever it takes to make sure it doesn’t see the light of day. She will blackmail whoever she needs to, pull any strings she has to, and hurt anypony that stands in her way.”

Fancy Pants walks forward and puts his hoof on Trixie’s shoulder.

“Trixie, I know what she did was cruel, but please don’t do this,” says Fancy Pants.

Suddenly a bottle smashes against Fancy Pants’ head and Trixie screams and jumps back as he falls to the ground, unconscious with Monte standing behind him, levitating a broken bottle. He puts the broken bottle on the counter, then he takes a deep breath and smiles nervously at Trixie.

“So, are you ready to go?” asks Monte.