Trixie awoke with a loud yawn. She didn’t feel as comfortable as she usually did whenever she woke up in the morning and, after surveying her surroundings, she understood why: she was sleeping on the floor. Because her bed was occupied by a little unicorn filly, who was breathing heavily as she slept away, squirming under the covers and begging for ‘it’ to ‘stop’.

Trixie recalled finding the injured, starving filly the previous night and remembered spending all night reworking her schedule to fit ‘drop off little filly in Ponyville’ into it. She groaned as she felt her head aching, rose to her hooves and made her way to the kitchen area. “Some coffee should help,” she said to herself.

She noticed how few supplies she had left and decided to stop by Manehatten – which was on the way to Ponyville – to do some shopping. Luckily, she had plenty of coffee and prepared a nice, hot drink for herself.

“Momma… please don’t hate me…”

Trixie had heard those words plenty of times the previous night and she wasn’t entirely sure what to make of them. On one hoof, she sympathised with the little filly, who had apparently been abandoned by somepony she loved so dearly. On the other hoof, Trixie was somewhat jealous of the little filly who actually had a chance to know her mother in the first place.

Trixie finished preparing her cup of coffee and drank it slowly as she allowed herself to wake up. Trixie noted the lack of food left and realised that they would have to get moving soon, and hoped that they would come across some food on the way to Manehatten.

After finishing her wakeup drink, Trixie checked the filly’s temperature to make sure she hadn’t fallen ill from infection. She seemed fine, although she was still squirming in the bed, with sweat running down her body as the nightmare seemed to get worse and worse with each passing second.

Since it seemed the filly wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon, Trixie moved to the front of the trailer and began moving it with her magic, pressing on down the dirt road that would eventually take them to Manehatten.

Victoria opened her door cautiously. Ever since she had heard of her sister’s death at the hooves of Equestrian spies, she had been extra cautious, even in the castle. She lowered her guard, however, when she saw her older brother standing at the door, smiling cheerfully at his disgruntled sister. The reason for her being disgruntled being that Alexander had interrupted her at five in the morning, a whole hour earlier than she would have liked to have woken up.

“Hello, dear Sister,” he greeted, with an unusual level of politeness that his sister wasn’t used to seeing in him. “May I come in for a moment? I wish to talk to you about something important.”

“It’ll have to wait,” Victoria spat. “I have an early appointment today and I’d like to get as much rest as possible before I have to leave.”

Alexander placed a hoof into the doorway to prevent his sister from shutting him out. “Yes, but this is something you need to hear before meeting with Odysseus.”

Victoria narrowed her eyes, examining her older brother closely, and then opened the door to let him in. “Make it quick.”

Alexander waited for the door to close before turning to his sister and producing a piece of paper from his bag. “It’s this, Sister. I need you to examine this for me.”

It was nearing afternoon, and Trixie’s trailer was nearing Manehatten. However, she was hungry and thirsty, and when she noticed an apple tree on the side of the road, she decided to stop for a quick snack.

Trixie parked her trailer in the shade beneath the apple tree and used her magic to pick the four biggest, most delicious-looking apples she could find. Two for her and two for the filly, when she woke up. There was also a stream nearby, which Trixie used to fill up two empty water bottles.

She set aside two apples and one water bottle in a small bag and sat down in the shade as she enjoyed her own meal. She spotted a few other travelling ponies passing her by, some of which stopped to greet her, though she simply ignored them. It was far too hot for pleasantries that day, especially after spending three straight hours moving a trailer with her magic.

After finishing her meal and laying back lazily in the shade for about ten minutes, Trixie decided that she should start moving again if she wanted to stick to her new schedule. After putting some effort into getting back up, Trixie made her way back to her trailer, carrying the bag with the filly’s dinner inside.

She opened the door gently, but stopped when she looked inside and saw something that almost made her shriek in surprise. Inside, lying on her bed, the little filly from earlier was sitting up, looking sleepily towards the mirror and, just as Trixie was about to enter, the filly was engulfed in green flames. When they died down, she had changed into a small black creature, her green hair now a dark blue. What shocked Trixie most was that the little filly – if that was even what she was – now had a pair of wings growing out of her back.

Trixie quickly moved back, her body trembling as she realised what was currently sitting in her trailer. A changeling. Though she hadn’t encountered one personally, she had read many stories about them and had heard the stories told of the changeling attack on Canterlot.

‘What’s going on? Is she a spy? Are the changelings plotting to take over Equestria again?’ Trixie considered the horrible state that she had found the filly in last night but quickly dismissed the thought. ‘Changelings are creatures that live by deceiving others and then striking when your guard is down. That’s what all those books said about them, and it certainly worked on me!

‘This is bad! I’ve got a changeling in my trailer right now! What do I do?’ A thought crossed Trixie’s mind, followed by a grin on her face. ‘What am I thinking? It’s obvious what I have to do! I have to take her to Canterlot and hand her over to the Royal Guard! They’ll know what to do with her, and they’ll probably reward me, too!’

Trixie thought about the many possible rewards she could be given for handing over such a dangerous enemy and potentially saving Equestria. ‘Will they give me enough bits to retire? My own spot in the Canterlot Royal Theatre? Maybe they’ll make me nobility!’

With her new plan in mind, Trixie took a few seconds to remove the grin from her face and entered her trailer, making some noise before entering to alert the changeling to her presence. She had to make the changeling think that she hadn’t been caught yet, or else she would just try to flee.

After giving the changeling plenty of time to change back, Trixie opened the door to her trailer and, sure enough, sitting up on her bed was the small, white filly from before.

Preparations for Princess Aura’s memorial service were running smoothly. Odysseus and Victoria were hard at work planning the perfect funeral for their little sister and relaying their orders to the subjects that were working under them.

Odysseus kept his eyes on Victoria closely, but made sure not to draw attention to himself. ‘That paper’s gone missing. I know I had it before Victoria dropped by yesterday… Alexander was the only one who could have taken it.’

“Brother, our sister loved iris flowers the most, didn’t she?” Victoria asked.

“Hm? Ah, yes,” Odysseus replied. ‘Well, he probably took it without even realizing it. Chances are he was looking for dirt on me and took it in a hurry after I returned to the room. Whatever the case, he’ll never find out what it is. The only ones who could identify the properties of that paper are mother, and…’

“Where do irises bloom? I would like to go and collect some fresh iris flowers for her.”

Odysseus turned to his sister, his face even as he held back a big, toothy grin. “I’ve already sent some of my maids to collect irises from the most beautiful garden in the kingdom,” he said. Victoria nodded and then moved onto the next item on the list. ‘Too bad, Sister. Mother is busy elsewhere in the kingdom, and you will remain here, under my constant gaze.’

“Brother, I shall be right back. I need to visit the restroom.”

‘Nice try,’ he thought as he turned his gaze back to the checklist. “Very well. Just remember that my knight will be protecting you from the shadows, so make sure not to attack her by mistake.”

The warning held a deeper meaning, of course. It was a subtle warning not to stray too far, in case she had grown suspicious of him. Of all the changelings in the kingdom, Victoria was the only one who Odysseus actually feared. But with this arrangement, she couldn’t make any movements against him.

He had already requested to lead the preparations for the memorial service, which his mother had agreed to, meaning that all he had to do was give the order and Victoria would have to stay by his side during the preparations for the funeral. Assigning his knight to watch over her made it impossible to make use of whatever small break she might have got from him. She couldn’t argue against it, either; if an enemy were to target her, they would expect her own knights to defend her, not her brother’s, so it was an effective countermeasure to the non-existent enemy threats.

‘But if Alexander has that paper… He does have that annoying sixth sense of his. Maybe I should assign one of my knights to watch over him, just in case.’

During the rest of the trip to Manehatten, Trixie kept herself on full alert, ready to defend herself if the changeling in the back – who was apparently a princess – suddenly attacked her. ‘She’s just a kid… but if she’s a princess, she probably has some skill. I should be careful.’

“Um, Miss Lulamoon?” Aura asked, making Trixie jump as she was snapped out of her thoughts. “Are you sure it’ll be ok in Ponyville?”

Trixie didn’t turn her head as she answered the changeling. “Oh yes, of course!” Trixie shouted, using her showmare talents to hide any nervousness in her voice. “Trixie has been there many times! It is a lovely town, very small, and the ponies there are kind and very considerate! They understand that Trixie needs her space and so they barely speak to her, but when they do, they’re very, very kind!”

Aura smiled at the news, though it was a weak smile. “I see…”

‘As I thought, telling her that the ponies will leave her alone if she asks them to is what she wanted to hear. She must be a spy, so a town where she barely has to interact with others would be perfect.’ She turned back to see the little filly looking curiously at a bunch of photos pinned to the trailer wall.

“Miss Lulamoon, what are all of these photos?” she asked, stopping at one particular photo of a filly resembling Trixie on a cardboard box, bowing to the camera.

“Photos of Trixie’s life as a showmare. The one you’re currently looking at was from Trixie’s earlier days. Back when her cutie mark was still new.” She saw the little filly looking quite awed and, for a moment, almost let her guard down. “By the way, you don’t have to address Trixie so formally. Just Trixie will be fine.”

“Oh, um, ok… Miss Trixie…”

Trixie sighed and returned her gaze to the road. ‘Well, changeling or not, she certainly has more manners than most ponies I’ve come across.’

“AH!”

Trixie stopped the trailer suddenly and spun around quickly. “What’s wrong?!” she asked. She saw the little filly sitting on the bed, her head under her hooves as her body trembled. “What’s wrong?” Trixie repeated.

The little filly slowly raised a hoof and pointed it towards Trixie’s wardrobe. Trixie turned her head towards her wardrobe and saw something sticking out. It was one of her props. A fake pony head that looked freshly decapitated.

Trixie facehooved and then began moving the trailer again, turning her attention back to the road. “It’s just a prop for Nightmare Night performances,” she explained.

“N-Nightmare Night?” Aura asked, her trembling slowing down as she turned to Trixie. Trixie turned her head and saw that tears were running down the filly’s face. “W-What’s that?”

Trixie wasn’t sure what to think. Was this just the changeling trying to deceive her, or was this young child actually afraid of that prop? In any case, Trixie began to explain Nightmare Night to the filly. How it was a holiday where ponies dressed up in costumes and tried to scare each other.

The filly listened intently as Trixie told the story of Nightmare Moon, both her one thousand year old legend and her more recent return, when she was defeated by the Elements of Harmony. Every now and then, Aura would interrupt Trixie with a question and, although she found this annoying, Trixie was more than happy to answer any and all questions that Aura threw her way.

When Aura asked when the next Nightmare Night was and Trixie answered, Aura began thinking out loud a list of costumes that she would like to wear. Trixie noticed that none of them were particularly scary and guessed that it was because Aura wasn’t good with scary things.

‘The exact opposite of me,’ Trixie thought. ‘I was just as enthusiastic as her during my first Nightmare Night, but I only had interest in costumes that would scare other ponies witless… Not that they ever turned out very well…’

“Miss Trixie,” Aura called out. Trixie noticed that the filly was sounding a lot more cheerful than earlier and felt somewhat happy, before reminding herself that Aura was a changeling, not a pony. “Will you be staying with me in Ponyville?”

Trixie stared into the filly’s pleading eyes for a moment before shaking her head and turning back to the road. “Sorry, but Trixie’s a travelling showmare. She has no intention of tying herself down to one town like that.”

Trixie heard the filly behind her mutter, “Oh.” She could tell that Aura was disappointed in this.

‘Why would that upset her? Surely her plans for Equestria don’t involve me… do they? And… And why do I feel kind of disap-’ Trixie held that thought and stopped the trailer momentarily as she felt a chill run down her spine. After a few seconds, she started it back up again, moving it slightly faster than before. ‘Something’s heading this way… Something big…’