“Trixie will not pay that much for this crumbling piece of paper. Take the ten bits or Trixie leaves.”

The shopkeeper at the “Treasures of Old: Second Hand Books” looked from the scroll to the blue magician, a drop of sweat sliding down his gray face. “It’s worth more than this. It could be centuries old —”

“And how long did it sit on that shelf gathering dust?” Trixie shot a casual glance at the scroll. “Well, if it’s that old and never sold, it must be worthless. Keep your scroll, Trixie is leaving.”

“Fine, fine,” the shopkeeper almost growled, “it’s yours for ten bits.”

The golden coins floated from Trixie’s saddlebags and landed on the counter, the scroll taking their place. “It was a pleasure doing business with you,” said Trixie with an enigmatic smile, already turning to leave.

The shopkeeper mumbled something behind her, but Trixie didn’t notice, focused as she was on just walking out of the shop and the alley it was located at, towards one of the main thoroughfares of Canterlot. She spied back at the now out of earshot store, glanced at the starburst emblem drawn at the top of the scroll, and…

“Ha! Trixie prevails again! An original scroll from a fireworks master, for the price of a lowly copy! Let’s see what is inside this rarity…”

“Beg pardon?”

Trixie looked back, at a white unicorn mare with an impeccable purple mane, who was looking at Trixie, head tilted.

“You are… Rarity, aren’t you? From Ponyville?”

“Indeed.” Rarity lowered her bags, bolts of fabric jutting from them. “Didn’t you just call me?”

Trixie let out a laughter. “Oh. Trixie was just thinking aloud.” She opened the scroll she was holding in her magic, providing Rarity a good look. “This is a scroll penned by Evening Stardust, one of the greatest fireworks masters in Equestria’s history. It’s a true rarity. He,” Trixie looked around and lowered her voice, “he is even greater than Trixie.”

“Wait, Evening Stardust?” Rarity took a step closer to the scroll, staring intently.

“You know of him?”

“Why, yes.” Rarity’s eyes seemed to sparkle. “He inspired fashion for a whole season a few centuries ago, with just a fireworks display. I do so wish I could see it…”

“Luna’s Lullaby.” Trixie looked up, longing in her eyes. “It is said Celestia herself shed tears. It is one of the most famous fireworks displays ever created, but few records remain. Only Celestia know how it was.”

Rarity pointed at the scroll. “Is this related?”

Trixie quickly scanned the scroll. “Yes, but it’s only a minor part. It’s the schematic of the Wind Rocket, which represents the wishes of the ponies that love Princess Luna ascending —” Trixie glanced at Rarity, who was peering intently at the back of the scroll. “Is there something wrong?”

“I think you will want to hold the scroll against the light.”

“What is…” Trixie’s voice trailed, her jaw slack. After a few moments, she completed, “A map! But…”

Scanning the area around, Trixie set after a table from a nearby cafe, touching the horn to it. When the table started to glow softly, Trixie set the scroll down, and soon started to speak excitedly “A map to Evening Stardust’s lost workshop! According to the map it’s close by, to the west.” She lifted the scroll, looking hungrily at the large, flat surface of the table. “But how is Trixie supposed to consult the map on the way?”

Rarity arrived, trotting calmly and trailing her bags. “I think I can help,” she said, picking a piece of paper with a mannequin printed from one of her bags. Turning it over, Rarity started to copy the map. “Oh, and what do you mean by lost?”

“Evening Stardust was a loner. He set his workshop away from everything, more than safety demanded, and never received his clients there. After he was gone, nopony ever found it.” She glanced at Rarity. “Trixie… I…”

Trixie paused, drawing Rarity’s gaze. “Thank you for helping me. Even though I never had the chance to ask for forgiveness after I forced you to do all those banners.”

“Banners?” Rarity giggled. “Don’t fret, darling. My customers ask much harsher tasks. But,” Rarity glared at Trixie, “messing with my mane, and putting me in that horrible muddy brown dress, are another thing.”

Trixie swallowed hard. “Then why are you helping me after that?”

“What is Rarity if not generous? Besides,” the glare disappeared, leaving a smile in its wake, “if Twilight could forgive you after what you did to her, I can forgive too. But may I ask something in return?”

Trixie looked uncertain. “Well, certainly. Trixie still owes you an apology.”

“You are going to this workshop, right? Might I come with you?”

“Well, I am, as soon as I can. And of course you can go. But why?” Trixie peered more closely at Rarity. “I remember you hate dirt, don’t you? It’s in the middle of nowhere, and I don’t even know what will be there.”

“Oh, well, I don’t know much about that Evening Stardust pony, but I did read that he jotted everything that inspired him on a notebook, and most of his writings were never recovered; if that workshop was never found, perhaps his notebooks are inside, and if I can find what inspired him this little trip will be absolutely worth it. Some things are worth getting dirty for.” Rarity lifted her head, a smirk in her face. “Not many, but some are.”

---

“And after that display Evening was rarely seen again. He did some smaller presentations and came to the city for supplies, but even that stopped after a few years.” Trixie looked at her companion, who was wearing a pink and yellow safari suit, complete with a matching pith helmet. “Anything else you want to know?”

Rarity looked at Trixie’s hooded figure amid the trees. “So let me get this straight. This pony went through school and beyond with no friends, rarely talked with anypony else, and never talked about his family, but became the greatest fireworks maker of his time?”

Trixie winced. “Fireworks master. Or pyrotechnician, if you want the fancy word. But yes, that was him.”

“Well, seems like it’s a good thing we don’t need to befriend —” Rarity yelped, as Trixie tugged her tail. “Ouch! What are you doing?”

“Trixie is saving your life. This is not the everfree, but there is still some danger if you don’t look where you are going.”

Rarity took her eyes from Trixie and towards the ravine she almost fell inside, flanked by tall grass on both sides, and the collapsed rope bridge at the other side. “Oh, thank you! But now how do we pass? If only we had Rainbow Dash here to help repair the bridge…”

“Rainbow Dash is that hotheaded pegasus friend of yours, isn’t he?” Trixie lifted a hoof to her chin. “Perhaps now is the time to do better than a different friend of yours.”

Rarity glared at Trixie. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Trixie did not mean that as an insult,” said Trixie, waving a hoof in front of her. “You did turn one of my stage’s curtains into a dress when we first met, didn’t you? Can you create some rope, enough to reach the other side, perhaps using my travel cloak?”

“I think I can do better.” Rarity turned to the tall grass and alighted her horn, picking and weaving the blades of grass; before long she threw a coil of rope at Trixie’s hooves. “And done. It won’t last long, but should hold for a while. What now?”

A soft music began playing as Trixie’s horn started glowing, the rope stretching across the gap. “The same trick I used to defeat that Apple-something. Aha! Trixie prevails —” she noticed the flat stare Rarity was directing towards her and rubbed her neck. “I mean, I did it.”

Rarity looked at the rope, which was pulling the rope bridge back into shape, and then at Trixie, the stare gone and a smile in her face. “It’s not that I dislike you, darling, but you sometimes make it hard not to. Must you always be so boastful?”

“Trixie is as Trixie needs to be in her line of work.” She paused, doing a nearly imperceptible nod. “But I will keep that in mind.”

Rarity looked at the bridge that was back to spanning the gap, testing it with a hoof. “I suppose that will have to do. The workshop should be just at the foot of that cliff ahead, isn’t it?”

Trixie pulled the map from her cloak. “Yes. Let’s go.”

It took a few uneventful, silent minutes to reach the cliff, the two mares giving a sigh in relief as they both sighted a small, gray stone house against its base. They galloped the rest of the way — Rarity complaining half-heartedly how unladylike running like this was — and stopped a few yards before it.

It would be called a cabin if it was made of wood, so small it was. It had just a single, boarded, window on one side, and a large wooden door reinforced with metal dominating the front; the same starburst emblem from the scroll — this time in a faded, light pink — was proudly displayed in the door. The roof beams were still in place, but many of the blue tiles were gone.

“Well, this looks like the right place.” Trixie looked at Rarity. “Ready to enter?”

Rarity nodded, and the two mares entered the small house, which had a single room. Shafts of light entered from the missing tiles, allowing them to see a series of dark shapes amidst the dust motes. Only after their eyes got used to the relative darkness they started to discern the shapes; a large workbench, a small bed, a stove, and a few empty bookcases and cabinets. And everywhere, including atop and under the scarce furniture, scraps of thin wood and metal.

Trixie brought some of the pieces of metal under a light beam. “Those are scraps from constructing fireworks. Why are they here…” Trixie’s head dropped, looking at the empty bookcases. “Somepony must have been here before.”

Rarity paced among the room. “Oh, I don’t think so. There are too many things missing, things that nopony would take. Like the cooking implements, the bed covers, the mattress even.”

“Well, this was a waste of time,” said Trixie. “Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.”

“Perhaps not.” Rarity lighted her horn, and with a bit of strain moved a bookcase, revealing another, sturdier door behind. “Now, where might this lead to?” With a start, Rarity pulled the door, which merely rattled. “Uh?”

“Let Trixie try.” The blue magician eyed the door, concentrating on the keyhole. In a few moments her horn was aglow, her face contorted in concentration, as something inside the keyhole emitted a matching glow and clicked. With a prideful smile, Trixie said, “Try now.”

Rarity sighed and opened the door, revealing a dark corridor cut into the stony cliff. The two mares looked at each other, nodded, lighted their horns and entered.

The smooth walls and floor of the corridor gave way to natural stone after a mere dozen paces, the darkness deepening ahead. In a few dozen more, the walls gave way to empty space, the mares’ horn light creating small circles around them.

“This is…” Trixie stopped to listen. “This cave is huge. There is no echo. It almost sounds as if we were in the open.”

Rarity looked around. “Why would Evening have a place like this at home?”

After a low whistle, Trixie answered, “A place to test his fireworks without having to wait for night, with no risk of being seen or causing damage. Wait.”

Trixie concentrated, a small ball of light leaving her horn. With a wave of her head Trixie sent the ball back in the direction of the tunnel they arrived by, turning it to the side to fly along the wall of the large chamber. Both mares kept looking, speechless, as the magical ball of light circled an area large enough to build a large mansion, but revealing nothing pony-made apart from a few supports added to the walls.

Redoubling her concentration, Trixie sent the ball of light towards the center of the chamber in an ever decreasing spiral, this time revealing a desk and a couple benches between the tunnel and the center, and a few large tubes — fireworks launchers, Trixie realized — at the very center. Trixie then sent the ball of light straight up, both mares watching it explode, almost as high as a tower from the Canterlot Castle, without revealing the ceiling.

Rarity let out a low whistle. “It’s larger than a dragon’s lair.”

“It could be,” said Trixie, in an uncertain voice.

“No, really. I have been to a dragon’s lair with my friends,“ said Rarity, walking towards the desk she saw earlier.

“Don’t tell me Twilight Sparkle vanquished a dragon too,” said Trixie, her eyes narrowed skeptically.

“Oh, don’t be silly, nopony can do that. Well, perhaps the princesses can, but that is it.” Rarity started to pick and read pages from a pile of crumbled paper. “Another friend of us stared it down.”

“Wait, somepony stared down a dragon? How —”

Rarity giggled. “I can tell it all later. But this is interesting, seems like Evening was writing the same letter over and over, asking somepony — wait, here he says ‘sister’ — to let him live with her. He says he is getting old and needs help.” Rarity tilted her head. “Why would he write so many drafts?”

“He was afraid to ask for help,” said Trixie, after a few moments, in a quiet voice.

“Why would he?” Rarity kept going through the papers.

“Some ponies spend so much time without relying on anyone that they become afraid of asking.” Trixie shook her head, her voice assuming its normal intensity. “But enough of this. Any indication of who he was writing to?”

“No,” said Rarity, shaking her head. “There are about a dozen variations of the same letter, but none has a name.”

“Then this was just a waste of time,” said Trixie, pulling the scroll that started this trip. “At least I still have this one schematic, so it was not...” Trixie noticed Rarity at her side, gawking at the scroll. “What is it this time?”

Rarity didn’t answer; instead, she started towards the tunnel at a gallop.

With a sigh, Trixie galloped after her. In short order she found Rarity outside the house, gawking at the pale pink starburst painted in the outermost door.

“Say, Trixie, do you think this emblem could have been purple when it was first painted?”

Trixie grimaced at the door. “Maybe. Why —” Her eyes went wide. “You think this is related to Twilight? But this is centuries old!”

“Oh, it’s not just Twilight that has this starburst on her cutie mark. Her brother, Shining Armor, has it too, and their uncle. It could be a family mark, like the Apples have.”

“Wait,” said Trixie, looking aghast at Rarity, “Shining Armor? As in, the Crystal Empire prince Shining Armor? He is Twilight’s brother?”

“You challenged her to a magical duel, tried to banish her from her village, and really didn’t know?” said Rarity, with a flat stare.

“Well, uh, the Great and Powerful Trixie didn’t need to know Twilight’s family tree,” said Trixie with a comically embarrassed frown.

“Perhaps it’s time for you to meet another branch of her family tree,” said Rarity with a giggle. “We have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.”

---

“Are you sure it would be okay for us to borrow all those notebooks and scrolls, madam?” Rarity looked at the light purple, nearly white unicorn mare that stood in front of Twilight’s old home.

“Please, call me Twilight. Or Velvet, if you don’t want to mix me up with my daughter.” Twilight Velvet looked around, smiling at Rarity. “Of course you can borrow them. I would have never found how important they are if you didn’t tell me.”

“Oh, thank you! We will give them back as soon as we copy them. Those notebooks will be a great help with my classic collections, and Trixie will certainly put those fireworks notes to good use.”

“About that…” Twilight Velvet gazed at Trixie, making her attempt to shrink behind the nearby tree she was under. “I heard about what you attempted to do to my daughter.”

“Well, Trixie…” the magician swallowed hard.

“You were under some kind of curse, I know. My daughter made sure I would remember, and made me promise to not hold a grudge against you. So I don’t.”

Trixie took an unsure step forward. “Uh, thank you?”

“But let me tell you, youngling. The next time you attempt to do something of that kind to my daughter, I will show you just what a retired lieutenant of the Solar Guard can do.” A long spear, made entirely of magic energy, briefly flashed behind Twilight Velvet. “ Are we clear?”

Trixie swallowed again. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Then off you go, I have much to do.” Twilight Velvet smiled sweetly towards the other two mares. “I’m looking forward to seeing what you two do with those dusty papers!”

Twilight Velvet went back inside, while Rarity and Trixie levitated a large box, full of notebooks and scrolls, between them.

“What was that last part about? For a moment you looked scared,” said Rarity, shooting a curious glance towards Trixie.

“Uh,” Trixie lowered her voice, “Trixie tangled with a lieutenant once. A long time ago. I… prefer not to talk about it.”

Trixie grimaced, waiting for a giggle or laughter from her companion, but nothing came. Raising an eyebrow, she asked, “Rarity?”

“This Evening Stardust.” Rarity looked to the notebooks inside the box. “He was just like Twilight before she went to Ponyville; no friends, afraid to even ask his family for help, just a driving obsession towards his research, his work. Do you think Twilight could have become like this, a recluse without friends, if she never met, well, us?”

“During school Trixie heard stories about Princess Celestia’s star pupil. An unicorn that only had her books for friends, that never failed, never had any need for others.” The blue mare looked down. “Even Trixie dealt more with other ponies. Trixie always thought that this ‘star pupil’ would become just a spoiled jerk, living alone with her books.”

Rarity lowered her eyebrows. “Trixie…”

“Trixie tells as Trixie sees. But Twilight didn’t turn that way, did she?” and in a lower voice, Trixie finished, “She is a mare Trixie would like to call friend.”

Rarity’s expression softened, a mysterious smile in her lips.