Trixie gave a glance at Principal Celestia’s face, only for her eyes to slide up to her forehead.
“Again, Trixie doesn’t know where the stupid salamander is,” she said, crossing her arms to affirm her statement.
“But it was during your disappearing act that our mascot got lost,” Celestia responded. “The students searched through every inch of the gym without any trace of him.”
“So what? He’s not in the magical box Trixie put him in, nor where he should’ve appeared, nor in any of her other magic items.”
“He couldn’t have disappeared into thin air though.”
“Of course not,” Trixie replied with a groan, turning her gaze to a frame on the desk showing a portrait of Luna. “He couldn’t have gotten away by himself, so someone stole him during my act.”
She heard Celestia click her tongue, causing Trixie to examine her facial expression. The principal’s raised eyebrow screamed of doubt.
“And who, in your opinion, would’ve stolen Blizzard?”
“How should Trixie know?” Trixie made sure to visibly roll her eyes. “What she doesn’t get is why she is being interrogated.”
“Trixie,” Celestia said, putting her hands on the desk, “you know why I have to do it.”
Trixie looked to the side, not knowing what to respond with. There was not a single reason she would’ve taken that salamander during her performance, especially when her trick would fail in return. How couldn’t Celestia understand that?
“I didn’t steal him.”
“But you were the last person who interacted with him,” Celestia replied before letting out a sigh. “Maybe your box malfunctioned and he got crushed, so you’re trying to hide it. Accidents can happen.”
Trixie raised her eyebrows but still looked to the ground. She hated how much sense it made from the outside perspective, despite it not being true.
“There is no proof for this accusation,” Trixie stated before realising she should make eye contact, so she turned her gaze back to Celestia’s forehead.
“You not only refused to let the box you put him in be examined, you ran away with it,” Celestia explained.
“A magician never reveals her secrets!” Trixie retorted immediately, clenching her fists.
“And this is why I suspect you are hiding him.”
“But Trixie is not hiding him!” Trixie stood up, raising her fists in the air. “In fact, she shall provide you with the actual culprit who wanted to ruin her Great and Powerful performance!”
A quick glance at Celestia’s face showed her scratching it.
“Do you have suspects?” Celestia asked.
“No, not yet,” Trixie replied, crossing her arms as she smirked. “But she’ll find them!”
“Alright, then I want to see Blizzard on my desk this Friday.” Hearing these words, Trixie jumped in victory, but Celestia added, “However, if you fail, you get detention starting from next week.”
“What?” Trixie exclaimed, pounding with her hands on the desk. “But I already got detention for this week!”
Celestia shrugged. “It’s not my fault you keep using your smoke bombs under smoke detectors. Be glad I give you a chance to prove your innocence, as everything points against you.”
Gritting her teeth, Trixie turned around and stomped out of Celestia’s office, making sure to slam the door when she passed it.
For Trixie, one of the worst experiences during her daily school life was waiting in line at the cafeteria. Everyone was talking at the same time, standing so close to her that she could feel their breaths on her neck, and especially obnoxious students dared to push her with their trays! If she had had it her way, she would punch them right in the face, but that would result in no meal for her.
That’s why she sighed in relief when her tray was finally full and she could walk to her seat where her friends Lavender and Fuchsia were already talking to each other.
“Cheerilee should’ve worn anything other than brown today,” Fuchsia said.
“Well, yeah, it looks weird on her,” Lavender responded, “but she’s not harming anyone with it.”
“She’s hurting my eyes. I wanted to puke when I saw her enter the class.”
Trixie sat silently next to them and ate her meal. Baked potatoes weren’t her preference, but it was still better than having nothing else. As her friends continued to talk with each other, Trixie’s mind, while still listening to them, trailed off to the missing mascot animal.
Just where could he be? Who could have stolen him? It was a genius plan to frame Trixie for this crime for sure, but she still couldn’t find any logical reason why someone would do it—except for revenge, but who didn’t love Trixie?
“What do you think of it?” Lavender asked her suddenly.
Trixie took a moment to gather herself before raising her nose in the air. “She had nothing blue or purple on her, so I don’t care.”
“That’s because you lack any fashion sense,” Fuchsia said.
“Trixie doesn’t lack fashion sense!”
“Blue would be even more hideous on Cheerilee than that ugly brown,” Fuchsia replied. “And besides, we’re not the ones who came to the Fall Formal in a magician’s costume.”
Trixie rolled her eyes. “You won’t stop mentioning this, will you?”
“Nope.” Fuchsia grinned widely.
“Anyway, how did the talk with Celestia go?” Lavender asked.
Trixie sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “She suspects me of hiding him. Either I find him by the end of the week, or I get another detention.”
“You ran away with the box; of course she suspects you of having to do something with his loss.”
“You know I couldn’t have allowed that!” Trixie exclaimed. “A magician never reveals her secrets!”
Lavender continued, “But Celestia offered that only she would examine it. Would it really have hurt that much—”
“A magician,” Trixie retorted, beating her fist on the table, “never—” She beat the table another time. “—reveals her secrets!”
“There’s no point, Lav’, she won’t give in,” Fuchsia intervened before turning to Trixie. “But don’t complain then about this punishment.”
Lavender sighed and placed her hand on Trixie’s. “I’m so sorry for you. Innocent people should never be punished wrongfully.”
Trixie’s eyes moved to the spot where Lavender touched her. She could feel the warmth of it, how her hand had gently lain on top of hers, how it seemed to tickle—why were these gentle touches always so weird? She quickly drew her hands back to herself.
“Feeling sorry won’t help,” Trixie said. “I have to prove my innocence.”
“Or find that salamander,” Fuchsia added with a shrug.
“But how can we do either?” Lavender asked. “Only the three of us were on the stage during the performance, and after the trick, everyone looked everywhere for him.”
“Which concludes that he was stolen,” Trixie said, crossing her arms with a smirk. “And we know exactly where and when.”
She looked at her friends’ faces, waiting for a confirming nod. However, they only kept staring at her.
“Under the stage from the hatch,” Trixie explained, slapping her forehead. “Someone was there and snatched him while we covered the box.”
“Oh, that makes sense!” Lavender said, clapping her hands.
“And how do you intend to find out who it was?” Fuchsia asked. “It’s not like you can break into the surveillance room.”
After a click and a turn of the lock, Trixie pushed down the doorknob and opened the door to the surveillance room. “Still doubting the Great and Powerful Trixie?”
Fuchsia scuffed. “I’m more surprised that it took you just a few seconds. During your escape trick, you fumble with the lock for minutes.”
“It’s for the tension,” Trixie explained before glancing to the sides. “Lavender, you stay here and watch for anyone coming.”
The surveillance room was underwhelming from what Trixie had expected. Merely two monitors and a chaotic pile of cassettes were on the small desk, and a dusty cupboard sat by the wall. Trixie worried if their operation would even be a success.
“Man, this school’s technology is ancient,” Fuchsia said, picking up a cassette. “At least use a DVD.”
“Do you know how to use it?” Trixie asked as she sat down on the chair and clicked through the different cameras.
“Of course I do; I’m not stupid!”
“Trixie always knew you were old.”
“So are you,” Fuchsia responded and sat on the table. “Found anything?”
“Looks bad,” Trixie said. “There are only cameras around the parking lot and the entrance outside.”
“Well, would you want to be watched in your classroom?”
Trixie stopped for a moment, visualising how a camera would be pointed at her the whole time. Being around students already felt like being watched non-stop, so this would make her only more anxious. “Good point.”
She clicked through a few more cameras until Fuchsia suddenly pushed Trixie’s head to take a closer look at the screen
“What was that?” Trixie burst and pushed her to the side.
“Look!” Fuchsia said, pointing at the footage. “See this fire exit door?”
“Yeah, it’s the one behind the gym. So what?”
“Do I have to spoon-feed it to you? That’s where we could see the thief!”
Trixie raised her eyebrow, to which Fuchsia added, “It’s another entrance to the stage where we performed, and the only one we wouldn’t notice anyone sneaking in from.”
“Trixie got that part,” Trixie said, crossing her arms. “Why would you feed it to me with a spoon?”
“It’s an—There is no way you haven’t heard of this expression before.”
Trixie shrugged.
“Me having to explain it to you in such detail that you don’t have to think for yourself.”
Trixie rolled her eyes and turned back to the screen before rewinding the footage. “Idioms are stupid.”
Fuchsia sighed. “I know.”
For a while, nothing was said between them, and while Trixie paid attention to the screen, her mind was also circling around that stupid idiom. Admittedly, it made sense—which angered Trixie even more. She was neither a baby that needed to be spoon-feed, nor some idiot who had to ask what obvious expressions meant!
“Here!” Fuchsia pointed with her finger on the screen. “And the time matches exactly!”
Trixie leaned to the screen to make out the person, only to widen her eyes in surprise.
Leaning against the wall, Trixie had a clear view behind the lockers. As expected, it was all dusty, but not empty: she could see various pencils, used gum, and even confetti, none of which explained the silverfish she could make out. This school needed to be modernised immediately.
“Do we really have to wait?” Lavender asked. “School has been over for twenty minutes, and I don’t think the Rainbooms will leave the practice room anytime soon.”
“We’re trying to startle them,” Trixie replied, not locking away from a pair of running silverfish. “If we surprise them as soon as they’re about to leave, Sunset will have no time to come up with a made-up excuse.”
“Will it even make a difference if we just walked in now?”
“Of course it will!” Trixie exclaimed.
“But how?”
“It’s pointless to argue,” Fuchsia intervened. “A showman thinks like a showman—or showwoman, in our case.”
“Exactly,” Trixie said, turning finally her gaze to her friends. “Besides, it makes a great entrance, and that is what truly matters.”
“Indeed,” Fuchsia replied with a big smile that quickly faded, to which Trixie could only scratch her head. Was she on her side or not?
Luckily for them, they heard the Rainbooms’ voices getting louder and their steps approaching the door, so Trixie jumped in her place and took a firm stance. The door opened, and Trixie stretched out her hand, exclaiming loudly, “We got you, Sunset Shimmer!”
“Eep!”
Fluttershy, at whom the finger was pointed, fell backwards, but Rainbow was quick enough to catch her.
Trixie scanned the room and found Sunset back with the instruments. With a quick jump, she stood before her target and pointed her finger at her.
“We got you, Sunset Shimmer!”
Nailed it. Trixie grinned.
“What just happened?” Sunset asked.
“Do not try to deny it!” Trixie said, putting her hands on her hips. “You kidnapped Blizzard and framed the Great and Innocent Trixie!”
Carefully examining Sunset’s expression, she couldn’t find any hints to her emotional state—neither a smile, nor a raised eyebrow, nor a nervous glance at her—
“What?” Sunset asked.
In hindsight, her eyebrows had been raised, as she now furrowed them.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie caught you—” Trixie said, but got interrupted by Fuchsia clearing her throat. “—Trixie and the Illusions caught you on camera. You left through the gym’s fire exit door exactly two minutes and fourteen seconds after Blizzard was hidden inside the box.”
She crossed her arms and grinned widely, waiting for Sunset to confess her crime. However, Sunset inhaled deeply and put her guitar to the side.
“Trixie, why would I steal Blizzard? I already have Ray as my pet gecko.”
“Well,” Trixie responded, locking her eyes on Sunset’s forehead to keep the eye contact, “there might be various reasons. Maybe you felt like Ray was lonely, or you were so jealous of the Great and Powerful Trixie—which is entirely reasonable—that you wanted to enact revenge upon me.”
Sunset groaned. “First of all, I don’t envy you for anything; I have everything I could ask for through my friends.”
Trixie rolled her eyes at that feel-good reply.
“Second,” Sunset continued, “Ray is a leopard gecko; he loves it when it’s dry and warm. Now, what is Blizzard?”
“A salamander,” Trixie replied. “Close enough to a gecko.”
“No, he’s not!” Fluttershy countered with a raised voice, which was quite unusual for her. “He’s a fire salamander and loves wet and cold places. He and Ray won’t be able to feel comfortable together!”
Trixie could only chuckle nervously. And here she thought she had the case solved.
“Then why did you leave through the door behind the gym?” Fuchsia asked.
“Because I had to get the remaining props for the performance planned after yours. If you would’ve watched the footage further, you’d have seen me returning with a cardboard box. Besides, how did you get the security camera footage? Did Principal Celestia give you permission for this?”
“Um, now that you say it,” Trixie said, walking slowly backwards, “Trixie forgot that she has a lesson like… right now. Don’t we?” She looked to her friends, who got the signal and nodded in agreement. “Anyway, see you soon then!”
With these words, Trixie took out a smoke bomb and threw it to the ground before running away from the room—only to remember that she forgot to check whether the room had a smoke detector.
Luckily for her, it hadn’t.
The upcoming lesson had been a lie, but it turned out to be more true than Trixie dreaded: Luna caught her in the hallway and forced her to sit out her current detention—which might or might not have slipped from Trixie’s mind.
In itself, the punishment wasn’t too bad—ironically because of Mr. Doodle, the crankiest teacher of all. He always gave too much maths homework, but allowed the students to do them during his detention supervision and even helped when questions arose. Because of this, Trixie could finish off the most annoying tasks even quicker at the normal hour she did her homework anyway.
However, she was already done with her tasks and still had half an hour to waste. She leaned back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling, wrinkling her nose at the sight of water stains. If the rumours of an upcoming renovation during the summer vacation weren’t true, she might have considered transferring—there was no way this building would survive another year otherwise!
She took a deep breath and focused her mind back on the important topic: the stolen salamander.
She had been so sure about Sunset that it took her a while to accept her mistake, and now she was also seen as a stupid accuser because of a single piece of evidence that was in itself weak. No, she wouldn't make the mistake of false accusation again. She would solve this case and find the kidnapper, just like a real detective!
Rubbing her chin, she tried to recall how a detective would work. In terms of current evidence, there wasn’t any, so she had to take a different route to solve this case: a motive. Taking out a pencil, she wrote down any motive that came to her mind.
However, once she wrote down a few, she groaned in frustration. Revenge on her, revenge on someone connected with the salamander being a mascot, a possible animal activist taking action against Blizzard’s “imprisonment”—all these motives were too broad to point to a single suspect, or at least for her.
Nonetheless, she knew that the soccer club was responsible for taking care of Blizzard, so it might be worth investigating their members first. She couldn’t do this right now, but she knew just the right person to turn to after she’d become free from her imprisonment…
Standing before Lavender’s house, Trixie hesitated to knock. It was an announced visit, so her friend expected her, but she feared that this would give Lavender a pass to visit Trixie’s house in return.
It wasn’t that Trixie didn’t like Lavender’s presence, but there was a clear distinction between where she’d meet her friends and where she could isolate herself: Her home was her family, and anything to do with anyone else was either outside or at school. Fuchsia understood that logic—or simply accepted it—but Lavender didn’t comprehend it yet. Besides, what was the point of coming over to visit when you saw each other at school?
However, Lavender had bothered her about coming over for months now, so if Trixie had an additional reason, she might as well do it now.
Taking a deep breath, Trixie gathered her courage and rang the bell. Within seconds, the door opened, and a spitting image—except for the ponytail—of Lavender stood behind it.
“Cloudy,” Trixie muttered.
“Trixie,” Cloudy, Lavender’s twin sister, replied with an obvious sour voice and leaned on the doorframe. “What are you doing here?”
“This is none of your concern,” Trixie retorted, raising her view to Cloudy’s forehead to mimic eye contact.
“It is, because this is my house.”
“It’s also your sister’s house, and she invited the Great and Powerful Trixie, so let her in!”
Cloudy didn’t reply, and Trixie didn’t bother to read her face.
“Will you?” Trixie asked, actively putting on a grin.
Cloudy stepped back, but before Trixie could enter she slammed the door.
So much about visiting Lavender. Maybe it was a sign? Trixie wouldn’t mind if that was the case.
However, the door opened a moment later with Lavender revealing herself.
“Trixie! I’m so glad to see you here!” Lavender said, going into a hug.
Trixie endured it and gave a soft pat on Lavender’s back. “Hello, Lavender.”
As soon as Lavender detached herself, she took Trixie’s hand and pulled her into her house. “Come in, come in!”
It happened so quickly that Trixie couldn’t do anything else than follow after her. She couldn’t even see what the house looked like from the inside, as her mind was too occupied with the unpleasant physical contact.
Just before Trixie could rip her hand from Lavender, her friend released her, raising her hands in a demonstrative gesture. “Welcome to my room!”
Trixie gave a quick glance. There was nothing special about it, just some posters of animals, a cupboard full with CD cases of Lavender’s favourite k-pop band, a shelf with dozens of the vampire-werewolf novels she had talked about so much and a desk with a board full of photos. All in all, it seemed very cosy and relaxing.
“Looks nice,” Trixie replied, not knowing what else to say.
“Thanks!” Lavender jumped up, clapping her hands, then offered Trixie a chair. “Take a seat.”
“Not now,” Trixie said, turning to Lavender. “We need to investigate further.”
“Oh, okay,” Lavender murmured as she looked down to the ground. “How exactly?”
“Well, we need to find motives for someone to steal Blizzard, and your sister is in the soccer club.”
Lavender nodded slowly. “Can that wait?” she asked, her voice barely hearable.
“No,” Trixie responded firmly. “We already lost too much time with my detention. Take me to her room!”
This time, Lavender went ahead without dragging Trixie after her. The door to Cloudy’s room was closed, and Lavender was about to knock when she hesitated, turning back to look at Trixie.
“My sister doesn’t like you.”
“I know,” Trixie replied.
“Why?”
Trixie took a deep breath, wondering whether this was rhetorical or simply Lavender wanting to know her perspective. “We had an argument caused by Sunset Shimmer during her… phase, and your sister expects me to apologise to her.”
“She says you punched her,” Lavender said.
“Not my fault she called me a narcissistic blowhard,” Trixie replied, getting annoyed by these questions. “Also, she made fun of me the whole day because of Sunset’s lie.”
Lavender sighed and finally knocked on the door before entering it.
“What do you want?” Cloudy said without looking up from her desk. From what Trixie could see, she was doing her homework.
“Um,” Lavender responded, rubbing her hands against each other, “Trixie wanted to ask you some questions.”
“What questions?”
“Like if there—”
“No,” Cloudy interrupted her sister, finally turning to them. “I want Trixie to tell me, not you.”
Trixie took a firm stance, placing her left hand on her hip and pointing with her right at Cloudy. “The Great and Powerful Detective Trixie”—Cloudy snorted, but Trixie didn’t let it distract her—”demands you to tell her who would be angry with your soccer club.”
“And why?” Cloudy replied, raising her eyebrow.
“To find suspects for the case of the stolen salamander, of course.”
“Everyone knows you messed up the trick and tried to hide it.”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie never fails a trick!” Trixie retorted with a stomp. “Someone stole him during my performance! It was sabotage!”
“Sure,” Cloudy responded, putting on a grin. “And if there was someone angry at our club, why would they steal Blizzard?”
“To hurt your reputation and your spirit!”
Cloudy blinked, staring at Trixie in silence. It was tempting to look to the side, but Trixie held her gaze, occupying the time by trying to find a difference between the twins’ faces.
“And?” Trixie asked, crossing her arms as seconds passed.
“Velvet Sky got kicked out recently from our team, but I doubt it was her.”
Trixie rubbed her face. “Velvet was the one always wearing a yellow scarf, right?”
“Yes. You can’t miss her with her long reddish skirt.”
Hearing this, Trixie could only smirk. There was the motive she searched for—the case could well be closed soon.
“Anything else?” Cloudy asked and, once Trixie shook her head, turned back to her homework. “Good. Now get out of my room!”
Trixie was satisfied with the results. She had visited Lavender and also got a new lead on who the suspect could be, so when she left Cloudy’s room, she turned to the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Lavender asked her.
“Back home,” Trixie responded, looking back at her friend.
There was something strange about her expression. Trixie couldn’t exactly pinpoint what, as there was neither a smile, nor a frown nor any eyebrow movement. Lavender’s hands were also just dangling from her body, and her posture didn’t reveal anything useful.
“Already?”
Trixie raised her eyebrow. Lavender’s voice seemed to be monotone, but Trixie was sure that she was supposed to read an emotion. It was probably subtle, or only understandable from context, which annoyed Trixie. Why couldn’t reading emotions be as simple as during her magic performances? There were either hecklers, bored people or amazed spectators, and it was easy to determine who was what.
“Yeah. I didn’t want the visit to be too long,” Trixie said, carefully searching for any expression on Lavender’s face.
“But you weren’t even…” Lavender trailed off, looking to the ground. “Did you even want to visit me?”
“I mean, we saw each other today at school and will tomorrow too. It’s not like it’s summer vacation.”
Lavender sighed. “Fine. Let me lead you out.”
She said fine, Trixie thought, calming herself with it. Lavender also smiled again when she said goodbye, so all was well. If only her subconsciousness would stop pestering her with that she missed something obvious…