(completed) Where there's smoke...

[Ashton]

The Great and Powerful Trixie!

 

It was a calm and peaceful day, the sun was shining bright, though past its nexus and starting on it's path to the far horizon. The few clouds in the sky were barely drifting through their path toward whatever their ultimate destination was (likely the everfree if the weatherponies didn't remember to reclaim them later, since it tended to suck in any weather nearby...)

 

On the outskirts of ponyville sat a familiar wagon, its stage out but not fully setup right now since there was no show planned. However on the stage were several boxes of props that a familiar unicorn was going through, looking for inspiration for a new show she was planning when she had a longer break from her new job - after all, as much as she enjoyed working at the school with her best friend, there was a certain joy that Trixie could only get from being on stage!

 

Trixie gently held one of her infamous smokebombs, regarding it critically "yanno... these really dont last long enough" she though aloud "sure they're good enough to slip behind the curtain, but even with my Great and Powerful teleportation they just aren't quite... great and powerful enough!" she stared at the small orb a moment longer as a grin filled her face, she gently placed it down on the stage and took a step or two back, carefully taking a moment to aim (and being over-the-top theatrical with her 'precision'),  her horn glowed as she concentrated and fired off a spell. The orb glowed brightly a moment as the transfiguration spell gook hold, then it returned to normal.

 

Trixie grinned as she took the small glass ball in her hoof and climbed onto the stage "and now!" she announced to the imaginary crowd "The Great and Powerful Trixie will disappear from your view!" her horn glowed as she prepared her teleportation spell and threw down the smoke bomb.

 

The cloud of smoke was enormous, quickly obscuring not only Trixie, not only her stage, but the entire clearing! the unicorn began coughing - unable to focus on her teleportation spell; causing it to fizzle out, her eyes and lungs burning, and with  far less pizzaz and in a hilarious turn of events she quickly jerked open her wagon's window and stuck her head inside to get some fresh air... while she waited for the cloud to dissipate... "Clearly Trixie *cough* doesn't know her own power! *cough cough*"

[Bellosh]

 

Over on the periphery, a bright poof of magic flashed a short distance away from the stage. When it cleared a second later, in its place stood an amber unicorn. She was Sunset Shimmer; the instructor of the Defense Against Dark Hearts course at the School of Friendship. She had wrapped up class for the day not too long ago, and was just about to head home when she spotted from her window a bunch of suspicious billowing smoke.

Thinking it prudent to swiftly investigate, Sunset used a teleportation spell to instantly arrive at the scene from her classroom. As a seasoned apprentice of the arcane arts, she did so without a hitch. Although black fumes obscured most of the scene, Sunset could make out just enough props and symbols to recognize this was Counselor Trixie’s set-up. The friendship counselor and Miss Shimmer didn’t know each other all that other yet... notwithstanding Sunset’s peculiar adventures in the Mirror World, of course.

“Is everything alright there, Trixie?” Sunset called out while she attempted to scan for nearby bodies of water, just in case something actually was on fire.....

[Ashton]

For a split-instant, Trixie froze, the only thing that registered in her mind was that she'd been caught with her proverbial pants down, screwing up again, her mind even flashing to seeing so many ponies laughing at her, from Twilight to Starlight to even Discord... but thankfully this was only for a moment before she recognized the voice and also realized they weren't laughing... 

 

Trixie coughed again before pulling her head back out of her wagon and, despite being red in the face from both the coughing and the embarrassment quickly assumed the most elegant pose she could "The Great and Powerful Trixie is always alright!" she announced, then coughed another few times before laughing a little "Old habits die hard" she added, trying to remember how much trouble she always got into when she left her 'stage mask' on when not doing an act "I was just working on improving my smokebombs" she explained "while they do the job on stage, they really could last another couple seconds to help with the show... or in case I need to save equestria without my magic again" she smiled, still just a little boastful about "her" defeat of the changelings, but again remember the trouble such an attitude got her into she quickly left that topic "I think I made them a little TOO Great and Powerful though" she admitted, pausing just a moment to regard the little spheres before speaking again "so what brings you all the way out here, sunset?" she asked with a more amicable smile, completely unaware that her smokebombs had been so powerful that they could be seen all the way from the school...

[Bellosh]

 

 

As much as Sunset Shimmer wanted to roll her eyes as Trixie bragged about her heroics, it also provoked her to smirk. After all, Sunset had herself once been a pony who threw her weight around with her status and exceptional abilities. Plus, if Trixie really was that awful of a boaster, she wouldn’t be good friends with Headmare Glimmer, now would she? All things considered, Sunset was inclined to let Trixie enjoy her shining moment of past glory.

“I saw a bunch of smoke from my classroom window and I thought something might have caught on fire,” Professor Shimmer answered; “But that isn’t the case, thankfully.” Sunset knew enough about Trixie to know she could be a prideful mare, but just in case, she asked politely; “As long as I’m still out here, you need help with anything else?”

[Ashton]

((In trixie's defense, I think she deserves that one occasional boast, for the first, and likely only, time in her life, she can let go of her old stories, because now she finally has something she can be proud of that's REAL))

 

Trixie's smile fell as her pupils shrank "From your... window... at the school...?" she quickly snapped back to reality and looked at her box of smokebombs in horror, if she had transfigured all of them, she might have covered the whole town in smoke, or even worse... "Iiiiiii think I'll just keep them the way they are" she said with an awkward laugh as her horn glowed and in a flash the smokebombs vanished, no doubt put in some dark corner of her wagon, else she be tempted to try and 'improve' them again with even more catastrophic results, she managed to regain her composure quickly though, one of the great things the stage had taught her. "I'm going through some of my old boxes, Maybe looking for some inspiration, or just to get rid of some old junk that I dont use anymore or forgot about" she explained

 

What might catch sunset's attention though, among the boxes willed with silk scarves, fake flowers, and magic wands was one box marked "Artifacts" and inside was a wide variety of items that all seemed, at first, to hold some strange and powerful magical properties. The one on top was a small wooden box with an almost-perfect forgery of Starswirl the Bearded's Cutiemark, and inside was a desk of cards, though each card reacted... uniquely... like the Ace of hearts producing the sound of a beating heart, and it was terrifying to think what the Ace of Spades might do... Also in the box were other trinkets, many bearing the same forged insignia of starswirl, though some had other imagery, one even seemed to bear the mark of Princess Luna... all of these items though, wile good enough to fool most of equestria, to a trained scholar were obvious forgeries (though the type and strength of magic they contained varied wildly and some might be genuine relics though likely with no relation to whoever's mark lay on the outer packaging...) Why did Trixie of all ponies have these? Had she been secretly collecting dangerous artifacts she found on her travels?

[Bellosh]

 

Wagon decluttering, huh? Well, as Twilight always liked to say, a highly organized home is a highly organized... something or whatever, blah blah blah. Sunset Shimmer personally leaned more towards the “organized chaos” side of things, although not to the point of living as a complete slob. Anywho, without requiring any further prompting, Sunset began looking through the boxes that Trixie had piled onto her stage.

In due time, the amber unicorn stumbled onto Trixie’s box of stashed artifacts. Sunset Shimmer was indeed curious, but the manner in which they had been so casually left out in the open unsecured already did much to lower her expectations. After all, any relics of true power would likely have been locked up tight by their owner or much better hidden from straying eyes; preferably both.

Taking a quick peek inside the Artifacts box, Sunset’s initial appraisal of the items stashed inside was... in line with what she expected. That one set of magic cards looked disturbing and kinda cool, but all in all, everything appeared to match the stereotype of the infamous untested magic trinket bought in a Canterlot back alley at midnight. Sunset lit up her horn, causing every item to glow with a subtle reddish-rose shine.

Princess Celestia’s former apprentice was probing these artifacts further with magic, and the results largely confirmed her suspicions. Most of Trixie’s stash consisted of measly cantrip-grade items; while there were a few objects with greater power than the others, their magical signatures indicated nothing up to the level of mighty relics that Sunset has come across in her adventures such as the Time Twirler, or the Memory Stone.

“So I see you’re a collector of curios,” Sunset commented as she finished her inspection; “Do you use any of these in your performances?”

[Ashton]

"Eh?" Trixie looked over and in a flash teleported over "Careful with these!" she said "These artifacts are dangerous..." she paused "well... mostly... ok, only slightly" she finished "but they're dangerous in ways you don't expect" Trixie took out the deck of cards "I thought these old cards of Starswirls were just a gag... so I left them lieing around... but then a filly... one who pestered me way too much when she was trying to get her cutiemark... she got her hooves on them.." trixie sighed and opened the box, fanning them out int he air, selecting a couple and returning the rest to the box, which she set on the stage "besides the silliness..." Trixie threw the first card at a nearby tree, the card flew like an arrow and embedded deep into the tree "and that is not the worst" she threw the second card, then showed sunset the last one. the Ace of Spaces. she threw this card and it did not hit the tree... it arced back at Trixie who teleported away... it continued to follow her, she levitated a large board in front of the card, and the card sliced right through it with ease, forcing her to teleport away again "once active, it wont stop trying to end you" she said, teleporting away again, this time though her horn glowed and the card lit on fire... it still flew after her until it had all burned to smoke... that smoke though returned to the box the deck was contained in along with the other cards trixie had thrown. "She was lucky, if somecreature hand't been nearby who was good with a bow and arrow she might have paid the ultimate price..." she shook her head

 

"Most of these artifacts are less dangerous because of how they work, but rather how they don't..." she explained as she pulled out a pair of earrings that looked like pegasus wings "Ever wanted to be an alicorn, Sunset?" she asked as she lifted her had and slid the earrings into her ears. after wards she raised her cape and indeed there seemed to be a fully functional pair of pegasus wings! Trixie even was able to move them, though it clearly was not very easy "but watch" she flapped the wings, several times, unable to get a proper rhythm and finally just teleporting into the air, spreading them she started gliding... but after a dozen feet she suddenly fell straight down. Of course she already knew this would happen and a fast teleport brought her safely to the ground where she removed the earrings and returned them to their case "I'm afraid that most of these artifacts must be so old that their magic is fading, which makes them a lot more dangerous than they should be... and... can you keep a secret?" she leaned in close "I think a couple of these might even be fakes!"

 

She took a step back "But no, I dont use them because they're so dangerous... i dont know exactly what to do with them... I dont know anyone who can recharge the ones that arent lasting long, and the others... well... I must admit I'm a little attached to the cards" she smiled deviously. Yes she still had a tiny evil streak in her just like her best friend "a lot of them though need to be destroyed, but like with the cards, when you destroy them they just return to their case... really impressive spell Starswirl fashioned, though very overused..." she admitted

 

"And..." Trixie paused, hanging her head "I'm embarrassed to say I was collecting as many Starswirl artifacts as I could get my hooves on just to torment Twilight Sparkle..." she sighed "I mean, Princess Twilight Sparkle..." she added, with just a little disdain. Clearly she still held a little bit of a grudge, but not a huge one. "Honestly, some of them I dont even know what do!" she levitated a glowing blue sphere about the size of a marble from the box, the sphere was radiating powerful magic energy but... that was it... the sphere seemed to be some kind of powerful magic battery of some kind, but there didn't seem to be any way to draw it's power out...

 

She finally looked at Sunset "I dont suppose you have any ideas?" she asked with an awkward smile "I know most of these arent exactly 'dark magic' like you usually deal with, but......"

[Bellosh]

 

 

Trixie thought some of her Star Swirl memorabilia MIGHT be fake? ...No kidding......

If any of these artifacts were actually of Star Swirl’s making, Sunset Shimmer could only surmise that these must have come from the Bearded Sorcerer’s reject pile. Although Trixie’s claim of their power running low could have been playing a big role, Sunset just couldn’t imagine that such a wise wizard like Star Swirl was willing to stamp his cutie mark all over the most dangerous-to-use enchanted items she’s ever seen in action. Sadly, that was no exaggeration.

...Although Sunset kinda wished that alicorn-creating contraption hadn’t turned out to be a bust. Sigh, oh well.....

“Hey now Trixie,” the amber unicorn finally interjected; “You forget that before teaching Defense Against Dark Hearts, I was once Princess Celestia’s apprentice much like Twilight had been! I uhhh... MAY have never completed my training officially, heh heh, but I still know far more about magic than your run-of-the-mill Magic School graduate.” Ah, the perks of having a superior ability to blaze through arcane curriculum than other students. Sure, it eventually ended up biting Sunset in the butt, but all that knowledge still served her well to this day.

“First things first,” Miss Shimmer went to reinspect the case with the playing cards; “Did you ever have your collection authenticated by an actual expert? I mean, did they even HAVE playing cards a thousand years ago like ours today??? I’m sure if we brought your stuff to somebody like Sunburst, he could get you answers about how legit your stuff is.....”

[Ashton]

Trixie glanced over at Sunset as she talked about her past, making the blue mare smirk just a tiny bit... no doubt interpreting the 'never completed my training formally' as sunset flunking out. Not that trixie had any right to speak, having never been to celestia's school at all and having only studied briefly at a little unknown university near manehattan, but clearly it still amused her.

 

When Sunset mentioned getting the items authenticated, she blinked loudly. Clearly that idea had never crossed her mind, even though she had seen Twilight going over batches of supposed artifacts in the past (and usually discarding them as fakes) then she caught up and tried to downplay her foolishness "He does that? I suppose he should know, but he spends so much time researching and studying that he never mentioned it" she said "I wonder why Starlight never mentioned it before when she saw the box..."

 

After a moment she smiled awkwardly "can I just keep the cards separate? I think they're amazing and like to think they really were enchanted by the father of modern magic" she laughed a little, making it clear that what sunset had said did leave a dent --- the logic had instantly made her realize the cards, however amazing they were, definitely had not been created by starswirl, given their modern nature. Of course, the question of who did make them should have been a higher curiosity but being a stage magician Trixie had always been more about illusion than truth.

 

"Did you happen to see him recently? I've been out here all day so I dont know how busy he is" the tone of her voice though made it clear that this wasn't a top priority - however she did want to know now if perhaps starburst knew of a way to 'fix' the artifacts that were malfunctioning, and where so many artifacts were coming from... that seemingly obvious comment from sunset had clearly made trixie realize that her previous appraisal of only a few items being fake might be a little low...

 

((the sad irony is that I just realized, they could actually take these to Starswirl himself now and ask him if he made them... and no doubt he'd say something along the lines of "Are you a fool? I'd never create such garbage, and if I did it would have gone straight into the scrap heap!"))

[Bellosh]

 

 

Yeahhhh... Sunset Shimmer wasn’t really too keen on the idea of Trixie keeping the deck of enchanted playing cards to screw around with, but she supposed even big ponies liked playing with their beloved toys. Internally shrugging to herself, Sunset answered the other unicorn’s question about Sunburst as best she could; “Well, school is over for the day, so I can’t imagine Sunburst will be THAT busy. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a little interruption, especially if magic artifacts are involved.....”

[Ashton]

((sorry, I would have sworn i replied to this already >.<))

 

"Well, The Great and Powerful Trixie is always one to please" she smiled "Though walking through town and the school with a box like this might gather unwanted attention.." she paused and walked over to another box and pulled out a marker, altering the box of magical fakes to say 'NOT Artifacts' she smiled "There we go, that should solve the problem" she said proudly. Of course this being Trixie it was up for debate whether she really though this would solve the problem or if she was trying to make a joke of it... sadly it was probably the former... she grabbed the box in her horn's glow, taking care to levitate the playing cards out of the box and into her saddlebags first. "Lets go"

 

((So should one of us NPC Sunburst, or should we pester request foxxy to join us?))

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

"Now hmmm," The newly appointed Professor of Archaic Magics used a hoof to stroke his beard. "I-i suppose I could go on to teaching from the Tome of Antiquity for the rest of the next semester oooooor," He grinned to himself. "I could just go right ahead and move the class on to one of my favorite topics," He reached for a rolled up parchment at the edge of his desk. "Ancient runes!"

 

After unrolling the parchment he levitated a steaming cup of green tea from it's place on the desk and began to trot excitedly about the cluttered office. Well, 'cluttered', was a loose term, a uh, a nice term for what the stallion's office had become practically overnight. Stacks upon stacks of ancient texts, scrolls, parchments, maps, and the like lined every wall. Around these piles glass cabinets stood filled with treasures, bobbles, and secret pieces containing the magic of the past. A huge grandfather clock with several different faces on the front ticked solemnly away, filling the place with its rhythm whenever Sunburst found himself quietly in thought. 

 

The professor made his way over the soft Saddle Arabian carpets on the floor over to his favorite place to recline while at the School of Friendship. Saying the chair was giant was an understatement. The grand scale of the armchair he'd had shipped from Maretonia was awe inspiring. He loved to be able to sit himself down here and pour over texts and tomes. A small table nearby served for his tea or cider if he had a mind for something stiffer. He'd also recently taken to the alum flower and kept a pipe smoldering with it for a soothing puff every once in a while. This new habit had scented the office nicely with the fragrant smell of the flower used by the ancients for relaxation. 

 

It was as he was settling with a tome on practices of magic rune circles that a knock came to his door.

 

"Hm?" The stallion looked over his glasses towards the door. "A student perhaps?" He mused quietly before calling out a bit louder. 

 

"C-come in please."

[Bellosh]

 

 

Sunburst’s door glowed with another unicorn’s magic as it opened wide open; stepping in first was Sunset Shimmer with a charismatic smirk. Unlike most of her former classmates back at the School of Magic, Vice-Headstallion Sunburst had been one of the few that Sunset actually remembered vaguely... for unflattering reasons, though. Celestia’s ex-student had been curious to know whether Sunburst managed to get through Magic School after all, but she didn’t feel it polite to ask.

“Hello, Sunburst!” Professor Shimmer casually used Sunburst’s desk to prop up her chin with one forehoof, while the other flipped her tousled hair to smooth it back like a boss; “Sorry to bother you, but we ladies have some magical artifacts that we’d like you to look over if you don’t mind. Trixie has reason to believe they might have been artificed by Star Swirl the Bearded himself!”

As she gestured Trixie to come on over with the chest, Sunset sniffed the air and caught the pleasant scent of allium flowers. “Hmmm, it smells nice in here, Sunburst. Are you using an air freshener, by any chance?”

[Ashton]

((the irony is I'd actually be a little curious about the use of magic runes in the world of equestria, given how rarely we've seen actual magic circles))

 

Trixie rolled her eyes at sunset's antics, foalish, flirty, undignified... Trixie only acted like that on stage! ...or well if the situation called for it... or she just felt like it... none the less she smiled at the vice-headmare as she set the box down on the floor near the desk "The Great and Powerful Trixie has traveled all across equestria, searching for mysterious artifacts and ensuring they did not fall into the wrong hooves!" she said dramatically, a few tiny magical sparks going off around her to accentuate her entrance.

 

"Actually, I bought all this stuff because it was supposed to be valuable, powerful, and/or made by Starswirl the Bearded" she admitted "But I think they're so old that the magic's fading, they only... kidna work..." she explained "except for this thing" she levitated the glowing sphere "I have no clue what it does" she floated it back down into the box "Sunset reminded me of your interest in artifacts while I was cleaning out my wagon -getting ready for the next show tour- and found these again. We thought you might be able to shine some light on them" she didn't bother to mention that even before sunset pointed out the unlikelihood of them all being real, that she already thought that at least a couple were fakes... would be fun to see if Sunburst could figure that out...

 

((you can decide how many of them are "real" "faded magic" "fake" etc. the only one that is supposed to be genuine is the glowing sphere - it's a mana battery (with many, many, MANY years of mana in it --- though useless if nobody can figure out how to use it  ))

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

The stallion almost spit out the muzzle full of tea he had sipped right after giving permission for entrance. Professor Shimmer certainly made an entrance! She had charm, he couldn't deny it. He couldn't help but smile as he scooted off his armchair and trotted over to the mare casually leaning on his desk.

 

"Well, th-this is a pleasant surprise!" He took a moment to compose himself, brushing his shaggy forelocks back over his horn. Of course the mess he called a mane sprung right back where it had been. He cleared his throat, shifting his glasses over his eyes. "Good to see you Sunset!" He laughed nervously, wondering why she'd chosen to make an appearance in his office.  "Oh that!" He gestured towards his smoldering pipe. "Not air freshen per say, allium flower. Imported from the east where it grows sweet." The allium flower one was used to in their region would have distinctly smelled of onion.  "G-glad you noticed though, of course-"

 

He'd jumped over something very important in that previous sentence. Artifacts...Trixie...oh my! "O-oh! uhhhh, artifacts you say?" He got no further as Trixie made her way inside.

 

"Hello there Trixie!" He greeted the mare as she set down the box. "Artifacts from Starswirl you say?" His eyes grew large at the prospect. Sifting through trinkets and such, some of which may be old and all of which were mysterious at this point. "Let's uhhh, take a look!" He took the sphere from Tixie's magic into his own. "This one I'll save for later then. I can see it has an incantation on it to say the least!"

 

As he made his way towards the box, his magic aura already opening it he paused. "Can I offer either of you a cup of tea? I've got a very nice blend from Maretonia right now," He nodded towards the kettle and mugs not far away.

 

Soon the box was opened and an item was levitating in front of him. It appeared to be a brass horn ring. "Hmmm, now this..."  He sent a small burst of magic into the item just to make sure. "This is an ordinary horn ring. Well, let me rephrase that. It's an antique f-for sure. Probably from I'd say..." He levitated a magnifying glass over and peered closely at the inside of the ring. "Ah!" He squinted. "From this inscription mark it appears to be from at least the beginning of this century! A-a very nice treasure, but not a magical item."

 

He levitated his cape from behind the door and settled it over himself. "This is probably going to take a bit of time," He nodded to the couch and various chairs in the room. "P-please make yourselves comfortable."

 

As he worked he questioned them off and on. "So Trixie, where did you say you came across these items?" He spoke while moving items from the box and onto his desk. "Have either of you tried to activate any of these?"

[Bellosh]

 

 

Trixie’s entrance was cringe-inducing for all its unnecessary bombasticity... but meh, having a big ego was less of a crime in Sunset Shimmer’s book than being a manipulative blowhard. First things first: the artifacts. The glowing sphere was the first relic Trixie offered up, and Sunset commentated to Sunburst as she got off his desk; “I detected quite a bit of magic in that object when I inspected it earlier, so be careful when you look over it.” Indeed, the orb was the one object amongst the stage magician’s junk pile that gave off a pretty strong magical signature. Sunburst indicated he would save that one for last.

In the meantime, Sunset graciously accepted Sunburst’s offering of tea; “That’d be nice, thank you.” While she walked over to telekinetically pour herself a mug, the scholarly stallion looked at another of Trixie’s trinkets. When Sunset returned with her tea, she sat down at one of the chairs in front of Sunburst’s desk and took a sip of her drink. Mmmm... nice flavor to it.

“Trixie showed me a few about half an hour,” the amber unicorn explained as she set her mug on Sunburst's desk; “Basically, they alternated between working poorly... and working too well, if you get what I’m saying.....”

[Ashton]

Trixie wasn't much for tea, honestly she'd much rather have a nice smoothie right now, but she didn't want to be rude given that Sunburst was talking time to look over her collection of Artifacts "Thank you, I appreciate the offer" she said, doing the same as Sunset and taking a cup and filling it with tea... resisting the urge to transfigure it into a smoothie... at least not while either of them were looking, maybe if they got distracted enough she'd give in to her desire, after all she was still more than a little excited about having learned an advanced spell like that and deep down it thrilled her just a tiny bit every time she used it!

 

"Yeah, like sunset said, they kinda work, the less powerful ones seem to work great, but the stronger ones fizzle out quickly" after a moment of hesitation she set her tea down and pulled out the deck of cards "these are another supposed artifact, though they're probably a fake, but they have one thing in common with the rest" she opened the box (Which bore Starswirl's cutiemark on its top; though to an expert like Sunburst it was clearly a fake --- a well-forged fake, but a fake none the less) and drew out a card at random, the Ace of Hearts, which made an audible lub-dub sound like a real heart. Trixie threw it at the edge of the box gently, making sure it wouldn't damage the contents deeper in the box, and it flew perfectly --- too perfectly even for a trained stage magician like Trixie. She then carefully used her magic to light it on fire, making sure not to damage the box or its contents. Just like before when she demonstrated them to Sunset, the card burned up and the smoke floated back into the card's Box, reforming into the ace of hearts, lieing neatly on top of the others. "The artifacts cant be destroyed, more than once I accidentally damaged one and it just reformed" she explained

 

"As for the broken ones..." she reached in with her magic and once again grabbed with 'wing earrings' and slid them into her ears. Lifting her cape so sunburst could see the pegasus wings she had acquired from the jewelry, with great effort, she made them extend and flap around a little, which intermittently caused small gusts of wind from them "But if I try to fly with them, after a few seconds they just... well... stop working... and I fall" Trixie clearly had not noticed that even just moving them around, the wind they generated wasn't consistent,  she then removed the earrings, making the wings vanish, and returned the jewelry to its proper case. As with many of the supposed Starswirl artifacts, their case bore what appeared to be the ancient mage's cutiemark on top. 

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Sunburst was happy that the pair had taken a mug of tea. He found it very relaxing and hoped they would benefit from it's soothing effects as he did. The mage watched as Trixie showed the various properties that the items displayed. From what he could see most of the items were well... they were fakes. Some of them were imbued with magic, though just enough to get the desired effect of half powered magical bursts. 

 

He picked up a box with Star Swirl's mark emblazoned on it and held it close to his face. "Hmmmm," He cleared his throat. "Well," He placed the box down among the other items. "From what Iv'e seen and what you've shown me I-i don't think any of these items have been enchanted by Star Swirl. He uhhhh," He levitated his tea mug to his muzzle for a quick sip. "He wouldn't have preformed these enchantments as most of them seem to be parlor tricks. I-i will say though that some of these are well suited for their purposes, like those cards." 

 

Sunburst now went back to the orb. He picked it up with his magic and brought it closer. "E-except this one of course..." He set it down on his desk and raised his eyebrow. "This one is certainly enchanted strongly." A small experimental swirl of magic went from his horn to the orb. The result was a zap of power that flew back to his horn and knocked him back a few steps. "Whew! T-this is really something... though what kind of something..." He glanced up. 

 

"What have you seen this orb do?"

 

[Bellosh]

 

 

Sunburst largely agreed with Sunset Shimmer’s suspicions; that few of these shoddy artifacts (if any) could have been the work of somepony as great a sorcerer as Star Swirl the Bearded. That orb though seemed to be a different story, as Sunburst got a bit too careless with probing the item. “All I know is that I could detect how that orb has by far the strongest magical signature of anything else in Trixie’s collection.” It would have to be up to the stage magician to provide any other details.....

[Ashton]

Trixie shrugged "not much to say really, I thought I saw something once but it was probably my imagination..." she paused "...well one night after the show I had set out a lot of magic lanterns because I had to pack things up to leave first thing in the morning and lune had risen a new moon... I was probably tired and imagined it, but it looked like a tiny string of magic coming from each lantern and flowing into the orb... silly, I know, it had been a long show, I was probably way too tired to be thinking about stuff like that, but...." she shrugged

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Sunny looked over from his seat at his desk as each of the mares spoke. Sunset's speculation was matching up perfectly with what Trixie had just said. He leaned forward, studying the orb closely while he spoke.

 

"Hmmm, w-well I'm glad you were able to witness that Trixie. It helps to explain what this might be." His horn lit up and this time sent subtle energy towards the orb. As Trixie had described the magic energy was pulled as if it was a thin glowing string towards the orb.  "I-it appears to be a collection device for energy o-or mana if you will." He sat back and pushed the chair away from the desk. 

 

"My deductions are that most of what you have here is purely entertainment magic. Not useless and not valueless but of no great magical concern. That being said, it appears you items were not in fact enchanted by Starswirl." He stood and glanced back at the orb. "This one though." He took a breath. "I'm not sure it was enchanted by Starswirl b-but it is definitely a strong magical item."

 

Sunburst trotted over to one of his book cases and began scanning the tomes. "I could discover more about the orb i-if you wanted to leave it here for a while? Choice is yours of course...though, there's no telling how much power is stored inside that orb." A couple books levitated off the shelf that could pertain to the significance and possible working methods of the orb. Next Sunny's tea levitated over to his muzzle. He took a sip and allowed it to rest on the side of his desk.

 

"S-so, what would you like to do?"

[Bellosh]

 

Magic... collection? That eyebrow-raising revelation certainly brought back some unpleasant memories for Sunset Shimmer. “Whatever you do,” she sternly advised; “DO NOT try to release the magic that’s stored inside. I’ve seen a magic collection device similar to this before..." Sunset leaned over Sunburst’s desk to get in his face, conveying the gravity of the situation. “The last person who unleashed magic from it got overwhelmed by its power, and nearly destroyed the fabric of reality in the process!”

It was at this point that a chilling thought dawned on the Equestrian girl. She gave the orb a good, hard look; “How much magic do you estimate that artifact is designed to contain, anyway?”

 

[Ashton]

((just FYI: you cant release it. Not in any significant way. At least not without the proper mechanism --- which can be found if you piece together myths of equestria's-version-of-egypt (I forgot the name >.<) and realize this is actually an ancient, ancient, golem animation core from a very large and powerful (and long-broken) golem --- though if you piece all that together... yes... you can unlock its power to run all kinds of dangerous spells and/or machines. I actually have plans for that little marble that I've discussed with steel *evil grin*))

 

Trixie blinked at sunset before rolling her eyes "maybe I should make you my stage assistant, you sure got the over-the-top boisterous acting down pat" she smiled though, making it clear it was little more than gentle ribbing

 

The showmare then turned to sunburst, sighing hard "honestly, I'm not too upset, I think I knew somewhere deep down they were fake and thats why I never showed her the supposed artifacts" a rare moment of pure honesty from trixie, though she didn't seem to realize that this would only serve to confuse the stallion even more since she never mentioned to him that she had been collecting these to spite twilight... "though if you happen to know any way to make some of these things work a little better or more reliably..." she smirked "I can think of some Great and Powerful uses for them as... props... provided they're safe"

 

after a moment, she finally addressed the orb "well, its not exactly useful to me like it is, go ahead and see what you can do with it, I never figured it out" she shrugged, clearly having no idea what the scope of this item was, especially given how she thought sunset was overreacting comically to it...

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Sunburst nodded, his nose top nearly touching Sunset's as she gave her proclamation on the orb. He did know a thing or two about this sort of thing but apparently Sunset knew more? That was highly probably as he knew full well that she had knowledge outside of his realm... literally. As far as her question;

 

"I-i can't tell you that however..." He sat back to relieve himself of the closeness, not that he didn't enjoy it somewhat. "I would hazard to say it's a rather large amount." He glanced at the orb again, wary and yet interested none the less. 

 

The odd mage chuckled as Trixie came to conclusion about Sunset's performance. He smiled softly as she spoke of not being that surprised about the 'uselessness' of most of the items. 

 

"I-if you'd like to choose two or three to leave here I think I'll be able to solid them up into good stage props." He sipped the dregs of his tea and set down the mug. "Y-you can leave the orb here too of course. I'll keep it somewhere safe.. a-and perhaps take a careful look at it too."

[Bellosh]

 

 

Sunset Shimmer’s cheeks reddened at Trixie’s jest; the amber unicorn had a bad habit of forgetting that even ponies from a magical world had limits on what they found credulous. Backing away from the desk, Sunset meekly replied to Sunburst; “T-that’s fine... just don’t break it or anything.”

Right as she said that, the huge grandfather rang the time. “Aww shoot,” Miss Shimmer awkwardly smiled at the Vice Headstallion, rubbing the back of her head. “I should probably get going; gotta meetup with friends in an hour. So yeah, thanks for taking the time to check our stuff out, Sunburst. Feel free to hit me up if you ever need my help with anything, and I’ll be glad to return the favor!”

After giving Sunburst a friendly wink, Sunset turned to Trixie, planting a reassuring hoof on the other unicorn’s shoulder; “Sorry your collection turned out to mostly be a bust Trixie, but we should definitely hang out again sometime when I’m done with my class for the day. We still have to reorganize the rest of your stuff, remember?”

And with that, Sunset headed out the door, but not before waving at the other two unicorns; “Take care, you two!”

 

*EXIT SUNSET*