A Tale of Fantasia

“Trixie? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked, a slight tone of annoyance emanating from her question.

“If you must know,” the showmare began “Trixie came back to this backwater town to demand an apology from its foalish residents. However, Trixie saw the explosion from a particular book she had read of once before and noticed that it had originated from none other than your home, Twilight Sparkle.”

“You mean you know what this book is about? Who Grimoire Fantasia is?”

“Perhaps Trixie does, perhaps she doesn’t,” the light blue unicorn said with a smug grin.

“Tell me, then!” Twilight demanded.

“Beg.”

Twilight stared at Trixie, practically doing a double take. “Pardon?”

“Beg Trixie for the information she may or may not have.”

“Trixie, we don’t have time for this!” Twilight yelled. “All my friends flew into a panic after hearing the name ‘Grimoire Fantasia’, and I just want to find out who he is!”

“If you really need Trixie’s information, then you will beg for it, Twilight Sparkle. You will beg and declare Trixie the strongest unicorn alive. It isn’t that hard.”

Twilight couldn’t continue arguing with Trixie. She knew she’d keep this up for as long as she wanted until Twilight folded. Sighing in defeat, she said, “You are the strongest unicorn alive. Please tell me what you know.”

Trixie scoffed. “Come now, you can do better than that.”

Twilight’s expression shifted from annoyance to anger. “Trixie!”

“Oh, very well!” Trixie shouted, annoyed. “Trixie will tell you. But you are not off the hook yet, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” She turned her attention to her number-one assistant who up to this point had been completely silent. “Spike, go on up to bed, okay? I’ll deal with the bookshelf in the morning.”

“You got it, Twi,” Spike managed through a yawn as he stretched his arms over his head and began progressing up the stairs.

Turning her attention back to Trixie, Twilight asked, “So, what do you know about Grimoire Fantasia?”

“Grimoire Fantasia was a unicorn of great magic,” Trixie began. “He was initially one of Starswirl the Bearded’s students, along with two others, one you happen to know rather well. You just so happened to have played them in the Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant.”

“Clover the Clever?” she asked before another question plagued her. “Wait, you saw that? Since when were you in Canterlot?”

“That’s not important. What matters is who the second unicorn was who studied under Starswirl. Her name was Hocus Pocus, and she is Trixie’s ancestor.”

“You mean THE Hocus Pocus?” Twilight beamed. “The same unicorn that perfected long-range teleportation travel?”

“The very same,” Trixie replied. “But again, that is not important. What is important is Grimoire’s fate. He began to abuse very spells Starswirl had been teaching him for his own gain. Not wanting his name tarnished for having this criminal as his student, Starswirl requested that Celestia banish Grimoire from Canterlot entirely.”

“Wait, hold on a minute,” Twilight interrupted. “Celestia knows about Grimoire too? Why isn’t anypony telling me anything?”

“Because he’s dangerous, you foal!” Trixie exclaimed. “He stole a spell from Celestia’s own books! Ripped the page right out!”

“What spell did he take?” Twilight asked, listening intently.

“He stole a spell to grant eternal life. He cast it upon himself and wreaked terror upon Equestria. Being unable to die and being far too strong for Celestia’s soldiers to take down, Starswirl, Clover the Clever and Hocus Pocus stood against Grimoire themselves. Using his own magic against him, they supposedly sealed him away in the far reaches of Gryphon territory. Grimoire’s last words before being imprisoned in a crystal of raw magic were ‘I am sorry for what I’ve done. Never forget my legacy.’”

“But I still don’t get why everypony tries to avoid talking about him,” Twilight mused.

Trixie sighed in disgust. “Must Trixie explain everything? Your friends refuse to talk about him because of the stories they heard as foals. A group of Grimoire Fantasia cultists took to the streets of Equestria’s smaller towns, spreading stories about Grimoire’s return. The reason you didn’t know about it, Twilight Sparkle, was because you were sheltered by the princess herself. If you hadn’t been her personal student, you’d have known why everypony else was so unwilling to speak of him, let alone hear his name again.”

Twilight looked to the book then back to Trixie. “I want to find him.”

Trixie stumbled back in shock. “Are you mad, Sparkle? Did you not hear a single word Trixie just finished telling you?”

“I heard every word,” Twilight said, walking over to the book and putting her hoof atop it. “But it’s this book. It’s his old spell book, isn’t it? This has the pages he stole from Celestia locked inside.”

“Correct,” Trixie stated matter-of-factly. “Spells he took from Celestia, Starswirl, Clover, Hocus and many other unicorns. But it is locked. Grimoire himself had the only known key, and it is rumored that it was left at his sealing site so nopony could ever use his magic again.”

“If Celestia’s spells are in this book, she’d probably want them back,” Twilight continued as if all she’d heard from Trixie was ‘correct.’ “We need to get that key.”

“We?” Trixie inquired rather furiously. “Are you actually insisting Trixie would be willing to assist you, Twilight Sparkle? You’ve truly gotten desperate this time. Why would I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, ever help a peasant like you?”

“Didn’t you say Hocus’ spells were in here too?”

“Are you hard of hearing?” Trixie asked sarcastically. “Yes, Trixie did.”

“Then don’t you want to learn one of the spells of your ancestor?”

Trixie’s expression shifted from anger to that of irritation. “Are you suggesting that Trixie...does not know a spell? You have the gall to call the Great and Powerful Trixie unprepared?!”

“Well then, if you know one of Hocus Pocus’ spells, then go right ahead and cast one,” Twilight said with a grin.

Trixie grumbled crossly. Twilight called her bluff. “Very well, Twilight Sparkle,” she finally said. “Trixie will aid you in your quest, but not to learn such simple foalish spells. Trixie will do it for the glory of retrieving Celestia’s lost spells and personally returning them to her in her very throne chamber! The Great and Powerful Trixie will be deemed Equestria’s hero!”

“Of course you will, Trixie,” Twilight said after a deep sigh. “Be ready to go tomorrow at noon. I need to pack some things before we set off.”

“Very well. Trixie must do the same. The Great and Powerful Trixie bids you farewell for now, Twilight Sparkle. Do not be tardy come Celestia’s sunrise.”

Trixie proudly marched out the door and promptly slammed it behind her in a blue glow of magic. Twilight sighed as she shuffled her way through the piles of books on the floor and up the stairs to her room where Spike was, to her surprise, peering out the window overlooking her bed.

“Spike, what have I told you about spying on other ponies?”

“You only said not to spy on Rarity,” Spike replied quickly, pointing out toward the ground below. “Besides, look down there.”

Curiosity piqued, Twilight gazed out toward where Spike had pointed and could not believe her eyes. There in plain sight was Trixie, curling up into what appeared to be nothing more than a cardboard box. At that moment, she felt something she never thought she would feel for a showboat like Trixie: guilty. Trixie had stormed into her house, demanding Twilight praise her, and left in a similar huff, and there she was, sleeping out in the cold of an unforgiving snowstorm.

“I thought Trixie had some kind of traveling trailer or something,” Spike mused.

“She did,” Twilight noted. “Is she really doing that bad?”

“Well, it’s not like she’s nice to anypony,” the baby dragon hissed. “She turned Rarity’s mane green, tied up Applejack with her own rope and threw Rainbow Dash around in her own tornado! Who’s to say she doesn’t do the same thing in every town she goes to?”

“Well, yeah, she did do all that,” Twilight muttered half-dazed, still concentrating on the Poor and Homeless Trixie outside her library. “Spike, I want you to go out there and invite her in.”

“What?!” yelled the baby dragon in shocked reply. “You actually want her sleeping in here? Are you nuts?”

“Are you seeing her, Spike? Look out there. She’s miserable.”

“You know she won’t accept an invitation from you. Heck, she seemed lackluster to even offer you help earlier.”

“Then don’t extend it from me. You invite her in.”

“Aw, come on, Twi! Do I really-”

Spike was cut off by his adoptive big sister’s stare, which was a conflicting combination of a plea and a demand. He sighed in defeat as he walked out of the room muttering ‘I’ll get my sweater’ under his breath. In truth he didn’t really mind going out in the cold. It gave him an excuse to wear the sweater Rarity had made for him after the Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant. Slipping on the warm hoof-crafted ‘bundle of woven love’ as he’d called it, Spike turned the knob and pushed the door open, closing it as he stepped outside into the still-building storm.

As he approached the box he immediately noticed that Trixie was turned toward the inside, unable to see anypony coming. It was a pitiable sight. The self-proclaimed Great and Powerful Trixie was living in a box outside of a library run by the pony that unintentionally ran her out of Ponyville. As Spike drew nearer, his anger toward her became replaced with legitimate worry. Twilight had ultimately rubbed off on him. He could not hate anypony in need. As he didn’t know what else to say his question was simple.

“Aren’t you cold?”

Trixie nearly tore the box apart in her panic, shuffling around to get a good look at her inquirer. “What is it to you, whelp?”

“I dunno,” Spike shrugged. “I just figured you wanted somewhere warm to sleep, like in a bed.”

“Trixie does not need your sympathy, dragon,” the showmare snapped. “Trixie knows your game. Twilight Sparkle sent you out here, didn’t she? She sent you to mock Trixie!”

“You can think whatever you want, but I came out here because I saw you freezing your flank off in a box, and Twi’s whole ‘nopony left behind’ attitude has really rubbed off on me.”

Trixie scoffed through a shiver. “Trixie is perfectly fine sleeping here. Why this is so is none of your business. Now, begone!”

The baby dragon sighed. “Look, don’t tell Twi I told you this, but she sent me down here to invite you in. If you stay out here, you’re gonna freeze to death, and Twilight won’t like that. ‘Swallow your pride and just come in. The library’s never locked.’ That’s what she’d probably say.”

Spike turned around, crossing his arms to amplify the warmth as he walked back inside the library and closed the door. Trixie stared down into the snow where Spike once stood, remaining focused on the claw marks. She stared for what felt like hours when it was merely minutes. The conversation remained stuck in her mind. Why would Twilight invite her in like that? She hated her, right? She had to. They all did. They were all jealous of her. What else could it have been?

“They pity me,” she thought aloud. “It isn’t jealousy. They hate me because of how I act. I can act normally when nopony is around...but before a crowd...if even one pony is in front of me, I turn into that again. That showboating magician dad was takes over.”

Trixie stared through the low window into the inviting library. “Swallow my pride...what is there to be proud of?”

The shivering showmare walked slowly toward the library door. Using as little magic as she could she turned the knob and carefully pushed the wooden construct open. Trixie passed through the doorway and shut the door behind her. With her energy expended and her body almost frozen, she collapsed into the pile of books that, luckily for Trixie, Twilight had left lying about.

“So she finally came inside?” Twilight asked already nestled up in her bed.

Spike crawled into his own, not even bothering to take the sweater off. “Yep.”

“How’d you convince her?”

“I told her to swallow her pride,” he answered through another yawn. “Said it’s probably what you would have told her.”

“And you didn’t directly mention my invitation?”

“Of course not, Twi,” Spike lied with a dismissing wave of his claw. “What kind of friend would I be if I went back on my word like that?”

Twilight smiled. “You’re right. Sorry I doubted you. Well, let’s get some rest. We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

Twilight and Spike began drifting off into slumber as the snowstorm continued to rage outside. Hopefully, Twilight thought as she closed her eyes, it will subside before morning. The harsh blizzard would make the trip difficult, and she figured Trixie would make a big deal out of it too. Nevertheless, now was not the time for those thoughts. She left it for the morning and allowed herself to sleep.