Chapter 1. Trixie's new friend
Chapter 1. Trixie's new friend
Chapter 1. Trixie's new friend.
Trixie has had enough! Enough of the hecklers, and constant put downs.
"Trixie is done with show biz entirely!" she yelled.
Nopony could change her mind! Not that there was anyone trying to talk her out of it... well besides Snips and Snails... Trixie had at least two acolytes she could count on.
She had tried many other things to make a living, but most were out of her range of skills. Stage magic was useless when tending to flower beds, or waitressing at a restaurant. However, her magic did have a use when it came to advertising. Trixie didn't particularly like advertising anything other than herself, but it was a job; that is, while it lasted anyway. Her former boss fired her due to an overwhelming number of complaints.
“Nothing Trixie does ever works out,” Trixie whispered, a tear made its way down her cheek.
Trixie was alone at the edge of Las Pegasus. her last show had been a complete and utter bust. Trixie had barely made any money at all! it was time for the Great and Powerful Trixie to hit the road. with only a small hoof-made wagon to carry her belongings in, Trixie made her way down the unpaved road that led out of the city. She didn't have many things that survived the Ursa Minor incident back in Ponyville.
Trixie's tears let up long enough for her to look at the book she had found. The book was old, one could even say it was ancient. It was a little tattered here and there, but it was still readable. Trixie's mind wondered back to Ponyville and to that of her lost belongings. Trixie wanted to get what she could from her old smashed up caravan. She had a hope and a prayer that the remains of her mobile home were still at the Ponyville dump. Her "new" wagon was falling apart at the seams. Trixie sighed, they just didn't make them like the old 98MSWs anymore. Putting away the old book, she looked up at the now darkening sky.
She had spent all day dodging rotten fruit. Albeit, she had actually made some bits to take from it. Apparently the act of dodging fruit, rotten fruit at that, had been a bit of a spectacle for the citizens of Las Pegasus, so much so that they were also throwing bits at her. Of course, It could have been because they had run out of rotten fruit, or perhaps Trixie's stunning aerial acrobatics won the crowd over in the end. In either case, it still made Trixie angry... so much so that she had actually turned red with anger. Well, it could have been the anger or perhaps it was from her being pummeled with about six dozen or so rotten tomatoes...
“Uuurrrgg! Everypony hates Trixie, well you know what everypony... Trixie hates you too!” she yelled into the evening sky; waving a hoof to show her anger at the universe. With a sigh and a shrug, she calmed herself as she walked along the road leading from Las Pegasus to Ponyville.
Trixie came to a fork in the road. She could go left and take the long way back to Ponyville, or she could go right, and take the shortcut that ran along the Ghastly Gorge and cut through the Everfree Forest.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is not afraid! Nopony makes Trixie bleed her own blood!" she declared.
She turned left.
After a little while of navigating her way down the road she spotted a nice flat clearing where she could set up camp for the night. Trixie pulled her wagon into the clearing, striped off the yoke of the decrepit looking cart, and made a camp fire. She pulled an azure colored blanket from within the rotten bowls of the wagon and snuggled up close to the fire. Trixie pulled out the old book from her saddlebags and flipped through the pages. The script was in a foreign tong however, with a simple translation spell Trixie had no doubt that the secrets of its pages would be revealed to her. After all, was she not the Great and Powerful Trixie?
As she worked her magic along the texts a peculiar line translated out to something along the lines of "Fire sprites." She read on hovering the book in front of her with her magic. after she was done reading the last page about the sprites she closed the book in disappointment.
"Trixie does not approve! This book is nothing but a collection of fairy tales! It is probably not even first edition!" She said.
She set the book aside and turned in for the night. As she slept, her horn began to glow on its own accord; her magic swirling and ebbing around her horn. apparently, unknown to Trixie, the last page wasn't just a story or a legend, it was a spell. Trixie had unknowingly summoned into existence a Fire sprite.
The next morning came and went. Trixie had been so exhausted that she slept all the way till four in the afternoon. Trixie awoke with a start, hearing a twig snap behind her. She looked around but saw nothing. She got up packed up her blanket, put on the rusty yoke of the old wagon, and dusted off her cape, and hat. She trotted along rather happily down the road. Seeing the late summer flowers in full bloom. The summer breeze swept across the land like a gentle fan. She was, at the moment, happy. She didn't have ponies yelling at her, booing her off stage, or even throwing anything at her.
Her travel, however, was progressing slower than she would have liked. The wheels of the old wagon were grinding and catching against the axle. Trixie let out a growl of frustration. She was about four miles away from her destination. She was tired. She didn't have anything to eat before she started out this morning which, looking back on it now, was probably a bad idea.
Trixie stopped along the road to rest. She looked around still seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Trixie found that odd. Nothing, not a stump out-of-place since the last time she went down this road. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but something seemed off. Giving a shrug she passed it off as- “No food, no brains.”- she immediately rummaged around in her wagon to get a jar of peanut butter and a box of crackers. Eating with the ferocity of a timber wolf, and the manners to go with one. Trixie soon had half the jar of peanut butter and at least half the box of crackers, if not more, eaten. Then, came a sound; the sound of a whisper at first. Trixie looked around her, nothing. The sound got louder “Trixie?” a voice came like the coo of a dove, soft gentle, and still too quiet for Trixie to find the voice.
“Trixie!” The voice came louder this time, in fact right next to Trixie's ear.
“Hu? What?.... Who's there?” Trixie asked looking around, trying to find the source of the disembodied voice. She felt a tug at her cape. Trixie looked down behind her expecting to find a filly or foal that had found her. Instead her cape looked like it had bust into flames. Trixie jumped, tearing off her cape throwing it to the ground ready to stomp out the flame.
“Wait! Don't!” Came the small high-pitched voice again. Trixie stopped staring at the fire attached to her cape.
“Did?... Did you just...Did a fire just speak?” Trixie stepping back in shock, not knowing what going on.
“Hey! I am not just any fire. I am a fire sprite. Don't you know the difference?” The little fire sprite said. The sprite looked just like a miniature pony made of fire. Her mane, and tail were licking at the air just as a camp fire would, with the same yellow, orange, and red tint. Her body looked like someone had set fire to fur, the flames were shorter like fur. At the same time they looked soft, almost cuddly. Her eyes were a glowing blue so deep, yet bright as the mid day sky. She also had wings made of what looked like burning feathers.
“What are you staring at?” The fire sprite asked Trixie. She was staring, in shock more than anything else. Trixie's jaw opened to speak but no words came out. She tilted her head, and pointed a hoof at the little fire that seemed to have a life of its own.
“You!” Trixie finally said. Trixie rolled her eyes at herself. Was she just imagining this, or was it a dream? Trixie didn't know but she resolved in her mind to find out.
“What is this? Some kind of joke?” Trixie ventured a guess. Only to see that the fire sprite walked closer to her.
“No you made me remember?” The voice still sounded like something from a dream. To soft to come from a living fire.
“No Trixie doesn't remember.”- Trixie put a hoof to her jaw, rubbing it pensively- “Trixie would remember making a .. Uh fire sprite.” Trixie was still pondering what was going on. Nothing like this ever happened to her before, and Trixie didn't remember anything in any book describing a fire sprite.
“That was a trick question. Of course you wont remember, you were asleep” The sprite said giggling a little. Walking closer to Trixie, Trixie backed away just a little. The sprite seemed to take offense to that.
“Oh don't be scared Trixie. I wont hurt you, you like my mom you know” The sprite moved closer to her. “Touch me I wont burn you.” She tilted her head down to allow Trixie to touch her. Trixie cautiously put a hoof to the sprite's mane finding it warm instead of hot, also very smooth to the touch softer than silk even.
“This is a dream.. That's it Trixie is dreaming this whole thing.” Trixie said hoping to wake from the dream. Instead she only got a raised brow from her fiery little friend. Trixie shrugged.
“Well since you made me... can you at least name me?” The fire sprite asked Trixie pleadingly. Trixie paused a moment to collect her thoughts. She paced back and forth looking from the sprite to Ponyville, then back to the sprite. The fire sprite waited patiently her eyes as wide as she could manage.
“Uh?... How about Spark?” Trixie ventured a name for the little fire pony. Spark actually literally lit up like a candle. Trixie backed away imagining that she made her fiery friend angry.
“I.. Love it, thank you so much Trixie it's perfect!” Spark said bouncing up and down with joy, taking flight she flapped her fiery wings dancing around the air happily. Spark eventually landed and cuddled with Trixie. Making Trixie flinch just a little out of reaction. Trixie had never been able to touch fire without getting burned before.
“Yeah.. your um.. welcome, The Great and Powerful Trixie has the greatest skill with names” Trixie put on her stage persona for a moment to impress Spark. Spark simply giggled a little.
“You know I didn't want to scare you before... but you really took this better than I thought.” Spark said to Trixie getting a confused look from her.
“When did Trixie make you anyway?” Trixie asked.
“Well.. the other night of course. But I didn't want to scare you when you woke up... so I just hid for a little while.” Spark said to Trixie fidgeting with a leaf on the ground.
“Well then... Now what do you do?” Trixie asked. All she got in return was a nuzzle from Spark.
“Stay with you of course, you are my mom.. well, sorta anyway.” Spark said gaining a nod from Trixie. Since Trixie made this fire sprite, why not let her stay. Both Trixie and Spark sat together until nightfall in silence. Trixie simply not knowing what to say, and Spark because she was with Trixie she didn't need to talk she was happy. The sun set with brilliant colors lighting the sky leaving the two blanketed in a million hues of red, yellow, and orange.
