(Prologue) A Powerful Realisation
The Apple Family farm was doing well this year; each individual tree burst with its own selection of plump, juicy apples waiting to be harvested and sold, baked into pies or squeezed into cider. No matter how rough life on the farm managed to get- like when it had been raining and the mud was slick and wet like a swamp, or when bats descended onto the trees every three years or so and ate all the apples- the Apple Family always found a way to make it fun, or at the very least bearable. The weather was not just hot this year but also dizzyingly humid, which meant that all of the farm workers were sweating very badly, working hard in weather that was already very difficult to ignore.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, a certain familiar unicorn had just entered through the main gates. Applejack murmured to her siblings to try and avoid swelling this particular pony's ego any further- however impossible that may prove to be- because Applejack really did not want a repeat of the Alicorn-amulet-almost-exiled-Twilight-and-took-over-Ponyville incident. The siblings quickly elected it best to try and ignore her until she was finished shouting, but quickly hushed there whispering when she wandered over and stopped a few feet away from them.
"BEHOLD!" The aqua blue unicorn shouted, her white mane flowing through the wind, tickling the blue streaks. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has graced your farm with her presence!"
Nopony was listening, of course. Life on the farm was just continuing on as normal; Applejack and her younger sister Apple Bloom were bucking apple trees and stockpiling the barrels, which were swiftly taken one at a time by Big Macintosh to the barn some distance away. Granny Smith was asleep on her rocking chair, a half-finished knitted blue scarf on her lap. The sun's rays continued to beat down on the fields and made work no easy task for the Apple siblings, but as always they were undeterred and refused to stop working, not for the heat or a persistent unicorn. Trixie waited for a couple of seconds for an adoring response- any response would do, but with her magic abilities she honestly expected no less- before stomping a hoof in frustration.
"UGH! Didn't any of you hear me?!" Trixie shouted louder in an effort to attract the Apple Family's attention. Applejack nodded, Apple Bloom made an 'mm-hmm' sound and Big Mac responded with a simple 'Eeyup'. Granny Smith remained in her dream about apple pies. Trixie sighed, irritated with her adoring fans.
"Then WHY did I not receive a shower of adoration and presents?" Trixie whined unhappily.
"To tell you the truth, sugarcube," Applejack said after a few moments of awkward silence, "I don't see why we needed to do that. Ya'll are being a bit... y'know... demanding."
Trixie took this as an insult. She had just returned from a long trip back to her adoring fans in Ponyville and on the walk through town nopony had said anything to her; Applejack was the only other pony Trixie had talked to all week! Trixie knew that she was only being the idol she was so that the other ponies could look up to her and shower her with much-needed attention.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is modest! She deserves everything she requests and asks for nothing more than that!" Trixie responded unhappily.
Applejack sighed, partly in frustration, partly in patience. "Look, sugarcube, I don't mean to sound mean but you really should try harder not to come across as... well, arrogant."
Trixie gasped, "Are you saying that the Great and Powerful Trixie is arrogant or selfish?!"
"Well," Applejack responded as she returned to the apple tree to keep filling the barrels, "If ya'll are so selfless, what have you ever done to help other ponies?"
"The Great and Powerful Trixie provides children with a role model to love and adore!"
"Something more... y'know... helpful." Applejack said with a modest laugh.
Trixie, once again, was very much offended. She stomped her hoof once more, a beam of angry sweat appearing on her brow.
"I... well, I, um... I once did... um... ah..." She stuttered, fading to a quiet murmur.
"Ya'll have never done anything helpful in your life, have you?"
Trixie remained silent for a few moments, a wave of emotions washing over her, before quietly muttering a response.
"No... N-No, I guess I haven't."
"Well, then, there you go. You still think you deserve those presents?"
Trixie took a moment to collect herself, but she felt uneasy inside. A long time passed before she spoke up.
"... Applejack?"
"Yes, sugarcube?"
"What... have you done to help others?"
Applejack paused her bucking for a moment to push a filled apple barrel onto the stockpile before returning her attention to Trixie.
"Last year I took part in a horserace in Applesweet Town near Manehatten," Applejack said simply, "And gave the prize money to charity."
"How much prize money?"
"Well over a thousand bits. A lot, is what ahm tryin' to say, sugarcube."
Trixie thought about this. Applejack won some money purely to help other ponies who could never return the favour, and she herself had never even considered doing such a kind thing. The mere idea of helping someone who couldn't help her was a little alien in her mind, and she didn't know what to think of it; her conscience and her arrogance were fighting inside her. Eventually she couldn't take both the strain of this battle and standing at the same time, so she slumped to the ground, unsure of whether to cry at her mistakes or laugh at Applejack's. Trixie simply couldn't comprehend that Applejack could do something better than anything she could do and not even gain anything from it; he idea of doing something that takes a lot of effort and not even requesting a prize or reward had never even crossed her mind.
There was a very long silence before Applejack said something.
"Listen, sugarcube," Applejack began, "I didn't mean to offend ya'll-"
"No, no!" Trixie interrupted, standing up quickly, "I'm not offended at all, I just needed to think. About my... choices in life, you know?"
"Oh?" Applejack said with a chuckle, "My little speech really made you think about things that much?"
"Well, yeah." Trixie responded simply, thinking about what little time she had spent on thinking about anything before. She snapped out of her normal tone of voice, building her infamous pride up a little, "The Great and Powerful Trixie wishes to go for a walk!" She turned and marched out of the gates to the Apple Farm, levitating her cape and hat back onto herself as she strode. Applejack simply stood there for a few moments, then shook her head and, with a knowing laugh to herself, returned to work.
'Helping other ponies that can't help you!' The Great and Stubborn Trixie thought to herself as she strode through town, her chin held high above the pony townsfolk. 'I wouldn't do that, it's weird and unnecessary.' Trixie stopped for a while to admire the fountain in the middle of town, sitting on a bench and allowing a small bird to land on the hoofrest. She sat there for a while, taking in the crisp air, before she spotted a stallion walking along the path nearest to her- the one which she walked to her seat on. At the path's side was a small, frail-looking pony sat on a scruffy towel with a beat-up hat upturned in front of them. Trixie had only glanced at the homeless pony momentarily to question to herself why the hat was on the floor and not on his head, but as she watched on the stallion that was walking stopped and turned to face the roadside pony. He reached into the pocket of his shirt and pulled out a number of bits, put them in the upturned hat, smiled and nodded at the nod and 'thank you' he received from the homeless pony and continued walking. Just like that, as quickly as it had started, it was over.
Trixie couldn't quite grasp what had just happened, so she stopped the stallion as he walked past.
"U-Um, excuse me?" She spoke up as he trotted by. The stallion slowed to a stop and turned to face her.
"Yes, can I help?"
"Um, the Great and Powerful Trixie wishes to know why you gave that strange pony money!"
"Well," The stallion said a little awkwardly, "The money helps him out, right?"
"Yes, but can he not repay you?"
"No, of course he couldn't. If he could he wouldn't be there."
"So, why spend time and money helping him?" Trixie inquired.
"It's... just a nice thing to do, you know? We should always try to help other ponies in need." The stallion replied simply, then turned and continued walking in the opposite direction from which he came.
Trixie looked at the ground for exactly three seconds before bolting from her standing place down the path, back past the homeless pony, then past the stallion and all the way through town straight back to the apple farm. She skidded to a halt at the door of the large barn.
"Applejack!" She cried through her panting. Applejack looked up from her lunch, surprised.
"Uh, yes, sugarcube?"
Trixie looked up, still panting.
"Teach me how to be like you."
1- Farm Work, and Other Boring Stuff
It was still a glorious day in Ponyville despite it being late afternoon, and a warm breeze had accompanied the sunlight since a particular event in town that involved a unicorn mare sprinting through town centre and caused every local nearby to watch as the gravel flew up into the air and landed in interesting shapes behind her. Despite the ruckus caused in doing this, however, the mare in question had located the orange mare she had been running for and was now following her around the farm, being as irritable as possible in order to get her to give in and do as she wanted. The unicorn certainly hadn't expected the earth pony to be so persistent, though.
Coincidentally, on the other side of town a group of three small fillies were trying to go parasailing on a scooter, but that has nothing to do with this story.
"Come on, Applejack!" Trixie positively whined, following the orange mare to yet another apple tree surrounded with a number of empty baskets. "You've got to help me here!"
Applejack was about to buck the tree before sighing impatiently and looking at the blue unicorn. "Look, Trixie, I appreciate your intentions but I can't help you right now." She reared up her hind legs and struck the tree's trunk hard, causing the apples that were once nestled into its leaves to fall and pile up into the baskets. Trixie watched this display of extreme skill and likely would have commented on it if she wasn't so caught up in her own whining.
"Why not?!" Trixie groaned. Applejack motioned to the courtyard with a quick wave of the hoof and then turned, making her way to one of the countless other trees.
"Well, for starters, I've got a load of Apples to buck this week," The orange mare said simply as she examined the one she had chosen, a professional at work. "And also I can't just teach you these things. Ponies have gotta learn this stuff for their selves."
Trixie huffed and slumped to a sitting position on the ground, shuffling her rear on the grass to get comfortable as she sulked. Her companion was now skilfully pummelling a few of the trees in the immediate vicinity and carrying the filled buckets to a wagon not too far away. Trixie watched this for a while and then sighed irritably.
"You do this all day?" Applejack turned and looked at her, hesitating for a brief moment before responding.
"Pretty much," She said in all honesty with a quick, affirmative nod of the head.
"But..." Trixie looked at the empty trees surrounding her. "But it's so... boring." Applejack chuckled a little and moved to another tree nearby, setting up a few more empty basket in a circle around the trunk.
"Sometimes, Trixie," She said as she moved to a position by the tree, "We gotta do boring stuff. It's just part a' life." Trixie looked at her, a little bit confused. Applejack bucked the tree and moved the filled baskets to the cart before walking up to the unicorn and sitting down alongside her.
An apple tree swayed in the wind in the silence that ensued, causing a single apple to fall from its branches and into an empty basket. Trixie turned to see the mare smiling at the scene as she worked out exactly what to say in her mind.
"Think about it," Applejack said to her sincerely, "After that first little event with the Ursa you had to go get a job on a farm, right?"
"Yeah," Trixie grumbled, "A rock one no less..."
"But while you were there, did you ever do little things that cheered you up? Stopped you from getting too bored?" The blue unicorn thought in silence for a long while before responding.
"Well..." She said, almost embarrassed, "I sometimes used to pretend the little hammer they gave me was a little magic staff I was smashing rocks with..."
"And that made you feel better, right? Stopped you from losing your mind?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
Applejack smiled and stood back up, having made her point. "I do little things like that all the time, you know. So maybe next time you decide somethin' is boring, give it a little thought before telling the ponies doing it so." Trixie looked at Applejack for the longest time, during which the orange mare had begun to continue with her work, before standing up straight.
"You see, already you've taught me a lesson!" She said, continuing with her pestering, "We could do this a little longer and I could be all modest, like you."
Applejack moaned and turned back to the unicorn. "I said no, Trixie! I've got more important things to be doing! I need all these trees bucked by the end of the week!"
"W-Well, I could help you!" Trixie said, starting to get a little desperate. She ran on over to a nearby tree set up with the barrels and kicked it as hard as she could. It shook slightly and then, after a moment of silence, a single apple fell from its branches, bounced a little and rolled away. Applejack rolled her eyes.
"It's fine, sugarcube, I can do this by myself."
Trixie huffed again and watched the other mare get ready to buck a tree before reluctantly speaking up once more, "Applejack... please."
Applejack stopped and lowered her hind legs back onto the ground, looking at Trixie for a long time before sighing and nodding. "Alright. Seein' as you asked so nicely." Trixie perked up.
"Really? Oh! Then let's begin already!"
Applejack cocked an eyebrow, making Trixie looked somewhat confused. "And what?"
"Hmm?"
"What do ya say when you ask something from somepony and they give it to ya?"
"Oh, uh... Thank you, Applejack."
The orange mare's expression softened and she smiled. Trixie smiled back and watched the orange mare put the last baskets of apples onto the cart and nudge it with a gentle tap of the hoof. It rolled down a shallow hill and came to a stop just outside the barn house, where her older brother raised a hoof in thanks and hoisted the thing's saddle onto his back, pulling it inside. Applejack turned to Trixie and motioned for the unicorn to follow her.
"Alright, then. Let's get started."
