I am Trixie!

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Monster Within and the Demon Without
Chapter 2: Easier Said than Done
Chapter 3: Lavish and Luxury

Chapter 1: The Monster Within and the Demon Without

“Thanks again for adding the fireworks at the end Trixie. They really did add some extra flair to the performance.” Twilight said, opening the door to the Library.

“It was no trouble at all. And it was the least that Trixie could do, considering all that has happened.” Trixie replied, following Twilight in through the door.

“I’m so glad that we’re friends now. I was really glad that everything worked out in the end. What are you going to do now though, Trixie?” Twilight said, shelving a few books that she had left lying on the floor when she was rushing off to the ceremony for the delegates from Saddle Arabia.

Trixie felt an overwhelming urge that she really didn’t like, and fought it back. “Trixie is sorry,” She said, rubbing her temples. “Could you repeat that?”

“I said, what are you going to do now, Trixie?” Twilight replied, looking concerned for Trixie. “Are you ok?”

“Trixie just has a headache. You need not worry for her. As for what she will do next, Trixie doesn’t quite know. She does not have her caravan any longer, and her reputation as a showmare has recently taken a hit for…. Obvious reasons. Trixie has not a direction to wonder at this point.” She sighed.

“You know, it’s a little strange that you refer to yourself in third person,” Twilight laughed. “But it does have a unique charm to it. Anyway, if you need a place to stay, you’re more than welcome to stick around here for a while, while you get back on your hooves.”

Wanting to say ‘thank you,’ but not finding the words, Trixie felt a growing pain in her chest. She looked down, aghast at what she was seeing, for the alicorn amulet was in the place of the pain, not hung around her neck but imbedded into her very skin. Her eyes were glowing red as she looked back at the horrified Twilight and began to choke her with the evil magic coursing through her veins.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie, does not need your pity, nor your help, you talentless nopony!” Trixie bellowed proudly, then laughed maniacally.

“Trixie,” Twilight choked out, tears running down her face as she was suspended by the magic noose. “I thought we were friends.”

Slamming Twilight up against the wall, Trixie laughed. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has always been alone. She doesn’t need friends like a pathetic pony such as you. She stands above all others, proud and strong. Nopony is worthy of Trixie. Least of all, you, Twilight Sparkle!”

Trixie’s vision began to fade to black. Slowly, as the shadows crept in on the horrific scene, she could hear as though far in the distance, a desperate and elongated cry, “NOOOOOOOOoooooooo!” just as everything went dark.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Waking up in a cold sweat, Trixie found that it was herself that was crying out. She quickly bolted upright and wiped the tears from her eyes, to no avail, as they kept flowing like floodwaters that just couldn’t be held back. She buried her face into her hooves and began to cry.

“I’m sorry,” She bawled. “I’m so sorry Twilight. I’m sorry. I’m sorry….”

This continued for a minute before she was able to stop crying and wipe her face. Trixie sniffed once as she tried to compose herself and take in her surroundings. The Night had hardly even begun. Trixie lay upon the ground, up next to a large rock, with a tattered blanket over her body. Her saddlebags lay up against the rock, just as she had left them, her hat and cape neatly folded atop them. Trixie had chosen to make camp in a grassy field that night, alone and secluded far from any town or city. She got up and made her way to a nearby stream and splashed her face with the cold water, looking down at her reflection and examining her chest. The pain was still there, but no amulet to be found.

“It was only a dream.” She said to her reflection, hopping the words would change its worried expression. It didn’t.

The truth is that it wasn’t just a dream, it was a memory. At least, the first part was. Twilight had in fact invited Trixie to stay with her after the alicorn amulet incident. But Trixie felt the pain in her chest and could not help but feel as though something bad, like her dream, would happen if she had stayed. Instead, she made an excuse and set off on a journey of seclusion. It had been months since that night, and she had even heard rumors that Twilight ascended to being an alicorn princess. She really was far more talented than Trixie. But Trixie did not feel resentment for it. Rather, she was proud of her one and only friend for her success.

But night after night, Trixie is haunted by these nightmares and this pain in her chest. It’s not limited to incidences with the alicorn amulet either. Over the past few months, she had nightmares about all of the ponies that she had belittled, scorned, and humiliated. Naturally, as a performer, part of her performance is hyping herself up, but she realized now that she should never have put other ponies down in order to raise herself up. All of her mistakes and misdeeds haunted her dreams almost every night. She wondered for a moment, why, in all this time of these recurring nightmares, Princess Luna had not come to her to save her from them. Apparently, that was something that she did for her subjects.

“She probably feels that Trixie is not worth saving.” Trixie said, biting her lip and holding back more tears.

This was not something that Trixie actually thought that Luna would feel towards her. It was more or less, Trixie just kicking herself for her mistakes. She had gotten very familiar with doing that to herself over the past few months.

“Is that so?” said a voice that seemed to come from everywhere.

Trixie was startled at first, but then yelled at the voice, thinking it was her own guilty conscious. “Yes, it is! Trixie accepts that she has been horrible to others in the past and she has not earned the right to be forgiven. Whatever you are, Trixie does not need you to remind her of this!”

“Rest assured,” The voice said, now from a fixed location. “The only one here who seems intent on putting you down, is yourself.”

Trixie turned in the direction of the voice to see, laying atop the large rock that she had been camping up against, was a white and black pegasus. Three things stood out about him to Trixie. The first thing was the black fire markings upon his hooves, matching his cutie mark of three black flames. The second was the sheer size of him, for he seemed nearly as tall as Princess Celestia herself, yet looked proportionately the same as the average male pegasus. And lastly was his eyes. As though their color scheme had been inverted, his irises were white while the sclera were black.

“Who are you?” Trixie said with a trembling voice as she stumbled backwards from the overwhelming presence of this pony.

“Overwhelmed, but not frightened? I’m impressed. Though, that’s probably the result of that unusual energy you carry.” The large pegasus smiled in amusement. “As for your question, I am but a humble Shadow, and you may refer to me as such.”

“Shadow?” Trixie said in awe, losing strength in her hind legs and falling down into a sitting position, not taking her gaze from him.

“Now, child, it would seem as though you are suffering from a problem of sorts.” Shadow said, gazing into Trixie’s eyes as though reading her very soul. “Care to share with me your troubles?”

Trixie’s throat went dry, but she felt unnaturally compelled to comply with his will. So, with a shaky voice and heavy heart, she bore her shame and began her story.

“Trixie supposes that her problems first arose, the day that she went to perform in Ponyville…” She began.

Much time passed through the night, as Trixie told her story, in as much detail as she could. Not leaving out anything, or any opportunity to beat herself up about her mistakes. Midnight had only recently waned when she finished her tale.

“…. And the worst of it is that Trixie can still feel the Alicorn Amulet hanging around her neck, resting on her chest and corrupting her heart. That twisted power feels like it’s still there, and Trixie is…” Trixie placed her hoof on her chest and she felt a chill to her bones. “I am terrified that I’m going to lose control. I don’t want to hurt anypony again.”

“Hmmm,” Shadow said, standing up and gliding down to Trixie. He was already big, but being closer made Trixie feel so small. “I’m afraid that I may have been partially to blame.”

Trixie had a terrible feeling in her throat. “In what way?” She inquired, tempted to back away, but she stayed cemented in place.

“I was charged with the task of keeping the ancient and dangerous artifacts that the old mage had collected, safe and out of the possession of those who may misuse them, as you have. The amulet had fallen out of my possession around a hundred years ago when a thief happened to get lucky and made off with it while I was distracted with other things. I’m afraid, I failed as a guardian of the relic.” Shadow bowed his mighty head. “I am deeply sorry.”

Completely taken off guard by this revelation and the fact that this very mighty and intimidating pony had bowed his head and asked for her forgiveness, Trixie fumbled for words. “Oh, um. Trixie supposes that it is quite alright. She is sure that you had done your best. But if you are the guardian of the amulet, is there not something that you can do about it?”

Shadow had a sorrowful look in his eyes as he shook his head. “There is but one thing that I can do for you, but neither you nor I would wish it. The amulet’s energy bonded to your soul. Simply removing the amulet, as you have done, will only diminish its hold over you, but not remove it completely.” Shadow stretched out his hoof towards Trixie, an unusual and intricate glowing magic circle formed at the end. “With your permission, of course,” he said, stopping about a hoof width away from her chest.

Trixie didn’t know what to make of it, but nodded her head in approval. Suddenly, the magic glow from the circle brightened and then disappeared. Then, a glowing orb, the size of a golf ball, floated out of Trixie’s chest in a lava lamp mix of blood red and light pink colors.

Looking in awe at the orb, Trixie said, “What is this?” with a sense of wonder.

“This is your soul, Trixie.” Shadow replied. Suddenly, Trixie went pale and nearly fainted. “Don’t worry,” Shadow quickly said. “It’s perfectly safe. You didn’t just relinquish your soul to this demon, I promise. We’re just looking at it.”

“A demon?” Trixie said, horrified.

“A good one, if that need be clarified.” Shadow said, trying to give a warm smile.

“There is such a thing?” Trixie shook her head.

“Of course. I could tell you many a tale of demons more virtuous than most ponies that you may know. And that’s not to say that ponies are not virtuous. ‘Demon’ is just a term used to specify a type of creature. Black sclera are the mark of a demonic creature. But just like every other creature out there, there are good ones and there are bad ones. The easiest way to tell is by the color of their irises. The lighter the color, the more good you can expect that demon to be.”

Trixie looked at Shadow’s white irises. “Then you must be some sort of paragon of good demons.”

“So they say,” Shadow smiled. “Back to the business at hoof. As you can see, your soul has two colors. That of the magic that you were born with, and that of the amulet. It looks as though the amulet has merged with about a quarter of your soul, which is why you remain in control.”

“Isn’t there anything Trixie can do to be rid of it?” Trixie said, looking at her soul in worry.

Shadow pushed the soul back towards Trixie, and it found its place in her chest. “There are three options before you, though I strongly suggest ignoring one of them.”

“Why?” Trixie quickly said. “Is it dangerous? Trixie is willing to face whatever danger may be necessary.”

“Of that, I have no doubt.” Shadow said, raising a hoof to calm Trixie. “But you do not want me to strip you of your magic, which is the option I say that you should ignore.” Trixie’s eyes grew wide, and she was about to ask, but Shadow held his hoof up again and continued. “Yes, I can strip out the alicorn amulet’s magic in your soul, but I don’t know how to filter it from your own magic. Not only would you be stripped of the amulet’s energy, you would also lose the ability to perform magic. Even worse, you would lose all of the natural energy inside of you. Alive, with a pure soul, but practically a withered husk of your former self. I don’t want to do that to you, and you don’t want me to either.”

Taking a moment to process this, Trixie took a deep breath. “So, there are only two options for Trixie. What are they?”

Shadow sighed in relief that he was able to eliminate any desire that she might have had to ask him to do it regardless. “The amulet only contains a tainted power and doesn’t actually have a will of its own. It’s not so much trying to control you, as it is simply amplifying your negative side. This means that it is only a matter of willpower for you. You’re not at odds with another malicious entity, you’re only at odds with yourself. This makes things simple. Your two options are to either purge yourself of the negative power of the amulet, or conquer it and make it your own. Both options are extremely difficult, but bear different hardships. To purge yourself of the negative power, you need to go back to the life you lived before, and resist the urge to do anything that you know to be negative. Embody humbleness and kindness. It would be a very long process, but over time you would find that the negative urges slowly go away until they are gone completely. Conquering the power is more risky, but also the more expedient rout. Find this, Zecora, and she may help you face and conquer your inner…. demons, so to speak. When you are ready, place the amulet upon yourself once more, and bend it to your positive will. Purify it and make that power yours. In both cases, should your will falter, the amulet will infect more, if not all of your soul.”

Trixie looked at her cape and hat. She had been carrying them with her on her travels, but for weeks had been too ashamed to wear them. “At one time, Trixie would have jumped at the chance to make that power hers. But back then, she wouldn’t have been able to handle it. Even now, I don’t think I could. But more importantly, I don’t really want it now,” she said, walking over to her cape and hat. Levitating the hat in front of herself she continued. “But I’m not even sure if I have what it takes to be a stage magician anymore. Not only would I have to fight back the amulet, I’d also have to deal with all of the baggage of my past mistakes and all of the ponies that I’ve wronged. There’s nowhere I could perform where they wouldn’t be in the crowd, glaring at me.”

“You haven’t performed in all locations in Equestria, have you?” Shadow asked, hinting that he had a place in mind.

Thinking for a moment, Trixie’s ears shot up. “The Crystal Empire! It was not around when Trixie was performing around Equestria,” She looked sadly at her hat. “But can Trixie keep herself from doing somepony wrong there?”

“Try your best and have a little faith in yourself. I think you can do great if you put your mind to it.” Shadow reassured her.

“Shadow!” yelled a strange little creature who came quickly flying through the woods and over to the two of them. “We need to get going now. No more detours.”

“What is that?” Trixie said, looking at the little creature.

“This is Aislin. She’s a pixie, another form of demon. And she has been very patient with me. I must away to lands far off on some urgent business Trixie. In fact, that is where I was on my way towards when I stumbled across you out here. Funny how coincidences work like that.” Shadow smiled, though Aislin was clearly running out of patience with him. “I should be back in a few months. I’ll check in on you when I return, and I’ll see about recovering the amulet then.” Shadow began to ascend into the air. Hovering above the field, he shouted down, “Make me proud, Trixie.” And in a burst of black fire, Shadow rocketed off towards the east, the pixie keeping pace.

Trixie looked towards the north, as though she could see the Crystal Empire in the distance. With a swift motion of her horn and a flash of light pink magical energy, Trixie’s hat and cape were proudly in place upon her person.

“I will,” she declared, though Shadow was already far away, she stamped her hoof to solidify her resolve and yelled out to him, “Trixie will not fail!”

Chapter 2: Easier Said than Done

Trixie ventured to a train station, which was quite the trek away, being that the nearest one was in Baltimare. It was only an hour or so after midnight when she had started off and it was well past sunrise when she had arrived and used the last of her bits to get a ticket to the Crystal Empire. It was hard to give up the last of her money, as she looked with a grimace at her final two bits she placed upon the counter, but if all goes according to plan, she should be able to earn more than enough back with a good performance.

“Here’s your ticket, miss,” the pony at the ticket booth said, sliding the ticket to Trixie and putting the bits into the lock box. “Enjoy the trip.”

“Trixie thanks you,” Trixie replied, taking the ticket and heading to the train.

The ticket pony was a little moody sounding, and had a gruff voice. Trixie couldn’t tell if he knew of her and was upset with her, or if he was just a moody pony. Trixie did try to be polite and smile, even thanking him despite the lousy tone of his voice as he said the line that he must be obligated to repeat to everypony. But she couldn’t help but feel as though he, and for that matter everypony around her, was looking at her and judging her harshly. It wasn’t stage fright, it wasn’t her being shy, it was her guilt making her paranoid about everypony, and projecting her shame into her thinking that every eye that was in her general direction, and every conversation going on that she couldn’t quite make out, was done so in ill will towards her. But she tried to ignore it, because she knew that it was likely all in her head.

Well, not all of it. Trixie had just sat down at her booth on the train when exactly what she didn’t want happening happened. Somepony recognized her.

“If it isn’t the ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’,” a pony said in a condescending tone as she walked over to Trixie. “I must have missed the show, since you’re already leaving Baltimare. Or did you realize that nopony wants you here before you even got started?”

Looking over at the pony addressing her, Trixie couldn’t quite remember completely, but she knew this mare. It was a cerulean unicorn with sapphire eyes, lapis hair, and an artistic based cutie mark. She did not know her name, but was very familiar with her face, as it was one of the faces that haunted her. A pony that she had shamed in the past.

“Trixie is sorry, but she did not come to Baltimare to perform,” Trixie said, still in third person, but without her boastful tone. “And… Trixie apologizes for any misgivings she may have caused in the past.”

“‘Trixie is sorry,’? You think that makes up for anything? Do you even begin to realize how hard it was to find anypony willing to let me do my art for them, after you ridiculed me and made a mockery of my work?! But I heard what happened in Ponyville, twice,” the mare laughed after emphasizing the word twice. “It was about time somepony put you in your place!”

Fiery pain growing in her chest, right where last night it was revealed that her soul was located, Trixie fought the urges she had to scream at this pony and do unspeakable things with her magic. “Nopony put Trixie in any sort of place,” Trixie said, irritated but trying to stay calm. “Twilight Sparkle saved Trixie from herself and she is much better for it now. Seeing the error in her ways, Trixie has extended an apology to you, whom she has wronged in the past. As there is nothing that Trixie can do to make amends for her actions, whether you can forgive her or not, please accept the apology and leave it at that. There is nothing to be gained in causing a scene.”

The mare was enraged by this. “You don’t get off that easy! It took a long time and a lot of effort for me to recover from the blow you dealt to my self-esteem, not to mention my job. And I’m not the only one. Everywhere you go, you’re like a plague, spreading misery and tearing other ponies down. You’re a bad pony Trixie! Say what you want, but nopony will believe you’ve seen the error of your ways, not even yourself. Put on your nice pony act, but eventually, you’ll go right back to trying to make other ponies miserable to make yourself feel better. I will never forgive you, and I don’t accept your apology!”

With that, she stormed off to another car. When Trixie was sure that the mare was gone, she covered her face with her hat and silently cried to herself. The pain in her soul from the amulet was immense, but the pain in her heart and stomach after hearing that ponies words, and agreeing with all of it, was unbearable.

“Perhaps what you say is correct,” Trixie said under her breath and between silent sobs, “But I have to try.”

Despite the verbal attack that she just suffered, or perhaps because of it, Trixie’s drive to better herself and perform in the Crystal Empire became stronger than ever, even though she silently cried herself to sleep. It was a long trip, and she hadn’t exactly slept well, or much, the night prior. Fortunately enough, she did not dream in her sleep this time. No dream she has had in the previous months has ever turned out well for her. Unfortunately, dreamless sleep passes by in an instant. Though it was a couple hours later, Trixie awoke suddenly as though she had only blinked. She turned to the window of the still moving train with a slightly confused frown.

“Trixie must have dosed off for a bit. Celestia has already moved the sun past midday,” she said, also taking note of the surrounding landscape. “Trixie has never been this far north before,” she shivered. “It looks cold.”

It was indeed cold outside. It wasn’t winter, yet snow blanketed the ground. There was also a gentle snowfall, but with the train moving as fast as it was, looking out of the window made it seem as though a blizzard was raging outside. Trixie yawned, loudly at first, but then very quiet as she noticed that her car was nearly full of new passengers who had gotten on at previous stops. No pony noticed, but Trixie felt mortified. Then, the view out the window changed in an instant. Bright, springtime meadows instantaneously replaced the northern snowfall, showing the very clear and cheerful border of the Crystal Empire.

Blinking frantically at the new sight, Trixie rubbed her eyes and said to herself, “Trixie needs to use the little filly’s room,” She got up and made her way up the aisle. “If Trixie remembers correctly, the restroom is two cars up.”

She reached the door and then stopped dead in her hoof tracks. Turning pale as a ghost, Trixie observed through the window of the door, the contents of the car before her. There were no seats in the car because it was used for certain storage and guests outside the norm. This particular case happened to be a bunch of ponies who were exercising in one form or another. Two Pegasi were doing wing ups, while another, much bulkier white one was lifting a barbell. One earth pony was doing pull ups on suspended rings, and three little fillies were practicing some flag routine. All of this was unusual to be doing on a train, but more importantly, there were two ponies in particular that Trixie knew right off the bat. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were amongst them.

“Of all the… Why do they have to be here? What are those two doing, going to the Crystal Empire at the same time as Trixie?” Trixie said, ducking below the door window.

Trixie soon got her answer, when she overheard Rainbow calling for everypony’s attention.

“Listen up gang. We’re almost there, so I’ve got a few things to say.” Rainbow said. Everypony in the car stopped what they were doing and gave her their undivided attention. “First off, who here, besides me, thinks this is the best Equestria Games delegation in Ponyville history?”

Trixie glanced out the window to see the Crystal Empire in the distance. She would marvel at it, if she wasn’t preoccupied with a thought. “The Equestria Games is being held in the Crystal Empire? Now of all times? How did Trixie not hear of this?”

Not bothering to listen to the rest of Rainbow’s speech, Trixie returned to her seat, content to hold off on using the restroom until they arrived at the empire. At least with Twilight, Trixie didn’t feel as though there were any hard feelings between her and the main six anymore, but she went on her journey of seclusion for a reason, and the last thing that she wanted was coming face to face with Twilight before she was able to fully overcome the effects of the Alicorn Amulet. And if Twilight’s friends are here, she’s probably around as well. Not to mention the fact that she is a princess now, and like all the other nobility, is probably overseeing the Equestria Games. Trixie couldn’t perform here. Not now anyway. Not only did she not want to be noticed by the main six, but she also didn’t want to be just a side show at the games.

Resisting the urge to get up and pace in the train car, Trixie said to herself, “What should Trixie do now? There’s no way that she can perform here while the Equestria games are happening. And why does Twilight Sparkle and her friends have to be here at the same time as Trixie?” she stopped and thought hard for a second before shaking her head. “No, Trixie has been everywhere else, this is the only place that she can perform at the moment.” Biting her lip, Trixie steeled herself and said, “Very well then. Trixie will stay within the Crystal Empire and keep a low profile until the games are over and done. When she is sure that Twilight Sparkle and her friends have gone back to Ponyville, she shall start to advertise her show to the Crystal Ponies. Just so long as she is not spotted by anypony until then, this should work.”

She returned to her seat and did her best to keep quiet, as if Rainbow and Fluttershy might here her in the other car if she should so much as whisper to herself. The instant the train had stopped, Trixie bolted out the exit and to the nearest restroom in order to, do her business obviously, but mostly to avoid being spotted as the train’s passengers disembarked. She splashed her face with water and looked in the mirror.

“What should Trixie do now?” She said to herself, relieved that she was alone and free to do so. “It will be tomorrow at the soonest that she can do any sort of performance, and Trixie has no place to stay until then, no money to use until then, and nopony should spot her until then, at least in any memorable way.” Leaning heavy on the counter before the mirror, Trixie looked deep into the reflection of her violet eyes and sighed. “I miss my caravan. If I were less vain at the time, I should have used all of those bits to replace it, rather than purchase that accursed amulet.”

With the realization that hiding in this bathroom the whole time wasn’t an option, Trixie quickly dried her face and cautiously headed out, breathing a sigh of relief when she noticed Rainbow, Fluttershy, and their group already far away from the station and towards the Crystal Empire.

Trixie took a moment to marvel at the Crystal Empire before she shook her head free of worry and began to motivate herself. “‘Screw your courage to the sticking place’!” She recited to herself. “Whatever will be, will be. Trixie needs food and shelter for the night, and she will not attain it if she lingers here for much longer. Brace yourselves Crystal Ponies, for I am Trixie and I have arrived!”

“Is that so?” A voice said from behind Trixie as she spoke to herself, for the second time in the past twenty four hours.

Nearly passing out at the sudden interjection, Trixie recalled hearing Shadow speak those very words, in that very manor, last night. The tone and delivery of the words were exactly the same. Only the voice differed from before. She turned slowly to see from whom those words came from this time and was completely mortified to see that she had delivered her self-motivation speech in front of none other than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who had just arrived by means of Pegasus drawn chariots. It was Celestia who had spoken, and at that realization, a thousand theories ran through Trixie’s head as to the possible connection between Shadow and Celestia. There had to be one, but she couldn’t see it.

“Forgive me Trixie, it seems I’ve caused you some distress in speaking up, but I couldn’t help myself.” Celestia said, apologetically, though with no less grace than ever.

Fumbling for words, Trixie fought hard to not stutter or whimper as she said, “Not at all Princess. I’m terribly sorry for making you think that, but Trixie... I mean, I have a lot of things weighing on my mind at the moment and the last thing I expected was…”

“That anypony was around, let alone the two of us?” Luna teased, playfully.

Trixie blushed intensely, and couldn’t help but shrink into herself. “Precisely.”

Celestia placed her hoof upon Trixie’s shoulder. “I’m sorry for our forwardness and unusual familiarity with you, as it seems to make you uncomfortable. However, I know you must be familiar with my faithful student…”

“Graduate, actually,” Luna interjected.

Giving a small laugh filled with pride, yet you could tell that she in some ways missed the connection of mentor and student, she continued, “Twilight has told us a bit about you, and what you’ve been through.”

Looking a little grim, Trixie said solemnly, “Twilight Sparkle must have sugar coated whatever she has shared with you, else you wouldn’t want to be so forward and familiar with Trixie.”

This time Luna put her hoof on Trixie’s shoulder and looked her strait in the eyes in earnest. “Not at all Trixie. Twilight Sparkle spared no details in her tales of you. What you have done, and what happened afterwards. And I can see it even now, within your eyes.” Luna smiled warmly. “I can relate to what you’ve been through, and what you’re going through now. Dealing with one’s past is never easy, but trust me when I say that you shall be much greater for it afterwards, o’ Great and Powerful Trixie.” With that, the princess of the Night finished off by, almost in a motherly manner, fixing Trixie’s hat, which had gone lopsided.

Trixie could almost cry, and she almost cursed herself out loud for her comment about Luna last night. There was no doubt in her mind now, that the princess would save her from her nightmares if she could, but perhaps the amulet’s lingering power interferes with that in some way.

She sniffed and said, nearly choked up, “Trixie sincerely hopes that you cannot relate to everything she is currently going through now.”

Both Celestia and Luna looked at each other with confusion for a moment before Trixie explained her unusual circumstances and the encounter last night that brought a great amount of revelation to her woes. Leaving out Shadow’s name and the fact that he is a demon, as that is something Trixie assumed might be best left unsaid.

“Hmmm. An immortal guardian to all of the dangerous artifacts, from whom I can only assume is Star Swirl the bearded? That would certainly explain why most of them haven’t surfaced since his passing. I had simply assumed they were all lost somewhere.” Celestia pondered.

Luna was more focused on other things, embarrassingly cradling Trixie and apologizing profusely for not being able to do anything for her nightmares. Trixie broke free of Luna’s embrace and looked upon the two princesses in a new light. Celestia was very much like Twilight in some ways. Or rather, Twilight must have picked up those traits from Celestia. And Luna was far more compassionate and relatable than one would expect for having been Nightmare Moon at one point. It was kind of nice to see them this way.

“In any case,” Trixie said, much more relaxed with the princesses now than before. “If you don’t mind Trixie’s asking, what exactly are you doing here at the station? Wouldn’t you’re chariots usually be taken straight into the Empire?”

“We are a little early Tia, you could have given me those extra five minutes.” Luna pouted, having been reminded why Celestia got her up so early, since Luna usually sleeps through most of the day.

“But then we would have been denied the opportunity to speak with Trixie here.” Celestia calmly retorted. “To answer your question, we are awaiting the arrival of the foreign ambassadors, who will be arriving by train. Two of whom, you might recognize, Trixie. The delegates from Saddle Arabia. Thanks for the fireworks by the way. They definitely helped with Twilight’s performance.”

Trixie blushed and laughed with a little pride and embarrassment. “Speaking of Twilight Sparkle, Trixie would be most appreciative if you not tell her of Trixie’s current plight. There is nothing that she can do to help, and that’s not for any lack of trying that she would undoubtedly undertake. Trixie must deal with this in the manor of which the guardian described to her, and she intends to do so after the Equestria Games have concluded. Just, please spare Twilight the worry.”

Luna looked towards the ground. “If only the elements were still usable. Twere they that had removed mine tainted power, surely they could have done the same for you, dearest Trixie.”

“But the guardian gave you clear instruction,” Celestia said, trying to uplift the two of them. “And I have faith that you can handle this task. Rest assured, I won’t say anything to Twilight about it, and I’ll see to it that you are taken care of tonight.” Trixie opened her mouth to humbly decline, but Celestia raised her hoof and stopped her. “And before you say anything, yes, I do insist.” And with that, Trixie closed her mouth, defeated. Celestia continued, “Don’t feel as though you don’t deserve it, Trixie. In truth, this is a seed to a possible crisis that Luna and I should do what we can to stop, but there is nothing in our power to do so. I’m placing my faith in you for this task and intend to at least help you to this degree. Make me proud, Trixie.”

There it was again. Once more, Celestia said, in the same exact way, the same words spoken to her last night. “Incidentally,” Trixie said at this thought, “does the name ‘Shadow’ mean anything to you?”

Celestia tilted her head in confusion. “Should it?”

“I guess not.” Trixie said, waving it off as though it were nothing.

Author's Note

The next chapter that I'll be gradually working on for my stories will be for Fluttershy's Pokemon Adventure. So, if I'm as busy as I was while working on this one every time I had the chance, it may be a while before this story is updated again. Then again, maybe not. Fingers crossed for free time to write. :)

As always, I'm open to any constructive criticism that you may want to give. And, as I'm terrible with spelling and grammar, if you see anything that needs fixing, feel free to let me know. Thanks, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Chapter 3: Lavish and Luxury

Trixie lay back upon the bed in the room she was given, admiring the feel and scent of everything. The mattress was made of a specially refined cloud type that even non Pegasi could lay upon. It was by far, the most comfortable thing she had ever felt. The linen and satin sheets and bed spread was so neatly kept and had an exuberance that complimented the tone of the room, which was far larger than it needed to be to keep just one pony. In fact, this bed alone would have been large, even to Shadow. So much more extra space than necessary made Trixie feel very small in comparison.

Accepting that Celestia insisted on taking care of her for the time being, Trixie felt as though this was completely overdoing it. She was being treated to as much cordiality as a royal diplomat. And that was by no means an over exaggeration, as the foreign ambassadors that were here for the Equestria games were given the same exact treatment, save for the fact that they are also going to get to observe the games. But Trixie wasn’t upset about missing that. All the more likely that she would be able to avoid running into Twilight.

“But even if Trixie somehow did deserve all of this, it would be too much all the same.” She said, thinking out loud.

Deciding against trying to beat herself up for now, Trixie got up from the bed and headed over to the bathroom, which was also very large and extravagant. She turned the water on and watched as the big crystal tub filled up. One of the spells that she had gotten really good at in her travels, was a cleansing spell, which eliminated the need to bathe. That came in very useful, since Trixie hated feeling dirty. But there was just something relaxing about soaking in hot water, and right now, that was all Trixie wanted to do. She added a little of the bubble bath mix that was next to the tub. It smelled sweet, like peaches and lilac.

The very tip of her hoof met the water, once the tub was full, and a wave of relaxing heat ran up her leg. Very gingerly, as the water was quite hot, Trixie lowered herself into the bath and sighed in great relief and comfort as the sweet smelling hot water reached all around her, helping to relax her weary self.

Trixie breathed in deep the scent of the bath. “How long has it been since Trixie last relaxed in hot water?” she asked herself. “Never before so lavishly, but it has been too long.”

She sighed heavily and began playing with the bubbles, giggling to herself at how much of a little filly she was being. This was nice though, and something she really needed. For a few moments, she even forgot her worries as she tried to enjoy herself for a change. But as one eventually does, when left to one’s own thoughts, Trixie began to mull over what she needed to do the next day. The Equestria games would be finished late that night. The following morning would host the parade, celebrating the top three winning cities. Her best bet to avoid being over shadowed, and keeping out of sight from Twilight, would be to do her performance that evening, after the festivities were over and Twilight and her friends went back to Ponyville. But that still leaves the whole day before hand to prepare, and without her caravan, there was a lot that she didn’t have to work with.

“Undoubtedly, the princesses would help if Trixie asked… but should I?” Trixie said, sinking a little below the bubbles.

Out the window, in the distance, the sound of a massive flame lighting up followed by some stallion’s voice ringing out, “Let the games begin!”

Trixie looked over at the open window, as though she could see the stadium from there. “Sounds like the events are underway,” she said, leaning back down into the bath. “Trixie supposes it’s too late to worry now. Nothing but stress will come of it.”

Leaning back and closing her eyes, Trixie spent the next hour or so, listening to the crowd as they cheered for their respective teams. She imagined as though the thunderous applause and cries of excitement were for her, about to perform a magic show. Lost in her day dream, she imagined up the greatest performance that she could. With a big stadium full of crystal ponies, faces that she had never seen before and held no resentment towards her. In fact, they were ecstatic to see her show. Even the four princesses where in attendance. Celestia looked hopeful, Luna smiled in approval, Cadence clapped her hooves together, and Twilight had a friendly and thoughtful smile as she looked at Trixie.

There was a problem however. Trixie hadn’t prepared for anything and didn’t know how to start. However, looking at Twilight, something came to her in a moment of eureka.

“How would everypony like to hear the epic tale of how The Great and Powerful Trixie, vanquished the dreaded Ursa Major!” Trixie announced with all her former grandeur.

Everypony cheered, save for Twilight, who had a look of disappointment on her face. Trixie gave Twilight a knowing and sly smile, then continued.

“Awe,” Trixie said, giving her best adorable little pouty face. “That’s so cute that you think she could actually do that. Well that’s just too bad now, isn’t it?” she teased her audience, “For, to The Great and Powerful Trixie’s knowledge, there isn’t a unicorn alive capable of pulling that off.”

The crowd burst into laughter and Twilight looked at Trixie with an eyebrow raised. The disappointment in her face was gone, replaced with confusion and curiosity. Trixie’s full attention was on Twilight as she gave another knowing smile.

“Instead, let Trixie tell you the tale of how The Great Princess Twilight pacified the rage of a rampaging Ursa Minor.”

Erupting into even greater cheers, the ponies in the stadium began to chant ‘Princess Twilight! Princess Twilight!’ with all their energy. Twilight, not knowing how to react, tried to hide her blushing face as she gingerly waved to the crowd. Trixie cleared her throat and the crowd fell silent. The lights went dim as Trixie began her show, conjuring a life sized Ursa Minor neon puppet with her magic, getting some impressed sounds from the audience, and making the Ursa throw a temper tantrum.

“As it happens, two little ponies decided that they wanted to lure an Ursa Major into the town of Ponyville so that they could see some impressive magic from whatever pony would stop it. A foalish thing to do for sure. They wandered through the Everfree until they found what they thought they were looking for. It was instead, an Ursa Minor. One that was very cranky, for they had awoken it from its slumber.”

Trixie conjured a little neon Snips and Snails to run away from the pursuing Ursa.

“Leading the Ursa out of the forest and into the quiet night of Ponyville, the two ponies found the Great and Powerful Trixie and told her to vanquish it. In a show prior, that they were privy to, Trixie may have boasted about being capable of such magic as a means to improve her stage presence, but that was not meant to be an invitation to bring an Ursa to town. Despite knowing that she would not be able to stop it, Trixie did give it her best shot.”

There was a moment of pause as the neon Trixie magically sent lightning bolts at the Ursa Minor, who simply shrugged them off. Then, a bright purple neon form appeared and took the shape of Twilight.

“When all seemed lost, Princess Twilight appeared and performed some unusual, yet powerful, magic to calm the Ursa and remove it from the town.”

The neon Twilight shown with an incredibly bright horn and much strain on her face as the Ursa Minor was carried off in a cradle of purple light.

“Trixie was astounded by this deed of unconventional and powerful magic having accomplished what she had dubbed impossible. However,” Trixie began to focus all her magic into one spell as she continued her story, strain in her voice. “When the Princess was asked how she knew just the way to deal with an Ursa Major, she revealed that it was only a Minor. Nothing more than a baby.” Sparks started to fly off Trixie’s horn as a bead of sweat ran down the side of her face. “When asked further, if that was just an Ursa Minor, what is an Ursa Major like? Twilight simply responded…”

Trixie let lose all of the magical energy she had been building up, creating a life size, neon depiction, of what she thought an Ursa Major might look like. Mostly the same as the Ursa Minor, but more grizzly looking, and instead of being the size of a house, it was approximately ten times that size, filling the entire stadium.

“…you don’t want to know.” Trixie finished, practically out of breath, deconstructing her magic construct into a spectacular magical fireworks display.

Recovering from the terror of seeing the massive Ursa Major, everypony in the stadium gave the greatest cheers and applause of the night to the winded Trixie. She was so happy in that moment and weekly looked at Twilight, who had joined the crowd in their excitement and adulation of her. Trixie took off her hat and dabbed a tear from her eye.”

“You’re a bad pony Trixie.” A voice said, suddenly cutting through the noise.

The world suddenly fell silent as Trixie looked at Twilight, whose face didn’t look like her own.

“You’re a bad pony Trixie! Say what you want, but nopony will believe you’ve seen the error of your ways, not even yourself.”

“No,” Trixie feebly said, recognizing the pony from the train.

“Put on your nice pony act, but eventually, you’ll go right back to trying to make other ponies miserable to make yourself feel better. I will never forgive you, and I don’t accept your apology!”

“NOOOooo!!!” Trixie screamed, hiding her face into her hat.

All around her, Trixie could hear the voices of the crowd chanting in a ritualistic fashion, ‘bad pony, bad pony, bad pony, bad pony.’

Her day dream had turned into a nightmare. Try as she might, Trixie couldn’t open her eyes and find herself in the tub. She had nodded off, and this vision was not under her control. She curled up into a ball and covered her ears.

“I can be a good pony, just give me a chance!” she yelled out, to no avail.

The chanting continued and it got louder and louder. Trixie was about to cry when she heard something peculiar sounding above the chanting noise.

♫ “Oh, we’re the Wonderbolts and we’re super-fast, and we live in Cloudsdale, which is a part of Equestria.”

Trixie bolted upright in the tub, splashing water everywhere. She stared out the window with her eyebrow raised and her ears flat against her head.

“What in Equestria is that?” Trixie wondered out loud as the singing continued.

♫ “That we like best and we’re proud and we’re fast and we like it because it really has nice trees.”

Rubbing her ears, Trixie looked down at her bath, which was now bubble-less and lukewarm.

“Perhaps Trixie has lingered too long in the hot water and is now hearing things. No pony could be making such poor noise intentionally,” she said, shaking her head.

But as she left the water and toweled herself off, the song continued until it was over, which you knew it was because the singer… if they are to be called a singer, repeated the words ‘over now’ three times. And then for some reason, after a little silence, a loud, familiar, hyper voice called out, ‘Nailed it!’

“Nailed what? Trixie’s ears shut?” Trixie said to herself.

Trixie left the bathroom and fell onto the very comfortable bed. That was the second time that she had fallen asleep today, but even so, she had only achieved a little less than half of the sleep that she was deprived of last night. The position of Celestia’s sun shown that there were still several hours left of the day, and there was nothing else that Trixie could do at this point in time, so she decided, despite the nightmare in the tub, that she needed to sleep. She was mentally exhausted, likely in part due to the nightmare and the dreamless sleep, but like the saying goes, third time’s the charm. The bedspread felt so good against her coat, she just couldn’t nod off without crawling inside.

Grabbing the pillow and hugging it tightly, as though it would protect her, Trixie pleaded under her breath, “Please. It doesn’t even need to be a good dream, as long as it’s not a nightmare.”

Unfortunately for Trixie, the first half of her dream did exactly as she asked for it not to. Without waking, she spent the next couple hours in the hateful eyes of everypony she had ever wronged in the past. It was unpleasant, and tormented her, but some small part of her was relieved because, of the two of her normal nightmares, she preferred this one, as opposed to strangling Twilight in the other. But something peculiar happened about half way through her REM cycle. The hateful voices subsided, the eyes of scorn faded away. Trixie found herself in a small but cozy cottage. This was a scene that she hadn’t seen in a long time. In fact, she had nearly forgotten this old place.

“Where’s my little Trickster?” said a warm, yet weathered, voice from the other room.

At the sound of the voice, Trixie was completely taken off guard. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. That old voice, her old nickname. Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself walking slowly over towards the doorway to the den. Looking around the corner, Trixie gasped and held her hooves to her mouth, tears filling her eyes.

“There she is,” said the smiling old stallion in front of her.

Trixie took a moment to look him over thoroughly. He was a grey stallion with short white hair and a small beard that was just as white, with the exception of a small grey patch just under his bottom lip. His eyes were bright and vibrant, though clearly aged. Every wrinkle on his face told his life story of a pony who had always liked to smile. And the aura that exuded from his smile showed that he loved to make other ponies smile as well.

“What’s the matter Trixie? Did you have a nightmare?” he said, seeing the tears in Trixie’s eyes.

“Grandpa!” Trixie cried out.

Without letting another moment pass, Trixie galloped forward and tackled the old stallion into a hug, which didn’t bother him at all, because Trixie was only a little school filly, though she didn’t notice the change. Tears where flowing down her face and the biggest grin she had ever been able to give was spread cheek to cheek.

A couple more hours later, Trixie awoke, back in her room in the crystal palace. She looked over to the side of her bed to find Princess Luna, watching over her.

“I hope that you do not mind, Trixie.” Luna said, gently. “When we had come to check on you, after the games had ended, you seemed to be having a bad dream. I tried to hold back the nightmares and let you sleep normally. Was I able to help you have a good slumber?”

Trixie didn’t say anything. Instead, she simply went over to Luna and hugged her.

At first taken back by the action, Luna slowly returned Trixie’s embrace and said, “I suppose this signifies that I have.”

“I remember,” Trixie said, almost breaking out in tears again. “I remember why I love magic, and why I love to perform.”

Luna patted Trixie, pulled away from the hug, and smiled.

“That is wonderful to hear,” she said. “Perhaps you may want to share with us at dinner. I assume that you haven’t eaten yet. Cadence and my sister are awaiting at the banquet for our arrival.”

Suddenly realizing she hadn’t eaten all day, and that the night had already begun, Trixie’s stomach growled loudly. She looked down at it, embarrassed.

“Food sounds good right now.”

Author's Note

I hope that this one doesn't seem too rushed. I tried to add in all of the emotions that I meant to, without making the chapter too long. As always, I'm open to constructive criticism as well as if you find any spelling or grammatical mistakes. Looking forward to your feedback. :)