Of Dragons and Magicians

Chapter 3

"Trixie's new home"

With Trixie likely to be staying with her and Spike for a while, Twilight had Trixie stay in a room not far from her bedroom. It seemed that this was a blessing in disguise for Trixie as Twilight was not completely offended at all by her return to Ponyville. As they had said to each other earlier, Trixie had endure just as many hardships as Twilight and they seemed to have a connection on it.

"I hope you don't mind letting me stay for a while," suggested Trixie as she settled into her new surroundings and sitting on her bed. "The great and apologetic Trixie has nowhere else to go."

"Of course you can," said Twilight, happily as she placed a vat of flowers next to Trixie's bed. "Sure we may have had our differences in the past, but that's over and done with now. I'm a princess now and I have much more to worry about than petty differences."

Trixie couldn't help but marvel at Twilight's new status. Sure, she was just a magician, but Trixie couldn't imagine herself as a princess, not after what had happened the last time she came to Ponyville.

"By the way, Trixie," wondered Twilight. "Whatever happened to that cart you used to travel around in?"

"It was destroyed by the mob when they attacked me," sighed Trixie, remembering that the cart was also her home. "While the mob was attacking me, they set the cart on fire and burned it up.

Twilight was shocked to hear such a thing. Even though Trixie used to be a jerk, nopony deserved to lose their home, not even her. And considering what had happened with Tirek, Twilight thought that now she was going to have help Trixie the same way her friends did.

"Oh, Trixie, I'm so sorry," remarked Twilight. "Perhaps maybe after you are back on your feet, we can help you find a new home or something."

"That's very nice of you, Twilight Sparkle," said Trixie, her face producing a small smile. "But, I travel all over Equestria and I can't stay in one place. Not with everypony distrusting me after what I have done."

Twilight then grabbed a chair and pulled it up next to Trixie's bed. Twilight wanted to let Trixie know that she was going to do whatever she could to help her. But, at the same time, Twilight felt that she needed to help Trixie repair the damages that she had caused by the events of recent.

"Trixie, not everypony will forgive you for what you did," confessed Twilight. "But, the one pony who you must forgive is yourself. There is more to atoning for our actions than just saying 'sorry.'"

"How can I do that?" asked Trixie.

"You can do small but important contributions to our town," suggested Twilight, pulling Trixie to her bedroom window. "Take a look out among Ponyville. Do you see what ponies do to one another?"

Trixie was confused by this as all she could see was ponies going about their daily lives.

"They stand by each other in times of trouble," continued Twilight. "The events with Tirek are still fresh in the minds of everypony and we are doing everything we can to help each other recover."

At that moment, the alicorn princess and magician unicorn walked out of the bedroom and made their way down to the map room, where Twilight and her friends had their thrones. It was the first time that Trixie had seen the map in person and she was just absolutely amazed by it.

"Trixie finds this amazing," she gasped, admiring the map of Equestria. "I know some of these places, Twilight Sparkle. I see Canterlot, Manehattan, everywhere that Trixie has done her shows."

Trixie continued to be spellbound by the map as Twilight continued to explain her message to her.

"The map tells us where to go by activating our cutie marks," said Twilight. "My mission as the princess of friendship is to spread friendship throughout Equestria. You have a mission as well, Trixie and that is to captivate ponies with your magic and build relationships with them."

Trixie then diverted her attention back to Twilight upon hearing those words. Up until that moment, she thought that her career was all about being the greatest and the most powerful and that friendship didn't seem to matter.

"Trixie has to build relationships with ponies?" she remarked as they walked out of the throne room.

"I became the princess of friendship because I opened myself to others," replied Twilight as Trixie walked over to her. "You hide the real you underneath your acts, Trixie and you have to prove to everypony that you are more than just a magician. You have to open up to them and offer your friendship to them."

With each word that Twilight spoke was more proof that Trixie needed to change for the better. In her mind, she was no longer the boastful and attention seeking unicorn that she had made herself out to be. She was humbled by the events of recent and if there was indeed any hope of redeeming herself in the eyes of Equestria, Trixie had to learn to trust her former rival and enemy.

Meanwhile, Spike had been listening in on the other side and he just seemed to not be able to grasp what Twilight was offering to Trixie. He had been jealous in similar situations before such as when Owlisicious first appeared, but this was a new low for him. Later that day, he decided to express his feelings to Twilight over letting Trixie stay in the castle.

"Look, Twilight," he said as Twilight sat in her library reading one of her new books. "About having Trixie here…"

"What about her Spike?" she asked, her nose stuck in the book.

"I know that you are being open to having Trixie stay with us," he confessed, clutching his tail and fearing how Twilight would react. "But, I just can't seem to get over the fact that she is going to do something evil."

Twilight also had to understand that Spike had a say in this matter as well. After all, this was his home too and he was entitled to his own opinion.

"You're not jealous, are you?" asked Twilight, turning her attention from her new book to the baby dragon. "If you are, then tell me."

Spike took in a heavy sigh and shut his eyes, preparing himself for whatever Twilight was going to say.

"Well, um, yes," replied Spike, feeling uncomfortable. "I know I should be sympathetic, Twilight, but I can't help but think that Trixie is trying to befriend us as part of a plan to take over Equestria."

Normally, Twilight would get cross with Spike for this, but she could see that Spike wasn't behaving like he was when Owlisicious was taken in. This was something of a different nature in her eyes.

"Spike, I don't think that Trixie wants to take over Ponyville again," remarked Twilight, getting up from her desk and walking over to Spike. "I don't ask for much, but if you could, please try to be nice to Trixie. She's been though an awful lot."

Spike had his opinions and his feelings on having Trixie as a houseguest, but he had to remember that both he and Twilight had been through a lot as well and Twilight didn't want any more drama to unfold in their lives. It wouldn't be easy to honor this request to be nice to Trixie, but Spike was going to give it a chance…or would he?