Of Dragons and Magicians

Chapter 4

"Start of Redemption"

In the days that followed, Trixie was settling nicely into her temporary home at the Friendship Rainbow castle. It was going to be a long road to getting back to her life before the attack that changed her life forever, but she was more than willing to take up the challenge. Since a majority of Ponyville was still in shock from not her return, but from Tirek's rampage, Twilight thought that maybe Trixie would start going around and offering ponies her help in anything that they needed.

"Does the Great and Apologetic Trixie need help from somepony?" Trixie sang as she and Twilight walked into Sugarcube Corner one afternoon. Of course, as usual, Pinkie Pie was up to her antics as she set about baking orders for a customer.

"Is that the voice of a certain magic pony that I hear?" asked Pinkie Pie, sticking her head out while stretching her neck. "I've been meaning to get some help because you know there's only one of me and many of these cakes."

The rest of Pinkie's body followed as she continued to stare down at Trixie.

"I was wondering if maybe Trixie could help out with your orders, Pinkie," suggested Twilight. "If you don't mind, of course."

Pinkie Pie considered the matter for a moment as this was the pony who had insulted her family's rock farm and took away her mouth the last time she was here. Of course, being the friendly and happy pony she was, Pinkie allowed Trixie to help her.

"Okay, she can help," said Pinkie. "But, let's be honest, you did take my mouth."

Twilight stared at Pinkie upon hearing those words and Pinkie responded with a nervous chuckle. To this end, Twilight pulled Pinkie into the kitchen and shut the door behind her with her magic, leaving Trixie alone in front of the counter.

"What?" remarked Pinkie, as Twilight placed a hoof on Pinkie's mouth and her angry expression turned to a look of despair and worry. "I'm telling the truth."

"Look, Pinkie," sighed Twilight, pulling her hoof away from Pinkie's mouth. "Something really bad happened to Trixie a few nights ago and she wants to make up for what she did during my exile."

"The one where…" Pinkie started to say, but Twilight glared at Pinkie to silence her.

"Yes, that," said Twilight. "I'd tell you about it, but you wouldn't keep it a secret for very long, not even if you Pinkie promised me."

Upon hearing this, Pinkie did her Pinkie promise motions in an attempt to keep Twilight on her good side.

"Twilight," said Pinkie, her smile turning to a small frown in support of Twilight's situation. "Of course I'd Pinkie promise you. If Trixie wants to help me, she can."

"You will let her help?" asked Twilight, excitedly. "You mean it?"

"Sure, even though she is a bit of a bully," replied Pinkie, causing Twilight to roll her eyes in frustration. "Which is sort of the truth."

A little while later, Trixie was now working in the kitchen of Sugarcube corner, promising to do her best to help Pinkie bake the huge order of pastries that had to be completed.

"Trixie isn't that great of a baker," said Trixie, now wearing a pink apron. "But, I promise to do my best."

"Goodie," giggled Pinkie. "Can you get me some chocolate chips?"

Trixie used her magic to find the chocolate chips and almost immediately, she started to have trouble as the memories of her ordeal continued to come back and haunt her. But, Trixie had a job to do and grabbed the chocolate chips.

"What exactly are we baking?" wondered Trixie.

"Oh, about 50 chocolate chip cookies and about 100 chocolate cakes," said Pinkie, reading from a piece of paper. "It's for the Ponyville Orphanage Benefit in Canterlot."

It was then that Trixie stopped what she was doing upon hearing the words "Ponyville Orphanage." Little did Pinkie or anypony else know for that matter was that Trixie had a connection with the Orphanage in question.

"Did you say 'Ponyville Orphanage'?" she asked, turning back to Pinkie.

"Uh, yes?" remarked the pink pony, shrugging her forelegs in confusion. "You've been there?"

"Let's just say that Trixie has had a painful history there," said Trixie, sadly and almost on the verge of tears. "I grew up in that orphanage and many of my fellow orphans were not really appreciative about what Trixie wanted to be when she grew up.

This of course, caused Pinkie to feel sympathetic for the pony who had taken her mouth away. She had done orders for the Ponyville orphanage before, but it was not up until that moment did she understand about Trixie coming from there.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Trixie," sighed Pinkie, sadly, gently patting a hoof on Trixie's shoulder. "Maybe you can start redeeming yourself by helping out the orphans."

"If only that were true, Pinkie Pie," said Trixie, who gathered some flour and eggs. "Stepping in that place again would only bring back bad memories, but if it means that I can find redemption, then so be it."

The sound of Trixie's determination in her voice inspired Pinkie to refocus on the task at hand. By the end of the day, thanks to Trixie's ability to use magic, the order was completed and soon, they were on their way to the orphanage, where Trixie would soon face her past.

Meanwhile, back at the castle, Spike was struggling to keep his promise to Twilight about Trixie to the point he began to develop migraines caused by the stress. He wanted to let Trixie know about how he felt, but at the same time, Twilight wanted no drama to fall on either her or Trixie.

"What should I do?" Spike said to himself as he paced around the throne room. "Should I tell Trixie what I think of her staying here or not? Maybe she isn't bad after all or is it all an act?"

Finally, after a few moments, Twilight's pet owl, Owliscious, let out a hoot as he flew in from flying around Ponyville.

"Who?" hooted Owliscious, once again annoying Spike.

"Who?" remarked Spike, turning around sharply to face the owl. "Trixie, you know? Blue unicorn, ego, show off, dictator, you name it."

"Who?" hooted Owliscious again.

"Seriously?" remarked Spike, face palming with his claw. "Are you ever going to learn other words besides that?"

Just then, the sounds of hoof beats were heard and Spike turned to see Twilight walk back in, with a curious look on her face.

"Hey, Twilight," said Spike. "What's up? You got a strange look on your face or something. Was having Trixie help Pinkie Pie a bad idea?"

"No, it was a good idea with some convincing on Pinkie Pie," replied Twilight, walking past Spike and sitting on her throne looking down at the map. "I ran into somepony suspicious on my way back from Sugarcube corner. The pony said she was from Manehattan and was looking for Trixie. She told me to tell her if Trixie was spotted, so I lied and said that I didn't see her."

"Well, what are you going to do?" asked Spike.

"I'm going to see if I can find out what's going on," replied Twilight. "I'll send a message for Celestia and Luna to send some guards over to protect Trixie."

Spike was beginning to get the sense that this was nothing more than another one of Trixie's antics. He knew that Trixie always had tricks up her sleeve and it only added to the growing tension that was growing inside of him.

However, Twilight saw otherwise and felt that there was more to Trixie returning to Ponyville than met the eye. Twilight came to the conclusion that Trixie's attackers had followed her to Ponyville with the intent of harming Trixie or worse.