Of Dragons and Magicians

Chapter 5

"Ponyville Orphanage"

While Twilight wrote to Celestia asking for guards to protect her, Trixie accompanied Pinkie Pie to the Ponyville Orphanage with their huge order of pastries. Stepping up to the gates of the orphanage, Trixie took an enormous gulp as she could well remember the time that she spent here as a foal and later as a filly. Trixie was so enthralled by her former home that she had lost sight of why they were there to begin with.

"Uh, Trixie," said Pinkie Pie, turning around to find Trixie still staring at the sign. "Aren't you coming? Those cakes aren't going to walk by themselves, you know."

"Oh, uh, sorry about that, Pinkie Pie," flounced Trixie, paying attention once again to the task at hand. "The great and apologetic Trixie does not mean to delay you."

Walking up to the door, Pinkie Pie knocked on the door and a pink unicorn with bluish green hair opened the door on the other side. She had her mane in a bun and wore moon shaped glasses. Upon seeing who it is, Trixie smiled warmly at the pony who raised her since the day she was born.

"Well, well, if it isn't Trixie," remarked the unicorn, who was smiling at her. "Look how much you have grown. I've always known you would amount to something."

"Mistress Hackney," said Trixie, happily, running over to hug her. "It's so nice to see you again after all these years."

To Pinkie Pie, this was a sort of confusing matter as a few moments ago, Trixie was very nervous about coming to this place. Now, she was happy as a clam and all of her fears had been banished.

"Indeed," replied Mistress Hackney as they broke apart. "I've read all about you in the paper, showcasing your magic for all to see. Helping out Pinkie Pie, I suppose?"

"It's a long story, Mistress Hackney," sighed Trixie. "Perhaps maybe we should come in and catch up on what the Great and Apologetic Trixie has been through."

Hackney left eye raised upon hearing this as they came in and placed the cakes and pies in the orphanage's kitchen. To Trixie, there was one bright spot to this place and that was Mistress Hackney who had treated Trixie almost like a daughter.

"Care to stay with us, Pinkie Pie?" she asked as they opened the door to her office.

"Uh, no thanks," replied Pinkie Pie. "I'll just leave you two alone and try to spread laughter around this place. It sure needs it."

"Remember," cautioned Mistress Hackney. "The little ones are having their afternoon nap, so don't disturb them."

Although that she was the most energetic pony in Ponyville, Pinkie promised not to cause a lot of noise.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," promised Pinkie, doing her signature Pinkie promise before bouncing away to find ponies that she could spread her laughter to.

Once Pinkie was gone, Trixie and Mistress Hackney were left alone in Hackney's office and living quarters. Trixie could well remember this place as her sanctuary from the bullies who had tried to bring her down. After what she had been through, Trixie needed to be here and reveal her feelings to the one pony who had single handedly raised her.

"It's been so long since you have left here Trixie," she said as they sat down for tea. "A lot of your fellow orphans have gone to great successes. But, to me, you are always going to be my greatest success."

"I greatly appreciate that," replied Trixie, taking a sip of her tea, a hint of melancholy in her voice. "Although after what I did to Ponyville, it seemed that the great and apologetic Trixie has done was all for nothing."

"Not quite," said Mistress Hackney. "From what I believe, you just need to unwind and release your feelings in a manner that doesn't give you more problems. What happened in Ponyville was to me, a cry for help."

Trixie considered the matter for a moment and up until that moment, thought that her recent behavior was a way of getting back at Twilight for showing her off. Now it seemed like it was much more than that. As a filly, Trixie remembered that she would never speak up to her tormenters and only turned to Hackney for support.

"To me, there is one thing that I never taught you," continued Hackney, taking a sip of tea. "And that is we speak our minds through our actions, not just our words. I've been concerned to the point where you need to teach yourself that lesson, my dear Trixie."

"But, aren't I doing that already?" asked Trixie. "Twilight Sparkle has taken me in until I get myself back together and she also recommended that the Great and Apologetic Trixie go around Ponyville and help others."

"That is true, Trixie," said Hackney, who then walked over to a picture that she had kept on her desk of herself and Trixie, when she was a filly at her cute-cenera. "But we tend to let our fame and goals get the best of us. I believe that maybe if you change your personality to that of a pony who just enjoys doing what she loves for the sake of the hobby, then perhaps you can regain some of the trust that you have lost."

Trixie listened intently on this remark by her former caretaker. Her actions did in fact paint a different picture of her and she had begun to wonder if maybe going after the Alicorn Amulet and taking over Ponyville was really worth it at all.

"What can I do, Mistress Hackney?" cried Trixie.

"You can start by maybe doing a charitable magic show for this orphanage," suggested Hackney. "As I said, we can apologize through our actions instead of our words. If you do that, then the ponies you hurt or angered will realize that you are not the same pony that they make you out to be. I can support you along with Princess Twilight, but the rest will be up to you. Will you take this challenge?"

It wasn't easy, but Trixie was up for the challenge to regain her reputation and paint herself in a positive light at the same time.

Unfortunately, while they were conversing, the pony that Twilight had bumped into was aboard a train and returning to Canterlot to concoct a plan with the ponies who had attacked Trixie to finish what they had started at Trixie's last magic show…