The Solo Performance

You roll out of bed reluctantly.

Last night was terrible.

The dream was so familiar to you that even after another round of sleep you still couldn't forget it.

You proceed with your morning duties.

Food, Mane, teeth.

You step outside of the stage coach.

Today was a cloudy day.

Very cloudy.

In spite of the clouds, you check your stage mechanism.

You notice something slightly out of place, but shrug it off as just some wild animals toying around with the outer casing.

The show must go on, anyway.

You spend your morning preparing the fireworks and making sure the electrical is in order.

Today was the day you'd dazzle them all with another performance.

Several groups of ponies come and go.

You mentally prepare yourself as you adjust your outfit.

You cast a spell to amplify your voice.

"Fillies and gentlecolts! Behold, the one, the only! The Great and Powerful Trrrrixie!"

With a flashy entrance, complete with fireworks and the stage popping open, you stand center stage, cape flowing in the wind.

The ponies just grumble and mumble among one another.

"Is she serious?"

"She's trying this again?"

"Didn't she learn the last time?"

"Why, ponies of Ponyville, Trixie means you no harm!"

You conjure up a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and toss it to the quickly fading audience.

"You tried this before! No one's interested!"

"Yeah, go home you hack!"

You jaw simply drops open.

Sitting down, you try to keep their attention.

"T-Trixie isn't... She... I'm not like that anymore!"

"Yeah, like we'll believe that."

They continued to quickly disperse.

"Wait, Trixie.. She..."

No one was left to listen.

You sat on the stage, alone.

Your ears perk up as you hear a loud snap and crunch sound.

You turn your head to watch as your stage falls apart.

Someone tosses a beam toward you from around a corner.

"That was for trying to make us your slaves, Trixie."

This is all you had..

Your stage, your act, your home...

Trashed in a single day.

You weep.

A few moments later, Spike approaches you.

"Trixie? What're you doing out here? Don't you know it's going to rain? And---"

He looks at the pile of parts behind you, matted and broken.

"What happened here?"

You're barely able to talk through broken tears.

"All Trixie wanted to do was... Just put on a show..."

Even though he didn't like you very much before, Spike felt sorry.

"Well, uh... Hey. Even though your stage coach thing is broken, you could always stay at Twilight's until we got this fixed!"

You look at him.

He HAS to be pulling your leg.

"What? Why're you looking at me like that?"

He takes note of a few ponies staring at you both.

"Twilight wouldn't want Trixie around. I mean, why else would her and her friends be avoiding me?"

The rain started to come down, light at first.

"Look, the offer's there. Take it or leave it."

He just looks at you sternly with his little dragon paws on his little dragon hips.

You shake your head.

"Trixie has to clean up this mess and get out of town. There's nothing here for her anymore."

Spike rolls his eyes.

"Suit yourself, then."

You get up and begin to try and sort out the mess.

Piece by piece, putting it together.

Trixie's stage, following the patterns break by break.

Making sure the parts are sorted nicely...

You heave a sigh.

You look over the pile of wood and metal.

The rain is coming down very heavily now.

Your outfit is absolutely drenched, mane drooping.

"Might as well throw this out. Can't be fixed."

You levitate the broken bits and set them into their container.

"Trixie!"

A familiar voice comes from behind you.

"What do you want, Sparkle? To flaunt? To send me off with the last laugh?"

"What? NO! I'm here to check on you."

You turn to look at her.

"Spike told me all about what happened. Are you okay?"

You snapped at Twilight.

"Does it LOOK like I'm okay!? It's raining buckets, everyone here hates me, my stage and coach are ruined, I'm totally drenched and...

"Trixie..."

Somehow, you found yourself wrapped in a towel and sitting in front of a fire in Twilight's castle.

It all felt like a blur after you snapped at her.

"Trixie, please, just.. Calm down."

"Why should Trixie calm down!? She's just lost everything! This whole trip here was a mistake!"

Twilight looked at you in concern.

"Trixie.. I'm sorry. The girls and I were out of town. We got called by our new map to go deal with a friendship problem."

You threw a piece of broken lumber at the purple Alicorn.

"Like I haven't heard THAT one before..."

You were simply seething with anger.

"Trixie, please, just.. Why don't you come to my castle? We can get you warmed up, dry, fed... And get your clothes a lot less damp."

You sit by the pile of broken bits, quietly sobbing.

Twilight put a hoof on your shoulder.

"Please?"

You sip on some tea to help ease your nerves.

You still felt pretty shaken up.

Twilight walked into the room with a towel around her neck as if she just got out of a shower.

She takes a seat next to you on a pillow.

"Trixie."

"Sparkle."

"You ready to tell me what that was all about?"

She sounded so condescending, yet also genuinely concerned.

"Trixie just... Wanted to put on another show for the ponies... And to try to make amends for what she did."

The embers of the fire in front of you reflect in your eyes.

"But all I managed to do was just ruin everything, and myself.."

Twilight gently wrapped a wing around you.

Using her magic, she takes the towel off your back and begins scrubbing your mane with it playfully.

"Gah, Sparkle!"

She couldn't help but giggle at your reaction.

"Is that all? The townsfolk here did seem pretty off lately, they probably just don't understand why you're here again."

You said nothing.

"I'm sure the girls wouldn't mind seeing you again, if what you say is true."

"They ruined my stage, Twilight. They ruined my coach, as well. All I have no is myself and my outfit."

You felt tears welling up again.

Twilight pulled you closer to her.

"Who needs some silly little stage coach and stage?"

You look at her with anger in your eyes.

"I do, Sparkle! What's a magician without her home? Her stage? Her props--"

She silences you with a hoof put up to your mouth.

"We'll remake it. Bigger, better, fancier."

You just look at her in silence.

"You... You're kidding, right? That was themed just the right way to match The Great and Powerful Trrrixie! Plus it was one of a kind with collapsible parts..."

"Then we'll do the same thing, but better. I'll even get the girls to help!"

You look down at your tea, smiling a tiny bit.

"...Thanks, Twilight. Say, what was that about this... Map?"

"Well..."

You look at the large crystalline table with an entirely detailed map of Equestria.

You jaw drops open.

"THIS is your map!?"

"Yup! It has all of the places in Equestria, and even some outside of places we've been. Is this your first time hearing of this?"

You nod some.

"Spike didn't even tell you we were away on a trip?"

You shake your head quietly.

Twilight looked a bit annoyed.

"SPIKE!"

Right on cue the dragon rushes in.

"Yes, Twilight?"

"Why didn't you tell Trixie that we were out of town?"

"Well, it IS Trixie we're talking about here."

You watch as she gives him the stank eye.

"You know that's not okay, even if it was someone that we weren't really friends with before."

"Yeah uh... Sorry about that."

You stick your nose to the sky.

"Trixie forgives you."

"Spike, please go and prepare some food for tonight."

"Counting Trixie, too?"

"Yes, her too."

"Yes, ma'am."

He runs off as you two approach the map.

"Say, Sparkle..."

"Yes, Trixie?"

You point to the an area of the map that looked like Ponyville.

Twilight's Cutie Mark was floating around it.

"What's up with the map doing this?"

She giggles some.

"When the map calls to one of us, our Cutie Marks glow and the map shows us where we need to go."

"So that means...?"

She looks at you with a beaming grin.

"Somepony in Ponyville is in need of some friendship help!"

You give her a dumbfounded look.

"A... Map can tell you that?"

"Well, I AM the Princess of Friendship, and this map IS magical..."

Almost simultaneously, you both spoke.

"It's magic. Don't gotta explain anything."

"Yeah, yeah.. I get it."

You look down at the floor.

"But don't worry about it. Hey, you want to see my library?"

You spent a good portion of your evening traversing the castle with Twilight.

You had to admit it WAS pretty impressive.

That night you ate dinner with Twilight and Spike.

"So, because of the whole, "I gotta send a letter every week" thing, I went nuts and the whole town started fighting over my enchanted Smarty Pants doll."

You giggle softly at the story.

"And that's when Princess Celestia just rained down from the heavens to stop you?"

She nods as she swallows some of her food.

"Yeah. Let me tell you, when she's upset, she is REALLY scary."

"I can imagine..."

"If it wasn't for my friends... I would probably be back in.."

She pauses to shudder.

"Magic Kindergarten..."

Mentioning the name made your ears perk up.

"Uh... Yeah. Magic K..."

You give an uneasy chuckle.

Spike chomps down on his bowl of gems.

"You okay there, Trixie? You look like you have something on your mind."

"Me? Oh, no! I'm fine, Sparkle. Trixie is.. Just fine."

They both cock an eye brow at you.

Seeing them do this, you begin to stuff your mouth with food.

"Riiiight. Anyway, after we're done here, I'll show you to the guest room. You can stay there until we get things going."

You nod quietly.

"Sounds uh... Sounds great."

Twilight opened the door to a large room.

Some books, a desk, a nightstand, and a bed were all inside.

Your jaw drops open.

"THIS is the GUEST room?"

You step inside to examine it.

"Yep! We have a few of them, never know when company will stop in."

Not only was it such a fancy room, it was also next to Twilight's.

"Are you sure Trixie can stay in here?"

"Oh, yes. I mean, we offered to let you stay until we got your stage coach fixed so... Yeah."

You sit on the bed.

It was very plush and soft.

It felt almost like it could swallow you whole if it wanted to.

"I... I'm very grateful, Twilight."

You smile softly.

She smiles back.

"Well, I'm sure we'll have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Yeah..."

You weren't looking forward to meeting the others again.

You felt that they would reject you like the rest.

"Sleep well, Trixie."

"Uh.. You too..."

That night the same dream came back.

The same events...

The teasing kids.

The magical blast.

A shadowy figure loomed over you, laughing from the creeping darkness.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie? You're nothing but a fake! A sham!"

The darkness closed in on you.

You held your hooves up to try and protect yourself.

The shadows consumed you.

When you awoke, you were shaking, laying in the fetal position.

Twilight burst through the door.

"Trixie, are you alright!? Is someone else in here?"

She turns on the light and sees you.

You just look into the distance as you run through the imagery in your head over and over.

"Trixie?"

She waves a hoof in front of you.

You snap out of your stupor and begin to weep.

Instinctively, Twilight sat down next to you, sat you up, and held you in a hug.

"Shh, Trixie. No one is there. No one will get you. What happened?"

You clung to her as you spoke of the recurring nightmares.

How they always brought back the terrible memories, and somehow got worse and worse.

She merely rubs your back to calm you down.

"Is that what the whole boasting thing was about before? You were afraid of being alone?"

You nod, wiping the tears from your eyes.

"Yeah, it was... After all that, I didn't want to be seen like this..."

She merely just holds you.

"Because of your hard past, you were afraid to be yourself. I think I know who the map was pointing to, now."

You put one of your pillows onto Twilight's bed before hopping up on it.

"Are you sure about this, Twilight? Trixie doesn't mean to impose..."

She simply giggles a bit at your bashfulness.

"Don't be silly, Trixie. Applejack and Rarity had a slumber party with me before. I was a bit of a train wreck at first, but... It was still good!"

You give her a soft smile as you play with your mane a bit.

"Alright.."

You two spent the rest of the night gossiping and reading about magical spells and famous unicorns.

You eventually fell asleep from pure fatigue.

Tomorrow was another day.