Live for the Futureby FoxeyHoundChaptersChapter IChapter IIChapter IIIChapter IShe galloped as fast as her little filly legs could carry her, saddlebags filled with the bare necessities of survival bouncing around precariously on her back. The frigid winter wind was howling, blowing snow in the opposite direction she was sprinting in. It stung her eyes as well as the cuts and bruises on her face and body; but it did not bother nor slow her down. Her body was starting to feel numb, but she payed no attention to it. She had lost track of the time; she did not have the slightest idea of where she was; but she did not care. All that was on her mind in that moment was running as far and as long as she possibly could. If she knew how, she would cast a teleportation spell to Los Dressagelas, the "City of Angels" that was at the other end of Equestria, far away from Manehattan. Not only was it the farthest place from her hometown that she could think of, it was where Hollyhoof was, the majestic town where some of the biggest pony celebrities called home. Home... Her speed increased a little bit as she continued drifting through her thoughts. The little filly dreamed endlessly of someday making it big, of someday becoming a household name, of someday having thousands—millions of fan ponies love her. Love... The little filly pushed herself to run even faster and closed her eyes as a new wave of tears started streaming out of them, partially due to the wind, but mostly because of her anguish and despair. In her opinion, she had no reason of living anymore. She felt worthless and insignificant, useless and pathetic, hopeless and miserable. Suddenly, the pony's left forehoof nicked something. She felt a stinging pain followed by the sensation of becoming airborne, only to be quickly coupled by a rough collision with the earth. She tumbled and rolled and slid on her underbelly a few feet, and finally came to a halt. Spitting out grass and snow that got in her mouth, the poor creature wailed a desperate sob to the world, but got no response other than a gust of wind flinging snow chaotically about. Eyes clenched, she just laid there sobbing for what seemed like eons to her. Wiping her face with her hoof, the girl's water works began to settle down. It was then that by a stroke of serendipity she realized she had landed right by an indent in the large rock next to her. It wasn't exactly a cave, but it did extend far in, and had a roof like arch above it. Seeing the rock alcove and shelter, she furiously scrambled toward it. Although it wasn't any warmer than the conditions out in the open, she was grateful that she would at least be dry now. So she took off her saddlebags and sat down, pulling out a quilt given by her grandmother before she passed away, wrapping herself in it. Her mind began to slow down as she rested; unfortunately, this allowed memories of what happened at home to resurface. She suddenly began to feel the stinging pain of her cuts and bruises that covered her in various spots. Most of them were on her torso, tummy, and sides; father always seemed to favor kicking her more than anything. Not to say that's all he did; her scars and cuts matted with dry blood were evidence of that. She was able to smell the strong stench of alcohol and cigarettes on his breath as he shouted in her face, an occurrence that was as regular and routine as eating dinner every night. Well, every night is not exactly true. Supper was somewhat of a luxury to her, having been deprived of it for as long as four or five consecutive nights frequently. All this physical abuse took its toll on the poor pony, yet the emotional and mental damage pained her more. Never once had she heard a compliment from father, advice for situation she had faced, or any words of affection and love. It was always hateful remarks as to how much he despised her. There were moments where she wouldn't even get any sort of salutation or acknowledgment out of him. But what got her upset the most was that her mother—the mare she looked up to her whole life and loved more than anypony else—did absolutely nothing except stand and watch from the sidelines. There was the occasional plea for him stop. Of course, whenever she spoke against him, father would assault her as well. As a result, mother more often than not just bit her tongue. The young filly's eyelids became heavy as she slouched against the stone wall, fantasizing about Hollyhoof once again, seeking refuge in her dreams. It was then, as she drifted off to sleep, that she would decide to go on a quest to reach her new vocation; reaching fame. Someday ponies across Equestria would know and adore her, and they would love her unconditionally. They would idolize her and never forget her name: Trixie... ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ Twilight Sparkle loved her personal mentor with her whole heart, and not because of the fact that she was also princess of Equestria. With that said, the pupil always made it a priority to pencil in at least a few days each month to go back to her hometown—the royal capitol of Equestria, Canterlot—and pay her role-model a visit. She felt a bit uneasy since she did not have any findings about friendship to report. Even though the whole incident with her getting bent out of shape about being tardy with her reports was a couple months ago, the mare still felt the need to bring in a report every week. So the lavender pony paced around in her bedroom hectically, triple checking her bags to make sure she had everything she would need for the overnight stay in Canterlot. Being the perfectionist that she is, she wanted to be absolutely ready when the taxi she sent for arrived at the library. "I'm pretty sure you have everything, Twilight," spoke the baby dragon Spike as he strolled out of the bathroom. "Just sayin'." "I know, I just want to be absolutely sure." The pony felt positively sure that everything she needed was packed, until it hit her that everything she wanted was not. "Spike! Grab me the copy of 'Introduction to Psychoanalysis'!" demanded the mare intensely. A scurrying of little feet was heard going down the stairs as Twilight mentally chastised herself for nearly leaving the book behind. Twilight had the habit of researching different subjects in phases. Recently, she had learned about an old Equestrian doctor named Sigmund Zebroid, a neurologist who proposed theories on the unconscious mind and developed the method of psychoanalysis. This piqued the studious mare's curiosity, and—as always when she finds something new to learn—the psychological studies engulfed her immediately. She began to delve into Zebroid's other works, finding them to be rather fascinating (although his essays on sexuality was often something that she found quite difficult to go through without making her blush and sweat with licentiousness). "Here ya go, Twi'!" Twilight flinched slightly at being knocked out of her thoughts, realizing that it was just her assistant with the book she asked him to get, which she thanked him for as she levitated it into her pack. A knock on the door caught her attention; it was time to leave! Putting on her saddlebags and wrapping a scarf around her neck with haste, she gave one last bit of instructions. "Now you and Owlowiscious don't get into any trouble while I'm gone, okay? Speaking of which, where is Owlowiscious?" Almost as if on cue, said bird flew up from the lower level of the library. He gave a hoot of understanding, while Spike nodded in agreement, giving a childish military salute as well. Twilight smiled in acknowledgment and trotted down the flight of stairs to open the door. There, an alabaster unicorn stallion with a snow white tail and mane in a fancy suit, stood parallel to the tree library with closed eyes and a blank expression. "Your taxi, Miss Sparkle." he stated quite apathetically. "Thank you, kind sir," Twilight replied, stepping into the crisp, cool January air outside. For some reason, the sky caught her attention briefly as she strolled to her ride. The pegasus ponies had blanketed it with gray overcast clouds that did not look promising of good weather anytime soon. The kept the pony in a trance, until something came into view, snapping her out of the daze. It was the roof of the taxi, which she noticed she was already getting into. A slamming noise startled her as the sophisticated looking stallion closed the door. So she sat down in the empty seat, preparing herself for the worst part about any trip to Canterlot—the actual trip itself. From ponyville, it's about a three to four hour commute. So Twilight began the ritual of taking out her pillow and blanket, setting up her nap space in the cab, and getting herself comfortable; well, not until she gave one last reminder to her assistants. The mare stuck her head out the window. "Remember, no troublemaking, got that?!" "I know, I know! Sheesh." Spike responded in annoyance. "Buh-bye now!" "Hoo!" Owlowiscious chimed in. With that, Twilight sat back down in her seat as the taxi departed. With droopy eyelids and dim lighting from the gloomy weather outside, she found it useless to read along the way. Instead, the mare pulled out her mlp3 player along with her headphones, and shuffled through her playlists, muttering to herself the names. "Classical...Modern...Hip-Hop...Jazz...Ahh, punk!" With a magical press of the play button, Twilight slumped back into her temporary bed as Cinch-182—a childhood favorite of hers—started to play. Sweet memories of her filly days came along with it, as she unconsciously smiled to herself, remembering how Enema of the State was both the first record she bought and where she heard her first swear words. She can still recall the anger her parents had, which made her smile even more. For some reason, before she drifted off into sleep, the memory of Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom that helped earn her cutie mark ran through her head. ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ Trixie! Trixie! Trixie! The audience chanted the magician's name, hoping that doing so the performance would begin sooner. Trixie always loved the feeling of hearing her name being chanted like that. It was an exhilarating kind of euphoria that made her feel invincible. She could see the stage lighted by the boring house lights from where she was. Pretty soon they would bathe in colorful lights as she would bask in the glory of it all. Whenever asked she told everypony that she never got nervous for any performance; yet, although mostly true, there were always those few moments right before it was show time where the pit of her stomach would hollow out and she would break into a cold sweat. These sensations usually caused her to start second guessing herself, as well as mentally make hurtful, self-depricating comments. And they were never in her own voice; instead, they were the rough voice of her father. "Are you applebuckin' serious?! You want to become famous?! Nopony as worthless and useless as yourself would ever amount to anything in life, let alone become popular." The house lights went off, and an uproar of applause followed immediately afterward. There was no time to dwell on the past now; she had an audience to entertain. And as always, she was going to make sure that she gave them their bits worth. Activating her vocal enhancer spell, she took in a quiet breath and announced: "COME ONE, COME ALL! Watch in awe as The GREAT and POWERFUL TRIXIE—the most magical unicorn in ALL of Equestria—performs some of the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!" The sky blue unicorn teleported onto the stage, and with a puff of purple and blue smoke, she stood on her hind legs, forehooves raised high in the air. With her eyes shut, she beamed a glorious smile of pride and confidence, soaking in the audience's applause as well as the occasional "oohs" and "aahs". This is where she belonged, up on stage in the limelight; it was her therapeutic escape from the stress and drama of the real world. Once she got up there, she never wanted to go back. Unfortunately for Trixie, she was not able to cast her firework displays; many ponies had filed complaints about how obnoxious it was. This really got her upset, since they added extra flair and pizzazz to her introductions. But more importantly than that, without the bursting pops and crackles in her ears, sounds of the busy capital of Equestria was clear as a bell. She was slipping away from her reverie. Opening her eyes, she saw her surroundings begin to change. Her stage platform morphed into an old milk carton; her magician's cloak and hat went back to being a long sheet of drawing paper and a paper bag respectively; the majestic theatre crumbled down and was replaced with a high concrete wall of a building; the exits to backstage turned into a dirty, narrow alley; and her audience began to dwindle down, little by little, going from thousands of adoring ponies to only a few hundred, to only a small group of twenty, and, finally, to just one single pony; the reflection of her scraggly, malnourished self in a broken mirror. Trixie plopped her rear on to the carton dejectedly. Her vision became blurry with tears of sadness and fury as she trembled in anger and frustration. It simply was not fair, her woeful existence and the inertia of it all. Just as she thought like life was brightening up and changing for the better, Fate spits in her face and takes back all prospects of a happier future away. She felt as if her life was just a cruel, pestilent joke played by Him. Why...? She asked herself mentally. Why...WHY... "WHY!!??" Whipping off her make-belief stage outfit, she got up and hurled the milk carton at the mirror with all her strength, shattering it into a dozen more pieces. With all the blind rage surging through her body, the rest of the following was hazy to her. Shouting explicative after explicative at the top of her lungs, she tipped the big dumpster that was nearby over. It landed with a loud crash that echoed through the alley, all the garbage spewing out. They were thrown with reckless abandon by the furious mare; silverware, furniture, knickknacks, books, clothes, records, and dozens of other random paraphernalia soared through the air briefly before crashing down onto the pavement. By the time her riot was over—approximately ten minutes later—the alleyway looked like the aftermath of a small twister. And she hadn't stop on her own freewill; somepony in the vicinity had notified the police about her blowout. A warning and instructions to leave the area at once were given to her, which she complied to. Although still upset, her episode had drained a lot of her energy. So she quietly moped, crying to herself as she ambled down the avenue. Her head hung low, looking down at the sidewalk; but she was still able to feel the eyes of those who had saw what happened, appalled at such uncivilized behavior, stab her and cut through her flesh. Some were looks of confusion, others were of pity; but most were of spite and disgust. One can only tolerate so much silent, slanderous scrutiny before the shame and embarrassment becomes too overwhelming. She picked up the pace into a canter and then a gallop, putting distance between her and the witnesses. Finally, she teleported as she was galloping for extra measure, reappearing a couple city blocks down the avenue at an intersection, her apprehension slowly disappearing at the same time. The climate was beginning to affect Trixie. Her body was stiff, and she had fervent hunger and intense thirst. She had not had a bite of anything to eat since the morning the day before. Discomfort in her hooves from stomping around in broken glass was now known as well. Thankfully she had teleported right by the facade of a large Four Seasons hotel. Usually, she did not even think about entering a place as refined as a Four Seasons hotel; but virtually all of Canterlot was like that. Which is why ever since she got there four days ago she resided in the alleyway, until now. However, with her body numb, throat dry, and stomach aching at the moment, she didn't care if she stuck out like a sore hoof. The mare made a beeline for the edifice, ignoring the awful pain in her hooves, and entered the lobby, ignoring the looks from others. The warmth that bathed her as she walked in felt so glorious that her knees nearly buckled. Her nostrils took in the clean air filled with the aroma of a restaurant and she became light-headed, wobbling dizzily momentarily. The lobby had a high ceiling and an enormous commons area, filled with couches, lounge chairs, and tables. Going off on a tangent on the right were big marble steps that led to the elevators. On the opposite side of the massive room a window paned wall revealed a spectacular pool, though it was closed this time of year. Trixie didn't know how long she was zoned out for, but she was snapped out of it when a bright yellow earth mare with a tail and mane of a darker yellow and emerald eyes walked up to her. "Ma'am? Excuse me, ma'am?" she inquired, getting Trixie's attention at last. "Ma'am, this is a high-class establishment, and given your...unsanitary appearance and...offensive stench, we ask that you please leave the building. You are more than welcome to return once you've bathed and groomed yourself." Trixie lightly lowered her head to her hoofpit and sniffed, vomiting in her mouth slightly. Dear Celestia, I smell rotten! This made her frown. No way was she going back outside in the cold, nor was she going to starve. "Miss," the blue one started. "Please believe me when I say that I am sincerely sorry for my awful condition, but I have been living in an alleyway for the past four days and five nights due to me being homeless." She began to tear up. "Please, miss, I'm starving." The employee, biting her lip nervously, was stuck between sticking with the rules and lending a helping hoof to the poor pony. With quick glances around her making no other workers were watching, the mare leaned in close and whispered. "Alright, I'll see if I can get you anything. In the meantime, you can wait in the commons. Just...Try to stay as hidden and far away from everypony else as possible. I shouldn't even be doing this, but..." she took in Trixie's thin body and ragged mane, tail, and coat. "...I just can't bring myself to kick you out into the cold, not the way you are..." "Oh, miss!" Trixie squeaked in relief, falling to her knees "Thank you ever so much, I can't express how grateful and happy I am." "You're very welcome, ma'am." She responded, lifting the blue mare onto her hooves again. "Just do what I told you. Over there—" she pointed a hoof to a couch in the back corner of the room that was shrouded by a shadow. "—lay low, okay." Trixie heavily nodded, and began to trot over to where she had been directed to go, filled happiness. Chapter IIHA-CHEEEW! The little pony woke up with a fright when she sneezed and hit her nose against the rock wall, becoming delirious for a brief moment. Cautiously, she brought her hoof up to massage it, which caused her to whimper in pain. It took her a while to notice the carmine blood on her hoof from hitting her nose against the hard, rocky surface. She had just been awakened from a nightmare beginning to form. Thankfully she woke up before anything horrible started to happen. Prolonging a tired and sad exhaling breath, she slumped back against the smooth rock wall. Her life as a vagabond had only started the night prior, yet she already felt defeated. The thought of going back home left her petrified with terror and panic, though. Her parents would be absolutely infuriated; she would most likely receive the beating of her life from her father. Abuse wouldn't be all, either. Whenever she did something that really enraged her father, he would start to touch her, as well as commit other types of inappropriate harassment that she did not want to think about. The filly would rather starve or freeze to death than return home. Her eyes drifted over to a pile of small stones that sat a few feet away from her. She levitated three of them over to her using her magic. Her underdeveloped skills, however, made them wobble in the air rather than smoothly hovering toward her. When they were in front of her face, she held them still, suspended in the air. Carefully, she started to maneuver the little rocks in a circular motion, making them spin. Her eyes squinted in concentration as she gradually increased the rotation's speed until she reached her current limit of skill. The rocks were now spinning at a moderately fast pace. Now she attempted adding an extra dimension to the trick: making each rock spin sideways while simultaneously having them rotate collectively in a circle. Her tongue poked out as she concentrated heavily on pulling off the little feat. It was slowly beginning to work; each rock was now individually spinning on their own axis, albeit just barely. The strain was too strong for her too keep it going, though. That was one thing she had difficulty with, building her stamina. So she abruptly stopped spinning the stones and let them fall to the ground in front of her. Trixie felt like she had just galloped a whole marathon. Her breath was short and she felt little drops of sweat on her forehead, which she wiped off with her hoof. Becoming a big name magician was the filly's ultimate goal in life, which made her practice superfluously. She got the idea after reading an article about an up and coming magician from Chicacolt named Abby Cadabra. The article described in detail the amazing acts of magic the pony performed that bedazzled the audience, as well as leaving them mystified. One of her highlighted stunts was casting an illusion spell that reportedly made it seem as if there were ten or more duplicates of her. She killed the lights, sending the theater into pitch black darkness so that nopony knew which was the actual Abby when they came back on. Then, Abby manipulated the copies of herself to interact with audience members. One such pony told the interviewers that one of the duplicates asked to shake his hoof after asking what his name was; when he touched the copy's hoof, it vanished in a puff of smoke. In the end, everypony was more than satisfied with what they paid for and believed the show to be spectacular. The headline of the article spawned a new and now regularly used nickname for the magician; it read "Abby Cadabra: The Chick of Tricks". This name sat with the little filly, and she wanted to come up with a stage name for herself, which is where she came up with 'Trixie'. She hoped that one day she would be able to astonish ponies with her impressive and amazing magic. Her shows would leave ponies speechless with their jaws hanging open. She would one day be famous and popular, idolized and admired, great and powerful. "Great and powerful..." Trixie quietly muttered. Before she could expand on her thought, though, the unmistakable feeling of nature calling presented itself to her. She groaned in irritation as she got on her hooves. "Well, Trixie," she mumbled to herself. "Your first day on your own..." With that, she packed her quilt, and roamed out of the refuge, searching for a place to relieve herself. ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ "Here you are, miss. I hope everything is alright with you." The words from the yellow front desk mare went through Trixie's one ear and out the other. Her eyes were fixated on the plate of food the employee just placed on a marble table in front of her, drooling over how appetizing it all looked. Hot and fresh bread with butter, a big plate of hay salad with carrots, lettuce, and tomatoes, french onion soup, and a tall glass of ice cold water to top it all off. Trixie looked up at the concierge mare, who noticed tears starting to form in the magician's eyes. "Oh ma'am...I can never thank you enough for this." The mare stood there smiling in sympathy. "Oh, it's no problem. Just remember to stay hidden as much as possible; the hotel manager would NOT be pleased if he knew I let somepony like you in here." "Oh, yes, of course, absolutely, I will!" They both chuckled awkwardly, shifting their eyes to other objects in the immense room to avoid eye contact with the other. While she wasn't looking, Trixie gazed up at the concierge. Her lip began to quiver, and she was on the brink of tears. But she held it in to appear strong. Suddenly, the blue mare hopped out of her seat and gave the other mare a tight embrace, which startled her and made her begin to blush. Her stomach started to churn from the horrid stench the other was emitting, but decided to let it be for the time being and comfort the distraught pony. Five seconds or so went by before Trixie's eyes shot open and she backed away from the other pony. "I'm terribly sorry, ma'am, I completely forgot about the repulsive condition that I'm in! Please, I'm—" "Hey, hey, hey, easy!" the employee interrupted. "It's perfectly fine, I'll just change out of this uniform and put on a clean one. You just worry about getting food in your system." The pony trotted back to the front, wondering how she was going to find a way to sneak out and change into a fresh uniform. Meanwhile, Trixie darted her eyes quickly to check if anypony else was watching her, relieved to find out that nopony could really see her from where she was at. Abandoning proper etiquette, she began to grab hoof-fulls of her food and shoving them into her eager mouth, levitating her spoon simultaneously to scoop up soup to eat. She silently prayed that her undernourished stomach would allow her to take in all of her food and beverage. She felt glorious; it was as if a hole in her abdomen was being filled. Not only was her starvation being satiated, but she was correct about the food itself being incredibly tasty and delicious. It wasn't long at all before she had completely polished off her plate and emptied her glass of water. She felt a whole lot better than she had felt in a long time. As she slouched back in the cozy hoofchair, she began to feel the discomfort of feeling like she was going to explode. She leaned back over and clutched her stomach gently, groaning in mild pain. Then, without warning— BAAAAAHH! Her hoof quickly covered her mouth as she shrunk down in the chair. She hoped that nopony heard her release the loud belch. It was such plebeian behavior, she knew it, but she couldn't help herself. Besides, she realized that it made her stomach feel infinitely better. "I can see that you're all better." Trixie flinched in surprise. The employee who was so kind enough to provide her with the meal stood next to the chair, donning a fresh, new uniform, who then chuckled quietly to herself. It was apparent that she had heard, much to Trixie's chagrin. "Please excuse my rude behavior." she answered in embarrassment. "Oh, it's alright. I'll just take this dirty silverware and bring it to the back kitchen of the restaurant." "Thank you so much." "Now I'll let you relax here five more minutes or so, but you'll have to get going soon. I truly am sorry." "Now don't be," persuaded Trixie. "You've done so much already." "Well, you're absolutely welcome, miss...?" The blue mare was confused as to what the other was trying to get at, but soon realized what it is. "The name is Trixie, ma'am." "Trixie...I think I've heard that name before..." "Really?" Trixie replied softly. "Yeah..." the yellow mare silently thought shortly, before shaking off it off. "Well, like I said, five more minutes or so." "Alright. Thank you very much." With that, the employee left to return the dirty dishes. The magician frowned, thinking back to when she was well on her way to stardom. But that all crumbled, and she was sure that she would always remain just a blip on the radar. ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ "It was so wonderful to see you again, Twilight. Goodbye!" "Goodbye, Princess! It was wonderful to see you as well!" The princess of Equestria simply gave a small smile and waved her hoof in goodbye as her star protégé left the private meeting room that was reserved for their get together on the third floor of the Royal Canterlot Library. She was genuinely happy from her meeting with her mentor. The princess, in Twilight's mind, was like another parent or guardian, a matriarch to whom she adored and loved unconditionally. She step out and reentered the amazing library she admired so much. A feeling of nostalgia hit her; she could recall practically living in this building like it was only the day before. The first thing she noted was the smell—a scent she was enamored with, that of fresh books and their pages. The pony took in a deep breath, let the air enter her nostrils, and finally released a soft sigh of contentment. Then came the books themselves. Hundreds and hundreds of shelves filled to the brim with seemingly endless amount of books and novels. They were like a magnet, pulling Twilight in, begging her to forget the world and get lost within the pages of one of them. Be it an exciting and spellbinding story, or an interesting and informative essay, it didn't matter; Twilight would be more than willing to read it. The temptation from the book shelves was strong, but Twilight had other matters to attend to, so she resisted them with all her will power and moved on. Turning away from the rows of books, she proceeded to canter over to the staircase that led to the second and ground level. Her hooves clopped quite loudly in her ears, and she feared she was being too noisy. The librarian at the front desk gave her a reassuring wink and smile when Twilight silently checked. She nodded back, relieved. Regardless of the librarian's answer, her hoofsteps were carefully placed the rest of the way down the stairs anyway. Her thoughts drifted to what she talked about with the princess. There were the obvious topics that got the conversation started, things such as how they had been lately and if anything new was going on. The rest of their chat was mainly comprised of memories. Of course, there was nothing wrong with just reminiscing. One such memory popped up immediately in the conversation: The Grand Galloping Gala. Twilight had reached the point where the memory of her and her friends' faux pa at the previous one became more amusing rather than embarrassing. She was able to brush the dirt off her mane from that experience and simply have a good laugh about it. The wonder of whether or not the festivity would continue this year despite the whole incident had been much of a concern to her, and was glad to hear that there was to be another one this year. And list just went on and on. The parasprites swarming Ponyville; the poison-joke being misconstrued as a curse by Zecora; Princess Luna wanting to be accepted and adored by everypony (Twilight remembered to ask how she was, happy to know that she was doing fine); Pinkie Pie getting bent out of shape when she thought all her friends didn't love her anymore; the conflict of territorial ownership between the buffalo and the Appaloosians. Twilight even recalled the day she left for Ponyville. If it hadn't been for that experience, who knows where she would be right now. She probably would still be in Canterlot, studying endlessly, and still a recluse with nopony to call a friend. Of course, she never gave friendship much thought other than at how trivial she believed it was. How could she have been so ignorant, so asinine, so fallacious? It still bemused her, but she tried to not dwell on it excessively. The past was a history made up of old and fragile memories, and she needed to focus on the present and plan for the future. They talked a bunch, but out of the vast collection, the memory of Trixie and the whole Ursa Minor incident was more prominent than any other one. Something about the magician unicorn infatuated Twilight Sparkle and she could not figure out why. Was it her confidence that attracted the lavender pony? Twilight's research on the intuitive social behaviors of ponies concluded that one was more drawn to those with high self-esteem. Even though Trixie took it way too far—which made her an annoying, pompous braggart—deep down, she couldn't help but admire the strong credence Trixie had. It would make sense; Twilight was always a pony who was quick to doubt herself more than believing that she was capable of doing something. That was a trait she most definitely envied. Perhaps it was her appreciation of the magician's natural talent, which eerily reflected her own. Trixie was different, however. The way Twilight had learned magic—thus affecting the way she used it—was through a strict and methodical systematic structure. It was clear to her that Trixie was entirely self-taught. The signs and idiosyncrasies were subtle, but she was still able to notice them considerably. It was yet another thing she envied; everything she would do was always done by the book, and she often wishes she could just wing it and learn on her own. The mare didn't bring these feelings up in conversation; whatever it was, she didn't think it was anything worth dwelling on excessively. In no time, she had reached the bottom level and was exiting the library, walking down the grand steps. At the bottom she stood on the sidewalk and looked up at the structure; it still amazed her as much as it did when she had lived in this city. Money was sort of an issue with her. She figured she could spare the bits that she had and walk to the hotel she was staying at—the Four Seasons—which wasn't too much of a hike from where she was. So with a light bounce in her step, she trotted up the pathway to the intersection on the left-hoof side of the library. As she waited for the signal that it was okay to cross the street, she pulled out her MLP3 player and pressed shuffle. The lovely sound of a synthesized strings section came in, holding out a long, single note. It was soon followed by a steady rhythm of sticks and percussion, and then the low riff of a bass guitar. I've been here before a few times... And I'm quite aware we're dying... The signal was given, but Twilight stood in a daze momentarily. This was one of her favorite songs and it managed to captivate her every time she heard it. And your hooves, they shake the goodbyes... And I'll take you back if you'd have me... "Do you mind moving along?" Twilight turned around to see an annoyed stallion, and finally realized she could go across. With a rubicund complexion, she uttered an apology and went on her way. So here I am, I'm trying... So here I am, are you ready? Suddenly the image of Trixie popped into the pony's head. She was able to see her face, her gorgeous honeydew mane that complimented her true blue fur beautifully, as well as her stunning plum irises. Twilight was perplexed; why was she having these thoughts? Come on, Let me hold you, touch you, feel you Always... Kiss you, taste you all night Always... She wanted to stop listening to the song, no matter how much she loved it; but she kept it on, believing that it was simply hearing the song again in a long while that was putting her in this enigmatic state of mind. Unbeknown-st to her, however, it was more than just that. And I miss your laugh, your smile... I'll admit I'm wrong if you tell me... I'm so sick of fights; I hate them... Let's start this again for real... Twilight switched to the next song, "Equestrian Idiot" by Green Hay. A sigh of relief released itself from the pony's mouth as the bizarre feelings went away. Once again, as she reached the steps to the entrance of her hotel, she wondered why the magician was so fascinating to her, but quickly decided to forget about it. Perhaps I should just go up to my room and get some well deserved shut-eye Twilight thought. The pony wasted no time walking through the front doors and trotting over to the front desk to get everything in order. She was assisted by a sunshine yellow mare with an amber yellow tail and mane and luscious green eyes. "Hi. Princess Celestia has a deluxe suite reserved for me." Twilight informed her. She always felt a little stuck-up whenever she tells ponies that she gets the highest accommodations when in Canterlot. "Oh, you must be Twilight Sparkle, correct?" "Yes! How'd you know?" "It's not often that the princess of Equestria reserves a room for somepony here," stated the mare. "And when she does, it's nopony else but you." "Oh, heh, right." Twilight stammered, flopping her ears down in embarrassment. The employee barely acknowledged her, though, for she was looking past Twilight a bit. "I hope you're better now, ma'am." she told the mystery pony behind Twilight. "Unfortunately, you'll have to leave the hotel now." she added penitently. "Like I said earlier, I'm truly sorry and really hope you understand." "Oh, I understand perfectly. Thank you so much!" the other pony responded. Twilight froze. Her eyes widened and her ears perked up. The familiarity in the voice was intense. She knew she had heard it somewhere before but wasn't able to put a hoof on it. The front desk receptionist returned her attention to Twilight. "Anyway, here is your room key, Miss Sparkle. You are on the 21st floor, room 2112." "...Twilight?" the pony behind her asked incredulously. With that, it hit Twilight as to who it was that was behind her. She just didn't believe it. Sure enough, though, when she slowly turned her head around to see who it was, her thoughts were proven correct. She swallowed. "Trixie?" Chapter IIIThe little filly sighed in relief as she drained herself of all the liquid waste that had built up inside her while she was asleep. Her eyes drifted down and behind her a little bit to see steam rising from where it was landing. Despite the bright sun shining down, it was still uncomfortably cold, and the thought of how warm it must have been enticed her. She was extremely tempted to lather some of it on herself. With a quick shake of her head, she immediately regained her senses, nearly vomiting at the thought she just had. When she was done, she got up and levitated her quilt out of her pack. She had just stowed it away only five minutes or so before, but regretted it in no time when she stepped out of the rock cave where she had spent the night in. Before doing anything else with it, she took a moment to gaze at the design. She was always captivated by the faint-blue and sunshine-yellow stars and dots that were stitched sporadically on top of the deep purple fabric. Her grandmother made her a magician's hat that matched the design of the quilt (which Trixie had inside her pack as well). She told her that she could wear the hat and the quilt as a cape whenever she wanted to practice her magic. Trixie loved her grandmother. Father always put her down, and Mother—a practical thinker—would often tell her daughter how unlikely it was that she would ever get anywhere performing magic. Her grandmother was the only pony she ever knew who truly had faith in her and encouraged her ambitions. She would have gone to her house instead of just running off into unknown territory, but she knew that her grandmother would take her back to her home. As much as Trixie loved her, she hated how she was oblivious to the way Father treated her granddaughter. She levitated the quilt and tied it around her body into a cape. It was a bit long for her, and dragged against the snow-covered ground behind her; so she levitated the end and tied it together in a bun to keep it from touching the ground. After that, she brought out her magician's hat and carefully placed it upon her head. The hat was also a big too big for her, and slouched forward into her eyes. But she didn't mind; some day soon she would fit into her stage outfit perfectly. As she stepped out of the patch of bushes where she used the restroom, her breath was taken away. In front of her was a picturesque panorama of the landscape and its purlieus that stretched out before her. From where she was standing, she could see that she was in the basin of a large valley full of lush evergreen trees. A frozen river about a mile down from where the filly was twisted and turned, cutting its way through the valley, until finally it curved to the left and out of sight behind the incline of a big hill. It overawed the little filly. She had never been exposed to anything other than busy streets and skyscrapers that loomed above them. Mountains were things that she had only seen inside her school textbooks. Her body began to feel numb as a result of the cold air, but she just sat down and stared at the landscape for a few more minutes. She was so zoned out that she didn't notice that there were no signs of any civilized establishments. When she did notice, her mood instantly changed from contentment to frustration. "Come on, Trixie," she motivated herself. "Just put one hoof in front of the other." With that, she got up, put her saddlebags on, and slowly made her way down to the frozen river below. ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ The two exchanged no words; just stood and stared at the other in disbelief. Trixie was quick to bring herself out of her stupor, however; she resumed to put on a boastful expression, turning her head away from Twilight and slightly tilting it upward. "Well, well, well," Trixie began in a fake haughty tone of voice. "We meet once more, Twilight Sparkle." The lavender pony was doubtful on the realness of Trixie's tone; It sounded somewhat stilted. Regardless, she continued the conversation, albeit awkwardly. "Oh Hi there, Trixie. How have you been?" The magician scoffed. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has been absolutely wonderful, as always." She scowled as she added, "And she was perfectly fine until she spotted you just now." Twilight frowned. "Look, Trixie, I believe we got off on the wrong hoof last time we met, and, as a pony who believes in second chances, I—" the pony stopped her sentence abruptly, quietly sniffing the aroma that floated around the magician. Her face scrunched up in disgust. "Ugh, what is that awful smell?" Trixie began to panic, but did her best to disguise it from the other pony. "Ahem, The Great and Powerful Trixie does not know what you're talking about, nor does she smell any—" "Good gracious, Trixie. I think it's you!" "Uh, ummm..." sputtered the nervous pony. Her eyes hastily darted to different objects within the grand lobby, afraid of making direct eye contact with Twilight. "And dear Celestia, your body! It's so thin!" Trixie gratefully took this comment as an opportunity to steer the purple mare's attention from the stench. She slightly flaunted her body and flashed a smug grin. "Well, The Great and Powerful Trixie accepts your compliment, but she already knows she's quite the piece of eye candy." "That's not what I meant," explained Twilight in concern. "I mean you're so thin, like you've been starved for quite some time." Trixie's masquerade was beginning to crumble. "I, erm...Trixie has...She's..." She wasn't able to finish her sentence; her voice simply trailed off as she hung her head down and gazed at the carpeted floor. Twilight hesitantly took the opportunity to squeeze in a question. "Is everything alright, Trixie? You really don't look so good..." Trixie's lip quivered as her breath became labored and her body began to shake. Suddenly, a bright blue light that matched the magician's coat flashed. When everything returned to normal, Trixie was no longer there. "Trixie?!" Twilight called out in surprise as she shifted her eyes all over the lobby, desperately seeking out the other mare. "Out there, Miss Sparkle!" the concierge behind the desk shouted. Her hoof was pointing out the front doors, and sure enough, Twilight spotted Trixie sprinting down the stairs in a hurry. The lavender pony didn't take a second longer to hesitate. She levitated her pack and shoved it onto yellow one. "Could you watch my saddlebags, please!? Thank you!" With that, Twilight teleported onto the sidewalk, standing in front of the path Trixie was galloping on. "Trixie, wait a minute!" Trixie saw her, and Trixie lit her horn with magic, ready to teleport again. Twilight hastily latched her magic onto the magician's tail in an attempt to keep her from escaping again. Her efforts were thwarted, though; Twilight soon felt herself being sucked in, as if there was some sort of invisible black hole pulling her in. Her head became light and dizzy, and her stomach started to feel sick. Before she knew it, she was inside a dark alleyway not far from the Four Seasons. As she noticed the blue mare was still in front of her, she quickly realized that she had gotten caught in Trixie's teleportation spell. It was clear to see that she was equally disoriented from the mix up, and, needless to say, the two of them almost immediately tumbled to the pavement ground when the spell was completed, sending them rolling into a pile of cardboard boxes. It took a moment for both of them to regain their senses, and Twilight was the first do so. Seeing that she had landed on top of Trixie, her hooves firmly dug into her shoulders to prevent her from running off again. Soon, the magician realized the predicament, and began to squirm around, trying to break free from the other pony's restricting clutches. "Trixie!" Twilight shouted. Trixie continued to thrash about, though, eyes clenched tight. "Trixie, look at me!" Twilight's words finally hit Trixie. Soon she stopped her useless attempts at breaking free and stared up into her eyes, lip quivering. "Trixie, what is the matter?!" Twilight asked forcefully, unintentionally sounding angry and invasive. And that was it. Trixie wasn't able to hold back her anguish any longer. A flood of tears began pouring out of her eyes and she wailed in despair. Twilight, thrown off guard, slowly backed off of her and sat up against a brick wall, giving the upset mare some room. Apparently, though, this wasn't what the other wanted; she was soon pounced on by Trixie, who wrapped her hooves around her and squeezed her into a tight embrace. Twilight hesitantly returned the sign of affection, more confused than ever. Nevertheless, there was evidently something wrong with Trixie, and she wanted to make sure she got better. In her mind, she began to wonder why she was offering solace to a pony who was nothing but a narcissistic rogue the last time she had seen her. If she were anypony else, she would have let the pompous mare wallow in her sorrow, perhaps even enjoyed watching as she drowned in it. But she wasn't like that; she never was. She was—and always had been—a believer of the potential everypony had of being great, and that there was no such thing as true and pure evil. Along with this, she also felt that everypony always deserved at least a second chance to redeem themselves. Twilight was so lost in her thoughts that it took her a moment to realize that Trixie was silently whispering something between her ragged breaths. Focusing her auditory sense on what it was she was saying, she heard the following flow out of Trixie's mouth: "...I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm so, so sorry..." Inexplicably, Twilight softly responded, soothing the distraught pony. "It's okay, everything's alright...You're going to be fine..."
Chapter IShe galloped as fast as her little filly legs could carry her, saddlebags filled with the bare necessities of survival bouncing around precariously on her back. The frigid winter wind was howling, blowing snow in the opposite direction she was sprinting in. It stung her eyes as well as the cuts and bruises on her face and body; but it did not bother nor slow her down. Her body was starting to feel numb, but she payed no attention to it. She had lost track of the time; she did not have the slightest idea of where she was; but she did not care. All that was on her mind in that moment was running as far and as long as she possibly could. If she knew how, she would cast a teleportation spell to Los Dressagelas, the "City of Angels" that was at the other end of Equestria, far away from Manehattan. Not only was it the farthest place from her hometown that she could think of, it was where Hollyhoof was, the majestic town where some of the biggest pony celebrities called home. Home... Her speed increased a little bit as she continued drifting through her thoughts. The little filly dreamed endlessly of someday making it big, of someday becoming a household name, of someday having thousands—millions of fan ponies love her. Love... The little filly pushed herself to run even faster and closed her eyes as a new wave of tears started streaming out of them, partially due to the wind, but mostly because of her anguish and despair. In her opinion, she had no reason of living anymore. She felt worthless and insignificant, useless and pathetic, hopeless and miserable. Suddenly, the pony's left forehoof nicked something. She felt a stinging pain followed by the sensation of becoming airborne, only to be quickly coupled by a rough collision with the earth. She tumbled and rolled and slid on her underbelly a few feet, and finally came to a halt. Spitting out grass and snow that got in her mouth, the poor creature wailed a desperate sob to the world, but got no response other than a gust of wind flinging snow chaotically about. Eyes clenched, she just laid there sobbing for what seemed like eons to her. Wiping her face with her hoof, the girl's water works began to settle down. It was then that by a stroke of serendipity she realized she had landed right by an indent in the large rock next to her. It wasn't exactly a cave, but it did extend far in, and had a roof like arch above it. Seeing the rock alcove and shelter, she furiously scrambled toward it. Although it wasn't any warmer than the conditions out in the open, she was grateful that she would at least be dry now. So she took off her saddlebags and sat down, pulling out a quilt given by her grandmother before she passed away, wrapping herself in it. Her mind began to slow down as she rested; unfortunately, this allowed memories of what happened at home to resurface. She suddenly began to feel the stinging pain of her cuts and bruises that covered her in various spots. Most of them were on her torso, tummy, and sides; father always seemed to favor kicking her more than anything. Not to say that's all he did; her scars and cuts matted with dry blood were evidence of that. She was able to smell the strong stench of alcohol and cigarettes on his breath as he shouted in her face, an occurrence that was as regular and routine as eating dinner every night. Well, every night is not exactly true. Supper was somewhat of a luxury to her, having been deprived of it for as long as four or five consecutive nights frequently. All this physical abuse took its toll on the poor pony, yet the emotional and mental damage pained her more. Never once had she heard a compliment from father, advice for situation she had faced, or any words of affection and love. It was always hateful remarks as to how much he despised her. There were moments where she wouldn't even get any sort of salutation or acknowledgment out of him. But what got her upset the most was that her mother—the mare she looked up to her whole life and loved more than anypony else—did absolutely nothing except stand and watch from the sidelines. There was the occasional plea for him stop. Of course, whenever she spoke against him, father would assault her as well. As a result, mother more often than not just bit her tongue. The young filly's eyelids became heavy as she slouched against the stone wall, fantasizing about Hollyhoof once again, seeking refuge in her dreams. It was then, as she drifted off to sleep, that she would decide to go on a quest to reach her new vocation; reaching fame. Someday ponies across Equestria would know and adore her, and they would love her unconditionally. They would idolize her and never forget her name: Trixie... ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ Twilight Sparkle loved her personal mentor with her whole heart, and not because of the fact that she was also princess of Equestria. With that said, the pupil always made it a priority to pencil in at least a few days each month to go back to her hometown—the royal capitol of Equestria, Canterlot—and pay her role-model a visit. She felt a bit uneasy since she did not have any findings about friendship to report. Even though the whole incident with her getting bent out of shape about being tardy with her reports was a couple months ago, the mare still felt the need to bring in a report every week. So the lavender pony paced around in her bedroom hectically, triple checking her bags to make sure she had everything she would need for the overnight stay in Canterlot. Being the perfectionist that she is, she wanted to be absolutely ready when the taxi she sent for arrived at the library. "I'm pretty sure you have everything, Twilight," spoke the baby dragon Spike as he strolled out of the bathroom. "Just sayin'." "I know, I just want to be absolutely sure." The pony felt positively sure that everything she needed was packed, until it hit her that everything she wanted was not. "Spike! Grab me the copy of 'Introduction to Psychoanalysis'!" demanded the mare intensely. A scurrying of little feet was heard going down the stairs as Twilight mentally chastised herself for nearly leaving the book behind. Twilight had the habit of researching different subjects in phases. Recently, she had learned about an old Equestrian doctor named Sigmund Zebroid, a neurologist who proposed theories on the unconscious mind and developed the method of psychoanalysis. This piqued the studious mare's curiosity, and—as always when she finds something new to learn—the psychological studies engulfed her immediately. She began to delve into Zebroid's other works, finding them to be rather fascinating (although his essays on sexuality was often something that she found quite difficult to go through without making her blush and sweat with licentiousness). "Here ya go, Twi'!" Twilight flinched slightly at being knocked out of her thoughts, realizing that it was just her assistant with the book she asked him to get, which she thanked him for as she levitated it into her pack. A knock on the door caught her attention; it was time to leave! Putting on her saddlebags and wrapping a scarf around her neck with haste, she gave one last bit of instructions. "Now you and Owlowiscious don't get into any trouble while I'm gone, okay? Speaking of which, where is Owlowiscious?" Almost as if on cue, said bird flew up from the lower level of the library. He gave a hoot of understanding, while Spike nodded in agreement, giving a childish military salute as well. Twilight smiled in acknowledgment and trotted down the flight of stairs to open the door. There, an alabaster unicorn stallion with a snow white tail and mane in a fancy suit, stood parallel to the tree library with closed eyes and a blank expression. "Your taxi, Miss Sparkle." he stated quite apathetically. "Thank you, kind sir," Twilight replied, stepping into the crisp, cool January air outside. For some reason, the sky caught her attention briefly as she strolled to her ride. The pegasus ponies had blanketed it with gray overcast clouds that did not look promising of good weather anytime soon. The kept the pony in a trance, until something came into view, snapping her out of the daze. It was the roof of the taxi, which she noticed she was already getting into. A slamming noise startled her as the sophisticated looking stallion closed the door. So she sat down in the empty seat, preparing herself for the worst part about any trip to Canterlot—the actual trip itself. From ponyville, it's about a three to four hour commute. So Twilight began the ritual of taking out her pillow and blanket, setting up her nap space in the cab, and getting herself comfortable; well, not until she gave one last reminder to her assistants. The mare stuck her head out the window. "Remember, no troublemaking, got that?!" "I know, I know! Sheesh." Spike responded in annoyance. "Buh-bye now!" "Hoo!" Owlowiscious chimed in. With that, Twilight sat back down in her seat as the taxi departed. With droopy eyelids and dim lighting from the gloomy weather outside, she found it useless to read along the way. Instead, the mare pulled out her mlp3 player along with her headphones, and shuffled through her playlists, muttering to herself the names. "Classical...Modern...Hip-Hop...Jazz...Ahh, punk!" With a magical press of the play button, Twilight slumped back into her temporary bed as Cinch-182—a childhood favorite of hers—started to play. Sweet memories of her filly days came along with it, as she unconsciously smiled to herself, remembering how Enema of the State was both the first record she bought and where she heard her first swear words. She can still recall the anger her parents had, which made her smile even more. For some reason, before she drifted off into sleep, the memory of Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom that helped earn her cutie mark ran through her head. ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ ~//~ Trixie! Trixie! Trixie! The audience chanted the magician's name, hoping that doing so the performance would begin sooner. Trixie always loved the feeling of hearing her name being chanted like that. It was an exhilarating kind of euphoria that made her feel invincible. She could see the stage lighted by the boring house lights from where she was. Pretty soon they would bathe in colorful lights as she would bask in the glory of it all. Whenever asked she told everypony that she never got nervous for any performance; yet, although mostly true, there were always those few moments right before it was show time where the pit of her stomach would hollow out and she would break into a cold sweat. These sensations usually caused her to start second guessing herself, as well as mentally make hurtful, self-depricating comments. And they were never in her own voice; instead, they were the rough voice of her father. "Are you applebuckin' serious?! You want to become famous?! Nopony as worthless and useless as yourself would ever amount to anything in life, let alone become popular." The house lights went off, and an uproar of applause followed immediately afterward. There was no time to dwell on the past now; she had an audience to entertain. And as always, she was going to make sure that she gave them their bits worth. Activating her vocal enhancer spell, she took in a quiet breath and announced: "COME ONE, COME ALL! Watch in awe as The GREAT and POWERFUL TRIXIE—the most magical unicorn in ALL of Equestria—performs some of the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!" The sky blue unicorn teleported onto the stage, and with a puff of purple and blue smoke, she stood on her hind legs, forehooves raised high in the air. With her eyes shut, she beamed a glorious smile of pride and confidence, soaking in the audience's applause as well as the occasional "oohs" and "aahs". This is where she belonged, up on stage in the limelight; it was her therapeutic escape from the stress and drama of the real world. Once she got up there, she never wanted to go back. Unfortunately for Trixie, she was not able to cast her firework displays; many ponies had filed complaints about how obnoxious it was. This really got her upset, since they added extra flair and pizzazz to her introductions. But more importantly than that, without the bursting pops and crackles in her ears, sounds of the busy capital of Equestria was clear as a bell. She was slipping away from her reverie. Opening her eyes, she saw her surroundings begin to change. Her stage platform morphed into an old milk carton; her magician's cloak and hat went back to being a long sheet of drawing paper and a paper bag respectively; the majestic theatre crumbled down and was replaced with a high concrete wall of a building; the exits to backstage turned into a dirty, narrow alley; and her audience began to dwindle down, little by little, going from thousands of adoring ponies to only a few hundred, to only a small group of twenty, and, finally, to just one single pony; the reflection of her scraggly, malnourished self in a broken mirror. Trixie plopped her rear on to the carton dejectedly. Her vision became blurry with tears of sadness and fury as she trembled in anger and frustration. It simply was not fair, her woeful existence and the inertia of it all. Just as she thought like life was brightening up and changing for the better, Fate spits in her face and takes back all prospects of a happier future away. She felt as if her life was just a cruel, pestilent joke played by Him. Why...? She asked herself mentally. Why...WHY... "WHY!!??" Whipping off her make-belief stage outfit, she got up and hurled the milk carton at the mirror with all her strength, shattering it into a dozen more pieces. With all the blind rage surging through her body, the rest of the following was hazy to her. Shouting explicative after explicative at the top of her lungs, she tipped the big dumpster that was nearby over. It landed with a loud crash that echoed through the alley, all the garbage spewing out. They were thrown with reckless abandon by the furious mare; silverware, furniture, knickknacks, books, clothes, records, and dozens of other random paraphernalia soared through the air briefly before crashing down onto the pavement. By the time her riot was over—approximately ten minutes later—the alleyway looked like the aftermath of a small twister. And she hadn't stop on her own freewill; somepony in the vicinity had notified the police about her blowout. A warning and instructions to leave the area at once were given to her, which she complied to. Although still upset, her episode had drained a lot of her energy. So she quietly moped, crying to herself as she ambled down the avenue. Her head hung low, looking down at the sidewalk; but she was still able to feel the eyes of those who had saw what happened, appalled at such uncivilized behavior, stab her and cut through her flesh. Some were looks of confusion, others were of pity; but most were of spite and disgust. One can only tolerate so much silent, slanderous scrutiny before the shame and embarrassment becomes too overwhelming. She picked up the pace into a canter and then a gallop, putting distance between her and the witnesses. Finally, she teleported as she was galloping for extra measure, reappearing a couple city blocks down the avenue at an intersection, her apprehension slowly disappearing at the same time. The climate was beginning to affect Trixie. Her body was stiff, and she had fervent hunger and intense thirst. She had not had a bite of anything to eat since the morning the day before. Discomfort in her hooves from stomping around in broken glass was now known as well. Thankfully she had teleported right by the facade of a large Four Seasons hotel. Usually, she did not even think about entering a place as refined as a Four Seasons hotel; but virtually all of Canterlot was like that. Which is why ever since she got there four days ago she resided in the alleyway, until now. However, with her body numb, throat dry, and stomach aching at the moment, she didn't care if she stuck out like a sore hoof. The mare made a beeline for the edifice, ignoring the awful pain in her hooves, and entered the lobby, ignoring the looks from others. The warmth that bathed her as she walked in felt so glorious that her knees nearly buckled. Her nostrils took in the clean air filled with the aroma of a restaurant and she became light-headed, wobbling dizzily momentarily. The lobby had a high ceiling and an enormous commons area, filled with couches, lounge chairs, and tables. Going off on a tangent on the right were big marble steps that led to the elevators. On the opposite side of the massive room a window paned wall revealed a spectacular pool, though it was closed this time of year. Trixie didn't know how long she was zoned out for, but she was snapped out of it when a bright yellow earth mare with a tail and mane of a darker yellow and emerald eyes walked up to her. "Ma'am? Excuse me, ma'am?" she inquired, getting Trixie's attention at last. "Ma'am, this is a high-class establishment, and given your...unsanitary appearance and...offensive stench, we ask that you please leave the building. You are more than welcome to return once you've bathed and groomed yourself." Trixie lightly lowered her head to her hoofpit and sniffed, vomiting in her mouth slightly. Dear Celestia, I smell rotten! This made her frown. No way was she going back outside in the cold, nor was she going to starve. "Miss," the blue one started. "Please believe me when I say that I am sincerely sorry for my awful condition, but I have been living in an alleyway for the past four days and five nights due to me being homeless." She began to tear up. "Please, miss, I'm starving." The employee, biting her lip nervously, was stuck between sticking with the rules and lending a helping hoof to the poor pony. With quick glances around her making no other workers were watching, the mare leaned in close and whispered. "Alright, I'll see if I can get you anything. In the meantime, you can wait in the commons. Just...Try to stay as hidden and far away from everypony else as possible. I shouldn't even be doing this, but..." she took in Trixie's thin body and ragged mane, tail, and coat. "...I just can't bring myself to kick you out into the cold, not the way you are..." "Oh, miss!" Trixie squeaked in relief, falling to her knees "Thank you ever so much, I can't express how grateful and happy I am." "You're very welcome, ma'am." She responded, lifting the blue mare onto her hooves again. "Just do what I told you. Over there—" she pointed a hoof to a couch in the back corner of the room that was shrouded by a shadow. "—lay low, okay." Trixie heavily nodded, and began to trot over to where she had been directed to go, filled happiness.
Chapter IIHA-CHEEEW! The little pony woke up with a fright when she sneezed and hit her nose against the rock wall, becoming delirious for a brief moment. Cautiously, she brought her hoof up to massage it, which caused her to whimper in pain. It took her a while to notice the carmine blood on her hoof from hitting her nose against the hard, rocky surface. She had just been awakened from a nightmare beginning to form. Thankfully she woke up before anything horrible started to happen. Prolonging a tired and sad exhaling breath, she slumped back against the smooth rock wall. Her life as a vagabond had only started the night prior, yet she already felt defeated. The thought of going back home left her petrified with terror and panic, though. Her parents would be absolutely infuriated; she would most likely receive the beating of her life from her father. Abuse wouldn't be all, either. Whenever she did something that really enraged her father, he would start to touch her, as well as commit other types of inappropriate harassment that she did not want to think about. The filly would rather starve or freeze to death than return home. Her eyes drifted over to a pile of small stones that sat a few feet away from her. She levitated three of them over to her using her magic. Her underdeveloped skills, however, made them wobble in the air rather than smoothly hovering toward her. When they were in front of her face, she held them still, suspended in the air. Carefully, she started to maneuver the little rocks in a circular motion, making them spin. Her eyes squinted in concentration as she gradually increased the rotation's speed until she reached her current limit of skill. The rocks were now spinning at a moderately fast pace. Now she attempted adding an extra dimension to the trick: making each rock spin sideways while simultaneously having them rotate collectively in a circle. Her tongue poked out as she concentrated heavily on pulling off the little feat. It was slowly beginning to work; each rock was now individually spinning on their own axis, albeit just barely. The strain was too strong for her too keep it going, though. That was one thing she had difficulty with, building her stamina. So she abruptly stopped spinning the stones and let them fall to the ground in front of her. Trixie felt like she had just galloped a whole marathon. Her breath was short and she felt little drops of sweat on her forehead, which she wiped off with her hoof. Becoming a big name magician was the filly's ultimate goal in life, which made her practice superfluously. She got the idea after reading an article about an up and coming magician from Chicacolt named Abby Cadabra. The article described in detail the amazing acts of magic the pony performed that bedazzled the audience, as well as leaving them mystified. One of her highlighted stunts was casting an illusion spell that reportedly made it seem as if there were ten or more duplicates of her. She killed the lights, sending the theater into pitch black darkness so that nopony knew which was the actual Abby when they came back on. Then, Abby manipulated the copies of herself to interact with audience members. One such pony told the interviewers that one of the duplicates asked to shake his hoof after asking what his name was; when he touched the copy's hoof, it vanished in a puff of smoke. In the end, everypony was more than satisfied with what they paid for and believed the show to be spectacular. The headline of the article spawned a new and now regularly used nickname for the magician; it read "Abby Cadabra: The Chick of Tricks". This name sat with the little filly, and she wanted to come up with a stage name for herself, which is where she came up with 'Trixie'. She hoped that one day she would be able to astonish ponies with her impressive and amazing magic. Her shows would leave ponies speechless with their jaws hanging open. She would one day be famous and popular, idolized and admired, great and powerful. "Great and powerful..." Trixie quietly muttered. Before she could expand on her thought, though, the unmistakable feeling of nature calling presented itself to her. She groaned in irritation as she got on her hooves. "Well, Trixie," she mumbled to herself. "Your first day on your own..." With that, she packed her quilt, and roamed out of the refuge, searching for a place to relieve herself. ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ "Here you are, miss. I hope everything is alright with you." The words from the yellow front desk mare went through Trixie's one ear and out the other. Her eyes were fixated on the plate of food the employee just placed on a marble table in front of her, drooling over how appetizing it all looked. Hot and fresh bread with butter, a big plate of hay salad with carrots, lettuce, and tomatoes, french onion soup, and a tall glass of ice cold water to top it all off. Trixie looked up at the concierge mare, who noticed tears starting to form in the magician's eyes. "Oh ma'am...I can never thank you enough for this." The mare stood there smiling in sympathy. "Oh, it's no problem. Just remember to stay hidden as much as possible; the hotel manager would NOT be pleased if he knew I let somepony like you in here." "Oh, yes, of course, absolutely, I will!" They both chuckled awkwardly, shifting their eyes to other objects in the immense room to avoid eye contact with the other. While she wasn't looking, Trixie gazed up at the concierge. Her lip began to quiver, and she was on the brink of tears. But she held it in to appear strong. Suddenly, the blue mare hopped out of her seat and gave the other mare a tight embrace, which startled her and made her begin to blush. Her stomach started to churn from the horrid stench the other was emitting, but decided to let it be for the time being and comfort the distraught pony. Five seconds or so went by before Trixie's eyes shot open and she backed away from the other pony. "I'm terribly sorry, ma'am, I completely forgot about the repulsive condition that I'm in! Please, I'm—" "Hey, hey, hey, easy!" the employee interrupted. "It's perfectly fine, I'll just change out of this uniform and put on a clean one. You just worry about getting food in your system." The pony trotted back to the front, wondering how she was going to find a way to sneak out and change into a fresh uniform. Meanwhile, Trixie darted her eyes quickly to check if anypony else was watching her, relieved to find out that nopony could really see her from where she was at. Abandoning proper etiquette, she began to grab hoof-fulls of her food and shoving them into her eager mouth, levitating her spoon simultaneously to scoop up soup to eat. She silently prayed that her undernourished stomach would allow her to take in all of her food and beverage. She felt glorious; it was as if a hole in her abdomen was being filled. Not only was her starvation being satiated, but she was correct about the food itself being incredibly tasty and delicious. It wasn't long at all before she had completely polished off her plate and emptied her glass of water. She felt a whole lot better than she had felt in a long time. As she slouched back in the cozy hoofchair, she began to feel the discomfort of feeling like she was going to explode. She leaned back over and clutched her stomach gently, groaning in mild pain. Then, without warning— BAAAAAHH! Her hoof quickly covered her mouth as she shrunk down in the chair. She hoped that nopony heard her release the loud belch. It was such plebeian behavior, she knew it, but she couldn't help herself. Besides, she realized that it made her stomach feel infinitely better. "I can see that you're all better." Trixie flinched in surprise. The employee who was so kind enough to provide her with the meal stood next to the chair, donning a fresh, new uniform, who then chuckled quietly to herself. It was apparent that she had heard, much to Trixie's chagrin. "Please excuse my rude behavior." she answered in embarrassment. "Oh, it's alright. I'll just take this dirty silverware and bring it to the back kitchen of the restaurant." "Thank you so much." "Now I'll let you relax here five more minutes or so, but you'll have to get going soon. I truly am sorry." "Now don't be," persuaded Trixie. "You've done so much already." "Well, you're absolutely welcome, miss...?" The blue mare was confused as to what the other was trying to get at, but soon realized what it is. "The name is Trixie, ma'am." "Trixie...I think I've heard that name before..." "Really?" Trixie replied softly. "Yeah..." the yellow mare silently thought shortly, before shaking off it off. "Well, like I said, five more minutes or so." "Alright. Thank you very much." With that, the employee left to return the dirty dishes. The magician frowned, thinking back to when she was well on her way to stardom. But that all crumbled, and she was sure that she would always remain just a blip on the radar. ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ "It was so wonderful to see you again, Twilight. Goodbye!" "Goodbye, Princess! It was wonderful to see you as well!" The princess of Equestria simply gave a small smile and waved her hoof in goodbye as her star protégé left the private meeting room that was reserved for their get together on the third floor of the Royal Canterlot Library. She was genuinely happy from her meeting with her mentor. The princess, in Twilight's mind, was like another parent or guardian, a matriarch to whom she adored and loved unconditionally. She step out and reentered the amazing library she admired so much. A feeling of nostalgia hit her; she could recall practically living in this building like it was only the day before. The first thing she noted was the smell—a scent she was enamored with, that of fresh books and their pages. The pony took in a deep breath, let the air enter her nostrils, and finally released a soft sigh of contentment. Then came the books themselves. Hundreds and hundreds of shelves filled to the brim with seemingly endless amount of books and novels. They were like a magnet, pulling Twilight in, begging her to forget the world and get lost within the pages of one of them. Be it an exciting and spellbinding story, or an interesting and informative essay, it didn't matter; Twilight would be more than willing to read it. The temptation from the book shelves was strong, but Twilight had other matters to attend to, so she resisted them with all her will power and moved on. Turning away from the rows of books, she proceeded to canter over to the staircase that led to the second and ground level. Her hooves clopped quite loudly in her ears, and she feared she was being too noisy. The librarian at the front desk gave her a reassuring wink and smile when Twilight silently checked. She nodded back, relieved. Regardless of the librarian's answer, her hoofsteps were carefully placed the rest of the way down the stairs anyway. Her thoughts drifted to what she talked about with the princess. There were the obvious topics that got the conversation started, things such as how they had been lately and if anything new was going on. The rest of their chat was mainly comprised of memories. Of course, there was nothing wrong with just reminiscing. One such memory popped up immediately in the conversation: The Grand Galloping Gala. Twilight had reached the point where the memory of her and her friends' faux pa at the previous one became more amusing rather than embarrassing. She was able to brush the dirt off her mane from that experience and simply have a good laugh about it. The wonder of whether or not the festivity would continue this year despite the whole incident had been much of a concern to her, and was glad to hear that there was to be another one this year. And list just went on and on. The parasprites swarming Ponyville; the poison-joke being misconstrued as a curse by Zecora; Princess Luna wanting to be accepted and adored by everypony (Twilight remembered to ask how she was, happy to know that she was doing fine); Pinkie Pie getting bent out of shape when she thought all her friends didn't love her anymore; the conflict of territorial ownership between the buffalo and the Appaloosians. Twilight even recalled the day she left for Ponyville. If it hadn't been for that experience, who knows where she would be right now. She probably would still be in Canterlot, studying endlessly, and still a recluse with nopony to call a friend. Of course, she never gave friendship much thought other than at how trivial she believed it was. How could she have been so ignorant, so asinine, so fallacious? It still bemused her, but she tried to not dwell on it excessively. The past was a history made up of old and fragile memories, and she needed to focus on the present and plan for the future. They talked a bunch, but out of the vast collection, the memory of Trixie and the whole Ursa Minor incident was more prominent than any other one. Something about the magician unicorn infatuated Twilight Sparkle and she could not figure out why. Was it her confidence that attracted the lavender pony? Twilight's research on the intuitive social behaviors of ponies concluded that one was more drawn to those with high self-esteem. Even though Trixie took it way too far—which made her an annoying, pompous braggart—deep down, she couldn't help but admire the strong credence Trixie had. It would make sense; Twilight was always a pony who was quick to doubt herself more than believing that she was capable of doing something. That was a trait she most definitely envied. Perhaps it was her appreciation of the magician's natural talent, which eerily reflected her own. Trixie was different, however. The way Twilight had learned magic—thus affecting the way she used it—was through a strict and methodical systematic structure. It was clear to her that Trixie was entirely self-taught. The signs and idiosyncrasies were subtle, but she was still able to notice them considerably. It was yet another thing she envied; everything she would do was always done by the book, and she often wishes she could just wing it and learn on her own. The mare didn't bring these feelings up in conversation; whatever it was, she didn't think it was anything worth dwelling on excessively. In no time, she had reached the bottom level and was exiting the library, walking down the grand steps. At the bottom she stood on the sidewalk and looked up at the structure; it still amazed her as much as it did when she had lived in this city. Money was sort of an issue with her. She figured she could spare the bits that she had and walk to the hotel she was staying at—the Four Seasons—which wasn't too much of a hike from where she was. So with a light bounce in her step, she trotted up the pathway to the intersection on the left-hoof side of the library. As she waited for the signal that it was okay to cross the street, she pulled out her MLP3 player and pressed shuffle. The lovely sound of a synthesized strings section came in, holding out a long, single note. It was soon followed by a steady rhythm of sticks and percussion, and then the low riff of a bass guitar. I've been here before a few times... And I'm quite aware we're dying... The signal was given, but Twilight stood in a daze momentarily. This was one of her favorite songs and it managed to captivate her every time she heard it. And your hooves, they shake the goodbyes... And I'll take you back if you'd have me... "Do you mind moving along?" Twilight turned around to see an annoyed stallion, and finally realized she could go across. With a rubicund complexion, she uttered an apology and went on her way. So here I am, I'm trying... So here I am, are you ready? Suddenly the image of Trixie popped into the pony's head. She was able to see her face, her gorgeous honeydew mane that complimented her true blue fur beautifully, as well as her stunning plum irises. Twilight was perplexed; why was she having these thoughts? Come on, Let me hold you, touch you, feel you Always... Kiss you, taste you all night Always... She wanted to stop listening to the song, no matter how much she loved it; but she kept it on, believing that it was simply hearing the song again in a long while that was putting her in this enigmatic state of mind. Unbeknown-st to her, however, it was more than just that. And I miss your laugh, your smile... I'll admit I'm wrong if you tell me... I'm so sick of fights; I hate them... Let's start this again for real... Twilight switched to the next song, "Equestrian Idiot" by Green Hay. A sigh of relief released itself from the pony's mouth as the bizarre feelings went away. Once again, as she reached the steps to the entrance of her hotel, she wondered why the magician was so fascinating to her, but quickly decided to forget about it. Perhaps I should just go up to my room and get some well deserved shut-eye Twilight thought. The pony wasted no time walking through the front doors and trotting over to the front desk to get everything in order. She was assisted by a sunshine yellow mare with an amber yellow tail and mane and luscious green eyes. "Hi. Princess Celestia has a deluxe suite reserved for me." Twilight informed her. She always felt a little stuck-up whenever she tells ponies that she gets the highest accommodations when in Canterlot. "Oh, you must be Twilight Sparkle, correct?" "Yes! How'd you know?" "It's not often that the princess of Equestria reserves a room for somepony here," stated the mare. "And when she does, it's nopony else but you." "Oh, heh, right." Twilight stammered, flopping her ears down in embarrassment. The employee barely acknowledged her, though, for she was looking past Twilight a bit. "I hope you're better now, ma'am." she told the mystery pony behind Twilight. "Unfortunately, you'll have to leave the hotel now." she added penitently. "Like I said earlier, I'm truly sorry and really hope you understand." "Oh, I understand perfectly. Thank you so much!" the other pony responded. Twilight froze. Her eyes widened and her ears perked up. The familiarity in the voice was intense. She knew she had heard it somewhere before but wasn't able to put a hoof on it. The front desk receptionist returned her attention to Twilight. "Anyway, here is your room key, Miss Sparkle. You are on the 21st floor, room 2112." "...Twilight?" the pony behind her asked incredulously. With that, it hit Twilight as to who it was that was behind her. She just didn't believe it. Sure enough, though, when she slowly turned her head around to see who it was, her thoughts were proven correct. She swallowed. "Trixie?"
Chapter IIIThe little filly sighed in relief as she drained herself of all the liquid waste that had built up inside her while she was asleep. Her eyes drifted down and behind her a little bit to see steam rising from where it was landing. Despite the bright sun shining down, it was still uncomfortably cold, and the thought of how warm it must have been enticed her. She was extremely tempted to lather some of it on herself. With a quick shake of her head, she immediately regained her senses, nearly vomiting at the thought she just had. When she was done, she got up and levitated her quilt out of her pack. She had just stowed it away only five minutes or so before, but regretted it in no time when she stepped out of the rock cave where she had spent the night in. Before doing anything else with it, she took a moment to gaze at the design. She was always captivated by the faint-blue and sunshine-yellow stars and dots that were stitched sporadically on top of the deep purple fabric. Her grandmother made her a magician's hat that matched the design of the quilt (which Trixie had inside her pack as well). She told her that she could wear the hat and the quilt as a cape whenever she wanted to practice her magic. Trixie loved her grandmother. Father always put her down, and Mother—a practical thinker—would often tell her daughter how unlikely it was that she would ever get anywhere performing magic. Her grandmother was the only pony she ever knew who truly had faith in her and encouraged her ambitions. She would have gone to her house instead of just running off into unknown territory, but she knew that her grandmother would take her back to her home. As much as Trixie loved her, she hated how she was oblivious to the way Father treated her granddaughter. She levitated the quilt and tied it around her body into a cape. It was a bit long for her, and dragged against the snow-covered ground behind her; so she levitated the end and tied it together in a bun to keep it from touching the ground. After that, she brought out her magician's hat and carefully placed it upon her head. The hat was also a big too big for her, and slouched forward into her eyes. But she didn't mind; some day soon she would fit into her stage outfit perfectly. As she stepped out of the patch of bushes where she used the restroom, her breath was taken away. In front of her was a picturesque panorama of the landscape and its purlieus that stretched out before her. From where she was standing, she could see that she was in the basin of a large valley full of lush evergreen trees. A frozen river about a mile down from where the filly was twisted and turned, cutting its way through the valley, until finally it curved to the left and out of sight behind the incline of a big hill. It overawed the little filly. She had never been exposed to anything other than busy streets and skyscrapers that loomed above them. Mountains were things that she had only seen inside her school textbooks. Her body began to feel numb as a result of the cold air, but she just sat down and stared at the landscape for a few more minutes. She was so zoned out that she didn't notice that there were no signs of any civilized establishments. When she did notice, her mood instantly changed from contentment to frustration. "Come on, Trixie," she motivated herself. "Just put one hoof in front of the other." With that, she got up, put her saddlebags on, and slowly made her way down to the frozen river below. ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ ~/~ The two exchanged no words; just stood and stared at the other in disbelief. Trixie was quick to bring herself out of her stupor, however; she resumed to put on a boastful expression, turning her head away from Twilight and slightly tilting it upward. "Well, well, well," Trixie began in a fake haughty tone of voice. "We meet once more, Twilight Sparkle." The lavender pony was doubtful on the realness of Trixie's tone; It sounded somewhat stilted. Regardless, she continued the conversation, albeit awkwardly. "Oh Hi there, Trixie. How have you been?" The magician scoffed. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has been absolutely wonderful, as always." She scowled as she added, "And she was perfectly fine until she spotted you just now." Twilight frowned. "Look, Trixie, I believe we got off on the wrong hoof last time we met, and, as a pony who believes in second chances, I—" the pony stopped her sentence abruptly, quietly sniffing the aroma that floated around the magician. Her face scrunched up in disgust. "Ugh, what is that awful smell?" Trixie began to panic, but did her best to disguise it from the other pony. "Ahem, The Great and Powerful Trixie does not know what you're talking about, nor does she smell any—" "Good gracious, Trixie. I think it's you!" "Uh, ummm..." sputtered the nervous pony. Her eyes hastily darted to different objects within the grand lobby, afraid of making direct eye contact with Twilight. "And dear Celestia, your body! It's so thin!" Trixie gratefully took this comment as an opportunity to steer the purple mare's attention from the stench. She slightly flaunted her body and flashed a smug grin. "Well, The Great and Powerful Trixie accepts your compliment, but she already knows she's quite the piece of eye candy." "That's not what I meant," explained Twilight in concern. "I mean you're so thin, like you've been starved for quite some time." Trixie's masquerade was beginning to crumble. "I, erm...Trixie has...She's..." She wasn't able to finish her sentence; her voice simply trailed off as she hung her head down and gazed at the carpeted floor. Twilight hesitantly took the opportunity to squeeze in a question. "Is everything alright, Trixie? You really don't look so good..." Trixie's lip quivered as her breath became labored and her body began to shake. Suddenly, a bright blue light that matched the magician's coat flashed. When everything returned to normal, Trixie was no longer there. "Trixie?!" Twilight called out in surprise as she shifted her eyes all over the lobby, desperately seeking out the other mare. "Out there, Miss Sparkle!" the concierge behind the desk shouted. Her hoof was pointing out the front doors, and sure enough, Twilight spotted Trixie sprinting down the stairs in a hurry. The lavender pony didn't take a second longer to hesitate. She levitated her pack and shoved it onto yellow one. "Could you watch my saddlebags, please!? Thank you!" With that, Twilight teleported onto the sidewalk, standing in front of the path Trixie was galloping on. "Trixie, wait a minute!" Trixie saw her, and Trixie lit her horn with magic, ready to teleport again. Twilight hastily latched her magic onto the magician's tail in an attempt to keep her from escaping again. Her efforts were thwarted, though; Twilight soon felt herself being sucked in, as if there was some sort of invisible black hole pulling her in. Her head became light and dizzy, and her stomach started to feel sick. Before she knew it, she was inside a dark alleyway not far from the Four Seasons. As she noticed the blue mare was still in front of her, she quickly realized that she had gotten caught in Trixie's teleportation spell. It was clear to see that she was equally disoriented from the mix up, and, needless to say, the two of them almost immediately tumbled to the pavement ground when the spell was completed, sending them rolling into a pile of cardboard boxes. It took a moment for both of them to regain their senses, and Twilight was the first do so. Seeing that she had landed on top of Trixie, her hooves firmly dug into her shoulders to prevent her from running off again. Soon, the magician realized the predicament, and began to squirm around, trying to break free from the other pony's restricting clutches. "Trixie!" Twilight shouted. Trixie continued to thrash about, though, eyes clenched tight. "Trixie, look at me!" Twilight's words finally hit Trixie. Soon she stopped her useless attempts at breaking free and stared up into her eyes, lip quivering. "Trixie, what is the matter?!" Twilight asked forcefully, unintentionally sounding angry and invasive. And that was it. Trixie wasn't able to hold back her anguish any longer. A flood of tears began pouring out of her eyes and she wailed in despair. Twilight, thrown off guard, slowly backed off of her and sat up against a brick wall, giving the upset mare some room. Apparently, though, this wasn't what the other wanted; she was soon pounced on by Trixie, who wrapped her hooves around her and squeezed her into a tight embrace. Twilight hesitantly returned the sign of affection, more confused than ever. Nevertheless, there was evidently something wrong with Trixie, and she wanted to make sure she got better. In her mind, she began to wonder why she was offering solace to a pony who was nothing but a narcissistic rogue the last time she had seen her. If she were anypony else, she would have let the pompous mare wallow in her sorrow, perhaps even enjoyed watching as she drowned in it. But she wasn't like that; she never was. She was—and always had been—a believer of the potential everypony had of being great, and that there was no such thing as true and pure evil. Along with this, she also felt that everypony always deserved at least a second chance to redeem themselves. Twilight was so lost in her thoughts that it took her a moment to realize that Trixie was silently whispering something between her ragged breaths. Focusing her auditory sense on what it was she was saying, she heard the following flow out of Trixie's mouth: "...I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm so, so sorry..." Inexplicably, Twilight softly responded, soothing the distraught pony. "It's okay, everything's alright...You're going to be fine..."
