Trixie: Take 2

Apple Jack prided her on the tour she gave the younger ponies. “Fer a pony who don’t come here but to talk to her friend, I sure did give one hay of a tour, if I do say so mahself!” While she found the thought of the students being so fascinated by these books, Apple Jack could not betray her distaste for tomes. While she had never been a keen reader, the root for her less-than-satisfactory review was due solely to the one book in her kitchen she attempted to read when she was just a filly. She complained to Big Macintosh (Little Macintosh, at the time) that the chapters were too long, and the plot was horribly muddled. In her frustration, she only picked up a few words from what Big Mac said, such as “perseverance is key…”  “you need to have patience…” “that was a dictionary…”  Apple Jack had no tolerance for excuses, and these were no exceptions. She glanced outside, noticing it was about time for Twilight to arrive home. She cleaned up the small mess her sister and her two friends had created in their attempts to become the “Cutie mark Crusaders Librarians” which was going rather well, until scootaloo decided it was too “lame.” She was just sitting down when she heard a knock at the door. Her suspicions were met and exceeded when she not only saw her friend, but Princess Luna as well! And a third pony followed along beside them, although it shrunk back when it saw Apple Jack, who would have recognized the stranger much sooner had it not been for a flowing white beard; Trixie had come back, and Apple Jack hadn’t forgiven anything she’d done. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the “Great and powerful Trixie”. Have you come to settle the score, or have you come to apologize?” She could only faintly hear the blue showpony mutter “The answer will surprise you, I’m sure.”

“Surely this isn’t the same pony who aided in freeing me? I didn’t think Twilight would hang out with such… ruffians!” Luna eyed the purple mare suspiciously, although she immediately felt guilty, the librarian was all but having a panic attack, and with Trixie trying to reason with the orange show pony, Luna felt as though she was the only rational one of the group. She knew it’d be best for her to intervene, although, although she knew she didn’t have enough information to know which side to defend. “Perhaps waiting and acting on the bits of information I can pick up can give me some ground in this argument.” She knew it was going to be awkward if she just stood near the ponies, and, deep down, she enjoyed a good argument. She quickly assessed all the possible things she could do to avoid making her eaves dropping too evident, so she decided to pretend to read, she was a natural book worm, and no pony would question her choosing to do so. She chose a mystery novel, as she found such books to be mundane and pointless, allowing her the most opportunity to listen in on the conversation undetected.

“This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening…” Twilight was in shock. Perhaps one of her closest friends was showing a complete disregard to the Princess! How could she act so irresponsibly in front of one of, if not THE most powerful equine in all of Equestria? While they were refraining from any physical violence, they were certainly going at it verbally, with several words being spouted by Apple Jack which would make Old Granny Smith cry. Although she was, at first, frantic in seeing the princess calmly strut over to the book cases and casually pick out books, she was glad to know she was distracted from the scene the other 2 were causing. She did happen to notice she was reading *The Westing Mane, a book which Twilight personally found infuriating, although upon seeing how content the Princess seemed, she was tempted to grab a few books herself and ignore the storm her friends had caused, although she doubted she could so masterfully ignore such a ruckus.

“I can understand why she’s mad at me, but this profanity is nothing short of unnecessary! I consider myself to be rather familiar with many popular swear words, but she has increased my vocabulary at least 3 times!” The Blue unicorn was in a state of both offense and utter confusion, one minute she had been innocently chatting with her friends, something she could take comfort in saying, and the next she was being verbally barraged by this… this… Hayseed! Trixie had, more than once, spoken in third person, although she caught herself soon after, less so for angering the orange earth pony, more so to avoid slipping back into old habits. While Apple Jack had taken a much more aggressive stance, Trixie had mainly stayed defensive. She became lost in thought for a moment, reflecting on how much she had changed in the past day alone. Less than 24 hours ago, she was the top contender for “Most vain pony of the year” and now she was reluctant to even form an aggressive rebuttal. While now was not the best time to realize it, she was changing for the better.

“The gall! The nerve! She’s lucky I aint beatin’ her sorry hide here an’ now!” Apple Jack’s temper had gotten the better of her a long time ago, and her manners had all but flown out the window. She didn’t find her attitude annoying, or even her personality. What REALLY bugged her was the fact that she issued a challenge, and instead of truly up-staging anypony, she simply humiliated them! Although she considered herself a logically-thinking pony, what she had done was “darn near unforgivable,” but the worst part is she wouldn’t admit it! She saw that the princess had gone to read books, and her friend was curled up in a ball stroking her tail reciting the Dewey Decimal System. She started Trixie in the eyes and said “This isn’t over, ya hear? I’ve got more important things to attend to, and you don’t place very high on the list… and shave that beard, will ya? Makes ya look even worse than you already do.” She left the stunned mare in silence and awe, and, with a light yet infuriating whip of her tail, sat down to comfort her friend.

“Wait… literally, not even a minute ago she was yelling at me, seemingly ready to go to jail for the actions she would no doubt enact, and now she’s calming down our friend as if there isn’t a care in the world… What’s WRONG with this town?” Although, she did owe Apple Jack thanks, she had completely forgotten about the beard. She took care of the beard both quickly and effectively, and took stock of her surroundings. She noticed that Luna had put down her books and was speaking to the foul-mouthed pony, although she was certainly on Trixie’s side, which relieved and surprised Trixie, only because she hadn’t realized she had been worried about it until now. She also noticed that Twilight was upset with Apple Jack, and while she would have taken extreme pleasure in having support, she felt as though the only one to blame was the show pony herself. Against her better judgment, she walked around to the opposite side of the frantic mare and tried to comfort her as well, although she was having no greater effect. She saw Luna staring at the trio in dissatisfaction, imitating her older sister as best she could. She leaned down into Twilights ear and whispered something too quietly for the other two to hear. Suddenly, Twilight bolted up right, looked at the two ponies to her sides and let out an exhausted breath.

“No, it wasn’t the butler, you FOAL! The clues obviously point to the jealous ex-wife!” Luna thought to herself. This is, by far the most gripping book Luna had ever read, and was shocked to see that the argument was already over, and the two were standing around the purple mare who was, quite masterfully, feigning a panic attack, and if her pupils had been a tad more dilated, she would have alerted the emergency medical technicians. She whispered in her ear that she had gained the attention of the feuding ponies, whereupon Twilight sat up and let out an exasperated sigh. “Well, seeing as the argument is said and done, perhaps an introduction is in order? I am-“ although she was cut off by Apple Jack quickly saying “Oh, I recognize ya, ma’am, how could I not recognize one of the most powerful ponies in all of Equestria?” “Hm!” she said, disapprovingly “You certainly weren’t acting as though you recognized me.” She could see Apple Jack cringe and hang her head in shame. She turned her head to the purple mare and whispered in her ear “It’s ok, they stopped arguing, you can give up the act” with a playful smile.

“How had they not noticed I was faking? I certainly didn’t act like I’d imagine a hysterical pony would… Oh well, I suppose this isn’t the sort of thing to question.” She could plainly see that Princess Luna was annoyed by what she had just witnessed, and Apple Jack’s reputation was going to suffer because of it. Once the introductions had been made, Luna suggested the ponies departed the library, stating that more than enough time had been available to rest. No sooner had the party left the tree, than a Pink Pony was seen bouncing around the perimeter of the Library.

“Oh, Celestia,” Trixie thought to her “tell me we aren’t to be expected to hold a picnic with this pink tornado!” “Hey guys! Wowie Zowie, I didn’t think you were EVER going to come out! Hey, you’re Princess Luna, right?” had only time to say “Why, yes, I am-“until she was cut off once more by the Pink motor mouth. “Wow, it’s great to see you again, do you remember me? Huh, huh, huh?” While Twilight and Apple jack were unaffected by Pinkie’s greetings, both Trixie and Luna felt as though a nap were in order. “Hey, waaait a minute… aren’t you the big meanie beanie magician?” Pinkie asked, obviously directed towards Trixie, who responded, much more nervous than she had hoped to, “Uh, haha, I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.” This sparked suspicious glances from Luna, Twilight, and Apple Jack, the unicorn and earth pony starting to realize that Luna hadn’t heard about what Trixie had done.

“Oh, Princess!” Apple Jack said in a mock friendly tone, “Has Trixie not told you how she acted during her first visit to Ponyville? Go on, Trixie, tell her! Or, would y’all like me to?” Trixie, fearing this farm pony was about to destroy everything she had earned in the past day, attempted to play it off. ”Oh, that, that was just a uhh… a Joke! Yes, yes, a joke and nothing more! Ha-ha!” although her efforts were ill received, and Apple Jack took it upon herself to explain. “Well, ya see, princess, it goes like this…” For the next 10 to 15 minutes, Apple Jack tells Luna every last detail of Trixie’s initial visit to Ponyville, causing Trixie to blush, laugh, and cough in embarrassment during different parts. Once she had finished her story, Luna turned her back to the group and trotted a few steps away…

“I’m very disappointed in you” was all that she said

.

Trixie looked around to see Apple Jack, smirking viciously, Twilight, ashamed of her friend for the second time today, and the Pink tornado sitting in a lawn chair, contentedly eating popcorn, seemingly acquired from nowhere.

Alright, I feel like Apple Jack is by far the hardest pony for me to work with, but I got it done, although I feel like I could make it better, I just don’t know how… Anyway, leave a review or PM me, I especially need feedback on this chapter, so let me hear it!

-MrGreat