Goodbye Forever: Second Chance

by Dainn

Chapter 4

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The two sisters spent the next few hours diligently working towards setting up the apartment.  It took some effort, but Autumn was able to persuade Trixie into helping out.  After vacuuming in the living room, Summer inherited the responsibility of hanging Hearths Warming lights along the dark red walls of the apartment.  Trixie was given the task of sweeping the kitchen, dusting the furniture, and cleaning the windows.  The sting from the frostbite complicated things but the blue unicorn ignored it all together.  Trixie found herself frequently questioning why she was even doing this.  Her reminder always came in the form of a sharp glare from Summer each time she got ready to say something along the lines of, “This is stupid.  I’m going back to sleep now.”

Autumn did more work than both her sister and her house guest put together.  Not only did she help Trixie and Summer with their given tasks, but she also set up the Hearths Warming Tree and baked a wide variety of holiday themed snacks.  Within minutes, the entire household smelled like a bakery.

While in the middle of preparing a second batch of macadamia nut cookies, Autumn discovered that in addition to the holiday gifts (which Summer had wrapped up prior to her return), her sister had also purchased a wide variety of foods that most ponies living in Equestria would typically see around the holidays.  Once Summer and Trixie had finished up their roles, they both offered Autumn some extra help in the kitchen.  Summer helped with the baking while Trixie made sure that nothing got overcooked.  At some point Autumn turned on the radio to help set the holiday atmosphere.

Soon the table had been set for the small party dedicated to the joyous holiday.  Enough food had been prepared to feed a small army.  After Trixie admired the work that had been done and felt the warmth from the fireplace, she began to feel something strange.  There was a new emotion occupying her inner void.  What was this new feeling?  Was it relief at how she no longer had to call the frigid world outside “home”?  Maybe it was gratitude for how lucky she was to have come across two ponies who weren’t trying to tear her down.  For the life of her, Trixie couldn’t figure out what she was feeling but whatever this foreign emotion was, it felt nice.  Whether or not this was a good thing was completely beyond the blue mare.


“Well, I’m stuffed.  I say we move on to the gifts now,” said Summer resting against an armchair.  Trixie stared in amazement at the carnage that had been dealt by Autumn’s elder sister; seventeen different plastic plates were scattered on the sides of the chair in a poorly arranged pile.  The orange mare had eaten everything, not even crumbs remained.  The warm feeling that Trixie had felt earlier Trixie had been replaced with envy.  The former magician could only handle two bites of food before the insides of her stomach began to churn, warning her that if she took another bite her gastric juices would splatter onto the carpet for all to see.

“Wait,” commanded Autumn.  “There’s something that I think we should all do first.”

“Huh?  What?” asked Summer.

“Earlier today, Trixie said something that really got my attention.”  The sickly unicorn silently stared back in confusion.  “She doesn’t know anything about us and, aside from what we read in the paper, we don’t know anything at all about her either.”

“And your point is?” asked Summer while crossing her front legs.

“I think we should take this time to say a few things about ourselves!  We could even make it into a game!  Trixie could ask us a question, we answer it fully and truthfully, and then we ask her a question!  Rinse and repeat!”

The envy had transformed into a full blown case of annoyance.  Trixie hated the idea of Autumn’s stupid little game already.  “And what happens if I don’t feel like answering the question that gets asked?”

Autumn smiled confidently and said, “Then just say ‘Pass’.”

Trixie took a moment to ponder if she would go along with this or not.  The whole concept of playing a few rounds of “20 Questions” in order to learn a bit more about the two unicorns seemed corny.  Including herself, all of the ponies in the room were adults, as far as she could tell.  Surely Autumn could have come up with a less childish way to handle this.  On the other hoof, Autumn had given her food, a warm place to stay, and she had been nothing but kind to her ever since they first met.

With a heavy sigh, Trixie concluded that Autumn was more than deserving of at least an hour of her time, regardless of how ridiculous the game sounded. “Okay, let’s get this over with ...”

“No way in hell,” said Summer in a cool tone while standing up from her chair.  “Nope, you can count me out.  Have fun you two, I’m gonna go out for a little walk before the sun sets.”

“Hey, hold on for a second!” called Autumn.  The elder of the two sisters shifted around and was met with a crestfallen look from her sister.  “Please Summer … don’t go.” Autumn poked her lower lip out and made her eyes water for added effect.

“Do you have any idea how weird your idea sounds?”

“Please … just give it a chance …”  Autumn’s lower lip started to quiver a little.

Summer tried to look over to Trixie for some sort of support.  All the mare did in response to Summer’s pleading stare was shrug her shoulders.  “Alright, fine,” she grumbled to herself as she sat back down.

Before anypony could blink, Autumn’s face switched from sad back to normal as she flashed a victorious smile.  “That’s better!  Now, you go first Trixie!”  The unicorn sat in silence for several seconds; the only sounds in the room came from the clock on the other side of the room.  “You can ask us anything, just take your time. No need to rush.”

Trixie tapped the armrest of the couch in deep thought.  Coming up with a decent question was proving to be a challenge and Summer was obviously growing impatient; so, she went with the first thing that came to mind.  “Uh … what’s the age difference between you and Summer?”

“Good question!  We’re three years apart.  I’m 22 and she’s 25.”  Autumn turned to her sister and smiled, only to be met with a solemn expression.  “Okay, my turn!  Trixie, how old are you?”

“23.” Trixie then turned towards Summer and sighed.  This game was already putting her to sleep.  The sooner she got this over with the better.  “Summer, do you and Autumn have any other siblings?”

“We have a brother named Cereus.  Actually, you both have something in common besides being unicorns.  He spent his early years in an orphanage, just like you.  He’s 33 and he’s a high ranking soldier within the Royal Guard.  After that overrated wedding in Canterlot, I heard that the old head captain left Equestria to rule alongside that alicorn with the weird name in the Charcoal Kingdom, or whatever it’s called, leaving the position for leader of the Royal Guard open for business.  If all those rumors are true, then Cereus could be the new head captain by now.  But seeing as how he’s one of the laziest ponies that I’ve ever seen, he’d probably choose to stay under-ranked so he could avoid all of the extra work,” replied Summer.  “Now, I actually have two questions for you.  How’d you get all those cut marks on your body and why did you lie about fighting an Ursa Major?”

“I was mugged by a group of ponies.  Some of them had knives.  As for why I lied … pass.  Autumn, what -”

“What types of ponies were they?” Interrupted Summer.

“They were all earth ponies.  Now Autumn -”

“You’re a full grown unicorn and you know, full well, how to use magic.  How in Tartarus were they able to get away with mugging you?  It’s pretty easy using magic to pull a knife away from a random idiot and even easier for a unicorn to bring down an earth pony as long as you stay out of their reach.  Also, why aren’t you answering the question?  Do you have something to hide?”

Trixie grit her teeth.  “Pass ... on everything.  Autumn, where do you work?”

The pink unicorn gulped nervously.  Her plan to get everypony to get to know one another was starting to backfire.  “I work inside a flower shop just up the street.  Some of the plants on sale there I grew myself.  The shop won’t open again for another week.  Trixie, do you have any family out there that might be looking for you?”

The blue unicorn opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself early.  She fumbled around with the words as she thought about how to answer the question.  “Well, um … I guess that depends on …” Trixie took in a deep breath and shook her head.  “No.  I don’t have anypony.  No friends … no family … just me.  I could die tomorrow and nopony would miss me.”

Sensing the previous hesitation in Trixie’s voice as easily as a Changeling detects love, Autumn pressed the question a little harder.  “Besides us, are you absolutely sure that you’re all alone?”  The flower seller was met with heavy silence for what felt like hours.  “It’s okay.  You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want too.”

“No, I’m sorry,” said Trixie.  “I was dropped off at an orphanage as a foal.  Unfortunately for me, I was too young to remember anything before that.  But maybe that’s a good thing.  My parents gave me up for a reason.  Would it have been better to remember them and have their memory haunt me for the rest of my life?  Or to grow up always wondering, ‘Do they even miss me?’  ‘What were they like?’  ‘Why did they give me up?’ Either way, for better or for worse, I grew up without them in my life.  Eventually, I just stopped caring.”

“I lived in that orphanage until I was old enough to take care of myself.  The only three ponies that I’ve ever considered ‘family’ were …” Trixie quickly shook her head.  “No, forget it.  That last part doesn’t matter.”  As Trixie looked around, she saw that Autumn was wearing an expression of sympathy while Summer looked as enthused as a foal preparing to sit down for three hours and do homework.  Trixie suddenly remembered something odd about Summer.  Her cutie-mark was a silhouette of a pony destroying a punching bag in one powerful hit.  It seemed strange that a doctor would have such an aggressive special talent.  “Summer, what’s the story behind your cutie-mark?”

At the sound of that question, Summer started smiling uncontrollably while Autumn looked as if she’d just seen a ghost.  “Uh, maybe you should ask something else Trixie …”

“Oh no, Autumn.  She asked a question that I’d be more than happy to answer!”  Summer bounced up and down as if she was about to tell the most exciting story of all time.  “Okay, okay, okay, okay! So, back in the day, I used to be one of the nicest little fillies that you could ever meet.  If somepony needed something, I was always one of the first ponies to jump at the chance to help out.  I wanted to be friends with anything that could breathe!  I even walked in with a box full of cookies to share with my classmates on my first day of pre-school!  In a nutshell, I was a pushover!  A total sap!   Oh, and I was a pretty big wuss too!  I was scared of my own shadow and it didn’t take much to get me to burst into tears!  Lookin’ back on it now, I can’t believe I was that pathetic!”

Summer had a distant look in her eyes now.  It was as if she were staring into another dimension.  “There was this filly the same age as me … an earth pony named Red Wood.  She was always making fun of me for being such a damn goodie-two-shoes.  But, being the sissy that I was, I ignored it as best I could.  I convinced myself that just because she was being nasty to me didn’t mean that I had to fight fire with fire.  A few months later, Red Wood makes friends with this pegasus named Golden Ray.  They never would leave me alone.  That all changed when they sent me home in tears.  I ran to Cereus like a big chicken and bawled my little eyes out until I fell asleep.  That colt must have gone behind my back and scared those two shitless, because from that day onward, the bullying stopped, just like that.  But it all picked back up again four years later, after he went off to Canterlot and joined the guard.”

“Did he ever say why he wanted to be a knight?” asked Trixie.

“Yes and no.  The last thing that he said to us was ‘My skills have always been a cut above the average unicorn.  I might as well do something useful with my talents.’” Autumn rubbed the side of her neck slowly.  “You could never tell what really went through that stallion’s head.  Each time he gives you an answer you get this feeling like he isn’t lying, but he isn’t giving you the full story either.  But you could always count on him whenever you needed him the most.”  She lowered her head with a sigh.  “I sure did miss him after he left for Canterlot …”

“We all did,” confessed Summer.  “Apparently, he was a real prodigy.  The princess sent us a letter talkin’ about how gifted he was at hoof to hoof and how exceptional he was with magic.   She said that it was almost a crime that nopony had him test into her school for the gifted when he was a little colt.  He ranked up pretty fast too.  By age 20, he became the youngest stallion to ever reach the title of ‘Elite’ in the history of Equestria.  But I’m getting off topic here.  This is about how I got my mark and what it represents, not how Cereus was a smash hit in Canterlot.”

“So anyway, after he left, Red Wood and Golden Ray went back to their old habits.  Their methods for making me miserable became more and more innovative as we got older.  By the time I hit my last year at Manehattan High, I was the only pony without a cutie-mark.  Pretty pathetic right?  An 18 year old that still hasn’t found their special talent!  Even Autumn got hers long before I did!  One day I caught those two idiots stealing something from my math teacher’s desk while he was out.  I spoke up and they almost got expelled.  The day they came back from their long-term suspension, I was … a little on edge.  There was a rumor going around the school that Red and Gold weren’t too happy about me getting them in trouble.  It turned out that the rumors were true.   They trapped me in a hallway while Autumn was busy telling me that I was getting worried for no reason at all.  Red and Golden Ray showed up out of nowhere, shoved Autumn aside, and then they punched and kicked me until I was on my knees.  Autumn tried to come to my rescue by smacking Red in the back of the head with a text-book.  She turned around and blew Autumn away in one hit.  They thought it was funny too, but I wasn’t laughing.”

***

Autumn had fallen to the ground and the battered mess known to the world as Summer Daisy was laying against a row of lockers.  Her right eye was blackened and swollen shut, her lip was busted, and she had a bloody nose.  Her body was covered in scratches and bruises.  With every breath her lungs screamed in agony.  Standing triumphant in the narrow hallway was a brown earth pony with a dark red mane, alongside a golden pegasus with a silver mane.  The earth pony pointed towards Autumn’s motionless form and laughed.  “Next time mind your own business!”

“Seriously, she sees us kick her sister’s teeth in, and her first thought is to fight us with a book?”  Golden Ray was laughing so hard that she was crying.

“At least she isn’t a snitch like her sister!” Red Wood looked down at her hoof and winced.  “Ew, I think I hit her too hard.  Some of her blood got on my hoof.”

While the two bullies rambled on, Summer’s mind was focused on how her tormentors had the audacity to attack somepony as sweet and innocent as her beloved sister.  This was supposed to be between them and her.  If they wanted to beat her to a pulp because she ratted them out, then fine.  She’d let them break every bone in her body if it’d make them happy, but they actually had the nerve to attack Autumn and then laugh about it?  How dare they?!  There were no words in the Equestrian dictionary that could properly describe how scared, powerless, and ashamed Summer felt.

“Oh look at that, the baby’s crying again!”  Red mockingly did her best impersonation of somepony speaking down to a small foal.  “Daw … did we hurt da’ widdle’ bitch’s feelings?”

Summer was weak and fragile.  It was needless to say that she didn’t have the courage to stand up for herself.  Oh why couldn’t Cereus be here to save the day like when she was a little filly?  She needed him now more than ever, but he wasn’t here.  He was in Canterlot, or wherever it was that the princesses decided to ship him and his unit off too.  She closed her eye and thought hard about what to do at a time like this.  She could run … but Red was the most athletic mare in the school.  The earth pony would catch her in no time flat.  If she did nothing then they would continue to beat her senseless, and then afterwards, they would likely give Autumn their full and undivided attention.  Technically, Autumn had made herself a target when she tried to come to her sister’s aid.  Lunch wouldn’t end for another 10 minutes so they still had plenty of time to do whatever they wanted.  All of her available options pointed towards fighting back, but what did she know about fighting?  Could she really bring herself to strike another pony?  Summer heaved over and over due to the tears that were being shed out of sadness, as well as anger at what had befallen Autumn.

“Tough luck, Daisy!  End of the line!  There’s nopony for you to cry to for help this time!”  Golden Ray stretched her limbs as she advanced towards the downed Summer.

At the end of the day, Wood and Ray were intent on causing her, and possibly the one pony that she was obligated to protect from any threat, intense physical suffering.  She needed to make a decision fast.  Summer asked herself once again, ‘Can I really bring myself to do this?’  Her heartbeat served as a war-drum as the unicorn opened her eye and willed herself back up.  Her decision had been made.  “And who says that I need any help to take care of you two?”

The bullies stared at each other in temporary shock, which soon turned into loud hysterics.  “Oh you’ve gotta’ be kidding me!  Wimpy little Daisy, the biggest doormat in Manehattan, is gonna’ try to fight us?!”  Golden Ray flared out her wings, blanketing Summer in the shadows of her wingspan.  “You know what?  I’m feeling generous today!  I’m gonna’ let you get a free hit in!”  She raised her hooves and pushed Summer against the lockers.  Her back bounced off the metal with a loud ‘Clang’.  “C’mon blank flank Daisy!”  She smacked Summer across the face.  “Hit me!”  Summer absorbed the next punch thrown by the pegasus like a cushion.  “C’mon chicken!”

Golden Ray threw another punch, but this time Summer ducked under the oncoming attack at the last second.  That was when the orange unicorn stopped thinking and operated solely on her own instinct.  Using twelve years’ worth of pent up anger and aggression as fuel, Summer buried her hoof as far as she could into Golden Ray’s stomach, knocking the wind from her lungs and temporarily cutting off her ability to take in oxygen.  As one of her two childhood enemies gasped for air, Summer reached forward and grabbed the young pegasus by the back of her head and slammed her, face first, with every last ounce of strength that her adrenaline would allow, into a locker.  The vengeful unicorn pulled Golden Ray’s head back and slammed her again and again against the lockers hard surface.  The rectangular piece of metal, not designed to withstand that kind of punishment, eventually caved in from the force.  Summer didn’t let up until her forelegs went numb from soreness, at which point she choke-slammed Golden Ray onto the cold floor below and delivered a single stomped against the center of the pegasus’s face.

The shadows from Summer’s mane concealed the savage glare within her good eye.  She felt some sort of twisted satisfaction as she stood over Golden Ray.  She was finally doing it.  She was finally taking a stand against her old demons and it felt marvelous.  The power that she held over her long- time enemies made her smile.  She wanted to feel as powerful as she did now all the time!  From that day forward, nopony would ever push her around ever again!  Goodbye warm Summer the kind and hello Summer the unforgiving inferno!

Her moment of felicity was cut short as an important realization crossed her mind; she wasn’t finished yet.  There was still one giant piece of trash left and it needed to be taken out once and for all.  Summer locked her focus onto Red Wood and saw that she was trembling with fear; Summer greatly enjoyed this.  The earth pony snapped out of her trance-like state when Summer charged towards her like a heat-sensing-missile.  “No!  Stay back!  I’m sorry!”  There was no pleading with Summer now.  This mare had signed her own death warrant the instant that she had poked fun at striking Autumn.  Summer aimed at Red’s hind-legs and let loose everything that she had stored in her mystical reservoir.  The earth-pony cried out in pain as the blast hit its mark dead on, causing her to fall onto the ground; blood fell from the newly obtained burns on her hind-limbs.  Within seconds, Summer closed the gap between the two and descended on the injured earth pony like a vulture, ignoring her pleas for mercy.

***

Summer beamed with pride as she took in the horror on Trixie’s face.  “Autumn woke up while I was in the middle of settling my score with Red.  She took off and came back with security.  They pulled me away and held me in the office until our parents showed up.  It was our mother who pointed out that I had my cutie mark,” explained Summer while pointing at the silhouette on her flank; a representation of her special talent: fighting.  “It was on that day that I learned a very important lesson.  Might controls everything.  As long as you have enough power, nothing can stop you.  So if a few retards attack your family,” Summer levitated a metal fork into the air and then crushed it into a ball.  “You get the idea.”

“What ever happened to Red Wood and Golden Ray?” asked Trixie.

Autumn answered the question instead of her sister.  “They were both taken to a hospital.  Golden Ray had a broken nose, a concussion, and eight of her teeth were either missing or fractured.  And … Red was in a coma for two weeks.  The doctors said that she probably wouldn’t be able to play sports again.  Both of their parents filed a lawsuit.  Summer didn’t face any prison time since she acted out of self-defense.  But … Summer, Golden Ray, and Red all got expelled from the school, and our parents had to pay for the broken locker.”

“You know, that was probably the best day of my life!  My only regret is that I didn’t take things into my own hooves sooner!  And can you believe that my dad actually considered disowning me when I refused to apologize for what I did?  Ridiculous!  They deserved everything that I gave em’ and then some.  It gets me angry all over again just thinking about it.  And it’s not like my heart would have been in it anyway, so why bother?  Making peace with your enemy is the most idiotic thing that anypony could ever do.”

“So … you’re saying that ponies who don’t get along with one another, whatever the reason may be, should always remain enemies, and when all else fails, use violence?” asked Trixie.

“Exactly!” beamed Summer.

“So if Red Wood and Golden Ray were standing here right now, you’d pick up from where you left off in that hallway?”

“Pretty much,” she replied with a grin.

“How pitiful …”

Summer eyed Trixie with a confused expression.  “And what do you mean by that?”

“Well, based on what you told me, you’re still angry because of something that happened almost a decade ago.  You won’t find a future if your head is always in the past.  You need to let it go and move on.”

“And the irony here is that I need to follow my own advice,” mumbled Trixie.

Summer perked her ears up at this, obviously having picked up on what the blue unicorn had just said.  “What do you mean ‘follow your own advice’?”

“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” said Trixie in an attempt to change the subject before Summer decided to pry for more information.  “Hey Autumn, is this game of yours over yet?”

“Sure Trixie.  So onto the presents then Summer?”

“No.”  Trixie’s hopes began to wilt.  “The game isn’t over yet Autumn.  I still haven’t asked Trixie my question yet.”

“Well that’s too bad, because I don’t feel like talking anymore.”  Trixie looked outside and saw that the sun was beginning to set.  “How about we finish this up on another day?”

“How about … ‘who cares if you don’t feel like talking?’  The purpose of this game was for the three of us to get to know a few things about one another, right?  Well, all we know about you is that you’re 23, you got your ass kicked by a few earth-ponies, and you grew up in some orphanage.  You still haven’t really told us anything big about yourself.”

“Well what about Autumn?  She didn’t say anything all that amazing either.”

“Does it matter?  I already know plenty about Autumn, she’s my sister after all.  It’s you that I’m curious about.  Now I just opened up about a huge moment in my life, I think that it’s only fair for you to do the same.”

Trixie could feel small fragments of her old defiant nature breaking through.  “And what if I say, ‘I couldn’t care less about what you think is fair?’  Or, ‘I didn’t even want to go along with this in the first place, so why don’t you just shut up?’”

Summer’s horn started to glow with a yellow light.  “I’d say ‘Don’t you worry Trixie, because in a few more seconds you won’t have to worry about saying anything for the next five months.’”

Autumn jumped out of her seat and stood between Summer and Trixie.  “That’s enough Summer!  You’re completely out of line!  You can’t force other ponies to do whatever you want!  If all you’re going to do is act like this, then you can get out of my apartment!”

“No, it’s fine Autumn,” assured Trixie.  “Alright Summer, one last question, but then that’s the end of it.  So I hope that for your sake you pick a good one.”

“Well look whose acting bold all of a sudden?  I think somepony’s forgotten their place, but that’s alright.”  Summer smirked as she collected her thoughts about what to ask.  There were two different questions that she wanted answered, either one would bestow her with a higher understanding of the former magician, but she could only ask one.  She couldn’t decide on which question to ask so she decided to flip a coin.  Summer levitated the same metal fork that she had crushed into a ball earlier and flattened it down within a powerful telekinetic grip, until it resembled a slightly oversized bit.  Next, she fired a red beam from her horn and used it to carve an ‘X’ on one side and a ‘Y’ on the back.   Summer flipped the false coin into the air and watched as it landed on the side with the ‘X’.

“And here I was hoping that it would land on ‘Y’.  Oh well, this’ll do just fine either way.  Anyways, I want you to tell us all about what happened during your first trip to Ponyville, and if you half-ass the story or try to pass from answering -”

“If you use that spell on Trixie again, you won’t be allowed anywhere near my apartment until Trixie gets better,” said Autumn.

“Whatever.  There are other ways for me to get answers besides using that spell.”  Summer’s harsh demeanor softened a little as she turned back to Trixie.  “Feel free to start at any time.”

“Okay, give me a minute.  I need some time to think about this …”  Nopony said a word, as Trixie closed her eyes and recollected her thoughts.  She was completely still for an extended period of time.  The only indicator that she was still alive came from her rising chest.  Eventually, the silence was broken.  “Alright, I guess I’ll have to go back a few days before everything got so bad.  I had been staying in Baltimare.  Every now and then, I’d come across a few ponies who were willing to watch me in action for few a minutes.  The key words being ‘A few’.  Business was more than a little slow for me, but I still managed to make enough to scrape by.  You see, I was trying to save up for some new equipment to use in my shows.  There was this special magnetic generator that I had my eye on.  It releases a powerful magnetic current that can pass through most solid objects.  With a little ingenuity, I could have used it as a way to levitate myself into the air like a pegasus.  Imagine what that would have done for me ... how many crowds I would have been able to reel in.  A unicorn that can fly without the use of actual magic ... The only problem was that the price for the generator was outrageously high.”

Autumn frowned as she pieced together that Trixie never did reach her goal.  “What happened?”

“I caught the attention of some stallion.  He either had a huge crush on me, or he’d been really impressed by my street show, but I didn’t have any interest in him whatsoever.  He told me that he was an elementary school teacher and wanted to know if I was interested in doing a little show for his students.  He was prepared to pay me upfront if I said yes.  He showed me the bits as proof.  If I remember correctly, there were about 50 bits in that bag.  It wasn’t much, but that still would have helped me reach my goal.  ‘Every little bit counts,’ as they say.  So the very next day, I show up to the school.  I figured that since my audience would mainly consist of small colts and fillies there would be no need for me to do anything over the top.  I decided to stick with card tricks, making small objects disappear, biting a bit in half and then making it go back to normal by blowing on it.  Those are basic tricks for a magician of any level, but mind boggling entertainment for an audience of small children … or so I thought.”

“What, did you screw up in front of the foals or somethin’?” asked Summer.

“No,” answered Trixie.  “The problem was this little unicorn colt.  He wouldn’t shut up for about 3/4ths of my show.  Somehow he knew the secrets behind my stunts, which wasn’t surprising since these were tricks that you’d probably see at a foal’s birthday party.  If he wasn’t blurting out how my tricks were done, then he made it his business to try and find out.  The teacher finally tossed me a lifeline and kicked that obnoxious colt out of the room.”

“Serves his ass right.  Then what happened?”

“That colt … he snuck outside and into my trailer while nopony was watching.  I don’t know if it was on accident, or if it was his way of getting back at me, but he set off some of my fireworks.  One of my rockets ended up going through a window and into an empty room inside the school.  I took a quick glance outside and saw him running around with some very expensive stage equipment of mine.  I ran outside to go and tell that little creep off but stopped when I smelled smoke and heard the sounds of ponies screaming.  Next thing I know, the whole school is in flames.  Nopony got hurt, but the school and the entire playground where the foals had recess … all of it burnt to a crisp.  And can you guess who had to pay for most of the damage?”

“Trixie … I’m sorry,” whispered Autumn.

The ex-mage sighed and continued on with her tale. “Anyways, I was furious.  I spent almost everything that I had trying to fix something that wasn’t even my fault.  I stormed out of Baltimare before I ended up doing something that I’d regret.  I barely had enough bits to buy food.  I was desperate for money.  I needed to go somewhere where I wouldn’t have any problems getting noticed, a small town maybe … a happy little place where I’d be able to forget all about Baltimare.”

“Ponyville,” said Summer and Autumn in unison.

Trixie nodded her head with a grim expression.  “Things were looking up for me.  I guess the town wasn’t used to receiving visits from wandering magicians like me because a huge crowd gathered while I was still in the middle of setting up.  Now before I go on, please understand my situation.  I didn’t have any money, I was still pissed because of what that colt did, and I really needed to impress the crowd.  Depending on how well I did on that last factor would determine how long it would take me to bounce back from my financial hit.”

“We understand,” replied Autumn.  “Please, go on with the story.”

Trixie nodded before going on.  “I bragged, over-exaggerated, and lied like there was no tomorrow so that I could draw in as many ponies as I could.  I think everypony in the whole town came out to see me.  The only problem was that there was a small hoof-full of ponies in the crowd that called me out on my over the top acting.  Which I didn’t mind at first, until one of them started booing.  Now, like I said earlier, I was still pissed because of what happened in Baltimare, so I dared whoever it was that booed me to step up on stage.  She had a blue coat that was a few shades lighter than mine, a rainbow colored mane, and she was a pegasus.  Her name was Rainbow Dash if I remember correctly from what the papers around Equestria said.”

“Ah, one of the ponies responsible for your biggest humiliation.  I hear she got accepted into that training center for pegasi with the potential to become a member of the Wonderbolts,” stated Summer.

“That’s the one.  The fact that she accepted my challenge to get on stage actually made me even angrier than I already was.  She picked a pretty bad day to piss me off.  Thankfully, I was able to hide my real emotions due to all of the years that I’ve spent trying to perfect my stage gimmick.  In any case, I wasn’t sure if anypony else in the crowd had any doubts about me.  If they did, then that could have had a bad effect on how many bits I made from that performance, I needed every last piece of money that I could get my hooves on.”

“In order to solidify my chances of hitting the mother-load, I challenged anypony in the crowd to step up to the plate.  I didn’t see any takers and I wanted somepony to use as a magical punching-bag.  After looking around for a few seconds, I spotted Twilight Sparkle, the librarian from the paper who I’m sure you’ve heard plenty about by now.  But, instead of her, Applejack, some dumb apple farmer with a southern accent, came up instead.  She pulled out this rope and started to do all sorts of stunts that I could tell were well practiced.  She finished her little show by snatching an apple from a tree and catching it in her mouth.  You should have seen how impressed the crowd was with her; I probably would have been too, if it wasn’t for how pissed and money deprived I was.”

“With a little help from my magic, I used one end of the rope to distract her, and eventually, tie her down after making her fall over.  Then I used the other end to wedge an apple in her mouth like a stuffed pig.  The crowd ‘Oooed’ and ‘Ahhed’; which took away any uncertainty that I had.  I was ready to end the show there and take a break for the day, but then Rainbow came back on stage in an attempt to show me up, which only set me off again.  I ended up making her spin around in circles until she was propelled off stage.  Then this other unicorn, I keep forgetting her name -”

“The one with the pretty mane and owns that store in Ponyville?  I think her name’s Rarity,” interrupted Autumn.

“Right, her.  I’m still not sure about what she was trying to do, but it amazed the audience, so I turned her mane a grassy green.”

“Oh that’s rich!” laughed Summer.  “Keep goin’, keep goin’!  What happened next?”

Trixie cracked a light, humorous, smile.  Her smile was so small that nopony knew that it was there except for the storyteller, but it soon vanished.  “I wasn’t sure if anypony else felt like getting knocked down, so I did a quick onceover on the crowd to make sure that I had the audience eating out of my hoof.  My attention went back to Twilight, I couldn’t hear what she said too well, I was too far away and the crowd was a little noisy, but it sounded to me like she said, ‘I’m special’ and ‘I’m better than anyone’.”

“Hmph! That sounds like a challenge to me,” said Summer.  “Who knew that the element of magic was so overconfident?”

“I thought the same thing, really,” confessed Trixie.  “I admit, on a normal day, I have a bad habit of doing my fair share of bragging; it came with my stage gimmick, ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’.  If you tell yourself something enough, it eventually gets rooted into your character to the point that even you start to believe it.  I wanted to see the magical skills of the unicorn that claimed to be ‘Better than anyone,’ so I called her out for the second time that day.  I was pretty confused when she chose to run away instead.”

“What a wuss,” said Summer.  “All bark and no bite!  And she’s supposed to represent magic itself?  Maybe you didn’t need that cruddy amulet to show her who’s boss.”

“Well, maybe you heard her wrong.  I don’t think that one of Equestria’s greatest champions would say something like that.  Maybe you missed some of what she said over the sound of the crowd,” stated Autumn.

“Or maybe ‘Champions’ and ‘Heroes’, or in this case, ‘Heroines’, aren’t everything that they’re cracked up to be, with the exception of our brother that is.  In any case, go ahead and finish Trixie.”

“Okay, so, where were we?  Oh, right, Twilight ran away.  I was confused but I laughed it off and went back to pretending to be the world’s greatest magic user.  However, there was something about the look on her face that made me … question whether or not I went too far in trying to get Ponyville’s attention.  But, I changed my mind when just about everypony in the crowd paid me for my performance.  That night, after I had finally calmed down, and was well on my way to sleep, I made plans to look around for Twilight and her friends the next morning.  I’d go around and explain why I was so upset in the first place and then apologize for making a mockery of them.  I was even going to give them some of the money that the citizens gave me during the show.  Then somepony knocked on my door, which put me in a bad mood again.  If you’ve ever had somepony wake you up in the middle of the night when all you want is to go to sleep then you’d probably understand why.”

“I hear ya’ on that,” mumbled Summer.

“I figured that it was another little colt or filly that wanted my autograph.  Well, there were indeed a pair of colts at the door, but they were in a panic because they led a damned Ursa Major, which I later discovered was an Ursa Minor, into the heart of the town.”

“Yeah … I remember when I read about that in the paper,” said Autumn.  “It said that you ‘Wanted to better demonstrate your magical prowess’ so you talked those two colts into leading the Ursa into Ponyville.  I don’t want to go on from there because it looks like they lied.”

“Well would you look at that?  Who knew that it wasn’t a good idea to believe everything that you’ve read,” said Summer with heavy sarcasm.  “Why don’t you tell us how it really got there?”

“My pleasure.  Do you remember how I said that I ‘Bragged, over exaggerated, and lied like there was no tomorrow’?”

“Oh …”

“And that’s why I hate kids!  They’re so freakin’ stupid!” laughed Summer.

“Summer!” snapped Autumn.

“Actually Autumn, after everything that happened to me up until now, a large part of me agrees with Summer.  And to finish up the story, I wasn’t able to stop the Ursa Minor from running rampant.   That awards goes to Twilight.  Out of sheer embarrassment, I fled the town without looking back.  I ran to the first town I saw that wasn’t Ponyville and paid a group of repair stallions to go back and fix up my trailer, which got destroyed by that stupid Ursa.  After they transported it back to me, I saw that just about all of my equipment had been destroyed during the rampage.  It’s not easy being a magician when all of your equipment is gone and everypony blames you for the near destruction of an entire town.”

Trixie sighed while sinking deeper into the couch.  “You know the rest from there.  My life turned into one big train wreck, I found the Alicorn Amulet, Twilight and her friends defeated me, I almost froze to death, and now here we are on Hearths Warming, listening to Summer and me tell ghost stories around the fireplace.”  Trixie raised a hoof to her mouth and yawned.  “Well, I’d love to stay up and talk some more but it’s probably a good idea for me to rest now.”  Trixie rested her head on a pillow and closed her eyes.  “Too bad about the Hearths Warming gifts Summer.  I guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to open them.”


After Trixie had settled down for the night, Autumn and Summer retreated upstairs so that Trixie could sleep undisturbed.

“Wow … I don’t know what to say anymore,” said Autumn.

“You’re talkin’ about her story right?”

“Yeah.  Trixie sure has had it rough.  At least she has friends now.”

“Friends?” scoffed Summer.  “She doesn’t see us as ‘friends’.  She’ll probably leave out as soon as she’s able to stand on her own four hooves again.  Once that happens, she won’t give either of us a second thought.  Which is fine by me, I don’t really like her anyway.”

Autumn frowned for a moment and then walked up to her sister.  “Speaking of that, there’s something that I want to talk to you about.”

“Aww Tartarus, does this have anything to do with me and -”

“This has everything to do with that!  Why have you been acting so mean to her?  She hasn’t done anything to you and yet you’ve been treating her as if she was related to Red or Golden Ray.”

Summer rolled her eyes and sat down on Autumn’s bed.  “Simple, I just don't like her.  End of story."

The pink unicorn's mouth hung open in disbelief.  "You can't be serious!  There has to be more to it than that!"

"Look, I'm bein' as blunt with this as I can.  And word from the wise, you don't always need a reason to not like somepony.  I wanna go punch something everytime I see her face and that's all there is to it.  Oh, and since we’re talkin' about Trixie, don’t you think that she’s been actin' a little … weird?”

“What do you mean?  She’s sick and she’s depressed about what happened in Ponyville.  Of course she’s going to act a little out of the ordinary.”

“That’s not what I mean … it’s just … I have this weird feeling in my gut that she -” Summer stopped when she saw the confused look on her sister’s face.  “You know what, never mind.  I’m goin’ out for that walk now.”

“Uh … do you see how dark it is outside?”

“Yeah?  And?”

“Are you sure it’s safe to go out for a walk in the middle of the night, especially when you take in to account that this is the bad part of the city?”

“C’mon Autumn.  This is me that we’re talking about!” laughed Summer while stretching her legs.

“Okay … don’t say I didn’t warn you if you get attacked.”

“Do I look worried to you?”

“Alright,” sighed Autumn.  The pink unicorn called after her sister one last time before she left out the door. “Before you go Summer, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“What were the gifts that you got Trixie for Hearths Warming?”

“Oh,” said Summer with a smile.  “An enchanted snow-globe of Manehattan –the snow turns green if anypony within a two meter radius tells a lie – and a few spell books.”

Autumn raised an eyebrow.  “That’s it?  Earlier on, you made it seem like you got her something … bad.”

“The plan was to use them as a way to try and confirm a little suspicion that I’ve been having about Trixie since this morning, but I don’t think that I picked a good day to force the canary to sing,” replied Summer as she walked out the door.  “I think I’ll wait until she’s ready to tell us herself.”

Autumn’s ears perked up at this.  “Does this mean that you’ll take it easy on Trixie from here on out?  And … what’s your suspicion about Trixie?”

“Take it easy on the walking corpse?  Were you even listening to what I said before?  Why act nice to somepony when you don't even like em'?  That's called bein' dishonest, somethin' that that hillbilly hero from Ponyville would probably frown at.  And as for the second part, don’t worry about it just yet.  I don’t have too much to go by anyways.” With that, Summer disappeared, leaving behind a hopelessly confused Autumn for the second time that day.

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