Goodbye Forever: Second Chance

So much had happened within the last few weeks that Trixie forgot just how high some of the buildings in Manehattan could stretch.  There was no denying that Manehattan had some of the largest buildings in all of Equestria, many of which could easily dwarf the Canterlot Castle.  The abominations of brick and cobblestone seemed to extend into the skies for all of eternity, their peaks obscured by the falling torrents of snow.

The small flakes of ice also served to help camouflage parts of the city as well.  Trees, sidewalks, park-benches, everything had been engulfed under the same colorless blanket of winter.  Everywhere that Trixie looked, muscular looking ponies could be seen marching around in orange jumpsuits that read “MCC” (Which was an abbreviation for Manehattan Cleanup crew).  The MCC were working in groups of four to five in order to plow through the streets and sprinkle down salt so as to minimize the casualties of traveling by carriage.

From Trixie’s point of view, all of their hard work was nothing more than a wasted effort.  Every layer of snow that the MCC shoveled away got replenished within minutes by the wintery downpour.

Trixie thought back to where she was only a few weeks ago.  If Autumn had failed to ‘save her’ then her body would’ve been swallowed beneath it all.  Nopony would have ever known that she was even there until after the season had changed and the temperatures began to rise.  How long would that have taken?  One month?  Two and a half?  It could have even been three depending on how the weather team decided to manage things.  Who knew how many times a day that other ponies would’ve passed by that alley completely oblivious to the frozen husk underneath?

For some strange reason, Trixie found the scenario to be somewhat humorous.

“And what are you laughin’ at, trashcan?”  Summer eyed the other unicorn with a vexing glare.  “Wanna share with the rest of the class about what’s so funny?”

“What’s wrong with you?” came Autumn’s voice from Trixie’s left.

“Oh you really wanna know?”

‘No, now shut up’, Trixie thought to herself while rolling her eyes.

“Well, for one, I was havin’ a pretty good nap up until you woke me up, which was bad enough as it is seein’ as how I didn’t get to sleep until late last night.  But now that I’m finally up, I find out that you don’t even know where we’re headed!”  Autumn ignored the display being put on by Summer.  The grumpy mare had been throwing a big tantrum like this all morning long.

“Secondly, you let that washed up magician wear MY favorite hoodie outta all the others!  It was signed by Grave Keeper before he retired from EWE!”

Autumn looked over at Trixie and studied the clothing of interest.  It was jetblack and the top of the hood fell over the upper half of Trixie’s face.  On the front was a picture of a crow that sat perched on top of a tombstone.  Below the picture, the words “Return to the earth” were printed in bold faded gray letters.  In the lower corner of the hoodie, the initials “G.K.” could be seen on the bottom in dark blue marker.

“Now I’m gonna have to spray disinfectant all over it!  I hope you’re proud of yourself, Autumn!”

“Well what else was I supposed to do?  Let her freeze out here?”

Summer purposely bit down on her tongue in order to catch herself before she said something a little too offensive.  Her sister’s warning about what she’d end up doing if she continued to target Trixie had been carved deep within in her mind.  She wouldn’t let Autumn cut her off just yet.  Not until after she had finished milking Trixie for every last bit that she was worth.

After taking a few seconds to calm down, Summer shook her head and decided to drop the subject for the time being.  “You know what?  Forget it.  I don’t even care anymore.  Let’s just hurry up and figure out where we’re going.”

“Hmm,” Autumn raised a hoof to her chin in deep thought for a brief moment.  “What if we took her towards Misty Grove?  They’re supposed to be having an ice sculpting contest over there for the next few days or so.”

Summer looked as if she was considering the idea for a moment before shaking her head.  “Nah.  That takes too long.  Plus, I already stopped by there the other day.  Noponies working on anything impressive this year.  I say we go and shoot a few rounds at the crossbow range.”

“How about something we can all enjoy?”  Autumn turned to Trixie next.  “Do you have any ideas?”

She quickly shook her head and said, “I’ll let you two figure it out.  I couldn’t care less what we do.”  Then she walked off to the side and stood patiently while the two continued to throw ideas at each other.

“Oh, here’s a good one, why don’t we go down to Civic Hall?”

“Civic Hall?” Autumn repeated as if to make sure that she heard her sister correctly.  “That’s a long ways off.  Why do you want to go there?”

“Cause they’re sellin’ last minute tickets to the Detonography concert today.”

“Oh c’mon, Summer, not everypony likes listening to metal.  And didn’t they disband last year or something?”

“Yeah, they did.  But C4 got Warhead and Bombshell to sit down and talk things out.  Thanks to him, the band got back together and they’re making music again,” explained Summer.

“Music?”  Autumn titled her head back and laughed.  “Screaming into a microphone as loud as you can isn’t music.  That’s just making noise and torturing everypony’s eardrums.  What if we did something more relaxing, like ice-skating or bowling?”

“Ice-skating?  Bowling?  Ha!  And you thought my ideas were bad!  Look at that chump over there!”  She pointed a hoof over to Trixie, whose neutral expression was concealed by the hood.  “She may as well be made from a pile of twigs!  She just became well enough walk around without help!  Now lemme’ ask you somethin’ sherlock.  Whaddya think will happen if she loses her balance and falls over?”  Summer’s horn began to glow as she levitated a piece of ice into the air from off the ground.  Then she released her grip and smiled when it shattered on the pavement.  “And if we go bowling, her leg would probably just break off and fly down the lane along with the ball!”

“Summer, I think you’re over exaggerating things a little.”

“Over exaggerating?  Look, right now Trixie has a glass jaw.  She has a glass everything!  Hay, she’s a friggin china cabinet!  But if you don’t wanna take my word for it, then by all means, let me run back to my house and grab my camera before we head off!”

Trixie eventually lost the tiny shred of interest that she had in the discussion.  She just sat there, watching as all the other ponies passed by.  They seemed so happy … so carefree.  In a lot of ways she envied them.  They all had somewhere to be, something to do, and lives to live.  Why couldn’t things be that way for her anymore?  Her first instinct was to blame Twilight, but she soon abandoned that train of thought.  Yeah, Twilight’s actions had definitely complicated things for the former magician, but putting all of the blame on Twilight wouldn’t change anything.  Maybe it was just her bad luck for choosing to perform in Ponyville.  Perhaps if she’d picked somewhere else then none of this would be happening.

She lowered her head in disappointment and paced about.  ‘No point in dwelling on ‘What-if’s’.  Learn from the past, plan for the future, and all of that other nonsense.’

Just then, something caught Trixie’s attention.  On the other side of the street from where she was standing  she could see a group of foals standing outside a booth that read, “Fresh Hot Chocolate for sale!  Only 2 bits!  Get It While It’s Warm!”

‘Wow.  Didn’t know that foals still do things like that for money.  I guess some things never change.’

18 years ago in a city to the north-east of Cloudsdale, four ponies stood on a corner in front of a lemonade stand.  The sun’s sweltering heat had been harassing them for hours, and now the two younger ponies in the group were beginning to run thin on patience.  Jetstream, a six year old pegasus colt with a sand colored coat and a long flowing brown mane marched up to the eldest of the four, a male pegasus just like him and began to throw a fit.

“Lockpick!  This isn’t fair!  You’re a big colt!  Why are we the ones holding the signs and yelling at ponies while you and Attack-a-coal Advantage get to sit around all day and do nothing?!”

“Yeah!  He’s right!” pouted a much younger Trixie while wiping away long streaks of sweat that threatened to sting her eyes.  “It’s hot and we’re tired!  It’s your turn to hold the signs now!”  She threw her sign which read, “Support West River Orphanage for Only 1 Bit!  Buy 1 Get 1 Free!” onto the ground in a fit of defiance.

The second oldest out of the group, was a 17 year old earth-pony mare with a dark gray coat and a short mane that was almost identical to Trixie’s in color.  Her cutie mark was that of a brain that sparked with electricity.  She glared back at the two foals with a haunting pair of silver eyes.  “Let’s get something straight right now Jr., MY NAME, FOR THE HUNDREDTH, BILLIONTH, TIME, IS TACTICAL ADVANTAGE!  And for the love of Celestia, just call me Tact, or T.A like everypony else!”

“Fine, ‘Teeeeee Aaaaaayyyyy’!” Trixie cut in, “Why are you two just sitting there and making us do all the hard stuff?!  We’re gonna tell on you two as soon as we get back home!”

Tact face hoofed and turned towards Lockpick.  “I give up!  They hear but they don’t listen to anything I say!  Everything goes through one ear and out the other!  You explain it this time!”

“Whatever you say, hotness.”  The small foals laughed as Tactical Advantage sent a hoof flying into the side of the light green stallion’s face.  “Anyway, it’s like this.  You two have a special advantage that we don’t have anymore. Can any of you guess what that is?”

Jetstream scratched his head in deep thought for a few seconds.  “Oh, I know!  I’m the youngest pegasus at the orphanage to ever learn how to fly!”

Lockpick gave an amused chuckle before shaking his head.  “Good guess, little guy, but that’s not it.  How about you Trixie?”

The small unicorn smiled excitedly.  Even back then, Trixie became elated whenever she was the center of attention.  With an air of confidence, she gave her answer.  “What sets us apart is that I’m amazing and special.  Mother Tender Care said so when I used my magic to draw that picture with a crayon.”

“Those are all good guesses. You really shocked us when you jumped off the roof like that, and then you shocked us again when you didn’t splat against the ground.”  Lockpick turned away from Jetstream and turned to face Trixie.  “And as for you, you are indeed special.  You’re one of the most powerful unicorns this world will ever see, and don’t ever let anypony tell you otherwise.”

The filly started to blush from such a high praise.  “Unfortunately, those aren’t the reasons why you two have to do all the work.  You see, if me and hot-head over there held up those signs and tried to snag a little attention, most ponies would pass us by without a second thought.  But the two of you are different!  You’re small and adorable!  Ponies dig small and adorable, especially the mares!  Just look at how much money the two of you made today!”

Trixie and Jetstream took a quick glance at the money jar.  If their memory served correctly, they’d raised over 20 bits.  Combined with the total amount that the two had made over the course of the week, the foals were sitting on top of around 80 bits.

“Wow, I never thought of it like that …” mumbled Jetstream.

“That’s right, team!  Now tell me, what are you two here to do?”

“Sell lemonade …” Trixie muttered quietly while Jetstream scratched his left wing.

“I said, what are you two here to do?!”

“SELL LEMONADE!” the foals shouted in unison.

“And what team is gonna raise more money than anypony else for the orphanage?!”

“OUR TEAM!”

“CAN WE DO THIS?!”

“YEAH!!”

“Then what are you two standing around for?!  Get out there and make some moolah!” Trixie and Jetstream charged back into the fray, feeling far more determined than ever before to sell lemonade for their fundraiser.  As soon as they were out of earshot, Lockpick turned over to T.A and smiled.  “Hope you were taking notes, because that’s how you convince a pair of six year olds to do all the complicated stuff while we get to kick back and relax.”

“Hmph, you’re going to Tartarus for this.”  T.A sat down in the shade and began to sip on a bottle of water.  “Did you even mean a single word you just said to them, or was that all pretend?”

Lockpick watched in amusement as the two foals ran about, admiring his own handiwork.  “I meant every word of it, especially about Trixie,” the pegasus replied.  “Give her about 15 years and she’ll make it big in Canterlot.  Just watch.”

“So, does that sound like a good idea to you, Trixie?” asked Autumn.

“Huh?” the unicorn flinched, suddenly finding herself being jolted back into reality thanks to the sound of Autumn’s voice.

“Going off to the movies to see Pinkamenace II Society!  Does that sound okay to you?”

“Yeah, fine, whatever.”  Trixie spoke with a tone of indifference as she made her way back over to the group.