“I must say, it was a surprise to see you at my door today Trixie.” Twilight said as she walked into the kitchen to get some tea made.
It was a sunny morning in Ponyville. The streets were already filled with ponies doing their things that they had to do for the day. Even with the busy streets humming with life, the tree house library was as silent as ever. Twilight’s day consisted of the usual. Wake up, eat some breakfast, and drink some coffee made by her No. 1 Assistant and then start her daily clean-up of the shelves. That all change just after breakfast when a sudden knock came from the door. Twilight opened it to see a familiar yet very different looking mare named Trixie. Patches of dark dirt covered her fur and both her cape and hat were filthy. She also noticed that Trixie’s face was thinning out showing she hadn’t eaten in a long time.
“Thank you for letting me come by…I want to talk about a few things.” The azure mare with a silver mane and tail said softly to her as she finished eating her hay sandwich Twilight made for her.
“What’s on your mind? I haven’t seen you since your show you had so long ago. Must be important to seek me out.” Twilight said as she grabbed two tea bags along with a boiling kettle of hot water and filled them up.
“I just wanted to say…I’m sorry. My boasting is what almost caused the town to be flattened by an Ursa.” Trixie said in an apologetic voice.
Twilight paused confused by this.
“Why are you sorry? It wasn’t your fault that Snips and Snails decided to bring an Ursa to town.”
“But it was my fault! If I didn’t brag about it, they wouldn’t have brought it to town in the first place.” Trixie said slamming her hoof on the table.
“Trixie…it wasn’t your fault. So what if you bragged about it? It was them alone that brought it to town, and their fault alone. Don’t worry about it. Was that was eating you for so long? Because something tells me you’re here for another reason.” Twilight said a bit rattled by Trixie slamming her hoof down.
Now it was Trixie’s turn to be shocked. She didn’t think Twilight would notice that right away, but Twilight was right; she wanted to talk to her about something important. She didn’t know what drove her to actually talk to her about it, but something in her mind told her it was the best thing to do. She needed to get the burden off her chest.
“Y-you`re right. Remember when I told you I made up that story about fighting an Ursa? It…was actually partly true….” Trixie said starting to recall something from her dark past…
“Mama? Where are we going to perform today?” Little filly Trixie asked her mother as they walk down the dusty path to their next destination.
“We are going to perform in Los Pegasus in a few days sweetheart.” The tall and beautiful Cerulean mare wearing a purple cape adorned with stars along with a matching hat said softly to her small azure child.
Trixie’s family came from a line of pure blood unicorns who excelled in the art of dazzling magic. Trixie’s mother was the pinnacle of that line. She was known throughout Equestria as the greatest showmare to ever grace the stage. Her beautiful Cerulean fur captured the eyes of millions while her ice blue eyes and silver mane gave her a commanding presence. She was known as The Mystical and Mysterious Misty to all. To Trixie, she was her loving mother, her mentor, and her idol.
“REALLY!? WE GET TO GO TO LOS PEGASUS!?” Trixie squee’d with delight as she started to bounce up and down.
“Of course. But it’s also a break for you. You’ve been studying how to use magic so hard that I thought I would be a relaxing weekend to see the big city.” She answered back to her.
“But mama…I still don’t have my cutie mark for it. Maybe learning to use magic isn’t my talent….” The little filly said as she bowed her head down and looked back at her blank flank.
“Don’t be hard on yourself dear. You have lots of promise for a filly of your age. Why you may even be better than me one day.” Misty said as she nuzzled her daughter’s cheek.
“Thanks mama, but I’ll never be as great as you.” Trixie said getting her confidence back as she nuzzled hers in return.
Misty chuckled at her statement and stares back up to the evening sky. Before her stood the Whitetail Woods and over the trees the outline of the floating city Los Pegasus was seen. The only thing that stands between them is the forest which is home to the Ursa’s. Misty wasn’t worried though, as Ursa’s only attack if ponies invade their nest area. All they had to do was stay on the path through the forest and everything would be fine. And if worst came to part, she had enough magic skill to send it packing. Trixie looks up to see what her mother was looking at and saw the entrance that led into the dark forest.
“Mama…can’t we just teleport across the forest? I-it looks scary to enter…” Trixie said slowly backing up out of fear of the unknown.
Even taught to fillies at a young age, they were always told evil creatures would lurk the woods around Equestria. The most dreaded forest that was spoken of was the Everfree forest, which housed cursed spirits, countless monsters ranging from the small yet deadly cockatrice to the deadly and huge manticore. However those failed in comparison to the 2 biggest threats that roamed the Whitetail Woods. Ursa Minors and their parents the Ursa Majors. Trixie never saw pictures of the creatures because no one ever got close enough to take a photo of either of them.
“It’s too far for both of us to reach so we must trek through the forest. Besides with my dazzling spells and superior magic we can’t be beaten!” Misty said pulling out her stage voice as she rises to her hind legs and starts moving her hooves around like she’s getting ready to perform a trick.
Misty began to float in the air as a ring of purple stars begin to spin around her body. Trixie watched in awe as the stars flew into the air and exploded into a dazzling display of fireworks against the twilight sky. After that little performance she floated back to the ground, quickly adjusted her wizard hat, and striked a pose bearing a big smile at her daughter. Misty always had a way of cheering her daughter up when she started to feel scared. Trixie started to feel courageous and tries to stand up on her hind legs. Sadly it wasn’t a thing she was used to and as quickly as she tried to stand up, she started to sway back and forth about to fall.
“Careful sweetheart!” Misty shouted as she quickly lowered her head to Trixie’s level and as to let her fall into her.
Trixie reached forward and managed to fall forward and accidentally hit a certain spot behind her mother left ear. Unknown to both of them, the unicorn body has about 4 magic pressure points that cut off their magic for a few hours. Sadly one of them was behind the ear that Trixie hit.
“How do you stand up so easy mama?” Trixie said still holding her mother’s face.
“You get used to it after lots of practice. Come; let us be on our way.” Misty said as Trixie let go of her and they start walking again into the forest.
The tall trees almost completely blocked out the sun giving the path a dark presence. Shadows crept around the edges of the trees making it seem like a dark figure was watching their every move. Both girls were expecting forest life to be giving the forest some life, instead they only heard the sound of the winding filled their ears.
“Mama…this-this forest is scary…AH!” Trixie said timidly and then screamed as she looked at a tree and thought she saw a face in it.
“It’s alright sweetheart, just stay close to stay close to me and I’ll protect you.” Misty said looking over the area.
She too was getting a bad vibe from the forest, and for some reason she couldn’t use her magic to light up the area a bit better. Her horn wasn’t responding with any sort of magic at all. She kept quiet about it to her daughter, fearing she would panic. Suddenly a loud beastie roar erupted from deep within the forest.
“Oh no…” Misty said fearing the worst was about to happen.
“Mama!? W-w-w-what was that!?” Trixie said in a panic not knowing the thing that made that sound.
“It…it sounded like an Ursa Major…” Misty said knowing things were not going her way.
“I’m scared…” The little filly said cowering under her mother’s leg.
“Don’t worry, as long as we don’t go near it’s nesting area or provoke it in anyway, we will be fine…Come, lets quickly continue on.” Misty said bravely to her daughter but in deep inside her mind she feared for the worst.
Both mares continued to trek through the woods. Animal life was not at all present in the woods. It was as they all were hiding in fear. The evening sky slowly turned into a dark night barely making the path visible. Misty’s magic was still gone sadly.
“Mama…can you light up the path?” Trixie asked barely seeing a hoof in front of her own.
Misty got scared now. If she told her daughter that her magic was gone, she would panic. However she had no choice in the matter.
“Sweetheart..my-my magic isn’t working…” Misty said feeling defeated.
“b-but what if the Ursa Major shows up!?” Trixie said in a panic and started walking backwards.
Before Misty could attempt to calm her down, Trixie let out a scream and fell over. Misty looked on in dread at what caused her daughter to fall over.
“Ow…What did I fall into?” Trixie said lighting her own horn up to see the hole she was in.
After a quick look both of them realized the hole was actually a giant paw print. Trixie never felt so little in her whole life when standing in it.
“This isn’t good…” Misty said quietly realizing that they most off taken a wrong turn on the path and got close to the Ursa nesting area.
“Mam-“ Trixie started to say but was cut off by another loud roar.
This roar sounded a lot closer than before as the ground started to rumble and the sound of trees crashing down as the creature approached.
“oh no. nononononono….” Misty said quietly as fear started to build up.
Trixie looked to her mother for what to do but saw she was stricken with fear. If she couldn’t use magic to defend both of them then the forest trek would end horribly.
“Sweetheart. Get behind me.” She said to her daughter knowing they couldn't out run it.
Once Trixie was behind her mother and holding onto her leg, the great beast knocked over the last few trees and stood in full view of both of them. It was indeed an Ursa just like Misty predicted, except it was just a minor, but it looked very, VERY angry.
“is…is that a Ursa Major!?” Trixie said not knowing what a Ursa looked like.
“Actually it ju-” Misty said turning her attention to her daughter which would prove fatal.
“MOM LOOK OUT!!” Trixie screamed noticing the Ursa was about to swing it’s massive paw.
Before she can refocus on the Ursa, the paw connected and sent her body into a tree with Trixie still holding her leg. Both bodies were sent into the trees and the force of the hit caused Misty’s body to break one of the weaker trees in half. The sudden hit caused Trixie to let go and fly a few more feet before hitting the ground hard. Surprisingly Trixie didn’t suffer extreme damage other than a few sore muscles.
“M-mama…?” Trixie said slowly as she tried to regain her footing.
She looked around and saw the big Ursa looking around for where both of them went. The sight of it terrified Trixie but she was more worried about her mother then to run away. Suddenly a low groan could be heard near the broken tree. Trixie panicked when she saw her mother’s signature hat fall from the tree to the ground.
“M-MAMA!?” She said as she ran to her.
Misty groaned again once and tried to move, however her left leg hurt to move and didn’t respond very well. Once again her horn wasn’t doing anything. She was foolish to try and use what little magic she had, but she had to protect her daughter at all costs, and now…it may cost her, her own life for that. She slowly opened her tired eyes and saw her body was something out of a horror movie. The entire right side of her body has a monster gash causing her to bleed out very quickly. Her left leg had a jagged branch sticking out of it with her blood running down the broken tree and to the grass below. Even with her body like it was, her hat and even her cape survived without getting ripped at all. She tried to move her body but nothing would respond at all. It even hurt to breath for her.
“Mama?...MAMA!?” Trixie said as she climbed the broken tree and saw the blooded form of her mother.
“S…sweet…My…my leg is…argh.” She said painfully trying to not scream.
“I..I…can get it…out.” Trixie said lighting her horn up and pointing it at her leg.
Trixie had to block out the sound of flesh tearing and her mother’s screams as she pulled her leg off the branch. The Ursa caught wind of the screams and followed it.
“Swe…sweetheart…just…run.” Misty begged of her after her leg was finally out.
“I….I can…protect and save you mom!” Trixie said as she tried to figure out how to actually save her.
In her young years of studying magic she was really upset she never studied healing magic at this point. The sound of the approaching Ursa made Trixie turn around and come face to face with the beast. Trixie trembled and start to cry quietly as the Ursa stared at both of them.
“Pl…ease…just run.” Misty begged one again before she coughed up a bit of blood.
Trixie stared at her mother and then back at the Ursa. Her fear was subsiding and anger was rising up. Something inside of Trixie began to grow…
“Y-You stupid Ursa Major! You hurt my momma!!” Trixie screamed as magic energy starts to course around her body.
Both Misty and the Ursa stare in shock as Trixie’s eyes start to turn white and magic swirled around her horn. Suddenly 3 spinning white stars began to appear and circled Trixie. Misty started to recognize the spell. It was a shooting star spell that only unicorns with a large amount of magic could conjure up. Even she couldn’t use the spell because of the huge amount of energy it took to make. A small smile appeared on her face knowing her daughter was indeed gifted with magic. Trixie stared with pure hate at the monster who was still confused to what was going on. With a loud scream Trixie shoot the 3 stars at the Ursa. Even with its massive size it narrowly dodge the stars that ended up cutting it deeply 3 times on it`s right cheek. The shooting stars exploding into a dazzle array of lights that lit up the darkening sky that could have been seen from Los Pegasus. In fact a few ponies saw the night lights and were in awe at the dazzling colors.
The pain took a second to set in for the Ursa. It looked at its new cuts to see a bit of its dark blue blood run down it`s cheek. It`s face twists into a snarl and it lets out a roar that almost sounds like a scream. The loud scream brought Trixie back to herself as the magic slowly goes away. Misty then saw something forming on Trixie`s flank…
Trixie couldn’t believe what just happened. She didn't know where all the energy came from and where it had gone. The only thing she knew was that the Ursa was pissed and out for more blood. Knowing she couldn’t do that again she quickly grabbed her mother’s hat and hugged her mother.
“It’s too big! I can’t beat it!”
“It’s…ok sweetheart…you did your best….run…before it attacks…” Misty said with a smile on her face.
The Ursa was enraged as it brought it’s paw up and attempted to crush the little pony that wounded it.
“Not without you mama!” Trixie said as she lit up her horn to try a teleportation spell.
As the paw was coming down, Trixie and her mother ended up teleporting to an unknown location. The Ursa smiled thinking it had crushed them, but as it lifted its paw up, it only saw the crushed tree and roared in rage…
Trixie looked around after successfully teleporting. She was still in the forest much to her dislike but knew she was safe. She also noticed a nearby bluish glow. She looked to her left and saw a lot of crystal clear water. Hearing her mother cough brought her attention back to her.
“Mama! It’s okay we got away. I…I can go and find help!” Trixie said hoping she could still save her mother.
“Its…too…late for me…but its…okay dear.” Misty said realizing she didn’t have much life left.
“IT’S NOT OKAY MOMMA! I CAN’T HELP YOU!! I…don’t know any healing…spells…”Trixie screamed in her mothers shoulder not knowing why her mother was smiling and yet, in a lot of pain.
Suddenly Trixie felt a familiar nuzzling against her face. She took her face off her should and looked at the smiling face of her mother.
“You did help me sweetie….you beat an ursa…by yourself…and look…you got your…mark for it….” Misty said to her.
“What!?” Trixie said as she turned to her flank and saw a mark on it.
The mark was a wavy moon like shaped that shared the same color as her mothers fur, and a magic wand with a star shaped like the ones she had before. The way it was shaped was like the wand was protecting the moon…
“I…I got my mark? I…finally got my mark!?” Trixie said excited that she had finally found her talent.
“See swe…sweetie…Magic is you…r…talent…” She says quietly but ended up coughing up more blood.
Trixie turned back to her mother with a concerned look on her face.
“I…can find help mom!” Trixie said about to run for someone, anyone, to help her mother.
“I..won….t.make it in time…it’s ok…ay dear…you’re a …big…mare now.” Misty said growing more and more weaker.
“No…NO I don’t want to be alone! You got to live, you got too!” Trixie cried as more tears started to form under her eyes.
“Its….okay dear….you’ll …..ne…ver be alone…..” misty said as she used lots of her remaining energy and grabbed her hat and placed it on Trixie’s head which almost cover her face completely.
Trixie stared at the brim of the large hat slightly confused.
“you’ll…be…a wonderful un..unicorn dear…..You got…lots of…pote…ntial...you’ll make me…proud I…know it…I always be with you Trixie. I love…you…” Misty said as the last of her energy left her body and she went limp.
“Mom!? P-please don’t leave me! I don’t want to be alone! MOM!!” She begged as she began to push her mother’s still body.
“After that…I ended up falling asleep from crying so long…When the morning came I woke up next to her…after hoping she would wake up I waited for a few hours praying she was just sleeping. Finally the realization she was gone had finally hit me. I…ended up burying my mother by that large area of water. Before I did I took her cape so I wouldn’t forget that day at all. I…I didn’t have any other family then my mother. I never knew my dad and though I had a home at the time, I couldn’t pay for it and ended up getting a show cart so I could travel and perform for bits. I ended up dying my mane to match my mothers. I wanted…to make her proud of me….I…I…” Trixie said recalling her final bit of her story about her mother.
Twilight stared in shock from the story she just heard and Trixie started to tear up barely holding it back.
“T-Trixie…” Twilight said starting to tear herself as she reached over and hugged the mare.
Trixie didn't see it coming and when Twilight hugged her, she went quiet. The last time anyone hugged her was when her mother was still alive. Realizing that she let herself go and began to cry into Twilight`s shoulder.
“Let it all out.” Twilight whispered into her ear.
“IT’S NOT FAIR! WHY CAN’T ANYTHING GO RIGHT FOR ME!? I CAN’T PERFORM ANYMORE BECAUSE I’M USELESS AND PATHETIC. EVERYPONY IS RIGHT; MY WHOLE LIFE IS NOTHING BUT FAILURES! I COULDN’T SAVE MY MOTHER AND DIDN’T VANQUISH THAT URSA THAT DAY! THE ONLY REASON I GOT THIS MARK IS BECAUSE I’M NOTHING BUT A FAILURE!!” She cried out loud.
Twilight waited until Trixie had stopped crying to try and calm her down.
“Trixie. You’re not a failure. You went head to head with a minor at such a young age and lived to tell the tale. You have incredible magic in you. You know it and your mother knew it as well. When she died she was the most proud of you that day.” Twilight said calming her down a bit.
Hearing that, Trixie actually started to calm down.
“What is your plan now?” Twilight asked after letting her regain herself.
“I-I’m going to apologize to the rest of your friends and then…be on my way.” She replied not sure on where she would go considering she was homeless.
Years of living on the streets had broken her down a lot. She only lived on a small amount of bits to buy food, and even sometimes she had to steal some to survive. She didn’t have anything left.
“Would…you like to stay the night?” Twilight suddenly asked.
Trixie stared in shock at her with tears in her eyes. No one ever offered her a place to rest.
“You would help…me?”
“Of course. If I had known that your show cart was your home, I would have followed you the day you left. No one deserves to go through what you had to. I want to help you.” Twilight said still hugging her.
Trixie didn’t know what to say anymore. She truly thought she would have been laughed at for her story by her. She had greatly judged the lavender mare wrong. If she truly meant it to her, she started to feel relieved.
“Do..you mean it?” Trixie asked pulling away.
“Of course. Please stay in my place tonight. I can’t let you be homeless anymore.” Twilight said with complete honesty in her voice.
Trixie smiled and started crying again; only her tears were that of joy. As she hugged her a final time, she said words she hadn’t said in a long time.
“Thank you…”