“Will there be anything else you require Trixie?”
“No, this is all. Thank you,” Trixie said as she fiddled around with getting her hat on just perfectly. The clown pony nodded. She was amazed that she was able to find another cape and hat set among her mentor’s stuff, although not exactly the same as her old ones. The cape was a royal purple with a gold trim, and so was the hat. This would do for now , but in time she would get an order out and get an exact replica of her old costume soon enough. The more simplistic look, while her mentor’s preference, had never held enough razzle-dazzle for her own attention grabbing needs.
“Very well then, I shall leave you to your preparations,” he said before taking his leave, making her now the sole occupant of O’Hooves former trailer. She shivered a little bit; those clowns just made her feel…off. The less time with them the better. Right now, however, she had a show to get ready for, and as she started digging through the stuff to see what she had to work with, her mind began wandering about.
The shock of the offer had worn down, and now that she was alone she could really think about it. When she was younger she had dreamed of possibly taking over for her former mentor, but after the night she ran away she doubted that would ever be the case. She had taken to the roads in hopes of being able to make some kind of living being a performer and still make him proud, but even in that she had gone too far. Oh sure, she had suppressed the memory of the events of that night, but that hadn’t been right. All that rage and anxiety, that need to validate herself constantly that she was competent. It didn’t help that she had a self-admitted natural level of arrogance and a large ego, and being by herself left no one to deflate her when she got too big. Combining all of that, it was no wonder she had turned into such a, to use the polite phrase, jerk.
But none of that mattered now. She was here now, taking the place of her mentor, about to show everypony just what it was that she could do. And hopefully now O’Hooves could…
Knock knock knock
“Grr, I thought I told those clown I didn’t need anything else…” Trixie mumbled as she opened the door. Before she got the chance to yell, however, she found herself looking at O’Hooves, his eyes filled with surprise before he hung his head down as if he was ashamed of something.
“Oh, I wasn’t expecting you to be here already. Uhm…can I come in and get a few things? And I guess say goodbye?” he said.
“O-of course. Come on in…” she said, confused. Leaving? Was he not going to stay for the show? A frown appeared on her face as he passed by her, but when he turned to look at her she put on a smile to try and reassure him.
“So I guess you’ve started settling in then?”
“Yeah, just about. Didn’t really have much stuff with me. I had a cart at some point but it got…damaged,” she replied.
“Sorry to hear that,” he said, his voice low as he turned back to his stuff. Several seconds went by before she spoke up again to break the awkwardness up.
“Are you going to go to the show? I have my first performance this evening and…”
“No, sorry, I won’t be able to make it. It’s a long walk to the train station and I already got a ticket,” he replied, still not really looking at her.
“Oh…okay then,” she responded, obviously disappointed by his choice. She had hoped that he would be there to be able to see her re-debut on stage after all that had happened, but she guessed getting out of here was more important than her. A slight twitch at the corner of her eye signaled her almost turning her disappointment into a glare, but she remembered back to what Big Top had said. If he really was as tired of all of this life as Big Top had said, then maybe it was for the best he leave…as long as she could get him to promise to see her at least once in the near future.
“Just remember to come back and see me sometime. I know it’s been years, but I’ve really learned a lot since then, and made a few mistakes she mentally added, “and I was wanting you to watch.”
She heard him just huff a little bit before speaking, “You don’t need me to be there. My opinion isn’t worth anything…”
“It means everything to me!” Trixie yelled, slightly angered. She just didn’t get it; this was not the mentor she remembered. Instead of the happy and magnificent stallion she remembered, this pony before her was like an empty shell. She mentally cringed at the thought that his may have been her fault, that her running away might have broken him somehow. But this was getting ridiculous; she was trying to make it up to him now!
Her outburst seemed to have startled O’Hooves, who had stopped moving but still refused to look at her, “Why is my opinion so important to you? I’m just a bitter, old magician who can’t even treat his apprentice right,” he replied, his own voice rising out of anger. The only problem was Trixie couldn’t tell if his anger was aimed at her or at himself.
“It matters because you’re my mentor! You’re the one who made me realize how wonderful being on stage is! You’re the one who helped me get my cutie mark in magic! And most importantly…”
At this she went and walked up to him, turning him around so she could get right up to his face. Both of her forelegs were on his shoulders.
“I need you to you to forgive me!” she said before her anger dissipated and her grabbing of his shoulders turned into a hug, though it was not returned by the now very tensed up stallion. She was tempted to start crying, but Trixie figured if she started then there was a good chance she couldn’t stop…or get what she had to say out of the way.
“Look, I’m sorry about everything, about running away and leaving you here. I’ve made a lot of stupid choices, and I’ve been acting stupid too. If you’re ever in Ponyville, just ask about an Ursa Minor if you don’t believe me,” she said, a slight laugh escaping her. It felt good to just laugh it off, even if she was still heavily embarrassed about it.
“But I’m here now, and it was absolutely devastating when you pushed me out earlier. I was probably going to do something stupid too I was so mad, but then I talked with Big Top and,” she stopped for a moment as she felt O’Hooves cringe again, “and talked about how bitter you’ve been these last few years so…so I took his offer to perform. I wanted to show you that it’s not your fault, no matter what stupid things I’ve done, and that you’ve been a good mentor.”
Finally done, she freed O’Hooves from her grasp, waiting for some sort of response. She watched as he just stood there, head still down to the ground in shame. But there was something different about this; his whole body looked as if it was quivering a little, like he was about to do…something. Yet at the same time it was like he was frozen, stuck in a state of not knowing what to do. Eventually she finally heard him mumble something
“…I can’t do this..”
“Can’t do what?” Trixie asked, straining to hear what he had said. Her talking startled him into finally looking up, the look of shame still present but joined with a slight smile at the corners of his mouth that looked almost…hopeful.
“Trixie, I never blamed you at all for what happened, but I haven’t been a good mentor at all, not after what I’ve done…but I’m going to make that up right now.”
Before she could respond to anything, O’Hooves had run out the door, leaving it slamming on its hinges as she stood there confused.
------
Ooooooh, what in Celestia’s name just happened…and what am I floating in? Time Turner thought as he began to regain consciousness. His eyes were still closed, a little droopy still from the sleeping powder, but he could still tell a few things. He was floating in some kind of fluid, he was upside down, and that whatever was going on was probably not good.
Opening his eyes, he found himself suspended on the ceiling of the tent in some kind of greenish, fluid filled sack. He wasn’t really sure what it was that this stuff was made out of, and he had the feeling that he would have preferred to not know. Huh, that was an interesting feeling, not wanting to know something. It felt…icky. Or was that just the fluid? Meh, no time to worry about that sort of thing. It was time to get out of there and save Trixie, defeat the Changelings, and probably give O’Hooves a punch or two. Just another day in his life really.
Now exactly how was he to do such a thing? With a little bit of effort he was able to make it to the part of the sack that seemed to have been made transparent for viewing. Well, he’d give the Changelings credit for having a built in window, although what exactly that was for (or what this entire thing was for really) he would just leave to his imagination for now. What was important, however, was that he might be able to have some success in kicking through it, which was not an easy task to do upside down.
Rearing back as best as he could do in his state, Time Turner began to punch at the window. Several attempts at doing so were making little success; if only he could actually buck at the thing he would have been out of here. Still, all he could do was punch through a thick fluid of some sort at a solid sack window thing with his slightly weaker forelegs instead of rear legs and…well this was not his best day now was it.
Best day or not, I need to get out of here and warn Trixie!
As punching was making no success, he started to think of some other kind of plans when all of a sudden there was a white glow surrounding the sack. Looking down from where he was, he was intrigued at the site of O’Hooves below. Time Turner was hoping maybe something good was happening, but his dislike of the magician made him cautious enough to reserve judgment till he got some explanation. And freedom; that was nice too.
“Just be careful okay, I’m upside down and…”
Before the statement was finished, the window was broken and he soon joined the fluids in flooding out of the sack and towards the ground. He braced himself to fall on his head (not the first time that would have happened but still), but was relieved when the white glow of O’Hooves magic levitated him a moment before flipping him right-side up. In this one moment Time Turner felt like he would never love solid ground more than he ever could.
“Thank you for that. Now then…what are you doing here?” he said, glaring at the magician, not even caring that he was still covered in that fluid stuff.
“Look, I know you don’t like me right now but…”
“Oh trust me, I absolutely loathe you,” Time Turner interrupted.
“And you’re right to do so; I’ve been loathing myself for years. But that ends now. I know nothing I do will probably make you forgive me, and you are free to tell Trixie what I did, but I can’t let this happen, not anymore,” O’Hooves said. Time Turner noticed that as the magician spoke his words became less choppy and shameful and more proud. Still, Time Turner raised an eyebrow at the old stallion, still not sure what to think.
“Oh, and why exactly is that?”
“…because I have to at least attempt to be the mentor Trixie believed I was. When I talked with her, when I looked her in the eye as she told me how much I meant to her, I just…I just couldn’t let her down anymore,” O’Hooves stammered, looking proud and ashamed at the same time.
Time Turner sighed at the response. He looked down at the ground in thought for a moment before starting to say something. With the reason behind O’Hooves sudden change of heart given, he made a decision on how to proceed from here.
“Well, if that’s the case then,” Time Turner said solemnly before looking up at O’Hooves with a smile, “I think that I’m willing to be forgiving. For Trixie’s sake.”
His statement seemed to have shocked the old stallion, eyes widened and teary, mouth slightly opened as if to say something, only to finally just squeak out a “Why?”
“Simple really. You sir seem to have a conscience, and a strong one at that. I’m not going to reject anypony who is trying to make up for the bad things they’ve done…and no thanks are necessary before you start getting on about that. Friend to save, no time to waste.”
With that Time Turner started to gallop out of the tent, O’Hooves following behind him. Both of them knew where to go next without hesitation. Trixie needed to be filled in, and it had to be sooner rather than later.
-----
Trixie had finally gotten an act planned together when all of a sudden her door was opened with a slam. Not even startled by this point from all the door abuse, she turned around to face who it was to only be met with the panting figure of O’Hooves and the less panting but still tired Time Turner.
“So you two finally came back…and just what exactly are you covered in?” she said, finally noticing that Time Turner seemed to be drenched in some kind of fluid. Her question was met with a roll of his eyes.
“No time for that, we got to save you and the carnival,” Time Turner said as his breath started to even out. In the past Trixie would have dismissed this kind of thing, but with travelling with Time Turner she had learned to listen to him about these sort of things.
“So what’s going on? Monster rampaging through the carnival? Ponies hypnotized by carnival fare? Overly priced food carts?” she responded. Yes she was taking his claim seriously, but she still had to get some snark in.
“No, it’s much bigger than that I’m afraid…and I’ve been involved in it,” O’Hooves responded. Trixie’s stomach felt like it had just fallen out of Cloudsdale at that.
“I-involved in what?” she asked. Her mentor was starting to become a real headache with all these constant mood changes.
“The carnival has been run by Changelings ever since you left,” O’Hooves said. Trixie was confused.
“And Changelings are what now?”
“Changelings are an insect and pony-like species that feeds off of emotional attachments, particularly positive emotions such as love and friendship,” Time Turner chimed in. Trixie took the thought in for a moment, processed it, and then glared at O’Hooves.
“And you’ve been helping them all this time?..And you were going to let ME work for them instead?” she said, voice raised as she felt the anger swell inside her, nostrils at a flare. Every nerve in her body told her that the appropriate reaction might be to send him flying back through that door, and take it with him. Time Turner stepping in between her and O’Hooves, however, made her more wary than ready to fight.
“Trixie, now is not the time to get upset. Your mentor here admits that he made a terrible mistake but is trying to make it right. Now I can’t say I know everything that has gone on between the two of you, but I can take a guess that you both have some other mistakes in your pasts,” Time Turner said, looking at both O’Hooves and at her, “And both of you are trying to make up for it now, and that’s all that matters.”
She backed away a little, her temper calming down a little as she remembered her own mistakes and how she had basically demanded O’Hooves forgive her and let her have a chance to make up for it. The least she could do then was to let him have the same chance.
“Fine, we can worry about it all after we’ve dealt with the Changelings,” Trixie responded, sitting down on the floor, “Which, by the way, I have yet to been informed on what we’re actually going to do. Or are we playing it by ear like normal?” she asked her companion. She instantly regretted the question when his response started off with him gaining that smarmy little grin on his face and an almost impish wink.
“Oh, I got a plan, and it’s going to be a real showstopper.”