That was the worst report ever. Of all time. What was I thinking? I take that back. I wasn’t. Celestia must’ve known I’ve never done anything like that before. She thanked me and said that I did well in my actions but I don’t know if i-
“Mr. Silent, sir?” Silent opened his eyes and looked at the brown stallion walking next to him.
“Yes, what is it, Thund- Caramel?”
“I was just wondering about the relationships that both you and Caramel shared, and which ones I must carry on.”
Silent was lost in thought for a couple minutes before he finally spoke. “You will maintain public relations with the Apple family and with all of your other contracts having to do with mechanics. I will still be in contact with Big Mac and with my family.”
“Thank you, sir.” Silent rolled his eyes at his new doppelganger.
“Another thing, don’t call me sir. I’ll be working under you at the shop, leaving when the need arises. You will simply say I went to get supplies on the off-chance that anypony asks.” Caramel nodded and looked forward to the transport that Celestia had ordered to take them back to Ponyville.
“Doesn’t that seem a bit strange? Y’know, if a mechanic comes in with a new guy on a very nice cab? Won’t ponies ask questions?”
“It would, if Ponyville were a normal place. When the Element of Magic arrived at Ponyville in Celestia’s personal chariot, nopony even looked at her. However, I won’t be accompanying you into town. You’ll be riding solo. Once we get on the outskirts, I’ll be teleporting into the machine shop.” Silent closed his eyes for some well-deserved rest.
When the cab was almost to Ponyville, Caramel nudged Silent, who woke with a start.
“So what will you be changing into?”
“Beg pardon, Caramel? What do you mean, ‘what will you be changing into?’”
“Well, sir, if you think about it, not many ponies have no cutie mark, or the cutie mark that you have. Wouldn’t it draw attention to yourself if you were a grown stallion with no visible cutie mark?”
“Didn’t think about that. You’re right, Caramel. Good thinking. Hold on one second.” Silent’s horn began to glow, wrapping himself in his magical aura. After the flash of light, Caramel’s mouth opened wide at the new form. Before him stood a light blue Unicorn with an ice-colored mane and light blue eyes.
“I didn’t think it was possible for a pony to change that quickly. This form took me hours to perfect. You just did that in a couple of seconds.”
“Years of training, Caramel. This wasn’t even that difficult, the eyes were the most that changed.”
“Very well. It looks like we’re just about to Ponyville, so I guess I’ll see you at the shop?” Silent nodded and vanished without a flash.
When Caramel arrived, Silent was laying on the couch listening to the record play. He looked up and smiled.
“About time you got here. I was able to clean up the shop and the spare room in the time it took you to find this place. Get lost?” Caramel sighed as Silent stood up.
“Not quite. I got stopped by Applejack on the way here, asked where I had gotten off to, said people had been asking for you… well… for me. In any case, we have quite a lot of orders waiting for us tomorrow. But for now, I think I’m going to hit the hay.” Caramel started walking up the stairs to the bedrooms.
Silent waited until Caramel was up the stairs before he began to follow him. “Your bedroom is the second door on the left. I have to warn you, the window creaks a bit.” Silent smiled as Caramel let out a grunt and mumbled something under his breath.
The next morning, Silent walked into the kitchen and saw that Caramel had made breakfast. It was pancakes and hay bacon strips with orange juice to drink. At the table, Silent noticed a small note.
“Silent, I’ve gone to talk to Applejack about the contracts that she’s acquired for me. I would tell you to handle any customers that come in today while I’m gone, but you probably already know to do that. I shouldn’t be gone more than a couple of hours.”
After breakfast, the newly appointed shop assistant stepped outside to go for a walk. By then, Caramel had returned and given Silent leave until after lunch. As Silent walked through the streets, he noticed a cloaked figure sitting at a café, looking at the ponies that passed by. Silent could tell it was a unicorn mare, but he couldn’t see anything else. He noticed that none of the other ponies seemed to notice her, which although it wasn’t entirely unusual, still seemed odd to him. As he walked closer to the café, he could feel a certain force that told him to look the other way, and just continue on with his routine. He immediately recognized it as an illusion spell meant to disguise a pony in broad daylight, one that he had used countless times before. Silent decided to play along and keep walking, but his mind kept racing with all the possibilities of why somepony would need that spell in order to watch a town.
Later that day, as Silent was putting the final screw in place on a cart that needed repair, he heard a knock on the door. When he walked over and opened it, he barely had time to jump out of the way before a young mare ran inside.
“Silent, you’ve gotta come quick. Word is there’s a very powerful unicorn and she’s here to give a little show.” Colgate gestured for Silent to follow her as she ran out the door. Silent followed Colgate to the middle of Ponyville, and sure enough, there was a strange yellow wagon with a banner that had a crescent moon and a star on a stick.
“Wait a second… I know that emblem. Colgate, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Silent looked over at his younger sister.
“Yeah, I noticed her earlier today,” Colgate said, “She was at a café wearing a hood. When I came up to her, she looked at me like in shock, probably due to the fact that I completely ignored her illusion spell to talk with her. We talked for a little bit, she said she was here scouting out her audience before she rolled in.”
“Yeah, but why is she here? There are tons of better places to set a show.”
“Apparently, she’s been met with less than positive reactions in bigger cities like Baltimare and Las Pegasus. She started her show in Manehattan, traveling throughout all the country trying to make a name of herself.” Silent was about to reply when a mare’s voice rang throughout the audience.
“Come one, come all, come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trrrixie!” Suddenly, the wagon opened into a stage and fireworks shot off in all directions.
Well she’s certainly got a lot of pizazz, let’s see if she’s got the magic to back her claims. Last I checked, little Trixie didn’t have that much magical ability. Certainly not enough to earn the title of “great” or “powerful”.
Silent and Colgate watched as Trixie told her story about vanquishing an Ursa Major and then proceeded, after a little bit of provoking by the audience, to challenge anypony to beat Trixie in her magical ability. They watched as some of the locals gave a little show, then watched as Trixie humiliated them in front of all their friends.
“Same old Trixie. She uses her magic to humiliate other ponies, just so others think she’s more powerful than she is. Her most powerful spell seems to be the one that everypony in our family knows.” Silent looked over at Colgate, who at this point was steaming in anger. Luckily for Trixie, the show ended shortly after the magenta mare known as Twilight Sparkle ran away.
Silent went back to the shop and began work on repairing a far-beyond-fixing stand for one of the local vendors. It was late at night when Silent finally gave up on the project. All of the sudden, he heard a loud roar outside, followed by a shrill scream. Silent rushed outside in time to see an Ursa step on Trixie’s wagon. Silent’s mind immediately began racing through all of the options for taking down the threat while he ran to his parent’s house.
Silent entered his parent’s home and was greeted by his father.
“Well, well, well, looks like we have a visitor. What brings you here at this hour, Silent?”
“An Ursa has made its way into Ponyville. I’m going to go see what I can do about it, but I came here to make sure you were safe and could secure this house. I’ve gotta go now, but stay safe, father.” Colgate walked up to Silent as his mom looked in horror.
“You too, son. Take Colgate with you. She doesn’t look it, but she packs a punch when she needs to.” Silent nodded and headed for the door with Colgate.
When Colgate and Silent arrived on the scene, Silent noticed that Twilight’s horn was glowing very brightly. He could hear music playing and the Ursa was beginning to drift off. Suddenly, a giant container filled with milk came floating over the rooftop as Twilight lifted the Ursa off the ground and sent him back into the Everfree forest. Silent watched as Twilight spoke with her friends before Trixie walked up to her, boasted a little more, and then bolted.
“Silent,” Colgate said, turning to her brother, “Shouldn’t you probably go after her?”
“I was getting there! I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Silent turned and rushed into the alley. He quickly transformed into his mist form and flew after the fleeing mare. He got to a point in the road a bit ahead of her and transformed back into his physical body.
Trixie ran around the corner that Silent had been watching and immediately stopped to look at the pony that was seemingly randomly standing in the road. She walked up to Silent, out of breath.
“Well, hello there, Silent. Trixie thought she might see you sometime soon. Your sister talked with me earlier today, and she told me you were on official business. What brings you to the talentless town of Ponyville?” Trixie smirked as she began to walk around Silent.
“Turns out, there are some pretty important ponies in that town,” Silent said, stepping in the way of Trixie, “Ponies that the Princesses don’t want coming to any harm. Your little fanclub in Ponyville brought in an Ursa Minor for you to vanquish, causing a potential for those very important ponies to be brought to harm.”
“So, what you’re saying is I am responsible for the actions of two foolish colts and their idolatry of me?” Silent nodded. “Are you going to imprison me or something?”
“Not if you promise to stay away from Ponyville from now on. I can let you go right now if you promise me that. If not, however, I will be forced to take you to Canterlot, where your actions will be judged by courts. I can’t show favoritism just because you’re my cousin.”
“You always were a killjoy, Silent. I was supposed to be the one to carry on the family tradition, you know that, right? To learn the ways of the Shadow and be the one in the family with special abilities? Then, you came along. Your magical abilities as an infant were off the charts, no doctor in all of Canterlot had seen anything like you before. I couldn’t believe my eyes as my father fought with yours, saying that I was the rightful heir. But grandfather couldn’t be persuaded by my father and you were chosen to carry on the legacy. I was forced to attend normal schools and learn mediocre tricks. I was never allowed to be anything greater than a typical unicorn. I’ll stay away from Ponyville, sure. But I need a new wagon, as my previous show stage was destroyed.” Silent stepped aside as the angry mare walked forward.
“I think I can arrange that.” Trixie looked at him incredulously. “It’s the least I can do. Now that Luna is back, you can probably enhance your skillset without having any difficulties. You know, you might find better receptions if you wouldn’t boast as much. There’s a difference between putting on a show and putting on a “look-at-me” parade.” Trixie gave Silent a dirty look before turning and walking away.
“I don’t need your pity, nor your petty advice. The Great and Powerful Trixie will learn to use better magic than anypony ever before, and she will become the most well-known unicorn in all of Equestria!”
Silent watched as his cousin disappeared into the night. He felt some remorse for all that he’d put her through unwillingly. It wasn’t his fault he was born with his abilities. As Silent turned toward Ponyville to begin his walk back, he could see a dark object flying high in the sky.
Good luck, Trixie. I hope you find what you’re looking for. I hope you can learn to accept friendships, too. You can’t go through life on your own.