//------------------------------//
// 3. A Lesson in Empathy 
// Story: Trixie Lulamoon: Child of the Moon 
// by FenixBlaze979 
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The sun broke across a beautiful sky as another day began. Trixie stretched her legs as she woke up. Luna was still sound asleep, mumbling something about her sister as Trixie went into her trailer. She got an apple from the fruit bowl and bit down on it. Satisfied with the taste, Trixie noticed that there was a banana in the fruit bowl as well. She rarely ate bananas, so she thought Luna might like one. Trixie grabbed it using her magic and floated it along near her as she trotted out of the trailer. Luna’s legs twitched slightly as she continued to sleep. “Wake up, Moonbutt!” Trixie quipped as she noshed on her apple. “I got a banana for you if you want breakfast.”

Luna’s eyes flew open. “No! Get that away from me!” she shouted and jumped back in a panic.

Trixie was taken aback by this. “What the hell’s going on with you? Bad dreams?”
“It’s not that,” Luna shuddered, “I just, really don’t like bananas.”
“Well, hate to break it to you, Princess, but that’s all I got”, shrugged Trixie.
“Please, Trixie, find something else for me to eat”, Luna pleaded as her stomach growled.
Trixie raised an eyebrow. “What’s got you worked up over a silly piece of fruit? Honestly, I don’t like eating them too often either, so that’s why I offered it to you.”
“You wouldn’t understand”, Luna muttered.
“Try me. I’m sure Trixie would be able to…”
“YOU WON’T UNDERSTAND!” Luna screamed, knocking back Trixie with great force. Luna then galloped off towards the forest, tears streaming down her face. Her wings were still sore from her fall, preventing her from flight. 
Trixie got up and tried to gallop after Luna, but she lost her in the thickness of the forest. She couldn’t understand why the princess would have such a harsh reaction like that. Could something have troubled her when it came to bananas, she wondered. Trixie tried to figure Luna out inside her mind, but still nothing she thought of made any sense. What was even the point of saving Luna in the first place, she thought. It seemed like things didn’t want to work in Trixie’s favor when it came to turning things around for the better. Just then, Trixie remembered something that made her heart skip a beat.	
“Damn it all! She may run into them. I have to stop her!” Trixie said as her concern for Luna increased. 
Trixie was referring to two ponies that had gone rogue recently. Quake and Shake Tremor were two brothers from Fillydelphia that were in the local Earth Shock gang. They caused trouble for businesses and demanded money and food from them. Law enforcement could never catch them, as their hooves could create shock waves by slamming their hooves on the ground. They helped the gang get away on numerous occasions. However, their performance had been slipping recently, so the boss had the brothers kicked out of the gang. They had gone rogue, terrorizing random towns, and robbing strangers. It is rumored that they have a hideout inside the forest near Trixie’s trailer. No one has ever found the brother’s hideout, but Trixie was worried that since Luna could not take to the air, they would overpower Luna and hold her hostage. 
Trixie grabbed the banana and her special saddle bag filled with her illusionary performance tricks, and rushed off deep into the forest. She had no time to waste. Who knows how far Luna went into the forest at this point, Trixie thought as she looked through the trees. She continued to run in the apparent path Luna took, even though it may not have been the right one.
Suddenly, there was a loud scream, and the ground trembled upon the sound. “HELP ME!” The sound cried out. “It came from that direction!” Trixie whirled around and galloped towards the loud voice. A minute later, Trixie ran upon an egregious sight. Luna was barely able to stand, her magic exhausted. 
“Gee, this pony’s pretty powerful, huh, Shake?”
“Yeah, Quake, too bad we got this armor on to deflect her attack!”
Trixie then saw the two imposing figures of Quake and Shake Tremor. They both had very muscularly features, but Quake had a navy blue coat, and Shake had a brown coat. They seemed to have a bubble around them that formed a shield against Luna’s magic beam shots.  

“Leave me alone, you ruffians! I don’t have time for this!” Luna exclaimed.
“Now we just can’t do that for ya, Princess”, Quake smirked, “We’ve got a date with destiny, you see. All your riches will belong to us as we hold you ransom!”
Shake laughed at the sound of his brother’s thought. “Just think, brother! We won’t have to scrounge around for money or food! We’ll be filthy rich!”
Quake nodded in agreement with his brother. “Now, let’s get down to business, shall we, brother!?”
“The princess is ours!” cackled Shake, as he rose on his hind legs along with his brother in unison, as they prepared their final attack. 
“DOUBLE SHOCKING DRAGON!”
The moment before the flaring white shock waves were released from their hooves, cyan smoke bombs exploded, filling the forest with a hazy, bluish mist. The Tremor Brothers were surprised, but their eagerness allowed them to continue their attack. The waves traveled through the trees, uprooting some of them and cracking the ground in the process. When the smoke cleared, Luna had vanished from her position. 
“Where’s the princess!?” gasped Quake as he frantically looked around. 
“C’mon, now, boys!” said a snarky voice, “You really need to pay more attention to your surroundings!”
Trixie appeared behind them. With locks in her mouth, she threw them to the side. “Really, guys? Magic Armor Locks? It’s really too bad you ran into somepony who knows magic items frontwards and backwards, like the Great and Powerful, Trixie!!”
“You wench!” Quake shouted, “Give us our moneymaker! That princess is ours!”
“You fool, Luna doesn’t belong to anyone! She’s here for all of Equestria!” Trixie responded.
“It doesn’t matter to us!” said Shake, “Besides, what’s a show pony like you going to do to the likes of us!?”
“Let Trixie show you what she’s got!” she confidently announced, “First, she has a little something for you!”
She then opened her bag with her magic, and tossed at the brothers two sets of fireworks that were used for her performances.
“TRIXIE’S MAGIC BLAST!”
The brothers were then blinded as the fireworks display shot out at them. “Luna, now is your chance to strike!” With the magic she had left, Luna fired two beam shots, striking both Quake and Shake, and sent them reeling down the rocky path they had made from their shock waves. 
“Damn it; let’s get outta here, bunch of freaks!” Shake yelled, his eyes still burning from the flash of the explosives. He and Quake dashed off into the forest as Trixie fell back, exhausted from her efforts. She noticed Luna was lying next to her as they both looked up at the sky. The branches of the trees provided plenty of shade as it served as a partial curtain to the sun’s rays.
“Princess…I was only trying to be considerate”, Trixie said quietly, “I had no idea you would react that way.”
“I’m sorry for yelling at you, Trixie”, Luna sighed, “It was wrong of me to snap at you like that. You couldn’t have had any idea about my issue with bananas.”
“Well”, Trixie replied, “I guess I had a similar issue with pine cones. The other ponies made fun of me because I would collect them all the time. Sometimes, I would eat them. I thought they looked, and tasted so interesting.”
“I had enjoyed eating bananas when I was a filly”, Luna explained, “I guess I ate them in a strange way, because other fillies made fun of me when I was in schooling. It was always a running joke, even when I was with my sister, Celestia, who reminded me of it all the time. Thus, I’ve always hated bananas.”
“I still have the banana with me if you want it”, Trixie said, getting it from her bag, “I promise I’ll look away when you eat it.”
“Promise?” asked Luna.
“Sure!”
As Luna ate the banana, Trixie felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders. She actually cared enough about a princess. She had never cared about the princesses of Canterlot before. She always felt like she was way out of their league. Now here Trixie is, helping to understand and befriend a princess, who by all accounts, had her own struggles with fitting into society.
“You know, Luna”, Trixie said, “When you always get ostracized by fan ponies, you develop a thick skin. Sometimes, only my words are an effective weapon to keep them away. I always felt sick just seeing those people. I knew they didn’t like me, but I guess I learned to never give a damn. I guess that cost me trying to at least have a bond.”
Luna smiled weakly hearing Trixie’s words. “I believe we just need to understand each other. It seems that we are both loners. We’ve always followed our own path. I think you can do well in this world, Trixie Lulamoon. The path you have taken thus far hasn’t been good to you, but the choices you make from this point forward could affect your future in a positive or negative way.”
Trixie smirked at all the notions Luna put out there. “Guess you’re right. If I hang out with you, I think it’ll be better for me. I do have a question for you, though. What was up with you muttering about your sister in your sleep last night?”
Luna cleared her throat before beginning to speak. “My sister spoke of a ‘Child of the Moon’ that I could take under my wing. She was unclear if they were of pure magic like Princess Twilight Sparkle, or some other way. I then remembered that incident with the Alicorn Amulet, and it got me to thinking; since you, Trixie, are a performance magician, you use little items and props that are activated by your magic. It may not necessarily be pure magic, but I believe you still may have the potential and the desire, but I need you to do me a small favor.”
Trixie was amazed. She had read in the paper that there was a new princess coroneted a few days ago, but she never looked more into the story. Trixie felt happy for Twilight, but at the same time, she was disappointed because now she knew that there would never be a chance to be at the same level as Twilight since she became an alicorn. Trixie started to believe that nothing would be able to get better for her, but now, after hearing Luna’s synopsis of the vague prophecy and telling about her potential, Trixie may have a definite future after all.
Trixie answered, “I guess it wouldn’t hurt. I have nothing else better to do.”
Luna smiled as she received Trixie’s somewhat positive response. “I see. Then during the early morning, we shall depart together. The place I have in mind for you to prove yourself is in a remote location in Equestria. We can walk there together while I pull your trailer along. It should only take a day or two. I visited this place when I was younger.”
Trixie felt pumped. She would get to travel with the Princess of the Night. Although it felt strange to Trixie that all this was happening so soon, she knew she had to take it one day at a time. Trixie may finally be able to prove ponies wrong; she could prove that she could be just as good with what she could do with her magic like Twilight Sparkle did.