//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: The New and Reborn Trixie // by Yukito //------------------------------// Trixie opened the door to Sugarcube Corner and stepped inside. She walked up to the counter, where Pinkie Pie was working. “Hiya, Trix! What can I get you today?” Pinkie Pie asked, smiling as widely as she usually does. Trixie pulled out a small pouch from her saddlebag, and a checklist. “Trixie is here to pick up some cupcakes that Twilight ordered a few days ago.” Pinkie Pie rushed into the kitchen for a second, and returned a moment later with a box balanced on her head. She bobbed her head forward to allow the box to fall onto the counter. “Okie dokie lokie!” Trixie opened the lid and inspected the contents. “Alright, fourteen exactly, no extra cupcakes added, frosting is even…” She closed the lid and handed the pouch to Pinkie Pie. “These should do nicely. Thank you, Pinkie Pie.” She put the checklist away and picked up the box with her magic. “Oh, and one more thing.” “Yes?” Trixie pulled out an envelope from her saddlebag, and handed it to the pink pony. “Here. It’s an invitation to Trixie’s next show. It’ll be this Thursday. Will you be able to make it?” Pinkie Pie opened the envelope and looked at the ticket inside. She then shot a confused look. “This Thursday? I thought you only did performances on weekends.” “True, but this is a special performance for Hearts and Hooves day. It will be about the history of this holiday, and will star yours truly, as well as Twilight Sparkle.” She turned around and prepared to leave. “Trixie hopes that you can make it.” Pinkie Pie’s smile returned as she pulled out a calendar from underneath the counter. “Of course I’ll make it! I’ll just mark it on my calendar and ask for the day off later!” Trixie entered Rarity’s boutique, which sounded the bell, alerting Rarity to a customer’s entry. “I’ll be there in a minute!” Rarity shouted from another room. Trixie sat down on a chair that was in the room, and waited for a few minutes. Finally, Rarity popped into the room. “Oh, Trixie darling! I have your dress ready! Right this way, please.” Trixie got up and followed Rarity into the next room, where she saw her dress waiting for her on a ponnequine. She walked close to it to examine it, and was more than pleased with the results. “You really are an impressive seamstress.” Trixie said, levitating a pouch out of her saddlebag and giving it to Rarity. Rarity took the pouch in her own magic and examined the contents. She put the pouch down on a nearby table, and bowed to Trixie. “Was there ever any doubt?” She said, making her voice sound as much like Trixie’s as she could. “Are you mocking Trixie!?” Trixie asked a chuckling Rarity. “If so, you’re doing it poorly. Seriously, you have absolutely no talent for voice acting, you know?” “And you have absolutely no respect for such fine clothes.” Rarity responded, pointing to Trixie’s dress. “Honestly, what were you doing that got it into such a state?” Trixie turned her back to Rarity to hide her face growing red. She couldn’t tell Rarity that she was wearing it when she and Twilight were in bed, getting passionate with each other. She instead tried to change the topic. “Anyway, here.” Trixie pulled out an envelope from her saddlebag and levitated it towards Rarity. “What’s this?” Rarity asked, opening it and seeing the ticket inside. “A Hearts and Hooves performance by you and Twilight this Thursday in Canterlot?” “Indeed. And you are invited as one of Trixie’s special guests to come and watch the show.” Trixie said, levitating her newly repaired dress with her magic. “So, can you make it?” Rarity rushed over to her work desk and checked her calendar. She picked up a pen and put a cross through whatever was written on Thursday. “I can now!” She shouted. “Oh my, I can’t wait! Canterlot…Hearts and Hooves day…It’s like fate is telling me to confess to him!” “”Him”?” Trixie asked. “Him who?” Rarity turned around and laughed nervously to herself. “N-Nopony…Just rambling a little to myself, that’s all…” Trixie raised her eyebrow, and then shrugged. She didn’t really care that much. She was in a pretty big hurry, so she decided to leave. “Well then, make sure your ready for a show that you’ll never forget!” She shouted enthusiastically as she left the boutique with her dress. Trixie approached the door to Fluttershy’s cottage and knocked on the door. She waited for a few moments, and then knocked again, after no response came. “Hello? Fluttershy?” She looked into the house through the window, and saw that it was empty. She shrugged and decided to come back later. “Hey, Trixie.” Trixie turned around to see Rainbow Dash fluttering about in front of her. “What’s up? Did you need to see Fluttershy for something?” “Yes. Do you know where she is?” “She’s up in Cloudsdale, visiting her parents. She’ll be back later today.” Trixie pulled out the checklist in her saddlebag, and saw that the rest of her day was pretty much occupied. She sighed, and tried to think of a solution to her new problem. “Hm…I need to get this ticket to her somehow…” Trixie thought aloud. Rainbow Dash landed on the ground in front of Trixie and asked her what she meant. “What ticket? What’s goin’ on?” An idea struck Trixie. She pulled out two envelopes and handed them to Rainbow Dash. “Could you give one of these to Fluttershy for me? They’re tickets to Trixie’s show this Thursday.” Rainbow Dash opened the envelope and looked at the ticket, and then gagged when she saw what the show was about. “”History of Hearts and Hooves day”? Seriously? Sorry, but I think I’m gonna pass. I can’t stand sappy love stories. But I’ll make sure Fluttershy gets her ticket, ‘kay?” Trixie nodded her head and turned her back to Rainbow Dash. She had expected Rainbow to say no to her invitation, but she had come prepared. “That’s a shame. Trixie got you good seats, too.” “Yeah, sorry, but it’s just not my thing…” “Oh well. Trixie supposes somepony else might want to watch the play instead. Watch it in a special V.I.P seat with the Wonderbolts’ seats right next to them.” “Yeah, I gues-Wait, the Wonderbolts!?” Rainbow ran around Trixie to face her directly. “Let me get this straight. Our seats are right next to the Wonderbolts' seats!?” “Yes. It was difficult to secure those seats too. Trixie had to pull quite a few strings, y’know?” Rainbow Dash jumped into the air and started pacing back and forth whilst flying. “OhmygodohmygodohmyGOD!” She finally calmed down and stopped her pacing. “W-Well, it seems you’re going through a lot of trouble for this…Soooo…I guess I should at least go there to support ya…” ‘Victory!’ Trixie thought to herself, keeping her face turned away so that Rainbow Dash couldn’t her grinning. When her face returned to its neutral state, she faced the rainbow maned Pegasus again. “Trixie sees. Then, Trixie will expect to see you there this Thursday.” Trixie looked upon the vast farmland of Sweet Apple Acres, looking for Applejack. She saw trees upon trees upon trees upon…Was that Fluttershy? Trixie squinted and looked at a yellow figure in the distance. “Oh, it’s Applebloom…Ah, and there’s Applejack right next to her.” Trixie walked past the vast number of trees, all of which were bearing big, red, delicious looking apples. Just looking at them made Trixie’s stomach growl, and made her realise that she had actually not had her lunch yet today. “…Surely one or two apples couldn’t hurt. They won’t notice, right?” “Eeyup.” Trixie stopped her magic before she started to pluck a few apples off of a nearby tree, and turned around to see Big Macintosh approaching. “Oh! Um, heheh…Hi there! Trixie did not see you there…Good weather we’re having, huh?” Big Mac wasn’t falling for her innocent act. Especially since he had just seen her try to take a few apple. He took a few apples from the cart behind him and offered them to Trixie. “R-Really? Trixie can have these?” “Eeyup.” He said, smiling as the blue Unicorn took one of the apples in her magic and brought it up to her mouth. “That’ll be 5 bits.” Trixie stopped the apple just short of her mouth, and glared at Big Mac, who just stared back with his hoof out expectantly. “…Fine…” She said as she levitated a few bits from a remaining pouch in her saddlebag, and handed them over to Big Mac. “Much obliged.” Big Mac said, giving a polite bow to Trixie. “If you’re looking for AJ, she’s just a little further down that way.” He pointed a hoof in the direction behind Trixie. Trixie nodded and began walking in that direction, bringing the apples with her using a levitation spell. “Thank you, Macintosh.” She said before bringing one of the apples to her mouth and began to eat it. ‘Hm…They still taste the same as before…Should Trixie tell them that she stole some apples when she was living in the Everfree forest…Nah, best not to make matters worse.’ Trixie approached Applejack, who was busy bucking apple trees, with Applebloom helping out by collecting the apples that fell down into wooden buckets. “Well howdy there, Trixie!” Applejack said with one final buck to the tree behind her. “What brings you out here today?” “Trixie would like to give you this invitation to her show this Thursday.” Wednesday came about relatively fast. Twilight and Trixie boarded the train to Canterlot early in the morning, needing to get there early to set everything up for the big show tomorrow. The train ride was relatively uneventful, although Twilight found it hard to read her book that she was reading, since Trixie had fallen asleep and was rest her head on Twilight’s should. Since Twilight had to rely on her hooves to turn pages, she had to be careful while reading, so as not to wake Trixie. Eventually, she just gave up and rested her head on Trixie’s, taking advantage of the quiet, peaceful train ride to relax. Once they arrived, the train conductor had to wake the two mares up. When Twilight and Trixie realised that they had somehow managed to move about in their sleep, resulting in the two being wrapped up in each other’s legs, they left the train quickly and quietly, both trying to avoid eye-contact with the other for a while. When the two exited the train, they saw a tall, white Unicorn stallion waiting for them. “Big brother!” Twilight shouted as she excitedly ran up to her “BBBFF”. Trixie walked up to Twilight and looked at Shining Armour with a look of jealousy as Twilight attacked him with a big hug. She then noticed Shining Armour’s wife, Princess Cadance, standing behind him. “Good day, Princess.” Trixie said, bowing to the Princess. Cadance walked up to Trixie and let out a small chuckle. “Please, you don’t have to be so formal. And just call me “Cadance”, ok?” Trixie rose to her hooves and nodded. “Sorry, Cadance…Trixie’s just not used to speaking with Royalty…” She turned to Twilight, who was still hugging her brother, and let out a small cough. When they didn’t respond, she used her magic to pull Twilight towards her. “What the?” Twilight landed next to Trixie, who quickly locked hooves with the confused librarian. “Trixie? What’s wrong?” “Nothing. Trixie just thinks we should stay together, so that we don’t get lost.” Trixie said, keeping her face neutral so that it couldn’t be read. “…I’m not a child, y’know.” Twilight said, trying to break free of Trixie’s hold. “By the way, why are you two here?” “We thought we’d surprise you.” Shining Armour said, moving aside to reveal his and Twilight’s parents. “When they heard you were coming, we decided to arrange this surprise for you.” Trixie looked in horror at the two ponies walking up to them, and immediately released Twilight’s hoof, and straightened herself up. “So, you must be Trixie.” The stallion – Twilight’s father – said as he approached Trixie. “I’ve heard a lot about you. I hear you risked your life to protect my daughter’s.” “Um, y-yeah…That’s right…” Trixie said, trying to be careful of what she said. “But, really, it was Twilight who saved Trixie’s life that day.” “Yes, I heard…But she would’ve died that day if it weren’t for you.” Twilight’s parents bowed respectively to Trixie. “And we thank you, Trixie Lulamoon.” Later that day, after Twilight and Trixie were done with their preparations for tomorrow, they went along with their parents, Shining Armour, and Cadance to a restaurant for a nice dinner. The restaurant was very nicely decorated, and had some pretty pricey meals on its menu. Trixie was a little worried about going to such an expensive looking place, but when Twilight’s parents insisted on paying for everything, she quickly became excited, since she had always wanted to try some of the food at this particular restaurant. “So Twilie, how’ve your studies been going?” Shining Armour asked as they sat down at their table. “Pretty good. Obviously I’ve stopped my magic studies, but on the plus side, I’ve had more time to study other things. In fact, last week I was able to send two friendsip reports to the Princess.” Twilight said with a sense of pride. “How about you? Have your duties been keeping you busy?” “Unfortunately.” Their father replied. “We were hoping to have a grandfoal by now, but I guess your duty as Captain of the Royal Guard comes first…” “Dad, can we not talk about this right now?” Shining Armour said, slightly annoyed. “But he does have a point, dear.” Cadance said, leaning her head onto Shining Armour’s shoulder. “Maybe we should ask Celestia if you can have a few weeks off. I feel like we haven’t had much time together, lately.” “That’s right!” Twilight’s mother said. “You only get one chance at youth! Don’t let it pass you by, son.” “The same applies to you, Twilight.” Twilight’s father said, turning to his daughter. “Don’t spend all of your time studying. Now’s the time to go out and really enjoy life, before you get old like us.” Twilight’s mother nudged her husband’s side with her front hoof. “Oof!…I mean, like me. You’re mother’s still got plenty of youth left in her.” Twilight and Shining Armour shared a laugh together, suddenly feeling nostalgic from this little family get-together. It had been so long since all four of them had gotten together like this. Twilight turned towards Trixie, who was being unusually silent, and was just staring at the table in front of her. “Family is nice, huh?” Trixie said, causing the whole table to fall silent from the sadness in her voice. Twilight learned from Trixie about her family’s past. About how her father never cared for her, and tried to kill her. About how her uncle had tried to sell her to the mafia. And about how she never knew her mother. She always assumed her mother abandoned her at birth, since her father never talked about her, and never kept any photos or records of her anywhere in the house. “Trixie, are you ok?” Twilight asked with concern. Trixie let out a deep sigh, and turned her head towards Twilight. She put on a small, honest smile. “Trixie’s fine, Twilight.” She said, although that was only half-true. “Really, don’t worry about Trixie. After all, she had all the family she needs right here.” She said, leaning her head on Twilight’s shoulder. Twilight and Trixie ran a last minute check on everything in their backstage changing room, just minutes before it was time the show to begin. “Come on, Trixie! It’s going to start soon!” Twilight said as Trixie finished applying her makeup. “Trixie will be right there. Go on ahead and ask them to wait a few more minutes.” Twilight nodded and made her way to the stage. Trixie waited until she was gone, and then used her magic to lift up her cloak and hat, and put them on. She then levitated a small, white box towards her, and opened it up, to make sure the content inside was still there. Inside was a single gold hoof-ring, with a few gemstones encrusted in it. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and then closed the box, and placed it inside her cloak. “Alright, Trixie…Let’s give them a show they’ll never forget!”