//------------------------------// // Trix of the Trade // Story: A Glimmer of the Past // by milesprower06 //------------------------------// "T-Trixie??? Listen, this really isn't a good time." Twilight stammered, trying to comprehend Trixie's sense of timing. Starlight's friendship with the stage magician helped her be much more civil with her, but still, she had a magical foal loose somewhere in this castle. Trixie, in her signature hat and cape, simply scoffed at the not-so-regal greeting upon her arrival at Twilight's front door. "I'm not here for you, Princess, I'm here to see-" Trixie was interrupted by a flash of light, and popping into view, floating directly in front of her, was Starlight Glimmer. Or rather, Starlight Glimmer as she appeared about twenty years ago. Twilight was petrified, unable to move. Any moment now, Trixie was going to flip out, and Starlight's secret would be exposed to another one of her friends. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she waited for the inevitable. But instead of screaming, or pointing and laughing, she merely stared. "S-Starlight?" The foal floated down to the floor in front of her and smiled up at her. Trixie's eyes told the whole story. Her heart melted as she mouthed 'awww'. "So, I assume there's a story behind this, Princess." The entertainer said as she knelt down in front of the adorable Starlight, softly booping her on the nose, receiving a giggle in return. "Yes, but I'm not sure it's one she would want you to know about." "With all due respect, Princess, I'm her best friend." "I'm not arguing that. I'm saying that this is a side of her that she's kept to herself, that I only accidentally discovered last week. This spell of hers has blocked her 'adult' memory for the weekend, but at the end, it'll be restored, along with everything that's happened yesterday and today. She agreed to Sunburst and myself, but she never said if she'd be okay with her other friends knowing." Twilight explained. Trixie nodded in understanding, as Starlight now took interest in the magician's star-pattern cape. "If you or she is afraid that this would change my perspective of her, well... Yes, it does, but not in any negative way. After all, part of friendship is accepting all of your friend's little quirks, isn't it? I wanted to see if she was available to hang out for a few hours before my show tonight, and while I wasn't expecting that it would be on this... Scale... She certainly seems to be in the mood to play. Wouldn't you say?" Twilight looked down at Starlight, who was currently playing peekaboo behind Trixie's cape, and did have to admit that this was the happiest she had been all day. "Well, alright. You can keep her occupied while I get lunch ready." Twilight told her, looking over at Starlight again before going to the kitchen to prepare Starlight's meal. Not wanting to be thought of as a bad host even by Trixie, Twilight also prepared a fruit platter for her as well. By the time she had come out of the kitchen, she saw that Trixie had the foresight to move her parlor tricks to the dining room, where Starlight was being thoroughly entertained by otherwise simple tricks like Trixie taking her nose, revealing a five-bit coin behind her ear, and the long scarf. It didn't take long for it to make sense to Twilight; those kind of tricks were supposed to wow ponies of that age. When Trixie saw Twilight come forward with the bowls of food and fruit for Starlight and herself, the magician had the foresight to levitate Starlight over to the high chair, setting her down and buckling her in. "May I?" Trixie asked Twilight, as she graciously accepted her own plate of fruit. "Sure." Twilight replied, levitating Starlight's bowl and spoon over to Trixie. She took a bite of an apple, and then got a spoonful of applesauce ready and levitated it around. "Okay, here comes the magic spell..." Trixie said, weaving it around towards Starlight, who happily opened her mouth and accepted her first bite of applesauce. There was a part of Twilight that wanted to see Trixie taken down a peg and struggle with feeding Starlight just as she had, so she merely sat silently when she noticed how agreeable Starlight was being with her best friend. Telling herself that all that mattered this weekend was Starlight's experience and happiness wasn't quite cutting it now, and she felt a pang of heartache come alongside the frustration she felt as Starlight didn't put up any fuss whatsoever as Trixie fed her lunch. After that was done, she was taken to the makeshift play room in the library, and when she saw once again how enthusiastic and agreeable Starlight was to being helped playing with blocks, Twilight resigned and took a back seat to Trixie. After their construction efforts, the two of them magically played with the various plushies as they moved about the playpen, followed by a private magic act just for her. Before they knew it, two more hours had passed. "Alright Starlight, isn't that enough fun for now? I'm pretty sure Trixie has a magic show tonight to get ready for." Twilight announced, coming into the playpen after taking a short break away to get some food for herself. "I'm afraid that Princess Twilight is right, little Starlight. I've got setup and props to double check before tonight, and I don't think you'll want to attend the show; unless you want half of Ponyville to know about this side of you." Trixie told her. Starlight began to pout a bit when she realized on the way out to the foyer, that she wasn't going to be going wherever Trixie was headed. "Have a good show. She should be back to normal sometime tomorrow morning." Twilight told her. Now, more than anything, she was ready for this weekend of rejection to be over with. "Thank you for giving me the time to play with her. I hope she doesn't flip out when she gets her adult side back. Have a good evening, Princess." Trixie said, departing with a curt bow. Not a moment after the doors closed, Twilight felt Starlight levitate off of her back, and she immediately turned to fire another nullification spell off, but the filly vanished before it could connect. With a groan of frustration, Twilight gave chase back up the stairs and off to the left. Her fears of Starlight teleporting out of the castle were eased as she heard giggling down the hallway. When she caught a glimpse of her, she'd simply wink out of view again, and the Princess began to have dejavu of her dream the night she accidentally discovered this side of Starlight. Deciding not to exhaust herself in what would undoubtedly be a fruitless chase, she came to a stop, took a deep breath, then began a room-by-room search, starting with her room, then the library, then the dining room. As she completed her search of the west wing and came back to the foyer, she heard muffled giggling coming from the throne room. She approached the double doors to the throne room, and opened them with her magic, and her eyes widened at the scene before her. Sitting there in front of the table, was Starlight, her horn glowing, with six crayons currently drawing all sorts of shapes and squiggles on the pillars of the throne room walls. Biting her lip in anger, Twilight fired up her horn and shot another nullification spell at Starlight, whose horn then fizzled out, causing all six crayons to drop to the floor. "I don't know what it is with you, or why you're acting like this, but it's going to stop, right now." Twilight began, a small wooden chair teleporting in next to her, which she set down next to the surprised Starlight. "You're going to sit in timeout, and afterwards, you're going to start cleaning these walls until every single mark on them is gone." Twilight told her angrily, magically levitating her onto the chair. From the angry look on Starlight's face, Twilight knew that it wasn't going to be that easy. Even without her magic, the foal still threw a tantrum, getting off of the stool and kicked the chair over with her back right hoof, screaming "No!" defiantly. The frustration that had been building up in Twilight finally reached the boiling point, and she took Starlight by the tail, elevating her backside slightly, brought her hoof back, and gave her three firm smacks across the backside. Starlight stopped struggling immediately. She turned to Twilight with watery eyes and trembling lips. Twilight's offending hoof quivered when she suddenly realized what she had just done, and when Starlight burst into wailing cries there in the middle of the throne room, the Princess' frustrations melted away as her heart broke.