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// Mentors: Royal Breakfast 
// Story: Show Business 
// by Natedogg2006 
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Dawn the morning after the Great and Powerful Trixie's last Canterlot show came bright and early the next day like it always did. But unlike most other days the off duty magician and her assistant got together, they were not permitted to shrug it off for several more hours. A commanding and rhythmic pounding came to the larger then average door of Twilight Sparkle's Canterlot room. The volume and authority conveyed in it was enough to make the two natural night owls jolt upright while still somewhat tangled together.
Both mares were still too groggy and.. well, sore, to register the proper response to something that seemed so alien to their slowly sputtering to life brains. It was actually Beatrix who managed to figure out what the knocking at the door meant first. Something vaguely reminiscent of speech came from her mouth. "Oh, umm... Esss ok Twil," yaaaawwwwn, "igh... esss jus.. umm? Door... thing. I got, I gotset." The showmare started untangling herself from her marefriend while Twilight decided to make her own attempt at speech.
"Nonono, sweetie. Wachit wachit." She smiled, her sleep addled mind feeling she was about to show her marefriend something particularly amazing. She cleared her throat and managed the first coherent words between them. "You may enter."
The door swung open and a sound of metal gently clanking on metal entered the room. Trixie was very suddenly awake as old instincts kicked in and she straightened up while sitting demurely on her haunches to appear as innocent as possible in the presence of a royal guard. 
His piercing stare did not waver as he focused straight ahead. "Lady Sparkle," the larger then average unicorns words were not so much spoken as barked as Trixie's posture became even more rigid at the commanding tone. 
With effort Twilight managed to focus her vision enough to see the guard addressing her. "... Gleaming Spear. Oh, Shiny finally gave you that promotion, how nice. So, to what do we owe the pleasure."
His expression only wavered for a second as the slightest blush crossed his face as he regarded the couple in bed together. "Ah yes, lady Sparkle. I come bearing a message from Princess Celestia. She has extended an invitation to you and your.." his gaze fell from Twilight to regard Trixie more closely with curiosity for a moment, "guest, to join her for her royal breakfast this morning."
Twilight's body suddenly went rigid this time as she looked between her marefriend and the guard for a moment. "Oh.. umm, that's great. Could you just give us..."
"Of course lady Sparkle, I will await you outside." With that he turned in a well trained fashion and exited the room, his magic closing the door on the way out. 
"Royal breakfast," Beatrix's eyes were wide and her mouth was dry, "we're going to have breakfast with the princesses?"
"Yeah, but it's not a big deal. I mean.. I guess it is a big deal, but it's a big deal because it's not a big deal."
Beatrix's hoof massaged her own forehead lightly at her marefriends incoherent explanation. "You are so useless at talking in the morning. It would be more frustrating if it weren't so cute."
"Like you're any better, you're only awake because your 'guards are gonna kick me out for being a public nuisance' instinct kicked in." A war of exchanged sneering noises and extended tongues followed, which Twilight abruptly cut off. "Ugh, we don't have time for this. We need to get cleaned up."
"Right, breakfast with royalty." Beatrix cringed.
"Right, but like..." Twilight trailed off to think for a second. "Don't treat it like that. We're not getting all gussied up like it's a big thing, that defeats the purpose." Beatrix gave her a questioning look. "I'll explain on the way, but we at least need to not... smell like each other." She blushed more then a little. Beatrix did not push the issue, she just leaned over to kiss the blushing cheeks she loved to see so much. 



Within five minutes both mares were following behind the steady lead of the guard. "Ok, so how exactly is sharing a meal with the rulers of Equestria not a big deal?"
"Because it's the rule. Yeah I know, everything is weird when dealing with royalty," Twilight defended upon her marefriend directing a glare at her. "The short version is that Princess Celestia has been ruling the nation for a thousand years by herself and even she needs a break. So about eight hundred years ago she made an actual decree that she would have one time a day with absolutely no royal duties. Thus the tradition of her royal breakfast was born and the only deviation from it in all that time has been a shift in the time for the inclusion of Princess Luna after her return."
"That.. is actually interesting. I've never heard of something like that."
"It's not very well known outside of the castle staff. The unofficial reason is because it would be the perfect time for opposing forces to attack the capital. And the reason for that is because the running joke among the staff is that even if the entire building is on fire they are to do their best to control it and only tell the princess after." Trixie let out a little giggle. "Most don't know that those words were actually part of her original decree." The giggling turned into full on laughter as they continued to walk. "It's not that funny, according to her she was just having a really bad day when she made the decree. Everypony is entitled to at least one overreaction. Wouldn't you agree," she inflected with a slight accusing tone.
"Yeah, yeah," Trixie responded as her laughter died down. "It really is interesting to hear about Princess Celestia like this though."
"You're taking this pretty well. This sort of thing is usually hard for some ponies to hear."
"Well I figure if I'm planning on sticking around I should probably get use to mind breaking, reality shattering revelations." She went into her stage voice, "The Great and Powerful Trixie," she dropped back into her regular voice, "should probably stop freaking out like a filly." They both shared a small giggle. 
"Well glad to know you're prepared for the absolute worst," Twilight said with a roll of her eyes. 
"And the best," Trixie countered while bumping their flanks together while they walked. "So what does it all mean then?"
"Just like I said, no royal business. What. So. Ever. Don't treat them like royalty, just treat them like regular ponies. This isn't much different then when you met my parents."
"You realize I nearly barfed before meeting your parents right. And I only didn't because I was too nervous to eat all day before."
"Yup. But don't worry, you can distract yourself the same way you did with my family. The food they serve the princess is even better then what they serve the guests, and almost as good as my mom's cooking." She gave a small knowing smirk. "So feel free to scarf as much as you want, I promise the princesses won't mind. In fact they'd probably enjoy it. Just act normal and don't use their formal titles."
"Since when do I know how to be normal?"
"You don't, but you know how to fake it."
"I haven't had to fake it since I've been with you."
A sudden and very noticeable break in the rythmic metallic clattering in front of the couple swiftly reminded them that they were not alone, and caused matching blushes on their cheeks. "Gleaming, we weren't talking about what it sounded like we were.."
"We have arrived," the stallion suddenly barked and made a trained series of motions to place himself next to the door. His stoic gaze never betrayed any reason for his misstep. "Ladies," was the only word from his mouth as he invited them through the door held open by his magic. Smiling sheepishly the two entered.
The room was large and ornate, like the rest of the castle. This only made what Trixie saw next even more strange. Most of the room was empty space, and in the center was a simple table. It may have been on the larger side, but not something out of place in any home with a large family. Well, maybe in it's prime. As it sat the table looked as though it had been salvaged from the side of a dumpster. It was cracked, it was worn, it definitely had a crooked leg. And Trixie was sure she would have time to find more things wrong with it during their substantial walk over to it in the large room.  It looked very out of place in the massive and beautiful room, that clash even more dramatic with the inclusion of three images of royal elegance sitting opposite the side they were approaching from.
"So you don't waste time asking, there use to be a big banquet hall table in here, but Princess Celestia hated it. She thought it made the whole thing formal all over again. She literally got that table at a street vendor for two bits and has refused to have it replaced. That's how important the lack of formality is."
Trixie was impressed with this as she looked across the room to the table and noticed the three seated princesses at it were also unadorned. Trixie was sure she had never seen an image of any princess without a crown and some form of regalia. Though they still seemed to radiate regality, Trixie thought that if they really were trying to keep things casual then she might just manage to get through this. 
"Oh, one more thing," Twilight suddenly added as they drew closer and she could notice more. "If Luna isn't drinking tea with Celestia, don't bother her until she finishes her drink."
Trixie looked over to were Princess Luna sat at the table and saw that she was drinking from a large thermal container that bore the faded logo of a local convenience store and very faded images of the Wonder Bolts. Trixie believed she remembered seeing them advertised some time the previous year as some promotion put on by the team. Seeing the princess take a long sip from it almost made Trixie snicker as she felt even better. "She's kinda like you huh? Can't start the day without a good cup of Joe."
"She's not starting her day. She does night court and walks ponies dreams at night. This is her dinner. That cup means she had a hard night in court, which given the time she'd of had to get up to see your show isn't surprising. Meaning she might be a little grouchy and that cup is full of vodka."
The entirety of that statement was enough to nearly completely destroy the relaxation Trixie had managed to build up. And it came just as they were coming up to the table. As Twilight stopped Trixie mechanically did the same. The three royal mares seated at the table looked up to them, two smiled in greeting as the third took a long drink from her cup. 
Trixie felt herself instinctively leaning forward in a bow without the thought even passing her mind. However the action was interrupted as her chin made contact with her marefriends hoof, causing her teeth to knock together rather forcefully. "Ow."
"No bowing."
Trixie gave her a glare but before any kind of argument could start there was a sudden flash in front of Twilight. 
An alicorn Trixie recognized from an occasional newspaper article as Princess Cadance was suddenly standing in front of her. 
"Twily!"
"Cadance!"
The two suddenly knelt down and went into some kind of practiced routine. "Sunshine, Sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake" they both sang and danced before giggling and embracing one another. 
"It's so good to see you again Cadance."
"You too Twily. We clearly don't talk enough if you've matured this much without me knowing." She said this while turning to face Trixie. "Miss Trixie. It's nice to meet you properly." She extended a hoof towards the showmare in greeting.
Trixie could only manage to look back and forth between the mare and Twilight. "That... was the most adorable thing I have ever seen." Taken slightly aback by this Cadance suddenly smiled widely as she and Twilight shared a glance. Cadance suddenly decided to abandon the hoof shake and lunged forward to pull the still stunned mare into a warm hug. 
"Oh, I like this mare more every minute Twily. And you," she held Trixie by her shoulders as she broke the hug, "do I have some stories for you about just how adorable she was back when I was her foalsitter." Trixie, while still feeling somewhat overwhelmed, felt a surge of excitement at that idea and a smile finally broke on her face. Cadance and Twilight both seemed happy to see it. "Come on you two, time to eat, we've been waiting for you." She said, dramatically motioning them to the two remaining chairs by the table. 
They all took their seats. Trixie managed to actually feel somewhat at ease as the assembled ponies started levitating various serving spoons filled with the most delicious looking food Trixie had ever seen to their plates, her own getting piled quite high as Twilight kept pointing out more and more dishes she, "just had to try". 
There was a moment of quiet contentment once the activity had stopped. "So," and with one word Trixie was nervous again. It was Princess Celestia that had spoken and that thought alone made Trixie feel self conscious again. "I think first things first, some apologies are in order." Trixie's brain went into overdrive as every vaguely questionable thing she had ever done started rushing through her mind and she prepared to beg for forgiveness for every single one. "It was inappropriate of me to look into you and your history, not to mention comfronting you at your show do to my own misgivings at the lack of information that I found. Going so far as to recruit my sister and niece in the wrongdoing makes it all the more inexcusable. For this you have my deepest apologies."
Trixie's mind reeled for a minute before she realized she needed to respond to this. "No, no. I understand. I mean.. Umm, you don't have to apologise to me Prin.." thwap. Trixie's rambling stopped as something squishy hit the side of her muzzle. Looking down, a sauce covered brussel sprout rolled along the surface of the table away from her. Looking up she saw a dark purple aura surrounding not only Princess Luna's horn but also a spoon pointed in her general direction. Lost for any idea of what to do when assaulted with produce by the co-ruler of the nation she turned to her marefriend for help. 
Trixie felt almost betrayed when it looked as if Twilight was suppressing laughter at the situation. Seeing Trixie's distress Twilight silently mouthed the words, "no titles," before shoving a spoon full of food into her marefriends hanging open mouth. 
Trixie managed to gulp most of it down quickly, not really tasting it but enjoying the time it allowed her to calm down again. "I.. I mean, Cel... Celestia." Two of the three princesses smiled while the third lowered another readied spoon Trixie hadn't noticed to her plate. "I was just trying to say that I understand. Twilight's told me things here and there about being your student, and from what I can understand about your relationship it's natural for you to be worried about her. I'm sure my profile.. and my public face, doesn't lend to much faith in me as a pony." 
"It's nice of you to be understanding about the situation Miss lu..," Princess Celestia paused. "Before we go forward I think it would be wise to put to bed the misunderstanding we had about your identity. What is it you preferred to be called, either in public or in a situation such as this?"
Trixie had to stop and think. A princess was asking how to address her, and she had to answer in a way that didn't sound insulting. "Well Prin.." thwap. Another brussel sprout rolled away from her, leaving sauce for her to wipe away from her chin. "I mean Celestia. It.. It wouldn't be wrong for you to use my real name... But it would be a little uncomfortable for me." Celestia took a bite of her food to give time for Trixie to elaborate. "I.. I kind of do wish I was more open to other ponies using it, it's just that I, I've been alone for a long time. And The Great and Powerful Trixie was my shield against the loneliness. Beatrix is the most exposed and vulnerable form of me. So, if it's ok with all of you, Trixie is best for now."
"That is completely fine Trixie," Cadance cut in with a smile. "As long as we have a chance to get to know the pony that captured Twily's heart."
Trixie blushed. "Thank you Prin.." thwap, "I mean Cadance." She finished with a cringe as she forcefully wiped away more sauce from her face. Trixie looked over to Princess Luna where she noticed her loading her plate with more of the offending vegetables as she took another sip from her cup. She couldn't help but feel a slight bit of frustration forming at the unspoken challenge of the action. 
"As I was saying, it's nice of you to be understanding about the situation Trixie. But all the same it was inappropriate of me to look into your private affairs for my own piece of mind," Celestia finally finished.
"Honestly, if I had any real affairs to look into I might actually be a bit angry, but as it stands I think I have four or five written warnings for disturbing the peace, and maybe a birth certificate to my name as far as official documents go. That sort of profile I'm sure could look as suspicious as it does clean, and you were worried about Twilight." She gave a loving smile to the mare next to her who was licking her spoon clean of something delicious looking. "Honestly, in your position I'd probably do the same thing Prin.." thwap, "oh would you stop that...." Trixie reacted without thinking, and her eyes went larger then the plates they were eating off of. She realized that not only did she send a glazed carrot flying at the princess of the night, but she did it with out a thought, and there was no way she was going to be able to catch it in time. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the root turned projectile made a straight and true path directly towards the lunar princess.
With all the grace and poise expected of a princess, Luna reacted without a moments hesitation. All she had to do was angle her head just slightly, open her mouth, and skillfully catch the offending side dish gracefully on her tongue. She gave a dainty crunch as she let out a small hum of approval, lit her horn to envelop the handle of the carrots serving spoon and served herself a hefty portion of them. "Behold sister, we have gotten her to loosen up as we said we could."
Trixie's mouth still sat gaping, wordlessly flapping as Princess Celestia nodded regally to her sisters suddenly giddy grin. "Indeed you have." Luna's giddy grin only intensified as she seemed to nudge her thermos closer to her sister. With a sigh, Celestia's horn lit up and a cabinet in the far end of the room Trixie hadn't noticed opened and a bottle floated over to the table. Luna popped the top off of the container as the bottle turned itself over above it. "Just don't overdo it Lulu, I have a hard enough time keeping you out of the tabloids as it is."
"Hazaha, the fun hath been doubled," she said as she took a large gulp of the refilled container. "And you act as if a gallon of vodka could actually get an alicorn drunk Cele."
"I don't care if you get drunk. You just pass out when you get drunk. Tipsy Luna is much more dangerous then drunk Luna." This statement was met with the lunar princess sticking her tongue out at her older sister in a rather boisterous raspberry. Not to be outdone, Celestia's horn lit itself and a spoon with a single brussel sprout saw itself swung at the younger sister.
The shot was a good one, slipping right past the gesticulating tongue and into the slightly open mouth of Luna. This stopped her actions as she instinctively bit down on the intruding projectile, and immediately regretted it. She lightly gagged and took a fair swig from her cup to wash it down. "Unforgivable dear sister. This vile vegetable is fit only for ammunition and should never be consumed by any member of ponykind." She exclaimed as she quickly downed a number of carrots to get rid of the flavor. 
"But dear sister, you really should eat them, they are good for you." Celestia said this while eating a bite of said vegetable. The response was another extended tongue, which the solar princess matched with her own.
That was the breaking point for Trixie. Her brain couldn't take seeing princesses act this way anymore and resorted to the only response that seemed logical given the situation. She broke down into hysterical laughter, going as far as to lay her head against the table and slam her hoof against it repeatedly. Twilight had luckily seen it coming and moved her plate out of the way just in time. 
The surrounding ponies watched as she managed to collect herself and sit up still with a goofy grin plastered on her face from her outburst. 
"We think our assignment hath been concluded." Luna's stated as she took a satisfied swig of her cup. 
Trixie turned to Twilight, her lips quivering. "Was.. was that 'my job is done here' in a mix of old ponish and ancient royal diction?" Twilight nodded. Trixie tried to control herself, she really did. But her face kept twitching until finally a small snort escaped her. The moment it did she was face first on the table again pounding her hoof. 
"Was it really that funny?" Cadance inquired to Twilight as she watched the mare breakdown with amusement. Twilight only gave a shrug. 
"No," Trixie managed to squeeze out between diminishing laughter and gasping breaths. "No, it's not that.. it's, it's just the whole situation." She was managing to get herself somewhat under control as she continued. "This time last year I was begging ponies I don't even like for work. Now I'm in a freaking castle, watching the most powerful ponies in the world act like complete goobers. It's.. It's just. Wow." She was managing to breathe much more evenly at this point, and after taking a few deeper breaths, the last of which she held for a few seconds before exhaling, she finally looked back up at the ponies opposite her and her marefriend at the table. "Cadance, Celestia, Luna. Thank you so much for inviting me here to get to know you better."
The three mares all smiled, with Cadance's being the largest of the bunch. "Yup, she's cool. Told you auntie."
"Yes, it would appear that she is indeed 'cool', and I'm glad we managed to get past that part with out any drama."
Twilight leaned over into her marefriend as the others continued their meals. "Yeah, she's great like that. She manages to deal with all my issues and neuroses like they're nothing. She's a master at 'just going with the flow' as Pinkie says." 
"We dare say that such an influence on you would be a good thing Twilight Sparkle. The reason Pinky and Rainbow Dash always pick you as a target of our mischief is to, by their words, pull the massive stick out of your flanks." Trixie gave a much larger snort then was necessary.
"Yes well, that issue that I will definitely deal with later aside, she has actually been good for me in that regard." Celestia leaned forward with interest while pouring herself another cup of tea. "Making time to see her has made me realize some things I don't think I would have on my own." All three mares across from them leaned forward with interest. "Such as that there are more important things then sticking rigidly to a schedule." She elaborated on this by nuzzling Trixie's muzzle tenderly. 
An excited "aww" came from Cadance. Celestia smiled contentedly. Luna made a gagging sound and pelted Twilight with a brussel sprout. Trixie giggled as she wiped the sauce away from her marefriends snout for her. 
"Careful auntie Luna, we don't need you to send Trixie into another laughing fit."
"Oh don't worry about it, I'm sure I could survive at least one more without serious damage to my lungs. And besides that, I think she gets a pass because the first two were totally necessary. I really think I needed that to get past the whole 'princess' thing.." Trixie heard a swishing sound as she ducked another flung brussel sprout launched by Luna. "Hey, that one didn't count." Thwap. Another one hit her from the opposite side. She looked over to see Twilight pointing a recently emptied spoon at her.
"Yes it does, now shut up and eat your brussel sprouts."
"NEVER," Trixie exclaimed before filling and chomping into a spoon full of everything she could fit on it that wasn't brussel sprouts. Upon which her body gave a shutter at the taste. "Holy tarterus, this is good." This statement made smiles grow all around the table. 
Trixie started digging in with gusto to catch up to the group that was much further along in their meals as Twilight started fielding questions posed by the assembled royalty. 


With equal parts glee and embarrassment Twilight explained some of the finer details of their relationship, such as how long they'd been together and how it had happened.
"As much as I'd like to take credit, I truly had no ulterior motives when I invited you to Canterlot that day Twilight. Believe it or not, not all things are within my control." Celestia said this with the smallest giggle at her students suggestion.
"Yeah. And besides, if anypony had the ability to set you up to fall in love, you know it would have been me." Cadance added on with a devious smile.
"Oh I'm not sure even you could have called this one Cadance."
"Oh really now," she responded while morphing her devious smile into a sly one. "And what makes you think that?"
Trixie swallowed her current bite of food hard to respond. "Because up until early evening the night before we got together I hated her stinking guts."
This statement made questioning eyebrows go up across the other side of the table.
"Umm yeah." Twilight turned to address Celestia, "Do you remember that friendship report I sent you when that random magician came to Ponyville and made me worry about showing off my magic to my friends?" This question led to three sets of quirked eyebrows across the table at the showmare. 
Trixie suddenly scooted her chair away from the table and with dramatic flair she jumped up onto it and posed. "The Great and Powerful Trixie swooped into Ponyville with all her glory. With not but her sheer magnificence she bested not one, not two, but three of the Elements of Harmony. And then...." She took her stage voice and pose the the boldest she could manage, before letting herself drop back into her seat and resume speaking normally. "Twilight reminded me of the vast difference between a magician and a mage when she did what I could only claim to have done and beat an Ursa major."
"Minor, sweetie."
"Sounds better my way, honey."
"Until somepony decides to test the claim and really bring one to challenge me, not like that would ever happen."
"If it did I'm sure you'd just tap into some previously unknown level of power and handle it. Probably grow a pair of wings while you're at it." The two, and then the whole table broke into laughter at that.
The laughter died down and regular eating and conversation started again, this time with Trixie a more active participant. Celestia seemed very interested and was very satisfied with the story of revealing their relationship to Twilight's friends. 
Cadance was very interested in asking misleading questions to try and discreetly discover how far they had gone in their relationship. Luna subsequently became interested as well, but her attempts were much more thinly vailed. And Twilight nearly turned into a tomato when Trixie got tired of the charade and told them every detail. 
The last sticking point of the meal only came when Luna had moved on to her dessert and the others had joined in for lack of wanting the experience to end. Five slices of cake and five eager mares about to dig in was the scene when Cadance asked the question. 
"So Trixie, obviously you've met Twilight's family just recently. Has Twilight perchance met yours yet?" 
The fork with a bite of cake Trixie had been lifting to her mouth stopped as Twilight visibly cringed. "Umm, Cadance. That's not a subject she's really comfortable talking about."
"No, it's ok Twilight." She finished lifting the bite to her lips and dug in without hesitation this time. Twilight just watched her with concern as she finished her bite and gave a satisfied lick of her lips. "I think I can handle it now."
"Are you sure." Twilight gave her a hopeful smile. Trixie responded by leaning over and giving her a peck on the cheek and a warm smile. She then turned and directed that smile to the rest of the table, the rest of the breakfast party suddenly looking hesitant. 
"Just so you know, this is going to bring down the mood in here quite a bit. But don't worry about it too much. This use to be a really hard story for me to tell. In fact, before Twilight only one pony had ever even heard any parts of it and absolutely nopony had heard the whole thing. It's because I always saw this story as the proof that nopony ever did or ever would care about me or want me to stay in their life. I can tell this story now because somepony made it clear in many different ways that that isn't true." She gave a sigh. "As such I've ended up telling this story three times in the last week, so bare with me." She paused briefly. 
"I told you before that there isn't much proof I even exist, will that's because just a few hours after I was born I was dumped in an orphanage. Whoever my parents were they made it clear they never wanted to be found. So much so they didn't even give me a name." Celestia and Luna managed to remain reserved by this news, while Cadance gasped and covered her mouth in shock, the beginnings of tears already welling up in her eyes. "I got my name from the mare who ran the orphanage I was dumped at. An old Earth pony mare named Constance. She was the closest thing I ever had to a mother, but that sets up what I thought was the running theme for my life. Ponies couldn't be close to me, not in the ways I wished they could be. Constance was the first because she obviously couldn't be a mom to me when there were twenty six other kids who all wanted the same. Plus being that this place was just outside of Las Pegasus, all the others were pegasi and I was always going to be the odd one out. That's how I came to meet the next kind of parent figure in my life."
Trixie went to take another bite of her cake and realized that she and Twilight were the only ones who had. "You know I am going to get around to this story not being so depressing, so you might as well enjoy your cake now." She gestured to the rest with her bite of cake and waited until they raised a bite with her and all took a simultaneous bite. 
Mood somewhat lifted, Cadance managed to fight back her growing tears and ask a question. "So what happened, did you get adopted or something."
Trixie gave a slight snort. "No, pretty much the exact opposite," she licked the frosting off her fork before continuing. "You might not know this, but there's a certain age for orphans when they figure they've missed any chance of getting a family. Well that age came and went for me. So because nopony wants to adopt a teenager, much less a unicorn when most ponies that came in were pegasus couples, and because I felt I had nothing keeping me there, I decided to leave. Didn't even leave a note, just vanished in the night. My first successful magic trick I guess." She gave a cheesey smile to try to lighten the mood again. 
"So being the head strong teen I was, I decided I was going to make it for myself using the thing that made me special. Las Pegasus wasn't far off so I was gonna go there and use my magic to make myself a star." She took another bite of her cake and held it and her fork in her mouth while staring around the table until the others did as well. "Problem was that until then I was the only unicorn I'd ever known. When I got to the big city I found out my magic wasn't really all that special. Mediocre would have been extremely generous. I'd of probably ended up back in the system if I hadn't caught what I figured at the time was the smallest bit of luck. I wasn't good at real magic, but I found someone who taught me how to fake it."
Twilight lowered her head to the table and grumbled, "Presto." Trixie snickered. 
"Here's a fun little magic lesson to break the mood some more. Does anypony know the real reason magicians and street performers exist?"
"Our sister seems to have forgotten with how much she hath allowed the practice to prevale, but back in the days of old they were among the lowest of the low. Grand spectacles meant to amuse and beguile ponies, while everything of any value in the area was pilfered."
"Two points for Luna."
"Points for what?"
"Nevermind. The point is that if you ever needed that reputation embodied in a single pony, it would be Presto. As crooked as they come yet he'll make you feel like what he does is ok. He took me in and taught me what show business was all about."
"I remember you saying something about this, that you were raised by a 'crooked street performer'." Celestia put a hoof to her chin as if pondering for a few seconds. "I'm not sure if there's a way for me to ask what I feel I need to without being rude at this point."
"He only ever taught me the tricks, he never taught me how to use them in a con. I tried to learn the con game once, and he smacked me upside the head. First and only time he ever did."
Celestia gave a slight giggle at the explanation. "I think I'd like to meet this stallion."
"No you don't!" Twilight and Trixie exclaimed in unison, Twilight hunching forward to bury her face in her hooves. This made Cadance give a small laugh.
"Oh now I really have to hear this story." She excitedly looked back and forth between the mares.
Trixie gave a small laugh too. "Twilight is just upset because Presto managed to rob her twice in under an hour. Me personally, I just don't want to even imagine what it would cost to bail that old coot out for trying to make off with all of your crowns or something like that."
"Now I believe he was a dad to you, because only a daughter would think he could pull something like that off," Cadance said with a warm smile. "We may not be wearing them right now, but I doubt anypony could get something off our heads without us knowing."
"He got my earrings out of my ears and was never closer then four feet from me."
That made three sets of eyes focus on Twilight with stunned expressions. "Well," Celestia started, "I suppose some unicorns have some rather interesting ways of using magic. I think something like that is technically possible.."
"He's a pegasus," Twilight groaned. Trixie just smiled at the stunned expressions.
"Like I said, he taught me how to fake it. Why do you think the costume he passed down to me is a hat and cape. To hide having wings and not having a horn."
".... Sister," Celestia looked over to Luna at her words. "We really want to meet this stallion now." Celestia nodded. Cadance did as well. "Though a thought suddenly occurs to us." She looks back over to Twilight. "When we conspired with the other bearers to distract you, they seemed to indicate that the two of you had had some recent turmoil in your relationship. Was comfronting this stallion the cause of this distress."
Trixie gave a small laugh. "Confront Presto, yeah right. If he gets one over on you, he won't let you run into him for at least a week."
"And trust me I tried," Twilight groaned again. "No that was mostly my fault."
"Don't even honey, that was all me."
"I could have been more understanding," Twilight tried.
"And I didn't have to yell, storm off, and ignore your letters until you stopped sending them," Trixie countered. 
The table went silent for a full minute as the couple stared each other down and the other occupants of the table internally debated on what exactly happened. This finally ended when Twilight and Trixie each raised their last slice of cake to each others mouth and messily forced it in.
The rest of the table finished up their cake as well as the two tried their best to out messy the other. Feeling relieved enough watching the now giggily couple cleaning themselves up Cadance finally broke the silence. "So is what happened still a touchy subject or..." She trailed off. 
"No, it's just.. it's still a little complicated and is gonna bring the tone down in here again."
Celestia gave her silent affirmation to go on as she poured the entire table a cup of after breakfast tea. They all took a sip before Trixie continued. 
"Well, with the life changing revelation that I did maybe kind of have a dad for all those years I got kind of nostalgic. Made me think of those times in the orphanage and wonder about things I haven't thought about in years. Since I was already in Las Pegasus, and the route I was taking out was even closer, I decided to go check out the old place." She gave another sip of her tea. "It wasn't there."
A chorus of sympathetic sounds went up from across the table. Twilight reached a forehoof over to caress one of Trixie's. 
"It turns out that the only reason it stayed open as long as it did was because of the owner, because of Constance. And a good portion of the town around it is populated by ponies who grew up there and have fond memories. So standing in front of the empty field where it use to be staring reflectivly was all I needed to do for some random passerby to tell me what had happened." She looked down into her tea for a moment before taking another sip. "It had been closed and demolished nearly ten years ago when Constance passed away." Another round of sad apologies started to go up, but Trixie continued her story before they could finish. "I learned one other thing too." The opposite side of the table leaned in as this part came out much lower. And got even lower as she continued. "Constance.... Lulamoon."
A gasp came from half the table. Twilight rubbed her marefriends back reassuringly. Trixie wiped a stray tear before it could drop far.
"When my good for nothing parents didn't even bother giving me a name... she gave me hers. That's when I remembered all those subtle things she did for me, and I realized it wasn't because I was the only unicorn, or because I was the oldest like she always said."
"That... That's what caused a fight between you and Twilight?" Luna finally ventured after a short silence. The pair gave a slight nod as Twilight wiped another stray tear from her marefriends cheek. "But why? We would think such a revelation would be not but grand news."
Trixie gave a weak laugh before taking a big gulp of her tea and giving a cringe at the heat. "Maybe if I wasn't an emotional cripple. But because I am it was emotionally devastating. I couldn't accept that I had lived my whole life feeling like I had nopony, and there was not just one, but two who I had shunned while thinking that." She finished her tea with one more large swig. "So dealing with that made me have the worst show I've had in years, right after which miss perfect timing here decides to show up in the middle of nowhere and surprise me with an invite to have dinner with and meet her postcard perfect family." Varying degrees of cringes echoed from the princesses while Twilight's ears flattened against her head slightly. Trixie gave her a reassuring peck on the cheek and added, "I still shouldn't of acted the way I did. I'm the luckiest mare in the world to have somepony so forgiving in my life. 
Smiles finally returned to the rest of the table as the remaining ponies finished their tea as well and all begrudgingly seemed to acknowledge the end of the meal. 
It was as Luna carried crowns over from the same cabinet where her bottle from earlier had come from with her magic that Celestia seemed to think of something and turned to the now risen showmare. "Oh Trixie. I had meant to ask what your plans from here were?"
"Oh so now we're getting into the real parenty questions huh," Trixie said with a scoff. 
"Oh no, I'm sure you've been grilled on that thoroughly by Twilight's family. I meant on a more immediate level." Trixie tilted her head in question. Celestia answered as she stood up and gave a stretch. "Summer wrap up is just a week away, and while I'll admit I don't know a lot about show business, I do understand that it becomes very hard for regular acts to find work during the winter while every venue is taken up by holiday plays. What is it you do during the down months?"
Trixie suddenly gained a far off look to her eyes as the implications of the question dawned on her. "I.. I honestly don't know. Usually the only performers who work the off season are washouts and those with nothing better to do. I've spent my fair share of time as a washout, but even when I wasn't I always worked. I.. I just never...." she gave a meaningful glance over to Twilight who was also now out of her chair, "never had a reason not to keep working."
Meaningful glances were exchanged around the room, while Cadance smiled in a way that seemed as if it should be painful. 
Twilight spoke up tentatively. "I.. If you want a place to stay during the winter, I'd be more then happy to let you stay with me."
Trixie suddenly became nervous once again, suddenly very aware of the other ponies still in the room. "Well.. umm. I guess if it's not gonna..."
Twilight suddenly moved in close to nuzzle her gently. "And not stay in your cart next to the library because your afraid of how everypony will think about us being together. Actually with me."
Breathlessly Trixie responded. "Yeah, yeah that sounds nice."
Luna and Celestia smiled happily, while Cadance looked as if she might explode with glee at the scene before her. As she finally settled down, the pair finally broke from each other and regarded the rest with blushes. Luna and Cadance finally stood as well and the three all dawned their crowns while walking around the table to join the happy couple. 
And just then Celestia seemed to remember something else. "Oh yes, Twilight. I had something I wished to speak to you about as well." They all began walking out of the large room together. "It's about your studies for the upcoming months." 
Luna's horn lit up and behind them one of the abandoned brussel sprouts on her plate suddenly took flight at the back of Celestia's head. Celestia dodged it expertly. 
"Come now Luna, breakfast is over and I can act like a teacher if I wish."
"Bah, well we shall have none of it." She began to trot faster and leave behind the rest. "Come Cadance. Have you ever seen how the royal guard react when princesses randomly interrupt their combat practice."
Cadance began to catch up with Luna. "Auntie Luna, you aren't drunk are you?"
"Of course not," she proclaimed as she lit her horn and teleported the both of them. Trixie would swear she heard an, "uh-oh," come from Cadance as she disappeared. 
Celestia turned back to regard Twilight as they started walking again. "As I understand from your recent acquisitions from the archives, you seem to be trying to increase your maximum long-range teleport distance."
Twilight suddenly glanced over to Trixie with a slight look of embarrassment. "Umm, well yeah. It was gonna be kind of a surprise."
"Oh dear, well I'm sorry to spoil. But from what I can tell you seem to be stuck."
"I can't quite break the fifty mile mark, and I'm still wasting way too much energy to do it."
"So we don't have to rewrite the record books quite yet." She said with a smirk, which made Twilight crinkle her nose in a way Trixie found adorable. "Well I do have a suggestion. Over my many years I've had many students. I don't just do this to spread my knowledge, but because I always find I learn as much is I teach with every new student." Celestia smiled serenely and Trixie could finally see the usual image of the princess return. "So my lesson for you is to try teaching another how to teleport. To see the way another learns to do it might help you find the flaw in your own technique. Find a student who's let's say, mediocre, and closely work with them. You might find you learn a lot, about a great many things.
Twilight looked up at her mentor with question. She then gave a glance to her gleefully smiling marefriend. "Yes princess, that sounds great."
With a final knowing smile Celestia finally lit her horn and opened the doors for them all.