Chapter 5: Rarity
“Are you ready for this Comet?”
“Uh.... I don’t know; what if I mess up? Everypony might laugh at me.”
Trixie sighed and put an arm around her friend. “Come on Comet; just imagine that everypony is wearing something silly, like socks. That always helped me when I had to stand in front of crowds.”
Comet giggled, “A pony just wearing socks does seem silly, and maybe I can try that.”
“Don’t worry Comet; my dad always said that the most important part of being on stage is to imagine that anypony watching wants to watch you.”
“Well, that kinda makes me feel better. I’m still kinda nervous though.”
“It’ll be fine; you have us to help you if you mess up.”
”If I have my friends, I think I can do it.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“Thanks again for helping Trixie; I couldn’t imagine anypony more qualified than you.” Twilight said, taking a sip of tea.
Fluttershy blushed, “Oh... it was nothing really, she was a pony in need and I just had to help her. She’s getting a lot better, her legs almost fully healed and she will be back up and traveling again.”
“Well it’s still amazing to me; last time she was in Ponyville, her actions almost destroyed the town. But seeing her now in the state she is in, she seems... not vulnerable, but reserved.”
“I assumed that the poor dear was in shock, she has been so calm and friendly to the animals.” Fluttershy replied, “Well apart from the bunnies, she takes care of the animals very well.”
Twilight gasped, “What does she do? I wouldn’t think Trixie of all ponies would do anything to such poor, small creatures.”
“Oh dear, I meant that it’s not what she does to the bunnies, she tries to help them as well, it just that every feeding time she comes back to me with a torn bag and a annoyed attitude. I really feel like the bunnies seem to have it out for Trixie, I want to find some way to help all of them get along.”
CRASH
Both mares turned and saw a dusty mare land in the middle of Fluttershy’s living room. The mare brushed herself off and growled. “You dirty rabbits; you think you have bested The Great and Powerful Trixie? Well mark my words, I will beat you!” the angry mare shouted, slamming the door behind her. She turned and gasped as she saw her friends staring at her, trying not to giggle.
“Trixie would like to not be laughed at thank you, and don’t think that she is going to let these blasted rabbits push her around.”
“Oh Trixie,” Twilight giggled, “They’re just rabbits, what’s the worst they could possibly do?”
Trixie frowned, “Well besides trying to best me with all manner of weapons and chasing me, they don’t do much else besides steal food.” Trixie sighed and began trotting to her room, “If anypony needs Trixie, she’ll be in the guest room.”
Twilight waited for the door to shut, she smiled at her friend. “I think Trixie could do with meeting some more ponies, have you thought about introducing here to some of our friends?”
“Oh well, I thought Trixie wouldn’t want to meet ponies that may not like her. Since she is still recovering I didn’t want her to be stressed any more than she already is.” Fluttershy explained, “But maybe you’re right, she seems like she is starting to get a little bored here.”
“I know something you could do, without stressing Trixie and relaxing yourself a little.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“Good evening everypony,” Lily said, “and welcome to... uhh... our talent show.”
Several ponies milling about the town square took notice of the filly’s announcing and gathered in front of the stage, waiting patiently for the show to begin.
“Good evening to you all, I hope you will enjoy the show as much as we did preparing the stage and our acts, in other words, not a lot.” Lily said, flashing a goofy smile to the crowd. “I’m just kidding folks, and now for our first act, we have my friend Trixie.”
The audience stamped their hooves in applause while a nervous looking filly walked onto the stage. The audience quieted down and waited for the filly to begin.
“Welcome everypony!” Trixie announced, “I, the great and powerful Trixie will, um, amaze you with daring feats of magic and awe. I want to introduce you to my assistant for the night, Screwy!”
Screwy quietly trotted onto the stage, she turned towards the audience and bowed, “Hello Everypony!” Screwy announced, “I hope you have a great show.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“Are you sure you feel well enough to come into town with me?” Fluttershy squeaked, “I wouldn’t want you to get hurt because of me just wanting some company while I shop.”
Trixie nodded her head, “I feel fine, thank you for your concern Fluttershy. But I feel that going into town would be good for me.”
“If you say so,” Fluttershy said, with a small nod, “We have to go to the marketplace for a bit, and then we can go do something fun in town. Like the park, I always love going there.”
“That sounds pleasant, after the marketplace we can go to the park for a bit.”
“Wonderful,” Fluttershy said, “I was hoping to get some more supplies for the animals and maybe go see my friend about repairing a few linens.”
The pair departed, admiring the tranquil scenery along the path to Ponyville.
“This town is rather quaint,” Trixie surmised, “I must’ve not realized how nice this town is when I first came.”
“Umm, Trixie,” Fluttershy squeaked,” We have a little bit before we get to the market, would you mind if I asked you a question? I mean, if you want to.”
“I suppose that’s fine,” Trixie replied with a nod.
“Where did you go after you, umm, left Ponyville?” Fluttershy asked, “Most of Ponyville was searching for you for months trying to find you after you left.”
Trixie paused, trying to string together what exactly happened since she fled from Ponyville.
“Since I fled from Ponyville, She found herself in a thick forest. I spent the large parts of the week hiding in that forest, hiding. She understood how to forage and also found that some of the smaller animals understood generosity, so she traded stories with them for food. It was never enough for me to not have to forage and I’m not even sure they understood what I was saying, but I survived. Then some beast sauntered into my camp and tore it up for its sleep. I may have been a little too loud and the beast heard me. That’s about all I remember since she found herself, thankfully, in your care.”
“Why would you hide from Ponyville?” Fluttershy asked, “We wanted to find you to make sure you didn’t do something dangerous. Like going into the Everfree forest, we would never want anypony to ever go in there, even if they were a little boastful.”
“You mean to say...” Trixie said, with a cringe, “That Ponyville didn’t want to find me to banish me or put me in some kind of cell?”
Fluttershy put a hoof on Trixie’s side, “Trixie, we don’t care what bad things anypony has done if there in danger. The most that they would have done to you was cleaning up your caravan.”
“That makes me feel better,” Trixie replied.
“That is good to know,” Fluttershy nodded, “Aww, were here Trixie.”
Trixie looked around. She saw ponies shopping, smiling and talking with friends, and a white unicorn staring angrily at her.
The white pony stomped over to the pair. Trixie watched as the white grabbed Fluttershy and pulled her behind a cart, leaving her to ponder what happened in confusion.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Rarity pulled her squeaking friend behind a cart.“What is she doing her,” Rarity growled, “ When Twilight told me that dirty, no-good boaster was returning, I didn’t know what to do with myself, I spent days trying to return my coiffure to normal after that incident. Do you know how many bits I had to use to get enough shampoos to fix what she did?”
Fluttershy felt an instinctive urge to cower as her friend growled at her. She shook her head and stood up, staring back at her friend. “Rarity please, she made her mistakes and now she is trying to make amends for what she did. She apologized to Twilight and they made up, I was hoping to have her meet the rest of my friends after she recovered so she could apologize to them.”
Rarity paused and considered what her friend said. “Fluttershy dear, I feel that you are being a bit overzealous with Trixie. But if you are willing to give her a chance to apologize and make amends, I supposed I can try to talk with her as well.”
Fluttershy nodded and walked back to Trixie with Rarity in tow. She sat down and watched her friends with a light smile shining across her face.
Rarity looked at the ground and lightly rubbed a hoof against the dirt. Trixie stared at the mare nervously fidgeting in front of her, trying to remember where she had seen this mare.
“Hello Ms. Trixie,” Rarity mumbled, “My name is Rarity, you may remember me from your act you did when you were last in Ponyville, you turned my mane into a green bird's nest...”
Trixie eyes shot open and she gulped, she look towards her friend and only got a soft smile. “Aww yes, I remember that.” Trixie replied, “That wasn’t one of my best moments...”
“Yes... that little incident forced me to use most of my more exotic products to clean the green out.”
Trixie felt her face blanch with embarrassment, “Yes... I should apologize about that, it wasn’t one of my better moments...”
“Well, I don’t know, I suppose that I can accept your apology,” Rarity murmured, “Maybe if we warm up to each other more we could... I don’t know... go to the spa or something of the like...”
“That’s sounds fine,” Trixie replied. She turned to Fluttershy, she saw her yellow friend watching the two with a wide smile.
“Oh how wonderful,” Fluttershy said, “Now, Im sorry but Trixie and I still have shopping to do. Would you go mind telling Pinkie that someone new is in town?”
Rarity nodded, “I can go tell her in about an hour, do you think that’ll be enough time for her to prepare? Or would it be better if we just had our friends this first time?”
“I think for now that we just get our friends, we don’t want one to throw a big one for her first.”
“Alright darling, I’ll see you later then,” Rarity said, “Have a nice time, and remember, Assertive.”
“Assertive, got it,” Fluttershy said with a light hoof stomp.
The group split apart and went their separate ways, leaving a smiling Fluttershy and a very confused Trixie.
“What was that all about?” Trixie asked.
“Oh um well, I’m kind of shy,” Fluttershy responded, “So I was taking a few lessons from my friends about being more assertive with myself. I think I’ve done very well with the lessons.”
“No, not about being assertive,” Trixie groaned, “About somepony named Pinkie and throwing something?”
“Aww, well that’s a surprise for later. Be ready for anything, Pinkie always seems to be able to get these things ready almost anywhere.”
“If you say so, Fluttershy.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“Thank you everypony,” Trixie announced, “You’ve been a wonderful audience.”
The crowd cheered and stamped their hooves, excited from the show.
“We’re not done yet,” Trixie said, “We have one more trick for you, my wonderful audience.” She looked to her friend. Screwy smiled and wiped a light sheen of sweat off of her forehead. Trixie nodded, and Screwy disappeared backstage.
“Now, fillies and gentlecolts,” Trixie said to the audience, “I would like to tell you all a story.”
The crowd murmured amongst themselves while Trixie waited for her friend. She saw her friend’s hoof giving her the signal to proceed.
“I would like to tell you the story of a single mare, a single mare that defeated a great and powerful beast.”
“Our tale begins in the sleepy little hamlet to the east of Equestria. The town sat safely under the view of a council of the town’s wisest ponies. The town sat calm and safe, save for the occasional beast that would stray too close to the town.”
Trixie forced a small spark from her horn; she waited a few moments before feeling heat against her back and the hiss of gunpowder. The crowd awed in amazement of the brightly colored assortment of firework animals danced around a small, sparkling town.
“The Council would send a small group of guards to help the animal on its way. Overtime, the council felt that they could handle anything the world could throw at them; they believed that all it took was for them to send soldier’s to deal with it.”
“One day, a traveling magician set up her stage in the town’s square. The magician was very powerful but humble, she would perform to amaze and entertain the crowds.”
Another flash behind Trixie, this one of a magician standing in front of a crowd of cheering townsponies.
“Many ponies stopped to watch the talented magician preform, seemingly in awe of her talent with illusion and sleight of hoof. So many ponies stopped to watch her that ponies began to miss their jobs, the council began to take notice. They hated the mare, for she was distracting the townsponies from their main duty, which as the council believed, was to serve them.”
“The council sent a group of guards to gather the mare for questioning. But the council didn’t want her to arrest her; they had a much darker intent.”
“‘Send her to the dungeons!’ one cried, ‘Banish her!’ another cried, ‘Throw her into another town’s dungeon forever!’ they both cried. The leader of the council raised a hoof to silence the shouts. ‘Why must we be the ones to sully our hooves with this mare’s fate? Im sure the beasts that try to besiege our town could use a bit of persuasion about leaving our town alone. All we would need is a large group of our soldiers...”
Trixie paused, she looked to the crowd of ponies how were leaning forward, eager to hear more of the story. She sparked her horn once more and waited. Several ponies in the audience squeaked in fear as the fireworks went off, forming a pair of eyes, dark and angry.
“And this mare.”