//------------------------------//
// A Trixie Situation 
// Story: Operation: APPLECRACK 
// by Redd Herring 
//------------------------------//

	After much stalling and trepidation, Twilight finally made her way to the side of town square, where a familiar gaudily-decorated caravan could be seen.
"I never thought I'd be seeing her again..." sighed Twilight, a mix of exasperation and anxiety in her voice. Magically skilled or not, this particular pony had a rather intimidating personality, something that Twilight had a little trouble dealing with. Hesitantly, she trotted up to the caravan's moon-emblazoned door and gave it a tentative knock with the side of her hoof, half-hoping there would be no answer.
Fortunately or unfortunately, a familiar and imposing voice called out from the inside of the caravan.
"What pony seeks an audience with the Great and Powerful Trixie at this hour? She is preparing for the greatest show Equestria has ever seen, you know! This had better be important!"
The haughty voice made Twilight flinch a little, even though she knew full well the relative impotence of the pony she was dealing with.
After a long moment, Trixie herself reared her majestic visage from behind the window in the door, staring down at the less confident unicorn. Something seemed a little bit different about the wannabe wizard in her robe and hat, but it had been quite some time since they had last met, so Twilight couldn't exactly place her hoof on what it was.
"YOU! You DARE face Trixie after you made a COMPLETE fool of her last time? Trixie has not forgotten your indiscretions, you know!"
Her righteous indignation turned to mocking amusement.
"Hah! But it doesn't matter. Trixie, the greatest pony in all of Equestria, accepts your petty and pitiable little challenge. Let it be known that this time, Trixie will not be bested by the likes of you! As astounding as her magic was last time, it has doubled, no, QUADRUPLED in power since you last had the great honor of witnessing it. There is nothing, I tell you, NOTHING you can do that Trixie cannot! Ursa Minors? Hah! Bring them on! Bring out twelve, no, twenty Ursa Minors if you wish! They are no match for the incredible power of the GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!"
The unicorn with a knack for theatrics seemed to be somewhat winded from her long monologue, panting just a little bit as fireworks whistled and popped overhead, her cape billowing dramatically behind her.
As the fireworks died down and Trixie took a moment to catch her breath, her satisfied grin and shining eyes dampened a bit while Twilight just stood there staring at her.
"Well? Aren't you going to challenge the Great and Powerful Trixie?"
"...No, actually, that's not what I'm here for at all."
Trixie's cape stopped billowing, and she looked disappointed.
"...Oh."
She coughed a little, taking a second to regain her composure.
"...So... you've come to GROVEL at Trixie's HOOVES, then? Hoping to avoid your inevitable downfall as she CRUSHES you with her SUPERIOR and AMAZING MAGIC? Well, you had better make your apology good, or Trixie will have to bring the hammer down on you! No ifs, ands, or buts about it! KNEEL, you knave! KNEEL and REPENT for what you've done!"
"No, I'm not here for that either."
"...Hmph."
A moment passed in awkward silence as Trixie's deep and intelligent eyes flicked left and right.
"...So what ARE you here for?"
"Er... I need... I need your help."
"HAH! So NOW you dare to come crawling back to Trixie? 'Ohh, we don't need Trixie's astounding and unbelievable magic, we can just deal with everything on our own! We're just going to make her look like a big idiot and run her out of town so that nopony will like her and she has to live all by herself in the woods for a year with nopony to talk to!' Well GUESS WHAT!? Maybe Trixie thinks you don't DESERVE her magic! You've got it all under control, haven't you!? Why don't you just rip another WATER TOWER out of the ground and throw THAT at the problem, huh? HUH? Or do you just want to EMBARRASS TRIXIE FURTHER!?"
At this point, her face was mere inches from Twilight's. The bookish purple unicorn was having trouble responding to these wild tangents, and it took her a few seconds to finish stuttering and compose herself.
"L-Look, I'm sorry about what happened. I didn't mean for it to turn out that way. It's not like we hate you, Trixie, we just don't want you to be mean to everyone all the time... A-Anyway, that's not the point! Equestria is in grave danger and the Princess is nowhere to be found! If we don't work together now, there might not BE anyone to perform for!"
Trixie took a deep breath, stepping back a little and looking Twilight up and down as if sizing her up. She looked into Twilight's eyes, her expression softening just a little, and she sighed.
"...Alright, alright. I'll listen. What is it? What do you need?"
Her use of actual first-person pronouns seemed to show that she was being serious.
"It's a little hard to explain. I really don't even understand it myself, but it seems that there's some kind of powerful magical anomaly nearby, and it's destroying the balance of Myr in the nearby lands. If this keeps up... well, I don't expect you to know much about this, I mean, you're only a stage magician..."
"Hah! I'll have you know that the Great and Powerful Trixie has been studying non-stop to improve her magical abilities! Of course I know about Myr! Such a concept is CHILD'S PLAY for Trixie."
Apparently, she hadn't completely discontinued her usual manner of speech. But Twilight was more interested in what she'd just said than in chiding her for her showboating. Interest and enthusiasm glittered in the bookish pony's eyes.
"Really? Then you must have some thaumic instruments, right? Maybe you really CAN help, after all!"
"Yes, yes, of course I do. Why? What did you detect?"
"I... I don't know. It's not like anything I've ever seen before. The scrying crystal exploded, and... the mark that it left couldn't have been anything but a bad omen."
"A mark, hmm? What kind of mark?"
Twilight hesitated for a moment, seemingly holding something back.
"...I don't remember. I didn't get a good look at it. It just didn't look good."
"Hmmm..." Trixie seemed dubious. "But it DID leave a mark, yes? A visible mark?"
"Well, yeah, of course. But what are we going to do about it?"
She was quick to change the subject.
"What do you MEAN, what are we going to do? There's no use just standing around TALKING about it, we have to go INVESTIGATE!"
Despite her agreement to work together, her voice was still as dramatic as ever.
"Investigate? You mean go all the way out into the plains and just... look at it?"
"Well DUUHH! Are you sure that genius brain of yours is working properly? What, you're just going to stand around panicking about it without even going to see what it IS? How can we possibly solve the problem if we haven't even laid EYES on it? Hmmmm?"
Her smile was mocking as she taunted the other unicorn.
"I-I guess you're right... I was so busy panicking about the unbalanced Myr that I never even considered just going straight there to try and solve whatever's causing it. But it's bound to be something terrible, isn't it? Nothing good could have caused a disturbance like this."
She seemed desperate not to go.
"What, are you SCARED? I thought you were all gung-ho about being a big hero and saving Equestria! Come on, we've no time to waste!"
With that, she disappeared inside for a moment and then trotted proudly out the door with a large saddlebag that clanked as she walked slung over her impressively caped back.
"Come with me, Twilight Sparkle, and let the Great and Powerful Trixie show you how REAL world-saving magic is done!"
Twilight had no choice but to follow the boastful magician as she began traveling at a steady pace, humming a dramatic tune as she made her way down the road and toward the vast plains of Equestria.