//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: "Wait. Who's Back in Ponyville?" // Story: Unfinished Business // by Fission //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle lay in her bed, sleeping peacefully. The sun shone gently through the windows of the library, casting shadows through the room around her. Suddenly, a loud rapping noise roused the unicorn from her slumber. She groaned. It was Saturday and the library was closed. She had even put “sleep in” on the checklist that she had made the previous night. She groggily opened her eyes and searched for the source of the disturbance. Floating just outside the window, on her right, was a cyan pegasus wearing a birdlike expression on her face. Twilight’s horn glowed and the window swung open, admitting the other pony. “Rainbow Dash, why are you up so early?” Rainbow Dash, now hovering just inside the room, gave her a quizzical look. “Twilight, it’s almost noon.” It was noon already? But she felt just as tired as she did every other day! Maybe sleeping in wasn’t all it was cracked up to be… Twilight found herself with a slight blush due to the gaffe. She had gotten a bit too caught up with her extra free time. “Haha I guess you’re right, Rainbow. But what brings you here?” “Well I’m guessing you haven’t heard,” said Rainbow Dash sardonically, gesturing toward Twilight, who was still in bed, “but our favorite showpony is back in town." Twilight put a hoof to her chin, wondering who Dash could be talking about. “We don’t know any showponies,” She thought. “The only ponies I can think of that perform are the Wonderbolts. But Dash would be a lot more excited. Plus she only mentioned one pony… Am I overthinking this?” Then, the answer hit her: “Trixie?” she spoke aloud. Rainbow Dash nodded, and Twilight continued “Please tell me that Snips and Snails don’t know. I don’t want another Ursa Minor rampaging through town.” Rainbow replied “Well if they don’t know yet, they probably haven’t been through the town square. It’s COVERED with posters announcing her show tonight.” She spread her forelegs for effect. “Based on what they say, she’s changed her act; but she still has a lot of nerve performing in Ponyville again.” “Hmm, that does seem strange; I think I’ll check out the square myself. I’ll be out in a couple of minutes if you want to go with me.” “Sure thing, Twi,” said Rainbow as she flitted away from the window and down to the front door of the library. Twilight hopped out of her bed and walked over to the mirror. Glancing at her reflection, her appearance seemed to be in order for the most part; and she noticed a certain baby dragon asleep behind her. She combed her mane repeatedly, attempting to make it presentable. As soon as most of the stray hairs were taken care of, she hastily scrawled a note and left it next to her number one assistant. “Spike, I’m going into town for awhile. I’ll be back soon. Love, Twilight” Twilight quickly cantered down the stairs and out the door, not wanting to keep her pegasus friend waiting. Rainbow Dash hovered outside the door with forelegs crossed, feigning an impatient hoof tap. “What took you so long Twilight?” “Sorry Rainbow, I tried to hurry, but I guess we can’t all be as fast as you,” replied Twilight, closing the front door. “Well nopony is as fast as me, but you should at least TRY to not keep me waiting,” said her arrogant friend. The two started towards Ponyville Square. “Speaking of overconfident ponies,” Twilight offered “why do you think that Trixie came back?” “Doesn’t make sense to me. I thought she would stay away after you whipped her flank the way you did,” said Rainbow as she casually circled around Twilight, keeping even with the latter’s slow trot. “I don’t have any ideas either, Rainbow,” replied Twilight as she began to mentally tinker with the situation. No matter which way she spun it, though, it still just didn’t make any sense. Why would Trixie come back to the place where she was humiliated? “…Twilight?” Her reputation in Ponyville was ruined. Unless she was bitter at Twilight and wanted to embarrass her. Twilight shuddered at the thought. “Twi…?” On the other hoof, though, Rainbow Dash DID say that the fliers seemed to announce a different act, so that didn’t seem to indicate that Trixie was planning any sort of magical duel… “TWILIGHT!” Twilight broke out of her reverie, blushing. She shook her head quickly, dispelling her scattered thoughts. “I’m sorry, what was that, Rainbow?” “I said that I saw her buying some apples from AJ earlier at the market. But apparently you were too caught up in egghead land to notice,” She twirled her hoof next to her head in a cuckoo motion. Twilight gave her a quick scowl in return. “Rainbow, just because I enjoy a good book does not make me an egghead!” “Suuuure Twilight,” Rainbow replied, rolling her eyes for extra emphasis. “Trixie didn’t seem to be acting too showy, though. Maybe she’s actually trying to earn an honest living. Maybe she learned her lesson, Twi.” “I hope so,” replied Twilight. “But I wouldn’t count on it, knowing her. Maybe those fliers will clear some of this up.” As the pair entered Ponyville Square, both noticed dark rainclouds looming in the sky ahead of them. Rainbow Dash sighed audibly and slumped her shoulders in exasperation. “I thought I told Ditzy Doo to take care of the sky today… That featherbrain is probably off eating bucking muffins again. This was supposed to be my day off!” “Now you know how I feel,” piped up Twilight. She wasn’t happy either about having her day off being interrupted. Rainbow shot her a look and she fell silent. “Ugh… I guess those clouds aren’t going to take care of themselves. I’ll see ya later, Twi.” She sped off in a rainbow blur and headed directly towards the offending clouds, eager to leave herself some time for a cloud-nap. After watching her friend soar away, Twilight turned her attention to the square. Rainbow certainly hadn’t been lying. Everywhere she turned she saw The Great and Powerful Trixie staring back at her from posters plastered to pretty much everything in the square. Lamp posts, buildings, street signs; all were covered with Trixie’s visage. Twilight even thought that she saw a flier stuck on to somepony’s side. Twilight found a poster that had fallen to the ground and levitated it in front of her. Hopefully it would have some hint as to why Trixie had decided to come back to Ponyville. She rolled her eyes at the large embossed image of Trixie as she began to read. Come One! Come All! The Great and Powerful Trixie invites everypony to hear the tale of Beohoof, to be performed at dusk in Ponyville Square. Be mesmerized by a magical reenactment of one of the early masterpieces of ponykind. “Well,” Twilight said to herself “she certainly hasn’t lost her flair for the dramatic.” It appeared that Rainbow Dash had been right. This certainly didn’t sound like the same style of magic show that Trixie had performed previously. It seemed to suggest that Trixie had become some sort of bard. The show actually sounded very interesting to Twilight. Beohoof really WAS one of the earliest masterpieces written in Old Equestrian. Aside from elucidating Twilight's curiosities regarding the show itself, the document seemed to provide more questions than answers concerning Trixie’s motivation. Why would she return if she was still the same egotistical pony as before, as the poster seemed to indicate? As she shuffled through the extensive list of reasons why it didn’t make sense that Trixie was in Ponyville, Twilight was quietly becoming frustrated. She was not the type of pony to accept things that didn’t make sense. Even Pinkie sense, which she had long since accepted, still perturbed her. Suddenly, the solution hit her: Applejack was working her stand in the market today, and Rainbow saw Trixie buying some apples from her. If Applejack had talked to her, then maybe Trixie had mentioned why she had come back to Ponyville! It all made so much sense now! Twilight happily trotted into the market, proud of herself for solving the conundrum. As she approached the Sweet Apple Acres stall, she called out “Hey, Applejack!” “Howdy, Twilight!” came the response from the smiling orange farmpony. “How’re ya doin' today?” “Fantastic! Rainbow Dash tells me you had an interesting customer this morning,” said Twilight, subconsciously dragging her left hoof through the dirt in front of her. “As a matter of fact Ah have. You wouldn’t happen to be talkin about a certain G-and-P-T, wouldja?” “That’s the one, Applejack!” said a beaming Twilight Sparkle. “If the posters she put up mean anything, I would guess that she hasn’t changed much. Did she happen to mention why she decided to come back to Ponyville?” “Well, sugarcube, she seemed a bit more… subdued, Ah reckon. Not the same braggin' showponyish type as before,” replied Applejack. “I’m not even sure she recognized me. She was very polite, though, and she left as soon as she bought a bag of apples; galas, Ah think. So Ah’m afraid I can’t answer your question any better than you can, Twi. Maybe you should find her and have a chat.” “Hmm, I might try that,” said the purple unicorn, her ears perking up at the suggestion. “Do you know where I could find her?” “Unfortunately, Ah don’t.” came Applejack’s response as she shook her head. “but I can keep an eye out for ya” “That sounds fine to me,” said Twilight, smiling. Applejack continued “If ya don’t mind me askin, what’s got ya so keen on knowing all about Trixie?” “Well,” said Twilight, tilting her head. “I’m not really sure myself. I guess it’s just that her coming back doesn’t seem to make any sense. I guess I just want to know why somepony would come back to a place carrying such a bad memory.” Suddenly, her stomach growled. Twilight laughed embarrassedly “Haha, I guess that it’s about time I get home for lunch. Spike is probably wondering where I am right now.” Applejack, never one to leave a pony in need, slid two golden delicious apples across the counter. “On the house!” she proudly proclaimed. And despite Twilight’s protests, the farmpony’s southern hospitality was not to be denied. Twilight, realizing that she was in a fight she could not win, graciously accepted the apples. “My favorite cultivar, too!” she thought, smiling at her friends gift. The unicorn turned around to trot away, but was stopped by Applejack’s voice: “Say hi to Spike for me.” “Sure thing, AJ,” replied Twilight as she started away from the stand. As she strolled back towards the library, she once again became enveloped in thought. As her hooves trudged on unconsciously, she couldn’t help but focus on the question that Applejack had asked her. Why was she so curious about Trixie? Twilight couldn’t even say that she thought of Trixie as a friend, but there was something she couldn’t quite place that made her wonder. If Applejack was right and Trixie had indeed changed, what would that mean to Twilight? She supposed everypony deserves a second chance, but Trixie just seemed like such an enigma to her. Twilight sighed; it was obvious that this would bother her for the rest of the afternoon, at least. Why was it that Trixie, a pony she barely even knew, was causing her so much worry? “So much for a relaxing day off…” she thought as the approached the Ponyville library. Author's Note: So this is the first chapter of the first fanfiction I've ever written. Obviously, I hope that you enjoyed it. First off, I appreciate the fact that you even gave this a chance, and I hope that you'll continue to read as I continue the story. Any constructive criticism is GREATLY appreciated, whether it's grammar, pacing, stylistic, or anything else. Haha also if somehow this got you really interested it would be great if I could get another prereader or two (I'm at one right now) so if you are interested in helping just shoot me a pm. Also, chapter 2 is written and is in the process of being edited, so hopefully it should be up fairly soon (and yes it is longer than chapter 1). Anyway, I'm obviously pretty good at rambling, but thank you for reading, and I would love it if you could let me know what you think so far and how you think that I could improve. Jan. 8: made a few very minor changes, just for clarity's sake. Also gave the chapter a name.