The little filly sighed in relief as she drained herself of all the liquid waste that had built up inside her while she was asleep. Her eyes drifted down and behind her a little bit to see steam rising from where it was landing. Despite the bright sun shining down, it was still uncomfortably cold, and the thought of how warm it must have been enticed her. She was extremely tempted to lather some of it on herself. With a quick shake of her head, she immediately regained her senses, nearly vomiting at the thought she just had.
When she was done, she got up and levitated her quilt out of her pack. She had just stowed it away only five minutes or so before, but regretted it in no time when she stepped out of the rock cave where she had spent the night in. Before doing anything else with it, she took a moment to gaze at the design. She was always captivated by the faint-blue and sunshine-yellow stars and dots that were stitched sporadically on top of the deep purple fabric. Her grandmother made her a magician's hat that matched the design of the quilt (which Trixie had inside her pack as well). She told her that she could wear the hat and the quilt as a cape whenever she wanted to practice her magic.
Trixie loved her grandmother. Father always put her down, and Mother—a practical thinker—would often tell her daughter how unlikely it was that she would ever get anywhere performing magic. Her grandmother was the only pony she ever knew who truly had faith in her and encouraged her ambitions. She would have gone to her house instead of just running off into unknown territory, but she knew that her grandmother would take her back to her home. As much as Trixie loved her, she hated how she was oblivious to the way Father treated her granddaughter.
She levitated the quilt and tied it around her body into a cape. It was a bit long for her, and dragged against the snow-covered ground behind her; so she levitated the end and tied it together in a bun to keep it from touching the ground. After that, she brought out her magician's hat and carefully placed it upon her head. The hat was also a big too big for her, and slouched forward into her eyes. But she didn't mind; some day soon she would fit into her stage outfit perfectly.
As she stepped out of the patch of bushes where she used the restroom, her breath was taken away. In front of her was a picturesque panorama of the landscape and its purlieus that stretched out before her. From where she was standing, she could see that she was in the basin of a large valley full of lush evergreen trees. A frozen river about a mile down from where the filly was twisted and turned, cutting its way through the valley, until finally it curved to the left and out of sight behind the incline of a big hill. It overawed the little filly. She had never been exposed to anything other than busy streets and skyscrapers that loomed above them. Mountains were things that she had only seen inside her school textbooks.
Her body began to feel numb as a result of the cold air, but she just sat down and stared at the landscape for a few more minutes. She was so zoned out that she didn't notice that there were no signs of any civilized establishments. When she did notice, her mood instantly changed from contentment to frustration.
"Come on, Trixie," she motivated herself. "Just put one hoof in front of the other."
With that, she got up, put her saddlebags on, and slowly made her way down to the frozen river below.
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The two exchanged no words; just stood and stared at the other in disbelief. Trixie was quick to bring herself out of her stupor, however; she resumed to put on a boastful expression, turning her head away from Twilight and slightly tilting it upward.
"Well, well, well," Trixie began in a fake haughty tone of voice. "We meet once more, Twilight Sparkle."
The lavender pony was doubtful on the realness of Trixie's tone; It sounded somewhat stilted. Regardless, she continued the conversation, albeit awkwardly. "Oh Hi there, Trixie. How have you been?"
The magician scoffed. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has been absolutely wonderful, as always." She scowled as she added, "And she was perfectly fine until she spotted you just now."
Twilight frowned. "Look, Trixie, I believe we got off on the wrong hoof last time we met, and, as a pony who believes in second chances, I—" the pony stopped her sentence abruptly, quietly sniffing the aroma that floated around the magician. Her face scrunched up in disgust. "Ugh, what is that awful smell?"
Trixie began to panic, but did her best to disguise it from the other pony. "Ahem, The Great and Powerful Trixie does not know what you're talking about, nor does she smell any—"
"Good gracious, Trixie. I think it's you!"
"Uh, ummm..." sputtered the nervous pony. Her eyes hastily darted to different objects within the grand lobby, afraid of making direct eye contact with Twilight.
"And dear Celestia, your body! It's so thin!"
Trixie gratefully took this comment as an opportunity to steer the purple mare's attention from the stench. She slightly flaunted her body and flashed a smug grin. "Well, The Great and Powerful Trixie accepts your compliment, but she already knows she's quite the piece of eye candy."
"That's not what I meant," explained Twilight in concern. "I mean you're so thin, like you've been starved for quite some time."
Trixie's masquerade was beginning to crumble. "I, erm...Trixie has...She's..."
She wasn't able to finish her sentence; her voice simply trailed off as she hung her head down and gazed at the carpeted floor. Twilight hesitantly took the opportunity to squeeze in a question.
"Is everything alright, Trixie? You really don't look so good..."
Trixie's lip quivered as her breath became labored and her body began to shake. Suddenly, a bright blue light that matched the magician's coat flashed. When everything returned to normal, Trixie was no longer there.
"Trixie?!" Twilight called out in surprise as she shifted her eyes all over the lobby, desperately seeking out the other mare.
"Out there, Miss Sparkle!" the concierge behind the desk shouted. Her hoof was pointing out the front doors, and sure enough, Twilight spotted Trixie sprinting down the stairs in a hurry.
The lavender pony didn't take a second longer to hesitate. She levitated her pack and shoved it onto yellow one. "Could you watch my saddlebags, please!? Thank you!"
With that, Twilight teleported onto the sidewalk, standing in front of the path Trixie was galloping on. "Trixie, wait a minute!"
Trixie saw her, and Trixie lit her horn with magic, ready to teleport again. Twilight hastily latched her magic onto the magician's tail in an attempt to keep her from escaping again. Her efforts were thwarted, though; Twilight soon felt herself being sucked in, as if there was some sort of invisible black hole pulling her in. Her head became light and dizzy, and her stomach started to feel sick. Before she knew it, she was inside a dark alleyway not far from the Four Seasons. As she noticed the blue mare was still in front of her, she quickly realized that she had gotten caught in Trixie's teleportation spell. It was clear to see that she was equally disoriented from the mix up, and, needless to say, the two of them almost immediately tumbled to the pavement ground when the spell was completed, sending them rolling into a pile of cardboard boxes.
It took a moment for both of them to regain their senses, and Twilight was the first do so. Seeing that she had landed on top of Trixie, her hooves firmly dug into her shoulders to prevent her from running off again. Soon, the magician realized the predicament, and began to squirm around, trying to break free from the other pony's restricting clutches.
"Trixie!" Twilight shouted. Trixie continued to thrash about, though, eyes clenched tight.
"Trixie, look at me!"
Twilight's words finally hit Trixie. Soon she stopped her useless attempts at breaking free and stared up into her eyes, lip quivering.
"Trixie, what is the matter?!" Twilight asked forcefully, unintentionally sounding angry and invasive.
And that was it. Trixie wasn't able to hold back her anguish any longer. A flood of tears began pouring out of her eyes and she wailed in despair. Twilight, thrown off guard, slowly backed off of her and sat up against a brick wall, giving the upset mare some room. Apparently, though, this wasn't what the other wanted; she was soon pounced on by Trixie, who wrapped her hooves around her and squeezed her into a tight embrace.
Twilight hesitantly returned the sign of affection, more confused than ever. Nevertheless, there was evidently something wrong with Trixie, and she wanted to make sure she got better. In her mind, she began to wonder why she was offering solace to a pony who was nothing but a narcissistic rogue the last time she had seen her. If she were anypony else, she would have let the pompous mare wallow in her sorrow, perhaps even enjoyed watching as she drowned in it. But she wasn't like that; she never was. She was—and always had been—a believer of the potential everypony had of being great, and that there was no such thing as true and pure evil. Along with this, she also felt that everypony always deserved at least a second chance to redeem themselves.
Twilight was so lost in her thoughts that it took her a moment to realize that Trixie was silently whispering something between her ragged breaths. Focusing her auditory sense on what it was she was saying, she heard the following flow out of Trixie's mouth:
"...I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm so, so sorry..."
Inexplicably, Twilight softly responded, soothing the distraught pony.
"It's okay, everything's alright...You're going to be fine..."