“Fear not simple ponyfolk, your hero, the Great and Powerful Trixie has arrived!”
“Oh, hi Trixie. Just put your stuff anywhere and we'll get started soon.”
Some time had passed since her adventure with the brown stallion and Trixie was finding herself humbled by just how much she was enjoying a normal life. The Doctor had offered to take her with him, to see all the wonders that were out among the stars and all the times between, but she, with only the slightest reluctance, turned him down. After coming to terms with the fact that she had been waiting her entire life for a single day, she thought it might be good to just let herself live her life for a while. At least for the time being.
So, he had dropped her off back in Ponyville, back in the present. And only after two tries! The little blue house he had been living in would be unoccupied now, he said, and it might be a nice change of pace from a life on the road. Of course, she had extended the offer for him to stick around for a while, but, just as she needed some time away from the road, he needed some time on it. “Whoever came up with the idea of making calendars with boxes should be erased from history,” he had said. She told him she knew exactly what he meant and wondered if it actually could have been true.
And with that, he was gone. No time to stay for tea. No “Thank you and you're welcome,” to the people of Equestria. Just to tell Twilight he would have to renew their debate about magic sometime and that he would come visit Trixie again soon.
Actually talking to Twilight Sparkle and her friends had been another matter. Speaking with the ponies she had embarrassed and the unicorn who had embarrassed her was not number one on her “To Do” list. Regrettably though, she knew it was inevitable, now that they would be neighbors, and she figured even they deserved an explanation of everything that had happened. To her surprise, the six friends had been quite forgiving. Something about actually living up to her boasts now that she had helped save the entire freakin' world. The Great and Powerful Trixie was not one to turn down well earned praise.
The more surprising part had been when some of them had actually offered to become friends with her. It was a new suggestion to a pony who had spent most of her life on the road with ponies older than her and acting disdainful towards anypony she might have considered a peer. Still, she would need help being shown around town and maybe making some new friends wouldn't be the worst thing in the world?
While Twilight Sparkle had been the one she was initially most loath to talk to, she had ended up being the one most fervent in her offer of friendship. After Pinkie Pie, of course. Despite their differences, Twilight said it had been a long time since she had another unicorn who studied magic to talk to. It didn't hurt that Trixie had personally met Star Swirl the Bearded, either. And, as much as she hated to admit it, Twilight had a lot to teach. So, more to Trixie's surprise than anypony else's, she had started stopping by the library a few times a week so that she and Twilight could practice and study together. Which was exactly where she had just announced her arrival.
“Trixie sincerely hopes that is a joke, Twilight Sparkle,” the blue unicorn responded with a roll of her eyes. “There are so many books always cluttering your floor that Trixie can scarcely find room to put herself.”
“Yeah, sorry, it's um, it's been a big study day.”
“It's always a big study day with you.”
Twilight's disembodied voice finally gained a mouth, as her head perked up from behind a tall stack of books. “But you wouldn't have it any other way, right?”
Trixie groaned in mock disgust, before laughing despite herself. “I suppose if I must pay you a compliment, then it might be fair to say that Trixie does not find your scatterbrained endurance to be entirely without its charm.” She flashed an innocent smile at her friend. It felt good to think of her like that.
“Hah, 'scatterbrained endurance.' Good one. Here, let me take those.” Spike reached out for her bag, she had left her cape and hat at home, which she allowed him to take, with a pleasant nod. He was a good boy. A scamp and a dragon, but a good boy.
“Alright,” Twilight said, finally emerging fully from behind her stacks, “where were we?”
“Well, I know last time we left off on Parsimmion's treatise on the 'faenum fenum' effect, but Trixie was hoping we might skip ahead to—”
Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Who could that be?”
“Probably just somepony who wants to borrow a book,” Twilight shrugged. “This is a library, after all.” Lowering the book that Trixie had not even noticed her pick up, Twilight made her way over to the front door, giving it a nice, dramatic door opening sound.
“Twilight! And Trixie's here too! Perfect!” A strange creature with a bright red mane and wiggly paws instead of hooves frantically burst through the front door. “This concerns you both!”
“Doctor? What are you doing here?” Trixie cried in sheer disbelief. “Twilight and I were just about to do a little studying.”
“No! No time for that! I need you to come back with me. Back . . . to a year that comes later on this linear time line!”
“Doctor, what do you mean? What happens to Twilight and I in the future? Do we become a couple of,” she caught Twilight giving her the evil eye out of the corner of her own and stopped, “well, you know.”
“No, no, Trixie, you and Twilight turn out fine.” Both unicorns breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “It's your kids,Trixie! Something's got to be done about your kids!”