//------------------------------// // Canterlot Blues // Story: Inner Demons: To Rise Again // by Lenora Goff //------------------------------// Out of all of the places that she could try to go to, though, Canterlot was actually one of the most difficult. It was a rather large distance away, four days trot if she trotted there. That was, actually, the only thing that Trixie could do. It wasn’t as if she knew anypony, had the bits to get a ride there, and she certainly wasn’t going to lower herself to begging. The rain continued to pour from the sky, the tree only being able to shield her from being further drenched. She was still getting hit with drops of moisture, though they lessened by the time that she had moved in to lay right next to the tree trunk. At least the rain wasn’t going to keep her up, if only the thunder would stop as well. The occasional drop on her head was a lot easier to ignore than the loud crash of thunder. It even prevented her from keeping on one train of thought. Every time she would try to plan out what she would do, and there were many plans on how she could scam some money from somebody else, another loud clap of thunder would shake her from her planning. That was a lot of coincidence, a lot of bad coincidence. Trixie was no closer to figuring out what she was going to do when she finally ended up drifting out of consciousness. ”You’re nothing but a failure!” The manager appeared out of nowhere. Somehow, he had gotten larger. There was something else different about him, though. He didn’t seem to be threatening her with violence, he seemed to just have a wide smile on his face. It was almost as if he was happy to point that out to her, happy that Trixie’s last show had failed in the most spectacular fashion. That couldn’t be true, though. This man had depended on her to bring in a large crowd. “You’re just a big show-off!” Suddenly, a rainbow-maned pegasus flew down from the sky. She seemed to have a smile on her face as well. “Good to know you got what was coming!” Laughter came next, at her. Trixie turned to look for the manager, the laughter from his direction had changed. Now it was Hayseed from the Ponyville show. That didn’t make any sense, though. Why would the two of them follow her? It wasn’t as if the Great and Powerful Trixie had done anything to them. “Why’re you wasting your time on her?” Perhaps even worse than them showing up was when they turned their heads and soon went away. Hayseed galloped off into the distance, and the pegasus simply flew up and away. That would have been a good thing, except Trixie still felt as though she was being watched by somepony. Eyes closed for a moment, trying to think of how any of this could possibly make sense, only to open to the sight of hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at her. Then out of nowhere, she heard laughter... With a startle, she awoke. Trixie almost forgot where she was, the nightmare had seemed so real. All of those ponies had been mocking her, but why. Why would she dream something like that? There was no time for introspection, really, there was only time for her to get up and get moving. If there was a train, she might be able to get there in a day. Trains cost bits, though, and bits were something that she had in short supply. So, trotting to Canterlot it was. Four days, that was all that it took to get there. It didn’t actually feel like four days. Maybe it wouldn’t have seemed so long if she had anything other than her thoughts to keep her company. Her mind kept moving back to Hoofington, to the horrible things that had come from her performance. None of it made any sense to her, yet at the same time there was a weight that had been removed. It couldn’t be the weight of being rich, because she was hardly wealthy, but something else. Each night, the empty theatre was in her dream. The first morning, even though it wasn’t hot, Trixie had awoken covered in sweat. Perhaps it was something that had to do with the fact that she had thrashed around the night before. Regardless, the first day’s progress was slow. She was still able to keep up a normal pace, but even that was difficult. Each step felt like ten, but her pride was keeping her going. There was no way that she would let the dream prove to be true. There was no way that she would allow herself to become the failure that she feared to be. Day two started off a lot nicer. Trixie was sweaty, but the thrashing had obviously been lessened by something. Even though there was the same dream, it didn’t matter as much. It still hit her, but somehow there was something that made it hit a little lighter than the previous day. Part of her wanted to push ahead, to try to get closer to Canterlot, but that wasn’t something that she was going to do. The trip seemed to be almost as important as the destination, though she couldn’t quite figure out why it felt like that. By day three, she awoke with a smile on her face. That seemed strange, given everything that had happened. She was the Great and Powerful Trixie, she shouldn’t be smiling after having such a poor reception. That didn’t make any sense at all, there had to be something about it that would make sense later on. This was what took up the rest of the day, her thoughts about what it could possibly be. Why was it that she didn’t care what the dream showed her? Another thing was why she was starting to become happier because of it? What was her mind trying t tell her? It took to the end of the fourth day, when she was right outside of Canterlot, for her to finally figure it out. That day had gone splendidly. No more did she sweat, she felt absolutely rested from her previous night. The smile was wider, it was something that came natural to her once again. The only thing that made any of this make sense was something about the name the Great and Powerful Trixie. She had come up with that for her own reasons, but eventually it had become something of its own. Perhaps she would be able to just shed the expectations. She would become Great and Powerful, but there was something to be said about the numerous shows. Everypony expected greatness, and on more than one show she had stressed greatly about the idea of coming up with something that was spectacular. Even though stage fright had left her, almost at the same time as one of her first performances as the Great and Powerful Trixie, there had always been the expectations of the fans. Every great artist loves fans, every powerful magician loved admirers, but there was something more to them than simply admiring her work. They demanded more, and more, and more. The final night, the one before she would enter Canterlot, she stared up at the sky and thought about everything that had happened. She was still great, she was still powerful, but she was also able to just rest. That was a great feeling, greater than she thought. It was something that hadn’t happened in a long time, her shows always taking up her utmost focus. Even the idea of working didn’t seem to phase her at that point, there was something refreshing about the idea of heading to work for one of the many ponies in the capital. That scared her a little. As she stared up at the sky, remembering everything, a couple of tears dripped from her eyes. Trixie closed her eyes, drifting into a peaceful sleep. ”Watch and be amazed at the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” It had been the show that was just before Ponyville, it was a show that started off with a couple of ponies showing up. Trixie looked down at them, a confident smile on her face. Even though it was only a few weeks ago, it still felt like forever. It still felt as if she was staring into her own distant past, or maybe even watching a movie. She wasn’t watching it from her own point of view, after all, it was almost as if she was on the outside of all of this and was simply watching herself. Trixie, the one on stage, lit up her horn. Just as always, an image of a herself appeared. This wasn’t going to be like the normal shows. Normally, she would just start a story with the antagonist, and then she would proceed to show that she had defeated it. This was a simple trick, and it never ceased to wow the simpletons that she seemed to find as he audience. “The Great and Powerful Trixie does not always perform these shows. Sometimes, she is performing missions for the Princess. One such task brought her to a snow-covered land.” Another glow of her horn, and the audience would soon think they actually saw snow. “Everything was going smoothly, when she was suddenly beset by...” Once again, the glow of her horn brought about another image. This time, it was an image of the three Windigo from the Hearths Warming Eve Pagent. “The dreaded Windigo!” The audience was amazed, the idea of running into the creatures was obviously unthought of. “Trixie could not let this evil go uncontested. It was only with her most powerful spells that she was able to end their threat.” The image of herself waved a wand, several waves of what was meant to be magic hit the beasts. Almost immediately, they disappeared into nothingness. This was what it had meant to be the Great and Powerful Trixie. She was the best at what she did. It didn’t matter that the things she did were tricks. Those that she ran into, they thought that she was great and powerful. Not only that, but they were entertained. Cheers emanated from the crowd, telling her that she had done a perfect job. Each cheer was another sign that she was doing a great job. And if each cheer was a separate cry that she was doing a great job, then there were dozens of proclamations of her great abilities. They were entertained, and she was richer for it. Nobody lost. With the dawn, Trixie arose. It wasn’t because of the sun, though that likely would have awoken her even a couple of days ago, but it was a feeling. There were a lot of things that she had to do today, and she knew that she had to hit the ground galloping. She knew that there was no way that she would be able to get a job if she didn’t look, which meant that she had to get into Canterlot. That was actually an easy part, it wasn’t as if there was a lot of security trying to stop people from entering the capital. All she would have to do was walk in, find somepony who was looking for somepony to help them, and then get enough bits to actually start her show again. It sounded so simple in her head. In the best of times, Canterlot was the shining city on the hill. It was a place where jobs were being made, businesses expanded, and ponies were employed. In the best of times, all one had to do was simply breathe and look for a job, those two qualifications were enough to make sure that the search was a success. This was actually why Trixie had come to the town, with the hope that there was always another job that somepony could accomplish with their wits and their charm. She would settle for a job that required one of them, actually. By the end of the day, she had discovered that the continuous expansion wasn’t something that was maintained since her last visit. News from the streets said that it was a plethora of small events that led to this. There had been an infestation in Ponyville, one that had caused there to be a lot of damage to he town. That was something that she was sure they deserved. Another infestation hit another town, which they likely didn’t deserve. Both of those things were after the damage that the Ursa Minor had caused to Ponyville. All of those bits went to the efforts to make sure that the towns survived, which meant that fewer and fewer bits could be put towards the improvement of Canterlot. That put a damper on her actually finding gainful employment. The bad thing that came with that was the bad news about staying inside. It wasn’t something that she had to do, but it was something that a small part of her had wanted. A bad might be more comfortable than the ground, especially if she had been able to stay at one of the better hotels for the night. All of that had taken into account the idea of making some money, which took into account her getting a job, which took into account there actually being enough jobs to where a pony could come in and get one. Of course, there was always the next day, her luck might change the next day. A few final bites were taken of a sandwich, and then she drifted off to sleep. By the time the next day came up, she had a renewed hope. Trixie knew that the first day hadn’t done as well as she expected, or hoped, but that hadn’t meant anything. Canterlot was a huge city, the capital of Equestria, which meant there had to be a job. All she would have to do would be to continue through the day, asking around, trying to figure out who needed help. In her mind, the entire day, she knew that something would come. She knew that she had hit bottom, or as close to bottom as she would, and it would all be uphill from there. By the end of the day, she was sleeping in the same spot and eating a cheaper sandwich. That was alright, it was another small setback. In the end, Trixie was sure that the next day would be better. All she had to do was try to remain positive, try to make sure that she kept a smile on her face. All she had to do was look good, be confident, and then she would get some sort of job. That was what she told herself when she woke up the next day, anyway. The only problem was that it wasn’t exactly true, it seemed as if few ponies actually needed anyone to work for them. It was getting hard to remain positive after a few more days of this. Another thing that was getting more difficult to do was pay for those meals. Trixie was getting poorer and poorer, but she was sure that there would be something coming up. Of course, positivity made it all better. She just had to pretend that this was some sort of test, that this was her trying to ration out and see how strong she was. Strong people could go with less food, right? That was how she was able to rationalize the fact that she was slowly becoming unable to pay for her own meals. Around the fifth day, she had finally figured out that there was a place where the poor went to get meals. This was Trixie Lulamoon, the Great and Powerful Trixie, though. There was no chance that she could rationalize going to a place like that. Aside from that, it wouldn’t be too much longer before she had a job. She knew that it would come the next day, or maybe the day after that. Optimism was a powerful thing, it led to the denial of facts that could never well lead to somebody being able to survive. The initial optimism was strong for five days, it was the thing that put a huge smile on her face. Trixie actually kept track of the days, there wasn’t any reason why she shouldn’t. After the fifth day, she stopped counting. There was still a smile on her face, but she had to work hard to keep it as wide as before. Everything she did, she kept the same energy. Anypony who knew how to watch ponies would see that the energy was forced. Another downside of smaller meals was that her nightly sleep had eventually gone up another thirty minutes in the five days. Of course, this was temporary. Trixie told herself that all she needed to do was find that one pony that would be able to help her get her hoof in the door. By the time two weeks came around, she didn’t even bother with trying to keep up with the count of days. Her smile was almost completely forced. It didn’t matter if she looked as cheerful in her steps, her voice, it was only the smile that she could keep up. Her sleep moved up to nine hours a night, up another half hour. Trixie was still determined, she would find a way to make sure that everything went alright. All she needed to do was figure out how it was that she could find a job. Her small traces of pride stopped her from going to get the free food, even though her bits were all spent by half-way through that week. By the time the third week came around, everything was forced. Trixie didn’t feel like going anywhere. She needed a job, of course, but there wasn’t any joy to be found in the search anymore. Nopony was hiring, it seemed, which meant that she was likely going to end her journey there. It was hard to remain positive when there were such terrible things happening. Three days into the week, she had caved. It had been a week since she had eaten, and the amount was barely enough to be considered a single meal, but it was still better than the alternative. Four weeks later, she didn’t even bother smiling. The fact that she only ate one meal a day meant that she had lost a considerable amount of weight. This was actually worse than when she had started off, with there being a few ponies who had helped her out back then. Those bridges had been sufficiently burned down, so that wasn’t something that happened this time. Living outside also meant that her main way of bathing was a stream that she had to walk to. This only happened once a week, so by the end of the week she likely looked like a hobo. The first day of the fifth week came around, and all hope had left. Trixie’s weight hadn’t really shrank much over the past week, though it had a little. She was now getting a meal a day, sometimes more if the stallion who was giving out the free-meal decided that it was a good idea to help her out a little more. This wasn’t something that she liked, of course, but it was something that she would have to get over. Pride was great, but it was something that died in the face of not being able to get the food that helps ensure that you continue to live. There would be no way that she would be able to do anything if she wasn’t living, obviously. It was the middle of the fifth week that something happened. There hadn’t been a single day when she hadn’t looked for a job. A smile might not have adorned her face, but smiling wasn’t the only thing in life. Trixie wanted to make sure that she survived, that she got back on her feet, that was able to take care of herself. At some point, her idea of trying to get her wagon again was thrown to the side. For now, at least, she wanted to make sure that she didn’t have to rely on another pony. For now, she wanted to make sure that she could feed herself. All of that had pushed her to another day of disappointment, there wasn’t a single job in sight. Then it happened, the thing that changed everything. “Get out of here!” A stallion, in a uniform, was tossed out of the local donut shop. If it hadn’t been for the fact that she was looking for a job, Trixie might have felt bad for what she had just seen. She knew what it was like to be thrown out, like garbage, by somebody who didn’t have any right. At this point, though, her main focus was trotting in there and trying her best to make sure that she looked good enough to get a job. I want to get this, I need to get this. Trixie will not be denied a job again! There just has to be some way that I can impress this man, make him see that I’m a hard worker. I mean, he doesn’t know otherwise. Perhaps for the final time, she forced a smile on her face. By the time she walked out, the smile wasn’t forced. “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but notice that you just threw out somebody that looked to be an employee.” “Yeah?” The stallion was obviously still not happy. Whatever had caused him to need to throw out his former employee was still weighing on him. Something horrible had to have happened. She was smart enough to not ask. If he wanted to say something about it, he would. Otherwise, her main concern was making sure that she got a job with an income. “Does this mean that you’ll be requiring somebody to replace him?” While the hope had died a while back, is had been slightly revived here. Trixie thought that she might be able to get a job, which would mean that she would be able to keep on living. That was a wonderful goal, at least in her mind. Great and Powerful was out, and surviving was the new big thing. The stallion glanced at her, looking into her eyes as if he was trying to judge her. It was as if he was trying to measure her worth as a worker, or maybe just figure out what she was trying to get by asking. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with her, not from his cursory glance. He saw that she looked small, but that was alright. She also seemed to look a little shaken, but that wasn’t bad. Whatever had happened to her would probably not effect the way that she worked. Perhaps there was something about how small she was that made him feel bad for her, like he should hire her to make sure that she didn’t get any smaller. “You wouldn’t make me regret it, would you?” The smile got wider, this was the chance that she had been looking for. All she had to do was make sure that she looked the part, and she would definitely be hired. “Trixie has never been one to make people regret things. And that is not something that would start here.” Perhaps it was happiness that had brought back her old speech patterns. Whatever it was, she hadn’t even noticed it. The only thing she noticed was that he seemed to be lightening up. That was the sign of happy, which was the sign of happy. Her tail actually began to move, almost like a happy kitten. “I’ll give you one chance.” Eyes looked over the mare, seeing that she was more than a little dirty. This wasn’t something that could be shown to customers, but she was obviously not able to do much about it herself. The stallion went to the register, and he pulled out some bits. They were tossed to her, a smile on his face as he did. “I want you to be here bright and early, around seven. Before you come in, though, I’m going to need you to clean yourself up. Your uniform will be here when you get here.” The news of the night was that Trixie finally had a job. She didn’t sleep the entire night, far too excited by the prospect of finally being able to work. Far gone was the old her, replaced by somebody who was just happy to survive. Her dreams had even been displaced by the primal fear of death. But now, now she would be able to get enough food to gain back the weight that she had before. All she had to do was make sure that she did a good job at work. Working without sleep would probably be difficult, but she would find a way to make sure that it was still able to be done. Perhaps the bath would awaken her, make sure that she didn’t slack off on the job. It cost every single bit that she had been given to get a good bath. When Trixie got out, she looked like a thinned version of her old self. There was a smile on her face, her mane was washed perfectly. Not a single speck of dirt was on her, which was definitely what was expected of her. She even got to work early, which wasn’t the hardest task with the fact that she hadn’t slept at all the night before. That was something that had likely impressed the stallion in charge, which was definitely something that was worth doing. Trixie hadn’t been told anything about how much she would be making, or how often she would get paid, but the idea of impressing your boss was something that she had learned from her earlier days as a showmare. Her uniform looked just like the one from the stallion that had been kicked out. Eyes were wide open, she was still going from pure adrenaline. There weren’t a lot of tasks for her to accomplish, really. Donuts needed to be cooked, which wasn’t something that she was going to be trusted to do right now. There would be customers that would ask for them, she would get what they wanted. Some ponies would come in and ask for coffee, or sometimes tea, and she would have to make sure that they got just what they wanted. Trixie would also be the one that would fill their cups, when they ran low, unless they said otherwise. It wasn’t the most difficult task in the world, but it did sound like one of the most boring. A job is a job, regardless of how boring it is. The first day didn’t go all that slow, though. She had expected that time would drag on. There were a dozen customers, each of them seemed to ant to talk to her when there was downtime. It was almost as if they found her to be interesting. They would ask her about herself, how she got the job, and she would tell them the boring story about how she saw the last person get fired for something. Everything had worked in her favor to make sure that she had a job. Trixie left out the parts about her almost starving to death, and what had happened before, those details detracted from the idea that it had been her good fortune that helped her land the job. If the past Trixie could see herself now, it wouldn’t be pretty. First day was over, and she was given some bits. It seemed as though her pay would depend on how much was made that day, and that day had been slightly below average. The only thing that made it any better was the fact that she had been allowed to eat a couple of donuts for free. These weren’t things that she normally ate, but Trixie could barely contain herself after she took a single bite. These things were amazing, and the two of them were quickly downed. Dinner from the other pony, the one who had helped her survive up until this point, came before she found a normal spot that she had slept at during the time that she had been in this city. How long had it been? It felt like forever. With the sunrise, Trixie stood up. To say that the outdoors was somewhere that she wanted to be, that would be a lie. After the long time, however, it had become something that simply was. If she had a place to stay, that would be one thing. She didn’t, and so she would have to pay to get a bath every day before she went to work. Even the first day, she had made more than enough to pay for the bath. If today was anything like the day before, she would be able to pay for it again. The next day, the next day, the next day, she would try to pay for everything a day at a time. A couple of donuts a day, along with the meal, might be able to put her back to what could be considered a normal weight. It made perfect sense to her. Everything was finally going to turn around for her, she would finally get back to doing more than simply surviving. This job, it would be the thing that would make sure that she could get a place to truly live. There was something else that she had to do, she knew it, but it wasn’t coming to mind as she finished her bath. This was her second day at work,or at least it was going to be when she actually got there. When she got to work, her uniform was waiting for her. It would, with any luck, be another day like the one before. She had liked the idea That day was busier than the first. There was barely enough time for her to finish a thought, let alone enough time for her to have a conversation with anypony. Between filling up drinks, getting the orders right, and making sure that the customers paid what they owed, there was barely enough time for her to eat the two donuts that she had been told that she could have. There wasn’t time for a break, aside from the lunch that lasted only five minutes. This was one of those things that had a positive and a negative. The positive was that she was going to be able to get more bits, as her pay was dependent on how many were sold that day. By the end of the day, however, she was wore out. That wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be, though. Trixie had thought that she would hate the job by the time she left, but the exact opposite happened. Something about the job made her feel actually useful. It might have been something small, it was actually nothing major, but the previous month hadn’t exactly been the kindest to her. Part of her thought that if these days continued, then she might be able to work her way back up to where she could do something else. Of course, part of her didn’t want to do anything else. This stallion was nice enough. For the next two weeks, everything began to pick up. There were orders for parties, plenty of customers, and no time to herself. Trixie barely had five minutes to herself, barely had enough time to go eat dinner, and barely had enough time to get the bath before work started. It was a glorious time, really. She got paid plenty, which helped her to regain just a little more of her previous weight. Ponies didn’t really stare so much, her ribs were barely showing at this point. If things continued like this, she wouldn’t have to worry about bits. If things continued like that, she could get a place to stay. Of course, it didn’t. After those two weeks passed, business started to falter. It didn’t seem to be so bad at first, with there being fifteen minutes a day to eat and sit down. Trixie didn’t like the decrease in pay, but that was something that she couldn’t do anything about. Customers smiled when they looked at her, but she was hardly enough to pull in large crowds. Her time in Hoofington had been enough to tell her that her days of large crowds had passed. She didn’t like thinking of that, though. When she thought of that time, she started to get sad. When she thought of the future, everything was bright. After two weeks of it slowing down, that’s when everything went bad. Before then, it had been a gradual thing. More and more ponies were going to Pony Joe, but he was more established. This donut store would just have to do something to stop that. The decrease in customers only had the effect of giving her time to think about things. Not only that, but she was able to get some of the ponies to talk with her. That was always fun, finding out what was happening in the world around her. Apparently, there had been an infestation problem. How many infestations could there possibly be? She didn’t push, for all she knew it could have just been something that she had already known about. Soon, though, she was told that she wasn’t needed as long. This was bad news. Trixie had been getting fewer bits, of course. It had been expected, her pay was tied to their sales. She had also always had a place to stay during the day. This had two big benefits. For one, it gave her something to keep herself busy. During the last few weeks, she had been able to do nothing more than simply think about the job that she was doing. Another thing was that it had given her some place to be during the day. When she had been left to her own devices, she had simply wandered around. Now she was left to do that again, or at least she thought that she was going to be left to do that again. It was around noon one day, hours had been cut to a mere four every day, when she ran into a pony. Trixie had been doing the financials in her mind, trying to figure out what she was going to do to make up for the remainder, and thus hadn’t been watching where she was going. Eyes looked up, and suddenly she saw a mare that looked as though she was nobility. Of course, there were few ponies that were actually nobility. That didn’t stop Trixie from staring at her, even if she couldn’t quite name her. Upper class was probably a better way to explain her. “Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” It had to be the snootiest voice she had ever heard. Trixie wasn’t one to insult, not anymore, but this mare’s voice was just simple the most annoying thing she had heard for a while. It took all of her considerable willpower to make sure that she didn’t say anything. “My apologies.” That kind of stung, really. Trixie had made a simple mistake, and this mare was making her apologize for it. More accurately, this rude mare wasn’t apologizing on her end. It was infuriating, but it was simply how things went. “I just got off of work, and I was thinking about trying to get another job.” She didn’t even know why she was telling this mare her business, the upper-class mare didn’t seem like she would care. Strangely enough, her eyes seemed to glisten. “I understand, dear.” That voice again, it was the most annoying thing she had heard for a while. “I’d like to think that every pony simply wants a job. And I like to help make sure that happens.” Okay, so she was nice and her voice was annoying. At least Trixie was lucky enough to run into a pony that was kind. Ponies didn’t choose their voices, after all. So she smiled back, not exactly sure what she was getting herself into. “Thank you.” “It’s no trouble at all.” It would be trouble. When Trixie got back to the house, which was more of a mansion, her mouth practically dropped to the floor. This was large, this was extravagant, this was something that would likely be the talk of so many ponies. It was also something that she could tell hadn’t been cleaned for a few days. At this point, part of her was starting to feel really unsure if she wanted to get into this. She knew what it was going to be, or at least she had an idea of what it probably would be, and it wasn’t something that she was looking forward to doing. The mansion needed a cleaning. Four hours of straight cleaning. It was worse than the busiest day at her other job. Banisters needed cleaning, floors needed cleaning, walls, and so forth. Things were taking far longer than she could have possibly imagined. The only reason why it took four hours, and not six, was the occasional use of magic when her employer wasn’t looking. She didn’t know if the mare, even though she looked to be a unicorn as well, would like the idea of something like this being done. Some ponies liked the idea of the work being done by the pony, in the most natural way possible. By the time the work was done, Trixie was worn out. Another thing that could be stated as fact as that the mansion was a lot cleaner. “That was a great job, Miss...” “Trixie, Trixie Lulamoon.” Once again, there was a gleam in her eye. It was actually starting to get creepy, the way that the mare looked at her. Now there were two things that just threw her off. There was the voice, and now there was the eyes. The only saving grace, at least for Trixie, was the fact that she was nice enough to make sure that the unicorn had a job. It even seemed like she was going to pay well, which made sense in light of the sheer amount of bits that she had. “Actually, Miss Lulamoon, if you would like to come down tomorrow about the same time? I think I have another job for you.” “What do you have in mind?” “Don’t worry, I’m sure it will be mutually beneficial.” That wasn’t very encouraging, but Trixie was soon escorted back to the door. There hadn’t even been enough time to ask again. This was starting to worry her, and that was never a sign that she should come back. Of course, the mare did pay well enough. She didn’t even know if her hours would be as high as they were today at the donut store, which were already too low in her opinion. Did she really have the ability to turn down a job? Could she really afford it? The next day proved to have the same hours. Apparently, business had stabilized at the donut shop. It was still four hours, though, which definitely wasn’t a great thing. The owner might have been happy, potentially being able to stay open for good, but that still meant that she was going to have to deal with fewer hours than she wanted. The only upside, if there was one to be had, was that she was going to be able to go to the secondary job that had apparently opened up for her. Her name had been the key, it seemed. By the time that she got to the mansion, a wide smile was on her face. Nothing could keep her down, really. Nothing would be able to take the smile from her face. This was what she thought, anyway, until she got to the mansion. Trixie was looking forward to helping out again. She was sure that it wouldn’t be cleaning. There was actually little indication that she would be able to guess what it was, but that didn’t matter. Right now, she was riding the high that came with your name once again carrying weight. Everything was going to be righted again. “Oh, darling, here you go.” A sack of bits were thrown at her feet. “But I haven’t done anything yet.” A sweet smile was on her face, no knowledge about what she was going to be forced to do. If she was paid early, that might mean it was dangerous. Another thing that it might mean, and this one was more likely, was that this was a downpayment. If this sack was simply the downpayment, though, the job had to be something with a giant payout. “Don’t worry, I don’t think you’d run away before you complete the job.” Trust money didn’t make sense, it only cost the person bits when the pony took off with it. That wasn’t something that could be said abut her, though. Trixie never abandoned a job before it was done, never. Today was not going to be the day that it started. “I understand.” With that, Trixie was led into a room. It looked like a large library, filled with likely thousands of books. There were likely some small towns out there that didn’t have this many books. Her eyes went wide, though she tried to hide the fact that she was amazed by the sheer number of books. There was also a projector, something that seemed to be completely out of place when it came to the rest of the library, but that might have simply been how the mare wanted the library to look. Or maybe she watched films, which would require the equipment that she had. “I’m going to get a few things to help with your job, you stay here and look around. I know that unicorns like ourselves love books.” That wasn’t completely false, she did have a great fascination with some books. Before, her desire had been focused on fiction. Her works, her shows, focused on being able to come up with the most original way to tell some of the most mundane things. She had to read. Trixie’s prose, her wording, her inflection, all of that was actually helped out by one book or another. A lot of who she was, or at least had been, was compiled from the books that she had studied. Of course, now she also had a fascination with stronger magic. If she had been stronger, been able to lift an Ursa Minor, she would have been the one that had saved Ponyville. There it came again, the thoughts of the lavender unicorn that had helped to ruin her reputation. If it hadn’t been for that, Hoofington likely wouldn’t have gone as bad as it had. Memories came bubbling up to the surface, and they weren’t nice to the ponies around her. Her memories were starting to focus on how Great and Powerful she was. At last, the woman came back with a few reels. That was actually more confusing than before she had left. Why would she come back with reels? How would a movie help her out with her job? Trixie couldn’t help but show her confusion, which seemed to bring an even bigger smile to the mare’s face. It was almost as if she like the fact that she had just confused her new employee. Sure, it was only a single job. Actually, that was what made it even more confusing. If this was only a single job, it likely wouldn’t be enough for her to have two reels of instructions. A small part of her told her to abort the mission, to head out and to give back the bits. Trixie didn’t abandon a job, though, and this wouldn’t be when she would start a trend. “Everything will become clearer after you’re done watching these. Don’t worry, they’re important to your job.”