Rarity looked rather impatient with Twilight, and she felt much like she looked. When she been informed that Twilight had been having daily battles with that other unicorn for a month now and hadn't seen fit to inform anypony, she had sighed in frustration at the more private mare's tendencies. When she had been told that, over the course of those battles, the two had become friends, she had shuddered, but accepted it as good news, perhaps even promising. Maybe the showpony wasn't completely impossible to get along with after all. And maybe some of Twilight's humility would rub off on her.
But now Twilight was saying that the two would be sharing the library from now on. And that wasn't what was truly shocking about the arrangement. Because they hadn't decided to become roommates in order to cement their newfound friendship. Rather, the aim was to deepen their rivalry. Rarity had never thought she'd hear such an absurd idea coming from so serious and logical a pony as Twilight. Surely this must be a joke, she thought.
"Is it really THAT bad?" Twilight asked. Rarity sighed in response.
"Twilight, darling, I think perhaps you should have consulted your friends long before this. I don't understand why you would even want to go through with such a thing. If there really is some grudge between the two of you, wouldn't it make more sense to distance yourselves from each other?"
"It's not a grudge, Rarity. We're both studying magic and trying to improve ourselves. We're kind of like Applejack and Rainbow Dash - we compete against each other to test our limits and grow. But magic being what it is, you know... it's a very intense process." Twilight had decided it was best not to mention the real reason for the arrangement. After all, she still didn't understand that part herself, so there was no way she was going to expect her friends to get it.
"Well, I still think it sounds like a bad idea. But I suppose we'll just have to see." Rarity tilted her head. "So, is she less dreadful in private?"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "She was never really all THAT bad, she just... builds herself up a lot. She's gotten a little better about it, though. I guess since we've gotten to know each other better there just isn't as much of a point anymore."
"And just what have you learned about each other?" Rarity moved closer to Twilight, leaning toward her in a way that caused Twilight to raise an eyebrow.
"Well, I know that she has a strong desire for validation."
"Obviously."
"She's not used to any life other than the life of a traveling showpony. And she really likes rose-flavored ice cream."
"Well, of course, everypony likes rose-flavored ice cream," Rarity said, waving that last comment aside.
"Personally, I'm pretty partial to poppy," Twilight said with a small chuckle.
"Yes, well. Is there anything else? Anything juicy?" Rarity's grin as she emphasized the last word was positively frightening, and Twilight moved back a bit.
"If you're looking for gossip, now's not the best time for that," Twilight said. "We're new roommates, and honestly, yeah, this arrangement is really weird, so I'd rather not put any extra strain on it by spreading gossip around before she's even settled in. Especially to you, no offense. If you want to know more about her, you can ask her yourself."
"Very well," said Rarity with a respectful nod. "I suppose I'll get the opportunity at Pinkie Pie's party."
A long pause followed that statement. "Which party?"
"Well, obviously, the one she's going to throw when she finds out there's a new pony in town."
Twilight hadn't thought about that. "Yeah, listen," she said, "could you not mention this to Pinkie Pie right away? Trixie may not be completely insufferable, but that doesn't mean she's an angel or anything. I'm afraid the situation might be a little too volatile for a party, especially with AJ and Rainbow. Just let me get everything sorted out first so we don't have a repeat of the Gilda incident." Twilight thought she saw Rarity's eyes flash with something like mischief at that last part. "Please?" she added.
"Oh, alright," Rarity conceded, "I must admit seeing Trixie humiliated again would amuse me, but I'm not nearly as stubborn as those two. I assure you, my curiosity toward her far outweighs any grudges."
"Thanks, Rare." Twilight stood and bowed slightly. "I'd better not waste any time. Don't want to take chances where Pinkie is involved."
Twilight reflected that she really should have thought about Pinkie earlier. The inevitable party constituted a major complication. Now Twilight had to devise some way of preventing Applejack and Rainbow Dash from killing Trixie. Or vice-versa.
"Maybe I could get them fighting," Twilight mused quietly. "Then they'd be too busy fuming to notice Trixie." It was a silly idea - not that it would have been difficult to pull off, all things considered - and Twilight quickly forgot about it.
Twilight pondered the problem all the way back to the library. She was so focused on it that when she got back and walked inside, she almost bumped into the earth pony sitting near the door.
"Hi, Twilight!" Pinkie said, standing up and walking past her. "Sorry, no time to chat, bye Twilight!"
Twilight gaped after the pink one for a minute, then looked to where Trixie was sitting across the room. "What was she doing here?" Twilight asked.
"I don't know," said Trixie with a shrug. "She just walked in, sat down, and stared at me for a few minutes right before you came in."
This was, in retrospect, utterly unsurprising, and it meant that Twilight was going to have to abandon the idea of letting any of her friends get used to Trixie. "Trixie," she began resignedly, "how do you feel about parties?"
~#~#~#~
If there was one thing to be thankful for, it was that the room was crowded. With careful management, and Trixie's reluctant cooperation in giving up her usual distinctive attire for the night, Twilight had managed so far to keep the guest of honor away from certain ponies. The negative attention Trixie did receive hadn't been as strong as they had anticipated. Though her initial visits to Ponyville had been nothing short of disastrous, very few ponies seemed interested in condemning her for them. A good number didn't even realize she was the same pony.
In fact, Applejack and Rainbow Dash still didn't know who the party was for, and they had begun to catch on to Twilight's odd behavior, as she could tell from their suspicious glances whenever they caught a glimpse of her. Pinkie, luckily, had completely forgotten who Trixie was. "I was just about to ask," she explained, "but that's when you came in and I got distracted thinking about the party and how everypony was going to love meeting your friend! So who is she? Is she from Canterlot too? How long has she been here? What does she-"
Twilight silenced her by popping a red cupcake into her mouth. "Listen, maybe you could save the questions for later?" she said. "I'm sorry, but the details kind of need to be kept quiet. And that's hard to do here."
"And why's that?" Twilight turned to see Applejack standing behind her, listening closely. That presented a few problems. First, Twilight now had to come up with an explanation for her behavior that didn't involve announcing Trixie's return. Second, if Applejack was here, then that meant...
Yep, the fluttering sound and the motion in Twilight's peripheral vision confirmed that Rainbow Dash was searching the library for the new houseguest. "AJ, please," she said, "I just want to... show some respect. She wouldn't want me telling everypony all about her. That's something she'd rather do herself, on her own terms, and that's how it should be." As long as her own terms didn't involve a stage this time, anyway.
Applejack glared. "That ain't good enough," she said. "Yer hidin' her from us. Ah don't like bein' lied to."
"Listen," Twilight said, "if you don't meet her tonight, I promise I'll introduce you tomorrow. I just don't want you to... uh..." she had been about to say that she didn't want Applejack to make a scene, but that would hardly seem appropriate. "...get the wrong idea," she finished. At this point she risked a nervous glance at Dash, and saw that, as she feared, Dash was about to spot Trixie at the refreshment table. She was about to excuse herself from the conversation to intervene when she noticed a book on a shelf across the room had started to glow. It slipped out and fell to the floor, the motion and sound enough to draw Rainbow Dash's attention. Nearby, Rarity nodded subtly to Twilight, keeping a poker face, and Twilight sighed with relief before returning her attention to Applejack. "I can't possibly tell you what you need to know about her," she continued, "so I'd much rather you get it from her yourself after things quiet down again. That's both of you, by the way. Okay, AJ? Pinkie?" She waited a second for a reply, then looked around. "Pinkie?"
Oh no. Twilight knew where Pinkie had gone.
The rapid-fire questions had begun again, barely audible to Twilight over the noise of the party. Unfortunately, Applejack heard it well enough. And Dash, meanwhile, had spotted the bouncing mass of pink and become curious. Now they were both headed straight for Trixie. Twilight followed Applejack, trying and failing to come up with any reason for her to look somewhere else. Rarity hissed to herself and pursued Rainbow Dash, trying to get her attention, but the pegasus wasn't about to be distracted. There was no time now. Twilight had to make one move and hope it was going to work. She lowered her head, and her horn sparked.
Trixie jolted to attention. The warning came to her through Twilight's magic. It was a kind of communication unknown to most modern ponies; the two had only recently rediscovered it during the course of their many duels. Looking around, Trixie understood the situation well enough. She didn't have much prepared, but there was one sure option. Everypony in the room suddenly jumped and looked as a pillar of smoke noisily erupted where Trixie had been standing. The smoke cleared, and there was nopony there but a confused and coughing Pinkie Pie.
Trixie, however, had not gone far. She had made it out the door, hoping to find a place in town to hide until the party finished. She hadn't been that lucky. There was already a pegasus waiting for her.
"And where do you think you're going?" Rainbow Dash demanded. "You got off easy last time, but not tonight!" Trixie took a few steps back, thinking she might be able to lose herself in the crowd again, but the sound of hooves behind her made her wince. Well, that escape was a spectacular failure.
'Ya got a lot a' nerve," Applejack said. "Ah'd lay into you right now, but ah'm waitin' fer Rarity first. She's got as much right to ya as either of us."
It was at this point that Applejack felt a telekinetic shove, moving her out of the way. "Rarity is here," announced the white unicorn, moving forward to stand between Applejack and Trixie, "and none too pleased. Did you really think I would do such a thing? Or allow you to, for that matter? Aren't you above petty violence like that?"
"No," Dash scoffed. All three of the other ponies paused to glare at her.
"Rare, everypony KNOWS ah ain't the type ta forgive an' forget," Applejack continued after a moment.
Rarity would hear none of that. "I suppose I don't know you at all, then, because I thought you were better than that. After all you've suffered worse indignities before than being tied up by a stranger-"
"-whom you challenged to-" Trixie started to interrupt, but swallowed the rest of her sentence when Rarity shot her a "not now" look. Once the danger had passed, Rarity continued.
"-you've been through worse, and at the hooves of ponies you still call friends! Why, if you assaulted everypony who humiliated you, half the town would be busy convalescing, I'd be matching my dresses to my scars and Rainbow Dash would be in a coma!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash exchanged an uncomfortable glance at this, Dash nervously motioning toward Trixie as if to usher the conversation back to the subject of the unicorn's transgressions.
Applejack stood silent for a moment before proceeding. "So whaddya want from me, Rare? Jus' ta let it go?"
Rarity nodded. More silence.
"...well, alright then." Applejack's stance relaxed, but only slightly. "Ah don't know she deserves it, but ah cain't deny yer right. Ah'll let her alone fer now. But that don't mean a clean slate, got it?" She pointed at Trixie with one hoof. "Nopony is gonna ferget what ya did. Yer gonna hafta work ta clear that off."
Trixie stood rigid, giving only a small nod in reply, her expression firming rather than softening; she wasn't about to be intimidated, not by the farmer of all ponies. "Trixie understands." As they held each others' gaze, they became aware of the sound of a door opening and closing.
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called. "I just remembered, I needed you to... uh..."
Four heads turned to Twilight, each raising an eyebrow in unison. She put a hoof to her face.
"Right, nevermind that," she said. "So you're all..."
"Just talking," Trixie chimed in quickly and haughtily.
"Yep. Nothin' more," Applejack agreed, as evenly as she could through the lingering bitterness. Rarity nodded her assent.
Another few seconds passed and they all looked up at Rainbow Dash.
"...yeah," Rainbow Dash said flatly. "Talking."
Twilight heaved a sigh of relief. "Good. And... I was going to tell you, I just..."
Applejack held up a hoof. "Ah don't doubt it, Twi. Ah've never had any reason not ta trust ya. Ah think ah need ta get on home..." She tipped her hat. "G'night, Twilight. We'll talk more about it in the mornin'."
As Applejack trotted away, Twilight looked up at Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow...?"
Unexpectedly, the pegasus alit, looking severely at Twilight. "I. Don't. Like. This," she stated. "I get what you're asking us to do, I really do, but Trixie blew all three strikes and then some the first time we met her. I guess since Applejack and Rarity BOTH seem to wanna see where this is going, I'll play along, but I will not be happy about it, ya got me?"
Twilight nodded. "Yeah. I got it. Thanks for trying, I guess."
Rainbow Dash groaned and took flight again. "So I guess I'm gonna be going too. I have to kick something tonight." She fluttered slowly away from the three unicorns.
"You know," Trixie called after her, earning a momentary pause, "if it makes you feel any better, our arrangement does include her blasting me with spells on a regular basis."
Rainbow Dash tried not to laugh at that as she kept flying. She didn't try very hard, though.
Finally, Trixie turned to Rarity. "Thanks for helping out," she said simply.
"Oh, of course, dear," Rarity responded. "I couldn't let Twilight's new roommate be damaged so quickly. Besides, it's just as Rainbow Dash said. I want to see where this goes." With a smile and a nod, she turned around. "And now if you don't mind I think I shall return to the party. Coming?"
Twilight and Trixie exchanged a grin, then both followed Rarity back into the library.