Tiny streams of light began to peek through from the dawn of a new day. A ray fell upon Trixie's still-closed eyelids, causing her to stir. Trixie tried to roll over in her bed, but found her movement hindered. There was more than blankets draped over her. She looked down to see a lavender hoof laying across her body. Trixie twisted herself to see who it was behind her. It was- Twilight Sparkle? What was Twilight Sparkle doing in Trixie's bed. Trixie attempted to inquire of the sleeping mare as to why she was present beside her in bed but it came out as more of a...
"EEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!" Trixie shrieked as she lept from her bed in her- wait this wasn't even her bed, or her home. Twilight immediately awoke to what she thought was her fire alarm going off, only to see Trixie screaming in her bedroom, clearly in a panic. The events of the night previous came rushing back.
"Trixie! Trixie please calm down! I can explain everything, just pleeease stop screaming!" Twilight begged as she got out of bed herself.
"Trixie DEMANDS to know what you were doing in bed with her!" Trixie huffed in exasperation.
"Trixie, it's okay really! I will explain everything and answer all your question. Just please calm down first!" Twilight implored, wide eyed herself at the harsh awakening. Trixie took a few deep breaths and nodded, still weary of her surroundings. "Okay, let's just have some coffee downstairs and I'll tell you everything that happened OK?"
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At the table downstairs, Trixie nursed her mug of coffee that Spike had brought her. He was already awake when the anarchy had broken loose upstairs. From the noise, he knew what was coming next and put a pot on.
"OK," Twilight began, "so last night, shortly after you left, I was chatting with Applejack, when we heard the explosions in the woods and a scream. Your scream I take it." Trixie blushed, embarrassed. "Damn, it was cute when she did that. Wait where did that thought come from?" Twilight thought.
Twilight continued, "So Applejack and I came running to help. We didn't see what happened, but we found you unconscious in the road so we brought you back here. I gave you my bed to sleep in, and I watched over you just in case you woke up. But I guess I just got tired myself." Trixie seemed like she wanted further explanation for their... predicament this morning. "I- I guess I thought you were my pillow when I was asleep. I do that sometimes. Sorry about that." That answer seemed satisfactory to Trixie and she relaxed a bit.
"Well, Trixie was ambushed by creatures of the forest. But Trixie supposes there is no harm done. And your intentions were noble enough." Trixie said as she rose from the table. "But Trixie must really be on her way. She has wonders to perform beyond pony imagination elsewhere in Equestria." Twilight looked disappointed.
"Oh, I guess so." Twilight said with a sort of sigh, "But where are you going to go? What will you do? I didn't see your show mare caravan when you came here this time." That gave Trixie pause for a moment.
Where was she going to go?
"Trixie does not, er-" Trixie suddenly looked very lost, "she- ...I- I don't know." Her face fell into a frown. "I have no idea where I'm going." She was lost lost a thousand-yard stare. It was like that last sentence was a summary of her whole life up to that point.
Always on the move. Always on the run.
Twilight stepped in and put a hoof on Trixie's slumped shoulder, "Well why don't you stay in Ponyville until you figure it out?" She suggested trying to cheer her up.
"Oh Tri- er, I couldn't. After everything I've done? I couldn't possibly stay in this, of all towns!"
Twilight smirked a bit, "Oh, you'd be surprised. With all the disasters that happen around here on a semi-regular basis, a magic dictator taking over the town will barely register as a blip on their memories in a few weeks. Heck, a few months ago Spike turned into a giant Godzilla dragon and terrorized the whole town. They even called in the Wonderbolts in on him!"
"True story." Spike chimed in as he cleared their coffee cups and saucers in his apron.
"And he's still here." Twilight finished. "So I'm sure you'll be fine staying here until you can get back on your hooves properly."
Trixie looked very interested in the proposition. "But I haven't a thing to my name. I spent every last bit I had on that damn amulet. All I have is my cape on my back and my- GAH, where is my hat?!"
Twilight was suddenly worried herself, "It was nowhere around where we found you. We were just concerned with getting you somewhere safe at the time."
"I must go back and find it!" Trixie said making her way toward the door.
"I'm sure my friend Rarity could make another one for you." Twilight offered.
"NO!" Trixie caught herself. "I mean, no thank you. I have to go find THAT hat. It's very dear to me. It was... my father's."
"I'm coming with you then!" Twilight said immediately, surprising them both. "Um, you know, in case you get ambushed again."
Trixie smiled, "Thank you. I think I'd like that."
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The pair were casually making their way back up the path back into the forest. They were quiet at first, listening to the forest around them for signs of trouble. But it was mid day and they were only going to be skirting the very edges of the Everfree. Twilight had had enough awkwardness for one day. She decided to break the silence.
"So, what have you been up to since the last time you were in town?" Twilight asked.
"Well after you showed me up with that Ursa Minor, I became a laughing stock." Trixie retold her story, "Everywhere I went I was laughed at and ostracized. I even had to take a job on a rock farm just to earn a living. A rock farm!"
"Oh. Right." Twilight remembered.
"What job is there for a pony, whose skill set is performing, when she can no longer be taken seriously as a performer?" Trixie asked. Trixie knew. She remembered what she had to do to earn that pile of bits for the amulet. She shuddered in shame. It went unnoticed.
"Well I'm sure together we'll find something for you to do. Your special talent isn't everything you are after all. Mine might be magic, but I also love to read. That's why I'm the town librarian. Yes, I'm sure together we'll-"
"MY HAT!" Trixie cut her off, dashing into a sprint to the article discarded on the side of the road. She picked it up as tears began to run down her cheeks. It was torn with holes and singed from the fireworks last night. In fact the whole area looked like a war zone, with burnt leaves and branches and bushes, and scorch marks on the road in all directions.
"Oh Trixie, what happened?"
"I- I set off my fireworks spell when I was being chased by a pack of timber wolves. I must have still had my hat on when it went off inside." Trixie began to break down. "It's ruined. Everything is ruined. My whole life."
"Now now Trixie, it's just a hat, I'm sure my friend Rarity can make you a new-"
"It is NOT just a hat!" Trixie snapped, "This hat and cape was given to me by my father when I was just a foal! It's all I have left of him!"
Twilight suddenly realized the gravity of the loss. "Well, just the same, lets bring it to Rarity. I'm sure she can do something to help maybe fix it."
"It's worth a shot I guess." Trixie sulked, as the pair walked back to Ponyville, Twilight holding her close with her hoof over her shoulders.
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Rarity examined the hat closely through her red framed reading glasses. "I don't know Twilight. I appreciate the faith you place in my talents but I'm no miracle worker."
"Rarity," Twilight growled through her teeth, nodding toward the crying pony back behind her in the waiting room of the Carousel Boutique. "Please try." She whispered, "It's really important to her. It's her fathers. It's all she has left of him."
"I see." Rarity, re-examined the fabric. "I will do my best. Please, this will take some time." she motioned for Twilight to return to the front room, closing the door behind her.
Trixie was a mess on the couch, clutching her tail in her hooves nervously. To anypony else it would look as though she were a mother waiting on her foal to come out of surgery. To Twilight, she knew it might as well be.
Endless minutes ticked by. Twilight sat beside Trixie for support, reading a magazine to pass the time. Twilight normally abhorred magazines, but she was held captive in this waiting space. Most were just fashion catalogs with just page after page of different dresses and suits. The only one with any articles to speak of was the boutique's subscription to Cosmoponytan. Twilight hoofed through a few pages of ads.
"Hey Trixie, how about this?" Trixie turned her head toward Twilight as she angled the magazine toward her, "27 ways to please the stallion in your life." Trixie chuckled a bit out of her anguish. Twilight tried to keep her spirits up, "Let me guess, the first one is probably just, bend over. That's all they ever seem to think about eh?" Trixie laughed a little easier this time.
"Yeah, stallions are all the same." Trixie agreed, "One thing on their mind. I don't know why these magazines make them out to be so hard to understand. With them it's just food and sex. That's why I went back to mares."
Did I just think that out loud? Trixie wondered.
Twilight and Trixie just kind of awkwardly stared at each other for a second more before Twilight laughed first,
"Ha, he he. Yeah me too I guess." Twilight said, not believing she was saying this out loud herself. Both mares broke into a giggle fit at that.
Trixie frowned again, worried about her hat. Twilight took her hoof in hers and held it. Trixie leaned against her. Twilight tried to reassure her. "Don't worry Trixie," she whispered, "I'm sure everything will be okay."
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"TADA!" Rarity exclaimed, bursting back though her workshop doors, Trixie's hat held high in triumph above her. "Oh, Twilight, I have pulled off some amazing feats in my days. Six gala dresses in one night, a set of dresses each encrusted with a different jewel for pop stars, but THIS!" Rarity was beaming even though she looked a ragged mess. The clock on the wall said it had been nearly three hours. "THIS Twilight, is my 'Piece de Resistance'. I have brought this hat back from the dead!"
Trixie was in tears of joy as she took her hat in her hooves, examining it closely, running a practiced hoof over its surface. The pattern, the stitching, every thread, every fiber was exactly as it had been! It was her hat!
"OH my hat! Oh I will never part with it again!" Trixie cried out, putting her hat and cape on as she ran outside, dancing joyfully in the streets.
"Rarity that was amazing! I saw that hat, I thought it would be a mess of patchworks if it were salvageable at all!" Twilight exuded.
"Oh well, I still have a few trick up my sleeves." Rarity said, with modest pride.
"You really must tell me how you pulled it off." Twilight begged.
"Magic?" Rarity tried.
"Oh, don't just leave it at that with me!"
"Oh, alright dear, but this is an absolute trade secret and it must stay just between us. I only tell you because you are one of my closest friends and I trust you." Twilight nodded and leaned in closely, despite the boutique being empty with Trixie still dancing outside.
"There is an extremely rare breed of silk worm found in the caves beneath Canterlot. Its silk, when woven into a fabric, magically takes on every property of the fabric around it. It is strictly regulated and normally only used to restore the ancient tapestries at the castle." Rarity checked over her shoulder again. "But I was able to procure a few scraps of it through a very dear friend of mine. I didn't ask how they got it, and they didn't tell me. It was barely half a yard of the material, but it was nearly 18,000 bits."
"18,000!"
"Shh, yes. It is a strictly regulated material due to the threat of it being used to produce forgeries of ancient arts. I told no one else I had it, I kept it in a secret compartment under my floor for years, just for the thrill of having some, like leather."
"Leather?"
"Oh, it's a material made from cow skin." Rarity said as if reciting from an encyclopedia.
"Oh my gosh, that's horrible!" Twilight recoiled.
"Yes, that is why its production is also VERY illegal." Rarity sighed, returning to the original topic, "The thing is Twilight, I tried everything I could to save that hat, I really did. But there was no saving it. It was dead. But I could see how much she meant to you so I-"
"Meant to me? I'm not- I mean, we're not-" Twilight asked quizzically,
"Oh, it's just, the way you two were, well, it just it seemed so obvious." Rarity said surprised. Could Twilight really be that blind to what was happening right in front of her? Well, she always was a bit lacking in the social department. "So as I was saying, I could tell she meant- I could tell IT meant a lot. to her. So I used the magic silk to restore it. Simple as that. Now I don't have to worry about being caught with that silk any more."
"You used all of it? But Rarity, your money? I'll pay you back somehow I promise!" Twilight said.
"Oh, no no, none of that from you." Rarity insisted, "I'm only too happy to help a friend. It means enough to me to see you happilly with some- to see your friend happy." Rarity smiled. "Spirit of generosity and all." She added as the began to straighten her hair with a flip.
"Thank you Rarity, I'll never for- I'm sure she'll never forget this." Twilight said as she made for the door.
Oh, just go get that dance with her you fool. Rarity sighed.
Twilight popped outside as Trixie ran up and hugged Twilight tightly. Trixie looked past her shoulder and waved into the boutique at Rarity. Rarity just waved back. Ah, young love.
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Between their trip to the forest and waiting at the boutique, it was late afternoon, and Trixie hadn't found anyplace to stay, nor any means of staying there with any work. Twilight realized this as well as they walked to her home.
"Listen Trixie, since you didn't really get a chance to find a place today, why don't you go ahead and stay at my place again tonight?"
"Thank you Twilight, I really appreciate everything you've done for me, really I do." Trixie said with genuinely humility.
"I could dig out the guest bed this time so that, you know-" Twilight blushed.
"Oh, right, well... We seemed to make it though last night just fine." Trixie said, "There's no need to go through all that trouble. You've already done so much for me." Twilight blushed deeper, Trixie joined her.