//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Trixie Arrives // Story: There's Something About Twilight Sparkle // by Forum Explorer //------------------------------// Twilight woke up to an annoying beeping noise. Looking around she noticed she was in the hospital, with the beeping coming from a heart rate monitor. Before she could notice anything else she was surrounded by her friends, chattering in concern. Then before things could get out of control, Nurse Redheart and Princess Luna entered the room. "Quiet! Some of the other patients are resting." The nurse hissed. The girls muttered some apologies. Giving them one last glare, Nurse Redheart bowed to her Highness and left the room. "Oh, Twilight. Are you feeling well? We apologies for startling you, it was not our intent to scare you into miscasting the spell." Luna said softly.... well softly for her anyways, which amounted to a normal indoors volume. "Ugh, what happen exactly?" Twilight asked, still a little groggy from waking up. "We're not sure darling." Rarity replied "Yeah, because we all had our eyes closed and Applejack was looking at the award. So we were just standing there with our eyes closed when we heard Luna say hi and then there was a sound like a firework going off too close and when we open our eyes you were lying on the ground and unconscious. But you're awake now and everything is better!" Pinkie answered. "When you miscast the spell it imploded. The resulting blast knocked you unconscious. We rushed you to the hospital as quickly as we could." Luna said. "But Princess, why were you here in the first place?" Twilight asked "Please Twilight, we would like it if you called us Luna. But to answer your question your squire Spike sent our royal sister a letter informing her of an 'attempt to cast an dangerous spell' that you would perform this morning. Rather then wait for our sister to awaken we rushed over as soon as the Night Court had been dismissed." "Letter? SPIKE?!" Twilight shouted. "Oh-umm I gotta go clean up the library Twilight! Glad to see you're awake." Spike ran for the door. "Oh no you don't!" Twilight tried to teleport him back with her horn. However just some weak sparks appeared and a sharp pain shot through her head "OW, what just happened?" "You should be more careful Twilight, here have some water," Fluttershy said lifting a glass up to her lip. "Thanks Fluttershy, but why did it hurt to use magic?" "If you don't mind, I'll answer that." The doctor said entering the room. "Now Twilight it appears that as a result of your accident you've sprained your horn. Its not a big deal but I would recommend not using any heavy duty spells and just sticking to basic levitation and movement spells for the next week." "A week without magic?" Twilight whined "Come on Sugarcube, you've spent more time then that just readin before. Ah'm sure a week will pass before you know it." "Yeah I guess your right. So how long till I can leave the hospital?" Twilight sighed. "You can leave right now if you'd like. Besides the sprained horn there is nothing wrong with you. Just be sure to come back in a week so I can give you a check up." The doctor replied. Twilight just nodded in agreement. After a few hours of some tedious paperwork she was free to go. "We'll have to take our leave of you now Twilight Sparkle. Our sister will be wondering why we missed breakfast. Don't be surprised if she decides to drop in on you sometime this next week." And before anypony could even wish her goodbye the Princess took off, flying back towards Canterlot. "Well that certainly was-" Twilight stopped, her mind trying to fill in the blank. "Abrupt?" Rarity suggested. "Yes, thank you. I guess I'll see you girls later?" Twilight said. The girls said their goodbyes, each promising to drop by later to check up on her. I'm so lucky to have such caring friends. Twilight thought to herself Now I just need to come up for a fitting punishment for Spike. Twilight was just beginning to reread one of her Daring Do books when Applejack knocked on her front door. "Come in!" "Hey Twilight Ah was wondering if Ah could talk to you for a while." Applejack said "Sure. What's going on?" "Well, you see I've been feelin a might odd after you woke up." Applejack said. "What do you mean by odd?" Twilight said. "Ah can't focus and everytime Ah think of the accident this morning it feels like my stomach is flip-flopping all over the place." Applejack said. "And you think its because of the spell?" Twilight said. "Ah don't know Twilight, but Ah need to be able to focus on mah work. So Ah was hoping you could help?" Applejack couldn't keep the pleading look out of her eyes, despite her best efforts. "I don't know how I can help. Without my magic I can't even check if you are being affected by the spell or if those emotions are entirely natural. I couldn't even teach another unicorn to cast the spell due to the complexity of the detection spell. Well I'm sure there are some unicorns in Canterlot who could help but you don't really need my help to contact them." Twilight took a deep breath after she finished. "Uh huh. Your sure there's nothing you can do to help?" "I guess I could just come down to Sweet Apple Acres and observe you for a while." Applejack blushed "A-ah wouldn't want to strain you after the accident. Ah'm sure I can just muddle through this on mah own till you get your magic back." "Oh it won't be a problem at all. I'll just hang around and see if your acting different. Plus I can help you with your chores, so even if you're distracted we'll be sure to finish them together." "But ah-" Applejack muttered before being interrupted by Twilight "Come on lets get started!" Twilight called, already halfway out the door. Applejack just nodded dumbly. Shoot, what's going on with me? Now I'm more shy and distracted then ever. I hope Twilight can think of something to help me. Applejack thought to herself as she followed her friend, never taking her eyes off the purple mare for a second. Meanwhile outside of Ponyville a certain light blue unicorn was taking a break from hauling her wagon around. She sat in front of her most prized possession, a full length mirror gilded in gold. "Ok Trixie, we've nearly arrived in Ponyville. Its nearly time to implement the plan. Knock em dead, Trixie." She said to her reflection. "But what if it goes wrong? This is one gig I can't afford to fail!" "That's just stage fright talking. The Great and Powerful Trixie can do anything! With these new spells Trixie's learned, Trixie can win over all of Ponyville!" "I don't need to win over all of Ponyville I just need to- Well I suppose some extra practice can't hurt." Trixie interrupted herself and walked back outside, mentally going over her plan one last time. Rainbow Dash was going about her normal weather duties. The weather called for partially cloudy and she was trying to decide just how many clouds that called for and where to put them. The work was tedious and boring so when she heard a loud commotion coming from Ponyville she took the opportunity to investigate and take a break. Flying down she noticed a simple roofed wagon making its way slowly through Ponyville under its own power. Curious ponies surrounded it, taking care to stay out of its way as it trudged forward. Rainbow Dash, not content with just watching patiently, flew up to the carriage and knocked loudly on the wood. "Hey! Is anypony home?" There was no response and after a few more tries Rainbow Dash gave up. She headed back up to take a nap instead. Taking one last glance down at the cart she jumped back up when she realized that the cart was headed straight for Twilight's library. "Oh no you don't." Rainbow Dash flew up to the cart and pushed against it with all her strength. However the cart still made its way towards the library. Soon it had reached its destination and halted a few strides away from the door. Rainbow Dash slowly lowered her hooves, still eyeing the cart suspiciously. The cart suddenly erupted in fireworks and sparklers, the front of it unfolding to form a miniature stage. "Greetings ponies of Ponyville! The Great and Powerful Trixie has returned!" The mare proclaimed as she appeared in a puff of smoke. "What the hay do you think you're doing here Trixie!" A singed Rainbow Dash yelled as she flew up to confront Trixie. "That is no business of yours. The Great and Powerful Trixie is here for one purpose which involves Twilight Sparkle which needs not concern anypony else. Now if you'll excuse Trixie." Trixie pushed past Rainbow Dash and knocked on the door to the library. The door was opened almost immediately by Spike who had rushed downstairs at the sound of fireworks. "Trixie! Why are you here?" Spike asked "Ah, you must be Twilight Sparkle's minion, Spike. Trixie is here to meet with Twilight Sparkle. Do your mistress a favor and fetch her for Trixie." "I'm not her minion! And Twilight isn't here anyways, not that she would want to talk to a fraud like you!" Spike yelled. "Yeah that's right! Twilight is ten times the unicorn you are so forget whatever delusional plans you have of challenging her." Rainbow added. "Trixie will have you know that she has obtained new heights of power that were beyond even her own magnificent imagination. Regardless, the Great and Powerful Trixie will meet with Twilight Sparkle. If she is not here then Trixie will simply wait for her return." With that said and a flick of her tail the mare jumped back up on stage and sat down to wait, ignoring the twin glares from Rainbow Dash and Spike. Working at Sweet Apple Acres had been a disaster. Every time Applejack had managed to relax and get to work, Twilight would say or do something and Applejack would get all distracted again. Her eyes and thoughts constantly drifted to Twilight and whenever she tried to say something to Twilight she felt all tongue-tied and shy. "Well that's the last of the chores." A bruised and battered Twilight said. "And you certainly are being affected by something. Though I don't know what. You didn't seem to respond at all when we brought the trophy out or had Big Mac try and steal it. Even when we tried to destroy it you didn't react." Applejack just nodded smiling at the memory of the disastrous tests. The trophy itself remained unharmed, not even showing the smallest of dents from her brother tackling it. "Anyways I think I should come back tomorrow and do some more tests." Twilight said. "W-what?! NO! Ah mean, you need your rest sugarcube. Remember you got your own injury to heal from and working at the farm without your magic isn't very restful." Applejack said. "But I can't just ignore your problem. What kind of friend would I be then?" "Don't you worry sugarcube. Ah'm a big pony and Ah'll be fine. Ah just am having some odd feelins, that's all. But if it makes you feel better Ah'll stop by Zecora's tomorrow and see what she thinks." Applejack replied. "Alright, if you insist." Twilight said reluctantly causing Applejack to sigh in relief. She doubted if her nerves could stand another day around her lavender friend. Plus Zecora might be able to help anyways, that Zebra had remedies for the strangest things and she was always good for advice. The pair said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Twilight walked up to her house, too tired and sore to notice the wagon at her front door. "Hey Spike don't bother waking me up tomorrow morning. I want to sleep in for once." Twilight said walking inside and heading straight for her bed. Before she could get anywhere she was interrupted by Rainbow Dash flying in front of her. "Twilight what happened to you? You look awful!" She said. "Rainbow Dash what are you doing in my house!? and Trixie too?" Twilight yelped noticing Trixie for the first time. "Trixie has something she wants to say to you. I hung around to make sure she didn't try anything." Rainbow explained "Well what did you want Trixie?" Twilight said. "The Great and Powerful Trixie-" Trixie took a deep breath before continuing "-I mean I have something to say to you Twilight Sparkle. Ever since you vanquished the Ursa Minor where Trixie could not, I haven't been able to get you out of my mind. It took a while for me to come to terms with my feelings but I have. I-I love you Twilight Sparkle!"