From the mirror world to her memories of younger days, back to the world of illusion once again. Trixie thought. She thought and thought, wondering if this was another dream that her threads of thought created for her or the mirror doing its job. Why did she look into the mirror? Curiosity. It always triggered some unexpected results. Like in those stories, where ponies come across a dangerously looking tome and unlock ancient darkness bound for so long. Trixie always convinced herself that one as Great and Powerful as her would never follow the typical pattern of ‘lost in reality and found in fantasy’.
But somehow the fate of fictional characters has befallen upon her, and she was struggling to get back to reality. Trixie was walking with the unicorn that humiliated her, yet she-at least on the surface-appeared fine, holding a benevolent smile that betrayed her inner irritation. She was not awkward, no sweating, determined not to show the look of ‘Trixie does not know what is going on here’.
Her conversation with Twilight went smoothly, Trixie keeping her doubts behind her thoughts, bidding her time. Again, she convinced herself all of these were meant for Trixie on this side of the world, but as she herself was now the actor of this ridiculous show, she decided it was best for her to play the game, and accept the role that was given to her.
Sometimes, it was one small mistake that ruined everything. Like her ‘apprentices’ whose reckless action brought her ruins. Her anger, she perfectly contained it. She controlled her emotion, for she was the Great and Powerful Trixie. Yet she never let the feeling gradually dissipate into nothingness and be lost; the bitterness stayed within her, the star-bear incident appearing in her dreams. But the emotion she never let get better of her. She may have cried after running away. She may have sworn to return to Ponyville again and show the true might of the Great and Powerful Trixie. Nevertheless she did not allow her anger to purely dominate her course of actions. She thought what to do and made up various schemes. She planned what was to be done, and by what means it could be achieved.
But she let her exhausted body indulge into hollow pleasure for a very brief moment, and this was the situation she found herself gotten into. That was her fault. How nice, Trixie thought, to foolishly give in to something that never existed in the first place.
At least she appeared to be the hero who saved Equestria, and as much as she was irritated by this joke that was played upon her, she accurately realized that her choices were very limited: to be tricked, or pretended to be tricked until she could be the one who tricks others. Her mind sensibly concluded that the latter was the choice she would take. When Trixie and Twilight were greeted with five ponies standing in front of the Canterlot Hall gate, it was Trixie was the first one to speak, for she knew she was a Trixie who collapsed because of great fatigue and thus had to convince the other ponies that she was perfectly alright.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, girls, but Trixie is feeling fine now. Just as you see it, she is ready to attend the celebration.”
“I sure hope so. We don’t want to drag another collapsed pony.”
Rainbow Dash. Trixie assumed this was the pegasus Twilight was talking about.
“But that does not mean I find carrying you tiresome! I can and will help those in need!” She grinned widely. And of course, she was one of the neighsayers who challenged her in the first place; how could Trixie forget? This mirror version of her still seemed to possess that aura of smug confidence.
“Hopefully that won’t happen.” Rarity. Another neighsayer. Trixie glossed over her thoughts. How did the Great and Powerful Trixie put them on their place? To mess with the show, how improper! Trixie thought, quickly checking that her inner turmoil was absolutely hidden from her expressions.
And of course, no more collapsing, Trixie made a mental note to herself. It was so careless of her to allow herself to get the mirror better of her. She remembered the dreams, followed by the feeling of being consumed by nothingness. Then she was back in this strange place. After gathering her threads of past experiences, illusions, and future possibilities and musing over them while talking with the lavender unicorn, Trixie surmised that it was due to her carelessness, of allowing one tiny moment to let go of her control over herself, that set the event in motion and making her waking up from this inversed world. It was a hypothesis at best, but she could not come up with other explanation that sounded more logical than this theory.
Trixie quickly scanned the six ponies before her. As they exchanged words of greetings she registered their images in her memory, stored up for further analysis. The information she processed was huge, but with her usual efficiency of managing her flow of thoughts Trixie pulled the job quite nicely, allowing her not to make a fool of herself, such as asking ‘Um, did Trixie really say that back then?’ At the same time she continued to grope with her thoughts, recalling the previous night and analyzing that fragmentary memory from her reality.
The short greeting session done, Trixie spoke. “Now, Trixie believes we should go in?” She did not forget her given role in this world.
“Yes! Princesses will be waiting for us. Come on, girls!” With that the lavender pony swiftly headed to the door.
As Trixie and others entered, the guard ponies blew the elaborately decorated trumpet, the solemn, grand sound reverberating in the air. The seven ponies nervously walked the middle pathway that was reserved for them, covered with a red carpet. They passed along a large crowd. The usually spacious, wide Canterlot Hall was completely filled with thousands of ponies. The two alicorn princesses watched them with great respect and pride as they slowly approached; the heroes of Equestria: Six for the Bearers of Elements and one for guiding the bearers to successfully accomplish their mission, not only once, but twice.
Trixie put her artificial smile in the most natural way, but not to an extent to rouse suspicion, just plainly normal enough that nopony would notice. The seven ponies bowed to the princesses and turned around. When they reached at the top of the stage, they saw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna waiting for them.
“We celebrate this day for the great heroes before us.” The two alicorn proclaimed the word, their voice booming in unison. There was loud thundering sound of clopping, soon followed by excited cheering from the crowd.
“Tonight we not only thank our heroes for bringing Princess Luna back, but also vanquishing the ancient spirit of chaos and disharmony.” When Princess Celestia finished the sentence, there was greater intensity of shouts, whistles, and cheering, all combined like a great choir.
“Shucks, ah feeling little embarrassed here.” Applejack. Trixie moved her eyes to the slight left, registering presence of an orange-colored earth pony. Seeing her triggered her recollection of memory, of how the Great and Powerful Trixie put this presumptuous earth pony in her place.
“Oooh, I know this is just the beginning. I can’t wait for the real fun to start!” Pinkie Pie. Now Trixie cast a short glance at the right, seeing the hyper pony trying best to stand still who seemed to be on the verge of jumping down at any moment. Did she challenge her? But Trixie continued her inspection in hoping to know more of this world.
“…and in times of great peril, they were the one who actually stood up against dark spirits that cast a great shadow upon the land of Equestria….” Princess Celestia’s voice still boomed through the entire hall, the sound sending down powerful vibrations through the very end of the vast, wide Canterlot Hall.
For her part Trixie just looked at the crowd. Her task continued, the mechanical processing of information frantically and furiously working to make sense of this world, at the same time masking her true identity and playing the role that was given to her, at the same time straightening her thoughts and asking her reason and logics of the current situation. She put her make-up well. She appeared so fine, fitting the image of a pony who saved Equestria not only once, but twice.
“…thus we thought: they have given us so much, they going on great lengths to save our beloved kingdom. So we decided to give them our eternal gratitude, starting with this very night, celebrating their deeds.” Finishing the speech, Princess Celestia stepped back, letting her sister finish the speech.
“I for one especially wish to express sincere gratitude. But enough talk; let us enjoy this night, starting with a fine dinner!”
The sound of cheering and clopping thundered down through the hall. Princess Celestia raised her right hoof. The hall was again filled with the solemn air. Taking the cue the guard ponies swiftly guided the spectators below to the dining hall, of which servant ponies was busy preparing the tables with food and cutleries.
Trixie followed others as they moved to the dining place. At the center of the hall, among vast array of tables was the spot which was obviously meant for the two alicorn princesses and the bearers of elements, the seats decorated with one sun and one moon insignia, along with six signs that represented the elements of Harmony. Trixie retrieved her memory of the reading of the subject during her stay on Canterlot: taking the shape of a hexagon jewel each represented six elements that constituted harmony: kindness, laughter, generosity, trust, honesty, and magic making it all complete, harnessing the combined power of elements altogether.
She surmised that what she was seeing now was the result of something that Twilight and others accomplished: a lavender-colored star, a pink butterfly, an apple, red thunder, blue balloon and an amethyst, each image fitting the Bearers of Elements. Somewhere, sometime back in reality she has heard of the return of Princess Luna. She also heard of the ancient evil spirit breaking loose and eventually defeated again, which she quite rightly concluded as this ‘Discord’ others were talking about. When she first looked into the mirror, Trixie on the inside was talking with the lavender unicorn about how Trixie ‘helped’ her to vanquish the spirit of disharmony. The thought suddenly came back to her.
Before moving her eyes to the little right to see the seventh spot, she hesitated. She bit her lips-three times since looking at that strange mirror. There came, like a sudden wave, a fear that quickly shadowed her mind. What would she see? In this strange inverted world, what would her sign be? But why was she suddenly afraid?
“Come, let us go to our seat.” The gentle but clear voice of Princess Celestia reminded her that she would not be able to muse over her inner thoughts like a fictional character-she sometimes envied how the ponies inside the book had virtually infinite amount of time to reflect upon their thoughts, having the liberty to ignore their surroundings and stretch their thoughts as long as they wanted. Not her. She followed others, and prepared for whatever she was about to see. She was getting closer to the table, and there was no way that she could not see.
But she had her own benefits; she was the master of herself, Trixie governed only by the Great and Powerful Trixie’s will. She walked, talked to Twilight and others. She smiled, she said words such as “Yes, Trixie remembers that” or “Fortunately and unfortunately, Trixie is not the bearer of the element. Maybe for that reason Discord’s influences were less perceptible to me, but she alone could do nothing but to find a way to turn her friends back to normal”. She spoke well, her manner of speech was clear, and nopony suspected a thing. The Great and Powerful Trixie continued her task of making sense of this world.
“And Trixie. We cannot simply have done without her.” Twilight was talking to Princess Celestia, as Trixie’s picked up their little talks among the spontaneous conversation that took place as the group strolled along the tables to reach their spot.
“Yes, she deserves a place; we made it sure to that. Look, along with the seat for the bearers lie the seventh seat.” The clear voice of Princess Celestia there was no way Trixie could not recognize, and she let her eyes wander to see it for herself: whatever the alicorn princesses had in store for her-and whatever this world was preparing upon her-she would see it and then find a way to react.
A blue crescent moon with a small wand glowing faintly of blue hue-Trixie just stared the sign that was engraved in her cushion. Was that all? Just her cutie mark? She almost expected to see some act of creativity going on here as she usually did when making a fool of those daring neighsayers who foolishly challenged her. She expected to see the sign of the star-bear supposedly showing her vanquishing of the creature, except for the fact she did not. She could not. The crack, this time she did not hear it, but she would have rather favored to wake up than to remain in this mock version of Equestria as she knew it. The mirror was playing her. It wanted to ridicule her for her failure. That was what the mirror attempted to do, right? Trixie tried to answer her question.
But now why would she not like that? There was no reason to be fearful about it in the first place. She was the hero after all, Trixie on this side. On the outside, however…
“Trixie thanks you for your treatment, your highness.” Trixie quickly returned to the ‘reality’ of this mirror world. The twitch inside her returned with the feeling of something inside her chest that made her quite difficult to breath. Nevertheless, she did not gasp for air, but instead held perfectly fine, erasing the sign of trouble entirely from her face.
“Oh, Trixie. No need to be so humble and modest. Tonight we celebrate all of your great deeds. You should be proud of yourselves.”
To Princess Luana’s saying Trixie nodded, not before feeling a slight twinge inside her. Humble and modest, she could never relate herself to such words. She was a magician. She had to be proud, even to the degree of being arrogant, especially during her show. What was a magician without a swagger?
And nopony should accuse of a magician for her arrogance. But they did. The cruel joke played upon her. But who could she blame? The two ignorant foals who took the words for granted too much? The gifted unicorn that had not challenged her in the first place? Was she to blame her own self who was not as Great and Powerful as she should have been?
Trixie suppressed her inner voice. “Still, she does feel honored to stand beside the bearers of elements. It is them who finished the evils once and for all.”
“No need to put yourself down, Great and Powerful Trixie. You deserve to stand alongside with the bearers.” Trixie looked at the Princess Celestia. She could not guess whether the princess’ gaze pierced through her veils and saw who a Trixie who did not really belong to this world. Alicorns. She said to herself. They are powerful beings. They see what others could not see.
Princess Celestia turned her attention to her sister, and Trixie thought whether the Sun Princess’ speech had some hidden implications that Trixie was yet to discover. When they reached the table, Pinkie Pie was the first one to break from the group, securing her seat in an instant. Trixie positioned herself at the round table, when she found her ‘apprentices’ Snips and Snails greeting her with a small bow.
“We have been expecting you, master. And greetings to your highnesses and the bearers of the elements.” While Trixie thought she could still not get used to this strange version of the two dorks, she nodded to show her acknowledgement.
“Snips and Snails, please, take a seat too. And Spike, you may join us for the meal.” Princess Celestia then ringed a small bell on the table. Two ponies appeared, bringing the trays filled with food. Trixie wondered how this would turn out, and went back to her inner mind trying to make sense of what happened so far. Waking up. Twilight. Others. Princesses. A great feat she never accomplished. The celebration made out for her.
Her head hurt. The mental task of sorting out her thoughts was demanding. She found it hard to think. Maybe she was hungry, and Trixie figured a splendid meal would do better on her.
The banquet went smoothly, even succeeding in making Trixie’s ever vigilant mind to briefly enjoy a period of merriment. She marveled at the fine selection of dishes. The food was splendid, fresh vegetables just picked from Canterlot gardens cooked under finest chefs over Equestria. She talked with others over various subject, determined to take the role of Trixie inside of this world. Among all the talking and eating, however, Trixie focused more on looking into her flow of thoughts, still attempting to find the answer she was looking for.
“No no no, silly. Rock farm don’t actually ‘farm’ rocks. Everypony knows rocks don’t grow when put underground. Really, it is a fancy name for stone quarries!”
“What? Ah don’t believe it! Then why is it called a farm when ya don’t plant rocks?”
How the subject of the conversation changed from banishment of Discord to Pinkie Pie’s rock farm, Trixie decided it was best not to inquire. When abruptly thrown to the strange world of mirror, she had so much to think about besides relating herself with trivial talks.
“Yes, Twilight, I appreciate your observation of the constellations. I recall pony explorers looked at the stars to guide their ships through the oceans; I wonder if ponies still use them to find their way around?”
“Ever fond of heavenly beings of the night time, sister. Yes, they provide an excellent signs to find one’s way. The big dipper, one of small signs forming greater constellation Ursa Major, is said actually named as a way-pointer, for it always directs northwards.”
At Princess Celestia’s word Trixie felt the twinge returning, this time in greater intensity. She wondered whether she heard a crack. Again, not this time. Of course that would have been too easy.
“Oh! That reminds me. Trixie told me she once vanquished the giant star-bear.” Twilight’s voice did not contain any of the malice which would have actually fitted perfectly in such situation. Her shiny eyes Trixie found it rather too good to suspect any devious schemes. Yet, it was often the innocent-and the ignorant-that could perform the most terrible deeds without ever realizing it.
“Beating up the giant bear? Wow! That sounds so awesome!” The pegasus with a rainbow tail who was so eager to challenge her, now looking at her with a hint of admiration, greatly disturbed Trixie. She bit her lips-fourth time, telling the desperateness of the situation-but quickly returned to the placid smile she had been putting up on her face.
Trixie did no such a thing; at least Trixie on the outside, on the world where she was all alone. But in here, she performed the deed without any difficulty. She truly was the Trixie.
“Well.” Breaking away from her fragmentary thoughts and voices she swiftly responded to the pressing situation. “Please, Trixie performed no great deed.” Actually she performed no deeds. She did nothing, Trixie wanted to shout out, but kept her mouth sealed well. “It was more of luck than skill, really.” With that Trixie hoped that others would not inquire so much, and she decided to give it a chance to divert the topic of the conversation. “Speaking of constellations, Trixie knows few of them too. Once she saw a Canis Major in the night sky. Maybe that too is used as a sign for finding one’s way around?
There was a few second of silence before Princess Luna spoke in great enthusiasm. “Ah, another pony interested in the art of observing the night sky! To the untrained eye it is not so easy to find it. Why yes, that constellation too is very important.” Trixie sighed in relief, thankful of the timely intervention of the Night Princess.
“Trixie, if you don’t mind, could you please pass me that dish over there?” Another distraction, of which she gratefully accepted. Trixie pushed the dish to Fluttershy, who quietly said “Thank you” and began to enjoy the content of the dish.
“…and me and my sisters sometimes carved rocks. I can make any rock to a shape of a balloon!”
“You carve rocks?”
“The stars align themselves so that ponies could look and benefit from that. Now, me and my big sister Celestia have been working with Twilight to properly map the celestial beings held up in the dark night…”
Trixie complimented herself for averting the potentially fatal crisis for her. She suddenly felt the hunger returning again and decided to eat more of the mustard daisy sandwich.
The dinner was almost drawing to an end. By now most of the ponies were strolling around the hall or taking a walk in the Canterlot garden just outside the grand hall. Trixie was sipping a cup of Rose tea-how much she missed its sweet fragrance, bittersweet taste-taking a mouthful of the warm liquid, she let the flavor absorbed inside her mouth, the warmth spreading inside her body.
She thought, but to no avail. Her thoughts became more entangled then when she first started sorting out her many thread of thoughts. Mastery before manipulation, clarification before control. Control. Mastery. Control. But what did she master? What did she clarify? She admitted that hours of her search yielded nothing. The only fact she found was that she did not belong to this world.
Or was it? Who said so? How could Trixie be so convinced?
She was the Great and Powerful Trixie. She means when she claims to know something.
She claimed to vanquish the star-bear. Did she really mean it?
That was her mistake. But nopony questions the magician. Nopony.
But they did. The neighsayers.
Trixie should have expected that. She will devise something that fits their daring acts.
Why could not she expect that in the first place? What does she know?
Not much, she had to admit.
How could she return then?
She doesn’t know.
“A pony with fine taste, I see.”
Trixie immediately ceased her chat with herself. “I liked it ever since I was a young filly, your highness.” Trixie slightly bowed her head down to greet Princess Celestia, who was still sitting with her on the table. She chose her words carefully, her mind picking out the tone, grammar, cadence and other various things in a fraction of second. “It soothes her mind, allowing Trixie to think better.”
She suddenly decided that she would talk to Princess Celestia. Or Princess Luna. Abrupt change of plan, a magician’s whim (and tactical decision) after seeing her tricks not working wonders as they should have been. The princesses were alicorns after all, powerful and wise, seeing many things those other ponies could not see, their piercing gaze penetrating to the very base of one’s self. That was Trixie’s impression of the two princesses, when she had the chance to see the royalties from the distance.
One factor she did not take into her account. Alicorns.
Trixie let out a sigh, this time not hiding, and looked at Princess Celestia. The princess simply levitated her own cup and sipped the drink. Trixie did the same. Maybe she knew something. Maybe. Just her hypothesis, a magician’s wild guess after dealing with the strange realm of magic for so long. Dreams of exceptional life-like qualities that almost made one to think the illusory world was reality. Maybe it was that, Trixie said to herself.
“This must be another dream, right?” Trixie carefully maneuvered the flow of magic in her horn, directing the cup safely on the floor, it only shaking slightly during its levitation.”
“Why would you say so?” Princess Celestia sounded so calm and peaceful, her voice not straying from her usual tone of speech.
“Trixie do not belong here.”
“Not you. But other Trixie belong here.”
Trixie tasted the fine liquid going down her throat. Her fur stood in a slight end. Still, she put her makeup so fine, so well, to a degree that nopony near the vicinity noticed her troubling face. “But there is only one Trixie. Trixie the Great and Powerful.” Her voice faltered a little.
“We thought the same.” Princess Celestia also savored the fine drink. “Good thing we have this drink when touching upon a topic that nopony seems to understand. Even me. ”
“Quite.” Trixie refilled her cup. She would need to drink a lot to continue her conversation with the princess.
Trixie opened her eyes. She looked at her surroundings: a creaky cottage that bore none of the similarities from the comfy bed of Canterlot. Not much furniture, cold air, shadowy atmosphere, and no Twilight and others. Was she surprised? Not quite. She had dreams like this before, finding herself in a world built upon illusions and imagination in a way that was so realistic.
Her gaze stopped at the mirror. Looking oddly familiar, perhaps vestige of her reality appearing in dreams. She recalled her threads of memory. Alone in the old changing chamber, looking into the mirror. Talking with Twilight. Then falling asleep. She did look into a mirror.
She looked at its smooth surface. She saw a blue unicorn bearing the exactly same look facing Princess Celestia, only looking more troubled then her usual confident self. They were talking. And She thought she could hear the conversation between them.
"Trixie thought this world was just a dream." That was what the Trixie on the inside said.
“And this Trixie thought this world was a dream." She bit her lips for the first time during the day. And that meant anything but good. She hoped this was a dream, a really strange dream. But her magician's mind told her that this was indeed a reality, always more fantastical than the artificial realm of imagination. What went wrong, Trixie asked herself. No answer.
Author's Note: Changed the format as even I found it difficult to read. Will edit previous chapters in a similar style as well as fixing few spelling errors (hopefully).