To get this out of the way, I have no control over the characters of and related to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. This is a piece of literary fiction, the events of this story are not intended to reflect the actions or incriminate anypony.
Chapter Three: An Battered Wagon Before a Winding Path
The diffuse white light holds nothing, not a shadow nor a ray of light. It just is and it is one with everything.
What will come? The voice asks from the emptiness. “I don't know, but I will face it with conviction...”
Who will you be? Again, the voice asks those strange questions. “Somepony who will do what must be done...”
Why are you here? The world is changed again. “To remember...”
Vertigo once again enfolds her as she comes to a crashing halt.
It has been four months since her Mothers death, and Trixie was beginning to return to herself. For the longest time, she had shut out most other ponies from her life. Only her Father had been able to get through to her, but even then, she would soon retreat to her solitude. Now, Trixie has come to the point where she was more quiet than not. With his wife gone, Alabaster became more withdrawn, yet his actions were always to provide and care for his daughter. They stayed at the same place as before, Alabaster's private plea's to the landlord for a lower rent for the sake of his daughter were answered. However even with the rent lowered, life was still rough for them in more ways than one. One look at Alabaster showed how he was being worn away unbelievably fast since his sanctuary was now gone. His friends, neighbors and family did what they could do for him. They would look after Trixie for an afternoon as he found an opportunity to work as a street cleaner or some other menial job right after his shift in the quarry, or they would let her spend the night if he was able to coax the supervisor at the quarry to let him come in extra early for a few extra bits.
Trixie was at home, just getting things put away when there came a knock at the door. She thought it might have been Dad since he would go to the market to get some early afternoon deals if he cleaned up fast enough at work. But why would Dad knock? She thought. A little nervously, she went to the door, sliding the chain lock into place with a spectacular effort of young willed magic. Then she opened the door to see her Dads supervisor at the door. He was standing there, his bluff face that was usually smiling, disturbingly somber.
“Trixie... Your dad...” he says, choking slightly. “I need to take you to your Dad. He's not well Trixie. He's sleeping now at the hospital, and he asked me to bring you to him.”
She stands there, not understanding what he was saying. A rigid uncertainty making Trixie stay in place, not even looking up at him. “You're lying...” she whispers.
“Trixie...” he hangs his head in sadness as he continues on, “I need you to come with me. Please. If not for me, then for your Dad.”
“Dad'll be here soon with supper. I don't think I should leave with Dad about to come home...”
“Trixie... Your Dad told me to have you bring the 'little you.'”
Her breath stops because she hasn't told or bragged to anypony about her special friend. Only Mom and Dad know about her. She drops to the floor, her legs loosing their strength at the realization that Dad really is in trouble. Tears form at the corners of her eyes as she comes to her feet a few short moments later, the weight of such loss too great a burden for such a tiny filly to shoulder. She stands anyways, light-headed and dazed as she looks to the stallion through the crack of the door.
Alabaster is sleeping soundly on the hospital bed when Trixie canters into his room on her short legs, quietly as a little filly can so she doesn't disturb her Dad as he sleeps. She stops by the bed, not making a sound, barely daring to breath as she gently nuzzles the hoof that rests near the very edge of the bed. Soft sobs quietly wrack her small form as her prone Father doesn't respond to her presence. He's the best, strongest Daddy in the world! He said he'd never leave me... She ran out of tears eventually, and climbed the bed to lay beside her unresponsive Father. Suppertime cane and went, Trixie never touching the food they brought her. Exhausted after hours of worry and silent crying, Trixie falls into a fitful sleep.
In the morning, she wakes up in a strange room. Eyes wide, she sits up quickly while looking around. “You're fine dear,” says a voice from across the room, “You were fast asleep beside your Dad, so we brought you to the room across the hall from his so you could sleep.” The voice comes from a light tan colored mare sitting on a small chair in the corner. “You must be really worried, but we're taking really good care of him. You can go visit him now, we'll bring you both breakfast.”
Trixie nods silently, hopping off of the bed to follow the nurse across the hall. “He woke up just a little bit ago, so please speak quietly until he's comfortable with louder noises.” Trixie nods again, a little grumpy now.
The nurse moves out of the way and Trixie runs into the room quickly to see her Father propped up against the headboard of the bed. He turns at the sound of her running, a smile appearing on his lined face. He looks like he had aged a decade overnight. His eyes were slightly sunken with dark circles around them, his cheeks gaunt. “Morning Trixie,” he says in a strained and slightly rasped voice, “Sorry for making you worry like that.”
She shakes her head and looks up to him, her eyes bright with unshed tears, “I'm just glad you're ok Dad.” She trots over to the bed and hops up, careful to not jostle him as she settles down beside him. This is where the nurse finds them when she come back with a trolly lightly laden with food.
“How about breakfast in bed for a Father and his daughter?” She says with a smile.
“That sounds wonderful,” he replies.
The nurse gets to work with a gentle efficiency, arranging the pair just so where they can both eat from the bed table set over the pair. Trixie, feeling the possessiveness only a little filly can have alternates between clinging to her dad with a half hug and eating ravenously since she hadn't had supper the previous night. Alabaster glances down at his daughter with a little smile. How long will we be able to do this? He wonders as he wraps his forehoof around his daughter after they finish their meal.
“Trixie?” He asks, making sure she hadn't dozed off after a moment.
“Yeah?”
“I'm going to take some time off from work, not that the ponies here would let me leave anyways, but I'm gonna ask one of your Aunts if she'd be willing to look after you for a while.”
“Won't you be able to go home soon?”
“I hope so, but you still have school to go to. I'll make an exception for you to skip today, but tomorrow's a different matter.” He says with a mock gruff expression as he looks down at his daughter. She laughs and nods as she hugs her Dad a little tighter, pleased that she'll be able to spend time with him and help him get better sooner. The nurse comes back to take tray away, a warm smile lighting her face at the sight of the pair.
The rest of the morning is anything but exciting at the pair simply relaxes and sleeps for the most part. As lunch nears, they begin to get some visitors as word about her dads condition spreads around friends and family. She sees her many Aunts and few Uncles. It's during this time that her Dad sets up an arrangement for Trixie to go with one of her Aunts that evening. The rest of the day plods along at a leisurely pace, Trixie occasionally going to get one thing or another when asked. As the afternoon draws to a close, her Aunt comes to pick her and take her back to her home to get her saddlebags packed and grab a few extra things she may want.
The days seemed to drag on while she was away from home, but finally three days later, Trixie ran to the hospital so she and her Dad could walk home together. She walks through the front double doors and looks around and sees her Dad talking to the pharmacist through the window, a serious and sad look upon his face before he turns and smiles upon seeing his daughter, slightly out of breath and waiting for him.
“What's the matter Dad? It looked like there was some bad news.” Trixie asks after walking up to him.
“It's nothing we'll have to worry about for now,” he says with a slightly sad smile, “But I'm ready to get back home.”
“Me too.” Trixie says, giving her Dad a hug.
It had been a couple weeks since Alabaster had collapsed at work, and he has had several visitors come by while Trixie was off to school. Today, a special visitor was sharing a light snack with him in the kitchen.
“How bad is it Alabaster?” Asks the pony sitting across the table from him, a serious expression on her face.
“The doctors said I only have around two months left... I don't know how I can tell Trixie after she lost her mother so suddenly and she had just gotten back to her old self... That's part of the reason I asked you to come here sis.” Alabaster finishes with a heavy sigh.
She looks away, sadness lining her face as she contemplates the future of the little filly. “She's such a kind and lively little filly, but how would we go about breaking the news to her or even getting her used to the idea of living with me?”
“I've given it some thought and if you'd have her come over to help with your bakery for a couple hours after school each day, I think she'll begin to think of your place as a second home.”
“Hmmm... I could see that, and we have a nice sized guest room we could convert over for her when the time comes. But you won't be able to hide it from her for much longer.”
“I know, by Celestia I know, but I just want her to grow up as happy as anypony should be. It's just too cruel, but sometimes a pony has to play with the cards dealt them,” he pauses as he takes a sip of the tea in his mug, “I've been working so hard lately partly because I wanted to send her to a private school that houses their students, to give her an education that she could use no matter her talent. I've almost got enough bits for the tuition, but if you'd be willing to take her in, they're yours to do what you need with. I just wish there was more time...”
“Alabaster, I'll make sure she goes to a good school. It may not be a dormer like you had wanted, but I think in the months to come, what she'll need most is the support and love only family can provide.”
“I think that may be for the best,” he says with a sad smile, “I'm just glad I don't have to set her up with social services or put her in an orphanage.”
“Family should look after family,” she reaches a hoof across the table to hold his hoof, “It would be even worse for her to go to one of her other relatives that she doesn't even know. I hope that we become closer over the weeks, but don't you forget to let your in-laws know about what's going on and about our arrangement.”
“I'll take care of it... But sis... You have no idea how much this means to me, and even though she won't know it for a while, for Trixie too.”
She nods with a forced smile, tears streaming down her face. She walks around the table, not saying a word and hugs her brother. Some things in life just can't be expressed any other way.
Trixie had been helping out her Aunt for a while now. Dad had asked her how she felt about helping her Aunt in her bakery. It was hard to get used to at first because they worked on a completely different schedule. She would stay the night in her Aunts house and get up far earlier than she had thought. After getting around, she would hurry down to the big kitchen in the back. One entire wall was nothing but big brick ovens, making the bakery incredibly hot, even in the winter. She would spend her time there kneading dough and placing it in just the right spot on the baking sheet. Her Uncle would take a sheet when done and put a coating mixture of butter and egg yolk on top so that it'd have a sweet and crispy top, which she knew from experience, and put them in the oven to bake to a glorious golden brown. From here, she would leave for her new school. This new school was really neat, but it was still hard sometimes. Especially the magic homework they gave out. They never had magic homework at her old school, but Dad wanted her to go to this school and she liked it a lot, especially since she passed the entrance test on her own.
But it was after after school she liked the most because that was when she went home to spend time and have supper with Dad. He looked and acted a lot better than when he had been at the hospital, but he still had deep lines etching his face. But he always had a smile and a kiss on her cheek whenever she made it home. Today was different though. After walking though the door and receiving her usual welcome home, he beckoned her to sit down at the table. After sitting down at the table, Alabaster looks across the table at his daughter and reaches across so their hooves touch gently.
“Trixie... There's something very important I have to tell you today...” he closes his eyes and takes a quick steadying breath, “There isn't much time left for me. I found out the day before I left the hospital that I have a very severe sickness and I can't fight this, nopony can, because I've had it for so long that there's nothing anypony can do.”
Alabaster looks to his daughter who hasn't said anything the whole time. He's shocked by what he sees. Trixie is smiling, tears streaming down her face as little sobs make her head bob up and down.
“I know Dad,” she chokes out. “I heard Aunt and Uncle talking about when you'd tell me a couple weeks ago. I didn't say anything because I figured it wouldn't change anything... So I've just enjoyed the time we spend together.”
Alabaster blinks, a sudden brightness obscuring his sight, and cold tears fall down his cheeks. His voice, suddenly choked, makes it hard for him to say anything for a few moments.
“I wanted to keep it from you for as long as I could, because for you to loose both your Mom and Dad in a year is such a heavy burden to carry. I know you're going to be a smart mare when you grow up, and I want everything the world has to offer for you, so please, no matter how down you get or impossible any situation seems, never give up or forget your happiness.” Alabaster finishes with a big toothy smile while tears stream down his face. Trixie responds by running around the table, crying, and rests her head on his lap. They stay that way for a long time, one with silent tears, the other sobbing softly. “Do you want to stay home with me tonight? I'm sure your Aunt can manage a day without your help.” Alabaster says after a time. Trixie nods against his leg.
Life went by almost to an unknown script for the next couple weeks with the exception of Trixies Aunt who was very careful about her comments about her brother and had several long talks alone with Trixie after everypony else had gone off to bed. She was a huge support for Trixie who seemed to have mentally aged far beyond what anyone could have expected during the weeks leading up to her Fathers death.
It was a cool, slightly fogy day when a patrol pony walked to bakery. The chill was biting after the warmth of the large kitchen. He carried with him a sealed envelope in his mouth and passed it to a slightly numb Aunt. He turns with a mumbled “My condolences,” and leaves. Trixies Aunt turns back into the warmth of the room and looks at Trixie, a tear running slowly down her cheek.
“Trixie... It's time.” She says, knowing the plans and things they would have to do, having talked about and them over the past couple weeks.
The next few days seemed both extremely quick and agonizingly slow at the same time. Sleep brought nothing but troubled dreams and an exhausted morning for the filly. But those days were almost like lost friends, coming by to see how she was doing, but gone soon having hardly seemed to have been there at all.
The days following, Trixie went about quietly. She never said a word more than was necessary and a palpable aura of sadness about her. She stayed home for the entire week, but her teachers stopped by to offer their condolences and a few classmates as well. During this time, the paperwork designating her Aunt and Uncle as her guardians arrived having been arranged in advance.
Trixie returned to school the following Monday after helping the bakery like normal, but she was very quiet and only said a few words to the few others in her classes she had come to known. However, like before, she recovered from the tragedy that had befallen her and opened up a bit to her friends and family, but now there was another element to her where she limited her emotional attachments and openness to her Aunt and to a lesser extent, her Uncle. She soon began to spend time with some of the fillies that spent time running around the streets and alleys in the afternoon. This is where she met Heartbreak and the other fillies that made up her group of friends, eventually leading her to meeting Olive Branch in the months that followed, in on a certain chilly winter afternoon...
It turns out that the small room she thought she had been in was in fact a wagon that had been pulled and cared for over many years by Olive Branch. She ate the carrots he had set out for her without reservation and poked about the wagon a little as Olive had left a little bit ago to talk with somepony outside. There was a large collection of things set about the wagon. Various colored powders to small fireworks, costumes and little carvings of ponies, and a small set of worn plaques wrapped in a scrap of velvet cloth. The door opens suddenly behind her causing Trixie to suddenly jump back from the velvet wrapped cards to see Olive Branch walk in looking frustrated but not having noticed her snooping.
“So, where do you like Trixie?” He says fixing her with a intent stare.
Not even tempting to lie to the seasoned stallion, she tells him exactly where she lives along with the names of her Aunt and Uncle. Olive nods and and tells her to sit on the bed and a warning to not touch anything. It takes the pair only a short time to pull up outside of the bakery, a worried Aunt coming out to meet the pair outside.
“Trixie! Where have you been! We've been so worried about you because you missed supper, don't tell me you caused this stallion trouble or...”
“Madame, please. This little pony wasn't anything of a problem for me at all. I have noticed something about her that has great importance to me and pertains to her special talent.”
“Her special talent? And just who in Celestia's regal name are you?”
“You may call me Olive Branch, I am a traveling magician of renowned fame the region over,” he says with a dapper flourish of his top hat, “And I would be honored to take your Niece under my wing, so to speak, as an apprentice.”
This takes Trixie's Aunt aback for a moment. It's still common for apprentices to be taken, but that's for certain arts and trades, surely not for traveling magicians. She looks over the stallion for a while, taking in his long worn but well taken care of vest and hat, the condition of his cart and the way he carries his self.
Having come to a personal conclusion, she tells the peculiar pony to come inside and to share a cup of tea with her in the back kitchen. Trixie knows about apprenticeships, it's common for ponies to leave school between one term and another if they have an appropriate sponsor and mentor, but for her to find an apprenticeship? It was almost like a dream, or something that happened to other ponies, never to her. She follows the pair into the back kitchen and the moist, appetizing heat of the room. Her aunt nods for the pair to find a seat on the central work counter on a stool of their choosing while she puts a kettle of water over the smaller fire they use for domestic purposes along another wall. It doesn't take much time for her to return with a kettle full of hot tea a pair of small loaves of bread for the them to eat.
“So, you wish to take my Niece as an apprentice? First, tell me about yourself and what it is that you do for a living, Mr. Traveling Magician.”
“You may call me Olive Branch. I was born in the northern countryside too many years ago for me to recount, along one of the coastal villages. Unlike some ponies who will change their names to match their talent, I kept the name my parents gave me. I was very happily married for a number of years to a truly special pony, but sadly, I outlived her. We never had any foals of our own,” he says with a gentle sadness, “I've kept my traveling ways and habits out of respect for her wishes, very occasionally taking on apprenticeships. If you would speak to the secretary of apprentices and masters, you'll find me as the oldest registered traveling magician who still takes apprentices, and let me tell you I only take those fillies and colts that catch my eye.”
Trixies Aunt sits beside her, across the table from the older stallion, calmly sipping her tea while never taking her eyes from him. A bit of time passes as they eat and drink after he finishes his short summary to her question. Once Olive finishes his tea and bread, her Aunt finally speaks.
“Very well.” Trixie turns in shock to her aunt. “I'll be in touch with your guild tomorrow to verify your story and information. We'll talk more once that's been taken care of.”
“Thank you for hearing out the request of an old stallion such as myself, I can tell this filly means very much to you. I promise you that she will be cared for as though she were my own family if everything works out.” He finishes, looking straight at her Aunt. She nods in reply. They then talk of minor things and Trixie begins to nod off, causing her Aunt to usher her out of the warm kitchen and tells her to get around for bed, she still had to be up early in the morning to help out after all.
That morning, before she leaves for school, Trixie asks her Aunt about the looming possibility of an apprenticeship.
“It may seem like a bit of a shock, I know from experience Trixie. But this could be one of the best things that could happen to you, dear. Not many ponies have a chance to be found by somepony who knows so much more than you about the talent you'll be learning about. I was lucky in the way you are Trixie and a master baker knew what my special talent was even before I knew it. I was nervous and maybe a little afraid, but it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. It even helped me meet the special somepony who ended up being your Uncle." She says with a vibrant smile. "He did all he could to teach me what I know. And now I've taken that knowledge and made it into something special to the ponies who eat my various breads. Some ponies aren't lucky enough to find or afford an apprenticeship, but you are, and Olive Branch will be somepony you can admire and possibly even surpass as you grow into your talent.” She turns from Trixie and looks to the looming sunrise. “Never forget your family, where you come from and who you are. I look forward to watching you grow into a beautiful young mare, Trixie, and to seeing you succeed at your special talent.”
Trixie turns to the sunrise as well, standing side by side with her Aunt who has looked after her like her own child. They stand there in two different kinds of silence. One confident and proud, the other nervously excited as a wave of golden sunlight washes over the city of Manehatten.