Hunger and cold had a tendency to vastly improve even the most meagre meals. Despite her reservations about eating half the poverty stricken magician's dinner, Applejack found herself almost reluctant to relinquish the remaining half. Trixie had watched Applejack eat half the can of peaches in silence, trying not to drool as the earth pony munched her way through what was supposed to have been Trixie's private treat. She was almost salivating when it was finally her turn to eat.
"You seem almost as hungry as Ah am. And Ah missed mah dinner and jus' got in out of a snowstorm. You sure you been eatin' properly?" Applejack asked with genuine concern.
Trixie did seem a little worse for wear. The cloak and hat somewhat covered it up but her ribs were showing at certain angles and her mane had not seen much in the way of care.
"Mmmhmm-mmhmhmhm," replied Trixie, her eyes closed in ecstasy and her tail swishing happily back and forth as she ate.
"Uh... Ah didn't quite catch that..."
Trixie lifted the can telekinetically and emptied what little contents were left into her mouth. One loud gulp later she grinned at her guest, "Trixie simply likes peaches, that is all. She does not have the money for fancy foods and sweet things are a rare treat," As a farmer, malnourishment was something that Applejack really hated to see.
Trixie raised an eyebrow at the expression on the earth pony's face, "Now don't look at me like that. The Great and Powerful Trixie has no need of your pity. She's going to be the greatest magician in all Equestria! Once Trixie makes it then the bits will flow in like a river!"
Whether it was ambition or simply delusion, something about Trixie's confidence seemed a little different from the arrogant facade she had worn on her first two outings in Ponyville. Applejack stumbled over her words for a moment and found herself unable to meet the blue unicorns fiery gaze. An awkward silence descended on the two, broken only by the crackling and spitting of the embers in the small rusted stove that the two were sitting before for warmth.
"... well... Trixie won't deny that she's often gone to bed with an empty stomach. She supposes that she might have sold some of her props or even her caravan for a few more warm beds and meals but Trixie knows that the line between 'travelling magician' and 'wandering crazy homeless mare' is blurred even at the best of times."
Applejack started to chuckle and then struggled to suppress it. Trixie snorted and then giggled. And then the two of them laughed together long and hard. And with that, the ice was broken.
"Ah hope you don't take this the wrong way but you seem like a totally different pony from when we first met," said Applejack, putting a hoof on one of Trixie's slender shoulders.
"Of course! Trixie has turned over a new leaf. This is Trixie 2.0, new and improved, now with added humility!"said Trixie, puffing out her chest with pride.
"Humility!" Applejack laughed even harder at this.
"Trixie is the most humble pony in all Equestria!"
Applejack took a moment to contemplate the act of asserting superiority over all other ponies in the category of humility.
A sudden squall made the caravan walls shudder and creak suddenly, interrupting the jovial mood. The gust brought all of Applejack's worries rushing back in.
"Try not to worry. Trixie is sure everything will be okay," even the most dense of ponies could read Applejack like an open book. Her emotions were as plain as day and at the moment she was a mess of anxiety. Her likeably obnoxious azure companion had managed to temporarily distract her from fretting about Big Mac and the others but fear had a way of creeping back in, "Perhaps the Snowmare has saved your brother already..."
Applejack glanced at Trixie, confused, "What snowmare?"
A sly smile crept across Trixie's face. She rose and trotted across the room. Shifting the bathtub out of the way with magic she turned dramatically to face a rather bemused Applejack. Trixie's horn sparked and the air lit up with light and colour. The flickering illusion warped into a swirling image, it showed a blurred figure moving in the snow, too far away to be seen.
"Once upon a time, a long time ago..." Trixie was in performer mode, her stage presence dominating the small wooden room and captivating her one-pony audience, "The world was covered in darkness. Ponies feared and hated one another and their hatred poisoned the sky. A deathless, endless blizzard raged over the land. Many starved, others fled their homes and wandered the frozen wastelands in search of hope. The powerful unicorn wizard, Red Frost, was shocked at the plight of his people."
Trixie's small, magical puppet show morphed once more. A huge red-maned figure in a cloak and hat, not unlike Trixie's own, stared out across a barren icy wasteland dotted by abandoned homes and a crumbling windmill.
"Although Red Frost was powerful enough to keep himself alive indefinitely, even under the storms brutal assault, he now had to endure a bitter loneliness. All others had embarked on an exodus for greener pastures and Red Frost had been left forlorn: a solitary guardian to watch over the kingdom in case the curse of the blizzard were ever lifted. One day the isolation grew too much to bear."
With a flick of her horn Trixie caused the small magical picture to change. Now the red figure knelt in the snow. His own horn was charged with energy, the snow around him coursing and shifting.
"He made a daughter for himself out of the snow. A feat of magic unlike any the world had ever seen. The Snowmare. A nameless but beautiful being. With wings made of snowflake lattice, body of deep blue ice, mane of pure white snow, fur of frost and a tail crafted from the glacial wind itself."
An image of the Snowmare was momentarily brought to life by Trixie's magic. An elegant figure of the purist blue and white, almost invisible against the snowstorm backdrop. Applejack huddled up by the stove's mouth. The very real blizzard outside, the dancing lights and Trixie's melodic voice were making her feel dreamy and sleepy again. She remembered the many tales Granny Smith had woven for her as a child. She was captivated by Trixie.
"But one day... everything changed. Princess Celestia took charge of the world, inspired her subjects to love and respect one another and brought forth a long awaited dawn. Warmth returned to the land, plants sprung forth once more, life reawakened and all rejoiced. All but one. As the lands thawed Red Frost knew that his dearest daughter's life hung in the balance. When the sun's rays touched the North then the Snowmare would melt into the nothingness from whence she came. Red Frost expended all of his magical power to save her. He used a teleportation spell to travel many hundreds of miles to reach Celestia before the daybreak in the North stole his beloved child. But Red Frost had grown old over the years. Using that much magic at once taxed him enormously. He had barely enough energy left to drag himself before the Princess and beg her mercy. He expired right there and then."
A look of sadness passed over the Sun Princess's motherly face, or at least Trixie's rendition of the Sun Princess in the glimmering phantasm that her magic had produced.
"The Princess saw Red Frost's sacrifice and decided that, in honour of his accomplishments and his service, the Northern Reaches on the border of the Crystal Empire should remain frozen forever. Some say the Snowmare still dwells there. And at times she grows lonely, herself, so she travels out in the winter all across Equestria, riding icy storm clouds and saving ponies lost in the snow."
Trixie laughed haughtily, "Now Trixie usually doesn't buy into this childish nonsense... but... a few months ago the Great and Powerful Trixie made the long and arduous journey to the North in hopes of amazing some of the ponies of the newly reappeared Crystal Empire. Trixie ended up getting lost along the way, no fault of her own I assure you. Somepony must have sold her a dysfunctional map because Trixie's navigational skills are unquestionably just as fantastic as Trixie herself," Applejack rolled her eyes at this but continued listening intently.
"Trixie's caravan fell into an icy crevasse and she thought all was hopeless and that she was going to freeze to death. But she saw a strange figure coming towards her in the snow just before she passed out. When Trixie woke up she was in an inn in the Crystal Empire. The inn keeper said she had been found lying outside their door. And her caravan with all her belongings was there too. But Trixie was sure all had been lost," The magic swirling around Trixie's horn had died down, now, and the magician settled down by the stove once more.
"So do ya think it was the Snowmare that saved ya?" asked Applejack, keen to know more.
"Maybe it was... maybe it wasn't."
Applejack paused and then frowned.
"Wait a darn-tootin' minute. Was any of that true?"
"Nope, not a word of it," said Trixie, meekly, "Trixie made the whole thing up on the spot."
Applejack had been jolted rather suddenly out of her dreamlike trance.
First that nonsense with the Ursa Major, always tellin' everypony that she's the greatest at this or the best at that, trickin' me with fake hoofcuffs. Does this pony just like tellin' lies all the time?
"Well if it ain't true then why'd ya waste mah darn time with all that hoo-ha then?" she asked, bristling at the perceived attempt at deception.
Trixie sniffed and then pouted, "The Great and Powerful Trixie decided, in her wisdom, that maybe you could use a distraction or some comfort... or... something."
"Oh..." again Applejack scolded herself for being too judgemental. It had cheered her up, it had made her feel better, it had had the best of intentions behind it. Could she even think of something like that as a lie? Applejack bit her lip. Trixie sat in silence staring into the glowing coals in front of them.
"Well... uh... for somethin' you made up on the spot that was... really good. Ah really enjoyed it. Thank you, Trixie," Applejack offered as a kind of clumsy apology.
Trixie perked up immediately. Her weakness to flattery, even the most modest of flattery, was legendary.
"Do you really think so?" Trixie's grin stretched from ear to ear. She continued with palpable excitement, "Trixie stole some ideas from old story books she read when she was younger and patched them together. Red Frost was a real wizard and he really did try and make a child for himself but Trixie recalls that he did it with random body parts and necromancy."
Applejack laughed nervously.
"But that didn't seem like a story that would cheer you up so Trixie displayed her undeniable intellect and modified the story accordingly."
"Yeah, Ah don't think a story 'bout some creep who goes 'round stealin' body parts to make a zombie daughter woulda cheered me up any - AAAAAAAAARGH"
A terrifying red visage peered in at the two of them through the misted window pane. Trixie had all but leapt into Applejack's arms when she saw it.
"What is that thing? Theres somepony out there in the snow, staring at us through the window!" squealed Trixie in pure terror.
"Buh-buh-buh-buh..." blubbered Applejack.
"Save Trixie! She can't die until she's made it as a magician! She's never even performed before a crowd of 100 ponies before! She's too young to have her limbs stolen!"
"Buh-buh-buh... Big Mac!"