//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Trixie: Take two // by MrGreat //------------------------------// A gentle wind blew through Ponyville that morning, and the Purple Pony felt today was going to be great. Spike made her a wonderful breakfast of Pancakes and French toast with a fresh glass of orange juice to make up for his absence that evening for undisclosed reasons. Twilight daintily ate her breakfast as spike waved her a good bye and all but skipped out the door. “Today is going to be wonderful.” She resolved. Trixie, uplifted by the princess’ confessions, created an artificial wind, stronger than she was used to, to make the hot air balloon arrive sooner, as she was sure it was noticeable in Ponyville. She noticed Luna had taken to arranging her saddle pack, blanket on bottom and the edibles beneath for “Maximum picnic efficiency!” as she phrased it, and felt she wouldn’t notice the subtle change in windspeed. The more she thought about it, the more that pony- Starlight? Something like that- seemed to resemble the Princess of the night. Trixie found herself looking on at the princess in the same way a parent looks upon her young filly pretending to play Mare with her own filly doll. Perhaps it was the way she seemed to fret over every detail, perhaps it was the constant “…and if I put this here…,” or “no, no, that should go on bottom!” she found it almost adorable. She hid a bashful smile from the princess, although she did not know why she felt the need to. Oh my, I am SUCH a klutz! This picnic’s going to be a complete disaster if the sandwiches are crushed! Luna was on the brink of a panic attack, but did her best to hide it from the Great magician she shared the balloon with. What if the blanket’s all wrinkled up? Surely they’ll think I didn’t take enough care! Is the wind blowing harder now? Luna suddenly became painfully aware of the howling wind’s blowing the balloon, and couldn’t help but think somepony was causing this to happen, and then she noticed a faint glow from Trixie’s horn. She groaned, too polite to ask her guest to stop, surely she thought she was doing her a favor! She decided to attempt to take Trixie’s mind off the subject, knowing elemental magic’s require ones entire attention. “Trixie, perhaps you’d be willing to tell me a story of your travels about Equestria? I’d ever so love to hear one!” Trixie didn’t know if the Princess could tell that she was creating the wind, but she welcomed the chance to take a break, she was almost working up a sweat with the spell. “Well, there’s a plethora for you to choose from, dear friend, perhaps The Great and Powerful Trix-“ Trixie silently cursed herself for falling back into such habits. She had to turn a new leaf, and fast! “I have one or two… I’d prefer to hear about you though” She turned to Luna with an innocent smile on her face. “What’s it like being Queen of the Night?” “Oh… oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no… No. NO! I am a Princess, not a “Queen of the night” I am “Princess Luna!” She was suddenly breathing very hard, and her vision was clouding over. She saw that she was scaring Trixie, but she didn’t care. “Don’t you DARE call me that EVER AGAIN! DO YOU HEAR ME?!” She was practically yelling at the ex-show pony by now, but she was hurt! Why would Trixie want to hurt Luna like that? “L… Luna, I’m sorry…” True, Trixie didn’t know what she had to be sorry about, but she had just witnessed Princess Luna go from a mildly content pony to a psychotic monster on the verge of throwing her off of the hot-air balloon. She decided it’d be best to wait for a decent amount of time before bothering her about it again, which is why she was slightly shocked when Luna apologized. “I’m sorry, Trixie, perhaps you did not mean to hurt me so badly” Well, I didn’t mean to hurt you at all… Trixie thought to herself. Luna continued, “But surely you have heard of…” She took a deep breath and continued. “Surely you’ve heard the horrid tales of Nightmare Moon, Queen of the night? I apologize if you have not, I refuse to go into any detail, but please, for me, never say that EVER again… It hurts too much.” Well that solves THAT mystery Trixie thought to herself. She trotted over to Luna and sat down beside her. “Hey.” She said holding a hoof under Luna’s chin and holding her head up. “Let’s get this saddle bag all packed up, we’re due to land any second, and I KNOW you didn’t finish arranging our food items” She said with a playful smirk. She could see that Luna appreciated the gesture, and the two worked in silence (save Luna’s murmurs) for the rest of the ride. *** Twilight plodded along silently, her mind buzzing ever since she got a surprise letter from Princess Celestia informing her that her baby sister was coming to visit. “Princess Luna is coming here? And she’s preparing a picnic! Hopefully she’s arranged the contents so the sandwiches don’t get crushed, although I’m more than certain that Pinkie would be delighted to make some snacks.” She got to the drop off zone moments before a hot air balloon came into sight. She could see two ponies looking over the side, and she could only assume one was Luna, although they were both wearing over coats and shades. “An undercover guard, perhaps? No, it appears to be two mares… maybe it’s a servant or a cook?” Twilight patiently waited for the balloon to float gently down. The two passengers didn’t move for a second, and Twilight could make out Luna’s Aqua-blue eyes, although the familiarity of the strangers’ deep purple eyes seemed to elude her. Luna glanced uneasily at Trixie. They hadn’t been expecting a visitor, had they? No, certainly THAT is not something she’d forget. Maybe it was just a coincidence, they were, after all, outside a very popular location in Equestria… right? It was not until the lone pony called out “Princess? Is that you?”This caused Luna to blush. Normally, she was just called Luna or (on very rare occasions) Lulu. She had felt only slightly less embarrassed when Trixie had addressed her as such, although she didn’t know why. She opened the door and lead herself and Trixie over to meet the mare. Trixie was feeling a mix of anger and anxiety. “This was the pony that ruined my career! Oh, if the Princess weren’t here, I’d give her what-for!” But she held her tongue, for Luna’s sake. As they approached the greeter, Trixie’s anger quickly vanished, leaving behind only apprehensive feelings. What if she recognizes me? What if she rats out my horrible behavior to the Princess? Oh, I think she recognizes me! Act cool, you got this! Oh, is this what insane people feel like? Trixie watched Luna light up with joy as she met the ring leader of the group of mares who had saved her. “Twilight, how good to see you again!” She heard Luna say. “Twilight!” How could I forget such a dramatic name? Ugh. She scorned herself and hung back, hoping Twilight would mistake her for a guard. Luna was overjoyed, to her front was the Lead pony who saved her from herself, and to her back was her new friend. Why is she back there? she thought. Surely, she is eager to meet my savior! She pushed Trixie up to Twilight, eliciting whispered complaints from the blue pony. Twilight extended a hoof, as was custom greetings in Canterlot, although the stranger merely looked at it. “You’re supposed to shake it, ya know!” She said. The stranger let out a strained laugh, both nervous and phony. Twilight did not trust this mare, and felt no reason to do so. She saw a glimmer of white hair on the pony and she felt like she was going through déjà vu, although she chose to ignore it. Why upset a guest, she’s done nothing to harm you, perhaps she’s just shy! Twilight ignored the fact that shy ponies are not often seen with royalty, and led them back towards the village. Trixie’s heart was pounding. Surely she recognizes me! Oh, could this day get any worse? Her fears were confirmed when she heard an over eager princess say “Twilight, this is my friend, perhaps you’ve heard of her?” Trixie started shaking her head and motioning no, but it was too late, for Luna said, in what would be later known as her “Royal Canterlot voice”, I am travelling with none other, than the GREAT AND POWERFUL TRRRRRIXIEEEEEEE!!!” The only sounds heard in the silence to come was a frustrated groan, followed by a furious shriek, and a spell that Trixie recognized as “spell 25.” *** Ok, so a recent review told me to take more time in my details, so I believe I did that here. Tell me what you think, comment, review, PM, anything! Again, thank you for reading this!