Trixie pulled the front door shut, and slumped against it. There was no force on earth that could get her to set another hoof outside. She was utterly exhausted. Whose bright idea was it to make Trixie do all the chores?
The meadow was as good as a marsh after that much rain. Trixie looked down at her muddy hooves and legs with a sigh. A bath sounded really good right about now, but she didn’t want to drag mud all through the living room. Actually, Trixie would be fine with that, if Trixie didn’t have to clean it up afterwards. Maybe she should just stand here till she’s dry.
It was not exactly ideal, but Trixie was more than willing to finally solve a problem by doing nothing for a while. She leaned against the door, and closed her eyes with a soft murmur. Her thoughts wandered to the lousy day she’d had.
Doing Fluttershy’s work would have been a challenge to begin with, and to make matters worse she had been right about the animals worrying. The first animals that Trixie had tried to feed had refused to eat anything and just stared at her as if she was some strange trespasser.
It was so unnerving that she’d started to make excuses out loud. She even explained it was her first time, and that she was trying her best. Trixie felt like a complete fool, trying to justify herself to a bunch of animals. Strangely, once she mentioned Fluttershy had a cold, and that she was filling in, that seemed to placate them enough to start behaving like normal animals again.
Since she had figured out the trick, she had to take a minute each time to explain the situation for every chore she tried to do. Most of the animals apparently understood enough of it on some level, except for one. Trixie grumbled, “Angel? Hah. It must be an acronym for Annoying No Good Evil Lout.”
The accursed little rabbit kept glaring at her, and made it a point to follow her around for most of the day to make sure she knew how much he disapproved of her presence or something. That was not entirely unexpected, as he often did that to her to begin with. Trixie could not believe that of all the animals to pick from, Fluttershy apparently went with him. Trixie bets he was a gift from Celestia or something…
Fortunately he’d run off after a little while, though not for long. Apparently, he was feeling generous, because when he returned he had tried to throw things at her head. Trixie was certain it was no coincidence he consistently aimed at the worst possible place for her. She often wondered if the twice damned rabbit was watching her, with his big beady eyes, almost as if he was accusing her, or telling her she didn't deserve to be here. And surely it wasn't odd if Trixie thought the rabbit's name to be no coincidence, right? She wished she knew more about animals.
“Just you wait. The first thing Trixie will do with her magic is turn your fur hot pink.” She felt her lips curl into a smile while she imagined it. That was turning out to be a nice day dream. If she didn’t know Fluttershy, for some inexplicable reason, considered that monster her pet, then Trixie would have happily fed him to the bear instead of the usual honey. At least she didn’t have to deal with that long-eared rat anymore for a while.
A sudden knock on the door shook Trixie out of a half snooze, causing her to blink in confusion for a moment. This was new. The only pony that Trixie knew visited way out here was Applejack, or possibly Big Mac, if his sister felt alright with letting him come here unsupervised again.
However, it was not time for a new batch of apples yet. Trixie eyed the door cautiously, as if she expected to stare right through it. She did not like surprises, especially not the kind that Ponyville had for her. Relax Trixie! Nopony knows you’re here. Just calm down. Maybe it’s another friend of Fluttershy’s? Composing herself, Trixie called out. “Hello?”
“Good afternoon. I have a special delivery for Trixie Lulamoon. Oh hey! That rhymed!” A female voice on the other side of the door giggled.
But Trixie was not laughing. She could feel her heart racing in her chest with dread. N-nopony should know that name! Taking a few quick steps away from the door, Trixie did her best to take deep breaths. How do they know Trixie is here? Wait, it doesn’t matter, Trixie just has to… “S-she’s does not live here. Now shoo!” As she spoke, she inched over to the window to get a peek at her opposition.
Before the door stood just a single gray-coated pegasus, carrying a mail-saddlebag. Her mane was ‘styled’ if one could call it that, much like Rainbow Dash’s, except that it was blond. She held an envelope up on one hoof, looking at it. “Oh, but she said this was the address. Are you sure, miss?”
Trixie was not entirely sure what she was expecting to find. Whoever this was, she did not look threatening. There was something vaguely familiar about the gray mare, but Trixie could not place it. She? Maybe it’s from… No, it couldn’t be. After a moment of internal conflict, Trixie’s curiosity won out. “Oh, wait. You said Trixie? Hold on.”
“Yes, Trixie Lulamoon! Oh good. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.”
Pushing the door open, Trixie was greeted by a smiling face, but that was not the first thing to catch Trixie’s attention. The mares eyes were all screwed up, looking in different directions. Trixie stared at her in confusion, before she noticed the mares smile faltering a little. “Oh! Sorry, Trixie did not mean to stare. Uhm, you had a letter for her?”
“I’m used to it, it’s fine.” The mare presented a clipboard and a pen on a string. Despite holding the clipboard, she spoke with a practiced ease. “Just sign on the dotted line.”
Trixie gave a nervous smile. “Heh, another rhyme?” She signed the paper as simply ‘Trixie’.
“Oh hey, you’re right!” The mailmare giggled while she tucked the clipboard back into her bag, then passed the envelope.
“Thank you, uuh?”
“Derpy.”
“Derpy. Have we met?” Trixie could not shake the feeling she’d met the pegasus before.
Locking her saddlebags, Derpy smiled and shook her head. “No. Well, not face to face anyway, but I’ve seen you before. You’d have remembered if we had, right?”
“Oh… Trixie’s show?”
Raising a hoof to scratch her other leg uncomfortably, Derpy scrunched up her muzzle. “The show, the ursa, the ponyback ride…”
Trixie winced a little, she really should have expected that, though the last one confused her. “Wait. Ponyback ride?”
“Oh, uhm, you know? After you attacked that mare?” Derpy looked uncomfortable. “A really big red stallion was carrying you through town.”
A vague memory of that trip from the hospital back home partially resurfaced for Trixie. She had not really been in the best state of mind by that point, but she was pretty sure she had not attacked anypony. Even if she had wanted to, there was no way she could have. “They say that’s Trixie? But she couldn’t be!”
Derpy shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t really know the details… Hey, now you’re doing it too. That’s another rhyme.” Derpy smiled, then took a step away from the door. “Was there anything else, Miss?”
This was terrible, she already had enough trouble just being blamed for things she could remember, now there were things she didn’t too? The voice Trixie stirred from her thoughts, and she looked towards her bearer of ill news. “What? Uh, no. Thank you, uhm, Derpy?”
Giving a quick nod to indicate she remembered correctly, Derpy spread her wings. With an impressive feat of power, she actually managed to lift off, even with the heavy mailbags. “My pleasure. You know, I was warned about you, but you’re not as mean as they say. Well, see you!”
“Goodbye.” Trixie waved after the odd mailmare. The exchange had left her baffled. She had not been that nice to Derpy, yet apparently it was still much better than Derpy had expected, to the point that she even had felt the need to comment on it. Just what are they saying about Trixie? It was not a pleasant thing to think about.
Closing the door, Trixie turned her attention to the envelope, grateful for the distraction.
Without her magic, or Dash, to assist her, it took significant fiddling with the darned thing to open it. Though Trixie supposed things might have been at least a little easier if she could use her hooves for the job, but she didn’t want to get mud on the letter.
Nervously, Trixie unfolded the letter. There was only one pony she could think of that would know to send her a letter here. Trixie swears, if Celestia is forcing her away again, she'll— “Ponyville Hospital?”
Trixie blinked puzzled, and quickly read through the letter. “Dear Miss Lulamoon, I write to you on behalf of, blah blah blah, Heartfelt apologies, blah blah blah, physical and magical checkup, tomorrow at ten in the morning. Sincerely, Nurse Manners of—yeah okay whatever.”
Now that she got the gist of it, Trixie took her time to read through the letter a second time more slowly while she contemplated on what she was being offered. Apparently there were no strings attached, and she was simply asked to be examined. It would be good to have some kind of official word on how she was doing, and judging by the wording they may even be able to tell her when she could start using magic safely again.
Still, Trixie was not thrilled with the idea of going back to that place. Her last visit had left a sour taste, which Trixie could not blame on the hospital food, considering she was never given any. Not to mention she would have to walk through the town again. Also, the unexplained usage of her last name put her on edge. If they knew that, there was no telling what else they knew, and she was being asked to come to a place they had complete control over.
A slight grin played on her lips as she remembered an exception. Complete control? No, Trixie knows one pegasus they most certainly can’t. If she asked, Trixie was pretty sure she could get Rainbow Dash to come with her. Dash had proven she could keep her safe from anything, except from Dash herself. Maybe Trixie could even call it a date. Fighting ponies in an alley could be romantic, right?