//------------------------------// // End of the Road // Story: Home // by moviefreak523 //------------------------------// Chapter IV: End of the Road "Yes, can I help you?" the voice of her father calls from the opening house. She laid her eyes on the orange pony as his face starts to contort to shock as he looks at the nervous blue unicorn. The Great and Powerful Trixie feels uncomfortable as her father looks at her as she tries to read his expression. It does look to be of shock, but what else? Is there anger? Disgust? Does he still want her back into the family? The Great and Powerful Trixie made one final gulp to hide her fear as she looks at her father as she has when she was a filly. "H-Hi…Daddy." Her father still stood where he is, never changing his expression of shock. Maybe she is not welcome back after all. "Lightning, Dear, who's at the door?" she hears her mother call from behind. The door moves inward more for the darker blue unicorn to stand next to her husband. "Oh, hello there. Can we help…" she slowly stops as she occupies the same reaction that her husband has as they both look at her. "H-Hi, Mom," The Great and Powerful Trixie said, happily sad that she gets to see them again, but it seems that they do not want her anymore. "Just, uh…coming by and…de-decided to check on…how y-you," she could feel her tears of shame filling in the back of her eyes as she begins to step backwards towards the steps. "…you are doing. S-S-Sorry for," she accidently let out a sob before she regain herself, "interrupting you-" She did not get to finish her apology as her father and mother rushed out of the doorway. Her mother reaches out first with her front legs around the young mare's neck as her father wrap both into his front legs, laying his cheeks on the top of The Great and Powerful Trixie's head behind her horn. For a second, she thought they were going to hit her, but all she heard was her mother sobbing and she feels her father kissing her mane. "My precious filly," she hears her mother through her tears. "My beautiful, precious filly. Thank Celestia, you're alright." The Great and Powerful Trixie feels her heart singing as she feels her tears come out of her eyes, staining her cold cheeks as he feels the love radiating from her parents as they hold on to her as if she will go away. "Mommy….Daddy…" she said as she cries as hard as her mother. "…I-I'm sorry." "No, no sweetheart," her father whispers as he continues to kissing the top of her head as he always does. "Forget about it. Forget about what happened. We're so happy to see you home." She could hear her father choke between his words. She never remembered him ever crying before. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry." The Great and Powerful Trixie cries into the parents' hug as she held them tightly, never wanting to let them go. Her father gently shushes her apologies, letting her know that everything is alright. "Hey, what's going on out here?" The Great and Powerful Trixie looks up from her parents' embrace, to see her elder brother and his wife at the open doorway, with looks of surprise, then looks of happiness. "Little Sister?" "Hey, Big Brother." After her parents move out of the way, Roddy runs up and wrap his front legs around her neck in a hard hug, with she returns with equal force. She still has more tears to let out as if they all added up through the three years she has been away. The Great and Powerful Trixie rubs her head against her brother's as she continues to squeeze him tight. "I'm really sorry, Roddy." "Oh, forget about it, little sis." She could hear him letting his tears out. "But, you really did give everyone quite a scare with your disappearing act." "I know," she said as a new batch of tears flow from her eyes. "Let's carry this inside, where it is warmer," her father said, pushing his family inside away from the cold. After they went inside with the door close, her mother came up and lifts her head up as she tries to fix her daughter's tangled mane. Both are still letting out tears of happiness. "Oh, my, Trixie. Your mane looks horrible," she said as she laughs. "Nothing we can't fix," Trixie turns and fines Cherry, who wraps her legs as Trixie does the same thing. Both mares shake in excitement at the reunion. "Cherry. It's really good to see you again." "Same to you, Trixie. Now, Starlight would actually believe that he has an aunt." "Well, speak of Discord," her father said. The Great and Powerful Trixie looks up from her hug and points her eyes up the stairs. There, she finds a young, dark blue coat filly unicorn, looking down with inquisitive eyes. "Starlight," Cherry said, running up the stairs. The young unicorn thought he has gotten in trouble when his mother reaches him. But, she is smiling down at him. "That there is Aunt Trixie. She came back home. Would you like to meet her?" The Great and Powerful Trixie smiles, seeing that the small colt that she had known has grown much bigger, but looks so familiar. She wanted to run up to him and give him a big hug, but she keeps herself down at the bottom of the stairs. She does not want to scare the poor thing. Starlight, with curiosity, starts to move downstairs, gaining speed as he nears the bottom. He stops just a few feet away from the happy mare. She looks down at her nephew as he stares back at her. "Hi, Starlight. My, you've grown so big last time I saw you. You were…" she estimated by holding her hoof over the floor just a few inches, "about this big last time I saw you." Starlight still looks up at the mare, who is starting to feel a little uncomfortable, but she could feel the love of her family supporting her. She knows that he does not recognize her sense he was a baby, but it did hurt a little. "Aunt…Trixie?" he said, as if a memory is returning. "Yes," she said, her excitement growing as she smiles down at the growlingly excited filly. "Hi," Trixie could feel another batch of tears flowing to her eyes. "Hi." The Great and Powerful Trixie bends down and scoop the little unicorn up as she gives him a big hug. Starlight eagerly returns it as Her family gathers around her, wrapping their legs around her and each other, feeling happy to see that a piece of their heart has returned. The night is getting late, but Trixie still feels very much awake. Her excitement of being home has been fueling her up as she sits in the bathtub full of warm water, surrounded by bubbles. Moonbeam and Cherry are is scrubbing her coat, trying to get rid of the stigma that the young filly has put herself under. "Mom, how's the observatory doing?" While her family business has always been about tourism expects, Moonbeam runs the local observatory, as evidence by her telescope Cutie Mark. "Oh, it's been going great. Especially after the return of Princess Luna. Not to criticize Princess Celestia, but every night, whenever I could see, the night sky looked as if it was painted with great care and love. We've been discovering some new constellations every now and then." "I would love to check them out. And, what about you, Cherry? You still working at your father's restaurant?" "Still am. The old man is still going strong, but he's been thinking about retiring early and lending me the business." "That's great news!" "Not really," Cherry explains as she squeezes out the last of shampoo from the bottle. "With Starlight as he is, and Roddy caretaking the museum, along with leading an investigation at Colt Castle, I'm going to have a lot of work to balance on my hooves if start running the restaurant. Maybe in ten years or so, I'll reconsider it." "Why so long?" "Well..." Cherry said as she gives a big smile. A smile that Trixie recognizes. "No?" she gasps. "That's right. You are going to be an aunt to another filly," Cherry cheers as the three mares laugh. "That's even greater news!" The Great and Powerful Trixie smiles. Her mother looks up at her daughter with excitement in her eyes. "I would love to hear the many stories that you have on your adventures." The Great and Powerful Trixie starts to feel a little nervous as the attention is right on her. "Yeah, I certainly do," she said, but feels that she does not have anything that is worth telling. "You don't have to tell them right now. Just, whenever you are ready." "Mom?" "Yes, Trixie?" "I've…I've haven't been…" "What's wrong?" Cheery asked, a little worried. "…I did some awful things." Her mother brings Trixie's forehead to her lips, giving her a gentle kiss. "Don't worry about it. At the very least, you are acknowledging your shortcomings. Right now, let's just welcome you home." The Great and Powerful Trixie lets out a relieved sigh, glad to see that her family is very understanding. "Okay." "Speaking of which, where is your father and brother? They should have that cake up here by now." "Cake?" A knock comes from the door, with Trixie's father's voice on the other side. "We have the cake." "It's about time." Moonbeam calls out, sounding a little annoyed. "And, you better have it right. I don't want my daughter to have terrible cake that she'll run away again." "I followed the recipe correctly," Lightning assures as the door is opened, with Roddy following from behind. "I had to keep Dad from taking shortcuts, telling him that you would skin him if he messed it up, Mom." "Roddy, I thought we agree not to tell her that." "Oh, be quite you two. I'll let it slide. Where's is it?" With Roddy's magic, a towering cake came floating into the bathroom. It has three, each smaller than the one below, with pink icing covering it. Trixie could see that there are lots of candles on them. Suspicious, she counted them. There were 13 at the bottom, 5 on the middle, and a single candle at the top. It all added up to 19. She was only 18 when she ran away. "Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to Trixie. Happy Birthday to you." Trixie is very surprised by this, and felt happiness swell up in her stomach again. "Since your next birthday will be coming up in a few weeks," Roddy says, moving the closer to the bathing mare, "we might as well catch up to it." "What?" Trixie said, surprised even more. "You're planning more?" "Why not?" her father said. "We've never got the chance to celebrate your other birthdays while you were gone. So, we're making up for lost time." "Now, come on, little sis. Make a wish and blow out the candles." There are so many things she wishes, some just impossible for the Great and Powerful Trixie. So, she has to deal with the biggest plausible one. She wishes to heal her family's heart. Her wish came true when she blew the candles out with one blow. The Great and Powerful Trixie is now in her bed, sleeping peacefully. Her room has not change in anything. It was like a museum exhibit, kept with care in not disturbing the original image of her room. She found some things to be very outdated, like some posters of coltbands that she used to zealously listen to. But, she is happy to see that Smarty Pants is still there, waiting for her to return. Now, she is keeping The Great and Powerful Trixie company as she drifts into dreamland. Three years really has been a long time for the blue unicorn mare. She has traveled all over Equestria, entertaining millions of ponies with her gift. She does not understand where it had gone wrong, but she knows that she has changed her demeanor without her noticing it as she began to propel herself into the stories she tells. She hopes to rectify that mistake now that she is back in her hometown, where all of it started. She, also, wants to work with her brother, finding any stories that he may have encounter while she was away. She might find something that will scare a lot of ponies. She has always wanted to do a Nightmare Night show. Even so, that restlessness and her consciousness are bugging her. A part of her, while very happy to be home, wants to go out to Equestria again. But, for a different purpose. She wants to change her image, show Equestria that she is not the pony that she showed them in her shows. She wants everypony to see her integrity in her presentation, not just an egotistical showmare. Until then, she will rest up here. She will have to begin her journey again here, in Through Bay, for the coming summer. Until then, The Great and Powerful Trixie will have some of the best sleep she had in three years. Now that she is finally… Home.