"It's fine," muttered Mayor Flax to himself. "Everything is fine! This is going just fine!"
"Did you say something, mayor?" Twilight asked, turning to look at him quizzically as they walked.
"Hmm? Oh, hahaha no! Uh, not at all, your highness!"
"Oh. Okay, then."
The mayor and the three remaining members of his "elite" greeting party walked with the princess through the hustle and bustle of the festival, but the laughter and celebration around them was having a difficult time penetrating the "bubble" surrounding the royal escort. It was a bubble composed of 50% mayoral frazzled-ness and 50% royal awkwardness and embarrassment. They were a sort of gloomy sphere floating across an ocean of joy.
"So, your highness, um... if you don't mind me asking... well, I know I shouldn't ask but... how did you become an alicorn? What did it feel like? Are you immortal? What exactly is your position in Equestria? Do the princesses have ranks? Territories? What legal significance will your ascendancy have?" asked one of the ponies in the party, a slate blue unicorn with glasses on his face and glasses as his cutie mark. Data Feed, Twilight remembered his name was; he was the Oakville librarian.
"Whoa! Uh... I... I'm not sure the answer to most of those questions, myself, actually."
"You mean they never told you?" Data Feed replied with incredulity.
"No... well, I mean, I never really asked..." Twilight replied, a little sheepishly.
Data Feed raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You... didn't ask?"
Twilight twisted her mouth into a thoughtful half-frown. Finally, she settled on, "It's been a busy couple of months."
Data Feed could not help himself. He was a bit tactless in that way. "Forgive me for the observation, your grace," Twilight winced a bit at the title, trying to hide the growing blush of embarrassment. "But... if I had been physiologically altered and simultaneously had been promoted into the ruling class, I would have had a great many such questions for her majesties Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadance."
Twilight put her hoof to her face. A move as tricky, for they were still walking, as it was necessary, for it was the only gesture capable of conveying how she was feeling.
"Aaaaanyway, Data Feed," Mayor Flax cut in, a little bitingly. His voice was tight, like he was being strangled; his mane was disheveled and his eyes were bloodshot with stress by this point, "It might interest you to know that her highness was a librarian prior to her ascension. Perhaps you could talk about that?" he said through gritted teeth barely disguised as a smile.
"No, I'm much more curious about-" he started, before he caught the Mayor's murderous look. "Uh," he said, "Actually... yeah, I'd love to hear more about Ponyville Library!"
. . .
Trixie was not worried. Certainly not. She was in no way nervous. She was never nervous. She was a glorious performer! The stage was her home! She never got the jitters before a show!
...Yeah.
Trixie hunched over in what was left of her tent, staring at a small mirror, trying to make herself presentable. Her breaths came shallow and rapid, and she felt sweat on her forehead. She was trying not to think about the show. It was better if she didn’t think about it. She didn’t want to think about how the whole town would be there, hoping she would make them proud in front of the princess. She didn’t want to think about giving a show for royalty. Especially when that royalty was Twilight Sparkle. She didn’t want to think about the condition of her stage, which was a mess.
Trixie sighed. She had to calm herself down. She had done so many shows, this one wasn't going to be any different. Whenever she got into this kind of a funk, she thought back to a memory she always rejuvenated her when she couldn’t get herself into the right mindset: the memory of her very first "show."
Trixie sat in the schoolyard, staring up at the tree. She really liked this tree. Or, I suppose, to be more specific, she really liked the way the light came through the leaves. Trixie loved light. The patterns it could create when it hit things, the way colors could change, the way it illuminated otherwise invisible motes in the air, the way it could be reflected with mirrors… she loved it. To Trixie, the light beams shining through the leaves of the school tree were the most beautiful thing in the world.
And so it wasn’t bad at all for her to sit alone in the schoolyard during recess and watch the light beams. Not bad at all. It wasn’t like the other ponies in her class wanted anything to do with her, other than maybe show off their cutie marks or magic skills. It seemed to her that they always made a point of doing so near her, since she lacked both (with those smug smiles, rrrgh). She was the last foal in her class to be without a cutie mark, and was probably the worst unicorn in her class at using her magic. She lagged far, far behind the others. Helpful of them to remind her of that at every turn, really.
If only I could reach out and touch that light beam, Trixie thought, watching it flicker as the leaves moved slightly in the gentle spring breeze. She tried to imagine what it would be like, her magic wrapping around it and bending it, like a bubble made of invisible mirrors. And then, before she even realized it was happening, it was happening. The light beam bent. That... had to be a coincidence, an illusion! Were her eyes playing tricks on her? She tried it again, and it bent further. Her mouth hung open in shock. She was doing it!
But... but she could barely do anything with her magic! How was this so... so effortless? She kept experimenting, and before long, she found she could "twist" the light with her refractory magic, and she found she could create shapes with it. She started making all kinds of things out of the light: a crude butterfly, a simple star pattern, a magic wand. She found herself especially proud of the magic wand, smiling up at it as she "waved" it around here and there, twisting and bouncing the light to make the shape move. She giggled as some tiny bits of light escaped her magic field, leaving a sort of twinkling in the wand's wake.
Some of the other foals saw what she was doing, and took an interest in her for what seemed like the first time. They ran over to her, fascinated by what she was doing.
"Ooo!" came a high, sarcastic voice, "Hey! Whatcha doin' there, Blankie?" said one of them, the ringleader, a popular and prissy unicorn filly by the name of Wish Dancer. She had tortured Trixie with the nickname for as long as the two had known each other.
Trixie turned to look at Wish Dancer and her friends, who had gathered around her in a semi-circle. Despite their offishness, she could see that they couldn't completely hide their fascination with what she was doing. They... they're actually impressed! Imagine that! The same foals who had always thought it was funny when Wish Dancer made fun of her were impressed! Well... what better way to get back at her than by showing her friends how wrong she had been about "Blankie!"
"Behold!" Trixie said, climbing up on her tiny hind hooves and throwing her tiny forehooves dramatically into the air. "Watch as the... Great... and... and Powerful Trixie dazzles you with her... um... with her wondiferous illusions!"
And the wand waved over her head, and a dozen other light beams bent and angled into a perfect sphere of light above her head, then shot out from the sphere in every direction in a hundred rays of different colors, before exploding in an illusory showering of sparks and stars over them both. And Trixie smiled like she had never smiled before. This was what confidence felt like! And it felt good.
Wish Dancer was agape. But the other foals? They began to clap their hooves together.
"Wow! That was great!" said one.
"Amazing!" said another.
Trixie's beaming smile of pure joy began to turn to a predatory grin of vindicative glee. That look on Wish Dancer's face was priceless!
The rush of confidence! The lights! The thrill of the performance! And of course, the adoration! She had never felt like this before! It was different being the center of attention when the attention was positive! It was the most glorious feeling! Why, they loved her! Trixie doubted she would be made fun of now!
Then, she felt a tingle on her flank. Could it be? She looked down, and put her hoof over her mouth. She gasped. Her cutie mark! It was the wand of light, trailing the twinkling light behind it. The other foals cheered for her, and she basked in that moment.
It had been the happiest day of her life. She often thought of it, her first performance, when she was worried about a show (not that that ever happened, of course). That first time she had experienced that wonderful feeling of adoration... it was unlike anything else. The love, no, the worship of an audience... it had always been her fuel. It had always been what she craved!
I've got this! Trixie thought. After all, I am the Great and Powerful Trixie!
No matter how bad things looked, Trixie never did lack confidence. She would wow them. She would throw her hooves in the air, and fireworks would go off, and she would perform stunning illusions, and they would love it! This will be my greatest show ever! Trixie thought, I’ll put on a show so amazing, I’ll even impress Princess Perfect herself! I am done with her looking down on me! Tonight is my night!