//------------------------------// // Decisions & Regrets // Story: Direction // by Darth Link 22 //------------------------------// "This is disgraceful." Trixie shrunk under her parents' glare. "But I got an A... second best..." "Okay, stop. We don't do 'second best'. That's the place ponies end up when they're lazy or stupid. Are you lazy?" "No!" "Oh, you're just stupid?" "No!" "Well this grade says you're stupid!" The spelling test, marked 95 out of a hundred, floated in the dim of her mother's magic. "Princess Celestia doesn't take ponies who are second best." Trixie opened her mouth to say something, but her father cut her off. "We've given you every opportunity and we aren't settling on this. Get upstairs, right now, and quit being such an utter embarrassment!" Princess Celestia just nodded as she heard Trixie's story. After the Unicorn had cried herself out, she had placed her gently on a cushion and asked her to talk about her own parents. "Honestly, I'm not surprised," the Princess of the Sun said. "From what my network had to say about them, they didn't seem like the best ponies." Trixie looked at the Princess, but knew she shouldn't be surprised. Of course Celestia had performed a background check on her. Of course she knew every major event in her life, or at least had it on file. "What did my parents have to say about everything I did?" Trixie asked, trying to keep her tone as neutral as possible. "They said simply that they had no daughter and wouldn't discuss the matter any further." Trixie let out a breath and actually seemed to smile. Celestia felt her heart go heavy, not being able to decide what was more depressing: the fact that Trixie was relieved she'd never see her parents again, or the fact that the Princess knew she would be when she told her. "I poked around Manehatten, where you had shows before." Celestia brought two cups, one filled with tea, the other with coffee, which Trixie preferred. She set the latter in front of Trixie before laying down herself, placing a wing around her guest. "I heard some unpleasant things about your experiences." Trixie felt her stomach drop. Of course, the Princess knew everything. How she had struggled to stay ahead. How her parents had pushed and prodded her, until she found her special talent that gave her a cutie mark. Her parents showed her off at her cuteceañera, but to Trixie it felt like a mark of shame. She couldn't do the true magic, not at the speed her parents demanded, but she could give the illusion of being great. She had gotten it by doing several simple tricks with grandstanding, all flash and no substance. She knew she couldn't keep it up forever, so while her parents submitted her application to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, she quietly began sending inquiries to Manehattan about an apprenticeship. Eventually, she found one. And so, Trixie did what she would identify as the hardest thing she ever had to do, at least until she willingly allowed herself to be arrested. She told her parents. To say it went poorly would be a massive understatement. Her parents exploded, and Trixie, old enough to fight back and fueled by years of pent-up anger, did the same. Celestia's name was used in vain a few times, and finally her parents told her to be out by noon the next day. In Manehattan she found work in a theatre troupe willing to take her in. The first few days felt strange and foreign to her, but in the best way. Nopony was pressuring her, at least not like before. She was encouraged, and her talent appreciated. She was congratulated on her accomplishments, nopony told her she wasn't good enough. After half a year she was put on the stage for the first time. She was shocked to find her parents in the audience. Despite that, she did the best performance she could, and had the audience applauding and cheering. She almost bolted out of the theatre afterward, but her nerves won out and she stayed to see her parents. They apologized to her, which might have surprised her had they not forced the words out as if they were performing the world's most exhausting exercise. They took her out to dinner, which to Trixie was an endurance test. It was a couple of hours of awkward socializing before they returned to Canterlot. That was the beginning of the routine. They'd attend one of her shows once a month, and take her out to dinner afterward. It never got any less awkward, as both parties waited for the familiar love to reignite between the three of them. It never did. They were unpleasant experiences, ones invading Trixie's newer, better life. Not that this new life was perfect. After the first couple of years she was having trouble working with the other members of the troupe. They called her arrogant, they said she was full of herself. And why shouldn't she be? She had overcome all the abuse and brought in crowds every night. The second point was not an argument they could win. Trixie did bring in the crowds, enough for her to live comfortable. Her spells were the talk of the city, and playing to a house that wasn't sold out was a rare occurrence. Finally, however, she decided to leave. She was tired of sharing the headline with a bunch of amateurs, she was going to be a star on her own. So, she sunk her funds into a wagon and began a journey across Equestria to spread word on her talents. Halfway through, on what was to be the stop before Canterlot, she came to Ponyville, and her life fell apart. "I… it was a mistake ever leaving them," Trixie said. "They were good to me. I was happy there. But… I was too proud to go back to them, after everything…" her voice dropped. "Not that they'd take me back… not now. Especially now." "Trixie, it was the Amulet that made you do those things." "…I wish that was true," Trixie said. "But I was already a horrible pony before I ever put that amulet on." "Oh?" Celestia said as she pulled Trixie in closer. "And why do you think that?" "I was so mean… I could have just kept on with my show instead of humiliating every pony who didn't like it… I could have entertained ponies without lying about my accomplishments." She swallowed a lump in my throat. "I could have crawled back to the theatre and agreed to work from the ground up. I could have used the money I had made at the rock farm to buy a new wagon and try entertaining again. "But I wanted revenge. I…" She looked away from the Princess, too ashamed to face her. "I didn't want to admit I had gotten myself into that mess. So I blamed Twilight. I searched out the Amulet and put it on by my own choice. Everything I felt wearing the Amulet, I felt before I had it. I can't blame the Amulet. It's my fault." Celestia allowed a pause before she spoke. "Trixie, I think what you just said proves you are not a bad pony." Trixie looked at her with an expression that told Celestia that she was trying to decide if she had heard her right. "Trixie, I'm going to tell you what I told Fluttershy a few days ago: the mark of a truly evil being is that they refuse to admit that they're wrong. From the common crook all the way up to Discord himself, they deny they’re wrong. They assume that’s how ponies work. They’re baffled when somepony proves them wrong, but they refuse to learn from it. You haven’t. That’s enough to make you a good pony.” Trixie was quiet, so Celestia went on. “That doesn’t free you from consequences, I’m afraid. You’re going to have to work for your redemption. But you’ll earn it. I see it in you, and I know you can do great things.” Trixie blushed. She tried lifting the coffee mug to her lips to hide it, before remembering she had her horn ring on. Then she blushed all over again. Eating mouth-first was fine for Earth Ponies and Pegasi, but for a Unicorn it was a social faux pas. And in front of the High Princess… “I’ll remove the ring so you can drink.” It took a moment for Trixie to realize what Celestia had said. It took her longer before she understood that the Princess was serious. “Y-you’ll do that? Why?” Celestia smiled. “Well… I’d like to get a few measurements.” Gilda’s body ached after her shift. She crawled home, her armor rattling with every step. She couldn’t wait to get home, read the paper and try not to think about the gift Trixie had left behind. She had therefore been disturbed when she found her door unlocked. Clenching her body, she pulled her sword from its scabbard and pushed open the door. She had expected Trixie, but instead she found an unknown Pegasus and Earth Pony. This caught her off guard enough that the Pegasus saw her first. “Well, you must be Gilda.” Gilda’s chest puffed out. “Who are you, and what are you doing in my house?” “You mean, ‘your apartment’, and relax. I don’t know what Red here is looking for, but he doesn’t seem interested in your money.” Red, who had been rifling through a drawer, stopped and looked at Gilda. His face was so blank that it managed to looked unnerving. “Uh… look, who are you?” “Let’s just say we actually took up Trixie’s offer, so apparently that stereotype that griffins are dumb isn’t so far off the mark.” Gilda opened her mouth to instruct her on what she could shove into an uncomfortable place, but stopped. “Maybe…” “Are you looking for that coin Trixie left here? It’s two drawers to your left.” Red just looked at her for a few seconds. The Pegasus looked at Red, apparently equally curious about Gilda’s guess. Then, Red moved to the drawer and opened it. In seconds he had the coin in his teeth. “Uh, look, that coin just wants to stay near me. I can’t…” Red dropped the coin to the ground, making Gilda stop in bafflement. His companion seemed equally nonplussed. Reaching into a pack at his side, he pulled out a device that looked like a small rod with a clay pot on one end and a glass orb on the other. The glass looked full of a dark substance. He dropped the open end on top of the coin. In seconds the dark orb became even darker. Red then lifted it and put it back in the bag. Then he walked toward Gilda. Tensing, the griffin raised her sword. But Red stopped and looked at her with his blank expression. Then he made a shooing motion with his front hoof. Gilda paused a moment before realizing: He wanted Gilda to move so he could leave. She was blocking the door. The griffon considered trying to slice the pony in half for coming into her home uninvited. However, her cooler half one out for once. Something told her attacking this pony would end badly… very badly. She moved. Red walked out the door, with the Pegasus right behind him. Apparently she noticed the look on Gilda’s face because she said, “I know. He creeps me out too.” Gilda looked at her. “Then why are you following him?” “He knows about the power Trixie had, and I want to know more. I’m not crazy enough to think it will be all hugs and kisses if I turned myself in like she did.” “Turned herself in?” “Yeah. Got all weepy, ‘I deserve to get locked up’ stuff. Crazy talk.” “Maybe not…” The Pegasus just stared at her before hitting her face with a hoof. “I am going to catch the crazies from hanging around you nutjobs!” And then she flew off. Gilda stood there a moment, both making sure the ponies had truly left and thinking about what she had learned about Trixie. When she was sure they were far enough away, she flew off towards headquarters. She needed to report this. Trixie collapsed, her horn feeling like it was on fire. She breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath. Even as Celestia brought her under her wing, she was smiling at what the tests showed. Levitation, force fields, and especially illusions were done powerfully. Not skillfully, true, but that’s what training was for. “You have quite a bit of raw magic energy,” she said. “Not as much as Twilight, but still above average. It’s a shame you didn’t enroll. You could have been a star student.” Trixie didn’t know how to feel about that. I would have been great, but with Twilight always above her, it wouldn’t have been good enough for her parents. “I take it you want me to do something for you. In exchange for a pardon?” “Keen observation. Yes, that’s exactly what I’m planning. You’ll go to court tomorrow, where I’ll push for this. It shouldn’t be too hard. I’ve told them of the Amulet’s effects, and the fact that you turned yourself in will make you look good.” “What will I be doing?” “Training, first off. The Changeling matter is looming over us, and I need powerful magic users, ones I can trust, to help in the fight.” “You… you trust me?” Celestia smiled. “I have to. I’m hoping you’ll prove that the trust will not be misguided.” Trixie smiled. “So… are you going to train me?” Now Celestia’s smile was sad. “I’m afraid not. My schedule is busy now, I simply won’t have the time… at least, not right away. Maybe after the threat is over. Until then, I have… somecreature... that I trust to train you. Though I promise, she’s quite adept, even if she doesn’t look the part.”