Chapter 5: Which Includes Trixie's Cooking
A re-cap for those who don't feel like going back a chapter and just reading the last paragraph:
Trixie found out one of Twilight's most devastating secrets! The books in the library are actually filled with diamonds and jewels! Trixie is really in love with The Great and Powerful Trixie! Those burnt pancakes were really just overcooked! The shower scene was really deleted temporarily! It takes a third of a Twilight to screw in a light bulb! The stage they're on was really Diamond Tiara the whole time! Suddenly, Pinkie Pie! This world is really just Earth 2! The author for this story has gone insane! None of these events I've said are true!
Well except for one...
Hurry up and lose sleep over that.
***
The Flushed and Embarrassed Trixie had just asked a very awkward question to the mare she secretly loved dearly. Her hooves were moist from sweat, her neck ached from giving her gaze to the wooden floor below, and her eyes were shut tight, not being able to look at the entranced Twilight Sparkle across from her. This lavender unicorn, however, was not in any kind of hypnotic state. She had only been faking it since the showmare was so happy her magic trick, that wasn't any kind of actual magic, worked flawlessly. To be in this kind of predicament was quite awkward to say the least. Here she was, receiving an order to confess her true feelings to the silver maned mare she admired deeply. Why did she ask for such information? How this mare truly felt about her...
'Does she only want to hear how she is just a friend?’ Twilight thought. 'Maybe a very good friend? Best friend? Or...' she hesitated in her thoughts. 'To admit that I think she's more than a friend. Is that what she wants? The entire truth of how I have really thought of her up to now? I just don't know what to say.' Quietly she stood in front of the azure equine. Her eyes kept fearfully shut in order to keep up this act, her lips quivering as if she was keeping the truth in her head, and her body shaking from this order she was given without a satisfying way of execution. Would she lie and put shame to herself for not being honest, or would she confess her feelings once and for all, possibly losing Trixie forever. Making a lie up is much easier in this case, but it would be boring if she didn't express her affection verbally after all this time.
Twilight's mouth opened as she began carrying out her decision.
"Trixie, I lllo... llllloo--"
"Wait!" yelled Trixie, her hooves extended towards the striped maned unicorn in a mass panic.
"This doesn't feel right..." she murmured with her head hung in shame. This was a question she would rather hear from a Twilight that wasn't under her control.
"Trixie takes back the question, Twilight Sparkle. She was just kidding!" Lying through her teeth, the showmare managed an unconvincing grin.
Just by listening, Twilight could hear the dishonest tone in her voice. She wanted to confront the azure unicorn about it, and possibly find out if there was an ulterior motive behind it. To do this, she would have to stop her charade... Which meant upsetting Trixie even more than she already was. Would she risk that? Adding that weight to her could mess up what they have now. Twilight contemplated this carefully. 'Maybe this could be useful information later. It's not like she's leaving anytime soon. I have plenty of time to research this.' With this pondering, Twilight could relax and continue on with this act. She remained in her fake, hypnotic pose while Trixie sat down on the stage, disappointed at her own selfish question.
Seeing Twilight in her state gave the showmare a much better idea. Back on her hooves, she sneaked closer to the lavender pony. This was a good opportunity to examine her crush while she couldn't react to anything. Pacing around her, she looked at almost every angle she could think of. The curves of her body from her head to her tail, from her slender legs down to her hooves that rested gently upon her stage, that voluptuous, almost round plo-- ahem. Her fantasies were not all empty or in vain. This mare really did look attractive to her. The whole 'reading more books than physically possible' thing was also pretty cute. Speaking of which, she wished they could return to that book they were reading. Once you get into a good story part of the way, you'd like to know the rest of it. Perhaps she could look at it another time, and even get a few pointers to help out her own situation. For now, she would just look over Twilight's eased body in peace. It's not like she was aware of what she was up to.
Twilight wasn't sure what was happening around her. She heard hoofsteps and felt an occasional brush past her side. The showmare had not said another word to her after she interrupted her confession. The position she was in was getting harder to maintain. It wasn't much of a comfortable pose; the way her head didn't hang all the way down or how her legs hadn't been bent in a while. This was making those parts of her body ache quite badly. If only she could relieve this discomfort for just a second... With Trixie doing who knows what, it might be suspicious for one of her limbs to even twitch at this point.
Regardless, Twilight needed some kind of relief in order to keep up this tiring act of hers. As her front hooves curved forward slightly, she lowered her body along with it. Unfortunately, her previous prediction became half true. There was a risk for making such an easy body shift, yet the showmare may notice it. Fact was, she did notice it, and only because of Twilight's position. The bottom of the lavender mare's hooves were a bit sweaty from holding her place, so the inertia from bending her knees slid her hooves back. Falling forward onto her face, her chest was parallel to the floor while her butt was still in the air. Trixie not only noticed this, but began to chuckle at it with a hoof to her mouth. Twilight rose back up, irritated at her mistake, and sat back to relieve the rest of her aches. She looked at the silver maned mare with brows lowered inward and a raised lower lip.
"What's wrong, Twilight Sparkle? Did The Great and Powerful Trixie finally defeat you?" teased Trixie while giggling. She wanted to help the mare back up, yet her sudden fall was not only adorable, but hilarious! Her infectious laughing just kept slipping by her hoof; she couldn't help it. This victory was just too sweet for her, and she needed one for awhile. No way Twilight could spoil it now. Calming down her hysteria, she noticed the striped maned mare was now looking down at the ground before her. Seems like this showmare might have gone too far with her gloating. Even when Twilight would beat her in some strange, over analytic way, she wouldn't rub it in Trixie's face about it. In fact, the purple unicorn seemed pretty unaware of what she's done and actually apologizes for it. Perhaps this is Trixie's turn to do the same.
"Twilight." she called out. The lavender mare perked up her ears and gazed back into Trixie's eyes.
"Trixie is sorry about that sudden outburst, but she couldn't help herself," she said with a sheepish grin.
Twilight, still sitting on the ground, felt her mind lighten. Not only did she manage to break out of her make-believe hypnosis, but Trixie wasn't the least bit knowing about it. Sure, her act was no more than a lie to make Trixie think she was able to put others under her control, yet what's the harm in that? There's such a thing as a good lie just to make somepony feel better about themselves. Unless that pony happens to be Trixie who's ego loves to be fed and wears pride like it were a fashion accessory. The same pony who was approaching Twilight with a ridiculous smirk across her face.
"Still, it was too bad you couldn't see Trixie's final trick. You were too busy being completely under her control!" she exclaimed, her pupils contracted. The egghead rolled her eyes and returned the showmare's grin with her own.
"Oh, really? Sounds like a pretty impressive trick." she giggled. Trixie shifted her brow up in response to this.
"You do not believe Trixie?" questioned the showmare. As if anyone would remember what happened while they were semi-conscious. Technically, Twilight didn't have to believe her with said argument.
"Of course I do, Trixie! Why wouldn't I?" she replied.
"Well you didn't necessarily see it, since you were under a spell," Trixie pondered out loud. Case in point, the azure unicorn wasn't ignorant enough to notice it.
"It's okay because I trust you as a friend," said Twilight with a hoof on Trixie's shoulder. Red tinged over the latter pony's muzzle as she realized how much her friendship with Twilight had grown in just one day. If she liked her this much already, then maybe she really could go farther. Say they were to have another day together and the relationship keeps rising. Was mutual love with this mare possible? Even now, only a lavender hoof remained on her shoulder, yet the showmare wasn't the one who put it there. Could that same hoof wrap around her back and bring the other hoof along with it? She wanted to escape from the cage of reality and have her wonderful fantasies take place instead.
Maybe if she kept up this momentum there might be a level of affection she could reach with her. However far that may be, The Great and Powerful Trixie would reach it no matter what! There was no way she would let her dreams be in vain now. A new action must be taken now, but what could she do? She has already put on a private show for the bookworm, and that seemed to go smoothly despite the awkward question she asked near the end. While Twilight sat back down with her hooves again at her side, Trixie was glancing around the room for the third time today. Always looking for the next task on her journey, the silver maned pony noticed the clock sitting above a bookshelf across the room. The big hand was pointing to six and the little hand pointed between six and seven. This means it was six-thirty, getting closer to sun setting, and that means...
"Twilight Sparkle, Trixie has a proposition!" she declared gallantly, facing a rack of books on the other side of the room. Twilight had never moved off the stage because she didn't want to interrupt Trixie's strange room searching this time. With the silver maned mare pointed away from her at a long distance, she couldn't quite hear what she said.
"You're having a premonition?!" she yelled across the room. To the librarian, hypnosis and mental visions of the future seemed to be related.
"Are you sure you're not a psychic pony, Trixie?!" she inquired loudly. Trixie couldn't believe what she was hearing as her mouth hung open and her eyelids semi-closed in disgust. Turning back to the lavender mare, she made her way back to the front of the stage.
"Are you deaf? Trixie said she had a proposal," said the slightly irritated magician. The question whether Trixie was a psychic or not would have to wait for another time. For now, Twilight stepped over to the front of the stage, looking down at the cross armed unicorn, who was still just a tiny bit annoyed with repeating herself, though looking up at the lovely round face of that pony dissolved whatever was left of that feeling. Her idea could now come into fruition.
"Dinner tonight shall be cooked by the magic of The Great and Powerful Trixie!" she announced proudly. This was another chance to get closer to Twilight and finally seal the deal of an eternity together. The latter being Trixie's fantasy, rather than what was actually going to happen. Having story chapters after this one supported this argument. That being said, the purple unicorn dropped down in front of Trixie and turned her head to meet those purple eyes with her own. A sweet, sincere expression was made to this showmare with the corners of her mouth pushed upwards.
"You're going to cook tonight? I never thought I'd ever hear you say that," indicated Twilight. A meal constructed by her one and only pony, yet just for her and nopony else? Well, besides herself, of course, but still it was mostly for her, right?
"Well, Trixie doesn't have many opportunities to prepare meals for others. Especially herself," Trixie admitted as her head tilted up with a sheepish grin. An ugly realization dawned on Twilight and her upper eyelids fell halfway
"Trixie... Have you ever done any cooking before?" she asked cautiously, afraid of her worst fears being answered. The showmare scoffed and groaned with her neck twisting back and forth with each disgusted noise she made. Eventually she stopped and hung her head, staring at the ground.
"Not exactly. Usually Trixie's food is brought to her. She has never had to provide for herself," admitted Trixie. It wasn't surprising that Twilight was a little baffled by this.
"Never provided for yourself? But you've travelled all over Equestria haven't you? What did you do for food?" asked the concerned mare.
"Like I said, Trixie's food is brought to her. She ate at cafes that were in the towns she visited. Never was she required to make her own meals," explained the showmare.
"What about travelling from place to place? You would have to eat during trips too," Twilight argued. She just couldn't believe the mare she loved, not being able to provide for herself. A caravan that can unfold into a stage with decorations all around it. How could she not be so self-sufficiant? Trixie continued with her reasons.
"That's true, but Trixie just bought food at a nearby shop and stored it in her caravan. She was always prepared!" she boasted.
"I see..." began Twilight as she pointed at Trixie. "So that's why you looked so famished when you got here." she sighed with another one of her 'I'm concerned for you' looks. Trixie took it as an 'I pity you' look.
"Trixie will have you know that she has been on a diet, recently. That should explain why her waistline is exceptionally thin," she lied, though the striped maned mare could easily see through her.
"Well in that case, how about I make us both some soup for dinner tonight?" said Twilight; her face showed a coy smile.
"That doesn't sound so ba-- wait a minute!" shouted Trixie as she towered over the lavender mare. "Trixie specifically said she was the one cooking! Did you really think you could trick her, Twilight Sparkle?" Actually, she did think that, but Twilight preferred that the argument didn't escalate. Instead, she shook her head with the same embarrassed expression. The showmare backed down, diminishing her anger towards Twilight.
"Then it's settled. Trixie shall prepare her own special soup blend tonight," proclaimed Trixie with her forelegs crossed over her chest. Luckily, she didn't hear Twilight make an abrupt gulp after her declaration. A wave of fear could be seen covering the poor lavender mare, though. 'Am I going to live through this?' she wondered. Would Trixie's cooking be the end for this well-known protege of Celestia?
"Come along Twilight. Trixie does not know your food preparation area that well. Please show her all the cooking utensils," ordered Trixie. However, Twilight wasn't moving an inch. She was paralyzed by fear of what concoction this showmare could make her eat. No matter what it will be, the washroom seemed like it was going to be her best friend tonight. A slight pain could be felt near the top of her rump. Being immobilized by the dreadful experience that awaits her in the future, she didn't notice the floor was moving beneath her. As her neck turned seventy degrees to the left, she saw Trixie walking behind her with her tail clenched by the azure unicorn's teeth. She was being dragged to her doom and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
Reaching the kitchen, Trixie let go of the stiff mare's tail. Cupboards flew open as she took a good look around to familiarize herself where everything was. While searching among Twilight's wares, locating a decent sized pot for the stew, all the cupboards were suddenly slammed closed. The noise took Trixie's head back a bit in surprise and a once frozen mare now stood before her with a hair or two out of place in her mane. An almost crazed look on her face made the showmare's eye twitch a bit.
"Hold it right there, Great and Powerful Trixie!" yelled Twilight; her pupils shrunk while saying the unicorn's name. "I'll let you cook the food tonight, but it will be under my supervision! This area is perfectly organized and I refuse to watch you put a single thing out of place," she glared with fiery violet eyes. This was a side of Twilight that Trixie had not seen yet, nor did she expect. Despite that, the magician tried to reason with her... in her own way.
"Do you not trust, Trixie? She will have you know that she is very carefu-" Trixie was cut off by a louder voice.
"I don't care! This is my house and you'll follow my rules. You got that?" said Twilight with a threatening tone and squinting eyes. Though Trixie was a proud mare who wouldn't back down from a verbal confrontation, she sensed there was something to be feared about this newly discovered Twilight. Her good organization skills were noted before, yet she had no idea the purple unicorn was so ridiculously strict about it. For the time being, it would be smart to follow orders from this crazy bookworm.
"Trixie... understands, Twilight. She won't touch anything and instead will do this your way," acknowledged Trixie. Immediately after that, Twilight's behavior flipped back to normal; a victorious smirk appeared on her face.
"Good! Now let me get you a nice sized pot for you, along with some utensils and ingredients!" she beamed. Trixie couldn't help but think Twilight's recovery was ridiculously quick. Nevertheless, the showmare watched as the cupboards around the stove were flung open again: a large pot and a couple spoons laid out onto the counter. At this point, the egghead put her hoof up to her muzzle in a thinking stance. Spinning around to meet Trixie's gaze, she had a curious look on her face. Trixie shared that curiosity.
"What's wrong? Did you forget something?" inquired the silver maned unicorn. Twilight began to walk past her with her eyes still fixed on Trixie.
"I thought I had left a recipe book lying around over here. Hang on a second while I get it," she said as she left the room. Once gone, Trixie noticed a piece of paper lying on the ground where Twilight just was. Her horn illuminated, and a bubbly blue aura brought the note to her. She scanned over the title and immediately recognized the word 'recipe.' Having put two and two together, she turned to call out the departed mare.
"Hey Twili--" she muted fast. A better idea had come to mind, one that should make her look good. Approaching the stove, she plopped the pot on a burner and used her horn to twist the dial to the high setting. Honestly, she didn't know how the stove worked, but a high setting should give her the speediest results. Glancing back the note, she scanned over the components. This is where her first problem comes in. No matter how hard she squinted, the writing just couldn't be made out that well. 'Didn't Twilight write this?' her pondering started. 'How could such a scholar and overly tidy mare like her have cursive writing this bad? This makes reading chicken scratches seem easy!'
Still looking at individual words, Trixie managed to compare the scribbles to actual, readable words. One ingredient seemed to be several cups of plain old water, which she poured into the heating pot carefully before looking back at the recipe. Another part looked like it said something along the lines of 'manorange soup,' or perhaps just orange soup. Groaning at this inconsistent drivel, drew her head back in frustration. It was then when she saw a vial with an orange liquid in it sitting in a holder of some sort, with other colored containers accompanying it. Raising up what could be the 'orange soup,' she shrugged and let the thick substance flow into the boiling water. Woosh went a puff of red smoke into the air. Beginning to sweat, Trixie looked to the opening to the next room to make sure Twilight hadn't seen or heard that. Nothing but silence befell her ears: a relief at best.
Taking a peek at the list again, she sounded out the word, "cah-hat wer-st-ies?" She took a moment on the second word, staring at each letter. Maybe it's suppose to be 'cat whiskers' or 'hat with tie?' Actually the first one was more likely to be it, but where would, or for that matter, why would Twilight keep cat whiskers lying around? With that question in mind, her blank stare caught the spice rack right above her head. Her eyes followed her hoof as she examined each small container with multicolored grains mixtures inside them. Second from the end of the row sat a large bottle with long strands of thin, black string. There wasn't a label on it, but the hair-like twine bared familiarization of what cat whiskers look like. Referencing the recipe again, a measurement wasn't given with this specific part. Repeating her first reaction to the questionable item, she rose her shoulders up again and dumped the entire bottle into the pot. No smoke shot out this time, fortunately.
After more puzzling letter arrangement deciphering, Trixie manages to add more oddly colored liquids and various strange objects to her brew. Taking note of the final directions on the slip of paper she found on the ground, she put the cover onto the pan, keeping the dial on a high setting. This was her way of simmering as the recipe stated. Vials and bottles, now empty of their contents, were returned where they came from. After just a few minutes, the soup would be ready. Suddenly, there was a slight tremor that shook the room, caused by several objects making impact on the floor behind Trixie. She jumped and spun around to find the source of the noise. Standing in front of a horde of stacked books was a panting lavender unicorn who lost control of carrying said books when she saw the sight of a boiling pot. Regardless of her huffing and puffing, a crazed frown and narrowed brows had formed on Twilight's sweat covered face.
"I told you... this would be..." she huffed, trying to catch her breath. "...under my supervision!" Making her way to the stove, she took off the cover to the pot so she could see what the showmare had done. Not even that long of a glance and her eyes fell back on Trixie.
"How did you..." managing to breathe normally now. "How did you make this without a recipe?" inquired Twilight who had, somehow, calmed down a little bit. Looking back at her, Trixie should have showed her the recipe that Twilight was looking for. Instead of doing the right thing, however, she came up with a tiny fib to make her look good instead.
"Trixie made her very own recipe, one that her mother used to make! She remembered it from her childhood," tricked Trixie. Twilight gave a half-hearted stare in response.
"Why didn't you mention this to me before?" she asked with irritation in her words.
"A surprise! Trixie wanted it to be a surprise, Twilight Sparkle," she told another lie. Twilight noticed the place around them. Despite the tons of books behind her, the entire room was completely spotless. Not a spill or even a drop could be seen anywhere. She supposed the fact that nothing really went wrong was good enough for her to lighten up.
"A surprise, huh? I like this surprise!" replied Twilight with a sweet smile from ear to ear. The showmare was able to ease down. Somehow she had calmed the beast for the time being. Whatever happens later, she could take care of when she comes to it. As of right now, Twilight's smile was lighting up her muzzle in a warm, red hue. A look she had kept close to her heart and looked back upon for support. Now that this nightmare was over, they could finally sit down and eat. Twilight took liberty of setting the table with two large bowls of 'Trixie's' homemade soup. They both sat down and stared at their own bowls respectively. It was here they got a good look at the final product.
The soup was a putrid, blackened purple mixture, an assortment of unknown objects with spontaneous bubbling occurring around the solid chunks of black. Thankfully, the blend had little-to-no scent, so it only looked disgustingly inedible. Twilight looked back up at the same time as Trixie did, both exchanging cringing looks. Showing which of them had more courage, Twilight picked up her spoon with her glowing horn and scooped some of the foul stew up towards her lips. Trixie leaned forward in anticipation for the worst kind of outcome. The spoon tilted towards the lavender mare's mouth and she gulped it down swiftly. Opening her shut eyes of disdain, a sickening frown was displayed. This was something Trixie couldn't let her go through with.
"Twilight, you don't have to eat Trixie's horrib-" was all she got out before being interrupted by Twilight.
"This is really good!" her frown turned into a delighted grin. Immediately, the bowl was raised up and swayed forward, letting the purple mare chug the entire bowl down in one straight chug. Her joyful face revealed again, she licked her lips thoroughly. Trixie was dumbfounded and in a state of complete disbelief. Out of curiosity, she also gave this concoction of hers a taste test. To her surprise, it tasted like her tongue died and went to pony heaven. How could she make something this good? Sure, she followed the directions on Twilight's recipe slip, but she never expected for it to be this satisfying. Mimicking Twilight before, her own bowl rose up to her lips as she nursed the entire contents of the dish down. With one last gulp, the bowl slammed back on the table and the showmare let out a relaxed breath. They both could agree that this particular blend Trixie made deserved some sort of medal or award. Twilight felt the urge to give appraisal at that very moment.
"That was wonderful, Trixie! I didn't think you'd be such a natural cook," she assured with her hoof extended on the table and a dreamy look in her eyes. The Great and Powerful Trixie had finally done it! Not only did she impress the mare of her dreams, but she had a lovely look in her eye, and a hoof that seemed to invite hers. Time to finally claim her prize.
"Aw, it was nothing, Twilight. I guess I just have a knack for good cooking," cooed Trixie as she reached her hoof out. Just to make things clear, this was no dream. Once Trixie's hoof managed to unite with Twilight's, both of their hearts jumped in sync. Following that was a sudden static shock, forcing their hooves apart. The lavender unicorn held her burning hoof to her chest.
"What the heck was that?" she winced in pain.
"Trixie isn't sure. She just felt a--" distracted by Twilight's horn that veiled with the color blue, she stopped in the middle of her sentence. It was then, Twilight noticed, the showmare's horn also sparked a color. Instead of its usual blue, it matched her purple aura instead. Without much time to prepare, the duo felt a strange energy pulling at them. This force tugged at them roughly and made their bodies move, regardless of how much they struggled. Not too long into this, they realized that they weren't being randomly pulled in a direction. It was their horns that were dragging them to each other. As much as they both wanted this, the exertion just wasn't natural to them. They wanted to come together through love and harmony, not some voodoo magic!
Finally their horns had met and and an onslaught of white flashes lashed out all around them. Both their eyes were slammed shut as they grunted while trying to push each other away. Their horns had felt like their attachment to each other was permanent and had no way of breaking that bond. It wasn't until both mares gave up that a completely opposite force exploded between them, sending them flying in opposite directions. Twilight collided with the front door, while Trixie caught the edge of the opening into the kitchen which spun her to the floor. Having the wind knocked out of both of them put them out of commission for a while.
At least until the next chapter.
***
Author's Notes:
Another chapter down and more to come! I'm seriously not trying to up my word count with each chapter! I want to get to a certain point in the story and keep it hanging there for the next part to pick up. So by coincidence It's almost hitting 5,000. I'm sorry if that's a bit too long for some people. Even I think it's an intimidating number for one chapter... Anyway, Lesson Zero Twilight was going to be introduced sooner or later in the story. I've foreshadowed this pretty lightly with the organization remarks. It's only when Trixie is threatening to move her things around, that she kind of freaks out. Hopefully, it's not too over the top. Trixie is susceptible to fear as shown when she faced the Ursa Minor, so I thought it was all appropriate.
Oh, the whole horn shock thing? It's explained next chapter, don't worry. It's not that random.