“If you would, please, tell me about the Ursa and Alicorn Amulet incidents.”
Unfortunately for Trixie, as Luna asked her question, she had been mid-sip of her coffee. The frightened gulp at having to describe those rather dramatic incidents of her life caused her drink to go where it wasn’t supposed to. Her throat and lungs burned as the liquid went down, sending her into a coughing fit as her body tried to expel the invading drink.
“Trixie dear, are you alright?!”
Trixie heard the worry in Luna’s voice, and the jostling as the princess stood up, but all she could do in response was put up a forehoof to command her to stop. After about a couple more seconds she could catch her breath enough to say something.
“I-I’m, I’m okay,” Trixie said as she coughed a few more times before clearing her throat.
“It was not my intention to have distressed you so my dear,” Luna said, reaching out to Trixie with a comforting hoof.
“Yeah, well, you did kind of start off with asking about two of the worst moments of my entire life,” Trixie replied, her face marked with the half-lidded eyes of irritation. A second later, however, her eyes shot open, and she felt a blush quickly forming.
“Er, not that such a thing is wrong, princess. You’re free to ask me about anything you wish after all. Heh heh,” she added, a nervous chuckle hoping to cover her embarrassment.
She really had to go and sass a princess, didn’t she? Now she was going to get all mad and upset, probably cancel the dinner and….
“My apologies, Trixie. I should have approached the issue with more tact.”
“Huh?” Trixie replied.
Wait, she wasn’t mad?
“Though I have heard about the incidents from Twilight Sparkle…”
Oh of course she had to be involved in this somehow. Trixie didn’t even want to think about how Twilight portrayed her in them. Sure, they had sort of left on good terms, but that didn’t mean Twilight was going to give a glowing review of her to the princess after all she did, right?
“In order to truly understand the situation, I wish to hear the events from your own mouth. If the issue is truly so personal, though, then you do need to feel as if you have to…”
“No, no, it’s my fault for snapping at you,” Trixie said, shrugging her shoulders with a sigh,”It’s just…normally when somepony brings those incidents up it’s not exactly for the greatest of reasons.”
“I presumed as much from your dreams.”
“Yeah….” Trixie said, gently tugging at her cape in her hooves as a sort of comforting motion, “But, if you really want to hear about it, I guess I don’t mind.”
The small, little smile on Luna’s face when she said that was of great comfort to Trixie.
“Yes, I would very much appreciate it.”
Taking a deep breath, the showmare began.
“Well, I guess I’ll start with the Ursa incident…”
“But before you do, how about something to fill up your bellies?”
Trixie turned to watch, and instantly felt a little drool drip from her mouth as the largest smorgasbord of food she had ever seen was being carted towards her. Apples, grapes, oranges, watermelon…some other kind of fruits she didn’t know about but who cared because they looked delicious! That didn’t even start to get into the vegetables, breads, and cheeses that were also on the tray.
“Why thank you Miss Soufflé. It looks absolutely delicious…and I think our guest thinks so too.”
Snapped out of her hunger induced stupor, Trixie wiped the drool from her mouth as she heard the princess and who she assumed was the chef give a little laugh.
“Sorry, it’s just I’ve been living off oatmeal bars and water for the last few weeks so just…wow.”
“Don’t be afraid to dig in then,” Souffle said, throwing some grapes, cheese, and bread on a plate and placing it in front of Trixie, “Because that sounds like a terrible diet, and no one is going to leave this castle feeling hungry.”
As Trixie began to happily indulge in the practical banquet in front of her, she watched as their drinks were refilled. Once the chef was dismissed, and she had swallowed the half a chunk of cheese she had stuffed in her mouth, she turned her attention back to the topic at hoof.
“A-anyway, should I get started then?”
Luna gave a simple nod. Figuring a little graphical representations would help, Trixie dug back into her memories of the whole thing as well as a spell she had picked up during her time under the Alicorn Amulet’s influence. Even if she couldn’t do the most powerful spells like she had been, summoning up a little magical reflection of her memories in the pinkish-aura of magic was doable enough. Glancing at Luna, she felt a little warm feeling of pride bubble up at the alicorn’s look of surprise. At least she was able to impress her with something.
“It all started in Ponyville, where I was doing a show. I was being magnificent of course, doing some of my usual tricks and stuff, when I bragged about having defeated an Ursa Major. Suddenly, I started to hear some under the breath heckling from the audience.”
The magic screen showed Trixie on stage, performing some tricks before focusing on an orange pony with straw-like hair, a hard to not notice rainbow-mane pony, and a rather elegantly white coated pony with twirly, purple hair. Or, as Trixie found out during the whole Alicorn Amulet incident, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.
“Since I don’t exactly appreciate being heckled, I decided to throw a challenge out to the audience in hopes of luring them out. To no surprise, the hecklers took the bait, and I proceeded to best them at their own games,”
As the screen showed her hog-tying Applejack, spinning Rainbow Dash like a top, and turning Rarity’s hair into a complete and utter mess, Trixie glanced at Luna. The princess did not look so pleased at it, watching with a rather neutral expression that worried Trixie. After all, for a showmare, having no reaction at all was worse than no reaction whatsoever. Hopefully this was simply royal stoicism in action.
“I, uh, kind of admit I might have gone a bit overboard with it,” she replied, giving a sheepish grin, “But it was my show and I felt like I had to punish them for interrupting me like that.”
The princess raised an eyebrow, but otherwise she simply sipped at her tea quietly. Not being a fan of awkward pauses, Trixie pushed on.
“But, well, it seems there was a couple foals that were inspired by my show. They kept bugging me, asking if they could do anything for me. Of course I like to indulge my fans, so I let them do some errands for me.”
She showed an image of a tall, lanky orange foal and a stubby, rather round foal with a greenish-blue coat giving her a hayshake as she brushed her mane.
“Those would be the Snips and Snails that Twilight informed me about, is it not?” Luna asked.
Trixie nodded.
“Yep, and that was the last I saw of them till later that night when they banged on my door. I tried to figure out what it was they wanted when, well…”
Not wanting to see this part, Trixie looked away. On the screen showed the image of her running from her house as the Ursa stomped on it, destroying absolutely everything she knew.
“Apparently, they had brought the Ursa for me to battle. How was I supposed to know they believed my act!” Trixie said, throwing her forelegs up in exasperation, “But anyway, since it was now life or death I attempted to valiantly fight the Ursa…and got my plot handed to me. It was after that when Twilight showed up and saved the day.”
The screen showed Trixie’s failed attempts to subdue the Ursa, and then Twilight Sparkle’s arrival and putting the giant star bear to sleep. Seeing as this was the most important part, Trixie just let her memory of her running away play on as she kept on talking.
“ But you know what? All everypony talks about is how I ‘ran away’ or ‘cried like a little baby’, bu that’s not even close to what happened! Sure, if Twilight hadn’t showed up I’d probably be Ursa food right now, but I at least tried to take it down myself!” Trixie said, slamming her legs on the table, teeth grinding just a little bit as her memories shifted to her wagons being vandalized and ponies mocking her.
“All my work, all I had, gone, and no one even cares that it wasn’t my fault in the first place. No, all they care about is that Twilight saved the day and that ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’ got taken down a notch.”
Her breathing turned into an angry snort, but one look at the now rather wide-eyed Luna brought Trixie back to the reality of her situation. Here she was practically yelling at the princess in rage. If she was trying to show she had moved on, well, she was doing an awful job wasn’t she? Sheepishly, she sunk back into her cushion.
“I-I’m sorry. It’s just…I guess it still bothers me more than I thought it did,” Trixie said, sniffing just a little to try and hold back some of the tears she could feel forming at the corner of her mouth.
“There is no need to apologize Trixie,” Luna said as she placed down her cup, simply looking at her with a serene smile, “It was my hope to get your side of the story, emotions included. For the record, I would like to commend you for attempting to battle the Ursa despite knowing your chances of victory were slim. It shows a greater sense of responsibility than these other ponies are apparently giving you credit for.”
“Thank you,” Trixie said, giving a deep breath to try and calm herself down. Even if Luna was simply trying to be nice, it still felt nice to have a pony thank her for at least trying to deal with the Ursa.
“What I am interested in, then, is how did you come to possess the Alicorn Amulet? Such rare and dangerous artifacts should not have been available to you.”
The screen shifted to a small back alley in Canterlot, the dark and rainy atmosphere providing a nice setting for the scene as it showed a cloaked Trixie running into an antique shop of some sorts.
“Well, during a trip to Canterlot I had wandered into this shop. I was just browsing around when I saw it. I didn’t know what it was at the time, but when I asked the shopkeeper about it he told me the story of this amulet that had ‘great but dangerous power’. I figured, of course, it was probably all exaggerations cause that’s how stories went. All I knew is that this amulet supposedly offered power, and that I wanted it.”
A grim look flashed across Luna’s face.
“I must make note to send somepony to investigate this shopkeeper….”
Trixie gave a nervous laugh.
“To be fair, he originally didn’t want to sell me. I had to get a seriously large amount of gold to get him to give in.”
The screen briefly showed Trixie sweating over a rock, a pickaxe hammering away at it.
“Let me tell you, rock farming is not the most lucrative of careers. And honestly, it didn’t help my mindset either. The family I was with weren’t the greatest talkers, and when you’re left out in the fields all day to stew in your own thoughts bad things just get worse.”
“I know the feeling well, Trixie,” Luna said, giving her coffee cup a rather solemn look. Trixie felt like there was something else trying to be said, but her mind couldn’t quite make the connection.
“Anyway, all I could think about was how the Ursa incident went, how Twilight had gotten all the spotlight and attention and love and all I got for it was being mocked. I just…I just had to beat her, you know? That was what I had always done when I got heckled. Bring the offending pony up, and just humiliate them. So of course I had to do the same to her. But then the newspapers came, and I heard story after story about what she had done. Discord, the wedding, saving the Crystal Empire. I knew was going to battle her, I needed to get stronger, and that was what the Amulet was going to do for me.”
Trixie shifted the screen to show an image of her plopping down the giant bag of gold coins on the shop counter, and then proceeding to put on the amulet. She then showed her magic duel with Twilight.
“And the amazing thing to me was, it worked! I had beaten her and got to kick her out of her town like how I had gotten chased out. It was the best revenge I could get!”
With that, Trixie blinked off the screen, her horn no longer glowing as she looked down at her own cup.
“But, after that, my memories start becoming a blur. I mean,I know what horrible things I did in that town, but it didn’t exactly feel like me, you know? Afterwards I found out about how that amulet corrupts the mind and all that, so I’m guessing that’s what keeps me from really getting a grasp on what I did during that time. But, well, I know that really doesn’t excuse it. I mean, I did go after it in the first place, and the feelings that inspired me to go after it weren’t exactly great either….”
There, she done it. She told her story to the princess, or at least her perspective of it. How she had purposefully gone out to get a dangerous artifact in order to torture and be cruel towards a pony who had honestly done no real harm to her simply to enact some petty revenge. How Luna reacted was up to her, but Trixie honestly had low expectations on how this was to turn out. She had been better than most ponies by now, but after seeing all that, all Trixie hoped was she would let them would finish this meal in silence and then never speak to each other again.
So when Trixie found herself being draped with the dark blue wing of the princess, she was more than a little shocked. Just as shocking was she couldn’t help but sink into it with a snuggle, enjoying the warmth of the princess’s body. Something about being in her embrace just felt safe and comfortable, especially after finding herself so emotionally drained.
“What you did was wrong Trixie, but I can tell that you are indeed sincere in your regret,” she heard Luna say, “But there is one thing that I would like to know before we move on to more pleasant topics. After all that has happened, you still desire to be a showmare? Why is that? Would it not simply be easier to try a different career?”
As comfortable as Luna’s embrace was, Trixie had to gently push her back. Taking a deep breath, and wiping away a stray tear or two from her face, she straightened her back up and looked Luna dead in the eye with a smile.
“Because if I did that, I wouldn’t be The Great and Powerful Trixie, would I? I love the stage, the feel of having an audience watching you and being amazed as you perform feats beyond their imagination. I know I haven’t exactly been the greatest pony in the world, but if I let all this stop me, then I don’t deserve the title ‘Great and Powerful’.”
Her little moment of strength seemed to have the effect she wanted as Luna responded to it with a smile…though the little laugh she gave was a bit unintended.
“My, you are quite the mare, Great and Powerful Trixie.”
“I’ve been told that from time to time,” she replied, enjoying the levity of the moment as she gave a bit of a smarmy grin.
“Yes, I would presume so. There is much in you that reminds me of my younger self, dear Trixie, and I truly believe that with some care and guidance great things may be possible. Which is why, if you would do me the honor, I would like you to take a sabbatical from your travels in order to come to the castle as my student.”
Trixie gave a laugh, “Oh, Princess Luna, I would be….”
Wait, what did she just say? Trixie paused mid-bashful turn away, a standard reaction to compliments in order to at least appear somewhat humble, to contemplate what Luna had just said to her. Her head whipped back, staring at Luna with wide eyes.
“Wait, did you just say your student? Like, I’d be working for you and you’d be my mentor? That kind of student?”
Trixie watched as Luna nodded, a devilish little smile appearing as she tilted her head in a manner that Trixie could only interpret as being teasing.
“Yes, that is exactly what I said my dear Trixie. I take it that such an offer is not inappropriate, is it?”
The showmare’s heart was beating a mile a minute as she frantically waved her forelegs.
“N-no, of course not. It’s an absolutely wonderful offer that I would love to take. It’s just so unexpected and…”
“Do you not believe yourself to be worthy of such an honor, Trixie?”
The alicorn’s laughter caused Trixie to blush, realizing she had been caught in a trap of sorts. If she said no, that would be questioning Luna’s judgement, which was bad. If she said yes, well, that was kind of egotistical, and as much as Trixie wished to say yes she knew showing an ego at this moment would be quite bad.
“Uh, well, I mean, if you feel like I am worthy of such a thing then I guess I am?” Trixie said, hoping it would satisfy the still laughing princess.
“Such a diplomatic response. Seems we may have to skip a few lessons in politics, my dear student.”
Trixie joined in the laugh, blushing just a little at being caught dumbfounded in this situation. Still, embarrassment couldn’t stop her from grinning. She was going to be the apprentice to Princess Luna. Never in all her life had she thought such a thing possible. Granted, for most of her life Princess Luna didn’t exist, but still, she had never thought becoming a princess’s student was in her future.
“Now then, let us see if we can persuade the royal sommelier if she would be willing to part with some quality wine to celebrate this occasion.
“If she’s part of the staff, why would she not give it up? I mean, you are the princess after all.”
Luna laughed.
“You would think that the case, but it seems that Miss Acescence is quite protective of ‘her’ wine as she calls it, and rarely allows it to be drunk at the inappropriate time. Even my sister has to occasionally beg to simply eat dinner without being lectured on what is the ‘correct’ food to be eating with the wine she orders.”
As the two mare’s continued to enjoy their meal in merriment, and eventually convincing Acescence to part with a particularly high quality vintage of wine, they were unaware of a third guest to their little dinner. For sitting on the roof above the balcony, having been surprisingly quiet this evening, was a grayish-brown bird with yellow-red eyes and a little goatee. Upon hearing the offer of apprenticeship being extended to the silver-maned mare, Discord had to give a bit of a laugh
“My, my, my, seems Luna has finally decided to make this castle a little more interesting….”