//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Fresh and Familiar Faces // Story: Return Of The Showmare // by Horizon Spark //------------------------------// Chapter 4 Fresh and Familiar Faces RING!! RING!! The school bell rung loudly as students started to file into their morning classes. Trixie looked into her saddlebag where she saw some of the supplies she was told to buy before the first day of school. “Okay everything’s in here, now I just gotta get to my classroom. Room 106 I think it is?” She walked down the hall where she immediately found what she was looking for. Her morning classroom where many fillies were already at their desks conversing with the other students. She trotted towards her desk where she quietly sat and waited for the class to start. “As a magician you must show confidence to those around you, including your classmates. The amazing Silver Wand wants you to go in there and,amaze the students and make a friend or two while you’re at it.” Trixie thought about her mother's words. Showing confidence was something Trixie was rather good at doing. But she never made friends with other fillies, even back at her old school. The closest she ever gotten was this one magenta colored mare. Cheerilee, wasn’t it? The bell cut off her thoughts as students started to silence themselves, as did Trixie. Seconds later, a middle-aged stallion walked into the classroom. He wore a silver-colored vest and had a blue coat, a white slick back mane, and a golden laurel wreath as cutie mark. He cleared his throat in a lofty manner as he smiled. “Good morning children, my name is Professor Top Marks,” he spoke in a well-respected voice as he wrote his name on the board. “Good Morning professor!” the class said in unison. “Please, you may call me Mr. Marks if you want, I’m fine either way.” He walked in front of his desk as he scanned his classroom. “With that said I welcome each and everyone of you to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. You are all here because you have shown great potential in your magical abilities, and we would like to help you draw out and expand your abilities. So that one day, you’ll become amazing scientist, magicians, or anything else you want to become when you're older.” Many students ‘oohed’ at the small speech their teacher gave out. Trixie herself was simply mesmerized at it. She knew that her magic still was nowhere near as good as her mother’s or other unicorns she saw in the past, but this could be her chance to finally show them her how powerful her magic can become. She squealed quietly and giddily at the thought, provoking some confused stares from her classmates. She really didn’t care though. “Now,” Top Marks started. “before we get down to business, why don’t we all introduce ourselves to each other so we can get well acquainted. Starting from the front row you can come on up and you can simply tell us your name.Then we can work our way from their.” Marks pointed his hoof to one student on the first row and he nervously walked up to the front of the classroom where he paused and looked at his classmates. “He...hello, my na...name is Gold Dust.” Then he nodded and went back to his desk. One by one more students came up to the front and introduced themselves. “Amethyst Star” “Sea Swirl” “Comet Catcher” After five more were called Trixie saw the she was next to introduce herself. As she went up to there, another thought came to her mind. ‘How should I introduce myself to them? How would mother introduce herself to the audience?’ She remembered how Silver Wand would give out a powerful yet graceful introduction on her shows, and thought something like that would be a good thing. ‘Although I’ll need to be subtle about this. She stood at the front where she closed her eyes, breathed in and out slowly, then grinned coyly at the others. “Fillies and gentlecolts, I am the daughter of the the amazing magician, Silver Wand. And while I may not be as great as her, my magic is still rivaled by few. I have many names, but you may all call me: Trixie Lulamoon!” A flourish of miniature sparks flown from her horn as she raised her arms in a dramatic pose. All the students, and Marks just stared at Trixie with slacked jaws. Then one student giggled at the sight of the little performance, which spiraled into a flourish of laughter and applause from the others. Trixie looked at the others with a mix of confusion and worry, just wondering if her introduction was too much. Or maybe it was too little, and it needed more fireworks. She wouldn't have time to ponder when the teacher put his hoof on her shoulder. “Alright Miss Trixie, how about you go back to your seat. Without disrupting the class more.” She hung her head as she slowly walked back to her desk among the now calming down students. ‘Way to make a good first impression’ she thought to herself as she lowered her face onto the desk. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “And done,” Twilight said as she finished writing on her papers. It had been a good thirty minutes since she sent spike to take their guest on the tour of the castle, and she was ready to enact her plans. “Now all that’s left is to meet up with the girls. Owlowiscious can you come down here please?” Within a minute, Twilight’s pet owl flew towards his master and landed in front of her. “Hoo.” “I need you to take each of these scrolls to my friends as quickly as you can, okay?” “Hoo,” he said while giving a salute with his wing and flew off. Twilight sighed as the first stage of her planed started to fall in place. “And that’s pretty much it Trixie,” Spike said as he walked down the hall leading to the kitchen where Twilight resided. “I know it’s big and all, but I’m sure you’ll get used to it.” Trixie groaned. “For our sake I hope your right. This place is far too huge for two residents. We literally walked past six bedrooms.” “Oh, don’t even get me started on that. I keep telling her that we should hire some guards or servants. The other princesses have their own royal guards, why not us?” “Because we don’t need servants or guards Spike.” Twilight answered. “Besides it’ll just feel weird to have a bunch of stallions in armor to roam around all day and night, just because I’m royalty.” “Yeah it would. But it would also make cleaning this giant place a lot easier. And what if you were attacked by some...I don’t know...an assassin.” Twilight arched an eyebrow. “An assassin, here in Ponyville?” “Hey, it can happen, especially with all the crazy stuff that’s happened in the past three weeks.” “Please Spike, that has to be the most ridic…” “I hate to admit it, But Trixie agrees with the dragon.” Trixie interrupted. “I mean, if I was Princess, this place would be crawling with guards, maids, and butlers all willing to serve me and only with such loyalty. All wanting to wish me a fantastic day every time I walk out the door, and would go as far as to get on their knees and beg to catch even a glimpse of my shows.” “Yeah what she said,” Spike chirped. “Minus the whole ‘you’ part.” Trixie sighed ignoring the comment. “To have loving fans like those for once…” Twilight cleared her throat loudly to get the other’s attention. “Now that you’re all done with the tour, I thought it would be nice if we all went out for a bit. You know, to get some fresh air.” Trixie looked at Twilight in suspicion. “If you’re planning something Sparkle, you might as well spit it out.” “Well, I did want you to meet some of my friends. I mean I know it’s a little early but…” Trixie used her magic to silence her. “No absolutely not Sparkle! You may be willing to look past the whole Alicorn Amulet thing, but there’s no way in tartarus the ponies out their will. Especially your friends, they all hate me. So thanks but no thanks.” “Mmh mmh mmph,” Twilight stifled through her closed mouth. “Sorry,” Trixie said as she let go of Twilight’s muzzle. “Don’t worry Trixie, it’s going to be alright.” “Ha, of course you would say something like that.” Trixie slumped, “The whole incident as many would call it, is the reason why you found Trixie like this. Ever since then hardly anypony bothers to come to my shows. And every time I pass by other ponies they’ll always ridicule me calling me tyrant, or fraud. I can’t show my face anywhere without attracting glares, and you expect me to just waltz on out there in the open?” Twilight sighed, then gave her a determined look. “You’re right Trixie, I don’t expect this to run smoothly at all. But sitting in my castle all day isn’t going to help you. Besides, are you telling me that the Great and Powerful Trixie isn’t up for a challenge?” Her ears flared up as she heard this. She noticed that Twilight was giving her that look from earlier, the same one that just made her feel weird at the sight of it. Also did she just call her out? “Whatever Sparkle, let’s just get this over with.” Just then, Owlowiscious flew right through the window and landed on the table next to Twilight. “Hoo.” “Good job Owlowiscious. Now how about we head out you guys? Uhh…Trixie?” Trixie focused her attention on the strange bird in front of her. “You have an owl as a pet? Twilight smiled. “His name’s Owlowiscious.” “Well Owl, you may refer to me as the Great and Powerful Trixie.” She said as she extended her hoof out. “Hoo” “Trixie.” “Hoo.” “Me owl, I’m talking about me.” “Hoo.” Trixie scowled at the bird. “You’re mocking me aren’t you?” Before she could expect the reply she was waiting for, Spike tapped her leg to get her attention and shook his head. “Yeah, you’re better off quitting while you’re ahead.” Trixie sighed in annoyance. “Fine.” --- The three walked through Ponyville in the mid-afternoon. Most ponies were already settled in their houses, so the streets were mostly empty except for the few ponies that still lingered. Twilight smiled as some ponies greeted, and how great the afternoon air felt to her. It dwindled however when she noticed Trixie lowering her head as she walked beside her. She looked around to see that while some ponies simply smiled and waved at their princess, some looked at her with confusion and even a hint of anger and resentment. “How are you feeling Trixie?” She said in a nervous tone. “I feel like a hundred pairs of eyes filled with hatred are just staring me down. Can Trixie go home now?” “Relax Trixie, of course there’s going to be some ponies who remember what happened in the past. But at least they’re not running you out of town with pitchforks and torches.” “Doesn’t mean that they’re not on the verge of doing that. Might as well give them a cart of rotten tomatoes while you’re at it.” Twilight sighed as she heard this from her. She then noticed Spike giving her a look of worry. “You really think having her see our friends is going to make her feel any better?” He whispered. “If this is how the residents of Ponyville act towards her, I don't think I want to see how they’ll treat her.” “Trust me Spike, I have a plan to help her. I just need their cooperation to make this work is all.” “Whatever you say, but I still don’t think this is one of your best ideas Twi.” “Trixie can hear you two you know.” She said as they tried to ignore her which made groan in annoyance. “Hey Princess Twilight!” The three stop to see two small unicorn colts running towards them. One was orange with green hair and a snail cutie mark, and the other was green with orange hair and scissors for a cutie mark. He held a small book with his magic. “Snips and Snails?” Twilight said. “What are you two doing here?” “We just wanted to give ya the book we borrowed from ya earlier,” Snips said handing her the tome. “Now we can finally pass one of Ms. Cheerilee's math quizzes. Right Snails?” Snails nodded. “Yeah, now we know that seven times seven equals sixty-four. Or was it ninety-four?” Snips face hoofed. “It’s forty-nine you dolt. But anyways we just wanted to thank ya for giving us the book. And I was wondering if…” He silenced himself when he noticed that Snails was lifelessly staring widely at something. “Hey...you alright there buddy.” “Ahh!” He yelled as he ran in the opposite direction as quickly as he can. Leaving Snips behind. “Hey, what’s your problem? What got you all worked...up?” He finally noticed what he was looking at, somepony that made his spine tingle. “Tri...Trixie?” Trixie looked at him with an annoyed glare. “Hello Snips. I guess you want to join your companion do you?” “Uhh yeah...I’m sorry Ms. Great and Powerful Trixie. It’s been...great seeing you and your...uh... greatness, but I just...got a thing...to go to BYE!” As Snips quickly ran to follow Snails, Twilight shook her head in disapproval then faced the blue unicorn. “I’m so sorry about that Trixie. I’m sure they didn’t mean that in such a bad way.” “Whatever.” Trixie kept walking down the road leaving Twilight and Spike behind. The two looked at each other with a frown then followed her behind. --- “So, does anypony know why we’re all here?” Rainbow Dash asked the others who were just as confused as her. Rarity shook her head. “Twilight did told us all to meet her here, but she did not specify why.” “Maybe she has a surprise for us!” Pinkie Pie said excitedly. “I love surprises.” “Or maybe something bad happen and we need to help her.” Fluttershy said in worry. “Well whatever it is, it best be important.” Applejack said tilting her hat. “I got some apples to check on before tha harvest.” “Isn’t that Twilight and Spike over there?” Rarity asked pointing at her in the distance. “And who is that with her?” The five looked to see that it was indeed their alicorn and dragon friend coming towards them. But what surprised them was the sight of a familiar looking blue unicorn mare trailing beside them. “Girls,” Rarity said. “is’t that Trixie?” “Yep, the same varmit from back then.” Applejack answered with a low growl. As the three came closer, Trixie started to slow down as she saw the faces of Twilight’s friends. She didn’t really recognize their names but she did recognize them from past experiences. She could easily see the glares that the cyan athlete, the orange farmer, and the alabaster designer. Yet, she saw a worried look coming from the yellow shy pegasus and the annoying pink one. “Hey girls,” Twilight said. I’m glad you all could make it here.” None of them responded as they looked at Trixie, who just stood there, lowering her head in an attempt to ignore their gazes. “Uh guys?” Twilight asked. “What’s she doing here?” Rainbow asked in a cold voice. Twilight looked at Trixie who tried her best to keep her head down. “Look girls, I can already tell where this is going a mile away. But can you please just give her a chance?” “Give her a chance!?” Applejack yelled. “That dirty little sneak took over Ponyville with that Alicorn Amulet, thingamajig, and done ran you outta town.” “And we might as well add in all the things she did back when she first came to here.” Rainbow added. “And do you remember what she did to my mane!?” Rarity shouted angrily. “Do you know how long it took me to get it back to normal? Three days, Twilight. Must’ve burned through so many hair supplies to get all that dreadful green and twigs out of my hair.” “This isn’t helping Sparkle…” Twilight looked at her friends with anger. “Listen girls, we all know that she did all those terrible things. But you can’t just look at the past and judge Trixie off of that.” “You know, I was me and Pinkie Pie wasn’t there when Trixie did her magic show. And I don’t think you were that mean when you came back.” Fluttershy said. “Yep. I was too busy with Twist’s birthday party to go to that magic show. Even though I wanted to.” “Thanks you two. Nice to see that somepony are willing to give Trixie a chance.” “Alright fine,” Rainbow said. “but what is Trixie doing here anyways? And what does this have to do with us? “Well I’m glad you asked.” Twilight then made five scrolls appear with her magic and gave each one to her friends. “I won’t go too much into it, but starting tomorrow I need you all to take some time off your hooves to help become friends with Trixie.” “WHAT!” Her friends and Trixie yelled in unison. “Yeah, that was the seemed to be a rather accurate reaction.” Spike said. “What do you mean we gotta make friends with her.” Rainbow said. “Look I just want you guys to hang out with her. She can help you with any tasks or anything else you want to do with her. And I’d rather not hear any complaints from any you Rainbow.” “Well I must say Twilight, this is quite the outlandish request you’re giving us.” Rarity said. “But I can tell this is something rather dire to you.” “Really Rarity, you're not a even a bit suspicious about this?” Trixie tapped Twilight on the shoulder to get her attention. “Sparkle, what is the meaning of this? Making friends, with them of all ponies? Is this some form of cruel and unusual punishment?” “No it isn’t Trixie, I just want to help you Trixie.” “Your...helping me?” “Yes, now, if that’s all for today, we’re going to head in for the night.” With that, Twilight, Trixie and Spike, walked back to the castle, leaving the others confused. “Well, that just happened.” Rainbow said. “Oh boy,” Pinkie squealed. “It says here that I’m getting Trixie tomorrow. She can help me with the birthday party tomorrow, and we can have a new friend!” “I wouldn't mind having Trixie as a friend.” Fluttershy whispered. “Well I must say girls, this does seem like a rather interesting turn of events.” Rarity said. “Interesting ain’t the first word I’ll use to describe it.” Applejack angrily said under her breath. "Well be it as it may, Twilight wants us to help Trixie and I personally think we should at least try to give her the benefit of the doubt." "Maybe she just wants some friends." "That's right Fluttershy. Which means that we should get ready for her arrival soon. With that, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie walked away from the meeting place leaving Rainbow and Applejack behind. "I have a bad feeling about this RD, this just don't feel right." "I hear ya. Gotta say, I ain't looking forward to any of this." --- Trixie finished up unpacking her stuff from her caravan and into her room. It been awhile since her encounter with Twilight’s friends, and she was still confused about it all. Making friends with them just seemed weird, and she had no idea what this had to do with her. ‘She’s planning something I swear.’ She thought to herself as she placed an old book on the shelf. “You alright?” She looked behind her to see Twilight entering the room with a friendly smile. “Yes Sparkle...I’m doing better.” “Good. I never got a chance to tell you how sorry I am about how you were treated back there.” “It’s alright Sparkle, I’m used to it.” “No it’s not alright. You don’t deserve to be made fun of like that. It isn’t fair to be judge like that just because of what you did back then.” Trixie growled as she turned towards Twilight. “Why are you doing this Sparkle? Why are you treating me like this? Twilight looked at her in a confused look. “What do you mean Trixie, I’m just being nice.” “That’s the point Sparkle. Helping me from my broken caravan is one thing, but letting me stay here with you, and help your friends with these frivolous tasks is definitely another thing. So why are you being so nice to me? What’s your damage? Is this some sort of revenge plan to get me back for what I did back then? You better start telling me or else.” “I’m sorry Trixie, but that’s just what friends are for.” Trixie eyes widened in surprise when she heard this, then turned her head as her cheeks blushed more than she wanted it to. “We’re not friends Sparkle. We never were, and we never will be.” “Do you want to?” Trixie looked back at the purple alicorn, surprised at the sudden question. She shook her head, “Forget it Sparkle, I’m going to bed.” As she said this, she placed a large bag on the corner of the room gently. “Hey, what’s that,” Twilight asked pointing a hoof a the rather dusty bag. “N...nothing Sparkle! Absolutely nothing! And you better not even attempt to find out what it is if you know what’s good for you. Let’s just say that it’s something close to me and leave it at that.” “Oh...alright Trixie, I promise I won’t see what it is.” “Good. Anyways, I’m going to bed now, apparently I got something important to do in the morning.” “Yeah you’re right. Night Trixie, see you in the morning.” “Night Sparkle.” As Twilight left the room, Trixie sighed as she got into the bed. Tomorrow was going to be awkward day for her. She just hoped that whatever she had planned for her, it will be worth it in the end.