Ch. 1
The knocking at her door was loud and insistent.
It also wouldn't go away.
Reluctantly, Twilight tore herself away from the book she had been reading- a very special study on languages she had borrowed from Princess Celestia- and shuffled to the front door. When she opened it there was a certain blue unicorn magician standing before her, hoof raised to knock again.
"Oh. Hello, Trixie, how can I help?"
"Twilight, Trixie needs you to teach Trixie how to teach other ponies." After hurriedly spitting that out, Trixie apparently realized her hoof was still raised and put it down.
The purple princess rubbed her forehead in exasperation. No matter how many times she heard it, Trixie's habit of referring to herself in the third person still grated at Twilight's sense of grammar. "Ok, that sentence had entirely too many t's. What exactly do you need?"
Trixie cleared her throat. "As you may have heard, Trixie has decided to take a break from touring for the rest of the year. To spend some more time with Trixie's family."
"I think I might have read something about it in Ponies- I mean somepony told me about the article." Ponies magazine was a secret pleasure for Twilight, one she definitely felt guilty about.
The unicorn smirked. "Your embarrassment in regards to your reading material aside, Trixie was planning to help Apple Bloom get her cutie mark. Teach her new skills and the like."
"That sounds great. So why do you need my help?"
"The last time Trixie tried to teach Trixie's sister, Apple Bloom ended up running away." Trixie wrung her hooves at the memory. "In the middle of the night. In Manehattan."
Twilight stroked her chin. "Hmm, I can see why you'd want to avoid a repeat of that... Alright, I'll help you out." She'd always enjoyed learning, as well as helping others to learn.
"Outstanding! Trixie's lessons shall start immediately!"
"Oh, I'm sorry Trixie. I actually have an appointment in Canterlot today." Twilight looked to a nearby clock. "In fact, I should start heading to the train station."
Trixie was undeterred. "Then Trixie shall shadow you and learn by example."
"Fine..." There was no escaping it, and her appointment was going to be irritating enough on its own. Might as well save her fighting spirit for later.
Together, unicorn magician and alicorn princess quickly trotted to the local station. There they spotted a familiar yellow pegasus.
"Fluttershy!"
Fluttershy turned when she heard her name. "Hey Twilight, hey Trixie."
"It's good to see you again." Trixie gave her recently-made friend a polite hug.
Twilight's embrace was less restrained. "You were supposed to be back days ago! What happened? Did something go wrong?"
"Oh, no." Fluttershy reassured the princess. "In fact, it's the opposite. So many griffins volunteered that I just had to stay a few more days to help trained them."
"I wish you'd sent a letter so everypony could've greeted you as you got here."
Fluttershy frowned. "Speaking of everypony, how are they?"
"If you mean Rarity and Applejack, bad. They still won't even speak to each other." Twilight matched the pegasus' expression with a grimace of her own.
"Applejack even snapped at Trixie when Trixie tried to help." Trixie looked down at her hooves. "Trixie probably shouldn't have done that..."
"Fluttershy, Trixie and I have to catch our train. It'll be leaving soon." To punctuate Twilight's statement, the train's whistle blew. "I'll see you later." There was another round of hugs, then Twilight and Trixie boarded.
The two had the car almost to themselves. Trixie, used to having to hack through mobs of fans to find her seat, naturally found this quite perplexing.
Twilight couldn't find much amusement in her companion's discomfort. She was dreading this meeting, almost as much as she feared the subject of it.
Her mood didn't go unnoticed by her new student. "Trixie thought you'd be happy to vist Canterlot. You grew up there, didn't you?"
"It's not where we're visiting that's bothering me. It's who we're visiting." As well as why, but she didn't mention that. She sighed.
"So who are we meeting?" Trixie pressed.
"We're going to talk with the most aggravating unicorn rapper in Equestria."