//------------------------------// // Nice Going, Trixie // Story: Out Of Place // by BudCharles //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle buried herself in Geological History of the Crystal Mountains.   So fascinating, she thought, to think they used to be a sea floor!   Her immersion was suddenly disrupted when she heard her student exclaim “Trixie could do this easily!”   Twilight peered over Trixie’s shoulder, her expression turning to one of dread. “Uh, Trixie, I’m not sure that’s really a good idea – that spell is experimental, and highly complicated.”   “Nonsense, the Great and Powerful Trixie is more than capable!” Trixie snorted.       Twilight tried to protest again, but it was too late, Trixie’s horn had already begun to glow. A large aura of light surrounded the two of them for a few moments, then dispersed into the surrounding air – it looked as if nothing had changed.   “See, Trixie told you she – wait, why does Trixie’s voice sound different.”   The two ponies examined themselves in increasing horror as Twilight realised she was now Trixie, and Trixie realised she was now Twilight. Twilight gave Trixie her most menacing death stare possible.       “Uh… Trixie totally knew what she was doing”, Trixie made up on the spot. “Yeah, Trixie meant to do this!”   “Really?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. “Then I suppose you know the counter spell?”   “Well, Trixie was planning to – uh –”   Twilight raised her eyebrow further.   “Alright, fine, Trixie may have made a small mistake, and may have no idea how to reverse the spell.”       The two of them sat silently in shock for a few moments before Twilight began contemplating what to do next.   “Okay, uh… alright, it’s going to take at least a day to reverse this, which means today’s diplomatic meetings are going to be thrown off.”   Twilight’s breathing began to speed up.   “But if the diplomatic meetings are thrown off, that means the other nations will think Equestria views them as unimportant – and if they think we think they’re unimportant, they might declare war on us – and then all of Equestria could be thrown into chaos for years, and it could all be my fault!”   “CALM DOWN!” Trixie snapped. Twilight instantly got the message.   “Ah – sorry. What we should probably do is go see Celestia, she’ll know exactly how to handle this!”   With that, Twilight and Trixie held hooves and teleported straight for Canterlot.       ---       “Ahh!” Celestia squeaked as she dropped her half-eaten slice cake on the floor.   “Sorry”, Twilight replied.   Celestia quickly regained her composure and smiled at the two of them, wiping the icing off her muzzle as elegantly as possible. (It didn’t work.)   “That’s perfectly alright Trixie, I could probably have done without the extra ‘nutritional benefits’ anyway. Now what brings you here?”   “Well you see, that’s just the issue. I’m not Trixie.”   “You’re… not?” Celestia asked, only letting on the smallest hint of puzzlement.   “No, the actual Trixie,” Twilight began, “decided it’d be a good idea to try a complicated experimental spell – so long story short, I’m Trixie, and Trixie’s me. So we came here to ask for your help.”   “Oh.” Celestia replied.   Twilight winced. She knew Celestia better than anypony. That ‘oh’ was saved only for the direst of circumstances. Whatever was coming next wouldn’t be good.       “Well Twilight, we have a small problem”, Celestia began.   ‘Small’ meant ‘near-cataclysmic’ in Celestiese.   “The Equestrian constitution says the nation is ruled by the alicorn princesses.”   “I don’t understand,” Twilight asked, “what’s the problem?”   “Well, you’re not an alicorn… and Trixie is…”   “You’re saying -?” Twilight’s eyes widened.   “Yes – Trixie is technically a princess. It will take at least a day to change the constitution, so until then –”       Trixie jumped up and down with excitement!   “The Great and Powerful Trixie is now PRINCESS Trixie? This is the best thing ever! Of course she does deserve it, after all…”   Twilight chewed her hoof with a new-found level of anxiety even she previously thought impossible. Meanwhile, Trixie continued to brag about how great she was.   “…this is going to be so great! Wait – hold on,” Trixie finally realised, “what about Gold Star, Trixie promised to help him practice for the upcoming show today. With all this princess stuff Trixie will be unable to –“   Twilight stopped chewing her hoof and decided to reassure Trixie.   “Don’t worry,” she began, “I can help train Gold Star, he’ll understand. We can work on a counter-spell too.”   “Alright then,” Celestia interrupted calmly, “in that case Trixie, you should come with me, it is your turn to answer the public’s questions this morning.”   Before they parted ways, Twilight whispered something in Celestia’s ear. “Please, keep Trixie from doing anything crazy.”       ---       Gold Star sat in his room, eagerly awaiting Trixie’s arrival. He’d researched all the latest developments in the field of magic and couldn’t wait to share them, plus he was going to start practicing for the awesome routine Trixie had planned for him!   “Hi Trixie!” he squeaked as Twilight knocked gently on the door and entered.   “Listen, Gold Star, there was a little magic mistake,” Twilight explained, “and Trixie and I kind of switched places. So – I’m Twilight.”   “WOAH! That’s so cool! What spell did you use?”   Twilight chuckled, a little taken aback from getting the complete opposite of the response she was expecting, but glad Gold Star was happy.   “Well, I think we should get started with the practice first. I’m going to be searching for a counter-spell soon so I can tell you all about it then, alright?”   Gold Star nodded enthusiastically.   “So, what were you and Trixie planning anyway?”       Gold Star ran to the other side of his room and battled his way through a labyrinth of mess before finally locating a chalkboard with pictures drawn on it. He pulled it out, causing a series of crash sounds as the assorted toys and writing utensils covering it were grabbed by gravity.   Twilight was a little put off by the mess, but impressed with the amount of effort the young colt had put into planning this presentation.   Gold Star cleared his throat as professionally as he could, before beginning his explanation.   “So, Trixie and I will be part of a show about the three kinds of ponies working together. The Earth Ponies are going to send in their best potion experts and farmers to grow a massive series of plants, then the Wonderbolts, representing Pegasi, are going to have an awesome race through an obstacle course at the top. So what Trixie and me will be doing –”   Twilight flinched slightly at Gold Star saying ‘me’ instead of ‘I’ this time, but managed to look past it.   “– is creating an awesome obstacle course out of magic! We’re going to be making portals, magic acceleration ramps, rings of coloured fire – we’re even casting a special spell that makes music play when the Wonderbolts fly through certain areas!”   “That does sound pretty awesome,” Twilight said with a smile, “but are you sure you can pull it off? I mean those spells are highly complicated – and need a lot of precision. If something goes wrong it could be very dangerous.”   “Please Twilight?” the colt asked, tilting his head slightly and making his eyes as sparkly as possible.   “Alright,” Twilight reluctantly accepted, “since you’re so excited about it, I’ll help teach you – but before we do any of that, you’re going to have to work on precision, alright?”   “I know it’ll be hard, but I really really want to learn! And I’ll try my absolute best!” Gold Star replied.   “Okay then. Let’s get started.” Twilight smiled.       ---       “Alright my little ponies!” began Celestia, from atop her castle balcony. “I know you’re all eager for Princess Twilight to answer your questions – and indeed your questions will still be answered. However, I must inform you that due to a… technical complication and a legal roadblock… Twilight Sparkle is unavailable at the moment. So instead, the pony who’ll be answering your questions is Trixie Lulamoon, in the form of Twilight Sparkle.”   “Of course,” Trixie interrupted, pushing in front of Celestia, “the Wise and Approachable Trixie is more than qualified to answer any question!”   We’ll see about that, Celestia thought to herself as Trixie went galloping downstairs to meet the ponies lining up to see her. About half the crowd had left after hearing the news, so at least Trixie would only cause half as much damage.       First in line to see Trixie was a young filly. She raced up to Trixie excitedly and quickly bowed.   “So, what’s your question for Trixie?”   “I wanted to know,” the filly began confidently, “why does the sky look all blue?”   “Seriously?!” Trixie snapped. “You thought that was worth asking a princess! What a ridiculous question!”   The filly’s eyes filled with tears, and before Trixie knew it, the filly was crying out loud, and the crowd were staring in shock and chattering, appalled by Trixie’s response.   “Uh –” Trixie began, trying desperately to win back control of the situation. “Um, what Trixie meant to say, is that’s a wonderful question, but perhaps it’d be a better idea to ask a… science teacher… or something.”   It did nothing – the filly continued crying. Trixie shuddered, she remembered the times she was chased out of town, tomatoes flying at her cart. She could recover of course, she was Trixie – but not this time. Everyone in Equestria knew her now. If she made one mistake she could never show her face in public again!   Trixie sighed – she’d have to use her last resort. After staring at the ground for a moment to prepare herself for the upcoming trauma, Trixie stepped forwards and gave the filly a hug.   Instantly, the filly’s face lit up! She stopped crying and squeaked excitedly. “Oh my gosh! I got hugged by the Great and Powerful Trixie! And she was also a princess! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! My friends are going to be, like, so excited!”   Trixie took a deep breath in relief as the filly ran off excitedly and the crowd calmed down. Crisis averted.       “Now, what is your question sir?” Trixie asked the next pony in line, a rather grumpy-looking stallion.   “Was it right for my daughter to get suspended for sticking gum on a table?”   “EUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH” Trixie exclaimed, face-hoofing. This would be a long day.