//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Stuck Between an Apple and a Hard Place // Story: Return Of The Showmare // by Horizon Spark //------------------------------// Chapter 9: Stuck Between an Apple and a Hard Place Over two months have passed since Twilight Sparkle attended Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns and showed everypony her magic. Two months since she became Celestia’s personal student. And to a certain Unicorn, two months since she started to take everything away from her. Trixie was furious at that unicorn for what she did, whether she meant to or not. Now that she was here, none of her classmates or teachers would pay attention to her anymore. No, they just want to see Twilight’s next feat of magic, over and over again. But the worst part was how she took away her three best friends. At first she thought they were just harmlessly spending time with her, but after a while that was all they would do. They would work and play together, and even have study sessions with her, and not even invite Trixie at all. As if they’ve forgotten all about her, and found a new best friend. She desperately tried to win what was once hers back. She’d work twice as hard at her work at spells, she would show students her newest trick at recess, but every single time her actions would fall on deaf ears. She got more frustrated at the purple Unicorn with each passing day, to the point that all she could think about is outdoing her, no matter what the cost is. One day during lunch, Trixie sat by herself as her friends sat with Twilight, she thought about any idea she could muster to get them back. It had to be something that would gain the attention of everypony in the room, something that Twilight could never top in years, it would have to be one of her biggest tricks she’d ever pulled off. Then the idea finally came to her. “The Full Transfiguration Spell.” It was a very difficult spell that can change any object into something completely different. From what she read from history books, it was made back when the two Princesses started their rule, as an emergency if Equestria were to go through a famine. With enough concentration and power, a unicorn can turn a single rock into, an edible and nutritious apple. Trixie grinned mischievously, knowing that if she could pull this off, the students would come flocking towards her from every angle praising her name. But then another thought came to her mind, her mother. She specifically told her to never attempt that spell under any circumstances. Not only was the only ponies that could perform it were the Princesses and Starswirl the Bearded, but it could be dangerous if not performed right. As much as she wanted to upstage that Unicorn, she didn’t want to anger her mother, especially at this time. Lately Silver Wand has been ill for a while, becoming more exhausted and coughing more profusely. She hasn’t even been able to help Trixie with her spells as of late. She hadn’t told her what she has, but whatever it was it has prevented her from even doing any performances. Trixie took a deep breath, she knew she will regret going against her mother’s words, but this was more important to her. She needed to get her friends back, she needed to beat Twilight Sparkle, and she was willing to do whatever it takes. She looked around to see a large rock on the ground. Taking a moment to clear her thoughts, she stood on the table. “Attention Students!” Everypony in the vicinity turned to see her standing proudly. Some looked in awe knowing that they would most likely get another grand feat of magic. Majority looked in confusion, wondering what sort of trick the weird magician has up her sleeve. Trixie continued. “Hang on to your seats and lunches. For I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, shall present to you a spell unlike any other. An all-powerful spell, regarded as only a myth, said to be known to the Princesses, and the mighty Starswirl. The amazing, the mesmerizing, “Full Transfiguration Spell!” Trixie shot out a small display of her fireworks, eliciting a wave of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ coming from the students around her. Well, most of them. Trixie saw the crowd she now has. She then looked towards where her friends and Twilight were sitting at, seeing that Minuette and the others were clapping their hooves, but Twilight only sat there with a raised eyebrow. “Prepare to be amazed Sparkle.” Trixie said under her breath. Taking a deep breath she used her magic to levitate the rock off the ground in into the air. Closing her eyes she lifted it closer towards her, imagining the rock turning into an apple. The pink aura from her horn glowed and shimmered around the rock nearly blinding some onlookers. After several minutes of pouring more and more of her energy inside the rock, it finally started to change. First the shape morphed to become more round. Then it started to turn red, its previous features fading with each passing second. Trixie smiled as she sensed the spell working, feeling as if she was going to accomplish a feat no other unicorn could do, and Twilight was going to see it all. She opened her left eye to see Twilight staring at her, eyes wide as dinner plates. Trixie’s grin grew bigger, finally feeling victorious over her own rival. “Now do you see it Sparkle? Do you finally see who truly is the top Unicorn in this school? It’s none other than Trixie Lula…” WIRRR! Suddenly, Trixie heard a weird sound coming from the rock/apple. It started to shake violently as the sounds got louder and louder, and sparks flying all over the area. Trixie looked around nervously seeing students taking cover and running to other rooms. She desperately tried her best to hold on to her magic, feeling it slowly slip away. But try as she might she couldn’t hold on anymore, and with one final breath her magic faded. She last heard the screams of children as she saw a blindingly pink flash CRASH! The rock changed back as it crashed down right in front of Trixie on the table. Trixie breathed rapidly as she tried to recover from the spell, looking around to see her crowd trembling behind tables and chairs. She nervously backed away trying to make herself unnoticeable as possible. “What did you do!?” Trixie turned around sharply to see Mr. Marks followed by the lunch ladies. To say that they were all furious was the understatement of the century. “M…Mr. Marks I can explain.” “Oh, so you can explain how you nearly destroyed the cafeteria and endangered students using an ancient spell far too dangerous for you to know?” “Uh…yes?” She replied sheepishly. “Well that’s wonderful. You can tell us that explanation in the principal’s office!” “But Mr. Marks I…” “No buts young ma’am! Now go!” Trixie slumped realizing that she already lost this argument. She walked slowly towards the office looking around to see the damage she caused, all the students she scared away. It pained her knowing that she not only ruined a cafeteria, but scared away her own crowd. “Well it doesn’t surprise me that it didn’t work. That spell is over a thousand years old.” Trixie stopped as she spotted Twilight talking to Minuette and the others. “Wow, explains a lot if you think about it.” “No Unicorn could perform spells like that in this day and age. The amount of magic it takes to perform something as powerful as that is far too much for anypony, especially at our age. Hate to say it, but she wouldn’t had been able to perform it in the first place.” Trixie felt a few tears streak down her cheeks. One word could describe how she felt for the rest of that day. “Pathetic…” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “I must say Fluttershy, I feel as if she is starting to make a breakthrough.” Fluttershy was with Rarity were together for their weekly spa day. They were enjoying the sauna as the steam were doing wonders for their pores. She told her about her day with Trixie, and how she was starting to change from the boastful and rude magician to a nicer and well-mannered pony. “Oh we had a wonderful day yesterday. We even talked about our favorite tea, finally somepony who like green tea as much as I do.” “Well I for one am starting to like the “new Trixie”, and I simply can’t wait to show her the new outfit once I’m done.” Rarity poured more water into the rocks, making more steam appear and prompting Fluttershy to flinch slightly. “Yes I can safely say that she is definitely going in the right direction. Although…” “Although what Rarity?” “I have a bad feeling about today, what with her spending the day with Applejack. Don’t get me wrong about her, but she can be the most stubborn mare in all of Ponyville. And it’ll take more than happy gestures to change her mind.” “Oh don’t worry about her, I’m sure everything will be just fine.” “You’re right Fluttershy, these things always seem to work out in the end. That’s just how things works for us nowadays.” “By the way, I’m glad you’re recovering from that sickness. You should’ve told me that you were under something, I would’ve brought you something from my garden.” Rarity raised an eyebrow at the comment. “Sickness? Whatever do you mean by that?” “The sickness that prevented you from signing Sweetie Belle’s permission slip.” “Wait…what?” --- Applejack looked around the fields to see the many apple bearing trees ready to be harvested. While it wasn’t necessarily Applebucking Season yet, there were still plenty of apples to get down. Normally she would be excited to get a job like this done, to put in some good old fashioned hard work for her family. But this time was different, today she would have to work with Trixie. When she saw that Twilight was going to get Trixie to spend time with her, she wanted absolutely no part of her. She still hadn’t forgave her for when she took over Ponyville with the Alicorn Amulet, despite Twilight’s claims that she has changed or anything. “Hey AJ.” Applejack’s ears pricked up as she heard the familiar voice of a certain blue Pegasus. She saw Rainbow Dash whizzing around until she landed right in front of her. “Well howdy there Rainbow. What brings you ‘round these parts?” “What do you think I’m here for? Trixie’s gonna be here for the day, and we’ll be the ones who’ll expose her little revenge scheme.” “Say what now?” “I’ve seen stories like these before. She’ll gain our trust and become “friends” with Twilight. And when all our guards are down, she’ll start her evil plan to kill Twilight with some sort of magical doohickey and take over Ponyville again.” “Now what in tarnation are ya going on about? Trixie may be a no good varmint, but I don’t think she has some evil revenge plan or whatever you’re goin’ on about.” “Well say whatever you want. She’ll be here any second now, so I’m going to spy on her to make sure she doesn’t do anything evil. So you better not give me away alright?” Before Applejack could tell her how much of an idiot she’s being, she flew straight up into the air hiding behind a large stray cloud. The orange Earth Pony shook her head grumbling a few curses to herself. She then finally spotted the Unicorn heading onwards towards the farm. She tilted her hat heading to that direction. --- Trixie walked straight towards Sweet Apple Acres, enjoying the serene and beautiful surroundings. Growing up in Canterlot she never got a chance to see places more rural and natural. But now she was able to take in as much as she could, just stopping to smell the natural air. As she took in the air, she was completely unaware of the large red wall standing right in front of her. She stopped as she looked up to see a huge Earth Pony with a red coat and orange-brown mane. He had a green apple with a slice off, and a look that could make any filly quiver in fear. Trixie was at a loss for words as she felt his judging eyes pierce her own. “Lay off her Big Mac.” The large stallion turned to see Applejack with a stoic look. “She’s with me, just make sure the crops are doin’ fine.” He sighed. “Eeyup.” He left leaving the other mares staring at each other. An awkward silence hung between them until Trixie decide to end it. “Hello Applejack, it’s nice to be acquainted with you.” “Howdy there Trixie, we got a lot to get done today, so we better not waste time. And just to let ya’ll know I don’t hate ya one bit, but that don’t mean I trust ya either. So nothing funny alright?” Trixie grimaced at the comment. But decided to lift her head in response. “The Great and Powerful Trixie understands your concerns, and I promise not to start anything. Just tell me what we’re doing today.” The two walked along the path towards the fields, passing Big Macintosh who was tending to the pasture, and Granny Smith who was sleeping soundly in her rocking chair. After a minute the two finally reached the apple fields taking a good long look at their surroundings. “These here apples need to get down by the end of the day, so we got a lot of bucking to do today.” “Applebucking?” “Like this.” Applejack demonstrated by giving a swift and hard kick to the nearest tree, making every apple fall into the baskets. Trixie couldn’t help but admire the farmer’s feat of strength. “And that’s what you and I will be doin’, ya got it?” “As impressive as that was Applejack, I could easily bring them all down with my magic. There’s no need for simple brute force.” “Hate to break it to ya, but we ain’t using some fancy magic on this farm. So you might as well start showing me what you can do.” Trixie eyed another tree incredulously. She trotted up to it getting a good look at where she was aiming for. She turned around looking straight at the tree with a determined look. She raised her right hind leg and gave out a hard buck. THUNK! Her leg bounced off the tree like it was made of rubber. She landed on the ground hard, knocking the wind out of her and prompting a slight giggle from the farmer. “Wow, that was quite the knockback there.” Trixie angrily got up dusting herself off. With a huff she struck the tree a second time, only to get the same results as before. Frustrated, she let out a third blow as hard as she could, then a fourth, and fifth that was her hardest yet. Which resulted in only one apple falling on her head. “This is stupid, why can’t The Great and Powerful Trixie, just use her magic instead of this barbaric ritual.” “Now hold on there Trixie, I better not here you talking smack about our family tradition like that. Either you buck these trees, or take that evil magic away from my farm.” Trixie couldn’t help but glare daggers at the farmer. “What did you say about my magic?” Applejack advanced forward facing the magician. “I’m just suggestin’ that you can take your lazy behind and your magic home. I don’t know what Twilight sees in ya, but what I still see is a slippery- tongued snake who probably wants to get back at ma friends.” “Trixie has no need to get back at annoying insects, but now that you mention it she curious to see if that rope trick still works, dirty apple farmer.” “Ya say that again and I’ll knock you into the next Applebucking Season.” The two stared at each other intently, each one ready to strike at any moment. That is until Trixie suddenly step back and bucked the tree once more with all the strenghth she could muster. With one blow she knocked down a majority of the apples to the ground. Applejack looked at the magician in surprise. “Wow, Trixie, never thought ya had in in ya.” Brushing her hair aside she nodded. “Listen, I don’t want to be here, and you don’t want me here. It’ll be easier for the both of us we have some sort of cease fire okay?” “Can’t argue with that. Now let’s get to back to buckin’.” Trixie nodded once more prompting the two to get back to work. Up above them, they couldn’t hear a sigh of a very annoyed Pegasus. “Darn it, just when things were about to get good.” --- After a whole hour, a portion of the field was cleared by the farmer and the magician. They both worked tiredly as they bucked the many apples in the baskets, Trixie doing surprisingly well for her lesser hardened body. “Well I gotta admit, that was pretty good work ya did back there Trixie.” Trixie didn’t respond immediately, resulting in Applejack giving her a concerned look. “Trixie is sorry about what she said earlier.” She said lowering her head at the orange mare. “Don’t worry about it,” Applejack said with a small smile. “we all get angry sometimes, just gotta know when to control it is all y’know. I should probly apologize too, it ain’t right to judge a pony when ya hardly know her.” Trixie nodded, actually starting to smile for the first time she came here. “Alright that’s it!” Surprised, the two looked up to see a blue streak coming down hard to the ground right in front of Trixie. Stepping back, Trixie saw that it was the rainbow maned Pegasus who was looking rather ticked off. “I’m sick of waiting, you better tell us what you got planned for Twilight or else!” “Rainbow Dash!?” Applejack exclaimed. “Ya still here trying to see if she has some sort of plan?” Trixie glared at both ponies, starting to feel betrayed “I can’t believe this, you both really think I’m trying to take over Ponyville?” “Well I…” “That’s right Trixie, so unless you want a beatdown Rainbow Dash style, you better spill it.” The blue mare stepped back a couple steps as she looked back at her offender with a look of sheer anger. She was about to say one more rebuttal until… “GIRLS!” The three turned to see Rarity and Fluttershy running to their direction. While Fluttershy had a look of worry on her face, Rarity had one of absolute terror. “Oh thank Celestia I found you two here. We have a dreadful emergency in our hooves.” “What is it Rares?” “It’s Sweetie Belle and her friends, she tricked Fluttershy into signing her permission slip to the Ponyville Dam, and we must go after her so that she doesn’t attend that field trip.” “I’m so, so sorry Rarity!” Fluttershy said holding her hooves together. “For the umpteenth time I forgive you. But now we need to act quickly.” “Ah can’t believe ma sis would do somethin’ so dirty like that.” “Neither can I, Scoots would’ve at least said something about it. Well it looks like we better…” Before she could get another word in Rainbow saw Trixie suddenly sprint away from the others, going faster than she ever thought she could go. “Hey where you going!? I’m not done with you!” “Those three actually went and did it, damn it.” “Trixie!” Rarity called out. “What are you doing?” “I’m going to fix a mistake I made before something happens!” Trixie yelled back before she suddenly disappeared in a pink flash.