As Twilight had said, tonight’s visit with the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia was of tremendous importance, and Trixie made sure that both she and Starlight were on the highest level of performer composure. Not only were the visiting Duke and Duchess going to be attending, but Aurora Glimmer, determined to see her daughter and patch things up after ten long years.
“Starlight,I hope you’re up for performing tonight,” Trixie said to her assistant as they prepared for their performance in Canterlot. “Tonight will be an important night for the Great and Powerful Trixie, and her great and powerful assistant.”
“I know” Starlight sighed, as she straightened out a bow tie around her neck in front of a mirror. “I just can’t help but think about how Twilight chewed me out earlier. Do you think I was acting like a spoiled filly, Trixie? Should I have given my so-called mother a chance?”
“I really think that you should,” Trixie replied. “You can’t run from your problems as I once did. I learned a long time ago that you have to face your problems head on. It’s not easy, but that’s how it is. When I tried running away from my problems, I ended up enslaving an entire town with an ancient amulet.”
Starlight could only stare in disbelief at this! She knew that Trixie was right, and so was Twilight. For a good part of her life, Starlight had only run from her problems, but to face somepony like her mother was something she was going to have to do, eventually. “But can we actually patch things up?” she thought. Just then, the sounds of a growling manticore were heard and broke Starlight’s train of thought.
“Think of the manticore as the problems you are facing,” Trixie spoke up, as the two unicorns looked at the angry beast, growling and scowling from inside its cage. “In order to defeat your problems, you have to tame and conquer them. Ever since I started my redemption tour, I’ve always viewed the manticore as my problems.”
“That’s a very interesting simile,” Starlight unsuringly remarked. “But, if you think it’ll work, then I guess I should try.”
“Good,” Trixie chuckled, placing a hoof on Starlight. “Now, there is one thing that I need to ask of you tonight. Something that I always tell you every time we do this act.”
“Not to let you get eaten?” asked Starlight, chuckling slightly and knowing that Trixie’s words had calmed her anxiety down to a degree.
“Exactly, The Great and Powerful Trixie would prefer not to be a great and powerful snack.” Trixie answered and the two unicorns shared a brief laugh, before returning to rehearsing their performance.
Meanwhile, Twilight, alongside her friends and fellow princesses, as well Aurora Glimmer, were dining in the castle ballroom, hosting the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia. Everypony was wearing the dresses that they had worn for Twilight’s coronation. The meeting was going well and the royal guests were more than impressed with the story of how Aurora spent ten years to finding Starlight.
“I must say that you have great dedication for your children, Aurora,” The Duchess of Maretonia commented as they ate (she was known as Icewind). “It breaks my heart to see that you had to suffer the consequences.”
“Well, thank you for the compliment, your highness,” Aurora Glimmer replied. “We certainly didn’t want to suffer this way, but Starlight and I are just…I don’t know, different. I never meant for any of it to happen. I never imagined she’d become so bitter.”
“I wouldn’t say you are different, Ms. Glimmer,” Rarity commented. “From what I hear, I’d say your daughter just needs a little nudge to understand your feelings. Twilight has been working hard to get Starlight to understand this.”
Aurora could only sigh, despite the encouragement that Rarity was trying to give her (along with the encouragement from all the other ponies in the ballroom). Yes, they were all keeping up a happy front, but it was hard for Aurora to do such a thing, with the situation that she was in.
“If you don’t mind my asking, Mrs. Glimmer,” the Duke of Maretonia (who was called Kyrippos II) asked, “Did you or your husband do something to greatly upset your daughter? I am only asking because Ice Mirror and I have witnessed many a problem started in a family because of what a parent has done..”
“My husband and I…well, we didn’t really get along that well,” Aurora sighed and confessed. “After Starlight was born, he just sort of became distant and eventually he just ran off with some other mare and never came back. Unfortunately, he didn’t leave until Starlight was almost old enough for Magic Kindergarten, so by that point she’d gotten attached to him. When he left, she became attached to Sunburst, and when he left, I was all my daughter had left. And when she needed me most, I made the worst mistake of my life, and rejected her offer of friendship., Tears began forming in the corners of Aurora’s eyes, despite her efforts to try and hide them from the Duke and Duchess. This was a secret that she had meant to keep to herself and now, it was out in the open for all to hear. “I’m sorry,” she said softly “I didn’t mean to say that. It’s just that…”
“It’s all right, Aurora,” Celestia kindly stated, opening her right wing out of comfort. “We all make mistakes and have to learn from them. You understand your pain.”
“Thank you for your concerns,” Aurora replied. “It’s just that, for ten years, I’ve had to live with the consequences of my actions. I was such a fool to ignore my daughter’s well-being, just because my husband left me..”
.
“Aurora, y’all could have turned to somepony for help,” remarked Applejack. “Why didn’t you? ”
“I agree,” added Rainbow Dash. “You could’ve even given Starlight up for adoption if your husband leaving you broke you so badly.”
“I did what I did, all right?! ”Aurora snapped, the piercing sounds of her voice shattering the ballroom. “I can’t turn back time and change what happened! If I could, do you think I’d be sitting here, talking to all of you?!”
Rainbow Dash immediately sat down in shame.
“So, what happened to Starlight’s father?” Spike asked, hoping to change the subject..
“He’s dead now,” Aurora bitterly answered. “He died in a foolish manner by trying to perform the Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive for his new girlfriend! I know it’s wrong of me to think such a thing, but he got what he deserved! It’s obvious he wanted to be a magician, even if he was never any good at it. I suppose he just didn’t consider how his own daughter might feel about his desires.”
Unknown to all in the dinning room, Starlight and Trixie had finished rehearsing and made their way up to the stage just outside said room. They had heard everything and were both shocked and dismayed by what Aurora had said!
“I can’t believe your father would attempt Hoofdini’s greatest trick, Starlight,” Trixie remarked. “Even I knew not to attempt it without an assistant, when I realized I lacked the magical power to teleport on my own.”
“Then why did it seem like you were going to do so on that fateful night?” Starlight asked Trixie.
“A good magician always has an escape trick up her sleeves, in case anything goes wrong,” Trixie explained. “Hoofdini was no fool, he always made sure he had a way out of any trick no matter what. I read that when he first began working on the dive, he’d coat himself with a smell that the Manticore would find unappetizing and was guranteed to make it spit up whatever it ate that had it. I coated my hat and cape with a similar substance, if you hadn’t teleported me, the audience would’ve seen it spit me out unharmed.”
“I guess that’s better than the way I was thinking of,” Starlight cringed. “I assumed you had some sort of secret spell to survive a trip through the digestive system.”
“Even if such a spell existed, no magician would dare try such a thing,” Trixie replied, trying not to look too grossed out. “It would take a ton of showering to clean up from such a trick.”
“Speaking of tricks, I guess there’s no point trying to do the Moonshoot Manticore Mouth Dive for my mouther,” Starlight said sadly. “I understand if you don’t want to include it for the show.”
“We have no other choice but to go through with this,” Trixie boldly replied, who was determined to mend the reputation of her idol’s greatest trick. “Trixie will not have Hoofdini’s greatest trick be dragged through the mud and abused in that way if she has anything to say about it!”