Trixie and Maud: Heart of Stone

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter One Hundred: Show Stopper

HEART OF STONE

Chapter One Hundred: Show Stopper

Written by TheCrimsonDM

Trixie flew through the cool night air, wind brushing against her spread wings and the stars singing lullabies just for her. With her confidence at an all new high, she ignored the looming monster in the distance, even an ursa major wasn’t going to stop her from succeeding tonight.

“As an alicorn princess things seem to be going well for you,” A kind feminine voice said to her.

Trixie looked over at the cat flying next to her, and gave it a smile. “Yeah, I got a date with Maud! She’s the princess of rocks in case you didn’t know.”

The cat rolled its eyes.

Trixie puffed out her cheeks. “Trixie doesn’t need your opinion. Sure she’s weird… but I really like her.”

A turbulent wind rushed by throwing Trixie’s trajectory off for a moment. She had to fight to correct herself, but lost altitude. The dark oceans spread out below her, iron spires stuck out threateningly. In the distance, a pink mare with a flowing purple mane was fighting a giant skeleton with a sword and fire magic. Trixie pressed on, she couldn’t be late for her date!

“This place is amazing,” the cat said, flying beside Trixie with ease.

“Nah, it’s pretty normal,” Trixie replied instinctively. Something felt off about that statement. With a blue hoof to her chin she pondered what was so strange about it.

A small flock of fairy ponies flew by, their rainbow manes glittering behind them and leaving glowing streaks in the air. Trixie flew under them, the cat followed her.

“You don’t think there is anything off about this place?” the cat asked.

Trixie looked around. “Not really, I just-“ that’s when she remembered that she didn’t know how to fly. Her wings went limp and she fell screaming. The oceans curled up their hungry cold and dark jaws, waiting to devour her completely. Trixie looked for salvation, but found nothing. The iron spires burned, the fairy ponies were glowing a dark red and green, and the cat simply stared at her. Trixie fell into the bitter oceans freezing embrace.

***

Trixie blinked her eyes open. She lay on the freezing hardwood floor with her side completely numb. It took several long seconds before she could suck in a breath of frozen air. Maud’s snores from up above on the bed were a small comfort. When Trixie finally pushed herself off of the floor, she looked back at the bed.

Maud was sleeping with a smile, the blanket barely covering her. In her legs was the tiny filly that Maud had become so attached too. Trixie loved Valiant as well, but for some reason the picture of Maud and Valiant sleeping soundly, both smiling, and peaceful. It filled Trixie with a sense of serenity, the kind of which that she had rarely felt before. After a moment, she realized it wasn’t just her feeling it. She could feel a sense of calm flowing off of the two sleeping ponies.

“You two…” Trixie whispered to herself as she levitated the blanket, and tucked Maud in nice and snug. “…what would I do without you?”

I wonder what their dreaming about? I bet it’s nice.

Trixie instinctively reached out mentally, and brushed against their psyches. A feeling of pride, greater than she had ever felt before came from Maud, pride, and love. Whatever Maud was dreaming of, was very important to her. Though Trixie wanted to dig in and find out more, she remembered how Applejack had caught her, and decided against it.

Valiant however, like usual, was almost a complete mystery to Trixie. All that Trixie could read from the filly was the feeling of peace, a peace that the filly hadn’t known in a very long time. The more Trixie concentrated on it, the more she understood the feeling was something very old to Valiant, and something that the filly had not been privileged to, in a lifetime.

When Trixie pulled back from their minds she stared at the two with a small smile upon her lips. It was clear that Maud really loved the filly, and that the filly really loved it here. Despite how much she wanted to give Valiant a better home, a safe, and calm environment, she really liked it here.

If they stay together much longer, and I separate them, it would completely destroy them. Maud really cares for Valiant, it would be cruel to keep them together too much longer. But… would it really be too bad for us to keep Valiant? I mean sure me and Maud aren’t stable, and we had a bad fight yesterday… is it selfish that I want to keep her?

After a moment of watching the two, Trixie moved on to the kitchen and set herself to making some coffee as well as looking through the fridge. Thankful for the leftovers from last night’s dinner, Trixie sat down at the ‘new’ table. The table was very similar to the last one, but with a lighter wood it sometimes stood out as being alien to the house. She rested her foreleg on the table, and looked at the area next to it. It was clean, clean where as on the other table there had been a ring worn into the wood from her coffee mug. Trixie let out a guilt ridden sigh.

When the coffee was finished she poured herself a cup, filled it with sugar, and took a seat in front of her breakfast. The sky was growing less dark, but the sun was still a ways off from rising. Between eating fried vegetables, drinking coffee from her favorite mug, the blue one that read ‘Nuzzle Champ’, and watching the sky. Trixie felt a quiet sense of ease drift over her.

Trixie looked into the kitchen from her position at the table, and saw the blanket tossed aside and the pillow lying halfway off the couch. A quiet thud sounded from the front porch, grabbing Trixie’s full attention. Carefully, Trixie levitated her cup of fairly hot coffee, grabbed her cloak, and tossed it over her back, shoulders, and wings before looking at her unlocked door. Trixie walked outside.

Sitting on the porch, wrapped up in her thick yellow sweater, Pinkie Pie sat with trembling hooves and an unlit smoke in her mouth. With tired blue eyes, Pinkie Pie stared out into the open expanse of snow and the surrounding village. She fumbled with her hooves, digging into her pockets with an almost nervous tension.

“Crap, crap, crap,” Pinkie Pie muttered to herself bitterly.

At first Trixie wanted to ask about the smoke, but decided to ease into that topic. “Are you okay?”

Pinkie scowled and narrowed her eyes. She shot a glare at Trixie. “I forgot my lighter at Flutters.”

“Sorry,” Trixie asked.

“It’s not important,” Pinkie replied. She let out a sigh and bumped the back of her head into the wall making a thud. “Nothing is important.”

After taking a seat next to Pinkie Pie, Trixie used a bit of magic and lit the end of Pinkie’s smoke. Pinkie Pie looked up at Trixie, and even if her eyes were hard, her smile was friendly. Silence followed for a bit as they both stared out into the snow, and the dark night sky. The moon was already gone, but stars were still shining up above.

“I didn’t know you smoked,” Trixie said quietly.

Pinkie Pie let out a harsh laugh. “Sometimes the world gets too hard for me to deal with. This helps. You know how it goes, right?”

“Yeah. I do,” Trixie said. “You want to talk about it?”

“We already have, and it didn’t change much,” Pinkie replied.

“We have?” Trixie asked. She tried to give the friendliest smile she could to Pinkie.

Pinkie deliberately avoided Trixie’s gaze, and frowned. “I’m pretty screwy, Trixie. There isn’t really an awful lot you can do to help me.”

The smoke hit Trixie’s nostrils and as she breathed in the acrid scent, it confirmed her suspicion that it was indeed tobacco. Pinkie was noticeably relaxing now, though her eyes retained a certain sharpness to them.

“I had a pretty bad nightmare,” Pinkie Pie said. “You know I can’t always be the most energetic and cheerful pony. I can’t always make everypony smile… sometimes I just need a break for myself too. But if I quit being the party pony, everypony else would suffer. In fact, the entire town goes to Tartarus when I’m gone for even a few days not partying or smiling, or…”

“I’d never thought about how hard it is on you,” Trixie said. “I guess that makes sense though. Even if you are doing something you love, sometimes it must feel like more work than fun. It’s kinda like performing, huh?”

“Heh, yeah I guess it is.” Pinkie Pie stopped, took a long drag on her smoke, waited for a few seconds with a small smile on her face, and then Trixie watched, impressed as the smoke flew out of Pinkie’s nose in one mighty snort. Pinkie coughed, and Trixie giggled a little.

“Wow, that was pretty impressive… If you ever need to talk, I’m here for you,” Trixie said. “Your family, and more than that, you’re one of my best friends.”

Pinkie Pie smile grew. “Thanks… so uh… you know that ever since I discovered who my real parents are, I’ve been losing my mind reading powers. Actually I’ve been losing them since before that.” Pinkie was quiet for a moment, with her eyes closed in a thought, she smiled. “I freaked out pretty hard when I stopped hearing Maud’s thoughts, and stopped feeling her emotions. Truth is, I wish that she wouldn’t have fixed herself for me.”

Wait, what? Are you saying you'd rather not be able to feel her emotions?" Trixie asked, not sure she actually heard Pinkie correctly.

Pinkie opened her mouth as if to say something, but quickly closed it. She took another drag and let the silence between them grow a little. "Did you know I actually had to write a report on my sister, describing her likes, secrets, fears, and stuff?”

Trixie could only blink in response, that seemed to have no bearing on the actual issue here. “No, I didn’t know that,” Trixie said. “Wait, you did what? Why? Who would even want such a thing?”

“It’s not for anypony else, it’s for my personal records so that I can make party plans without screwing things up. Having psychic powers really helps with that…” Pinkie explained.

“Oh, that makes sense, I guess. It sounds kinda stalkerish though,” Trixie admitted. “Not saying that there’s anything- er well, okay, so maybe there is something weird about that.”

"I have a whole room dedicated to files of my friends, family, ponies that I just so happen to know, pretty much anypony in Ponyville. But... recently I've been having a hard time even entering that room. I should be adding in new ponyvillians, but instead I find myself baking cupcakes, working on cool gadgets, and..." She pulled out a file with Maud's picture on it. "It's all because this file exists..."

“Why? Doesn’t it help you with your sister?” Trixie asked.

Pinkie hoofed the file over to Trixie. “Read some of it. Don’t worry, you probably won’t see anything you don’t already know.”

Trixie held it aloft in her telekinetic grasp carefully. The file had a surprising weight to it, the kind that made Trixie worried about what was inside. On one hoof, she had the chance to learn something secret about Maud, but on the other hoof, if she took the chance, she could learn something she would regret. Trixie stared in silence at the file.

“Trixie, I can’t say this in words,” Pinkie said quietly.

Slowly, and with great care, Trixie opened the file. She skimmed through the first page, most of it were things she already knew.

“Maud Pie.

Favorite color: Pink.

Favorite Food: Pasta Pancakes Undetermined.

Favorite Thing: Trixie Lulamoon (See entertainers)

Hobbies: Rocks, poetry, more rocks, sex, all the rocks.

Greatest Personal Achievements: Gravel Award, Boulder, Engagement to Trixie.

Greatest Personal Failure: Rush. Boulder. Trixie’s Death.”

Trixie stopped, and stared at the report. For a long while all she could do was sit there and stare at the crossed out section with her name on it. After a few moments of silence, Pinkie looked over and sighed.

“We didn’t know if we would ever find you after you ran from the hospital. There was a report… apparently they found a unicorn that had been mauled by a chimera. Trixie, the report sounded a lot like you, but after we… confirmed the body wasn’t you, it was found out that it was a pony traveling here from Applewood,” Pinkie Pie explained.

“Why didn’t anypony tell me about that?” Trixie asked quietly.

“We didn’t want to worry you anymore. All we want for you is happiness. You don’t need to be sad anymore, nor upset, nor anything,” Pinkie Pie said.

Trixie shook her head to lose the thoughts and pressed forward.

“Fears: the ocean. The Frozen North. Crystal Ponies?

Secrets: Is terrified of losing/hurting her loved ones. Has suffered depression. Is romantically/sexually attracted to her sister.”

Trixie looked over at Pinkie who gave her a tired look. It was all becoming clear to Trixie why Pinkie was so upset. She cleared her throat, and shut the file.

“Pinkie Pie,” Trixie said quietly. “Has your sister’s… secret been bothering you?”

Pinkie Pie didn’t look at her, she only took another puff of her smoke and stayed quiet.

“Look I know that you’ve been-“Trixie began.

“No, Trixie. You don’t know how it feels to know that your own flesh and blood is obsessed with you. To feel their affection, and to know just how true it really is. To know that your own parents look at you and your sister as… monsters. I don’t know why she’s so close to me, I don’t think there is a reason that we can understand. It’s weird, gross, and disturbing,” Pinkie Pie said.

“But… you still love her, right?” Trixie asked.

“Of course I do. She’s my bestest best friend. I just hate the way she looks at me sometimes, like when I catch her,” Pinkie’s face went sour, “leering at me.” Pinkie Pie shook her head. “I know that I shouldn’t tell you this, but after you ran away we had another… misunderstanding.”

Trixie’s heart skipped a beat. “What?”

Pinkie Pie looked away. “It wasn’t anything serious, but she was looking for a distraction, one that I couldn’t give her. Things… aren’t getting better between us.”

“But, she loves me,” Trixie said. “She wouldn’t… she couldn’t actually do anything, right?”

Pinkie Pie frowned. “Great, now I’ve gone and made you doubt my sister.” Pinkie Pie stood up. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought this up to you. The last thing you needed was me complaining about Maud.”

“No, Pinkie. It’s okay, I just didn’t realize she still… felt that way about you,” Trixie said.

“Well, so long as you don’t think of that foursome as her excuse to have sex wi-“ Pinkie stopped, and stared at Trixie. An awkward silence followed for a moment, before Pinkie Pie looked back at the snow and said, “Just remember that Maud would literally sacrifice herself for you. Don’t ever forget just how much she loves you.”

Trixie gave the file back to Pinkie Pie, who took it and slipped it back behind her, and Trixie watched in confusion as the file simply vanished from sight. After a moment Pinkie Pie sat back down and took another long drag of her smoke.

“Why don’t you go back inside and snuggle up to Maud?” Pinkie suggested.

With slow movements, Trixie stood and walked back towards the door. “Okay, Pinkie. If you want to talk some more or something, I’ll be inside. I can’t go back to sleep just yet.”

Pinkie Pie nodded.

After getting inside, Trixie found herself sitting and staring wishfully at the ceiling, it didn’t make her feel any better about what Pinkie Pie had said. After making another cup of coffee, and finally eating her breakfast, Trixie stared at the back of Pinkie’s head from the window. So many things were running through her head, and none of them were particularly good.

With light beginning to creep up on the horizon, Trixie could make out a flying silhouette of a pegasus, one that she really wished she didn’t recognize. Before the pony got close enough to the house to see inside the kitchen windows, Trixie grabbed her coffee and darted to the counter just underneath the window seal. With a bit of magic she opened the window silently and waited to hear the pegasus land.

Only a few moments later, with her heart pounding hard, did Trixie hear the crunching of hooves landing in the snow just outside. She heard Pinkie Pie stand up, the wooden floorboards creaking underneath her weight.

“Fluttershy! You can’t be here!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“I-I know that. If Maud caught me here, she would, she would,” Fluttershy said nervously.

“She would kill you,” Pinkie said coldly.

A moment of dark silence passed between the two, and the air became heavy as Trixie sat there thinking about what they had said. Would Maud really hurt Fluttershy, maybe even kill her?

“Fluttershy, you can’t bother Trixie anymore. She’s over you,” Pinkie Pie said in a gentler tone. “I won’t tell anypony about this, but you should lea-“

“I didn’t come here for her,” Fluttershy said. The sound of snow crunching beneath Fluttershy’s hooves gave Trixie the impression that the pegasus was shuffling her hooves. “I… came here for… never mind. I-I’ll just go.”

With sound of snow crunching again, Trixie realized that Fluttershy was walking away. The wood beneath Pinkie creaked and groaned as her hooves made light taps against them. “Fluttershy,” Pinkie said. “Why did you come here?”

“I just wanted to see, um… well,” Fluttershy stammered. Trixie could only imagine how red her ex-friend’s face was right then. “Um… you.”

“You, came, to, see… me” Pinkie asked, her voice cracked a little. Silence followed for a moment, and then Pinkie Pie added, “Okay… well, if Maud catches you here, she’ll be furious… but I’ll stick up for you.”

Hooves moved quickly as the snow crunched and then tapped on the old wooden porch, followed by a flapping sound. Pinkie gave an audible grunt and Trixie heard a crashing thud, the floor groan in protest of her movements.

“Whoa, Fluttershy, calm down,” Pinkie said, and went quiet for a moment. “Did you really miss me that badly?”

“Why didn’t you come back?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m taking care of Trixie, I’m on suicide watch remember?” Pinkie Pie said softly. “Though, I don’t think she needs to be watched so much as she needs to be loved and cared for.”

Fluttershy sniffled. “I… I need to make this up to Maud… up to Trixie.”

“It’s… not… well, you didn’t know this would happen, right?” Pinkie Pie said in an obvious attempt to help her friend.

“I tried to destroy them, I should have only guessed that this would happen. Trixie tried to k-k-kill herself because of me,” Fluttershy said.

“That’s not true…” Pinkie said.

“I didn’t think about it like that when I did it. But now that I look back on what I did, it’s pretty obvious how awful I was. I don’t want Trixie anymore, I don’t deserve her after what I did. I just want to fix this,” Fluttershy said.

The two ponies stayed silent for a little bit. Pinkie then said, “You still want her, Fluttershy. I can feel it. I’m just glad that you won’t do anything else to hurt them, and I wish that there was some way you could make this up to them.” Pinkie let out a sigh. “Right now Maud just wants to hurt you, really badly. She’s not in a good place right now, and if she actually hurt you… I don’t know what I would do.”

Fluttershy sniffled again. “Do you want to come home with me?”

“I can’t just leave like that. Everypony’s already mad at me for leaving my post here to take care of you anyway,” Pinkie Pie said.

“P-please?” Fluttershy begged.

Trixie stood on her hind legs so she could reach the window. Pinkie Pie lay on her back, Fluttershy was on top of her and wearing a pink sweater that had Pinkie’s cutie mark on the flank. With Pinkie’s legs wrapped around Fluttershy, the pegasus could only lay her head down against Pinkie’s chest and smile. The fact that Fluttershy was taller and slimmer than Pinkie, was exaggerated by Pinkie’s short round frame.

Trixie pressed her muzzle to the window opening and took in a shallow breath. “You two can go back to Fluttershy’s. I’ll be okay without Pinkie for a few hours.”

The two immediately looked at the window, a mixture of confused shock, and fear spread across Fluttershy’s face. Pinkie simply smiled knowingly. Trixie retreated from the window after that and returned to her breakfast. It didn’t take long for Pinkie and Fluttershy to get off the porch, and scurry off.

Trixie couldn’t help smiling. At least this will make Pinkie feel better for awhile. Those two are surprisingly cute together. I really hope things work out for them.

***

The morning came and went by without any trouble, other than Maud complaining about Pinkie leaving without waking her up first. As the day went on, Trixie did her first show, where she retold the story from the day before, many, many new faces showed up for this one. She went through the routine with a bounce in her step, and joy in her heart. After that she found herself signing a few autographs. Maud and Valiant watched from behind the curtains, safely hidden away from the eyes of the crowd.

When the crowd had finally dispersed, Trixie went back to where Maud was, and collapsed into her lover’s strong embrace. Trixie nuzzled into Maud’s shoulder with a smile firmly planted on her lips.

“Are you okay?” Maud asked. “Is this too much attention?”

“This is wonderful. Did you see how popular I was? How much ponies loved The Great and Powerful Trixie telling stories to them?” Trixie purred into Maud’s fur. “This is truly a dream come true.”

A small squeaking sound got her attention and she looked over to Valiant who was smiling around the marker in her mouth, with a whiteboard held in her hooves.

”I really like the story.

You always tell the best.”

“Daw, thanks,” Trixie said. “Does that make you one of my fans?”

The filly nodded.

“Then that makes you my best fan,” Trixie replied.

Trixie pulled herself away from Maud’s embrace and grinned. “Well, guess I need to prepare for the next show.” With a trot she set herself to preparing for the next show. “I can’t believe that I’ve finally made a comeback. Maud, can you believe this?”

Maud was silent.

“I know, it’s just so wonderful. I’m going to go out there tonight, and with all the love and adoration from my fans, I’m going to be… awesome!” Trixie said while levitating a few old things out of the way. “And then I’ll be able to start up the actual magic show again. The name Trixie will be heard all over Equestria. From Appleloosa to the Crystal Empire.” Trixie giggled. “Think about it, honey. We will be going from town, to town, making ponies laugh, smile, and inspiring them to new heights. You thought that the Elements of Harmony were big, well they will be nothing compared to The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“Lulu,” Maud said quietly.

“You’re right,” Trixie replied. She stood on her hind legs and stretched her forelegs over her head. “I need to get back into practice.” Trixie struck heroic pose, her horn flared up and an imposing light shined behind her. “How does this look?”

“It looks… Look, Lulu, we need to talk,” Maud said.

Trixie landed on all fours. “You're right, we do need to talk. We need to set up a chart for what towns we will hit up first. I’m thinking making our way slowly to Tall Tale would be a great first move. Maybe stop and do a show in Canterlot, I can probably get a big audience and-“

“Trixie!” Maud said louder.

The volume alone made Trixie stop dead in her tracks. Trixie sat down, and her ears folded against the back of her head as she looked at Maud who was giving her a serious stare.

“Good, you’re listening again,” Maud said. “I love you, and I want to support your dreams, but you are not well enough to go traveling across the country yet. We should just stick to Ponyville for now.”

Trixie’s smile faded a bit. “Y-yeah… your right.”

“I’m not saying that we can’t do all that later. It’s just for now, we should take things slowly,” Maud said.

Trixie nodded, but even though she agreed with Maud, it still felt like her heart had just been crushed. Trixie looked back out towards the currently empty stage. One day, one day I will actually get to do everything that I ever wanted to do.

A few hours went by very, very slowly. Trixie reread her script, made sure that everything was put into place, and waited patiently as the crowd gathered outside. As a true entertainer would, Trixie refused to poke her head out of the curtain and sneak a peek at the audience. Thankfully Pinkie had shown up, with a silly looking grin, and a slight blush when Maud mentioned how she had left this morning. Pinkie served as Trixie’s eyes and ears for surveying the crowd, but she also had the job of introducing Trixie to the stage.

When the clock struck seven, Trixie let out a shaky breath. It was finally time for her to go out. Pinkie poked her head through the curtain. “Okay, Trixie, it’s time.”

Trixie nodded.

Maud stared at Trixie. “You know that you don’t have to do this if you’re not up for it.”

Trixie nodded again. “I know that. But I can’t let my fans down. What would ponies say if the one and only Trixie chickened out at the last second?”

Maud only offered silence to Trixie’s question.

Valiant held up her whiteboard for Trixie to see.

“Good Luck!”

That brought a smile to Trixie’s lips. “You know usually ponies say, ‘break a leg’ before a show.”

Valiant quickly wiped the board clean with a hoof and wrote something else.

“That’s dumb.”

“Ha, yeah I guess it is,” Trixie said.

The lights shining on the curtain from outside darkened a bit and Trixie watched as Pinkie’s silhouette walked across it.

“Alright, everypony,” Pinkie said loudly and full of excitement. “You’ve waited all day for this moment, and the wait has been worth it. Now for the mare you’ve all been waiting for, give a big welcome for The Great and Powerful, TRIXIE!”

With a flair of magic, a cloud of smoke covered the stage, and Trixie darted out into the fog before anypony could notice. As the smoke quickly cleared, everypony was greeted with the sudden appearance of Trixie herself. Standing on her rear legs, and holding her hat down over her face, Trixie triggered the blue lights with her magic and as she was cast in the mysterious blue shade. The crowd clopped their hooves in excitement for the unicorn.

Trixie looked out from her hat, and her smile twitched ever so slightly as she saw the large crowd. At least half of Ponyville had to be here tonight. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike, and even Fluttershy had made the performance, standing in the front row. In the past seeing three of those ponies might have scared her, making her fear for her performance, but now, now she only felt confidence filling her as she saw her friends supporting her.

“Welcome Everypony,” Trixie said. “To the final chapter of this story, but more than that, welcome one and all, to the official return of The Great and Powerful Trixie.”

She spread her forelegs wide, and using one of her old spells the dark sky exploded into a show of lights and fireworks. Everypony stared up at the memorizing spell. It might have been cheating to use a hypnotic spell to catch the audience’s attention, but it wasn’t like anypony was being hurt by seeing pretty lights.

As the crowd stared in fascination, Trixie looked upon them once more. Snips and Snails stood near the front, as well as Lyra, and the candy store owner next to her. Minuette stood off to the side with a shy looking stallion next to her. Nurse Red Heart stood near the back, and next to her stood Timequill, who smiled at Trixie. Even Princess Celestia and Luna were in the very back, of course the hooded cloaks they used didn’t really help them blend in, they towered over the crowd after all. Finally she saw Granny Smith, and Big Mac stood with a mare wearing a hooded jacket. The hood was drawn, but Trixie recognized the mare right away, and her heart nearly broke right then and there.

All she could do was mouth the word silently, ‘mommy?’

For the first time in her entire life, her mom had showed up to one of her shows. The one pony that she had always wanted to see her and to cheer her on, the one that never showed up, was finally here. Now seeing all these ponies that had made important marks on her life, not only filled her with the strength to make tonight’s show the most fantastic one she had ever done, but it filled her with the determination to make this night one to never be forgotten.

As the light’s died out above, Trixie grinned. They will be talking about tonight with excitement in their hearts for the rest of their lives.

As the show went on, Trixie told the final chapter of her story. A final dramatic conflict with not only the Nightmare forces, but with Nightmare Moon herself left the audience cheering, clopping their hooves and whistling in excitement. Trixie moved on to a few magic tricks, between summoning forth an illusionary army of phoenix’s to perform aerial tricks in conjunction with a dragon, and doing an improved comedy skit using illusionary clones of herself that ended in the laughter of all the ponies there. Trixie felt accomplished.

When the show was over, and the ponies dispersed, she met with her fans, both new and old. She signed autographs on pictures of herself, it took awhile for Trixie to realize that Pinkie had set up a stand and was actually selling Trixie memorabilia, pictures, fake Trixie hats and capes, and even a toy wand that looked like the one on her cutie mark. It took a great deal of effort to pretend that it perfectly reasonable that Pinkie would not only be doing this, but would have had the foresight to have such things made in the first place… a great deal of effort indeed.

After almost everypony had left, Trixie relaxed and leaned against the side of stage. Maud on one side, and Valiant on the other. The stars were truly beautiful that night. If nothing else, Trixie had to appreciate the simplicity of enjoying the night with the those two, makeshift and broken as they were, they could at least be happy together.

“Howdy y’all,” Applejack said, her leather duster looked really nice.

“Hey, Applejack,” Trixie greeted.

“How are ya’ll holding up?”

“We’re doing great,” Trixie said. “I haven’t been this happy in… forever. I can’t believe that Trixie is back… I’m back.”

“Well, despite mah first impressions from way back when, Ah have to admit that you run a nice show. It’ll be good having some more entertainment in our small town,” Applejack said.

“Well, that’s what Trixie’s here for,” Trixie said with a wink.

“Lulu, you’re speaking in third person again,” Maud whispered quietly.

“I’m doing that on purpose, honey,” Trixie said.

“Ah got to round up Apple Bloom now, Ah don’t rightly know where she got to, but you know her. If Ah don’t get her soon, there’ll be trouble,” Applejack said. “Have a good night.”

As Applejack left, Trixie had to wonder just how she’d continue running shows here in Ponyville. Certainly I couldn’t be expected to run a new and fantastic show every single night. Maybe once a week will work… best to avoid Saturdays though, those have a tendency to garner bad luck.

“That, was, awesome!” Rainbow Dash said. Trixie looked up to see her friend hovering above them.

“Did your really like it that much?” Trixie asked.

“Tartarus yeah, I mean when you did that thing with the dragon breathing fire just above our heads. That was really cool. Fluttershy almost wet herself from that,” Rainbow Dash said excitedly. “I’m heading out the Tossed Horseshoe, you wanna join?”

“I’m not supposed to drink alcohol, remember?” Trixie asked.

“Oh… yeah. It messes with your crazy… right. You could drink… water?” Rainbow Dash suggested.

“I’m just going to stay here tonight,” Trixie said.

“Alright, your loss. I’m going to get laid,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew off. “Had my eyes on a piece of silver rump for awhile now.”

Maud looked at Trixie. “She’s a bad influence on Val.”

Trixie giggled. “Oh come on, Rainbow Dash isn’t that bad… usually.”

“Usually is right, darling,” Rarity agreed.

Rarity and Spike walked up together and stood in front of Trixie with shy stares at one another. Spike coughed nervously. “So, uh…” he rubbed at the bandages around his shoulder. “We’re going to be working on… dresses all night. Before that, I just wanted to tell you how much we enjoyed the show tonight.”

“Oh yes, you’re show was so good it actually distracted me from sp- the spicy new dresses I’ll be working on tonight,” Rarity said. “Um, actually we need to work on them right away, so good show, and have a good night.”

Rarity trotted away, her horn alight and dragging Spike with her. He grinned and followed after her. Things got quiet for a little bit after that as Trixie had to fight from laughing at how obvious those two were. Sooner or later Twilight was going to catch on to the fact that having a pony sized dragon staying overnight at a beautiful mare’s house could only lead to some adventurous activities.

“Trixie,” A mature and kind voice greeted.

To Trixie’s immediate surprise, she saw Princess Celestia and Luna standing in front of her. Luna looked preoccupied, and unhappy, meanwhile Celestia was smiling.

“Princess Celestia? How did you know I was running a show tonight?” Trixie asked.

“Pinkie Pie sent us a letter asking us to come and see your show tonight,” Celestia answered. She levitated two of the Trixie hats out of a pink plastic bag. “See, I even bought a hat for me and my sister.”

“Mmm,” Luna added. She was staring off into the distance.

Trixie sat up straight. “Wow… I don’t know what to say. Um, thank you.” Trixie looked at Luna, and felt the need to ask, “Are you okay?”

“She has yet to wake from her coma…” Luna replied.

Celestia frowned. “Twilight is in a medically induced coma right now. She will wake up soon, but Luna has been working really closely with Twilight. She’s worried about her friend.”

Trixie offered a small smile. “Twilight will be okay. She’s a good pony, even if she pushes herself a little too hard sometimes.”

Celestia nodded in agreement. Luna just frowned.

“Well, we need to head back to the castle now,” Celestia said. “Though, I suspect that we will be checking up on Twilight one last time before we leave.”

“Can we?” Luna asked, her voice weak.

“Of course,” Celestia said. “Well good night, Trixie, Maud, Valiant.”

Trixie smiled back at the princesses and said her farewells as they left. Then things got quiet all over again, leaving Trixie to snuggle up to Maud. Valiant had found a way to squeeze in between them. It was nice to be surrounded by so much love, Trixie could hardly even believe how many ponies earnestly cared for her.

When Trixie saw the hooded jacket pony walking up to her, gooseflesh erupted along her legs. Trixie quickly stood up straight, and tried to look professional. She brushed the snow off of her cape and stood cleared her throat.

“Hi,” Trixie said.

The pony pulled back her hood, and confirmed Trixie’s belief that it was Screw Loose underneath. “You used to do shows like that all the time, didn’t you?”

Trixie’s lip quivered a little as she fought with every fiber of her being to keep herself calm. “I, uh, y-yes. I did…”

“I’m so proud of you,” Screw Loose said as she wrapped her legs around Trixie.

Trixie returned the embrace, and gave up on fighting her emotions. “You came to my show, you actually came to one of my shows. I, “ she sniffled, “I love you so much mom.”

“I love you too,” Screw Loose said. “I’d really like it if you came to visit me again. Or maybe I can come visit you?”

“I’d like that,” Trixie said. She pulled away and looked back at the sleeping tiny foal lying slumped against Maud. “Um, but I’ll need to introduce you to Valiant. She doesn’t trust adult mares much…”

“I… is she, yours?” Screw Loose asked, confused.

“Kinda… she’s my responsibility. It’s a long story, and it’s fairly complicated,” Trixie said.

“That’s sweet,” Screw Loose said. “I have to get back home now, the doctor doesn’t want me staying out too late, but I’ll come by and visit you sometime.”

“I’d like that,” Trixie said. “After all, you’re the only mom who’s going to come and visit us.”

Maud looked away.

“Oh, I’m… I’m sorry,” Screw Loose said.

“Well, you’d understand better than most, right,” Trixie said. Screw Loose nodded.

Trixie said goodbye, and gave out one last hug, Trixie watched as her mom walked away. It was hard to let her mom go like that, but she had to believe that she would see her mom again. Every time she separated from her mom, there was always this pinch of fear telling her that she’d never see her mom again, at least not being herself. Sometimes she still couldn’t believe that her mom was actually… here for her, an impossibility made reality. It was unbelievable.

Maud picked up the filly, and laid Valiant across her back. Trixie took her place by Maud’s side and just as they were about to leave, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy came trotting up to them, still wearing their opposites sweaters and dragging small carts behind them. Maud went ridged, and gave Trixie an almost bitter stare.

“You take Valiant, I’ll take care of her,” Maud said flatly.

“Wait, Maud, she’s not here for that. Let’s just hear them out,” Trixie said quickly.

Maud stood her ground, but she didn’t immediately attack Fluttershy, so that was a plus. Fluttershy stopped a few feet behind Pinkie. Fluttershy avoided looking directly at anypony, but Pinkie beamed at them with bright blue eyes and a giant smile. That’s when Trixie noticed that the wagons were filled with shiny golden bits.

“Guess what?” Pinkie Pie said excitedly.

“Um, what?” Trixie asked, her eyes attracted to the bits.

“You may not have Princess money, but your money problems have been solved. Thanks to me and Fluttershy working the gift stand, we got you a lot of money. I already took our cut, me and Fluttershy are going to the fancy restaurant tonight,” Pinkie Pie said. “We’ll bring the money inside, and then you can sort it later.”

Trixie stared at the wagons in disbelief. “Is that… all ours?”

“Of course it is,” Pinkie Pie said. She turned around and trotted towards the house. “Come on Flutterpoo.”

Fluttershy began walking after her, but stopped just long enough to say, “That was a wonderful show. I um, wish you the best of luck… both of you.” She then followed Pinkie Pie saying, “Wait up, Pinkie. You’re moving too fast.”

“That’s what you said last night,” Pinkie said with a snort and a laugh.

“B-but you were at Trixie’s last night…” Fluttershy said, she sounded a little misplaced.

“It was a joke,” Pinkie explained.

Fluttershy caught up to Pinkie and just as they left earshot, Trixie heard Fluttershy say, “I don’t get it.”

Now that Maud and Trixie were left alone, they looked one last time at the twinkling stars up above. The cool night breeze and the snow clouds gathering in the distance. Even if the weather was crazy, and moving by itself, things were looking really good for her.

“So our money problems are solved. I can do magic shows, which apparently lead to us getting money… that sounds good right?” Trixie asked.

Maud was still frowning. “I don’t like that home wrecker in our house…” Maud looked back at Valiant and smiled. “…but I do like having extra money.” She leaned over gently kissed Trixie’s cheek. “And I’ll get to be here for you too.”

Trixie couldn’t help but grin like a school filly. “Yeah. This sounds like it really will be nice for us. I just hope things stay this way.” Trixie looked at the full moon. But things won’t stay happy forever, so I might as well take advantage of this while I can.

“So uh, Valiant’s asleep… and that means that we’re alone,” Trixie said hopeful.

Maud’s smile grew, and her eyes flashed towards the house. “We’ll let Val sleep in the den. Then we can retire to our bedroom if you want.”

“Or we can take a bath?” Trixie suggested.

“Bubbles?”

“Of course,” Trixie added.

There was a bit of a bounce in Maud’s step as the two quickly retreated home. Today had been simply wonderful, and it was just about to get a whole lot better.

Comments

[Starfire Skyblaze]

great new picture

[TheCrimsonDM]

6566501 Thanks! XD