Chapter 27: A Great and Powerful Crash
Chapter 27
A Great and Powerful Crash
Life was going well. Business at the shop was steady, Torch was busy with his new apprentice, and I sensed that Blaze and the girls were really getting something out of their class, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
My friends were well, though Twilight had behaved a bit strangely around me as of late, sometimes offering to run errands or just acting overly-sweet. She often asked if there was anything I wanted to tell her, though I was always at a loss as to what she meant. Come to think about it, she’d been acting that way since the incident in Canterlot. I thought she was trying to stay on my good side after I snapped at her that day, though I must’ve apologized for it a thousand times. She insisted it was fine, but continued her sugary act. So I brushed it off and assumed all was well.
Now that life had slowed down a bit, Torchwood and I were finally able to sit down and have a good look at the book gifted to us by Current, the hippocampus. We tried to keep the research quiet at first, but it didn’t take long for most of Ponyville to learn that we’d been looking into the legend and lore. Thankfully, they shrugged it off as a new fascination the newlyweds had taken up pursuing together. After that, it became more of an open hobby.
The newspapers only brought more good news. It had finally been announced that Princess Essence had returned and now watched over the Everfree. Another article proclaimed that Celestia’s White Tail Woods construction project was now underway. When we had a slow day at the shop, Torchwood sometimes volunteered there. He came back with great reports about the sheer scale and majesty of the project, though he did say they were in dire need of volunteers. I was usually held up working or watching Blaze, but I did have the opportunity to help once.
I was just leaving the library with some books on old hippocampi legends and I happened to mention it. Twilight then chose that opportunity to have a weird moment and insisted it was far more important that I help her and Spike with something back in the Castle of the Two Sisters. I wasn’t going to agree until she suggested that it might be possible to find other books on hippocampi. That turned into a mini-adventure, as all the other girls had also come for some reason or another, and Pinkie managed to scare them all by pretending to be an old organist from myth. We did find an old diary from the two sisters, which inspired Twilight to start a journal of our own.
The other girls were finally beginning to notice her odd behavior too. Whenever we asked, she refused to provide an explanation. My concern for Twilight was beginning to weigh more and more heavily on my mind, and began to become a distraction during my art classes.
“Mrs. Acrylic? Mrs. Acrylic?”
“Uh, Acrylic? Hello?” Blaze waved an orange claw in front of my face, jolting me back to reality. The unfinished hippocampus painting before me came back into focus, but I looked down to my little dragon friend.
“Sorry, I must’ve phased out. What were you saying?”
“Glitter’s been trying to get your attention.”
“I told him it could wait; you were busy,” she apologized, ears flat.
“I’m glad he got my attention. I should be busy helping you. I’m sorry Glitter, what were you saying?”
“I finished.” She turned over her latest project back over to me. I was impressed. After only three classes, I saw improvement.
“You’re doing great, Glitter.”
“How’s mine?” Scootaloo proudly held up a new batch of scribbles. I was trying to come up with a polite and encouraging comeback when Apple Bloom rudely interrupted.
“What is that?”
“It’s the flower vase Acrylic set out for us. Duh.”
“It looks more like a moose,” Sweetie Belle contributed.
“Oh yeah? And what about yours? Yours looks like a... a...”
“Like a vase,” Apple Bloom smugly finished.
“Why, I oughta...” I swung around and caught her mid-jump before she could tackle her friend. I’d grown rather accustomed to their little bouts over the past month. I returned the pouting pegasus to her seat, letting her know with my eyes that this was her last warning. She grumbled in frustration, but turned back to the table and half-heartedly rolled a pencil along the tip of her hoof.
“Okay, now-”
“Uh, Acrylic? You might wanna take a look at this.” As it turned out, Blaze had never actually returned to his seat. He was standing on a stool by the window, urgently pointing outside. I made it to his side in a few quick steps, and looked where he was pointing. The entire wall was a window, but my view was inhibited because my sister had recently planted a hedge along the side of the road to give us a little privacy. Even so, I could see the top of a red-roofed wagon rolling far too quickly down the hill.
“No, no, no! Watch out! Runaway wagon! Somepony, help!” a vaguely familiar voice screeched. I didn’t have time to place it.
“You all stay inside,” I called back, already out the door.
I looked around for the escaping cart to see if I could help, only to have it collide with me head-on. It gradually bumped to a stop when my bulky form blocked it from rolling further. “Ow.”
“Oh, thank you! The Great and Powerful Trixie is very grateful for the retrieval of her wagon!” A light pink aura finally surrounded the cart, rolling it back a little further so I could get up.
“Trixie?!” I rolled over into the face of the blue unicorn who had made herself so unwelcome her last two visits. I’d only been present for her first stay, where her bark proved to be bigger than her bite. Twilight had shown her up and exposed her as a fraud in saving Ponyville from an ursa minor. Evidently, things hadn’t gone her way after that, because she returned to Ponyville a year or two later with the alicorn amulet. Using it made her powerful, but it also corrupted her, and she made Ponyville’s citizens miserable. Again defeated by Twilight, she’d been humbled to the title of ‘the Great and Apologetic Trixie.’ I’d been in exile when she returned a second time, and therefore had a far more pleasant memory of her than most. Even then I hadn’t really been upset; show business was tough, and she was trying to promote her act.
“Acrylic?” Her surprised purple eyes looked down on me with worry. “Are you alright?”
“Still in one piece,” I grunted. I allowed her to help me to my hooves, but almost tipped back over. “I think.”
“The Great and Apologetic Trixie deeply regrets having hit you with her cart!”
“That’s okay,” I dizzily tried to clear my head. “It happens.”
“Are you alright?”
“Uh huh.” By the way I teetered when I walked, she could tell that wasn’t true.
“Please allow Trixie to take you to the doctor!”
“I can’t leave my class,” I protested, turning back to the doorway. I thought I was home free when the doorway came up faster than I expected, and I ran right into the wall.
“Oh dear. This is Trixie’s fault! Come with me. I’ll walk you to Nurse Redheart.”
“Acrylic! Are you okay?” Blaze rushed out ahead of the girls as I rubbed my head.
“Fine.”
“You always say that. But you’re not fine- you just ran into the wall!”
“What happened?”
“I’m afraid she was hit by my cart.”
“TRIXIE?!” Sweetie Belle shrieked, jumping back.
“Ya got some nerve, showin’ up here again. Why, I oughta...” Blaze held her tail as Apple Bloom angrily tried marching off.
“Who is she?” Glitter quietly whispered to Scootaloo.
“Only the meanest pony alive!” the orange filly angrily buzzed.
“Not to mention a fraud!”
“And a bully!” Trixie’s ears flattened and she backed away with each insult.
“Girls! That’s enough. Where are your manners? That was a long time ago and she’s not like that anymore. And right now, she’s our guest, and I expect you to treat her as such.”
“But!”
“No ‘buts!’ Go on. Apologize to Miss Trixie.” The three sighed in defeat.
“Sorry Miss Trixie,” they all mumbled.
“Alright. Now let’s get back inside. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Blaze still need to finish their work.” The three original members of the CMC shuffled back inside, but Blaze lingered a moment longer, as did Glitter. She wasn’t sure what to make of the new mare that had aroused such heartfelt emotions from her friends. Her eyes shone with a mixture of curiosity and fear.
“I’ll get you some ice,” Blaze offered, also reentering the shop but turning for the kitchen.
“I’m sorry about the girls, Trixie,” I apologized, sidestepping the wall and finally (successfully) finding my way inside. “Would you like to come in?”
“Trixie appreciates the offer, but she really must be going. Are you sure you’re alright?” She was answered when I clipped the side of the table. Then she strode in as-a-matter-of-factly and led me to the back studio. “Girls, class is dismissed for today. I don’t think Acrylic is up to it today.” For once, I didn’t argue.
“Wonder who’s fault that was,” Apple Bloom hissed under her breath. I glared at her, and she obediently shut up and collected her things. Trixie eased me into one of the vacant chairs as Blaze returned with a small baggie of ice.
“Thanks, Blaze,” I smiled, taking it and gently pressing it against my temple.
“Bye, Mrs. Acrylic.”
“I hope you feel better.”
“See you next week, girls. And thanks for the help, Trixie, but really, I’ll be fine.”
“It’s the least I can do. Now, it’s Blaze, right? Where’s the kitchen? We should set a pot of tea on the kettle.” Blaze looked to me for direction.
“It’s alright, Blaze. But only if Trixie stays to have a cup with us.”
“Me?” She looked really and truly flabbergasted.
“As a thank-you for your help?”
“Well... if you insist. But first let me make sure my cart is secure this time!” She turned to hurry out the door, but found herself face-to-face with Glitter, the only remaining filly. “Didn’t you hear me? Class is dismissed.”
“I know. I’m waiting for Torchwood to come home. Is it okay if I stay here until he gets back, Mrs. Acrylic?”
“Sure, Glitter. Would you like a cup of tea, too?”
“Yes please!.”
“Blaze? Could you make that four cups?”
“You got it,” he called from the kitchen.
“I already checked your cart for you, Miss Trixie. It’s safe.”
“Is that so?” she disbelievingly raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah! Come look!” Glitter eagerly led her outside, hoping for approval. I peered out the door after them and noted that eight large stones had been placed under the wheels to keep it from moving, two per wheel. It wasn’t going anywhere.
“B-but... how did you-?”
“Mr. Torchwood’s been teaching me how to teleport stuff,” Glitter proudly announced. “So I just moved the rocks there for you! Is that okay?”
“Er, um, yes, that’s perfect. Thank you.” With this note of praise, Glitter happily bounced inside. Trixie took one look back at her cart before reentering the house. “Who exactly is this Torchwood?”
“He’s my husband. I don’t think you’ve met him,” I replied, gratefully taking a cup of steaming tea from my dragon. “Feel free to pull up a seat,” I gestured. Trixie carefully nudged a couple of stray papers out of the way before setting her teacup on the table.
“Oh, that’s right. I read in the paper that you’d been married. Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” Blaze hopped up into the seat next to me, still suspiciously eyeing Trixie. Glitter, on the other hoof, seemed to instantly warm up to our guest, and sidled up next to her. Trixie was finally beginning to wrap her head around the idea of somepony who didn’t absolutely despise her, and smiled back down at the beaming filly. When she turned back to me, I could tell it took a lot of effort to keep her eyes trained on my face, and not my wings. She’d been sneaking glances at them for a while now, still not used to seeing me with them.
“You aren’t mad, are you?”
“What reason would I have to be mad?” she exclaimed.
“You know, that I lied about my wings the first time you came around.”
“Oh, that. The Great and Powerful Trixie did mean to stare. Of course I’m not angry; I probably would have done the same. I’m just... surprised.”
“Well, you’re not the only one.”
“But Ponyville seems to be taking it well,” she pressed.
“Thankfully, the Princesses made the whole transition easy,” I agreed. “Not everypony is settled back in, but we’re getting there. Can’t complain. So, how’s life treated you after... you know...”
“Taking over Ponyville?” she ruefully finished. She blankly stared at her teacup. “Not exactly well. I left the rock farm, and with nothing left but my wagon, I tried performing again. Times are tough, I’m not going to lie. The only places I can earn even a little money are rural areas where the rumors haven’t reached them. Normally Ponyville would be the last place I visit, but with so many new faces, I thought it might be worth a try.”
“You’re a show pony?” Glitter gasped, eyes wide with fascination.
“I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, the most powerful unicorn in Equestria!” she announced, letting her ego temporarily take hold. She proudly looked out into the middle distance, head held high and chest puffed out in memory of the good old days. Then she sagged back into the seat as reality rudely set back in. “Or, at least, I used to be.”
“Wow,” the filly excitedly gasped. “Can you show me?”
“You want to see my show?” Trixie looked down at her in shock.
“Please?” Glitter begged.
“Why don’t you wait until Trixie’s show, Glitter?” I suggested. “After all, it wouldn’t be fair to all the other ponies if you got an exclusive preview.”
“Okay,” she disappointedly pouted. Then she perked back up a bit as a new thought crossed her mind. “When is your show, Miss Trixie?”
“Well, I was going to perform tonight in the square,” she replied, still in a bit of a stupor.
“Can we go? Please, please, pleeeaaaassseee, Mrs. Acrylic?”
“You’re going to have to ask your parents about that,” I chuckled.
“Okay!” she jumped out of her seat. “I’ll be right back!”
“Where are you going?” I laughed.
“To go ask them!” She was almost out the door when she nearly crashed into Torchwood and Twilight who were just entering.
“Whoa! What’s the rush, squirt?” Torchwood fondly ruffled her hair.
“I’ll be right back for my lesson, Mr. Torchwood! I have to go ask my parents if I can go see Miss Trixie’s show tonight!”
“Trixie?!” Twilight exclaimed, finally noticing my guest. “I thought that cart was familiar. What are you doing here?”
“It’s nice to see you too, Twilight,” Trixie ruefully sniffed. “Since you did me the courtesy of not banishing me the last time we met, I thought I might stop by and put on one last show.”
“I assumed that much. I mean what are you doing here with Acrylic?”
“Well, that’s a funny story, actually...” I dryly chuckled.
“There was an incident with my runaway wagon,” Trixie uneasily began.
“Acrylic got hit and we had to cancel art class!” Blaze offered.
“WHAT?!”
“Are you hurt?”
“It was a bump on the head,” I waved off Torch’s concern. When he saw that a measly ice pack was all that had been required, he let the matter drop. Twilight, on the other hoof, freaked out.
“Are you crazy? You have to go see a doctor! Come on, we’ll take you to Nurse Redheart.”
“I already offered to do that,” Trixie spoke.
“Then why isn’t she there? You need to be resting!”
“Whoa, Twilight, what’s the big deal? I’m fine. After a good night’s rest I’ll be as good as new.”
“At least let me do a quick scan,” she pleaded.
“Twi-”
“Honey? It couldn’t hurt.” Torchwood’s eyes begged me to go with it, if just to shut her up. I groaned in complaint but stood.
“Alright, alright. Fire when ready.” I felt the same tingling pass over me as when I caught Twilight casting her spell when we left Canterlot. Now that I was expecting the sensation, I could pinpoint exactly where she was checking. She thoroughly checked my head for concussion, then moved down my neck, left foreleg, right foreleg, my chest, but I noticed she lingered a little longer around my stomach region. Only then did she relax and give a little sigh of relief.
“Twilight? Is everything... okay?”
“Yep! Everything’s fine!” Her pink aura was extinguished, and she gave a very convincing expression of innocence. I was even more confused when she gave a little wink. “It’s like you said; a bump on the head. Get some rest, keep it on ice, and drink plenty of tea. You’ll be fine.” She gave a wide smile that creeped us all out.
“Good to know,” Torchwood slowly said, as though she might attack at the first sudden movement.
“Trixie is quite relieved,” the blue unicorn broke the tension. “I don’t know that insurance would have covered that medical bill.” We all laughed at her joke.
“Wait a second.” Twilight accusingly pointed a hoof. She then proceeded to invade Trixie’s personal space until they were nose-to-nose. “You said that your wagon ran away, but if that’s true, why didn’t you just catch it with your magic? After all, a feat like that should be a piece of cake for the ‘Great and Powerful Trixie.’ Were you trying to hit somepony? Then you could act all sorry and sappy and take advantage of Ponyville’s hospitality!”
“Twilight!” I burst, aghast at her wild accusation. “Trixie would never do that! Apologize!”
“Excuse me, Element of Forgiveness, but you’re not my mother. And you don’t know Trixie like I do. You weren’t here when she banished me and took over Ponyville.”
“Well, Element of Magic, maybe you’d prefer to settle things through another magic duel. At least Trixie’s trying to make up for what happened. And from what I understand, it wasn’t really her fault either. That was the amulet. So why can’t you just let the past stay in the past?”
“It seems to me like the past has a way of finding its way to the present.” She glared at my wings.
“Oh, you’re going there, are you Twilight? Real mature.”
“Ladies!” Torchwood thundered, breaking us apart. We were both steaming by then. “What’s gotten into you two? You both need to cool down.”
“I’m not the one who needs to-” Trixie nudged me from behind, breaking off my sentence. She cleared her throat and nodded to the corner where Blaze was huddled. He looked at me with scared wet eyes. My heart melted. I’d never raised my voice in front of him before. “Blaze... I didn’t mean...” He just scurried off to his bed in the other room. I looked to Twilight, who had also simmered down. We cast each other apologetic looks, but no formal amends were spoken. I just shame-facedly turned away and headed for the door.
“I’m going for a walk.”
“I better check on Blaze,” Torchwood offered.
“I should leave too. Goodbye, Trixie.” Twilight turned down the opposite road and trudged home.
“Acrylic?” Trixie called from beside her cart. I paused for a moment. “For the record, I didn’t mean to hurt anypony. A couple ponies stopped to call Trixie some rather obscene names. While I was distracted, I didn’t notice the cart rolling away. By the time I realized what happened, it was out of reach. I’m sorry. I’m just so, so sorry.”
“I know you didn’t mean to, Trixie. You don’t have to explain yourself to me, but thank you. And don’t listen to Twilight. She just can’t see that you’ve really changed, yet.”
“You can?” I glanced at my wings, then looked back to her.
“It wouldn’t be the first time.” She gave a half-hearted smile.
“And... thanks for standing up for me. I don’t think anypony’s ever done that for me before.” I just acknowledged her with a smile.
“Miss Trixie! Miss Trixie! My parents said I could go!” Glitter had taken off shortly after Twilight and Torchwood arrived, and now came bouncing back, out of breath and panting but no less excited.
“I’m glad to hear it,” the blue unicorn smiled.
“Are you leaving already?”
“Er, yes, um... the Great and Powerful Trixie must get ready for tonight’s show!” She didn’t want to let on to Glitter what had just transpired.
“Oh, okay. Mr. Torchwood promised to teach me more cool fire dancing tricks now. I’ll see you later!”
“Wait!” Glitter froze at the urgent tone. “Er... Mr. Torchwood is a bit busy at the moment. Why don’t you show me what he’s taught you while we wait for him?”
“Okay!” her eyes shone with glee. I smiled to myself from the top of the hill as I looked back over my shoulder. They looked so cute, playing in the grass without a care in the world. I wished I could trade places with one of them.
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forgifs.com/gallery/d/199934-1/Girl-wagon-woods.gif
okay, what's going on between Acryilic and Twilight?
And i'm betting our thestral is pregnant
When will the next chapter be coming out? will it remain constant with the last interval?
5350681 you and me both
5350681 Yeah, I am calling that she is.
5350990
I'll third that notion
Man how are y'all catching such a subtle hint? Had to reread it 3 times to catch it.
5350990 i'm with him
Unless the author deliberately left out any mention of sex i don't see how she could have gotten pregnant.
Bloody Hell Twilight do you need a reminder of the last story's events and have you behaved during it, I think you need to reflect upon you actions.
Fuck. Yes.