Start Of A New Life

by Madox

Chapter 12 - New Purpose

The next day Trixie was feeling pretty good. Not only has there been no problems during her night at the hospital, but she has also made up with Spike, something she has hoped for a long time.

Walking turned out to be a bit of a struggle at first with her bandaged injury, but it didn't take her long to get used to the feeling and she was able to walk without trouble besides a small limp.

Luckily she had help in the form of Lyra who came along earlier that morning. She had already taken most of Trixie's belongings from her hospital room to her cottage and was now walking alongside Trixie on her way home.

The two of them were chatting during there walk through town, but it didn't take Trixie long to notice something strange.

The other ponies in the streets were smiling at her.

Usually that would be nothing strange to every other pony, but till now most of the town inhabitants had been cold in her presence, if not even hostile in some few cases. Of course, there were still some faces she could see who are not happy to see her, but the smiling ones outnumbered them by far.

Some were even waving when she and Lyra walked by which Trixie replied hesitantly. There was even one mare who came up to her and asked about her well-being.

Trixie turned to face Lyra as soon as the mare has left them. "Okay, what in the name of Celestia is going on here?"

"Well, word has gotten around town yesterday about what had happened to you and Sweetie Belle. At first most ponies didn't believe anything, but a certain little filly along with her friends confirmed it. Even Bonnie helped by talking about it with her customers. I guess you earned a lot of points of goodwill in Ponyville."

"You mean... they have forgiven me?" Trixie uttered in disbelieve. Just two days ago she was probably the most hated mare in town, but now...

"Maybe not totally and not all of them, but the majority accepted you," Lyra said with a smile before she put her foreleg around Trixie's shoulder. "Welcome to Ponyville!"

Trixie could do nothing else than smile with moist eyes, thinking about how much that means to her. Maybe she finally found a place she can call home.

~*~

Trixie arrived at her cottage along with Lyra, and both of them chatted for some time with Lyra helping her friend out around the house. She left when Trixie announced that she would like to rest and take a small nap.

Trixie made herself comfortable on her couch, but no matter how much she tried she couldn't find peace. There was something keeping her awake, a small lingering feeling of doubt.

Maybe the other ponies earlier weren't smiling at her, but at Lyra. Maybe they were just pretending to be nice while Lyra was around with Trixie. Maybe they were just waiting for her to be alone to strike.

With all these thoughts flying around in her mind Trixie could not truly rest. She had to know, and she could only think of one thing to do.

Standing up from her couch again Trixie slowly limped to her front door and opened it to walk outside, back into town.

One hour later after walking around town Trixie came to the conclusion that the other ponies really were friendlier to her and not just because of Lyra's presence. She had a nice chat with Berry Punch and Cheerilee, and that one time she tripped and fell a stallion which name she couldn't recall, if she even knows it at all, helped her up.

But the one thing that brought her the most joy was when Snips and Snails came up to her. Every time before the two colts always ran away in terror whenever Trixie tried to approach them to apologize for her behavior when she was wearing the alicorn amulet. But now they came up to her to apologize as well for their behavior.

Back on her way to her cottage Trixie was in a much better mood than before, a big smile on her face which would make Pinkie Pie proud.

During her little tour Trixie even reached a part of Ponyville she has never explored before, but she was sure that she would find the way to her home soon. While walking past a hedge Trixie heard a strange noise she couldn't place, like a loud whistling. Shortly after she heard two voices growing louder, and slowly she could understand what they were saying.

"...not look good, what should we do?"

"For starters we could TAKE COVER!"

Not knowing what was happening on the other side of the hedge and without thinking Trixie let herself fall to the ground with a hiss of pain from her flank, and not a second to soon as something flew straight over her head. A few moments later that something exploded behind her. Trixie turned her head around to she could see an explosion of different colors just high enough to not damage something.

'Fireworks?' Trixie thought.

"Well, that did not go as planned. Let's hope that we did not hit something," Trixie heard one of the voices say. There was the rustling of leafs followed by a gasp and hoof steps. Turning her head again she saw somepony standing besides her.

"Oh no, are you okay? Did we hit you?" The mare offered her hoof to help Trixie up just when another mare came bursting through the hedge, alarmed by her friends call.

Trixie gladly took the offered hoof and came back to her legs. "I'm fine, don't worry. I heard your call for cover just in time to avoid being hit."

Trixie looked over the two mares in front of her. She didn't remember seeing them around town, but that might be because of her avoiding the other town inhabitants before.

The first one who helped Trixie up was a unicorn with a pale mulberry colored coat and fuchsia colored mane and tale, which reminded her a bit of Cheerilee. The other was a pegasus with a grayish blue and violet coat and blonde mane and tale.

"Glad to hear that nothing happened," the pegasus said in relief. "We did not expect for the rocket to get out of control like this."

“I'm glad as well. I was just released from the hospital, I don't want to go back.” Upon noticing their concerned looks Trixie continued. “Don't worry, it's nothing serious, just a precaution. By the way, my name is Trixie.”

“I'm Fuchsia Blush,” the unicorn said with a smile.

“And I'm Lavender Lace.”

"Nice to meet you, even if the circumstances could have been better. What were you even trying to do?" Trixie asked. "I doubt that it was for a birthday party or any other kind of celebration, otherwise Pinkie Pie would be involved."

"Well, it's a little dream of both of us that we are aiming for, but we have a lot to learn before we can even think of going for it," Fuchsia said sheepishly, rubbing a hoof behind her head.

"It's always important to follow your dreams. May I ask what this dream is?"

"Being performers!" both mares replied together with some of the biggest smiles Trixie had ever seen.

"Really?" Trixie said with a smile. "I'm impressed. There are not many non-unicorn performers outside the professionals like the Wonderbolts," she said while looking at Lavender.

"Yeah, but we will make it work," Lavender said. "It's our dream since that one time we were on stage during a talent show. This feeling up there was simply... incredible."

Trixie did understand what she was talking about. After all, she has been there as well long ago.

Lavender sighed. "But we have so much to learn. You saw what happened earlier when we tried to practice."

Trixie put a hoof on her chin. "Well, it should be easier if you use magic to create fake-fireworks. The real ones are way to unpredictable and dangerous. You could easily hurt yourself or your audience each time you try to use these. It's a pretty easy spell to learn and usually one of the main tricks unicorn performers learn to use."

Both mares looked at each other in surprise before they looked back at Trixie. "That sounds like you got experience as a performer."

"I hope so, I have been performing for years after all," Trixie said with pride after closing her eyes, a hoof on her puffed out chest. When she opened her eyes again she saw both mares right in front of her, their eyes wide open. Trixie yelped in surprise and took a step back.

“Do you think you could give us some advice or show us some tricks?” Fuchsia asked while Lavender nodded feverishly.

Trixie blinked and thought about it for a moment. She was not a teacher, she said the same before to Sweetie and Twilight, but it had worked pretty well will Sweetie's magic lessons, so maybe she wasn't as bad as she thought. And as much as it hurt to think about it, there was the possibility that they won't find a way to lift the curse of the amulet, so keeping all her experience she collected over her years on the street would be a waste.

Smiling Trixie raised her head. “Well, I guess the Great and Powerful Trixie could share some of her experience with you to prepare the next generation of performers.”

Both mares gasped. “Y-you are the Great and Powerful Trixie!? I thought you look familiar,” Lavender said in shock.

Trixie gulped. 'Oh no, they heard about what I did. I knew it was a mistake.' But before Trixie could react in any way they both let out a joyful squee and hugged each other while jumping around.

“I can't believe it! The Great and Powerful Trixie herself is gonna teach us!”

“I know, it's incredible!”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “Are you two alright?”

This shook the two mares out of their little celebration and they realized what they are doing in front of somepony else. They released each other and stood awkwardly besides each other, blushing in embarrassment.

“Um, sorry about that,” Fuchsia said. “It's just that you are one of our biggest idols. We saw one of your shows two years ago in Baltimare and were fascinated by your performance. And now finding you in front of us, agreeing to teach us was a bit too much.”

Trixie blinked. “You two... are fans of me?” Trixie couldn't believe what she was hearing. She has been performing for years, in front of countless ponies, but she could not remember anypony besides colts or fillies that were truly fans of her.

“Of course we are!” Lavender nearly screamed in excitement. “Your show was amazing back then, it encouraged us to try performing in front of our friends and family. It was nothing special, but it was special to both of us, so after that we wanted to perform later on as well. And now meeting you, I can't believe it! Even with all these rumors that appeared about you we never stopped being your fans.”

Trixie's ears flopped back against her head and she lowered her gaze to the floor. “I can assure you, these rumors are true. The incident with the ursa and the enslaving of Ponyville, both things did happen, and they are both my fault.”

Both mares gasped. “They are true?” Lavender asked which Trixie replied with a small nod. “But you are living here in Ponyville. If everything did happen, why would you live here?”

“At first it was because of... private reasons. But after the last few weeks the town grew upon me. I found friends, even after everything I did. I don't want to lose what I found after so much time. I made huge mistakes, but I can't make them undone, so I live with the knowledge of what I did.”

“Do you regret what you did?”

Trixie nodded, her gaze still on the floor. “Yes, with all of my heart. I never intended for any of this to happen, but it did.”

There was no other response for minute, and Trixie was sure that they both would leave. So it came as a big surprise when she felt a hoof on each of her shoulders. She looked up into the eyes of Fuchsia and Lavender, both smiling at her.

“That's good enough for us,” Fuchsia said. “Anypony who talks to you a bit can see that you truly regret anything that happened. You made a mistake, and you paid for it. We both see no reason to avoid you or anything else, so we are good.” Lavender nodded in agreement with her friend.

Trixie couldn't believe her ears. Even after she confirmed that everything really happened they both still want to be around her. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “You can't believe how much that means to me.”

“You're welcome,” Lavender said.

“So, would you like to come with me to my place for some tea? We could talk about some tricks for performers,” Trixie asked.

Both mares grinned and nodded in response before they followed Trixie, talking with each other on their way.

~*~

Trixie left the hospital with a spring in her step. Two weeks has passed since the timberwolf attack and the doctor has finally declared her leg fully healed. The marks from the claws were still visible, but her fur was slowly growing back, covering it up completely.

On her way back to her cottage she enjoyed the mild winter day, smiling at several colts and fillies she saw playing in the snow. She even had small conversations with several ponies on her way. Since the attack she was met with so much acceptance from Ponyville she still couldn't really believe it.

While thinking about how friendly all of Ponyville became these past weeks she thought about her new friends Fuchsia and Lavender. At first, she may have only been like a tutor for the two mares, but it didn't take long before she spends more and more time with them besides their little practice sessions and they became friends.

It was late afternoon when Trixie came closer to her cottage and noticed a patrol of Royal Guards trotting along the border of the woods. Just like Twilight has promised she has informed the princesses about the new danger around Ponyville. The princesses didn't hesitate and nearly doubled the number of guards in Ponyville to make sure the town is protected against the monsters. She even ordered a search through the Everfree Forest and the Whitetail Woods to find the reason for the monsters behavior and how many of them are in the Whitetail, but besides confirming that several packs of timberwolves and even a manticore has left the Everfree they couldn't find anything.

Thanks to this development Trixie could not go with Sweetie Belle to their usual spot for their magic training. Besides the danger that the timberwolves might return the guard had sat up some rules regarding the stay near the woods. Without some guards to watch over you at all times it was forbidden to stay near the woods borders to minimize casualties. It was possible to request a corps of some guards to keep watch, but it was not easy to get these for private reasons.

So Trixie had to stay inside of Ponyville with Sweetie Belle. Sometimes they stayed at the library to learn mostly for the theory, other times they met at Trixie's cottage or even Rarity's boutique. Sweetie had made huge progress since her first levitation. She was now able to use her magic without so much concentration as before and could control levitating small objects around. She was always eager to help Rarity with getting small things like her pin cushion or her scissors, of course only with Rarity supervising her.

On one of their first sessions in the library Trixie had used the opportunity and asked Twilight for help with teaching magic, or at least giving her advice from time to time. Twilight was overjoyed to help Trixie, and even more when Trixie told her why she wanted to learn from her. Sweetie Belle was of course sad that Twilight agreed on teaching Trixie and not her before, but after their explanation that a grown unicorn with experience like Trixie won't need nearly as much attention and more little pieces of advice to understand the spells than a filly who learned from the beginning she understood.

All of this didn't matter to Trixie at this moment. She has finally arrived at her home and had no other obligations for this day at all, she could do whatever she wanted. She just wasn't sure what to do at all. In the end she decided to stay home the rest of the day for a lazy evening in front of the fireplace with a good book.

She had just started a small fire in her chimney and was on her way to her kitchen to brew some tea when there was a knock on the front door. 'Of course, the one day I don't want to do anything someone comes around for a visit,' she thought to herself. She turned and walked to the door and opened it. On the other side stood Twilight and, to Trixie's surprise, Cheerilee.

“Hey, Trixie,” Twilight said. “Do you have a bit of time for us?”

“Sure, please come in,” Trixie replied as she stepped aside and welcomed them in. They walked inside and Trixie closed the door. “I was just about to brew some tea, would you like some?”

“That sounds lovely, thank you,” Cheerilee said with a smile.

Trixie left for the kitchen to make the tea. When she returned several minutes later with a tray containing the tea and cups she saw them already sitting at her table. She joined them and set a teacup in front of everypony, filling them with tea. They all took a few sips before Trixie spoke up.

“So, how can I help you? To be honest, it was a surprise seeing you here, Cheerilee. Not that you are not welcome, but I did not expect you to come for a visit out of nowhere.”

“I know, and I'm not really here for a visit between friends,” Cheerilee admitted sheepishly. “I didn't even know where you lived, that's why I asked Twilight for help.”

“Really? And why were you looking for me?”

“I hoped you might be willing to help me with a little problem.” Cheerilee took a deep breath. “You see, as a teacher it is my duty to make sure that the children of Ponyville learn as much as they can during their time in school. But sadly there are things I'm unable to teach them besides dry theory, namely flying for pegasus and magic for unicorns. Usually these would be the responsibility of the parents of said children, but in some cases they can't teach them either. So I have been talking to Mayor Mare about a solution I came up with. She agreed to facilitate with getting ponies of the other tribes to teach the kids. Finding a pegasus willing to help me was not that hard, but finding a fitting unicorn is another story.”

“I see,” Trixie said before she took a deeper sip from her tea.

“So I wanted to ask if you might be willing to help teach the young unicorns of Ponyville in magic.”

And there goes her tea again. Trixie was able to turn her head in time to not spit it at Cheerilee. Twilight was not so lucky.

“Sorry, Twilight,” Trixie said while she levitated a towel from the kitchen for her friend.

“It's okay, but next time try the other side, please.”

Trixie didn't answer and instead turned her attention back to Cheerilee. “You are not serious, right? Because if you are I'm telling you the same thing I did before. I'm NOT a teacher.”

“I beg to differ, Trixie,” Twilight said while wiping off her face. “You have been teaching Lavender and Fuchsia how to perform these past weeks. You have been teaching Sweetie Belle magic even longer, and both of these with success as far as I can tell.”

“That's different!”

“Not by much,” Cheerilee said. “Till now you only had two ponies to teach at a time, now it would maybe be five or six, ten at the most. And before you say anything, I would not leave you alone. I might not be able to teach magic, but I can follow your instructions and help keeping the kids under control.”

“And I might be able to help out sometimes as well if you want,” Twilight said.

Trixie looked from one mare to the other several times, trying to process everything. “I-I'm not sure. That is quite a responsibility you want me to take. I don't think I'm the right pony to watch over kids.”

“Trixie, you know how to teach somepony else magic, you proved that with Sweetie Belle,” Cheerilee said. “These past few days she showed what she has learned at school.” Trixie opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Cheerilee. “Only with permission and me watching over while she did so.” Trixie closed her mouth again.

“And you showed that you would do anything to ensure their safety by throwing yourself in harms way to safe Sweetie Belle. In my opinion you got everything a good teacher needs besides experience, and you get this only with practice.”

“There is still the problem I mentioned before. You want me to teach a class, but I'm not a teacher.”

Cheerilee grinned. She was on the right path, Trixie was already reaching for straws as excuses to be unable for the task. “Well, you would of course not be a real teacher like me, but the pegasi who offered their help aren't either. It's more like being a private tutor for a group. Since Mayor Mare agreed to support us you can even use the school during the afternoon hours and the weekends, and you would even get paid for the time you help out.”

“So, what do you think, Trixie?"

Trixie bit her lip while she thought about everything. She has to admit that it sounds promising, she could use these bits. She would finally have a permanent income and could buy a few things for herself besides food and other necessities. She would only need to teach some kids a few things about magic, and she loves kids, even if she doesn't show it very much. It comes with being a performer and kids being the main audience to please. Can this be so hard?

Trixie sighed. “Alright, I guess I could give it a try, as long as you help me out as well, Cheerilee. But I won't hear any complains if I quit later again if it won't work out!”

“Thank you so much, Trixie,” Cheerilee exclaimed in joy before she stood up and walked up to Trixie to hug her. “I'm really thankful for your help.” She released her and slowly made her way to the door, Twilight and Trixie following her. “I think it's time for us to go. Would you come over to the school over the next days so that we can discuss everything further?”

“Sure, I guess.”

Cheerilee nodded and left the cottage, Trixie following her with her eyes.

“I hope I didn't make a mistake...” Trixie mumbled.

She felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked to her side at Twilight. “I'm sure you will do a good work, Trixie. I know you can do it.”

“I hope you are right, Twilight,” Trixie said as she looked again after Cheerilee. “I really hope so...”

Author's Note:

And there is the second one for today, I hope you like it

Comments

[Frankie2]

So, has Trixie made any progress with figuring out how to beat the Amulet?

[Pete100]

Trixie left the hospital with a spring in her step. Two weeks has passed since the timberwolf attack and the doctor has finally declared her leg fully healed. The marks from the claws were still visible, but her fur was slowly growing back, covering it up completely.

I thought she was already out of the hospital.