Princess Flurry Heart's New Babysitter

by Hood

Part Two

Trixie insisted her caraven be left where it was, and naturally, Cadance ordered a few guards that were present at the time to keep watch of Trixie’s belongings. With Trixie’s mind at ease, she behaved much more cooperative while wandering the great, crystal walls of the inner castle. She even felt the need for a bit of conversation. Considering the three of them hadn’t hardly talked at all, let alone introduced one another properly, she knew just how to get the ball rolling. Cadance lead the way up front, and her husband was now slowing to walk directly next to Trixie, so the showmare began.

"So, you know Trixie’s name, but she doesn’t know yours."

"Oh," Shining Armor huffed. He was clearly embarrassed at the fact that he hadn’t even told Trixie his name yet. "It’s Shining Armor."

Trixie nodded. "Ah, that’s right. Trixie remembers you now. She recalls when you two were wed. It’s been awhile since she’d heard much of anything else, though, except the baby of course."

Shining smiled at her, and said, "Well, you probably know who Princess Cadance is, then. Now… Trixie… Trixie… That name sounds so familiar."

The prince was now scratching his chin in thought. Trixie offered, "Trixie is known widely throughout Equestria. No doubt you’ve heard of the Great and Powerful Trixie from one of the citizens outside the palace."

He shook his head in denial, stating, "No… A-and, it’s a castle. Now, I’ve read about you somewhere..." Then, his eyes widened. Trixie could only guess that Shining had figured out where he’d heard her name from. "My sister Twily! That’s right. She’s told me all about you in her letters."

Trixie blinked. "Twily? Who’s that?" she asked almost snidely.

Shining gestured with a hoof as though Trixie should already know. "Twilight Sparkle, my sister." Shining Armor then began naming off all the things he already knew about, which meant it was probably likewise with his wife. All Trixie could really do was listen, her lively, snooty expression and walk dissipating the longer Shining Armor kept count. "She’s told me about the first time you came to Ponyville, about how you tried to use the alicorn amulet against her, how you nearly ruined your relationship between that one pony, Starlight Glimmer…"

Trixie was now falling behind, her confidence sinking. "Starlight Glimmer?" Trixie asked, but the two up ahead didn’t hear her. She was getting too far away.

The next words to leave Shining Armor’s lips would force Trixie to reconsider, and maybe even run away, abandoning the offer outright. He hadn’t even realized she wasn’t next to his side anymore when he said, "Uhh… All those questionable things you did just confuses me... Why did the heart choose you?" He looked to his right for Trixie, but kept talking. "Maybe it's trying to help you redeem... Trixie?"

He had to turn a full one hundred and eighty degrees just to face her. All Trixie could do now was shake a little where she stood, and hide her face with her hat in shame. She was so proud of herself before entering these walls, too, until she heard that. Cadance even turned around, but not to face Trixie, though. She asked Shining Armor with a bit of shock in her voice, "Honey, you don’t really think that’s actually helping, do you?"

The stallion facehoofed. "Gah! I sound like Pinkie, don’t I?!"

Cadance stepped forth to reassure Trixie, "That’s all in the past now. Just... come with us. We’re sure you can do this." She glanced at Shining, and asked, "Aren’t we?"

He nodded in compliance. "Yes, of course we are!" His eyes dodged the shiny walls for a moment in anticipation. "It’s just, what if Sunburst skipped something in his work or something?"

Cadance again took the lead, and continued the conversation with, "Need I remind you that both of us checked his work for him? We took every possible precaution we could into account, and besides, Sunburst already told us that the results might not’ve been what we envisioned at first. For whatever reason, the heart chose Trixie. We have to trust in the crystal heart, and that’s all there is to it."

They finally reached the end of the corridor where a set of closed doors stood tall. This was without question where Princess Flurry Heart was being kept, and as the doors opened wider and wider, Trixie followed closely behind, still eager to see the baby despite what had happened earlier in the hall. Time slowed down somewhat once Cadance and Shining opened the door fully. They separated one another, and beyond them, dim lights shined down on Princess Flurry Heart's crib. Trixie lifted her torso up and against the white, wooden railing to get a better view. Flurry was all bundled and cozy in this noticeably familiar, silk blanket. Trixie stared not at the baby, but at that peculiar blanket that surrounded her for a second or two.

It was a pale, light blue color with small and white, spaced out dots. "Like glitter... or something," Trixie whispered. Although the parents of this sleepy headed baby heard Trixie’s remark, Shining Armor shrugged it off as Cadance warily looked his way. Trixie just got closer and closer the more she leaned in, blinking her attention away from the familiar blanket and towards what was nestled inside it. Trixie’s hoof started to dangle, trying to pet the locks of Flurry’s beautiful mane, but she had awoken by then, and reached out for Trixie. Their eyes made contact, and Flurry grabbed hold of Trixie’s hoof so snugly, the mare could hardly pull away.

She was just about to let out a pleasant sigh due to how touching the moment was when the baby finally unravel the cloth by using the very wings that hid them. Trixie quickly retracted her hoof once seeing this, and even used it to back away, stunned. Just before her rump bumped right into the closed door she was backing into, she let out a noise of shock that sounded something like, "Gwah!" Then, just before asking her question, she looked back and forth at the confused faces of the prince and his wife. "Sh-sh-she’s an alicorn? You want Trixie to babysit your alicorn baby?!"

Cadance began with, "Well," but Shining Armor answered for her.

"Yes!"

Cadance talked over her husband. "We thought you knew. Trixie, that’s what a princess is…"

"No," Trixie muttered, sinking and again hiding her head under her hat, like she did in the hall. "No, no, no… Trixie doesn’t even babysit." She then lifted herself up hastily, turned and told the two, "What Trixie means to say is… Trixie has had a little experience with foals when she was a filly, before she got her cutie mark. There was this orphanage in Trixie’s hometown that she went to sometimes, and Trixie remembers it having lots of uncared for foals dropped off almost everyday."

Shining Armor asked, "Huh… Really?"

Trixie looked around before stating, "Uh-huh... Trixie made lots of friends there, too, but afterwards, she grew up to become a successful showmare. That’s what she always wanted to be in life ever since she was a foal herself. So, the crystal heart couldn’t have chosen Trixie to take care of your… princess solely because Trixie had once visited an orphanage on occasions so long ago. Right?"

Cadance simply inhaled a fair amount of air, and said with a bit of stress in her voice, "Probably not. According to the book, the spell selects a pony that is destined to do whatever we need them to do, which is just a little vague if you think about it... The point is, in this case, that’d be babysitting our Princess Flurry Heart. It’s only until tomorrow, and besides, it’s not like you wouldn’t be getting a reward."

Trixie’s ears perked. Those were the magic words she’d been waiting to hear all this time. "How much we talkin’?" Trixie asked bluntly.

Before Cadance made her offer, she stared at Trixie, surprised at the immediate change of attitude. "Err, a thousand bits."

To Trixie, that wasn’t really even enough to cover a week’s worth of things she needed. So, she gave the Princess a cocky, raised eyebrow, and smiled. Thanks to this, Shining Armor reacted as if it were an auction by then offering, "Ten thousand gold!"

Cadance covered her mouth when she gasped, but Trixie couldn’t help but cough. She pointed at Shining, and managed to say, "You’ve got a deal!"

Comments

[NotanImportantPony]

I raise to 15,000 gold!

[Shipper107]

well it is a very tiring task

[Texas Style Brony]

Gotta babysit a baby alicorn?

vegasmagazine.com/get/files/image/galleries/harrison-pawn-stars.jpg

"I'll give ya 20 bits for it."