Spying Gone Wrong

by Star Sage

Simple Meetings

Twilight sighed as she waited for her food to be prepared. It wasn’t that she was waiting long, that was one of the advantages of this diner, called a fast food place, over the slower cafés around Ponyville square. She actually knew they were working as fast as they could, they just had a lot of orders, as Thunderlane and two other pegasi could attest, Thunderlane having only just gotten back, and now all three of them going off with more orders.

Still, Twilight was anxious. This was a special day. It was the first time she’d be meeting someone she hadn’t seen since some regrettable words had passed between them, and she wanted to be prompt and on time for their reunion. Most of that had been at the behest of somepony she’d met only days ago, and one she’d learned not to take at his word all the time, but he’d sounded sincere that she might be the one to bring Trixie back from this pedestal she seemed to keep trying to stand on, and maybe even be a friend with her.

Mind, that seemed a pretty tall order, considering the stallion, DawnChaser, a fellow unicorn, had claimed to be Trixie’s older brother. According to him she wasn’t a bad mare, and just had some emotional baggage hanging off her, and if Twilight just tried to approach her as a friend, the show pony would open up. The lavender mare, student of Celestia, had been about to refuse, but then, she’d really thought about it. While she and Trixie were opposites, and introvert and an extrovert, she did remember not having any friends, and thinking of Trixie in that state, it made Twilight much more willing to reach out to her.

So she’d arranged this little unofficial meeting in the park through DawnChaser, the stallion sending letters through his own magic to wherever his sister was, and basically ordering her to leave all the tricks, the clothing, basically everything behind, and just approach Twilight as any other pony. Twilight, listening to DawnChaser dictate such terms, decided that, if Trixie really did follow them, then she’d do her best to be friendly.

That was why she was here, waiting to get food from the diner, something simple for the two of them to share. After a chapter and a half of waiting, which was probably less than eight minutes, since it was a short book, Twilight heard her number, and walked up to the window to get her food. As she approached, she saw the unicorn diner owner was looking around, levitating a paper with his magic, and commenting on stupid flies.

Trying to ignore that, Twilight laid the bits out, and then used her magic to grab the two cups, and the bag, and trot off at a brisk pace towards the park. The trip gave her time to go over what she was going to say to Trixie, hoping to avoid bringing up the topic of her last visit, but as she entered the park, and saw the blue mare sitting dejectedly on one of the benches, her hooves crossed as she laid her head on them, her entire speech flew out the window, and she just walked up to her.

“Sparkle…er, I mean, hello Twilight, it’s a…pleasure to meet you again,” said Trixie, stumbling over her word choices, obviously just as nervous about this meeting as Twilight herself, though probably for entirely different reasons.

“Hello Trixie, it’s good to see you too. Have you been doing well?” she asked, climbing onto the bench beside Trixie, both leaning with their backs against the back of it, looking upward, while Twilight levitated the bag of food and cups to sit next to her, on the opposite side from Trixie.

“Well? Hah, the Great and Powerfu-I have been doing quite well, actually. My brother found me wandering in the Everfree Forest the day after….that thing happened here, and dragged me back home to have a talk with me. The usual responsibility, great power spiel he seems to like so much,” said the unicorn, her tone becoming almost wistful as she spoke of her brother.

“He said as much. That seems lucky for you, doesn’t it?” responded Twilight in an off hoof manner, but Trixie barked out a laugh that sounded rather bitter.

“Lucky? You call having one of the Magisters, a unicorn equivalent of a Wonderbolt in the family as lucky? Why do you think Trix-Why do you think I was so eager to get away from such things, out here in the boonies?” said Trixie, this time the bitterness of her tone obvious, even to Twilight, who sometimes still had trouble reading ponies.

“If he weren’t a Magister though, would we have been able to find you so quickly? I mean ,the Everfree forest is dangerous. I know, Zecora lives out there, and I visit her all the time,” said Twilight.

“Indeed, I’d heard about that sav-er, that zebra who makes her home in such a wild place. My brother said it was she who contacted the Magisters so he knew where I was,” her tone got wistful again near the end, her lower hooves kicking in the air as they dangled off the bench.

“But as soon as I got home again, it was the same as before. ‘How’s DawnChaser’s little sister?’ ‘what’s up with DawnChaser missing classes and Hayvard?’ ‘Why is that blue filly such a burden on the Professor?’ All those eyes in Manehatten, and not one sees Trixie, not one looks at me. They see my brother, they expect me to become just like him, since he’s just like our father and mother,” Trixie observed, her voice breaking a little, but a quick sniff, and the sadness seemed to evaporate, as her expression once again became aloof, just like when she’d first come into Ponyville.

“So, your whole family is unicorns?” asked Twilight, sometimes hearing of those pure families, that rarely had relations with the other species of pony, figuring it diluted the bloodline or something. Heck, her own family tree was a little like that, until the last two generations, with an uncle that was married to an earth pony mare, and then her brother marrying an alicorn, and Cadance of all alicorns to boot.

“No, not all of them, but we’re all famous for something. My brother for his spell crafting, my father for his, my mother for her flying which helped end a drought, she was a pegasus obviously. Her father for being Captain of the Wonderbolts in his day, her mother for being…well, you get the idea, Trix…I can’t do much beyond show tricks, and so many of them want something more, something meaningful, and I hate the way they seem to look down on me,” complained the aqua mare, flipping her white blue mane with a toss of her head.

“Your brother doesn’t look down on you, you know?” said Twilight, hoping to bring that connection out into the open a bit more.

“Ha! He’s too busy looking at his experiments and working with his assistants to ever notice me. I’m just that little loser he has to come rescue because she’s a failure to her family name,” sighed Trixie.

“That’s not true. If he really thought that would he have come to get you out of the Everfree Forest? Would he have tried like he did, sending those messages back and forth with you for hours, to get you to come here so we could talk. He even asked me to try and be your friend, you know. Said you might like one since you seemed so lonely,” Twilight accused. Trixie seemed a bit taken aback by that, and sniffed a little, as her eyes made a slight wobble in their sockets, like they had some water in them, but a few blinks, and it was as if they had never been there at all, as she turned towards Twilight.

“He really got you to come see me, here?” asked Trixie, and Twilight nodded, which seemed to instantly brighten Trixie’s face.

“Well, I suppose he’s not an entirely neglectful brother. Speaking of neglectful, is that lunch behind you?” Trixie said, looking for the first time, to the bag and cups Twilight had brought.

“I didn’t know what you’d like, so I just got two hay and lettuce sandwiches, and some fizz drinks, I hope that’s okay with you,” said Twilight as she brought out the food, taking one of the sandwiches in her hoof, and then passing one, plus a drink, to Trixie.

“That will be just fine Spark-Twilight, just fine,” she said, catching herself again, as she took the cup that was offered, and then took a sip on the straw, her lips curling around it, and then sucking, seeming to have trouble after a moment, and have to suck real hard, but after that moment passed, she swallowed, and smiled at Twilight, who bit into her sandwich, enjoying the simple taste on her tongue as she chewed, and swallowed herself, the pair just chatting through the rest of their meal.

Comments

[Tadpole]

I don't understand the dislikes. The story is going well 'till now.