Family Bonds
A Human, a Pony Princess, and a Mistake
Chapter 17: Family Bonds
Trixie had returned to the outskirts of Ponyville again, as had been her habit every couple of weeks since the mess with the Alicorn Amulet. She didn’t know why she kept coming back, but something inside bid her to do so. In her private thoughts, Trixie suspected it was because she wanted to apologize for terrorizing the town, but lacked the courage to go through with it.
“Nice day today, isn’t it?”
“It’s not bad,” Trixie agreed before registering someone was taking to her, “Sparkle!”
“Hello, Trixie,” Her arch nemesis greeted cordially. Trixie tensed herself, ready to throw a smoke bomb and run.
“What do you want?” Trixie asked warily.
“According to Pinkie, you’ve been hovering around Ponyville every so often. Yet you haven’t actually entered town. Why?” The purple one asked.
“Trixie does not have to explain herself to you, Sparkle,” Trixie grumbled.
“Would you like to come into town for a bite to eat?” Sparkle offered.
“Why would Trixie go anywhere with you?” Truthfully, Trixie was feeling slightly peckish. She just knew going into Ponyville itself was a bad idea. Something of her thoughts must have shown on her face.
“Trixie, no one is gonna run you out of town for the Alicorn Amulet thing. It was barely a four on the scale of things Ponyville has had to put up with. Everyone’s already moved past it,” Sparkle promised.
“How does Trixie know she can trust you?” Trixie squinted her eyes at Sparkle, as if to detect falsehoods.
“If it makes you feel better, you’ll be the personal guest of a princess. No one would dare start trouble with me vouching for you,” Sparkle promised. Trixie turned it over in her head. She did have business in Ponyville and the protection of a princess was a big deal. Even if that princess was Sparkle.
“Fine, but if Trixie gets taken by a lynch mob, she will never forgive you!” Trixie threatened.
“If they haven’t run Discord out of town yet, I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Sparkle replied with a smile.
“Discord? As in…?” Trixie was almost afraid to finish that sentence. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with History knew who Discord was.
“Lord of Chaos, yes, that Discord. Don’t worry; he’s a big softy these days. Even if he, Rainbow, and Pinkie teamed up to prank the whole town last week…took a whole day to get the taste of coriander out of my mouth…” Sparkle muttered to herself.
“Trixie will accompany you…just please keep any ancient and powerful villains away from Trixie,” Trixie requested.
“They’re all ancient, powerful, and reformed villains here in Ponyville,” Sparkle promised.
“Let us go before Trixie’s common sense catches up with her,” Trixie said with a shake of her head and began walking into town with Sparkle right behind. Not long after they had entered town, a voice called out.
“Well if it ain’t Trixie!” The orange one, Applejack, called out and marched right up to Trixie. Well, she was there to make amends, might as well start with this one, “I have somethin’ I’ve been fixin’ to say to you fer quite some time now.”
“Say your piece, Trixie is ready,” She was trusting Sparkle would keep things from getting out of hoof.
“I’m sorry,” Trixie’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Pardon?” Trixie couldn’t believe her ears.
“When ya’ll come into town the first time, I acted like what you were doin’ was somehow less makin’ an honest livin’ than what I do on the farm. If mah Ma were still around, she’d have tanned mah hide, full grown mare or not,” Applejack said with a rueful smile.
“Well…Trixie wasn’t exactly graceful with her dealing of your heckling. Trixie went too far. For that, and for what she did with the Alicorn Amulet, Trixie is greatly and powerfully apologetic,” Trixie replied.
“Well, shoot, I reckon we’re square. I don’t think anyone holds the Alicorn Amulet thing against you anyway. We here in Ponyville have a bad history with mind control an’ the like,” A mischievous smile grew on the mare’s face, “Ask Twilight to tell ya about the want-it need-it incident.”
“Sparkle actually used the want-it need-it spell?!” That was very surprising news indeed.
“Right, before this goes any further, there’s something you should know, Trixie. I’m not Twilight,” Before Trixie could look at Sparkle like the crazy pony she sounded like, she popped a body double into existence.
“Hi Trixie,” The double greeted.
“And ponies say Trixie has multiple personalities…” Trixie said with a raised eyebrow.
“Twilight was messing with a spell. She thought it was the whole thing, but she was missing a few key components,”
“Luna’s writing was awful! I had to run her notes through a translation spell to even read it right and it was written in old Equuish, which isn’t that hard to read,” The double complained.
“Trixie could never get past all the thee and thou,” Trixie remarked.
“Anyway, she wound up jamming my Soul into her body. My name is Tom,” The supposed body snatcher greeted.
“Trixie still isn’t sure you haven’t just gone crazy, but if something that crazy were to happen to anyone, Trixie supposes it would be Sparkle,” Trixie admitted.
“Well, see the three of you later, I’ve gotta set up the stall for the lunch rush,” Applejack waved goodbye as she continued on her way.
“Well, that’s one down, two more to go,” Sparkle noted.
“Trixie supposes that wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been,” Trixie reluctantly said.
“Well, I don’t know exactly where Rainbow is, but I would guess out by the lake. That would make the closest one Rarity at her boutique,” Tom observed.
“Rarity? The marshmallow Unicorn?” Trixie asked.
“Don’t let her hear you call her a marshmallow. It wouldn’t be pretty,” Tom warned, “I speak from hard won personal experience.”
“Duly noted,” Trixie was here to set things right, not reignite trouble. The three of them walked over to a fancy looking two story building. Tom knocked on the door. It was quickly opened by a crème colored Earth Pony mare.
“Oh, hello Twilight, Tom. Who’s this you have with you?” She asked.
“Trixie is the great and powerful Trixie! I have come to request forgiveness from the one they call Rarity!” Trixie exclaimed.
“Er, alright, I’ll go get Rarity,” She replied after blinking owlishly a few times, “She’s in her inspiration room, it should only be a moment.”
Sure enough, only a few moments later, Rarity came down the stairs.
“Oh, it’s you,” Rarity sounded displeased when she saw Trixie. Something about her gaze made Trixie nervous.
“Um, if you’d just hear Trixie out…” Trixie said hesitantly.
“I’m listening,” Rarity made a ‘go on’ motion.
“Trixie wishes to make amends for what she did to your mane…and it isn’t a rat’s nest,” Rarity’s eyes seemed to bore holes into her very Soul. It was a distinctly uncomfortable feeling. Just as Trixie was about to reach for a smoke bomb, Rarity spoke.
“You will make it up to me by being a model for me,” Rarity’s tone brokered no argument, “I expect you to stay in Ponyville for at least two weeks and then for you to stop by every time you come to Ponyville for tea and cookies. Am I clear?”
“Yes ma’am,” Trixie said without thinking about it. Rarity’s whole demeanor changed from icy to warm.
“Very good! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I was right in the middle of something when you called. I’d like to get back to it before I forget. Ta ta!” With that, Rarity headed back up the stairs.
“What did Trixie just agree to?” Trixie wondered.
“Many hours of pseudo-torture along with all the tea and cookies you could ever want,” Tom deadpanned.
“Oh, hush you. Posing for Rarity isn’t that bad,” Sparkle rebuked.
“We’ll just have to agree to disagree. Now, come on, we’ve got one last stop and then lunch. See you later, Coco,” Tom bid farewell.
“Bye, Coco,” Sparkle echoed.
“Goodbye, Twilight, Tom. It was nice to meet you Miss Trixie,” Coco said pleasantly.
“Please, just call Trixie Trixie. If you absolutely must, then ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’ will do,” Trixie said.
“As you wish, Trixie,” Coco replied without missing a beat.
“Well…goodbye, Coco,” Trixie said awkwardly and exited the boutique.
Trixie followed Tom and Twilight to the lake Tom had mentioned and sure enough, there was a rainbow blur flying about along with a few other Pegasai and Changelings.
“HEY, RD, you got a minute?!” Tom shouted to the heavens. Rainbow must have heard him, because she banked hard and landed before them.
“Oh, hey, Trixie. Tom and Twilight finally managed to corner you?” Rainbow asked.
“You don’t seem particularly surprised,” Sparkle noted.
“Yeah, I’ve known Trixie’s been hanging around Ponyville for a couple of months now,” Rainbow reveled.
“You knew Trixie was here?!” Trixie didn’t know how to feel about that.
“I figured you’d either puck up the courage or Tom and Twilight would ambush you sooner or later,” Rainbow said with a shrug.
“Well, seeing as you haven’t tried to run Trixie off, Trixie assumes you have no hard feelings. However, Trixie will still humbly and sincerely apologize,” Trixie felt a load she hadn’t realized she’d been carrying come off as she apologized to the last of her victims.
“Nah, don’t worry about it. I’ve had people heckling me before, I should’ve known better. Besides, I was being extra arrogant, even for me. I deserved to get knocked down a peg,” Rainbow accepted her apology.
“Is our little Dashie finally becoming self aware?” Tom asked in a stage whisper.
“I think so, oh I’m so proud of her,” Sparkle adopted the tone of an overly proud mother.
“Ha ha, you two. Twilight, I think you’ve been spending too much time around Tom,” Rainbow quipped.
“Wooooow, Rainbow with the absolute savagery!” Tom pretended to clutch at his chest as though wounded.
“Believe me, if I could get some alone time, I’d take it,” Sparkle said with a straight face.
“Assaulted on all sides!” Trixie couldn’t help but snicker.
“Alright, as fun as this is, I gotta get back to practice. See you later!” Rainbow took off back to the sky. Trixie then felt her stomach growl.
“That sounds like a call for lunch if I’ve ever heard one,” Sparkle remarked. The trio quickly found a small restaurant and ordered their food.
“So, Trixie, from what Twilight tells me, you know quite the assortment of tricks. Did you come up with all of them yourself or did someone teach you?” Tom asked as they waited for their food.
“Most of Trixie’s performance is self-taught. She did learn a few things from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns before she ran away though,” Tom and Twilight shared a look, “Oh, it’s nothing like that. Trixie’s parents love her very much. They still send Trixie letters.”
“Then why’d you run away?” Twilight asked.
“All Trixie wanted was to be a performer like her father. She became frustrated with the class work and impatient with her father not teaching her his tricks. So one day she simply skipped town and never looked back,” Trixie grew a melancholy look, “Trixie…I apparently have a sister now. A Pegasus, if you can believe it. Mom and Dad were so surprised, but everypony is of mixed heritage now, except some nobles and bigots. Whoops, Trixie was being redundant.”
“Trixie, not all nobles are bigots and not all bigots are nobles,” Sparkle said with a roll of her eyes. The food arrived at that moment.
“Fine, take the one thing more precious than Trixie’s magic: her witty quips!” Trixie exclaimed melodramatically before taking a bite of her daisy sandwich.
“What a ham,” Came a teasing male voice. Suddenly the Dread Lord Discord appeared, sitting on a chair perched at a 32 degree angle, if Trixie was any judge. She squeaked out an ‘eep’!
“You’re one to talk,” Tom snarked.
“Tom, I believe there’s an expression, something about a pot and a kettle.” Sparkle added her two cents.
“I agree,” Tom nodded his head.
“I was talking about you and Discord,” Sparkle corrected
“Oh,” Tom seemed a bit put out by this.
“I’ll have you know I approach each situation with exactly the right amount of dramatics. I use only the best Boston Butt, after all,” Discord retorted before dunking what looked like a pickle in a cup of what seemed to be black tea of some kind and eating it.
“Discord, that’s disgusting,” Sparkle complained, but she was ignored.
“So, you’re Trixie! I must say, that little stunt with the Alicorn Amulet was most amusing. Now, however, you’re part of the Reformed Villains Club of Ponyville!” What looked like a swarm of bumblebees formed the letters RVCP above him, “And what an illustrious club it is! Among our members are greats such as myself, Princess Moonbutt, and Queen Bug Horse! Even Purple Smart here is an honorary member!”
“Trixie takes it that has something to do with the want-it need-it spell?” Discord hadn’t turned her inside out yet, so she took that as a win.
“Yeah, Twilight used the spell on a doll. The whole town went absolutely berserk over it,” Tom supplied.
“Trixie doesn’t know if she should be impressed or terrified that Sparkle managed to make it strong enough to cover all of Ponyville,” Trixie remarked.
“And that was before she became an Alicorn!” Discord added helpfully.
“Terrified it is,” Trixie deadpanned.
“You cast one want-it need-it and you’re marked for life,” Sparkle lamented.
“And Alicorns have very long lives,” Tom said with a smirk.
“Yes, I’m sure you’ll never let me forget the misguided misadventures of my youth,” Sparkle sighed.
“I wouldn’t call them ‘misguided’. They were wonderful chaos, after all,” Discord argued.
“That makes me feel so much better,” Sparkle said with a half lidded glare at the Lord of Chaos.
“Always happy to help!” And just as suddenly as he had appeared, Discord wrapped himself up like a scroll, set himself on fire, and vanished.
“Trixie suddenly feels like she needs a nap,” Trixie complained.
“Discord can have that effect,” Sparkle quipped.
“So, Trixie has been wondering something. Why hasn’t the town freaked out over there being two Sparkles?” Trixie asked.
“We’ve spread the rumor that this is just a control exercise. As far as the layperson is aware, Twilight is just splitting her focus to talk from two places at once,” Tom explained.
“And it isn’t even entirely a lie. Having Tom maintain this spell is good for his control and endurance,” Sparkle noted.
“Don’t think we don’t know you’re trying to move the conversation away from your family. Discord may have delayed us, but we’re tenacious problem solvers,” Tom had discovered her clever ruse.
“What is Trixie supposed to do? Walk up to the house, knock on the door, and say ‘Daddy, Trixie is home!’?” Trixie grumbled.
“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Sparkle said to Trixie’s surprise.
“What? No! That is a terrible idea! Trixie has been gone for nearly a decade!” Trixie protested.
“All the more reason to stop putting it off. The longer you wait, the harder it’s gonna be. What if something happens to them? Or to you? Do you really want the last thing you remember of each other to be the last thing you said to them before you left?” Tom questioned.
Trixie remember the argument she had had with her father before she left. Well, maybe calling it an argument was overstating it a bit. Trixie had asked again for her father to teach her his tricks, he had refused once again, she had told him she hated him and ran to her room. She had packed what little she could carry and fled out her window into the night.
“No…I don’t want that.” Trixie admitted quietly.
“Then go to them,” Tom instructed.
“Do you want us to go with you?” Sparkle asked kindly.
“Yes, to keep Trixie from chickening out,” Trixie hated how weak her voice sounded to her own ears.
“Then we should go tomorrow. Where do your parents live?” Tom asked.
“Tomorrow?! But Trixie isn’t ready!” Trixie protested.
“No sense in delaying it,” Sparkle said simply and Trixie knew she was right.
“Trixie’s parents moved to Canterlot after she was accepted to CSGU. They never moved back to Las Pegasus because…they wanted Trixie to always be able to find her way home,” Trixie tried not to cry, but a few traitorous tears escaped anyway.
Trixie wanted to run, to hide, to be anywhere other than where she was. Why had she agreed to this? Even as she contemplated dropping a smoke bomb, she knew Tom would somehow drag her back. If not that, her own guilty conscious would inevitably draw her back to Canterlot, dithering about until someone noticed her and told her family where she was. Deciding to take the plunge, she knocked on the door.
“Well, no one’s home! Let’s go!” Trixie was about to turn around to the surely skeptical face of Tom when the door opened and a small magenta Pegasus with a dark blue mane appeared in the doorway. Trixie knew it was her younger sister, Firefly. She hadn’t even gotten her Cutie Mark yet. The sisters stared at each other for almost a full minute. Then Firefly screamed.
“YOU’RE REAL! Mom and Dad said I had a big sister, but I never saw you and there were only old pictures so I didn’t know if they were making it up and-” The filly ran her mouth at a thousand mile an hour.
“Firefly, who’s at the door?” Came a soft female voice from within the house.
“Trixie’s back, Mom!” The sound of something shattering followed that announcement. Showcase came charging into the entranceway. Just as her youngest had said, there was her eldest daughter.
“Hi, Mom,” Trixie said thickly. Suddenly Trixie found herself getting the life squeezed out of her by her mother.
“Oh, my baby girl, you’re back,” She wept into her daughter’s shoulder. Trixie returned the hug and started crying too.
“What happened? I heard something breaking,” A cultured sounding Trottingham voice called out.
“Honey, Trixie’s home!” Showcase shouted back. Jackpot came racing down the stairs, almost falling down.
“Trixie!” Jackpot wasted no time in joining his wife hugging their daughter. Firefly, not wanting to be left out, joined in as well.
“I’m so sorry, Daddy, I don’t hate you!” Trixie blubbered.
“I know, sweetheart, I know,” Jackpot whispered hoarsely.
None of the family noticed Tom slipping away. His work was done. The prodigal daughter had returned home. The world was just a little bit brighter than it had been that morning.
Stats
Page generated in 0.035 seconds
Total duration
933 users online
231,531 hits today, 2,244,100 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
That progressed abnormally quickly... Where is all the dragging everything out for 7 chapters?
I think we can speak for most of your readers, in saying that we love your work, and While I love how rapidly and frequently you upload, please don’t burn yourself out, everyone should understand if you need a little you time, and as result, don’t upload. A fire that burns twice as bright, burns twice as fast.
yay trixie gets a happy end
10300154
Can't do that, we have places to be, things to do, and evil plot twists to bring to fruition! Wait...ignore that last one, that's top secret~
10300165
I'll try and force myself to slow down a little. I just get so excited when I hear people like you are enjoying the story and I want to bring more of it to you guys. Even if I suspect you'll all hate me by the end... (ominous music plays)
Oh, how I love this happy, sappy fluff!
Now... for a twist!
10300801
No twist quite yet, there'll be another chapter of fluff and then one with a bit of practical world building before we head into Rainbow Falls and more seriousness. I have plans for Rainbow Falls...
Heh. Heh... They're all gonna fuckin die.
Ancient contingency of the Nightmare's...
Sudden dragon attacks, because why not...
Celestia messing something up with the seaponies...
The spell could go wrong at the last moment or something...
Or it's just Tom getting stuck in a female body for the rest of eternity. Who knows! (Well, you probably do. But we don't.)
On a different note: explosiomaniac seaponies pls
10301152
(Evil Laughter Intensifies)
Twilight reatched the same legendary status as the mellon guy in math.
10357416
I have no idea who the mellon guy is.
10383347
Ayy, someone finally called me out for it. Excellent taste in childrens media.
That was heartwarming.
Some words of wisdom from someone who kept putting it off and it's now too late: Heed the above advice.
I cut my own father out of my life for something that, had I talked to him, I would've realized was not even his fault.
For over five years.
Now, he has months to live, and I can barely bring up the courage to phone him because I don't even know him anymore -- my own father -- and when I do actually phone him I feel incredibly awkward as I just don't know what to say.
So please, if you're in a similar situation: Pick up your phone, dial their number, press the call button. If it goes to voicemail, leave a message saying that you miss them and want to talk to them again.
You don't want to be in my situation.
10482986
My family are genuinely terrible people, from drug addiction to verbal abuse. I would never in a million years tell my sister to try and reconnect after what they did to her. Yet I still know how important Family is to those who still have a chance at having a happy home. Even the best advice, applied at the wrong time, can have horrible consequences. That doesn't mean we should stop offering advice, only hope that those we offer it to are wise enough to make the best use of it.
"I can forgive Alfred Nobel for inventing dynamite. Everyone is entitled to a youthful indiscretion or two. But only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize For Literature."
George Bernard Shaw
We're all crying because this is such a tearful reunion.