Trixie wants to get better at teaching, so she turns to the only pony she feels confident she can learn from... Unfortunately for Twilight
Trixie, in an attempt to become better at teaching her sister new skills, declares herself Twilight's new student. Reluctantly, the Princess lets the magician shadow her to a meeting.
Reluctantly, Twilight tore herself away from the book she had been reading- a very special study on languages she had borrowed from Princess Celestia- and shuffled to the front door. When she opened it there was a certain blue unicorn magician standing before her, hoof raised to knock again.
"Oh. Hello, Trixie, how can I help?"
"Twilight, Trixie needs you to teach Trixie how to teach other ponies." After hurriedly spitting that out, Trixie apparently realized her hoof was still raised and put it down.
The purple princess rubbed her forehead in exasperation. No matter how many times she heard it, Trixie's habit of referring to herself in the third person still grated at Twilight's sense of grammar. "Ok, that sentence had entirely too many t's. What exactly do you need?"
Trixie cleared her throat. "As you may have heard, Trixie has decided to take a break from touring for the rest of the year. To spend some more time with Trixie's family."
"I think I might have read something about it in Ponies- I mean somepony told me about the article." Ponies magazine was a secret pleasure for Twilight, one she definitely felt guilty about.
The unicorn smirked. "Your embarrassment in regards to your reading material aside, Trixie was planning to help Apple Bloom get her cutie mark. Teach her new skills and the like."
"That sounds great. So why do you need my help?"
"The last time Trixie tried to teach Trixie's sister, Apple Bloom ended up running away." Trixie wrung her hooves at the memory. "In the middle of the night. In Manehattan."
Twilight stroked her chin. "Hmm, I can see why you'd want to avoid a repeat of that... Alright, I'll help you out." She'd always enjoyed learning, as well as helping others to learn.
"Oh, I'm sorry Trixie. I actually have an appointment in Canterlot today." Twilight looked to a nearby clock. "In fact, I should start heading to the train station."
Trixie was undeterred. "Then Trixie shall shadow you and learn by example."
"Fine..." There was no escaping it, and her appointment was going to be irritating enough on its own. Might as well save her fighting spirit for later.
Together, unicorn magician and alicorn princess quickly trotted to the local station. There they spotted a familiar yellow pegasus.
"Fluttershy!"
Fluttershy turned when she heard her name. "Hey Twilight, hey Trixie."
"It's good to see you again." Trixie gave her recently-made friend a polite hug.
Twilight's embrace was less restrained. "You were supposed to be back days ago! What happened? Did something go wrong?"
"Oh, no." Fluttershy reassured the princess. "In fact, it's the opposite. So many griffins volunteered that I just had to stay a few more days to help trained them."
"I wish you'd sent a letter so everypony could've greeted you as you got here."
Fluttershy frowned. "Speaking of everypony, how are they?"
"If you mean Rarity and Applejack, bad. They still won't even speak to each other." Twilight matched the pegasus' expression with a grimace of her own.
"Applejack even snapped at Trixie when Trixie tried to help." Trixie looked down at her hooves. "Trixie probably shouldn't have done that..."
"Fluttershy, Trixie and I have to catch our train. It'll be leaving soon." To punctuate Twilight's statement, the train's whistle blew. "I'll see you later." There was another round of hugs, then Twilight and Trixie boarded.
The two had the car almost to themselves. Trixie, used to having to hack through mobs of fans to find her seat, naturally found this quite perplexing.
Twilight couldn't find much amusement in her companion's discomfort. She was dreading this meeting, almost as much as she feared the subject of it.
Her mood didn't go unnoticed by her new student. "Trixie thought you'd be happy to vist Canterlot. You grew up there, didn't you?"
"It's not where we're visiting that's bothering me. It's who we're visiting." As well as why, but she didn't mention that. She sighed.
"So who are we meeting?" Trixie pressed.
"We're going to talk with the most aggravating unicorn rapper in Equestria."
The giant blue pegasus was the only indication that the run-down, shabby-looking building was playing host to a multi-Diamond-selling recording artist.
"Hey there, Ice." Twilight gave a friendly wave as they approached.
Ice nodded in greeting, but didn't move away from the door. "Sorry, Miss Sparkle, but he says you're not allowed in."
"Wha-?" Twilight and Trixie shared a confused look. "But he can't do that! I'm a princess!"
"And he's my boss. So you're not allowed in."
Trixie gently nudged Twilight. "Trixie thought you had a meeting?"
Twilight didn't respond. Instead, her horn lit up and she was instantly in the recording studio.
On a nearby couch sat a green unicorn and, at the sight of her suddenly appearing, his smug smile was smacked away by a facehoof. "How the buck did I forget you can teleport?!"
"Peacevic, I need to talk to you."
"Last time you had to tell me something, I ended up being sonically uppercutted off a bucking stage." He lazily stretched, and as he did he made a shooing motion with a hoof.
"This is serious!" Twilight growled. "Did you get my letter?"
"Obviously. Why do you think I had Ice posted at the door to keep you out?" Peacevic sat up, suddenly remembering his now-unnecessary sentry. He crossed to the entry. "Ice! You can come in now! I'm not mad!"
Trixie and Ice both filed in, the magician first with the large pegasus hovering behind her. She tipped her hat. "Peacevic."
"What's up, Trixie?"
"You two know each other?"
"We're both famous." The rapper threw a smirk Twilight's way. "Of course we've met. Several times..."
Trixie's eyes narrowed. "You had better not be insinuating what Trixie thinks you're insinuation."
"Of course not, that would be inappropriate." Peacevic flopped back down on the couch. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Trixie."
"As your bodyguard, it behooves me to ask why you insist on throwing rocks at hydras." Ice piped up from the corner he had drifted to.
"Because it's so much fun. Besides, you're here. Why would I be afraid?"
"Well if you stop being a snarky plot-hole, I could tell you." The Princess kicked the couch Peacevic was laying on. "Celestia's told me there have been a bunch of ponies, in cloaks, committing strange crimes. I think it's them."
Twilight's urgent tone didn't perturb Peacevic, who just kept smiling. "Oh I know it's them. A group of them attacked me the other day. Called me 'The Troubadour' and everything."
"There was Sun Writing."
"Ice, you and Trixie are not part of this conversation. Shush." Peacevic was suddenly serious, and Twilight felt bad a little. It was kind of her fault Peacevic was involved at all, and therefore it was also her her fault that the rapper was being so harsh. He turned back to her. "And yes, we found a rune."
"The word?"
He nodded. "The word."
She let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Ok. What else have you found out?"
He just shrugged.
Twilight scoffed in disgust. "You mean you didn't look into the resurgence of a huge threat to Equestria? And to you!"
"How am I supposed to do that, Twilight? With the vast network of spies that I don't have because I'm just a rapper?"
"You may have a point there. I don't have one either." She admitted. Luna might, though. She should ask her. "So what are you going to do?"
He pointed at himself. "Me? I'm not going to do anything."
"And why is that?" She demanded.
"I have no idea where they are." Peacevic explained, in an extremely patronizing way. "Thus, a defensive strategy is my best bet. Let them come to me."
"You're not their only possible target."
"But I'm who they're going to go after. They're vindictive like that."
"So basically there was no point in my coming here, was there?" Exasperation was a word that seemed so insufficient to what Twilight was feeling right then.
Peacevic stood again and walked to a small ice box, telekinetically pulling a drink out of it. "At first, yes. But since you've been asking me so many questions, maybe I can ask one of my own?"
"Sure, I guess. What is it?"
"What's it like being so madly in love with me?" He took a swig.
This time, she actually did chuck him through a wall. Then she turned and stomped out. Ice didn't move to stop her. He was too busy smothering a bout of laughter.
"Didn't spill it!" She heard Peacevic call after her.
"So." Trixie dead-panned as they walked down a relatively clear street. "Thus far, Trixie has learned that, in order for Trixie to get ponies to listen to her, Trixie must throw them through walls."
"I probably shouldn't have done that, but he just gets me so mad sometimes." Twilight slowed to a stop and hung her head.
"Trixie will admit that he can be somewhat conceited, but that's just how he controls whatever situation he may be in. If he can make a joke, or at the very least provoke a reaction, then he-"
Twilight was in no mood for a psychology lesson. "Why are you even here?! If you really want to learn to teach you could just read a book!"
Trixie flinched back, and Twilight immediately regretted her outburst. It wasn't the showpony she was angry with, it was the whole situation. And Peacevic, though that was more or less an everyday thing.
But before she could apologize, Trixie straightened up and fixed the Princess with a wounded glare. "Very well, Trixie will be honest with you. Trixie's been having... kind of a rough time of it lately. Trixie was hoping to be able to forget about Trixie's family for a little while." Her words started coming in a frantic stream. "But you're the only pony that Trixie is sort of friends with in Ponyville except for Fluttershy and she wasn't there and by the time she got back Trixie had already thought up the teaching thing and it was too late."
"Trixie, I- I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to sound so callous. I just wasn't thinking." Twilight comforted. She had no way to imagine what it'd be like to suddenly find out she had a sibling somewhere. As she wrapped the slumping Trixie in a hug, Twilight couldn't help but wish Pinkie was here. Pinkie would know how to make the older pony feel better. But the pink party pony was still off somewhere, doing Celestia knows what. So it fell to Twilight. "It must be pretty difficult, finding out you had a little sister that nopony ever told you about."
"No, it's not that. Apple Bloom's pretty fun, and the rest of the Apples have been nothing but welcoming. It's just some things Trixie's father did. Things that... Trixie doesn't really know if Trixie wants to go into."
Twilight lifted Trixie's chin, so the two were looking directly at each other. "Well if you ever want to talk, I'll be glad to listen. Any friend of Fluttershy's a friend of mine, and I'm sure the rest of the girls would feel the same way."
"Thanks, Twilight. That actually means a lot to Trixie." Trixie wiped away a tear that had formed and sniffled. "Now, umm, what were you talking to Peacevic about? Why is he in danger?"
The Princess looked away, not wanting to continue meeting Trixie's now-inquisitive gaze. "Trixie, I'd tell you if I could. Really. But this is the kind of thing where the more ponies know, the more dangerous it is everypony."
"So you just want Trixie to pretend nothing happened?"