"Spike? Spike? SPIK-"

"What do you want!?" The baby dragon yelled down the stairs.

"Could you get the mail for me? I'm in the middle of an experiment."

A confused look formed on the dragon's face. "But... It's nine in the morning. When did you have time to start anything?"

"Really? I thought it was the middle of the afternoon." A moment of silence past. "How long has it been since I started? What day is it?"

"Tuesday."

"Huh... You know what, I think I'm going to get it myself." Spike sighed, and proceeded to the kitchen, where he started to make a batch of coffee. Shortly afterwards, a purple figure appeared from the basement entrance. Atop her head was a disheveled mane, and her eyes look liked she bought and sold highly illegal substances for a living. The fur on her body was riddled with dark spots of some Celestia-forsaken substance, and the feathers in her wings were sticking up all over the place.

“Whoa, how long has it been since you came out of there?” Spike asked Twilight in a very concerned manner.

“You should know, you’ve been in the house the entire time.”

“Uh, no I haven’t. Remember, I was at the Manehatten Comic Convention for the past five days? I just got home last night.” Twilight stared. She shook her head, and then started walking towards the door.

“I must be tired, it’s been at least two days since I’ve slept, and… that’s a lot of mail.” On the other side of the door was a large pile of mail. The lavender alicorn used her magic to pick up the papers and walked back in, closing the door behind her. She began shuffling through each one, skimming what was on them.

“Bill, junk, junk… Another bill… Hm, interesting...”

“What is it?” Spike asked across the room, an empty mug in his hand

“Look at this letter.” The letter in question levitated in Spike’s direction. It was a dark blue, and was riddled in all sorts of interesting and unique figures and symbols. “Who do you think it is from?

“Beats me,” Spike replied. He stared at the figures on the paper. “Want me to read it?

"Be my guest.”

The sound of tearing ran through the air, and shortly afterwards, a voice.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle. I write to inform you of my upcoming visit. I will arrive on Tuesday, the 16th, and will stay in the local hotel for the duration of a week. In that week, I hope to meet up with you at some point so we may confront something I feel is of great importance to both of us. If you are busy, or feel like this meeting should not take place, send a letter by dragon, for it would be much faster than by post. If I do not receive anything by early morning of the 16th, I shall take a train to Ponyville, and arrive the same evening. I hope you are welcome to the idea of this meeting taking place. Sincerely…” Spike pause for a few seconds, then looked up at Twilight.

“Sincerely, Trixie.”

The train station was noisy, hot, filled with ponies; just plain unpleasant. It seemed as if the entirety of Ponyville was packed onto the small platform. It was that time of year when people started going on vacations, though, so it was somewhat understandable. But just because you understood why something was like it was, doesn't mean you like it any better.

"Ugh, I hate the station," Spike said in a less-than-happy mood. "Out of all days, this day seems to be the busiest I've seen it!"

"Stop complaining! I wanted to meet Trixie as soon as she gets here," Twilight said, adjusting the saddle bag on her back. "I want her to feel welcome."

"I still can't believe that you decided to allow her to come." Spike hoped up onto a nearby bench and sat with his chin in his hand.

"Well, in the past, Trixie didn't seem like the kind of person who would go out of her way to meet with someone... unless she held a grudge with them." Memories of the Alicorn Amulet crossed Twilight's mind. "The fact that she is trying to have at least some friendly contact is a very good thing for her. The first step in making a friend is to talk to them, find similar interests, and that's what I think she is here to do." a smile ran across her face.

Spike sighed. "If you say so, but if she makes one wrong move, I'm getting Applejack to lasso her up!" He then stood up on the bench, and swan his claws above his head in a circle. "Did you even tell Applejack and all the others about her?"

"No," Twilight replied, "I figured it would be a nice little surprise if they didn't know. Besides, they might have objected because of past incidents. This time around, though," Twilight inhaled deeply, "I can tell things are going to be different." Right as she began to finish her sentence, a train was heard in the distance. The pair looked to the left to see the train heading for the station.

"There she is!" Twilight jumped up and glided to the front of the crowd, causing some disturbance

"Hey! Wait!" Spike ran towards her, going underneath ponies as he went. The train quickly came to a halt, screeching as it slowed. The doors opened, and ponies started boarding. Twilight looked all around, eyes wide. The crowd was very hard to see through.

Through the mass, a familiar blue unicorn appeared, hat on her head, and cape warped around her back. She adjusted her headpiece, and began to walk away from the train, levitating a bag as she went.

"Trixie," Twilight called out, "I'm over here!" She waited for a few seconds, but after the magician didn't respond, Twilight used her wings to fly up and over to her. She slowly glided down and landed in front of her.

"ACK! WHO DO YOU TH-" Trixie began to yell, but stopped, and her eyes slowly grew wide. "T-Twilight?"

"Trixie," exclaimed the alicorn, "it's so good to see you!" She then reached for Trixie and gave her a hug. The unicorn awkwardly hung her hooves out into the air while Twilight embraced her.

"Uh... Trixie is also glad to see her friend..." Twilight let go and looked at her. "And she has to admit she wasn't expecting you to..." Trixie looked over Twilight's shoulder.

"What are those?"

Twilight's face looked confused. "You mean the saddlebags?" She turned to her side, and reached a hoof back to the packs, patting them. "Inside I have-"

"No! No! The wings, why do you have wings?" Trixie reached out and started feeling them. "And you're an inch or so taller then I remember! What's going on?"

"Uh, haven't you read any of the papers recently? Even heard about 'the new princess'?"

"Well, I ca- I mean I don-" Trixie stopped for a moment, and took in a breath. Her expression was now very calm. "What Trixie is trying to say, is that she doesn't waste her time reading the newspaper. Since this is the case, she hasn't been aware of the recent... addition.. to the royal family." Her eyes glanced at the wings every so often.

"Oh, well..." Twilight paused. "I suppose that makes sense." Right then, a purple baby dragon showed up beside them.

"Don't run away like that, Twilight!" Spike exclaimed with an angry face. At this point, the train was now starting it's departure. Cars whizzed past their ears, creating a nice breeze.

"Oh, I'm sorry Spike. Here, hop on." Twilight crouched down, and Spike climbed up onto her back.

"Come with me, I have so many things planned that we can do during your visit!" Next Chapter: 1: This is the part where ponies meet Estimated time remaining: 10 Minutes