A Dash of Magic

Part 1

----

The azure unicorn mare crept silently into the small town from which she had once fled, all those months ago. She continued to move silently among the streets, up to the main street where she had left the ruined wreckage that had once been her "home." She noticed there wasn't even a trace of it left. Trixie found this understandable. It would have only taken up space, just lying there she reasoned. She flicked a silvery-blue strand of hair out of her face and continued moving. She found no point in standing around too long.

She didn't even know why she had returned. She just... had. Not like she had too many places to go anyway. She had spent the last several months of her life temporarily living in small towns located several miles here and there from the borders of the Everfree Forest, an area she knew far, far too well.

Finally, she collapsed onto the ground, near a group of small, thatched-roof houses, exhausted from hours of previous travel. She closed her eyes and let several tears fall from them. Let them find Trixie. Let them point and stare and call her a fraud and a failure. For that's all she truly is, she thought as she curled up with her tail and allowed the tears to flow, content to let her sadness leak out onto the dirt below.

Meanwhile, a lone, cyan pegasus viewed the scene from her cloud-bed with a mixture of sadness and disgust. She knew who the azure unicorn was, of course. Almost everypony in Ponyville knew her. Yeah, and they all hate her... don't they? And don't I hate her too? As the thought crept into her mind, Rainbow Dash's disgusted feeling slowly deteriorated into more sadness. She knew she couldn't just leave the poor girl out there alone on the street... that just wasn't her, really.

Or was it? She had been told on many an occasion she was brash and inconsiderate and somewhat rude. This thought angered her for a moment, but she allowed it to pass. "Well," she said quietly to nopony in particular, "if there's ever gonna be a chance to mare up and do the right thing, this'll be it."

She still didn't move though. Okay, apparently I'm still not ready for this. I mean, really, why should I be? She did kind of leave on bad terms, and she was a bigger show-off than me! I'm the only pony allowed to strut my stuff around here. She turned and laid back down for a few moments.

Then she felt the smallest twinge of guilt. She stood back up and returned to watching Trixie. I just can't do it. She was such a jerk before, but... I won't be the one to abandon her for somepony else to find later.

She leaped from her cloud and glided softly down to the crying pony, who didn't even seem to notice her, "Um, hey, uh, Trixie, was it?" she asked. Of course it is. She only said it a million times when she was here the first time.

Trixie slowly looked up at the other mare, her eyes red and puffy, and sniffled, "I remember you," she began slowly and cautiously, "You were the pegasus at my show. The one who felt I was stealing her thunder."

Dash nodded, "Y-Yeah, that was me, but--"

"Come to kick a mare while she's down?"

"What? N-no, I jus--"

"I wouldn't really blame you."

Dash abruptly stopped herself. What had Trixie just said? "I wouldn't really blame you?" Something in her heart seemed to break. "... No, Trixie," she began again, struggling to keep her voice steady. "That's not why I'm here."

Trixie looked up at her with an almost bewildered expression, eyes small but wide at the same time, "You haven't? But... but, you hate Trixie. You should hate Trixie, at least. Everypony should. I'm such a fraud."

She resumed her crying, not even caring that Dash was standing right in front of her. She slammed her face to the ground  in frustration and just let all of her pent-up emotions flow. Trixie knew how badly she had screwed up. She hadn't performed once since the incident out of guilt and sadness. She regretted her behavior, but she didn't know how to fix her mistakes.

Rainbow Dash viewed the scene with sad eyes and felt a pang in her heart as she watched the poor mare bawl her eyes out into the dirt. She couldn't keep herself together much longer at this rate, so she decided to speak up again. "T-Trixie," she almost whimpered, her voice cracking a bit, "I, you, uh, we should get you someplace to stay. Someplace to go tonight."

Trixie looked up at Dash through large, puffy red eyes and sniffed, then looked away and toward the ground, "Trixie," she started roughly, "Trixie does NOT wish to find 'someplace to go tonight.' Trixie is content with the ground, thank you very much!" There! That'll get her away. I can't deal with anypony or anything right now.

Dash backed away at Trixie's sudden aggressiveness, then anger flared up in her, "Well, listen here you--," but then suddenly she realized something. Trixie wasn't trying to be aggressive, she was just upset and alone and scared as ar as Dash could tell. She wasn't the same "Great and Powerful Trixie" that had boasted about her magical prowess or slaying of the Ursa Major before. Not anymore, not right now she wasn't. Right now, she was the "Lonely and Regretful Trixie," and Dash suddenly felt the need to help her whether the unicorn wanted it or not.

Trixie looked back at Dash, scared that her sudden need to defend her pride had severely angered the pegasus to point of possibly harming her, but noticed that instead Dash was once again giving her a saddened, sympathetic look.

She hated that look.

She hated feeling vulnerable, and she felt more vulnerable right now than she had felt in her entire life, "'Listen here you' what, exactly, pegasus? Can you not tell Trixie...," she sniffed again, "... that Trixie doesn't want to be...," her voice quivered, her resolve instantly snuffed out as the tears came back to her eyes. She knew what she had wanted to say, but instead her heart finished her statement for her, taking priority over her arrogant mind. "... Alone," she whispered. She broke down once again, the flow of tears more intense than before.

Rainbow Dash felt the tears well up in her own eyes at this point. She was almost ready to break down with the azure unicorn, but she couldn't. She knew she couldn't. She had to keep strong for both of them, since obviously Trixie couldn't stay strong herself.

"Trixie, we really, really need to get you somewhere warm. It's cold out right now, and it's scheduled to  rain in about an hour or so. The clouds are ready and everything. We need to get you someplace so you can stay warm and be, well, safe. I," she paused at her choice of wording, but stuck with it, "I don't want you to get hurt or sick or even worse. Please, Trixie. Listen to me."

Trixie's tears ebbed out silently now as she looked upon the pegasus with wonder, She...she's so concerned for Tri-me. She's concerned for me. But why? I've done nothing for her. I don't want this. I don't want this. I don't deserve this. Trixie slowly rose to her hooves, turned around, and began to walk away, "Trixie does not require assistance. Trixie requests...," her whole body froze as she trembled with emotion once again. She hated herself so much, and yet this pegasus was almost pleading with her to find someplace safe.

She broke down once again, sobbing loudly, her tears forming dark spots on the path as she stared down at it. Confound this pony...she drives me to tears, she thought, almost angrily. She had never felt so emotional before. Ever.

Dash walked carefully to Trixie and went around to face her again, and brought her chin up with a hoof. She stared into Trixie's eyes, the amount of tears built up causing the bright, violet orbs to glisten sadly in the moonlight. Dash waited until she had stopped crying, then moved over to Trixie's side and wrapped her wing around the unicorn.

"C'mon, Trixie. Let's go."

Trixie looked back at the feathery limb, seemed to recoil for a moment, then sighed and allowed Dash to begin escorting her. They walked in silence for several minutes before Trixie decided to try and distract herself with something resembling idle conversation, "I never caught your name, pegasus...would you care to, say, share it with Tr-," she stopped herself. She was just about sick of hearing her own name, "me?"

Dash noticed her momentary pause, but decided not to dwell on it for too long. She, of course, did realize that in their short little shouting matches at Trixie's Ponyville show, she had actually told her name to Trixie, but noted with a little flash of frustration that she had forgotten. At least she had forgotten the terrible pun she had used after humiliating her. She let this slide and released any pent-up anger with a simple sigh, then turned to Trixie, a small smile lighting up her unusually grim expression, "It's Dash. Rainbow Dash."

Trixie's eyes lit up with recognition once again. Not only was this pegasus at her show, but she had been the speedy one with a talent for flashy flying and showing off. She was caught completely off-guard by this revelation and stopped dead in her tracks. 'I humiliate her friend, then her, then another, and yet she STILL insists on helping me? Wh-Wh-Why? I don't,' She turned to Dash, her ears pressed flat to her head, eyes threatening to let loose another torrent of sadness from behind the quickly fading dam of willpower, "...I don't understand you. I don't understand what you're doing. I bragged and boasted and humiliated you and your friends. Yet here you stand, your wing around me, leading me to some sort of safe haven on a cold night. Why are you helping me? You have no reason to help me. Only a reason to, you know, hate me."

Before Trixie could even think of continuing, or doing anything for that matter, the wing was retracted and she was suddenly pulled into a tight hug. Dash had her hooves wrapped around Trixie's neck, and was resting her head on the other mare's shoulder, "No. Stop. Just stop it. You...you have to stop looking down on yourself, okay? You don't have to worry about any of that anymore."

Trixie accepted the hug, but did not return it. She couldn't bring herself to do anything.. She was frozen in place, the touch of this other pony somehow halting every function of her body. She almost couldn't breathe.

"Wh-why not?" Trixie inquired. "Why shouldn't I have to worry about that anymore? I've been worried about it since I--"

"We've already forgiven and forgotten, Trixie," Dash cut in and explained as she stroked Trixie's silvery-blue mane. "We don't care anymore."

"We?"

Dash looked at her and smiled her most genuine smile, "Me, most of the townsponies, Twilight-"

Trixie flinched at the last name, "Twilight? Twilight Sparkle? The purple unicorn, correct?"

Dash nodded, "Yeah... the one who stopped the Ursa Minor. She had already forgiven you before you ran away. She even convinced a bunch of other ponies to forgive you as well. Hay, she even almost gathered a search party to hunt for you after you left, but she decided against it. She thought you'd just, well, reject their help and end up hurting yourself or somepony else."

Trixie thought for a moment, then sighed heavily, "I probably would have, too. I was so hurt and confused I had just lost my home and my belongings, which I'm guessing were all completely ruined, correct? Nothing survived?"

Dash released Trixie from the hug she had been holding for so long to scuff the ground with her hoof, "Umm, well, no. Nothing made it out in one piece. Sorry, Trixie."

Dash was feeling somewhat embarrassed, not to mention she was feeling extremely bad for the poor mare. She had, of course, exaggerated about the forgiveness. By a long shot. She had forgiven the unicorn when she picked her up off the streets, though a shadow of a doubt remained in her mind, but she knew many of the townsponies still had it in for the showmare. She also hated showing sappy emotions. The last time she had hugged and comforted anypony for a reason like this was when Fluttershy had been having some rough times with a few of her furry patients some time ago.

Trixie sighed again and collapsed to the ground, falling away from the support of the other pony. She stared at what was apparently a very particularly interesting blade of grass before she looked back up at her cyan friend, who stood to her side and looked down at her again. She slowly raised herself back onto all four hooves and, suppressing another outburst of tears and sobs, moved to the pegasus's side once again, "Before, you said something about finding me a place to stay?"

Dash absentmindedly wrapped her wing around Trixie again and began leading her toward the only place she could think of where Trixie could possibly stay, "Uhm, yeah. Yeah I did. We're nearly there, actually. See that place over there?" She pointed to their destination, and just as she had suspected, Trixie's expression rapidly changed from one of depression to one of utter confusion.

"The tree?"

"The tree."

----

Twilight Sparkle was quietly engaged in her studies while a small purple dragon sorted the library's various tomes books into their bookshelves in the background. Suddenly, her ear twitched as she heard a series of rapid knocks on her front door. She looked up, then turned to the door, as if expecting it to open itself, Who could that possibly be this late at night? Definitely not just somepony who wants to check out a book, that's for sure.

She heard voices at her door, so it wasn't like she was hearing things as far as she could tell. Spike ran off into the kitchen as she approached the object, currently being assaulted by an unknown entity, and pressed her ear against it.

"Wait a second... Rainbow Dash?" she inquired suspiciously as she finally recognized one of the ponies' voices.

"Rainbow Dash?" asked Spike, who had reappeared armed with a frying pan, "Why would she be here at this time of night? In fact, why would anypony be here at this time of night?"

"I dunno, Spike," Twilight began as she crept up to the door, "but we're about to find out. AH-HAaaa...,"

"This, um, tree, is her home?" Trixie asked, immediately turning to Dash.

"Yep," Dash replied solemnly.

Trixie looked incredulous. "It's a tree," she said simply.

"And a library. She's a total egghead. She turned to Twilight and gave her a small, somewhat hollow smile, "aren't you, Twilight?"

Twilight still couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. There was a puffy-eyed, depressed-looking Trixie, who appeared to be a shadow of her former, boastful self, leaning on the shoulder of an almost equally distressed Rainbow Dash, who almost never got emotional, standing on her doorstep in the late hours of a cold, cold night.

"Wha-but-why are-how-," Twilight began stuttering, searching for the right questions to ask, before she suddenly felt a draft and realized they were standing outside of her doorstep in the rapidly cooling night air, "Oh my gosh, I forgot to let you in! Here, here, come on, now, it's freezing out!"

"Heh, thanks, egghead, but we already got that memo," Dash replied, but even through the smirk Twilight could tell it was hollow, dry humor. She could tell she was barely even trying.

Trixie said nothing as Dash led her to Twilight's living quarters and onto a two-pony couch Twilight let guests use instead of the old chairs or her other options regarding uncomfortable seating. Twilight followed them into the room, part of her trying to analyze the situation and figure out what the problem was, the other part of her simply feeling bad for the pair.

"So," she began as the others seated themselves, "care to explain what exactly is going on here, Rainbow?"

Dash sighed and looked at Trixie, then back at Twilight, then back to Trixie, "Should I just tell her everything, Trixie?"

Trixie sat in silence for a few moments, then shifted over and buried her head in one of the couch cushions and waved her hoof dismissively, a sign Dash took to mean "Go ahead."

'Well...it's sort of a long story. It all began a little while ago. I was just napping on a cloud near the center of town, when..."

----

By the end of Dash's tale, Twilight herself was tearing up. She had no idea how Rainbow Dash had both gone through it once and then having to tell somepony else immediately after without breaking down completely herself. 'Well,' she thought to herself, 'That's Rainbow Dash for you...always putting on a brave face...no matter what.'

"So, Twi'," Rainbow began anew, "Like i said, I told Trixie that I'd get her a place to stay for the night. I would have just taken her up to my place, if, you know, she was a pegasus. But she's not, and she needs a warm place to stay and a soft bed to rest on. Do you think-?"

"That would be just fine with me, Dash," Twilight responded, cutting Dash off before she could continue, "I'd be happy to let Trixie stay here...for as long as she needs to. I have a guest bed and everything, Spike has his own little basket to sleep in, so there's no problem there."

Dash prodded Trixie's side to get her attention, and when the blue unicorn looked at her, she smiled and asked, "Well? How does that sound to you, Trixie?"

Trixie looked at Dash, then over at Twilight. She then forced herself off of the couch and over to Twilight, whom she pulled into a quick embrace and just as quickly released her, "I...would be..most grateful for your help, Twilight Sparkle...but..."

Twilight and Dash shared a quick glance. Both mares were concerned for the well-being of the third.

Trixie looked over at Dash, with what appeared to be a crimson blush on her face, "Rainbow Dash, could I possibly ask one more favor of you...?"

Dash nodded, "Um, okay, Trixie. Shoot. What d'ya need?"

Trixie's blush darkened slightly, slightly unsure why she felt compelled to ask this, "Could you, um, s-stay, with me tonight? Here, in the library? Of course, if it's okay with Twilight, I mean... "

Dash blinked in surprise. She looked at Trixie for a few moments, then smiled at her, "Okay, Trix. I can do that, no problem. You don't mind, right, Twilight?"

Twilight shook her head, "No, I don't mind at all. if Trixie wants you to stay, and you want to stay for Trixie, then who am I to disapprove?"

Dash smiled at her, "You mean, besides 'the owner of the house' we'll both be staying in?"

Twilight rolled her eyes and moved toward Trixie, "Don't you worry, Trixie, we'll be here for you. Both of us. Isn't that right, Rainbow?"

Dash chuckled and nodded, "Yeah, don't you worry about me going anywhere anytime soon. I kind of dragged you here and got myself involved in all this, and there's no way I'd back out of it now. Besides, I kinda feel obliged to help now. Like I've done and made some sort of lame-o 'bond' with you."

Trixie felt her heart skip a beat when Dash said the word, 'bond,' but decided to ignore it, "What exactly is it?"

"Loyalty," the other two mares stated together.

Trixie looked inquisitively at the two, "Huh. Talking in perfect unison," she observed, and then for the first time that night, she smiled. It was a small smile, nothing to put into the history books, but it felt good to have a reason to smile, "You two haven't gone through anything like this before, have you?"

"Naw," Dash scoffed as she flew the last few steps up and over to the guest bed, "It's just that, um, how does it go? Oh yeah, 'great minds think alike,' you know?"

Twilight snorted, "Yeah. Sure, Rainbow, whatever you say."

Dash stuck her tongue out at Twilight and ruffled her wings in playful aggression. Trixie couldn't help but laugh at the way the two interacted with each other.

Spike came casually walking up the stairs, before noticing the presence of the two other mares, "Oh. So Rainbow Dash was at the door," and then he spotted Trixie, "and she brought her."

He stood there staring at her, his expression unreadable. The tension in the room built over the course of a few minutes or so, before he smiled approvingly, "Five minutes without a word. That's a good enough change for me. If I remember correctly, you couldn't shut up before. If you don't brag about everything anymore, maybe I'll even show you my gem collection," and with that he clambered into his basket and curled up with his blanket, before quickly adding, "G'night, everypony," and falling into a deep slumber.

The girls all looked at each other, with expressions of confusion that quickly turned into amusement as they giggled silently among themselves at the baby dragon's strange antics.

"Looks like you've got another one on your side, Trixie," Twilight joked from her side of the room as she tucked herself in with her magic.

"Yeah, Trixie, you didn't even flinch the whole time! I mean, you blinked a few times, which was kinda unimpressive, but hey, it's a good start!" Rainbow chortled as she stuck herself on the far side of the guest bed.

"Oh, why, thank you for your kind words, Rainbow Dash. I'm so glad to know my blinking skills aren't impressive enough for you," she giggled at herself again, then stopped and looked at the other two mares, "You know" she began somberly, "I've only been here for, what, not even an hour now, and I already feel, I guess...happy, again. I mean, like, happy like I was in my foalhood. Carefree for the first time in a long time."

Dash chuckled and nodded, yawning and stretching across the bed, "Heh, yeah, being with friends does that to a mare, Trix."

Trixie smiled and, turning to Twilight, sheepishly asked, "Um, Twilight, before I actually get on the bed and, uh, ruin your sheets, could you point me to the bathroom? I could use a shower."

Twilight blinked and facehoofed, "Yeah, probably should have given you some kind of tour before. It's down the stairs, to your left."

"Thank you, Twilight Sparkle."

----

After a quick shower and a hasty grooming, admiring the vaguely 'woody' smell of all the things inside the tree, including Twilight's soaps and various shampoos. She didn't think it was a bad thing, she just found it to be sort of a recurring theme.

She exited the washroom and once again climbed the stairs to Twilight's bedroom. All was quiet and the lights had been extinguished, so it was a very different journey this time. The darkness wasn't much of an issue thanks to her unicorn magic, but it didn't feel the same to walk these stairs alone, not surrounded by her friends, laughing and joking...

Or is that even the reason?

Trixie halted abruptly, mid-step. Is it REALLY just being with Rainbow and Twilight that makes me so happy? Or is it something else entirely?

No, she thought, that first thing had to have been it. There is no other explanation. She walked as silently as possible over to the guest bed and gently joined the already snoozing Rainbow Dash. But when Trixie had finally positioned herself, she was suddenly shocked to find she was now being cuddled by the cyan mare, who muttered something in her sleep. Trixie had to admit, Dash was being extremely, oh, what was the word? Oh, yes.

Cute. Yes, that was it. Trixie really couldn't think of any other word to describe her. The way her bright, tousled multicolored mane half-covered her face. Her light snoring and muttering, a little smile, probably the side-effect of one of her sweet dreams, plastered to her face. Not to mention she looked totally at peace with the world. It was all just too adorable for Trixie, "Heheh," she giggled quietly, "Clingy, aren't we, Dash? For some reason though," she paused briefly, and smiled at the pegasus and closed her eyes, "I'm okay with that."

And for the first time in so many nights, Trixie found herself falling asleep happy. Happy to be with her friends, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and even little Spike the dragon. She was so happy to just be accepted.

"And it's all thanks to you, Rainbow Dash," she whispered. "You saved me, you know? Brought me back from the metaphorical edge. I was going to give up on everything, wander out as some sort of vagabond until I just couldn't do anything anymore. But I'm glad I didn't. I'm glad you found me. Maybe you're the one I've been searching for. My very own little dash of magic."

And she slowly fell into a blissful sleep, cuddled up to her second-favorite blue pony in all the land of Equestria. Into her own little dreamland of perfection she went, a certain cyan pegasus accompanying her wherever she went.

A small voice whispered back in the dead of night, "You're welcome, Trixie." Next Chapter: A Dash of Magic - Part 2 Estimated time remaining: 17 Minutes