Chapter 18 - Enter, Trixie lulamoon...
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Naruto was intently working on the private portion of the biographies while Spike and Twilight were upstairs. There were certain incidents in their past that some of the bearers weren't comfortable speaking about but Naruto knew because he knew them longer. So the latter decided to take Spike upstairs and put the time to practical use while Naruto worked on the bios.
Naruto bid farewell to Pinkie Pie as she left, returning back to the table to finish the biography. Glancing over it Naruto was satisfied that everything was in working order. "Twilight I'm done!" Naruto called upstairs. A moment later Twilight and Spike were walking down the stairs.
"So did you get what you needed?" Twilight asked as Naruto then glanced at Spike noticing his moustache before turning back to Twilight. He shook his head deciding that he wasn't even going to ask.
"So cool stache right?" Spike asked Naruto as he was proudly stroking the edges between his clawed fingers. "Say enough to impress a lady?"
Naruto fought back his urge to laugh. "I do have to admit that is a pretty nice moustache." To be fair it really was. "Though the men in my family are more partial to beards especially my ancestral grandfather I wish I had a picture to show you, but I only heard legends about it." No kage's hair was ever as epic as the Uzukage of course. "Why don't we go into town? Its around lunch time, my treat."
"Sure that'll be nice." Twilight answered as the three of them strolled towards the front door grabbing her key out of her bag as they walked out of the door. Twilight locked the door behind them as they entered the busy Ponyville streets.
The three of them were walking down Ponyville's busy streets.
As they made their journey they ran into a few other ponies. "Hey there Turner." Naruto called out to an Earth Pony stallion. The stallion was five foot ten with a rather slim build for an Earth pony. As always Time Turner dressed in nice clothing, a charcoal black single breasted 1 buttons, slim fit suit with shawl lapel, center vent, flat font pants that were textured solid. Considering his dark amber mane and tail along with Grayish amber coat and pale light gray cobalt eyes it gave him a devilish handsome look.
"Naruto, Miss. Sparkle, Mister Spike…" he greeted them absentmindedly as he continued to gaze at the clock in his hand. "…justments…seventy-twenty." He seemed to murmur.
Naruto shook his head as he was used to the eccentric nature of the stallion. As they continued their trek Spike once more praised Twilight for her amazing ability to pick up spells. Naruto himself had to admit twenty-five spells in a single day was rather impressive.
It was pretty much commonly accepted that beyond Telekinesis most Unicorns be able to learn spells not connected to their special talent was rather difficult. It had almost become a common belief that it was nearly impossible to do so seeing as it was rare for Unicorns to be trained in advanced spells or battle magic outside of becoming a scholar or joining the military. Because one's innate magic was closely connected to their talent there was only a small turnout of Unicorns joining Equestria's elite magical circles.
"Gangway!" a voice came. Naruto noted whoever spoke didn't seem to be bright as the three turned to see two young young unicorn colts in full gallop.
The shorter and chubbier of the two was bucktoothed, had a light blue-green coat, messy yellow-brown mane, and a pair of scissors on his hand. He was wearing a simple green shirt that hovered over his chubby stomach, shorts, and tennishoes.
The other, taller and thinner, had a yellow-tan coat, bird catcher spots near his eyes, and equally unkempt light green mane that are slightly longer than his counterpart. He was also wearing jean shorts, a black t-shirt under suspenders with the cutie mark of a snail on his hand. Both of them had beady black eyes and the shorter of the two sported thick brown eyebrows as well. They both looked to be around the Cutie Mark Crusaders age.
"Comin' through!", the taller colt added as they barreled past with enough speed to blow the mare and stallion hair sideways while Spike found himself being bulldozed along on the shorter colt's head.
"Snips! Snails! What's going on?" Spike asked them. They answered by skidding to a stop, throwing him clear.
"What, haven't you heard?" The taller colt, Snails, said as Spike crashed somewhere. "There is a new unicorn in town!"
"Yeah!" Agreed the shorter colt, Snips, as he bounced on his hooves as if he was high with sugar. "They say that she's got more magical powers than any other unicorn ever!"
As Snips spoke, Twilight and Naruto approached the two colts as Spike did the same as he rubbed his head. "Don't you two think you're being a bit enthusiastic?"
"You two obviously heard wrong," Spike scoffed. "That honor goes to Twilight here." As he raised an arm to her, she smiled and blushed at the praise.
Naruto couldn't help but silently agreed. If not now then Twilight was definitely going to have to earn that honor. "Where is this unicorn?"
"Oh, she's in the town square." Snails answered. "Come on!" He then galloped off.
"Yeah! Come on!" Snips agreed as he followed with an excited yell as Twilight, Naruto, and Spike raced after him a moment later.
In front of the town square pavilion there was a wagon trailer set up front, presenting its side to the sizable crowd gathered before it. Naruto could hear head a female voice ringing out over the scene, sounding very dramatic and over the top, as he, Twilight, Spike made their way to the front. Twilight's friends were at the front of the crowd.
"Come one, come all!" The voice dramatically announced building up anticipation and drawing attention. "Come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
During this line, the trailer reconfigured itself. One, the side wall flipped down to become a stage backed by a dark blue curtain, and two wings folded out to extend its length. Two, the ends swung out, exposing three brass horns mounted on each. Three, the roof popped up and several bits of overhead scenery extended over the stage: rocket, planet and stars, spiral, stars, and magic wand. Then, a blast of glittering blue smoke went off on the stage.
Naruto's eyes widened and a deep blush covered his cheeks when the performer showed herself. She was a unicorn, an attractive one around Rarity's height with a stylized cornflower blue body mane with both ends going opposite lengths, but curling upwards slightly like the end of a tail. Her horn was about the size of an average unicorn horn sharing the same coloring as her brilliant azure coat.
Her outfit consisted of lavender boots with the design of stars on them as well as a lavender magician's cape and hat decorated with star symbols. She wore a white corset top under an open lavender mini jacket as well as a dark lilac mini skirt that stopped just below her knees with the cerulean blue straps of a thong hanging on her hips. As such her cutie mark, a star-tipped wand spreading stardust was revealed.
Trixie has just made her grand arrival, prompting awed murmurs from the crowd.
"Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!" She boasted as fireworks erupted from the stage, but Rarity seemed to be far from impressed.
"My, my, my." Rarity remarked. "What boasting."
"Come on." Spike began as he craned his head and once more began to rant. "Nopony's as magical as Twi…" He then nearly had a fit upon realizing that he was speaking to the mare he wanted to impress with his mustache earlier. "Twi…Twi…oh!" He then blushed a bit, as he cleared his throat. "H-Hey, Rarity, I, uh…mustache!" he then ran off in a panic as his two companions took his place.
"There's nothing wrong with being talented, is there?" Twilight hesitantly asked the blond. Seeing the expression on some of the ponies she was starting to feel a bit worried.
"Nothin' at all…" Applejack assured her, joining the group as she eyed Trixie, who conjured up a bouquet of flowers. "'ceptin' when someone goes around showin' it off like a school-filly with fancy new ribbons!"
"Just because one has the ability to perform lots of magic does not make one better than the rest of us." Rarity added.
Naruto was a bit surprised at his friend's reactions. Sure, he could understand why some ponies didn't like others boasting about them being better than them, but the mare was an obvious performer and they sometimes tended to brag.
Twilight hunched down and let her ears droop sheepishly; the words of her friends didn't do anything to ease her anxiety. Considering she wasn't close enough yet to have intimate knowledge on her friends she was concerned with how strong their bond was.
Rainbow Dash chose that moment to speak up."Especially when you got me around being better than the rest of us!" She said with a chuckle, then stopped herself as Applejack glared daggers at her. "Uh…I mean…yeah, uh, magic, schmagic! BOOOO!" She gave a sidelong glance at the still-disapproving farmpony.
Naruto shook his head. "Rain we all know you're the town's foremost boaster." He playfully took a shot at his friend. "Besides…are you really going to…" He began trying to smooth things over when Trixie's voice echoed over the area.
"Well, well, well." She announced, using a spell to project the volume of her voice. "It seems we have some ne-e-eigh-sayers in the audience." Her eyes roamed the crowd and she stuck up her nose. "Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie?" There were assorted reactions of disgust, annoyance, confusion, and awe from everypony, the last of which came only from Snips and Snails. Most of the town being comprised of Earth Ponies have either dealt with, heard, or were taught by their family the prejudices between the tribes their ancestors dealt with.
Just as Stallions were treated as second class citizens for breeding as quite some time, Earth Ponies were treated as slaves by several clans for many centuries across the continent. This practice was used more by Unicorns by a sizable margin then Pegasi with a small percentage of slave owners being other Earth Ponies themselves. These were just some of the many practices abolished when the nation of Equestria fell under the rule of the Royal Pony sisters.
It was this type of behavior that always stirred up bad blood and encouraged the Tribalist mindset. While Tribalist behavior was almost unheard of in a town like Ponyville being a town that always had members of the three tribes from its early history despite being founded by Earth Ponies it was impossible to say that there haven't been those who have traveled and settled to the small town hadn't carried those beliefs with them.
"Do they not know that they're in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria?" At this point her bragging was crossing into outright arrogant territory, but despite how annoying it was this Trixie wasn't breaking the law. While a lot of ponies didn't appreciate that trait one couldn't punish somepony for bragging.
Then again a good deal of the nation was still unaware of the specifics of the Nightmare Moon incident. She wouldn't be boasted If she knew the Element of Magic was in this very town.
Rarity of all ponies gave a raspberry. "Just who does she think she is?" Spike then elbowed up between her and Twilight.
"Yeah." Spike agreed, "Since we all know that Twilight here is—"
"Spike, shhh!" The purple unicorn then pushed him well away from the spectacle for a private chat and both kept their voices down.
"What? What's wrong?"
"You see the way they reacted to Trixie? I don't want anyone thinking I'm a showoff." Once again, the performer's fireworks went off, more energetically than before.
All of a sudden, Rainbow Dash then flew into the stage, fed up by Trixie's stunts. "So, Great and Powerful Trixie, what makes you think you're so awesome, anyway?" Rainbow Dashed sarcastically asked her.
Trixie answered by putting a hoof to her face with a disdainful laugh, then spoke with mounting fervor. "Why, only the Great and Powerful Trixie has magic strong enough to vanquish…the dreaded Ursa Major!"
Fireworks blasted from the horns at one end of the stage, decorating the sky with the outline of a huge bear whose forehead is marked with a starburst. There were gasps and murmurs all around.
"What?!" Snips gasped.
"No way!" Snails gasped.
"When all hope was lost, the ponies of Hoofington had no one to turn to..." Trixie continued her story as a figure of herself then approached the Ursa, wand at the ready. As she continues, it stood pat before the beast's swipes and cast a spell, causing it to fizzle out and disappear in a shower of sparks. "But the Great and Powerful Trixie stepped in, and with her awesome magic, vanquished the Ursa Major and sent it back to its cave, deep within the Everfree Forest!"
An Ursa Major? That was clearly a lie. Nothing sort of an entire unit of the guard or one of Equestria's Arcana mages could hope to take on an Ursa Major and come away unscathed. Their massive size and strength classified them among the highest class of species based threat.
"Suh-weet!" Cried out the two colts.
"That settles it!" Added Snips.
As the magician stood proudly, Snails walked closer to the stage and gestured to her as he spoke. "Trixie truly is the most talented, most magical, most awesome unicorn in Ponyville!" he said.
Snipped popped up next to him. "No! In all of Equestria!" At that time, Twilight and Spike had returned to the crowd.
"How do you know?" Spike objected. "You didn't see it! And besides, Twi—" He was cut off as his mouth was literally zipped shut by the unicorn he was about to mention.
"They're just children, Spike." Naruto informed him as he tried to appease the dragon. "They don't know any better."
Trixie gave out a laugh. "It's true, my enthusiastic little admirers. Trixie is most certainly the best in Ponyville!"
"Don't believe the Great and Powerful Trixie? Well, then, I hereby challenge you Ponyvillians. Anything you can do, I can do better. Any takers? Anyone, hmm?" There was no answer from anypony. "Or is Trixie destined to be the greatest equine who has ever lived?"
Once more came another fusillade of fireworks, the most elaborate so far, after which Spike unzipped his lip and threw himself at Twilight's hooves, sobbing.
"Please! She's unbearable! You gotta show her! You just gotta!"
"There's no way I'm gonna use my magic now, Spike." she was answered. "Especially since—"
She was cut off by Trixie as she scanned the crowd. "Hmmm…how about…you?" She then pointed at Twilight, who swallowed hard.
After pointing at the purple unicorn, Trixie strode confidently toward the edge of the stage.
"Well, how about it, hmmm? Is there anything you can do that the Great and Powerful Trixie can't?" she dared.
"I, uh, I… " Twilight began to stammer.
Before an answer could be given, Applejack spoke up. "That's it! Ah can't stand for no more of this!"
"You show her, AJ!" Spike called out as the farmpony walked up on stage.
"Can your magical powers do this?" Applejack began her 'performance'. She twirled a lasso around herself at floor level with her tail. She hoisted the loop clear of the boards, and then worked it forward and backward. There was a chorus of "oohs" from the crowd.
An expert flick of the blond tail then sent the lasso flying to snag an apple off a tree. The rope loosened on the return trip so that the fruit landed squarely in her mouth. After a quick chew and swallow, the crowd voiced its approval.
Applejack then turned to face Trixie. "Top that, missy!"
In response, the magician's hat began to glow in the same color as Trixie's eyes. "Oh, ye of little talent." Her hat was then lifted clear of her head, fully exposing her horn and mane, the latter of which curled slightly. "Watch and be amazed at the magic of Trixie!"
One end of the now-untied rope began to glow in the same aura as it sinuously off the stage, just like how snake charmers do it. It swayed back and forth before Applejack's face, catching her attention as the other end of the rope pulled a second apple from the tree. The first end then lashed toward Applejack's hooves and hogtied her, briefly lifting her upside down off the stage before dropping her on her back. Then, once she fell on the stage floor, the apple was stuffed whole into her mouth.
The crowd laughed and cheered as the farm pony hobble-hopped away.
Naruto rushed over to the farmer and began undoing the ropes. "AJ you okay?"
"Yeah, just mah pride is bruised."
"Why did you go and challenge her?"
"Well someone had to shut 'er up."
"I don't like her attitude either, but what good would it do to drag yourself down to her level. After a day or two she'll be on her way. " Naruto reasoned, he was downright annoyed, but he didn't want to cause an incident. This performer wasn't worth it. Naruto clutched his fist as he found himself growing steadily angrier, but kept his cool. He couldn't believe some of the members of the town were actually cheering.
"Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie prevails." The Unicorn declared. Just then, Rainbow Dash flew right up to Trixie's face.
"There's no need to go strutting around and showing off like that!"
"Oh?"
"That's my job." Rainbow then went off into a speeding charge and set a windmill spinning at an insanely high speed as she grabbed one vane. The machine then pitched her skyward when she let go; punching neat holes through a long row of clouds. The self-assured aviator hovered briefly before the sun so that it silhouetted her form.
Her next move was a screaming dive that carried her through the holes she punched and down to the same windmill, a few droplets of moisture following her from the clouds. When she repeated the grab-release maneuver, the vanes flung her straight back to the stage, where she skidded to a stop and let the trailing droplets scatter off her back, resulting in a small rainbow forming over her head.
"They don't call me 'Rainbow' and 'Dash' for nothing."
Once again, the crowd cheered from the display while Trixie seemed unperturbed. "When Trixie is through, the only thing they'll call you is 'loser'!"
Her horn then glowed as she shot a beam at the rainbow, making it wrap its creator up in a little tornado and carry her yelling into the sky. The cyclone veered madly in all directions before hitting the ground upside down and flying away.
Rainbow wound up lying on her face in the dirt, her eyes jittering and her body bent upward as if sprawled against an invisible wall. "I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Seems like anypony with a dash of good sense would think twice before tussling with the Great Trixie." On the end of this, she cast another spell as Rainbow got upright and fumbled her way to the crowd. A black cloud appeared overhead and zapped the pegasus in the plot with a lightning bolt. There was laughter from more of the crowd.
He knew Rainbow Dash could be tough to deal with at times and rather abrasive, but how could some of these ponies turn their back on her? Same with Applejack? The bearers were heroes, the bearers were the reason that they could even stand around and watch this travesty of a show.
That was far from better, she was now being vindictive.
"What we need is another unicorn to challenge her!" Spike said as he elbowed Twilight's side. "Someone with some magic of their own?"
"Yeah!" Rainbow agreed as she moved towards Chronicle. "A unicorn to show this unicorn who's boss!"
"A real unicorn-to-unicorn tussle!" Applejack added as Spike eyed Twilight expectantly.
"Uh…" the purple unicorn uttered still terrified at the prospect of coming off as a showoff.
Rarity then stepped up. "Enough. Enough, all of you. I take your hint, but Rarity is above such nonsense. Rainbow Dash and Applejack may behave like ruffians, but I conduct myself with beauty and grace."
"Ooh, what's the matter?" Trixie taunted. "Afraid you'll get a hair out of place in that rat's nest you call a mane?"
'Aah hell,' Naruto thought as he knew what was going to happen next. Naruto inwardly cursed at the fact that he made friends with ponies as stubborn as him.
"Oh, it is on!" Naruto moved between the stage and the mare. "Naruto? What are you doing? Out of my way so I can show that mare some proper manners."
"Rarity don't do this. You saw what she did to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Trust me you have to walk away."
Rarity while still steaming could not adhere to Naruto's request. "I will not allow this braggart to harm our friends. Have faith in me."
Naruto wanted to argue but he couldn't come up with any other reason. Rarity was too stubborn to convince and nothing short of him physically forcing her would change her mind. It wasn't like this was life threatening or anything, but merely a pissing contest over a matter of pride.
Now onstage and circling Trixie, the aspiring designer regained the bulk of her composure. "You may think you're tough with all of your so-called powers, but there is more to magic than your brutish ways. A unicorn needs to be more than just muscle." Her horn proceeded to glow as she 'pulled off' the curtain. "A unicorn needs to have style." The curtain then wrapped itself into a tight whirl around her body, and a flash clears it away to show the results. She now wore a blue gown trimmed in gold, which now rested over her previous outfit, and her mane has been styled into a tall bouffant.
Over the crowd's "oohs", she continued, "A unicorn is not a unicorn without grace and beauty." Trixie just smirked and readied herself for another spell.
"Rarity won't let Trixie get the best of her!" Spike said in a love-struck manner. "She's strong, she's beautiful…" There came a flash and his eyes widened in disbelief. "…she's…" His jaw then dropped, the crowd mirroring his sentiments in face and voice.
"QUICK!" Rarity panicked. "I NEED A MIRROR! GET ME A MIRROR! What did she do to my mane? I know she did something terrible to my mane!"
Twilight was trying not to laugh as she answered, "Nothing."
Rainbow Dash was doing the same. "It's fine."
Applejack was feeling unsettled. "It's gorgeous!"
"I hardly notice a thing." Naruto quickly lied as his face tightened. He knew how…emotional Rarity could get over such things.
Spike was stunned. "It's green." Instantly, the others glared at him. "What?"
Rarity's mane was indeed green, and in two different shades at that. It was also a piled-up mess, with a twig and a few berries caught in it, as well as a couple of tails protruding from the uppermost reaches.
"No! Green hair! Not green hair!" Rarity lamented as she dashed through the crowd, shuddering. "Such an awful, awful color!"
As she sobbed and galloped away, she bypassed Golden Harvest, who decided to try a new mane style by dying her hair green.
"Well, I never!" she cried out in offense.
Between seeing Rarity run off crying and the laughter of the crowd caused Naruto to snap. "ENOUGH!" He roared, unable to keep his composure and unintentionally letting out what most ponies likened to blood lust.
"So, you all think this is funny, do you?" he snapped as he settled on the members of the crowd being sucked in by the incident. "You all have some nerve. They risked their lives in the Everfree to help save this town. Heroes many of you have known for years and grew up alongside and this is how you repay them? You laugh at their embarrassment? And here I thought we were a town of love and tolerance who always supported our own. What a joke!"
Everypony was shocked at Naruto's change in demeanor. A good deal of them had known the blond for months and knew him as a loyal and supportive pony who was always willing to help anypony. Upon reflecting on the stallion's words many of them wore looks of shame upon realizing that he was right.
He then turned his heated gaze on Trixie. "And you…being boastful and arrogant, I can put up with that, to a point but I will not let you bully my friends any longer. Going as far as inflicting physical pain against ponies for the sake of your ego. You're nothing but a Great and Powerful coward!"
The crowd went perfectly silent. Recovering from her shock, Trixie matched Naruto's glare. "Is that so? Care to challenge me and put your bits where your mouth is?"
"Yeah, I do." Naruto's back was to the crowd, leaving only Trixie able to see the sharp expression on the stallion's face. For a moment she thought her mind was playing tricks on her. Confirming that the blond's eyes were Cerulean and not crimson she discreetly swallowed and put on her confident sneer.
"What are your terms? Trixie is confident she can defeat you in anything."
"Then I challenge you to an honor duel."
Hushed whispers started to break out as a result of this. An Honor Duel was similar in concept to a Trial by Combat without a loss of life. Both parties would wager something of value to those involved. Like a trial by combat the terms had to be set beforehand and one can even elect a champion in their place.
"Tomorrow afternoon we go to the entrance of the Everfree Forest. The first one to head in and return back with fresh Ursa Major fur seeing as there is an Ursa den inside the forest."
For a brief moment Trixie's haughty experience was broken. An Ursa den? Was this pony insane? Either way the stubborn mare could not allow this pony to show her up and damage her pride. "Very well."
"Those who want to see the winner can wait at the outskirts by Fluttershy's cottage." Naruto was pretty sure the mare would have been thoughtless and tried to invite members of the town along to watch her greatness and he decided to nip it in the bud. "If I win you apologize to my friends."
"And if Trixie wins, well," she gave the blond a glance over. "…well she could always use a servant to pull her cart."
The gathering of ponies muttered to each other as the Mane Six and Spike glanced worriedly at one another. "I'll be waiting, Trixie," Naruto intoned as he began leaving the area.
Trixie stared at the spot where the stallion scoffing haughtily. "Well, it seems my afternoon performance has been cancelled. But don't worry; tomorrow's performance will be twice as grand!"
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Twilight and Spike eventually returned to the library to see Naruto right back where he had been earlier that morning, wrapping up the scrolls and finished them for preparation. "The scrolls for Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash are ready." He looked up to see Twilight's worried expression.
"You weren't serious about the challenge were you? You can't be thinking of going after an Ursa Major."
"Twilight's right man, even I think that's crazy."
"I am serious you two. She attacked ponies I cared about, ponies I considered my family." He slammed his fist into the desk causing her and Spike to wince. "All I can think about is how I stood by while three of my friends were humiliated. If someone doesn't stand up to Trixie she's just going to keep doing this to others and someday someone might get hurt."
"T-That's insane! I know you're doing this for the honor of our friends, but an Ursa Major? You will be killed if you go through this foolish challenge."
"Ponies like Trixie only understand things once you break through their pride. The only other way to break her pride is for her to be shown up. You're the Element of Magic Twilight there's no way a mere show mare has half your talent."
Spike grinned as he realized Naruto wanted her to confront Trixie too. He may not have been able to convince Twilight, but Naruto seemed good at these sorts of things. "I already told Spike, no!" Twilight responded. "You saw how the others reacted."
"Twilight what you would be doing and what Trixie are doing is two different things. If you were to open your eyes you would see that." He didn't mean to snap at the mare, he wasn't angry at her, but he was sad that Twilight was still fearful that the others were going to betray her after what they been through. He was beginning to think that this was a deep seeded issue from her past.
"I'm not doing it, and that's final!"
"Okay." He softly answered. "You don't want to do this so I won't bring it up again, but I have to do this."
"Its too danger…" Twilight was cut off when she was suddenly pulled into a hug.
"I'm sorry, I'm supposed to be your friend and I haven't even taken the time to try and learn anything about you. You not wanting to show off, there's a deeper issue there isn't it? You've been hurt before haven't you Twi?" Naruto looked up at Spike and seeing the crestfallen look in his eyes confirmed Naruto's suspicions. "I'm going to come back Twilight and I'm going to start being a better friend." He pulled back and noticed she was crying. "Spike, can you make some tea?" From what he noticed the few things he visited the library Spike seemed to be the one who did all the cooking.
"Y-Yeah…sure." He said as he left the stallion to comfort. He let out a forlorn sigh as he entered the kitchen, feeling rather useless. He didn't want to think about that moment all those years ago. How sad Twilight was when those ponies betrayed her trust and broke Twilight's faith in having friends.
Naruto held Twilight and let herself cry herself to sleep. Later that afternoon he came down and took a seat opposite of Spike. "I know there are things Twilight have to tell me herself right?" he asked as the dragon nodded. "What can you tell me?"
"It broke her heart." He answered as a look of pain flashed across his face. "All I can tell you that a lot of ponies tried to use Twilight because of her status. Some of them, some of them either couldn't remember her name or didn't care. Calling her the 'Sun's Favored Foal' was far more convenient. Twilight, well, you see how she is you know. She's not a bad pony because she favors literature and scholarly pursuits over social climbing. I shouldn't have…I shouldn't have tried to force her to confront Trixie." Spike forced back the tears that threatened to fall. He felt so ashamed that he flagrantly ignored Twilight's feelings on the matter. He knew Twilight better than the others, he should have known better.
"Don't feel ashamed. You care about Twilight." Naruto said as he placed a comforting hand on Spike's shoulder. "You were only doing what you thought would help her. All you can do now is to be here for her." Naruto realized that despite Spike being known as a baby dragon he was anything but a baby. He was a deal more mature than Naruto expected for someone of his age.
"What about you? Are you really going to go through this? That could be dangerous. What happens if the Ursa goes on a rampage?"
"I won't allow that to happen. I have a plan, that's why I challenged her for tomorrow and not today. "
Spike simply just nodded. "Alright man just be careful."
"I will." Naruto said as he got up and made his way out of the library. He was sure by now the others had checked his home and his other usual haunts. He knew he would need to go someplace he wouldn't be disturbed or where they would try to stop him from challenging Trixie. The blond found a nice place near the forest and began to meditate.
"This is rather foolish Naruto. From the information you have gathered from those Ursa creatures nothing short of a grand warrior or an adult dragon can hope to fight those creatures. You are still a ways off to completely recovering your strength."
"I don't have much of a choice Kurama. I know it's dangerous, but I don't plan on fighting the Ursa. Worst case scenario I'll rearrange the Everfree forest with some of my Jutsu to trap it. I'm more than sure she'll chicken out. I'm not the kid I once was I'll be careful."
"Very well, just try and keep in mind what's at stake if something goes wrong."
Naruto accepted the words as he continued to meditate and waited as the passage of time continued. He opened his eyes and noticed it was night time. He wondered just how much time had passed. The sound of tumorous noise echoing drew his attention. As he took a moment to listen he realized much to his horror the sound was traveling towards Ponyville.
Trixie was relaxing on her bed as she was thinking about this afternoon's performance. The sound of banging on her door drew her out of her thoughts.
"Great and Powerful Trixie! You've got to help us!"
"Yeah, vanquish the creature so we can watch!"
Trixie let out a growl as she swung open the door. "What do you two want!? Can't you see Trix…" she trailed off as she saw a massive transparent blue ursine in the distance. It had saliva dripping from its mouth and look every bit of dangerous that creatures of its class was emphasized.
Needless to say, Trixie was shocked. "Wait! You brought this here? Are you out of your little pony minds?!"
"But…you're the Great and Powerful Trixie!" Snips reasoned.
"Yeah, remember?" reminded Snails. "You defeated an Ursa Major!"
"You imbecilic colts!" she snapped as they both recoiled. "I'll…I'll handle this." Though hesitant and fearful Trixie knew that if she ran away from the predator the situation would be worse. Summoning up her magic she quickly summoned ropes from her caravan and the nearby area. She used one set of ropes to quickly tie shut the maw of the creature and the rest to tie up its limbs. Its arms tied to the building while combining several of the ropes in a knotted formation to tie up its leg. She let out a relieved sigh and smiled thinly. "Piece of cake."
With a burst of effort the ropes were snapped to pieces by the creature's impressive strength.
"Aw, come on, Trixie!" Snips complained.
"Stop goofin' around and vanquish it, eh." Snails added.
Trixie shuddered, gave another gulp, and then had another go at it. This time, her magic called up a storm cloud that cracked out lightning but only over the Ursa to completely ignore.
"Well, that was a dud." Snails said.
"Yeah!" Snips agreed as he then gave a raspberry. "Come on! Where's all the cool explosions and smoke and stuff like earlier, you know?"
"YOU SIMPLETONS! TRIXIE LIED OK!"
The Ursa let out a bellow of rage as it stomped forward. With yelps of panic they dodged out of the way only for the creature to smash Trixie's home beneath its feet.
"No!" Trixie wailed as the place that was her home was reduced to mere broken pieces of trash heap. Bellowing in rage Trixie's horn flared to life as she picked up every sharp or blunt object she could and hurled it at the beast.
Everything. Everything she had fought for. Everything she had worked for. Her self-worth. Her image. That Caravan to which she paid for signified her struggle and it was gone now. Trixie much to her horror realized her attacks were only irritating the Ursa not to mention it was much faster than its size dictated. She then her best to leap out of the way only to be caught by half of the creature's paw and send flying like a rag doll.
Pain. Nothing but pain coursed through Trixie as it felt like her body wouldn't move.
Trixie found herself paralyzed in fear. The Ursa Major hovered over her, paw raise as it readied to end her life. Trixie started to cry, tears forming in her eyes and streaming down her distraught face. "Please help! Anypony!" she begged. As the paw came soaring down Trixie closed her eyes, praying for her death to be quick.
Suddenly she found herself scooped up. A sudden jolt, signifying a landing stirred Trixie from her terrified state. She opened her eyes only to see the face of the very stallion from this afternoon. "You…" He set her down nearby as several ponies came running up.
"We don't know the extent of her injuries so someone get her medical attention." Naruto then turned to Bulk Biceps, a muscular Pegasus dressed in workout gear that was as tall as Big Mac but with his body covered in thick layer of bulging muscle and tiny wings. The other was the lime green mint mare known as Lyra Heartstrings dressed in a jean skirt and black hoodie. "Bulk, Lyra, we need to buy the members of the town some time. We need to hold out until help arrives." He ordered as the two joined him.
The sound of the Ursa's roar drowned out the screams and terror of the citizens as the creature continued to invade their town. Everytime the creature attacked Lyra threw up a barrier to cushion whatever she could of the town while Naruto and Bulk who draw its attention in an effort to lead it away from the town.
Much to Naruto's ire the creature's hide was proving to be rather tough. Hand to hand techniques were useless in his current state and he didn't have any weapons. It would take something more along the lines of his most devastating jutsu techniques but that would cause a great magnitude of damage to the town not to mention the possibility of ponies being caught up in it in the ensuing panic.
"NARUTO!"
Naruto turned to see Spike and Twilight running up. "You two get out of here! Its too dangerous!"
"How is an Ursa even here?"
"We can worry about that later, what matters now is getting that creature out of here."
"I can't stop it anymore!" Lyra shouted as she threw up another barrier, sweating cascading down her face when the creature's paw struck her barrier causing it to shatter and causing the mare to fall back from the force of the magical backlash.
"Bulk!" Naruto shouted as the Ursa scored a lucky hit sending the Pegasus flying straight into the hardware store. "Damnit! How are we supposed to stop a thing like this?"
As much as Twilight feared rejection she knew it she didn't do something there wouldn't be anypony left to reject her. Twilight finally got herself ready and used her magic. She used her magic to guide the wind along cattails to create music. It was very soothing.
"Twilight?" The sound of the music drew Naruto's attention to which he sent back to the Ura whom became tired and agitated from the sound of the music.
"Nice use of number sixteen." Spike noted. . Twilight then used her magic to grab the water tower and poured out the water. The tower then goes through the barn.
Twilight then used her magic to place a cap for the tower. Finally, the music manages to subdue the Bear. Twilight then uses her magic to levitate the bear out of town and back through the forests and into a cave. With the threat of the Ursa gone the panicked masses began to come out from their shelters that were created for such emergencies. The citizens of the town cheered.
The other Bearers gathered around Twilight to praise the Unicorn for saving the town.
"Unbelievable!" Rainbow Dash said in awe.
"That was amazing!" Spike said.
"Heavens to Betsy! We knew you had ability, but not that much!" Applejack stated.
"I'm sorry. Please, please don't hate me." Twilight fearfully pleaded as she dreaded her insecurity would come to life.
"Hate you? What are you talking about?" The bearers shared a look of confusion.
"Why, whatever do you mean, darling?" The fashionista asked.
"Well…I know how much you all hated Trixie's showing off with her magic tricks, and I just thought…"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Rainbow interrupted. "Magic's got nothing to do with it. Trixie's just a loudmouth."
"Most unpleasant." Rarity added.
"All hat and no cattle." Applejack finished.
"So…you don't mind my magic tricks?" Twilight asked.
"Your magic is a part of who you are, sugarcube, and we like who you are." Applejack assured her. "We're proud to have such a powerful talented unicorn as our friend."
"And after whuppin' that Ursa's hindquarters, we're even prouder." Rainbow Dash.
Twilight gave a smile. "You are?"
"Wow, Twilight! How'd you know what to do with that Ursa Major?" Spike wondered.
"Well that's what I was doing when I woke up this evening. I was so intrigued by Trixie's bragging that I was compelled to do a little reading up on them."
"So it is possible to vanquish an Ursa Major all by yourself?"
"Actually, that wasn't an Ursa Major. That was an Ursa Minor."
"Oh wow, I take it we don't even want to know what a Major is like right?" Naruto guessed to which Twilight nodded. "What would have even caused it to show up here if it was just a baby?"
"I can only assume that it was cranky because someone woke it up." Twilight guessed as she gave the blond a questioning look.
"I assure you Twi my intent was to force Trixie to prove her boasts. I spent this evening meditating I didn't even go into the forest." Naruto promised.
"Then who could have…" she trailed off as a bellow of sadness drew their attention.
"My caravan. Can't believe this…" Trixie looked absolutely heart broken. Despite how much of a pain she was no one deserved to have their equivalent of their home destroyed.
"Well maybe you should have been boasting!"
"Yeah this is Karma!"
Several other sentiments were mirrored.
"Hey don't you think that's a bit much?"
"She was annoying but that was her home. That's kind of cruel?"
Thankfully some of the citizens had enough sympathy to argue against this way of thinking.
"Look what happened to our town!"
"Yeah if she never showed up the Ursa never attacked."
"Yeah I bet she led it here to try and showed it off!"
"Me? ME!?" Trixie cried out in outrage as she shot up, her eyes sparkling with magic. "TRIXIE DID NO SUCH THING YOU INSUFFERABLE SELF RIGHTEOUS HYPOCRITES! IF YOU WANT SOMEONE TO BLAME THEN BLAME THE TWO BRATS WHO HAD THE BRIGHT IDEA TO BRING AN URSA INSTEAD OF BLAMING TRIXIE!" She roared as she shot a finger in the direction of Snips and Snails who shied away in guilt.
"Snips? Is this true?" Asked an older stallion from the audience he looked to be in his forties, average height and was rather muscular in contrast with his portly son. He shared the same coat color, but with Gamboge colored mane and jet black eyes. Strong Steel was the town's Blacksmith and a stallion who was none for his no nonsense attitude.
With Snips looked down in shame they realized Trixie was telling the truth.
"So Trixie was bragging? So what? That give you lot to try and ruin my show? If you did not like my bragging you could have simply just left or ignore it. Trixie was just merely fulfilling her purpose and earning her living. I swear it Trixie will return." With that she conjured a burst of smoke to hide herself from view. When it cleared, she could be seen running out of town.
"Why, that little…" Rainbow Dash was about to take off, intending to pursue, but was stopped by Twilight.
"Just let her go." The purple mare said. "Maybe someday she'll learn her lesson."
"This shouldn't have happened. We should have been able to avoid all this."
"Yeah if she…" Rainbow Dash began to bad mouth Trixie once more when Naruto cut her off.
"No Rain!" he sharply remarked. "Both sides are at fault."
"What? You can't be saying it's any of our faults that this happened?" Rainbow Dash reverently rebuked the stallion's statement.
"Yes, it is. I understand why you all are upset. I'm not defending Trixie's actions, her attacking the three of you during her performance was way out of line, but the three of you should have been more matured about it. So she was boasting and bragging? So what? She's a showmare. That's her talent, that's her life's ambition and while people like that can be grating did trying to smash her ego justified what happened?" he asked as he gestured to the down. Everypony looked around and winched upon seeing how many buildings were destroyed by the ensuing outcome. Several businesses were going to have to close down for a few days not to mention the town's money was already stretching thin from having to pay for the injuries and damages from the Nightmare Moon incident. "Her career, she could lose it and she lost her home as well. Can you answer me this? Were your intentions noble in that you wanted to help her see the error of her ways and how it could help her or were you doing it because what she was doing was bothering you personally?"
They tried to come up with anything or any argument to refute what Naruto was saying only to realize he was right. Trixie was an arrogant braggart but no one deserved losing their career or their home. Hell if they wanted to be technical Rarity technically did damage to the mare's private property.
"We get it, we aren't exactly innocent either." Applejack reluctantly answered.
"We should have handled the issue with more maturity then we did." Rarity added, feeling ashamed she let herself be baited like some school age filly.
"Hey, if she's willing to apologize for attacking us during her show then we'll settle this issue." Rainbow Dash added.
Naruto let out a relaxed sigh. "Good, hopefully this is an issue we can avoid again. Now we have to focus on fixing up our town."
Mayor Mare than began to calling out to everypony, calling an emergency town meeting to begin making plans on how to manage their resources to repair their town. Snips and Snails meanwhile were being dragged home by their furious and embarrassed parents. There was a real possibility that Hard Steel and the others could lose their business if not their life savings in an attempt to help repair the town out of a sense of responsibility they felt for their children's actions.
"I'm sorry."
Naruto turned and to his surprise it was Twilight. "What are you apologizing for Twilight?"
"You were right; I should have never doubted our friends. I should have known better…I…" She was caught off guard as Naruto flashed Twilight a warm smile.
"It's okay Twilight. When you're ready to talk about it I'm here to listen. In fact I'm sure the others would be happy to learn more about you as well. We're here for you no matter what. Don't blame yourself for why this happen. The others did what they did out of a sense of pride and they could have chosen to walk away, but like I said earlier I am not excusing Trixie's actions. She is just as responsible and could have handled the situation better, but she maliciously attacked and belittled our friends for her own egocentric reasons. So don't hold yourself responsible for what happened. We wouldn't be good friends to you if we forced you to do something you weren't comfortable with. So when you're ready come to us ok?" he finished as Twilight simply nodded, feeling a great deal of pressure being lifted off her mind.
The following morning Twilight Sparkle began dictating a letter to Princess Celestia.
"Dear Princess Celestia, I have learned a very valuable lesson about friendship.", the letter went as follows. "I was so afraid of being thought of as a showoff that I was hiding a part of who I am. My friends helped me realize that it's okay to be proud of your talents, and there are times when it's appropriate to show them off especially when you're standing up for your friends. I also learned another lesson in the form of having faith in my friends. That I have to be willing to trust them in order to build stronger bonds with them and be willing to open my heart up to them to give them the chance to show they care instead of being irrationally fearful of the possibility of being hurt."
"So…" Spike with the mustache from spell twenty five came up after he finished writing the letter that Twilight dictated. " …you finally admit that you're the most talented unicorn in all of Ponyville?"
"Well…" Twilight gave a smile. "…yeah. But it's nothing to brag about. So, uh, how did it go with Rarity?"
Spike groaned, fingering his facial hair. "She didn't go for the mustache.
Twilight waked over to him, "You know, Spike, that mustache has nothing to do with who you really are. Maybe you should just try being yourself."
"Or…maybe the mustache wasn't enough. Maybe if I had a mustache and a beard."
Twilight groaned. "Not this again!"
"Okay. Imagine me with a nice long Fu Manchu-type beard. Or maybe a goatee…oh, no, a soul patch!"
Meanwhile deep in the Everfree forest Trixie began to stir. She opened her eyes and looked around, wondering just where in the Tartarus she was. Last thing she remembered she was running from a Manticore whose hunting grounds she had stumbled across and the next thing she knew was darkness. "So you're awake?"
Alarmed Trixie turned to see another mare, a Unicorn standing at the entrance of the cave. "W-Who are you? How did Trixie get here?"
"You were lucky I stumbled across you. I saved you from the Manticore. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Night Shade. I didn't think many were foolish to travel into the Everfree without preparations."
"Trixie is no fool!" she angrily snapped. "She…she's just down on her luck. Those rotten ponies in Ponyville ruined everything. Those stupid hecklers, that infuriating stallion and that damn lavender mare. They ruined everything."
A menacing smile formed on Night Shade's face. "You wouldn't happen to mean Twilight Sparkle would you?"
Trixie's eyes widened in surprise. "You know of her?" She narrowed her eyes. "Are you from Ponyville as well?" she asked as Night Shade sneered in disgust.
"From that Mud Ponies town?" she spat out. "Don't make me laugh." Trixie winced slightly at the racist term. She wasn't a tribalist and wasn't comfortable with such ideals. Night Shade caught herself, realizing she could be alienating a potential ally.
"Sorry, parents were rather traditional and it kind of rubbed off. Let's get on another subject matter. I understand your dislike of the Ponyville ponies. They also ruined something important to me and I want my revenge as well? Miss…?"
"Trixie," The showmare answered. "How do you plan on getting revenge?" considering her anger and sadness was still fresh Trixie was easily swayed at any idea to get back at the town.
"Tell me Trixie, have you ever heard of a magical artifact by the name of the Alicorn Amulet?"