Chapter 2

"Reputation Tarnished"

It wasn't until late after Celestia raised the sun did Trixie open her eyes, coming around after feeling what appeared to be the best sleep of her life. Waking up, Trixie discovered that the cuts and scrapes on her body were either gone or bandaged up with bandages. But the unicorn magician was more concerned of where she was and who lived in this magnificent place that she had never seen before.

"Ah, Trixie," said Twilight as she walked into the lounge with a breakfast of pancakes. "I see you've come around."

"Come around?" wondered Trixie as she took the plate of pancakes. "What are you talking about, Twilight Sparkle? More than that, what is this place we are in?"

Twilight then sat down next to Trixie and let out a heavy sigh, knowing of the huge chain of events that had happened recently had weighed herself down.

"A lot has happened since you were last in Ponyville," sighed Twilight, as Trixie listened in while she ate the pancakes. "I grew these wings and became an alicorn princess, then I got this castle after the library was destroyed."

Hearing this caused Trixie to stop what she was doing and let out a sharp gasp. She couldn't believe up until that moment that the Golden Oak Library had been destroyed. In her mind, Twilight had caused it to disappear because Trixie thought that Twilight sensed she was coming and decided to hide from Ponyville.

"Why would somepony want to destroy the library?" asked Trixie. "It was your home, it was what I used to get you to duel against me."

"You see, Trixie," explained Twilight. "A short time ago, an escaped creature from Tartarus came to Ponyville with the intent on stealing all of the Alicorn magic that my fellow princesses had transferred into me."

Trixie could remember hearing about an escapee when she was performing in another town. Many of the newspapers in the town had a picture of Lord Tirek on the cover with the words "WANTED" on the top.

"Trixie remembers hearing something about this," she said, taking another bite of her breakfast. "The paper did say that he was a creature who stole magic."

"And would get stronger every time he consumed it," continued Twilight, solemnly. "I teleported back to the library in order to escape from him, but it was too late. He fired a blast from his horns and destroyed the library along with everything I ever owned. My books, pictures, clothes, everything."

All of a sudden, Trixie could not help but feel sorry for her former rival. She could sense that Twilight had been through so much pain and agony, almost as much as herself.

"I feel so sorry for you, Twilight Sparkle," she said, placing a hoof on Twilight's neck. "I know how it feels to lose everything you ever owned. My career is ruined and my recent tour was a sign of it. Everypony knew of what I did a few months ago and tried to kill me for it."

This statement caused Twilight to break out of her solemn trance and gasp loudly in a state of shock. She had no idea of the horrors that Trixie had been put through and almost immediately, getting used to her new castle wasn't that important after all.

"What happened, Trixie?" gasped Twilight. "Who would want to kill you?"

"I guess that somehow, someponies were aware of what I did to all of you in Ponyville," explained Trixie. "At my recent show, I was performing some of the spells I had casted while I was wearing the alicorn amulet and the crowd suddenly turned on me, throwing fruits, vegetables, everything."

Trixie felt a tear trickle down her face as she heard the sounds of angry voices in her head crying out for her to be burned at the stake like a witch pony. She could visually remember the ponies catching up to her and beating her down by punching and kicking her. The sounds of her cape being ripped off her body was also heard in her mind.

"It was terrible, Twilight," she cried. "Have you ever wondered what it felt like to know your life was in danger and you have no pony to blame but yourself?"

Trixie couldn't hold in her emotions and broke down sobbing with her face buried in her hooves.

"Well, it's all right, Trixie," whispered Twilight, pulling her close and embracing her. "You're safe now and I promise you that you can stay here until you are back on your hooves."

"You will let me stay?" cried Trixie, her tear-filled eyes glaring up at Twilight. "You will let me, the Great and Apologetic Trixie, stay with you until I am well?"

"Of course," replied Twilight. "I have plenty of rooms for you to stay in and they are all the best in the house."

Unfortunately, Spike had been listening in on the conversation and the baby dragon wondered if this was all an act by Trixie to finally get her revenge against Twilight. He was Twilight's number one assistant after all and he made absolutely sure that no pony would dupe Twilight for who she was.

"It's fairly obvious," Spike said to himself as he did the dishes in the large kitchen. "Trixie has some up her sleeves and I'm going to get her out of here if it's the last thing I do. After the events with Tirek and Discord, I'm not letting Twilight be put through more pain and agony."

Just then, he suddenly felt the presence of another creature standing next to him and Spike looked up to see Discord helping him with the dishes. This caused Spike to jump and let out a girly scream.

"I wouldn't exactly say that Trixie is trying to trick Twilight," said Discord. "Think of it this way, Spike. Trixie needs help getting back on her feet, so just give her a chance the same way Twilight gave me a second chance."

"Easy for you to say, Discord," remarked Spike. "I still think she is up to something and I am going to do everything I can to get her out of here."

Discord then began to think back to how accepting Twilight and her friends were to him after the events of Tirek. Yes, Discord did betray them, but they were just as easily forgiven of him.

"Come, come now, dear Spike," said Discord, donning a Granny costume and pinching Spike's cheeks. "Wouldn't you play nice to Trixie for dear old Discord?"

"Play nice? No way!" huffed Spike, pushing Discord away and folding his arms. "While you were frozen in stone, that unicorn just came into Ponyville and took over the town like it was nothing! Her brief rule over Ponyville was something that I would much rather forget, just like you and the events with Tirek."

Discord didn't take this comment very well and Spike's sour attitude had already started to get to the creature of chaos. Like Trixie, Discord had been emotionally scarred by his own doing and felt that maybe befriending Trixie was something that he wanted to do.

However, in order to do so, he needed to repair the rift that was between Spike and Trixie, but he didn't know how to do it. Fortunately, a series of events between Spike and Trixie would give both Discord and Twilight an idea of how to bring these two different creatures together…