Trixie was a busy mare. Or at least she said she was and in part that was true. She was always on the move, making new stories, Learning a new spell or experimenting with old ones. She was always trying to better her show after the brutal beating her reputation took a few years back.
While usually Trixie would already be packing up and moving on to her next stop…she didn’t have one. She’d planned on heading to the next town over next but they’d sent a messenger to her yesterday, saying they’d rather she not perform and rejecting her permit request.
Right now Trixie just sat in the section of her cart that was usually her bedroom, but when the stage portion of her wagon was extended it simply became the backroom, blocked off by a thick curtain. She simply sat there, glancing through old posters of her old shows in an old album. All old. All in the past.
Tallia walked up to the curtain, and took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself, she created a mirror with magic to make sure her mane was in order before collapsing the spell, taking another deep breath, and raising her hoof up to knock on the archway. She hesitated, then started trotting in circles, talking to herself.
“Come on Tallia, this is easy, you’ve practiced a hundred times, there’s no reason why you can’t do it for realsies.” Was one of several self-motivational sentences she told herself. She too another deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then blew it out as she knocked on the wooden arch to signal her presence, as if the pacing, talking to herself, and deep breaths hadn’t done that already.
Inside stood Trixie, staring at herself in the mirror. While many would think it was due simply to the fact that she was admittedly a little vain but the truth was darker than that. She looked to make sure that her eyes were their usual lavender. Not that horrid red. That horrid red that brought her to take over a town and abuse it’s inhabitants.
Her ear perked back as she heard a knock at the entrance. it was nice to know some ponies still had enough courtesy to knock. She looked herself once more in the mirror before sighing and shaking her head.
She looked around and as her eyes landed upon her cape, she grabbed it and threw it on with a flourish and took a seat, pushing a slightly plastic smile upon her face “You may enter the Great and Powerful Trixie’s personal Domain” She said, ensuring that her voice would portray her usual confidence
Talia’s brain counted the milliseconds leading up to Trixie’s invitation, making her think the space of time was actually much longer than it really was. In fact, she nearly missed it because her brain was so active. Her breathing sped up ever so slightly as she hesitated at the entryway, again longer for her than for anyone else. Finally though, she stepped inside, her excited reverence clear in her eyes. She opened her mouth to introduce herself to her, but her mind was a blank. She had completely forgotten her own Name That very moment, standing with her mouth open, trying to form a sentence that could possibly pass for an introduction.
Trixie couldn’t help but smirk as she watched the unnamed mare attempt and fail to speak. Trixie’s horn lit softly and with a small flick of her finger, gently shut the pegasi’s mouth “You’ll catch flies that way. not that you’ll find any here” She joked “Not that it’s not understandable. After all you are in the presence of greatness” She said with a smirk
“But. I would rather learn your name. So I’ll start. My name is Trixie Lulamoon.” She said, a part of her already feeling that constant stab of guilt. She didn’t even know this mare’s name and she was already lying to her. It wasn’t like it was a big lie. Just a small one. So what if she didn’t give her full true name? Plenty of ponies didn’t like their names. Trixie just didn’t want to say it is all. It was a bit of a mouthful. But these excuses were something she was used to. She’d told herself them all before many times.
Tallia nodded in thanks when Trixie shut her mouth for her. She nodded again when she introduced herself, now sufficiently calm enough to provide her own name. “I-I’m Tallia Metric.” She said, mostly evenly with a smile. She felt much calmer now, though the exact reason wasn’t clear to her. Maybe some of Trixie’s own collectedness was rubbing off on her.
“Ah.a beautiful name for a beautiful mare"She said with her usual suave confidence that she ensured the audience always saw. She stood and walked towards her, hips gently swaying in a sensual fashion before reaching out and grabbing her Hans and shaking it “it’s nice to meet you” she said simply before she let go of Talia’s hand and snapped her fingers. without her horn even lighting, a second curtain which had previously been hiding her neatly made bed opened which she sat upon before pointing to the chair she’d been sitting on when talia had entered “go ahead and take a seat Talia. Unless you’d rather keep standing and staring at me. I completely understand if you do~” she teased once again with a wink
Tallia looked down at the floor and blushed a little when she complimented her name. “Th-Thanks.” She said, looking up to smile at her. Doing so also made her see her hip-swaying, which made her blush a little more. She shook her hand in return, her tail swishing a little as they touched. When the curtain suddenly opened, she jumped a little. Seeing the bed behind it, something very different crossed her mind, and coupled with Trixie’s sentence, which made her stammer a little and blush more. “Er, w-well…” She tried to regain some of her composure and sat down in the chair, turning it a little so she was facing Trixe. “Well I can tell why.” She complimented, giggling a little.
Trixie giggled softly and nodded softly “thank you. Thank you. But I’m sure you came here for more than just complimenting and agreeing with me. I already got enough of that from the applause"she said before snapping once more though this time her horn did flash as a juice bottle and glass appeared in front of her on a small table. “Would you like a glass?"she asked, playing the part of the good host as she summoned another glass.
While usually after a rare good show Trixie would celebrate with wine, she’s learned early on thanks to horror stories that strangers and drinking wasn’t a good idea
She looked at the glass, and nodded. "Yes please.” She said, smiling. “My main reason for coming here was to, well…” She hesitated for a few seconds. “Well I wanted to say that I really enjoyed your magic show for one. And I wanted to ask if you could possibly teach me a few spells?”
Trixie gently filled the glass as she listened to the mare,raising a brow as she finally heard her request “Teach you spells?” She repeated questioningly
Trixie was silent for a few moments as she took a sip of her juice “I’m not a teacher so I can’t be sure of if my ideas for teaching, or how well my spells might work for you. Unlike myself who is so very talented and even able to tap into pegasi and earth pony magic, you’re probably limited to unicorn spells and even on top of all that, I’d need to make sure I don’t teach you TOO much. I’m a showmare. It’s my business and I need to make sure nopony else learns my tricks so I can protect my business”
Trixie said that but in truth, she knew that her show had started falling in attendance. Even after her career had started regaining her previous fame and reputation, the damage had already been done. She was quite sure that she would never fully regain her former glory. Perhaps teaching would be the way to go? Maybe. Who knows. Maybe if this went well enough she’d change her traveling show into a traveling tutor.
Tallia nodded, assuming that meant no. "Alright, that’s fine. And you’re right, I wouldn’t want to put a dent in your show by knowing the spells myself.” She said, picking up her glass and taking a sip. She hadn’t expected her to say yes, or even put it as nicely as she did. She hoped she hadn’t insulted her in any way.