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This fanfic is co-written with a friend of mine on Deviantart, Raikou Artist (http://raikouartist.deviantart.com/), and is an expansion of an RP we did. Enjoy!

Chapter 1 'Unexpected Encounter”

"Well, it’s nice to be back in Canterlot; so much is changed!" Twilight said as continued walking, excitement in her voice. Sure, she’d been here a few times since she’d moved to Ponyville, but this was really the first time she’d been there just to relax and reconnect with her roots, as opposed to a party or being called to save the world from an ancient evil that escaped its prison. She remembered Rarity’s friendship report after Twilight’s birthday, don’t be ashamed of your roots. That’s what had compelled her to come do a little reconnecting with where she’d come from. "Isn‘t that right, Spike… Spike?" she asked, looking back at her assistant to see him falling quite far behind.

Spike panted, struggling to keep up. "Yeah, Twilight," he panted, stopping to catch his breath. "Can I... Can I please ride on your back?" he asked, unable to keep up with the excited Unicorn mare. "I know you're excited, but I can only move so fast."

Twilight stopped and turned around to fully face him, getting a slightly embarrassed look, realizing in her excitement she‘d forgotten Spike was just a baby dragon. "Sorry Spike, I‘ve just had a great day," Twilight said, horn lighting up with a pink glow, which surrounded Spike and floated him up, gently setting him on her back as she continued on. “What’s next on the checklist?”

Spike took a moment to catch his breath. "Thanks Twi," he said, taking out a checklist. He couldn’t help rolling his eyes, though he smiled as he did so. Who makes a checklist to plan out relaxing besides Twilight? "Lets see. Make checklist for day in Canterlot. Double and triple check the check list… Spend the early morning with Princess Luna..." he read, then gave Twilight a glare. "At 3 in the morning," he muttered, not liking getting up that early. "I know Luna’s nocturnal and all, but was getting up THAT early really necessary?" he asked, giving a yawn from just thinking about his lack of sleep.

"Yes, Spike. I don't think Princess Luna would have liked it if we disturbed her in the morning while she‘s getting ready for bed," Twilight said, walking around the road. A pony nearly bumped into her, but changed his direction, in a hurry. Twilight looked back, he was long gone. Canterlot was so different than Ponyville… In Ponyville that probably would’ve resulted in a friendly conversation. Here everypony was in such a big rush they didn’t have time to even say hi. "What’s next?"

"Let's see..." said Spike, looking back at the list. "We ate breakfast with your parents, then we dropped off those deliveries for Rarity..." he swooned, saying Rarity’s name in a dreamy fashion. He caught himself as Twilight looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. "Oh... Sorry. Then we gave those apology letters to the animals in Canterlot castle garden for Fluttershy, got those tickets to the Wonderbolts air show for Rainbow... Stopped by Discord‘s statue so you could double and triple check the spell keeping him there."

Twilight looked down. “It’s just… I had to be sure he was still there, locked up tight…”

“I know, Twi,” said Spike, giving a kind smile. “I was there when he turned Ponyville into a madhouse and made the others bully you… I can’t blame you for having nightmares.”

Twilight shuddered. Spike wasn’t kidding, Discord’s “games” had given her nightmares, bad ones. She’d had to take a look at his stony mug and make SURE he wasn’t getting out to give her a little piece of mind. She hoped that’d make the nightmares go away a bit. “Is that why you decided to sneak past the guards and write “Discord drools” on his face in permanent marker?” she asked, giving him a look over her shoulder.

Spike gave a laugh. “Yeah,” he replied, looking over to her. “You have to admit, it was really funny!”

Twilight chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it was… Until you got caught and we were arrested by the guards.”

Spike gave a nervous smile. “Yeah, sorry bout that… But at least the Princess got a good laugh out of it we she came to bail us out.”

Twilight nodded sheepishly, getting an embarrassed blush. “Yeah… I guess she did…” she replied, remembering how needlessly worked up she’d gotten waiting for Celestia to get there. She wasn’t sure why, considering she should’ve known Celestia wouldn’t imprison her, banish her, or imprison her in the place she banished her to. She just wished she’d realized that before she made a foal of herself begging Celestia not to when she showed up to pardon them.

“After that we had lunch with Princess Celestia and talked with her for an hour…” said Spike, running through about half a dozen more items before looking back. “And lastly, ask Spike to recheck the checklist to make sure we got everything,” he read, then blinked in confusion. “Uh… Check,” he said, checking that item off.

"Great! Its still an hour till we planned to head back to Ponyville, what should we do in the meantime?" Twilight asked, dodging the oncoming traffic of ponies. Why were Canterlot ponies always in such a rush?

"Well... could I throw a stink bomb into Prince Blueblood's room to pay him back for how he treated Rarity at the Gala?" asked Spike, producing one out of nowhere. "Rainbow Dash gave it to me."

"No, Spike! We‘d get arrested… Again!" said Twilight, imagining Celestia's face if that happened. Even if she did laugh it off again, Twilight didn’t particularly want to have her mentor bail her out TWICE in one day. "...I think we should just go home," Twilight unwillingly said, though she was getting a tad homesick for Ponyville. And with a stink bomb in hand, she didn‘t particularly trust the little dragon not to use it. But when did he get it she wondered? He didn’t have they left Ponyville, and that was the last time she‘d seen Rainbow Dash since then. She got the feeling maybe one of there friends was around, particularly a certain rainbow haired pegasus with a love for pranks.

Spike grumbled, putting it away. "Fine, but you have to admit, he deserves it."

"Yeah, but it‘s illegal, Spike." said Twilight, looking around to see if Rainbow Dash really was around. Then Twilight saw something else, a homeless mare on the side of the street. The poor thing laid under a blanket, only her light blue tail and unicorn horn exposed. Her fur was mangy and filthy enough to show she hadn't bathed in a long time. Twilight frowned, she often forgot that, despite the Princess‘ best efforts, there were still some ponies suffering in Equestria, not many, but some. She couldn’t help thinking something seemed so familiar about this mare, why did she feel like she’d seen that tail and horn somewhere before?

Spike saw the mare as well, and quickly got out some bits. "Here you go, Twi," he said, holding them out. He knew nine times out of ten, if Twilight could help somepony, she would. Any of the gang would probably, when he thought about it. The mare seemed vaguely familiar to him as well, but he couldn’t put his claw on it.

"Thanks, Spike," Twilight said with a small smile and took the bits with a telekinesis spell. She walked to the mare and laid them gently down next to her, only for a blue glow to surround them and the bits to be telekinetically hurled right back in her face. “Ow! Hey, what was that for?!”

“Yeah, we’re just trying to help!” said Spike, a little miffed.

The mare groaned in annoyance. "I don't want your help... I don't need pity..." she muttered angrily, rolling over so her back was to them, revealing her Cutie mark in full view in the process.

Twilight‘s eyes went wide as she saw the Cutie Mark, a blue magic wand with a crescent shaped wisp of sparkling blue magic, and a memory surged full front in her mind. "T-TRIXIE?!" Twilight screamed, her sudden jump causing Spike to topple backwards off her back with a yell.

"Huh?" asked the mare, throwing the blanket off and looking up, snarling when she saw who it was. Her fur was matted and filthy, and to put it mildly, she smelled worse than a Diamond Dog, but there was no mistaking her. The blue unicorn before Twilight was definitely the “Great and Powerful” Trixie. "Oh, it's you," the mare said, giving a glare. "Come to show up Trixie again have you?"

Spike growled. "Hey! Watch it! If it wasn't for Twilight you'd be an Ursa's dinner right now!"

"Spike!" Twilight angrily shushed Spike, not wanting to make this worse. Her anger faded to sadness as she turned back to Trixie, trying not to put a hoof to her nose at the smell of the filthy mare. "No, Trixie, we were just passing by. And I never meant to overshadow you, if I had I’d have done it when you were issuing open challenges to all of Ponyville. In case you didn’t notice, I was trying NOT to show off.”

Trixie gave a sigh. “Point taken, now what is it you want?”

“Well for starters, what happened to you?" Twilight asked, she had guilt inside her. Was Trixie like this because of what happened in Ponyville?

Trixie looked down, then growled. "... It's none of your business," she said, turning away. "Trixie doesn't want your pity!"

"Well that's good enough for me, come on Twilight," said Spike, trying to walk off, only to be grabbed telekinetically and pulled back by Twilight.

"Trixie, this isn‘t pity, its concern. Can I help-” Twilight asked, eyes full of concern. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash ran up to Twilight out of nowhere until their eyes were about six inches away.

“Oh great," muttered Trixie, knowing this wouldn't end well for her in all likelihood.

"No way!" Rainbow said in anger. "Pinkie Pie, tell her!"
Pinkie Pie popped out of nowhere and hopped over. "Hi Twilight! Rainbow Dash wants me to tell you..." she said, then just stood there with a smile on her face, then a look of confusion. “Tell her what?”

Rainbow Dash gave an annoyed groan and face hoofed.

"Rainbow, Pinkie? What are you doing here?!" Twilight asked. Sure, she‘d THOUGHT Rainbow might be following her, but never expected it for real. And especially not Pinkie… Though it didn’t surprise her, Pinkie was the most unpredictable mare she’d ever met.

“We got a message from the Canterlot police saying you and Spike got arrested so we came to bail you out,” said Rainbow, glaring daggers at Trixie. “Good thing too! You were going to let this jerk sucker you!”

Twilight growled. “I was not! And that’s not a very nice thing to say, Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight, giving a disappointed glare. “Can’t you see she’s in trouble?”

Rainbow Dash looked at her like she was crazy. “Oh come on! Did you forget how she humiliated me, Rarity, and Applejack in front of the entire town and caused a rampaging Ursa Minor to tear the town apart?!”

Twilight gave a stern glare. “And she paid for that by being humiliated in front of the entire town herself, and you and I both know the Ursa was Snips and Snails‘ fault. Besides, from the looks of things, she’s paid more than enough for what she did in the meantime.”

“And from the smell of things, hasn’t had a bath in a long time,” said Spike, holding his nose.

Twilight gave Spike a raised eyebrow, then looked back to Rainbow. “I’m not just going to leave somepony in trouble if there’s something I can do to help.”

Twilight turned to Trixie. Sure, she’d been a jerk, but she hadn’t done anything to deserve this. "Trixie, will you come with us-" Twilight got cut by Dash.

"No way, Twilight!" Rainbow said in a serious tone.

"...To Ponyville? Maybe you can get back on your hooves there. Don't mind them," Twilight asked Trixie, ignoring Rainbow. Normally, she’d listen, but quite obviously, Rainbow Dash’s perspective was a bit biased in this case.

"Trixie doesn't want your pity," said Trixie, turning her nose up and turning to walk off. “She can… She can do just fine on her own,” she stated, though even her attempts to sound confident failed, as a slight break in her voice revealed she didn’t quite believe that herself.

Pinkie blinked, having just stayed nearby and watched this until something happened. "Uh oh! Ear flop. Eye flutter. Knee twitch," she said, her body doing the exact actions, right as a door swung open and hit Trixie right in the face. A pony threw away some garbage and closed the door, Trixie sliding off like a squashed bug.

"Ha-ha!" Rainbow laughed hard at Trixie. “Serves you right!”

Twilight shot Rainbow a glare before trotting over to the dazed Trixie. Twilight peeked back to see Pinkie glaring at Rainbow Dash herself. It took a few moments for Twilight to realize why, Discord had broken Pinkie by showing her how much it hurt to be laughed AT.

"Trixie, this isn’t about pity!” she said, then paused to think of just how to phrase this different to convince Trixie to let her help. Sure, Trixie didn’t seem to want help, but neither did Applejack at Applebuck Season, if Twilight hadn‘t forced the issue, Applejack might‘ve worked herself to death. Sometimes the pony who didn‘t want help was the one who needed it the most. A thought came to Twilight’s head. “Think of it as repaying a favor.”

Trixie shook her head to clear it. "And just what did Trixie do for you?" she asked, looking at her in confusion.

"Yeah, what did she ever do for us?" asked Spike, confused as Trixie. “You know, besides publicly humiliating our friends? I got to side with Rainbow on this one.”

Twilight thought out her words carefully. "Well, thanks to you, I had my weekly report for Princess Celestia in on time! And you helped me realize I didn‘t have to hide my talents from my best friends just because I was afraid of how they‘d react," Twilight replied. “So at least let me return the favor and give you a helping hoof.”

“Yeah! And if you hadn’t helped Twilight with that letter, it’d have been really bad! Last time-” started Pinkie, only to have Twilight put a hoof over her mouth and blush before the pink pony could reach the embarrassing part of the story. Still, at least she wasn’t against her like Rainbow.

"Princess Celestia?" asked Trixie, eyes widening in shock. "W-why did you have to send her a weekly report?"

"Twilight is Celestia's personal student," said Spike with a smug smile. "And her personal envoy to Ponyville too," he stated, Trixie’s jaw dropped, and she pretty much looked like she was about to go into shock.

Before Rainbow could say anything, Twilight shot her a glare. "If you want, Trixie, you could be the guest of Celestia‘s personal student in Ponyville," Twilight spoke up before Spike could brag anymore. She hoped appealing to the unicorn’s ego would help sway her a bit.

Pinkie hopped over and got in Trixie‘s face. "Yeah, you can be our guest!” she exclaimed. “Come on come on! We‘ll have so much fun!” she stated in her typical rapid tone.

"I’ve heard enough of this, I’m going back to Ponyville, by myself! You can let yourself get suckered by this loser if you want to but leave me out of it!" Rainbow in an angry tone before flying off, seeing she’d not be able to talk some sense into Twilight and Pinkie was too… well, Pinkie Pie.

Trixie looked hurt. "I'm not a loser..." she yelled after Rainbow. "It's not my fault those two rotten colts ruined my life!" she growled, before realizing Rainbow was gone and couldn‘t hear her. She blushed in embarrassment and turned back to the unicorn and Earth Pony staring expectantly at her. "...So as your GUEST, not out of pity towards Trixie?" she asked. She had to admit, being able to say Princess Celestia’s personal student had invited her to be her guest was quite an ego stroke. With how powerful Twilight was during the Ursa attack, Trixie didn’t doubt she was telling the truth on that one. And even if she hated to admit it, Twilight had saved her life from that Ursa, so she did owe Twilight. You’d never hear her say it, but she did have some gratitude for that.

"I don't know what pity is, but having guests is always really really fun! So say yes! Say yes!" said Pinkie Pie with an excited smile.

Trixie sighed, giving it deep thought. It’d be nice to sleep on a real bed in a real house after all. "Trixie supposes that it'd be better than that cardboard box... Trixie hasn't had a shower in two months," she muttered, disgusted with her own appearance. She hadn’t had a decent bite since then either, she was starving.

Spike held his nose. "Yeah, we noticed, you smell worse than those rotten Diamond Dogs," he stated, not caring about Trixie's feelings after what she did.

Twilight angrily glare at Spike. "Okay, let’s head to Ponyville. I hope you don‘t mind taking a royal chariot," Twilight asked, leading the way.

"On a... On a royal chariot?" asked Trixie, eyes wide in shock. She’d get to ride in a royal chariot? Embarrassing circumstances or not, Trixie wasn’t about to pass that up.

“Twi, you sure this is a good idea?” asked Spike. “I don’t trust Trixie as far as I could throw her.”

“Come on Spike, she’s not that bad,” said Twilight, calmly. “Besides, finding her a job will be a piece of cake with all the nice ponies in Ponyville, she‘ll be back on her hooves in no time.”

“Oh! What kind of cake?” asked Pinkie, smiling wide. “Is it chocolate? Vanilla?”

Twilight sighed, continuing forwards towards the chariot launching point. “Or cherry? Oh wait! Blueberry?…”

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Tell me how it was!

EDIT: Big thanks to pumpkin-tlof19 on deviantart for beta reading this!

Next chapter, same as the last, cowritten by Raikou Artist and beta read by Pumpkin-tlof19.

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Getting Settled

Later, after getting back to Ponyville, as discreetly as possible, Twilight lead the now cleaned up unicorn mare into the bedroom at the library. “You live in an library?” asked Trixie, looking around in confusion.

Twilight gave a nod, opening drawers, looking for something. “Princess Celestia was nice enough to set me up here.”

“You gave up a room in the royal palace for a library?” asked Trixie, her mind still trying to wrap itself around with the idea that the mare who had upstaged her was the apprentice of the ruler of the day.

“She lived in the library there too,” said Spike in a slightly deadpan tone as he followed the two mares into the room.

Trixie gave a bewildered look in response. “An entire royal palace and you chose the library to stay in?” she asked, unable to see why anypony would do that.

“I take my studies very seriously,” replied Twilight, magically floating some extra pillows and blankets out of a drawer to make a bed on the floor. “And I love to read, so it seemed like the best place for me,” she said, coming down and compulsively making the bed.

“Trixie can see that…” said Trixie, watching the meticulousness Twilight took in making a guest bed and assuming her study habits must be of the same nature. “So Trixie will be sleeping on the floor, she guesses.”

“Nope, I am.”

Trixie’s eyes went wide. “Wait, what?” she asked, surprise clear in her tone.

“You’re my guest, so I’ll take the floor, you take the bed,” replied Twilight with a smile. She’d had a guest bed, but it hadn’t been seen sense Spike’s last birthday.

“But… Trixie said she wouldn’t be taking-”

“It’s not pity, Trixie,” replied Twilight, giving a frown. “It’s just part of being a good host.”

“She even made me look up the book on it while you were cleaning up to make sure,” said Spike, holding up a book with the title “How To Be A Good Host For Foals.”

Trixie blinked, looking at the book in confusion. “But… Why does a town library even have a book like that?”

“Same reason it has "Slumber 101: All You've Ever Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties (But Were Afraid to Ask)" and, one of Twilight’s favorites, “Art Of The To-Do List”,” explained Spike, holding up both books.

“Ooh! I want to read that one again,” said Twilight, floating the latter to her.

Trixie just stared in bewilderment for a moment and sighed, she was too tired to come up with a witty remark for this. And besides, a REAL bed seemed very inviting at the moment. “Fine… Now let Trixie ask something, just what is it that you’re studying here in Ponyville that‘s so important that Princess Celestia personally ordered it?”

“Oh, I’m studying friendship,” replied Twilight, simply, telekinetically pulling down the covers on the makeshift bed.

“Friendship?” asked Trixie, giving a confused look. “Why would Celestia have you studying friendship?” she said, cocking her head in confusion.

“I’ll explain in the morning, it’s a long story,” replied Twilight, trying to avoid the subject for the time being, Trixie had already had a big shock finding out Twilight was Celestia’s pupil, let alone a wielder of an Element of Harmony. Twilight felt it was best to let her sleep tonight and then tell her in the morning. “We’d better get some sleep, there’s a lot to do in the morning,” she said, yawning for real, she was exhausted after today.

Trixie didn’t bother arguing and climbed up to Twilight’s usual bed. In all honesty, she’d not had a decent sleep in awhile, let alone had a bed to sleep in.

“Twilight, you sure this is a good idea?” asked Spike, sitting in his own little bed. “I still don’t trust her.”

“Don’t worry, Spike, Owlowiscious will keep an eye on her,” replied Twilight, though she personally didn’t see much reason to worry. After all, they hadn’t exactly gotten to actually KNOW Trixie last time. “Oh, that reminds me! Trixie, I forgot to introduce you to Owlowiscious,” she called, pointing to the owl, which presently stood on a perch nearby, keeping an eye on things.

Trixie blinked, looking at the owl, which rotated his head to see her. “You have a pet owl? Why is Trixie not surprised?” she replied, staring at Owlowiscious as the bird stared at her. “Um… Hello there…”

“Hoo.”

“Trixie.”

“Hoo.”

“Um… Trixie.”

“Hoo.”

“Trixie!”

“Hoo.”

“You stubborn bird! I said my name is Trixie!”

“Hoo.”

Trixie snarled angrily, glaring daggers at the owl until Twilight spoke up. “Trixie, he’s an owl, that’s all he can say,” she explained with a raised eyebrow.

Trixie blushed in embarrassment. “Oh… Um yes… Trixie knew that! Oh look at the time! Goodnight…” she said quickly, hiding under the covers before another word could be said.

Spike chuckled. “You shouldn’t be laughing Spike, you did the same thing,” reminded Twilight, causing Spike to huff and cover himself up. “Goodnight, Spike, Trixie, Owlowiscious…” she said, using her telekinesis to put out the light and covering herself up.

Trixie kept her back to Twilight and sighed sadly. “… This isn’t taking pity… You’re her guest… Y-you’re not useless… Y-you can get along on your own… Y-you can… You’ll show those two, y-you’re not… y-you’re not a useless failure…” she whispered to herself, a tear going down her cheek as she laid down her head and went to sleep.

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“No… No…” muttered Twilight, twisting and turning in her makeshift bed. “Not… not my friends… Stop laughing at me… Stop it!” she muttered, fear clear on her face as she contorted in her bed. “STOP IT!” she screamed, jumping up awake, looking this way and that, panting heavily. It was morning, light shining through the window, nothing out of the ordinary. She gave a sigh of relief. “It was just a dream…”

“Nightmares?” asked Trixie, rising up in bed and looking down from the loft at her hostess.

Twilight gave a sigh and slow nod. “Yeah… I’ve been having them since the Discord incident… Sorry if I woke you…”

Trixie actually looked sympathetic in response. “… That, Twilight Sparkle, is something Trixie cannot blame you for,” she replied, sounding strangely sincere.

Twilight looked up at Trixie, a little surprised by her tone. “… Really?”

Trixie nodded. “Trixie thinks most of Equestria is having such nightmares now, it’s little surprise one who lived in the epicenter of the disaster would have them…” she said, trying not to show her own pain.

“… Trixie… He got to you too, didn’t he?” asked Twilight, looking concerned.

“He got to everypony in Equestria, is that really such a surprise that Trixie was affected?” the showpony replied, in a rather harsh tone, trying to avoid the conversation.

“Well… No… What did he… What did he do to you?” asked Twilight, looking concerned for Trixie. She knew what Discord had done to her and her friends, had he inverted Trixie? Or drove her mad like most everypony else?

Trixie turned her head up in a rather snooty manner. “Trixie doesn’t need your pity, she’ll keep her problems to herself.”

Twilight growled in frustration, annoyed with the unicorn’s attitude a tad. “Is that your answer to everything?”

“Just when somepony tries to pity Trixie,” Trixie replied, getting up, but keeping her face turned away from Twilight as much as possible so she didn‘t see how upset she was by her memories.

Twilight frowned, seeing Trixie trying to keep things bottled up. “… You want to know what he did to me?”

Trixie looked at her in surprise, but regained her composure quickly as she made her bed. “… Trixie doesn’t care, say whatever you like,” she replied, trying to maintain her image.

“Nothing… Absolutely nothing to me,” said Twilight, looking down with a sad look.

“Nothing? Then whatever are you having nightmares about?” asked Trixie, looking at Twilight in confusion.

“Because he didn‘t have to do anything to me… What he did to everypony else was enough,” replied Twilight, lowering her ears in sorrow. “He turned my best friends into complete jerks and drove the whole town insane… Except me… I had to WATCH what he did to everypony I care about, completely aware of what was happening…” she said, not caring that recounting this fact caused her voice to break in mid-sentence. She hoped it’d jar Trixie out of bottling up how she felt about it. Twilight had, and she was 90% sure it’d been one of the reasons she’d had a mental breakdown during the now infamous “Smartypants Incident”. Plus, it honestly felt good to get it out herself to somepony else. Sure, her friends knew, but sometimes just talking about it helped.

Trixie looked down, looking conflicted. She wasn’t used to other sharing something like this with her or how she should react. “… Trixie sees…”

“… Thanks for listening… Anyway, I’m going to go start breakfast…” said Twilight, heading for the door.

“… Nothing is a good term for what he did to Trixie too…”

Twilight stopped and looked over her shoulder. “What?”

Trixie lowered her head. “… He made Trixie nothing… Trixie felt and saw things like nopony even knew she existed… Like everypony saw and heard a blank spot were I was… I’ve never felt so alone…” she said, very nearly breaking down in tears before catching it and forcing herself to regain composure. “Oh… Well anyway, now you know… Don‘t pity Trixie for it, Twilight Sparkle, you told her your experience, she told you hers. Simple as that.”

Twilight frowned. “Trixie, are you alright?” she asked, deeply concerned. What an awful thing to do to a pony, make them feel like they didn’t exist at all. She shivered at the thought, though in a way, she knew what it felt like, considering everypony else was too insane to notice she’d existed.

“Y-yes, Trixie is fine,” replied Trixie, getting back into her normal swagger. “Lets just eat breakfast, shall we?” she asked, walking by Twilight.

Twilight frowned, but remembered how antisocial she used to be, before she met her friends. Maybe Trixie was the same way. Getting Trixie to open up at all was a good sign at least. “Come on, Spike, we’ve got breakfast to make, big day ahead of us,” she called, Spike being grabbed by telekinesis and pulled out of bed with a yell.

“Oh five more minutes…” muttered Spike, trying to keep hold of his pillow. That was before he burped out a burst of green flame, forming a scroll.

“A letter from Celestia?” asked Twilight, blinking. “What’s it say?”

Spike unrolled it and cleared his throat. “‘Dear my faithful student: Due to the significant damage remaining after Discord’s reign, we have scheduled a tropical storm to help clear out the environmental damage to some of Equestria so new growth can occur’ … I thought the Elements Of Harmony cleared that up.”

“The things he transformed directly, like the chocolate rain,” explained Twilight, levitating a brush over to get her mane in order. “But a lot of stuff like the dead plants killed by that were left behind and had to be cleaned up manually. I guess there’s so much that only a major storm can clear it all out quickly. It‘s the same reason they sometimes schedule wildfires and other bad weather, to clear out damaged trees and other types of debris so new stuff can be grown in it‘s place.”

Spike nodded, then looked back to the letter. “‘The storm should be far from Ponyville, but you will likely receive some of the rains and heavy winds in a few days. Please let Ponyville know and prepare for this. Princess Celestia. P.S. Yesterday a-’” he read, then his eyes widened.

“What?” asked Twilight, giving Spike a look.

“N-nothing, it stops there,” said Spike nervously, trying to roll up and hide the scroll as quickly as he could. Twilight quickly snatched it with her magic. In response, Spike sheepishly tried to sneak out of the room.

“SPIKE!”

“Yipes!“ yelled Spike, trying to make a run for it, she teleported him back to her, holding him in front of her with telekinesis, glaring at him rather furiously. “Hey! Blueblood had it coming and you know it!”

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"… And that’s how they beat Discord and saved Equestria,” finished Spike, looking up to see Trixie staring with her jaw almost on the floor, in complete shock. Breakfast was eaten and Twilight was out, informing the others of the situation and trying to get them relaxed BEFORE reintroducing them to Trixie… as well as inform Ponyville about the storm. “Uh… What’s wrong with you?”

"What's... What's wrong?" asked Trixie, looking like she was going to have a nervous breakdown, eye twitching and everything. "The three ponies I publicly humiliated were three of the heroines who have saved Equestria! Twice! That's what's wrong!" she exclaimed, giving a groan and slamming her head down on the table hard enough to rattle everything on it all at once. "It's official... My life is over..."

"Yeah, you‘re probably right,” said Spike with a shrug.

"Spike!" Twilight exclaimed, giving Spike a angry glare as she walked in. The little dragon was still in rather hot water over the stunt he‘d pulled yesterday as it was.

Rainbow Dash walked in, along with the rest of the group. Rainbow Dash glaring daggers at the unicorn mare, while Rarity and Applejack gave her rather uncertain looks, Rarity’s more chastising than Applejack’s.

Trixie looked enraged for a moment at the three ponies she‘d publicly humiliated, not liking the angry glares... Then lowered her head. "... You think Trixie deserves this, don't you? That Trixie deserved to lose everything she had for a few mean pranks?" she asked, looking downtrodden.
Spike rubbed his head. "Well when you put it that way, you make me feel bad..."

Applejack nodded, seeing how harsh that would be. "No, sugarcube, we don‘t. It was us who wanted to prove ourselves righ'?" Applejack stated, going over to Trixie. “You might have gave the challenge, but we’re the ones who took it. Rainbow and Rarity even knew what they were in for.”

"Yeah, you wanted to prove yourself," Rainbow said bitterly, followed by a long sigh of annoyance by Twilight.

"Indeed," said Rarity, walking over, but still looking a bit miffed. "You may have made my hair a total mess and humiliated me in front of the entire town... But I am not one to turn down a mare whose down on her luck, it's not the proper way for a lady to behave."

“Wait… So you’re not angry at Trixie?” asked Trixie, completely surprised by this turn of events.

“Of course we’re angry at yah,” said Applejack, giving a small glare. “But we also can see you’re in over yer head and need some help. Holdin’ onto an old grudge don’t do nopony any good,” she said with a small smile. “That and Rarity can’t resist helpin’ pony folk who need it, she’s the Element of Generosity and all.”

“Applejack is right, I suppose,” replied Rarity with a sigh. “I have always had a weakness for helping other ponies, and you certainly look like you need help.”

Fluttershy timidly peeked at Trixie through her bangs before the mare could reply. "H-hi...." she said, simply, in her timid voice. “I-I’m Fluttershy…” she said, in a small, shy voice, this being the first time she’d actually met Trixie. “Glad to meet you…”

Pinkie bounced in. "I still don't know what's going on, but when can we have the party! I brought my party cannon!" she exclaimed, producing said item from out of nowhere.

“Later, Pinkie,” said Twilight seriously, as Trixie stared wide-eyed at the sudden appearance of a cannon manned by the, in her opinion, rather crazy pink pony.

“Oh, alright,” muttered Pinkie, rolling her weapon of mass celebration off-screen.

“Anyway, we’re all here to help,” said Twilight, smiling to Trixie.

Trixie sighed. "Trixie doesn't want your pity... Trixie just needs to know where she can find a job," she said simply, stubbornness clear in her voice.

“Well good, cause I’m not helping you!” exclaimed Rainbow, equal amounts of stubbornness in the blue pegasus’ voice.

“Rainbow, what’s gotten into you?” asked Twilight, a bit upset at her friend.

“She’s a liar! She lied to the entire town and didn’t fess up until an Ursa Minor was about to eat her for dinner!” replied Rainbow Dash, giving a glare. “What makes you think for one minute she’s telling the truth now!”

“Because I found her homeless on the streets of Canterlot, Rainbow. Do you think the “Great and Powerful Trixie” would be like that willingly?” asked Twilight, glaring at Rainbow.

"How'd you end up on the street like that anyway?" asked Spike, scratching his head.

Twilight looked in the various directories around the library, trying to think of a job that might suit Trixie.

“Trixie doesn’t want you to pity her, all she wants is to know where she may find a job,” replied the stubborn unicorn.

"Dear, we can't do anything for you, as an act of kindness, not pity, unless you tell us how you got in this condition," said Rarity, trying to coax out how Trixie had gone from how they'd last seen her to a homeless, filthy mare on the streets of Canterlot.

“Fine…“ Trixie sighed out, seeing they wouldn‘t let the matter be. "... Trixie's cart had everything she owned in it. Her money, her magic supplies, EVERYTHING..." she said, leaving the rest for them to fill in.

Rarity gasped in realization. "The Ursa stepped on your cart..." she said, now cringing at the memory, which at the time she'd felt Trixie had deserved, she now felt terrible.

“Ah guess that explains a lot…” said Applejack, rubbing the back of her head, having the same reaction as Rarity while Rainbow kept her mouth shut.

Trixie nodded. "Trixie lost everything she had... That's all," she explained, ending the explanation abruptly.

Twilight spoke up after a brief, uncomfortable silence. "Well, Trixie. I have sorted out jobs available in Ponyville. One group, that you can’t do, like working on the Apple family farm-”

“And why can’t Trixie do that?” asked Trixie, looking to the orange Earth Pony.

“Cause it’s muscle work, sugarcube,” said Applejack. “And right now, yah don’t have a lot of muscle on yah… That and my big brother, Big Macintosh, is mighty upset you humiliated me in public,” said Applejack, giving a nervous look. “Big brother instinct and all. The Apple clan is pretty tight nit.”

Trixie sighed, but looked rather upset at the mention of “family“. However, she could understand her point, not only did she not feel like facing somepony’s angry older sibling, she also knew she wasn’t in the best of shape after several weeks with very little of value to eat. Sure, she had magic, but unlike Twilight, her telekinesis wasn‘t quite as powerful or useful for heavy lifting. “Fine, what can Trixie do?”

“Well the second group are ones that we can try, but there’s no promises you‘ll get them, like working in shops around the town square. Finally, third, those you can probably get easy, like working with Fluttershy, Rarity, or Pinkie Pie, who I‘m fairly certain will give you a job.”

“Whatever, you can help her if you want to, but I’m not falling for it,” said Rainbow, finally having enough. “When she turns on you, don’t say I didn’t warn you!” she spat, flying out the nearest window.

Twilight sighed. “Don’t mind her, Rainbow will probably come around eventually,” she said, knowing Rainbow wasn’t exactly the most forgiving pony to someone who’d hurt her friends, being the Element of Loyalty as well as pretty hardheaded sometimes. Fluttershy normally got furious when that happened, but she was the Element Of Kindness, so she was naturally a very forgiving pony. But she was pretty sure that Rainbow would come around if Trixie proved she was trustworthy “Moving on… Let’s focus on finding you a job.”

"Um... I actually do need a little help and I'll pay well..." said Fluttershy, in her timid, shy tone, but wanting to help if at all possible.

"No offense, dear, but how?" asked Rarity, to her knowledge, Fluttershy didn't get paid a great deal for her job, but, despite her skills with animals, hadn‘t asked for more than she needed. Fluttershy had no real desire for money and Rarity had never known her to seek it.

"I saved up a lot..." said Fluttershy, then blushed heavily. "F-from when I was a model..." she muttered quietly, looking down. "I've got quite a bit actually..."

Trixie's jaw dropped. "Y-you were a model?!" she asked, completely shocked. “Trixie somehow has trouble believing that…”

“Yes, with Photo Finish,” explained Rarity, remembering her own… unsavory behavior during the whole incident. “That was some time ago though.”

“Photo Finish? THE Photo Finish?” asked Trixie, her jaw dropping almost to the floor in shock.

Fluttershy nodded in her usual meek way. “Yes, but I really hated it, and I hardly ever hate anything… But I saved up the money incase it’d come in handy, I’d be glad to give you work… That is if you want it.”

Trixie shook off her shock and gave her a look. “What would the job be?”

Twilight nodded. "Fluttershy takes care of animals, that’s not a problem is it?”

Trixie growled under her breath but composed herself. “Trixie will do any job she needs to, she‘s not too soft for a little hard work.”

Twilight was pleasantly surprised by that. “Alright, that’ll be your first job.”

“Good, the sooner we get her back on her hooves the better,” muttered Spike, even if he felt a little bad, he still wasn’t too fond of Trixie.

“I’m glad you’re so concerned, Spike. Because until I get back, you’re Trixie’s assistant,” said Twilight, giving her assistant a slight glare.

“What?! Why?!” asked Spike, taken off guard.

“For the same reason I’ve got to go to Canterlot to clean Prince Blueblood‘s room,” said Twilight, glaring at the little dragon. “Or would you rather do that?”

Spike huffed, crossing his arms. “Fine…”

“Good,” said Twilight. “I should be back later today, I’ll see you guys when I get back,” she said, clearly not looking forwards to it as she left.

“Why does she have to clean out that brute’s room for?” asked Rarity, confused by this turn of events.

“I threw a stink bomb in it,” admitted Spike, almost proudly. “I did it to pay him back for how he treated you at the Gala.”

Rarity gave a small smile. “Why thank you Spike, even if it wasn’t the couthest thing to do, it’s still a nice gesture… To me, not Blueblood. Though that pompous prince had it coming,” she admitted, still not too happy about her run in with Blueblood at the Gala. She’d kind of enjoyed seeing Blueblood have to humble himself a bit to her during her time as one of the Canterlot elite. Even if he was a prince, he had a public image to keep up.

“Can we go now?” asked Trixie as Spike blushed from Rarity‘s praise. “Trixie would like to get this over with.”

“Ah got to get anyway,” said Applejack. “There’s a storm comin’, and me and the family have got to prepare,” she explained, remembering what Twilight had said about it.

“I suppose I should be going as well,” said Rarity. “If I don’t watch Sweetie Belle, who knows what she and her friends will get into,” she said, following Applejack out.

“I’ll be waiting at Sugarcube Corner for my turn to give you a job!” said Pinkie Pie, merrily heading towards the door, rolling her Party Cannon along with her.

“Wait… How do you know Trixie will be getting a job from you?” asked Trixie, blinking in confusion.
“Because that’s always how these kinds of plots work, silly!” said Pinkie, hopping out.

“That’s just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie,” said Spike.

“Right…” said Trixie, blinking, then looking to Fluttershy. “Lead the way… Fluttershy, was it?”

-----------------

Alright, tell us how we did! My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro!

Animal Care
“So, she lives here?” asked Trixie, looking around the grounds surrounding Fluttershy’s cottage. “The cute, timid little pegasus who personifies kindness lives next to the unnatural, terrifying, monster-infested forest of death?” she asked, looking over at the nearby Everfree Forest, which was notorious throughout Equestria for its… unusual fauna. Including the Ursa. Trixie gulped and gave a shiver at that last thought, before quickly composing herself. “Does the hyperactive, party loving earth pony that embodies laughter live in a mausoleum?”

Spike gave a chuckle. “Fluttershy is tougher than all those monsters.”

Trixie blinked in clear surprise. “Say what?”

Spike smirked, enjoying getting under Trixie’s skin a bit. “You know about dragons, right?”

Trixie gave a shudder. “Yes; massive, mountain-sized, greedy brutes that horde gems and will destroy pretty much anything that comes looking for their stash of treasure. They also have very bad breath,” she stated simply. Spike gave a glare and cleared his throat. “Trixie knows what she said,” the female unicorn replied, giving a smug smirk.

Spike sighed. “Whatever, a full-grown dragon made his lair in a cave up there on that mountain and was threatening to cover all of Equestria in smoke,” he explained. “Fluttershy made him cry and run away.”

Trixie gave an eyebrow before looking over at Fluttershy. A leaf fluttered down and landed on the pegasus‘ back, causing her to scream and zip into a bush, peaking out fearfully. “Trixie is having difficulty believing that…”

“That’s ‘cause you haven’t seen what Shy’s like when she’s mad,” said Spike, giving a smirk.

Trixie looked back as Fluttershy peaked out of the bush, looking around, only to retreat with a shout when another leaf landed on her head. “Trixie is still not convinced.”

“You haven’t seen the Stare,” said Spike, giving a spooky tone when he said “the Stare”.

“That Stare? What’s that?” asked Trixie, giving him a confused look.

“Ever heard of a Cockatrice?”

Trixie’s gave him a raised eyebrow. “You’re not trying to tell Trixie this pony can turn things to stone, are you?”

“No! But she’s out-stared one before,” replied Spike with a smirk.

“Now you’re just being ridiculous. You’re trying to tell Trixie this pegasus who’s scared of her own shadow can scare away an adult dragon and stare down a Cockatrice?” asked Trixie with a scoff. “That’s as outlandish as Trixie saying she vanquished an Ursa Major.”

“I know it’s hard to believe, but just be glad Fluttershy didn’t see you humiliate AJ, Rainbow, and Rarity, or you’d have been in big trouble,” said Spike, looking back.

“Can Trixie just get her job now?” asked Trixie, ignoring the little dragon.

Spike rolled his eyes and lead the way over, Fluttershy having got back to work in the meantime. “Hey Fluttershy, Trixie’s ready for her job!”

Fluttershy had flew up into a tree to feed some animals, but gave a nod. "Ok, my job is to take care of all the animals," she explained, giving a bird some seed before descending to the ground. "This is Angel," she stated, pointing to the little bunny. “Say hello, Angel.”

Trixie looked to Angel, who was almost glaring at her, which made her feel rather uneasy. "Um… Hello there..." Angel just glared again. “… Anyway, what should Trixie do?” she asked, finding the little rabbit too unnerving.

"Um..." said Fluttershy, looking around with a confused look. "Oh dear..." she muttered, not sure what to say. “Well you could, maybe, if you don’t mind…”

Trixie started to get a tad annoyed. "Trixie gets the feeling you're not used to being the boss of another pony, are you?"

"No... I’m sorry..." said Fluttershy, lowering her head as Trixie face hoofed.
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Applejack was on her way to the farms when she came across a mountain of glorious, beautiful, tomato red apples!

"Big Mac! What are all these... glorious... perfect apples, doing here? Don't you know that a storm is comin'?" Applejack asked out of confusion and anger alike. Then she turned her stare to WHERE the apples were. In front of Sugarcube corner, she panicked at the thought of Pinkie Sense striking the apples.

"Eeyup! Ah knew that a storm be comin', Applejack. Ah was takin' the apples home. Ah was just showin‘ ‘em off a bit, Granny Smith‘s idea," Big Mac replied, much to the relief of Applejack. But then she noticed the amount of Apples, it will take a long time to bring down the mountain. She did not want the apples catch dust or be damaged, after all, since apples like these were very rare and this batch was quite important. Suddenly, she saw Pinkie coming. “Pinkie, careful!”

Pinkie blinked as she seemed to stop in mid-jump for a moment before landing. “Huh, what’s going on Applejack? Is this a subplot?”

“Uh… Ah guess… Just these apples are kind of important,” replied Applejack, rubbing her head at Pinkie’s weirdness.

“Oh… Why?”

“Well you see, these apples are, well, flawless,” replied Applejack, taking one of the apples, very carefully, which had a completely smooth surface, bright red with a beautiful shine. “We get lots of really good apples every year, but perfect apples like these almost never happen, let alone this many of ‘em. We’ve been workin’ our flanks off growin’ all these for this big fair in Canterlot. If we win, we’ll get a really big prize, Ah mean really big!”

“Oh! So this is how you’re going to resolve your story arc from the Grand Galloping Gala and fix up your farm!”

“Eeyup,” answered Big Mac, loading the apples carefully into a cart.

Pinkie nodded, then gasped, remembering something. "Oh! Hey Applejack! The Cakes need about hundred apples!" Pinkie said, much to the surprise of AJ. “We just got a really, really, REALLY big order for apple pies and we‘re all out of apples!”

"H-Hundred? On it!" Applejack said and ran away to the farms.

"Hey! Aren't you gonna help me take down the apples?" Big Mac yelled as Applejack headed off. The big Earth Pony gave a sigh and kept loading as Pinkie Pie hopped into Sugarcube Corner.
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“Well I guess you could…” started Fluttershy, rather shyly as Trixie stared at her expectantly. “On the way to the library, Pinkie asked me to get the Cakes at Sugarcube Corner a lot of eggs… You could go get them from the chickens, I mean if you really want to…”

Trixie blinked. “And you’re alright with taking eggs from chickens? Trixie is surprised.”

“Oh, not the eggs that’ll become cute little chicks, I’d never do that,” responded Fluttershy, giving a gasp of surprise when Trixie brought it up. “But unfertilized eggs will just go bad if nopony uses them, those are the only ones I take.”

“And how do you know which are which?”

“Oh the chickens tell me if they‘re going to have little ones. Don‘t worry, there aren‘t any right now,” replied Fluttershy with a rather cute smile.

Trixie looked at her like she was insane. “Uh… Right…”

Spike sighed, tugging lightly on her mane to get her attention. “Trixie, communicating with animals is Fluttershy’s special talent.”

Fluttershy nodded. “It’s what I got my Cutie Mark for.”

Trixie sighed. “Whatever… Ok, so just get the eggs?” she asked, telekinetically picking up a bucket for that very purpose before starting towards the chicken coup.

Fluttershy gave a nod. “Yes, if you don’t mind… Oh! And one more thing!”

Trixie gave a sigh, turning to look at her. “What now?”

“Oh sorry…” muttered Fluttershy, looking down shyly, then peaking up at her timidly. “I was just going to say that one of the hens, Gertrude, is a bit temperamental about her eggs. You need to be very careful and talk to her calmly so she’ll let you take them.”

“Fine, temperamental chicken, can Trixie go now?” asked Trixie, wanting to get this over with.

Fluttershy gave a whimper and nodded slowly.

Trixie headed into the chicken coup, giving a face, chicken coups weren’t known for smelling good after all. She lifted a sleeping hen with telekinesis, floating the eggs out from under her and putting them in the pail, which Trixie set on the floor for this task, then floating it along as she moved to the next.

“Why do you put the bucket down each time?” asked Spike, perplexed by the action.

“While unicorns can multitask with telekinesis, setting down something one doesn’t need to be carrying makes it easier to work,” replied Trixie, levitating more eggs into the bucket.

Spike scoffed. “Twilight doesn’t ne-”

“Did Trixie ask what Twilight needs to do?!” snapped Trixie, dropping a batch of eggs and just barely catching them before they hit the ground.

“Fine! Geez! Talk about temperamental!” replied Spike, rolling his eyes.

Trixie gave a snarl, but continued until she finally came up to the chicken which she’d been warned about, Gertrude. However, she prepared to do the same with her as all the others.

“Hey, Trixie, that’s the chicken Fluttershy warned you about, remember?” asked Spike, a little worried.

Trixie gave a small growl, then a sigh. “Fine,” she muttered, looking at the chicken. “Gertrude, may Trixie please have your eggs? Fluttershy asks this of her,” she requested, as politely as possible. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. The hen merely clucked and preened herself. Trixie sighed and began lifting the hen, only for her to squawk loudly and take a peck at her. Trixie jumped back quickly, out of the way as best she could, dropping Gertrude back on her nest. Trixie gave a snarl. “Stupid bird, what’d you do that for?!”

Spike sighed. “Ask again, and this time be-”

“Trixie doesn’t need your help!” replied Trixie with a growl. She looked back to Gertrude and tried her best to look calm. “Trixie is sorry about that… Now please, Gertrude, Fluttershy needs the eggs, please just let Trixie get them,” she stated, stage practice letting her keep her voice calm, despite her frustration and embarrassment. She tried lifting the hen again, only to get about the same result. Trixie gave a growl. “Listen, Trixie is losing her patience, chicken! Relinquish your eggs now or face her wrath!” she exclaimed in a theatrical manner.

Spike backed away. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea…”

“Did Trixie ask you if you did?” snapped Trixie, glaring at the baby dragon.

“Maybe you should just ask Fluttershy to help, she’s good with animals and I’m sure she won-”

“Trixie does not need help dealing with a chicken!” replied Trixie in a stubborn tone. “She’s just a chicken, how tough can she be?”

Spike sighed. “I wonder how Twi’s doin’..”
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Twilight gagged, telekinetically hovering a mop around, trying to telekinetically mop the smelly, extremely stubborn, green goo, the source of the stench, off the tile floors of Blueblood’s room, eyes watering from the horrid odor. Just what had Rainbow put in that stink bomb anyway?! She did her best to hold her breath as she worked. It didn’t help that much. ‘Note to self; look up cleaning spells when I get home!’

“Careful! Those are imported tile floors!” exclaimed the Prince, watching over her shoulders with a white, diamond studded gasmask on.

“I’m try-” replied Twilight in a disgusted voice, coughing mid-sentence, regretting inhaling. “Why are you the one wearing the gasmask anyway?” she asked, not even asking why it was an extremely fancy one either.

“And allow my royal nostrils to be defiled by this horrid stench?! Never!” replied Blueblood in his usual pompous tone.

“Then why are you -cough- even in the room!” replied Twilight, continuing to clean to the best of her abilities.

“The only ponies allowed in my room without my prescience are auntie Celestia and auntie Luna, and my royal maids, how else can I be sure that you’re not going to break something valuable?!“ asked Blueblood.

Twilight gave a growl. “Blueblood, I’m not THAT clumsy. We’ve been in the castle at the same time since we were kids! We might not have known one another that well, but have you ever heard of me breaking anything outside of messing up a new spell Celestia was teaching me?”

“You’ve been living in Ponyville for over a year, how do I know you can still be trusted?”

Twilight growled deeper, scrubbing a bit harder as the irate prince kept nagging her ears off. ‘I hope Trixie is having a better day than me…’
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Fluttershy softly tended to red lumps all over Trixie’s head from Gertrude’s beak as the mare set in a chair outside the house. “Ow!”

“Sorry…” muttered Fluttershy, putting some medicine on each wound.

“Boy, you sure showed her,” said Spike in a tone dripping with sarcasm, rolling his eyes.

“That was not a normal chicken!” replied Trixie, blushing heavily at the fact she’d gotten her flank thoroughly kicked by a chicken. “She was like some ninja chicken!”

Spike rolled his eyes. “She wasn’t a ninja chicken…”

“Then explain the flying dragon kick!”

“Uh… Rainbow taught her martial arts?”

“I’m so sorry, I’ve never seen Gertrude so aggressive!” stated Fluttershy in an extremely apologetic tone.

“That’s because she’s never had a unicorn try to pry her off her eggs with a crowbar,” muttered Spike, glaring at Trixie.

“Forget it, let‘s never speak of it again,” stated Trixie, rather eager to forget it herself.

Fluttershy finished tending to Trixie’s head about 20 minutes later. “What next?” asked Trixie, keeping her distance from the chicken coup.

Fluttershy blinked. “Well… Um, let me think…” she muttered, looking around at her surroundings. She saw the animals’ dens down near the stream surrounding her house. Normally she’d feed them herself, but she still had to collect a lot of eggs since letting Trixie back in the chicken coup wasn’t the best idea. She got some food for them in a bucket. "Could you maybe feed those animals down there, if it's not too much trouble I mean..."
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Rainbow Dash laid on a cloud a good distance away, watching the scene with binoculars. “She’d better not do anything to hurt Fluttershy or I swear…” she muttered. Even if she WAS angry with her friends for siding with Trixie, she wasn’t about to leave them high and dry if Trixie really was up to something. “At least Pinkie leant me these binoculars to keep an eye on things.” she said, lowering them to reveal ink circles around her eyes. She then blinked and took them off, looking at her reflection in them. She promptly face hoofed.
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“Ok, now here’s a map of what animals live where and what to feed them,” explained Fluttershy, handing it to Trixie. “The black ones are nocturnal and are sleeping right now, so you don‘t need to worry about them. The red labeled ones are easily startled, so be very careful. A frightened animal can be dangerous.”

Trixie looked over the note and nodded. “Alright, sounds simple enough,” she replied, looking it over. Trixie's horn glowed and she floated the basket of food up. “Anything else?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, that’s all…” she said, then looked to Spike, hoping everything went alright. She fluttered over to the chicken coup and got to work herself.

With that, Trixie started down the rather steep slope towards the stream below.

Spike noticed this before she did. “Hey, you’d better watch out!”

"Trixie's got it," said Trixie, in a stubborn tone as she continued.

"But-"

"Trixie's got it!" replied Trixie, carelessly continuing on.

"But the slope is really-" said Spike, right as Trixie screamed and slid down the slope as she lost her footing, landing face first in a mud puddle. "Steep…"
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Rainbow burst out laughing as she watched through the binoculars, having cleaned them, and herself, off. “Serves her right for bullying everypony,” she said, chuckling to herself, but gave a small growl at mention of bullying. “At least she didn’t call me Rainbow Crash…” she muttered slightly, putting the binoculars back up to continue watching.
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Trixie grunted, managing to catch the basket but getting covered in mud. “Trixie is fine!” she called up, levitating the list and food as she got to her feet.

Trixie deposited food to a few animals using the list with relative ease. “Ah, this isn’t too hard,” she said aloud… before she came to one and realized it was mostly covered in mud on the list, rendering it illegible. She hesitated.

“Everything alright, Trixie?” asked Spike, still standing on the ledge, watching.

“Yes yes, everything is fine, Trixie is in no way confused and in need of assistance!” called Trixie, looking back at the list. “I got a good enough look at it, I’m pretty sure it’s safe, but which animal is it?” she asked, able to make out the front letter of the name. “S… Squirrels? Shrews? I remember it was a mammal if I’m not mistaken…” she recalled. “I’ve got to call it out for its food anyway, so I might as well do that and see what it is…”

Trixie cleared her throat. “Excuse me, animal. Trixie has your food ready…” she said simply. No reply. “Um, excuse Trixie, come out and get your food,” she stated, a bit louder. Still nothing. Trixie gave a growl. “Trixie said come out and get your food!” she called, raising her voice. Still nothing. Maybe the den was empty? Forgetting what Fluttershy had said about some of the animals, she poked her head in and saw a furry shape. “Ok, let‘s see what…you…are,” she said, as she lit up her horn and realized what was in the den, it giving a start and raising its black, white striped tail. “Horseapples…”
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“There, all… all done,” panted Twilight, looking around Blueblood’s spotless room as the prince set on comfortably, drinking some fancy imported water, naturally not thinking to offer the exhausted mare anything at all. “I cleaned the entire room from top to bottom, I even dusted your statues,” she reported. ‘Of yourself,’ she added mentally.

Blueblood sipped his ice cold water as Twilight panted. “Good, it’s the least you can do after that bratty little dragon of yours defiled my private quarters as he did,” he added, not even looking her direction.

Twilight snarled at hearing him speak that why about Spike, but held her tongue. ‘Let it go Twilight, let it go. You can’t turn him into a frog, he’s Celestia’s nephew…’ she recited mentally. “Well I’m sorry he did it, and I punished him for it.”

“As you should,” replied the prince. “I haven’t been treated so disrespectfully since the Grand Galloping Gala. That was probably the worst night of my life. I mean first some country hick defiles my royal pallet with her disgusting carnival food,” he stated with disgust, not noticing Twilight shooting him a death glare. “Then an insane pink pony jumps off the stage like a madmare and launches a cake at me followed by some lunatic nearly bringing down the ballroom showing off. And some screaming beast chases all the garden animals into the room and caused mass hysteria. How they managed to crash the party is beyond me.”

Twilight snarled with rage, snorting hot air out her nose, but took a deep breath and calmed herself. ‘Mean, yes, but we did kind of ruin the Gala, he has every right to be angry… Even if he has absolutely no right to say that about Applejack… Just let it go, Twilight, let it go…’

“But the worse part was my absolutely selfish date,” stated Blueblood with disdain.

“S-selfish?” asked Twilight, staring at him in disbelief.

“Yes, she kept expecting me to lower myself and open doors, buy her food, then she called me an “uncharming prince” and defiled my suit with cake!” he exclaimed, as if that were a heinous crime. “I’m a prince, I shouldn‘t have to be subjected to such treatment.”

“R-Rarity… You think… You think Rarity is selfish!” snarled Twilight, anger rising.

“That’s her name? Yes, after all, why else would she be expecting a prince to do manual labor?” asked Blueblood, completely obvious to Twilight’s fury, until he looked over to find her literally burning with rage. “Twilight! You’re on fire! Please put yourself out before you burn something important!”

As Twilight’s flaming mane and tail went out and she landed, still smoking and covered in ash, she telekinetically twirled Blueblood around to face her. “I don’t care what you say about me, I can even forgive you for saying Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy ruined the Gala, because they actually kind of did! I may even be able to forgive you for insulting Applejack’s cooking! But you do NOT call Rarity of all ponies selfish!” she yelled, getting in the pompous prince’s face. “She may be a little vain sometimes, and sometimes she lets her desires get the best of her, but she’s the most generous and unselfish mare I know! She’s the Element of Generosity for crying out loud! She worked herself ragged making me and my friends TWO sets of Gala Dresses, doing everything we asked even though she knew our designs were a big disaster! And you know what, Blueblood? She didn’t even think about working on her dress until she had ours made! Is that selfish?!” the furious unicorn screamed, noting that Blueblood seemed surprised at that. “Does that surprise you? Of course it would surprise a self-serving, egotistical, narcissist like you! You know, I wasn’t expecting you to be her prince charming, but I was expecting you to be a proper gentlestallion! That’s ALL she wanted for you to do! She’d probably even have been happy if you’d just split everything 50/50! Instead you were a selfish, egocentric, self-absorbed royal PAIN who only cared about yourself and wanted your date to do absolutely everything for you! And now you have the nerve to call that poor mare selfish?!”

Before Blueblood could respond, Twilight glared at him, coming close to “the Stare” in sheer intensity. Not quite there, but as close as anypony who wasn’t Fluttershy could get. “And don’t you DARE use the fact you’re royalty as an excuse! Because it’s NOT! Princess Celestia is a lot more royal than you are and she gave me a place to stay in Ponyville just because she knew I’d be miserable without my friends! She lent me and my friends the castle ballroom for my birthday party without even being asked! She gave Rarity a room in the royal palace just because I told her Rarity needed somewhere to stay! Celestia set everything aside and came to Ponyville as fast as she could just because Spike wrote her a letter saying I was getting worked up at making a deadline! So no! Being royal most certainly isn’t an excuse, Blueblood! And let me tell you something else! It’s not an excuse to treat ANY of your subjects who look up to you like dirt the way you did Rarity! Celestia and Luna both go out of their way to befriend and have a good relationship with their subjects. Luna, who rules the night, set everything aside to try and reconnect with her subjects on Nightmare Night! And Celestia isn’t too ‘refined’ that she can’t take a little commoner food! If anything, Celestia tries to be LESS royal than she really is!”

“If they’re the highest royalty in the land, Blueblood, what does that say about how you behave when you’re so much lower than they are?” asked Twilight, staring Blueblood right in the eyes. “A ruler’s duty isn’t to treat their subjects like their personal servants. That isn’t how Celestia and Luna rule, and if you really want to be a proper prince, you shouldn’t either,” spat Twilight, giving one last glare before turning and heading to the door. Hearing Blueblood let out a sigh of relief, she looked back to see a rather confused look on his face. “And for the record, I wasn’t ordered to come clean up your room. I volunteered to do this because I actually felt guilty Spike pranked you like he did…and now I‘m not sure rather I should‘ve felt guilty or not,” she added, glaring at him, trying to make sense of the look on his face. He looked a bit scared, definitely confused. And maybe just a little conflicted. “Now if you excuse me, I’ve got a mare who really needs my help to get back to helping,” she stated, trotting out and slamming the door hard.
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Back at the library, Trixie was in a large tub, having Spike dump tomato juice on her and scrub her down, trying to get the skunk stink out of her fur. “Uh Trixie, one thing,” said Spike, taking the clothespin off his nose to sniff. He gagged and put it back on before getting another can of tomato juice.

“Yes, what?” asked Trixie in a rather miserable tone.

“Why didn’t you just use your magic to float the food down to the animals?” asked Spike, opening the can.

Trixie promptly slammed her head into the metal rim of the tub with a resounding thud after which Spike dumped the tomato juice on her back.

“Hey everypony, I’m home and-” said Twilight, walking in and blinking at the sight before her. “Uh… What happened?”

Trixie groaned. “You mean you can’t smell anything out of the ordinary?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, my nose is pretty much burned out from cleaning up somebody’s stink bomb,” she said, glaring at Spike, who just whistled innocently.

“Long story short, Trixie got sprayed by a skunk…” replied Trixie in a rather annoyed voice.

“And beat up by a chicken,” added Spike.

“Ninja chicken! And Trixie thought she said never to speak of it!” replied Trixie insistently, before looking at Twilight and realizing she was blackened with ash. “What happened to you?”

Twilight gave a frustrated sigh. “Lets just say Blueblood pushed too far and I finally blew up.”

Trixie blinked. “Literally it looks like…” she muttered, clearly surprised. Twilight had just been so calm and collected before, it was a big surprise to see something get her mad enough to literally burst into flames.

“Anyway, I’m going to go get a shower, tomorrow we can try with Rarity,” Twilight said, heading towards the bathroom, then blinked, looking back to Trixie with a raised eyebrow. “Ninja chicken?”

“Trixie doesn’t want to talk about it!”
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Trixie laid in the bed, a pillow cupped around her head as Twilight spoke aloud for Spike to copy down… again!

“No… No… That’s no good, throw it out,” said Twilight in a quite frustrated voice, Spike noisily crumpling up the paper and throwing it away.

Trixie gave a growl and shot up, throwing the pillow to her side. “That’s the fourth time! Whatever are you working on that is so important?” she asked in a rather sharp voice. Her normally white mane and tail were now bright pink from the tomato juice; Twilight had said it’d go away in time, but Trixie was still in a rather foul mood.

Twilight sighed. “Sorry I kept you awake,” she said, looking up at her. “It’s a letter to Celestia; I, or any of my friends, are supposed to write her one every time we learn a lesson about friendship.”

Trixie sighed in confusion. “Interesting… So, does it always take this long for you to write one?” she asked in a rather bored voice.

“No, it’s just this time is hard to write about because I’m still steamed at what Blueblood said,” explained Twilight, looking up at Trixie.

“You didn’t get that angry at Trixie when she was publicly humiliating your best friends, why was now different?” asked Trixie, giving Twilight a confused look.

“You didn‘t try to paint yourself as anything you weren‘t, outside the Ursa Major thing,” said Twilight, thinking about it. “You gave an open challenge, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity accepted it, you beat them, that was it. You didn’t hide your intentions or act like they were the bad guys. Blueblood on the other hoof tried to present himself as the victim in everything. I could take him saying Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy ruined the Gala, they kind of did.”

“Wait… They ruined the Gala?” asked Trixie, giving an eyebrow. “You were AT the Gala?”

Twilight nodded with a frown. “Yeah…long story short; Rainbow went overboard showing off for the Wonderbolts, Pinkie Pie was… well Pinkie Pie, and the animals in the palace garden ignored Fluttershy, causing her to go temporarily insane and chase all animals into the castle ballroom while screaming ‘You. Are. Going. To. LOVE ME!’ at the top of her lungs…”

Trixie just stared in blank shock at that last part.

“Yeah, even she was surprised when she came to her senses…”

“If you think that’s bad, you should hear about when Twilight-”

Twilight quickly covered Spike’s mouth with her hoof. “Anyway, I could even forgive the fact Blueblood hated Applejack’s food, personal taste and all that, but calling Rarity selfish? All she’d done was have the very realistic expectation of him being a decent stallion to her. Instead, she ended up practically being his slave all night trying to please him and he refused to so much as open a door for her. He made her the bad guy, and he was being a blatant hypocrite about it too. That’s what got me angry.”

Trixie nodded slowly. “Trixie guesses that makes sense…” she muttered blinking. She was now seriously reconsidering what Spike had said about Fluttershy being capable of cowing a fully grown dragon singlehoofedly. “Carry on…”

“Alright, Spike, one last time,” Twilight said, Spike getting ready. “‘Dear Princess Celestia; today I learned a valuable lesson about friendship. It’s always important to stand up for your friends, even if the pony who’s dragging their name through the mud happens to be important or influential. No matter how high up they are, nopony has the right to look down on somepony else just because they’re less successful, less fortunate, or less wealthy than they are. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle’,” she finished, Spike writing it down as she spoke. “I think that’s a keeper.”

Trixie watched Spike poke his head out the window and blow fire on it, sending it out. “… Twilight, you honestly believe that?” she asked, a tad confused.

Twilight nodded without hesitation. “Of course I do. I‘ve seen the power of friendship first hand.”

“Since friendship is magic, that means Twilight is the Element of Friendship I guess,” said Spike, curling up in his bed with a yawn. “She should know it better than anypony.”

Trixie laid down on her back, looking up at the ceiling, rather confused. “… I see… Twilight… If that is the case, why didn’t you stand up to me when I… er, Trixie was publicly humiliating your friends? Trixie knows that you could‘ve kicked her flank in an instant if you so chose, but you didn‘t. Why?.”

Twilight looked up at her. “I saw how everypony, well…hated you for being a showoff… No offense…”

Trixie sighed. “Its fine, Twilight Sparkle… Trixie wasn’t in town to make friends…”

‘I’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,’ thought the purple unicorn. “I didn’t want to look like a showoff and get hated too… But in the end, after I stopped the Ursa, I found out that my friends didn’t care about my magic, they liked it about me… What they… well, didn’t like about you was how much you bragged and boasted about your magic.”

Trixie blinked, rolling over and looking down at Twilight. “You didn’t want to stand out?” she asked, as if that fact were insane.

Twilight shook her head. “No… Actually, part of the reason I love my friends in Ponyville so much is they’re my friends for who I am, not what I can do or what rank in society I am. Back in Canterlot, there were a lot of ponies that tried to be my “friends” just because I was Celestia’s personal student…”

“Sounds pretty good to Trixie.”

“But that’s just it, Trixie, it seems good on the surface, but it‘s not,” said Twilight, somewhat sternly. “Friends like that don’t care about YOU, they care about what you’ve got or your status. You don’t matter to them. If I lost my status as Celestia’s personal student, they’d have abandoned me like I had the Cutie Pox…” she continued, then saw Trixie looked like she was on the verge of tears. “Trixie… What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing… N-nothing’s wrong… G-goodnight, Twilight,” said replied Trixie, abruptly turning over and covering herself up.

“What’s wrong with her?” asked Spike, for once sounding genuinely concerned.

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t know Spike…” she whispered, turning out the light and laying down in her makeshift bed. “… Maybe she’s just a lot like how I used to be…” she muttered, yawning, her exhausted body begging her to sleep. “Goodnight Spike…” she replied, trying to go to sleep.

Trixie laid under the covered, choking back sobs. “… They don’t care about you… They only care about what you’ve done…” she whispered, tears flowing down her cheeks.

“Worthless mare, until you make something of yourself, don’t you dare darken our doorway again! Not until you‘re a somepony. If you‘re not a somepony, then you‘re a nopony! Never forget that, Trixie!”

Trixie did her best not to sob out loud that anyone could hear, but it wasn’t easy. “They don’t care… They don’t care unless I make something of myself…”

Twilight looked up, hearing mumbling but nothing else. “Trixie… Real friends?” she asked, not knowing if Trixie was really asleep or not. “They‘re the ones that still care about you when you‘re down on your luck… In fact, that‘s when they care the most… Goodnight…” she said, laying down and letting sleep overtake her.

Trixie gave a small gasp. She looked conflicted as she ran that over in her head, not sure what to think about it. She sank into sleep with more questions on her mind than ever, tears still in her eyes as her conflicted mind tried to answer those questions.

Next chapter, same as the last three as far as crew goes. MLP belongs to hasbro!

Stitching It Together

“No… Not… Not again…” said Twilight, contorting in terror in her sleep, images of what Discord had put her through flashing through her mind, only this time, no matter what she did, nothing helped, nothing changed anything… “Stop… Leave my friends alone, Discord…P-Please, leave them alone…”

Twilight shot awake when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. Panting heavily from fear, she looked over to see Trixie looking back at her in concern. “Trixie…” she said, startled, she looked over to see the clock, midnight, feeling a pang of guilt at awakening the poor mare in the middle of the night. “… Sorry…”

“It is fine, Twilight,” said Trixie, her voice honest, even somewhat sympathetic. “… Another nightmare, Trixie guesses? Trixie would have thought that a pony like you would have found a way to deal with a mere nightmare in all of these books.”

Twilight sighed, lowering her head in sorrow. “I’ve done everything I can think of…” she said, her voice a little shaky. “Nothing works…” she muttered, sick and tired of being tormented by nightmares like this. She‘d looked up everything she could find, but she still couldn‘t find anything that worked. She was starting to think Discord had put some kind of spell on her. “I know they’re not real…But I just can’t make them stop…”

Trixie actually gave a sympathetic look. Twilight thought she looked conflicted for a moment. “Twilight…Believe it or not, Trixie may have the solution to your plight…” she explained in a thoughtful tone.

Twilight blinked in confusion, was Trixie actually helping her? But still, the possibility of being rid of the horrible nightmares she’d been having was rather tempting. “…Really?” she asked, not really able to think of much else to ask.

Trixie nodded, still looking a tad uncertain. “Yes, it’s quite simple really.”

“… You’re not going to sing, are you?”

Trixie‘s eyes widened and she looked rather confused. “Of course not, why ever would you ask such a thing?”

“Oh, it’s nothing… Just when we were being threatened by a bunch of monster trees in Everfree Forest, Pinkie said something like that and burst into song spontaneously,” recounted Twilight, then saw Trixie giving her a raised eyebrow. “Nightmare Moon used illusions to try and scare us off, Pinkie tends to explain beneficial insights she has with random musical numbers…along with how to make cupcakes…”

“Trixie understands, she was actually more confused about the monster trees than the singing…Well anyway, it’s quite simple…what are you doing?”

Twilight blinked, telekinetically holding a notebook and quill in front of her. “Taking notes…”

Trixie rolled her eyes slightly at this. “Twilight, there’s no need to…actually, on second though, Trixie kind of likes that, you may continue,” she replied, allowing Twilight to get back to taking notes. “As Trixie was saying; when having a nightmare, look for the parts of it that do not make sense. Dreams are by their very nature imperfect because our minds hastily craft the dream world when it begins, so there’s always something that tells us it’s a falsehood. Something that doesn‘t match up with what we know is, or was, the reality, something which has no other explanation apart from being a part of a dream. Even if the nightmare takes place in Discord’s chaotic world, there’s going to be something that’s off. Finding this…glitch, so to speak, will let you know it‘s a dream, or nightmare, and once you know it‘s a dream, you can control it with ease. Are you following Trixie, Twilight?” asked Trixie, falling back into a rather theatrical manner of speaking. Not quite as bombastic as her magic show act, but still putting a good bit of energy into her words as well as hoof motions at certain points.

Twilight nodded, hanging on her explanation and taking her notes as she did so. Truthfully, Trixie was pretty fun to listen to when she wasn’t talking just to hear herself talk or publicly humiliating ponies. And Trixie seemed to actually be enjoying herself. “Yes, please continue.”

“Good. Now let’s say Trixie was having a nightmare about an encounter with certain… terrifying… monstrous… s-star covered beast……” said Trixie, a little fear worming its way into her voice. Twilight saw the poor mare give a shudder at mention of the Ursa. She really couldn’t blame the poor girl. Regardless, she was surprised as the mare magically created an image of herself running from an Ursa similar to the one she‘d created during her original Ursa story at the magic show. “Say she noticed that the Mare In The Moon was still in her prison, or that her own Cutie Mark‘s colors were reversed, or that those two dumb colts that ruined her life weren’t standing right next to her the whole time!” she said, almost shouting at the end, the images changing to match her words…the last of which being her about to hit a cowering Snips and Snails with a mallet. Trixie seemed to catch herself and cleared her throat, wiping away the last image.

“… Anyway, at that point, Trixie knows she’s in a nightmare and can take control. So instead of running she-”

“Vanquishes the Ursa Minor?”

“Uh…no…”

“Major?”

“…Maybe…Anyway, do you understand, Twilight?”

Twilight nodded, finishing her notes. It actually made sense to some degree. And it was right up Twilight’s alley, logic was of course on of her strong suits. But still, after everything Twilight tried, she was understandably unsure about the method, and Trixie was actually pretty good at making it interesting. “I’ve never heard something like that… Does it really work?”

“Has Trixie awakened screaming that one of those… c-creatures was trying to eat her?” asked Trixie, doing her best to maintain her theatrical manner.

Twilight blinked and shook her head. “No…”

“Well there you go. Trixie has used this trick since she was a little filly, it works every time. Trust me, Twilight, if it didn’t work, Trixie wouldn’t get any sleep,” replied Trixie, trying to maintain her tone, but giving a yawn.

An angry growl came from nearby. Both girls looked over to see a rather cranky Spike glaring at them from his bed. “You’re not the only ones not getting any sleep…”

“Sorry, Spike…” said Twilight, looking at her assistant sheepishly. She then looked over as Trixie climbed back to her bed. “Trixie…Thank you…You‘re actually a really good teacher.”

“You‘re welcome, Twilight…And thank you as well… Goodnight…” replied the tired mare, slinking into her bed.

Twilight slinked back under her covers, giving a yawn. She really hopped this worked…
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Trixie snarled, scrubbing her mane for the second time this morning. She’d pretty much tried everything she could think of, but her mane was the same shade of pink it’d been since her tomato juice bath the previous day, as was her tail. Trixie just gave a sigh and gave up on that. “Oh well, at least I don’t still smell like a skunk…” she stated in annoyance, the horrid stench still rather fresh in her memory. As were her own actions from the previous night.

Trixie gave a small sigh at the thought. “I never thought Twilight Sparkle and I would ever have anything at all in common, let alone that I‘d be willingly helping her with the same problem that I used to have…or that I‘d actually feel good about it…” she muttered, sure, being the center of attention to the point her “audience” was actually taking notes felt good…but that wasn’t the ONLY reason it felt good, just the only reason she really understood. She thought back to her own similar experience that had made her sympathetic to Twilight‘s plight…
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“Trixie dear, what’s wrong?” asked the elderly unicorn mare, looking down at the little filly in front of her, who was half asleep.

Trixie looked up at her with tired eyes. “…It’s nothing, grandma, I-” she said, being interrupted by her own yawn.

“Trixie, don’t try to hide something from your grandma, she can tell when something is wrong,” said her grandmother, pulling the child closer to her.

Trixie gave a sad sigh. “…I’ve been having lots of nightmares about an Ursa Major attacking the town and trying to eat me…”

“Poor dear, no wonder you look so exhausted,” said the wise old unicorn, nuzzling the child. “Want to know a secret for dealing with those kinds of dreams?”

“But daddy and big sister say-”

“I know, I know what your daddy and sister say, don’t forget that I raised your daddy from a little colt, I know how he is. But I’m teaching you, not helping you, there’s a difference. And she’ll never admit to it, but I taught your big sister the same thing when she was your age.”

Trixie looked a little confused, then nodded with a sweet little smile. “Alright, grandma! I’ll listen!”

Her grandmother nodded with a warm smile. “Alright, now…it’s pretty simple, really. When a dream starts, your mind crafts a world for it to take place in, but because it whips them up so quickly, there‘s always a glitch to find, find that glitch, and the dream is yours to control…”
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Trixie looked at her reflection, finding herself giving a small smile at her memory…

“You need to stop spending so much time around grandma, or you’ll turn out just like her; weak and a failure. And you don’t want that, now do you?”

Which turned to a frown quickly. Trixie turned away from the mirror with her head low.
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“Good morning, Trixie,” said Twilight, seeming especially perky this morning as she made breakfast, Spike already eating some gems.

“Good morning…” said Trixie, blinking in surprise as she descended the stairs. “Trixie sees you are in a good mood, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight nodded, floating food to the table. “Yeah, your advice really worked; once I realized it was a dream, everything was fine,” she stated, setting the table, keeping a rather large smile on her face. She couldn’t help being in a good mood now that the nightmares that had plagued her for weeks were over. “I haven’t had such a good night’s sleep in weeks.”

“Yeah, neither have I,” added Spike, giving a small nod as he consumed another gem. Even if they’d got him up in the middle of the night, it was a relief that Twilight hadn’t had a nightmare afterwards to disturb him again (and hadn‘t had a nightmare at all, for that matter). That and, even though he didn’t want to admit it, her advice had helped him with some bad dreams too, involving his last birthday.

“Trixie is glad she could be of assistance,” Trixie stated, taking her place at the table, quickly. She actually felt happy hearing that it’d worked…Then shook it off as best as she could. “Trixie… Trixie merely didn’t feel like being disturbed every night is all…” Trixie explained, doing her best snooty look to cover for herself.

Twilight frowned slightly. ‘It’s alright, Twilight, remember how hard it was for you to finally make friends…’ she thought, knowing she’d been quite antisocial herself before moving to Ponyville. “Well whatever your reason, I really owe you one…”

Trixie nodded slowly and grinned. There were a great many things that ran through her head at that moment… “Twilight, just to clarify, when you say you owe Trixie one…”

Twilight sighed with an annoyed look. “No, I can’t ask Princess Celestia to make you the royal court magician.”

Trixie pouted. “Oh well, it was worth a shot…” she muttered under her breath. Though truthfully, she kind of felt glad that was the case. And also truthfully, even Trixie didn’t even know why she did, she’d certainly WANTED to be a royal court magician. Whatever it was, for some reason asking such a thing didn’t seem proper right now.

“Hey, if she’d do something like that, don’t you think Rainbow Dash would be a Wonderbolt by now?” asked Spike.

“Good point…Well will you at least tell Trixie one thing?”

“What?”

“…Did Fluttershy really outstare a Cockatrice?”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, it ambushed me and turned me to stone on the way to a friend of mine who lives in the Everfree Forest…I think a snail crawled on my eye…” she said, giving a shudder. Discord was right; being turned to stone was NOT fun. “Anyway, she saved a group of fillies from the darn thing and got it to turn me back to normal. If it weren‘t for her, who knows how long I‘d have been a statue.”

Trixie’s jaw dropped in surprise.

“Told you so,” said Spike with a chuckle.
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Scootaloo rode her scooter at top speed towards her and the other Crusader’s clubhouse, wings flapping to provide propulsion. She couldn’t wait for what they were supposed to do today, none of them could. She wouldn’t stop for anything!

“Hey, Scoots!” called a familiar voice.

Except that.

Scootaloo skidded to a stop, looking up to see Rainbow Dash flying above her. “Hey, Rainbow Dash!” called the little filly, ecstatic to have her idol call for her, no matter what the reason.

Rainbow Dash descended, flapping her wings one last time to soften her landing. She gave the filly a smile. She could always count on Scootaloo, her number one fan. “Hey, could you do me a little favor?”

“Sure, Rainbow Dash! Anything!”

“Alright, you know Trixie?” asked Rainbow, seriously.

Scootaloo gave a growl. “That bully who did that awful stuff to you and Sweetie Belle and Applebloom’s sisters? What about her?”

Rainbow Dash nodded, glad at least Scootaloo agreed with her. “She’s staying with Twilight, I think she’s got everypony else fooled.”

“But not you, right?”

Rainbow gave a nod. “Yeah, not me. I’ve been keeping an eye on her, but I’ve got some work to do to prepare for the storms we’re gonna be getting from that tropical storm. You and the other Crusaders are going to Rarity’s, right?”

Scootaloo nodded quickly. “Yeah, I’m going to meet up with Applebloom to head over there, why?”

“Well Trixie’s got a job working there today, mind keeping an eye on her for me while you’re there and telling me what she‘s up to?”

Scootaloo didn’t hesitate and nodded quickly. “Of course, Rainbow Dash, and I’m sure Applebloom will too. After all, Trixie hurt her big sis too.”

Rainbow smirked and ruffled the little Pegasus’ mane. “I knew I could count on you, thanks,” she stated, then flapped her wings to get back into the air. “See yah later, Scoots!” she called, giving a salute and flying off to do her job.

Scootaloo returned the salute. “I’ve got a mission from Rainbow Dash! And who knows, maybe I’ll get a spying Cutie Mark,” she said, wondering what one would look like briefly, before remounting her scooter and taking off for the clubhouse.
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“Twilight, Trixie doesn’t like this…” said Trixie in a nervous tone as they stood outside Carousel Boutique.

Twilight looked back to Trixie. “Why not?”

Trixie looked at Twilight like it was obvious. She then pointed to her pink mane and tail.

Twilight gave a slightly annoyed sigh. “Trixie, Rarity is not going to make fun of your mane, she’s not like that!”

“Twilight, Trixie knows you think the best of your friends, but do not forget the most interaction she’s had with this unicorn was turning her mane into a disgusting green mess in front of the entire town!”

“Trixie, Rarity is a lot of things, but one thing she’d never do is insult somepony’s bad hair day.”

Spike nodded, riding on Twilight‘s back. “Yeah, Rarity isn‘t like that… Hey wait, if you could do that to Rarity’s mane, how come you can’t just use magic to fix your hair?”

Trixie sighed, giving a slightly embarrassed look. “Trixie didn’t exactly study that kind of magic beyond how to make somepony’s hair a mess… Her main reason for knowing it was to humiliate ponies in her act, so she never saw reason to learn more of that particular type of magic.”

“Well don’t worry, I’m sure that Rarity won’t make fun of you,” said Twilight in as reassuring a voice as she could manage. “And if you don’t want to, there’s foalsitting the Cakes’ month old foals with Pinkie Pie.”

“Hmm…What kind of foals?”

“A unicorn filly and a pegasus colt.”

“Unicorn and pegasus foals…” said Trixie, giving it consideration. “…Are they in that stage?”

“Sporadic magic surges and periods of flight instincts kicking in? Yeah…”

“And Pound Cake is a really strong little colt,” explained Spike, looking over to the mare.

“…Trixie will pass, besides, her nose still hasn‘t recovered from yesterday‘s skunk incident, she‘d prefer not to have to change dirty diapers…” Trixie added, giving a disgusted face at the thought.

Spike blinked and nodded. “I never thought I’d say this, but I agree with Trixie on that one, Twi‘.”

Twilight nodded. “Considering I spent yesterday cleaning up a stink bomb, I know how you feel,” she replied, giving a likewise disgusted face. “Besides, I think Pinkie has it covered.”

Trixie then gave a sigh of defeat. “Trixie will work for Rarity…. But if Rarity makes fun of her mane, Trixie will say she told you so…repeatedly and at length.”

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes, then opened the door slowly with her magic and blinked in confusion at the sight inside.

“Now Applejack, you must see the need for proper attire for such a gathering,” pleaded Rarity in an annoyed tone.

“And just what is wrong with how Ah dress?” asked Applejack, rather sharply, glaring back at the unicorn. “Ah don’t need no big poofy gown just to show off some apples.”

Twilight looked to Sweetie Belle, who was simply watching from nearby. “What’s going on?”

“Rarity and Applejack are fighting over some fair in Canterlot,” explained the little unicorn filly, looking a little upset. She was no stranger to this, but that didn’t mean she liked it.

“Applejack, this is a Canterlot fair, not just any old country fair,” replied Rarity, importance in her tone. “You had no problem dressing up proper for the Grand Galloping Gala or Twilight’s birthday party.”

“Uh, girls,” said Twilight, trying to get their attention as Trixie merely watched, somewhat amused, from the sidelines.

“That’s ‘cause those were big fancy gatherings in the Canterlot Ballroom, not a bunch of farmer ponies showin’ off their crops.”

“Girls…”

“But it’s still in Canterlot, there are going to be tons of important ponies there, the judges are all going to be Canterlot ponies, they will expect you to look your best!”

“Rarity!”
“It’s just a farm show, shouldn‘t how the apples look matter more than how Ah do?!”

“Applejack!”

“They’re Canterlot ponies, Applejack, they expect everypony to look their best all of the time!”

“Girls!”

“Well that’s just plain dumb!”

Twilight sighed in annoyance as the two continued to argue. She looked to Sweetie Belle. “Sweetie Belle, would you please get their attention?” she asked, seriously.

Trixie raised her eyebrow as the filly nodded, causing Twilight and Spike to cover their ears. “What’s going on?”

Sweetie Belle inhaled deeply. “SIS! APPLEJACK! TWILIGHT WANTS YOU!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, which finally got the two arguing pony’s attention.

Trixie just stared wide-eyed in shock, ears ringing before she shook her head to clear it. “My…Trixie didn’t expect such a little filly to have such a loud voice…” she stated, looking over to see Sweetie Belle smiling like a little angel, in fact, she was pretty sure she even saw a halo.

Spike chuckled, uncovering his ears. “Just wait until we get all three of them together.”

Trixie’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wait, three of them?”

Twilight nodded to Sweetie Belle with a smile. “Thank you, Sweetie Belle,” she said, giving the filly a grateful look, before looking to her two friends and giving them a small glare.

Applejack scratched the back of her head in embarrassment while Rarity gave an ashamed sigh. “I am sorry for being so rude, Applejack… But I was not joking, in Canterlot, appearance is important. The ponies there judge very heavily based on how you look. I only wanted to help make sure you did the best in the fair you possibly could. I know how important it is to you and your family.”

Applejack nodded, lowering her head in embarrassment. “Yeah, Ah‘m sorry too. Ah guess Ah was just bein’ a bit stubborn. Yah know Canterlot a whole lot better than Ah do, after all. And you were able to make me a good dress before, Ah reckon yah can do it again. Just nothin‘ too girly, alright?”

Rarity nodded, giving a small smile. “I’ll do my best, Applejack, but right now, Trixie has come for her job and we have work to do, I will meet you on your farm after I‘m done with work for the day.”

Applejack nodded, heading out with nod. “Alright, Ah’ll be seein’ yah.”

Rarity nodded, then looked to Sweetie Belle. “Sweetie Belle, my sewing glasses are on the table in my bedroom, will you be a dear and very carefully fetch them for me?”

Sweetie Belle gave an enthusiastic nod. “Sure sis! I’ll be right back!” exclaimed the filly, running off. Any opportunity to actually help Rarity as opposed to cause a gigantic mess wasn‘t something she wanted to mess up.

“Be careful!”

Trixie blinked, watching AJ leave before looking to Twilight. “Does that happen often? Those two bickering like that?”

Twilight nodded slightly. “Kind of, Rarity and Applejack have differing opinions on a lot of things.”

“How do you put up with it?” asked Trixie, a bit confused as she directed the question to both mares. These six used magical charms that literally ran on friendship; she would’ve expected them to be more…friendly.

“Applejack and I may not always agree on things, but I know Applejack is a true friend,” said Rarity, levitating several finished dresses into position near the sewing machines. “She’ll always have my back when I need it and I shall always have hers.”

Twilight nodded in agreement, looking to Trixie. “Friends fighting doesn’t mean they’re not friends, it just means they’ve got a problem to work out. It’s like I told Discord, friendship isn’t always easy, but it’s worth it no matter what.”

Trixie looked confused about this for a second. Then she looked somewhat sorrowful. “…It must feel good to have ponies that care so much about you…”

Twilight frowned. “Trixie, is something wrong?” she asked in a concerned voice.

“Oh! Nothing! Nothing is wrong, Trixie was just lost in thought is all,” answered Trixie quickly, before looking to Rarity, desperate to change the subject. “What job will Trixie be doing?”

Rarity looked at Trixie, focusing solely on her for the first time since her arrival. “Well I need a little- Oh dear, Trixie, whatever happened to your mane and tail?”

Trixie sighed, having expected this. “Trixie, er…She had a rather…unfortunate encounter with a skunk yesterday…” she said, blushing with embarrassment before bracing herself for what she perceived as inevitable.

“Oh, that‘s quite unfortunate, tomato juice and white hair just do not mix,” said Rarity, sympathetic in tone. “Well I will just have to do something to fix that, won‘t I?”

Trixie blinked in complete shock. “Say what?”

Twilight gave Trixie a reassuring look. “Trixie, Rarity is the Element of Generosity, remember? It’s what she does.”

Rarity nodded, giving a smile. “Quite right,” she stated. “That is if I may do you this service, Trixie. I am not pitying you. Pink just clashes horribly with your coat; it isn’t your color at all. And I am a fashionista after all; it is my duty to make ponies look fabulous.”

Trixie hesitated. She’d tried everything she knew, was it wrong to let somepony whose job was fashion do a job that was theirs to do? And she’d rather not walk around Ponyville with pink hair if she could help it. That and if Rarity was going to try to take revenge, she might as well get it over with while her hair was a mess anyway. “Alright… You may try, Trixie supposes…” she said, closing her eyes. She felt the telltale feeling of magic rippling through her mane and tail. She carefully opened her eyes and looked in a mirror, fully expecting to find it the same messy green disaster she’d made Rarity’s, instead finding her mane and tail not only their proper color. In fact, if she wasn’t mistaken, it looked better than ever.

Trixie looked at Rarity in complete shock. “You… You actually did it…”

“Of course, why ever would I not?” asked Rarity, giving a genuinely confused look.

“Why…why not?” asked Trixie, completely shocked. “I called your mane a rat’s nest, goaded you into a rigged contest, turned your hair into a disgusting green mess, humiliated you in front of the entire town, and then bragged about doing it! And before that I publicly humiliated two of your best friends!”

“Which you also bragged about,” added Spike simply, looking through a pile of discarded gems Rarity set aside for him. She normally let him have the gems that she couldn’t make use of herself.

“Exactly!”

“Yes, you did do all that,“ said Rarity, giving a small glare, which then turned into a small smile. “But I would never willingly defile another mare’s mane, especially not that of a friend.”

Trixie’s eyes went wide in shock. “F-friend?!”

Rarity nodded sincerely, no hint of falsehood anywhere. “You’re a friend of Twilight’s, I think that much is clear. No matter what you did to me, I trust her judgment; if she’s chosen to trust you as her friend, then I see no reason I shouldn’t as well. Besides, circumstances have punished you far more than what you deserved; doing anything more to you now would be cruel. I think we should just let bygones be bygones.”

“Here you go sis!” called Sweetie Belle, stampeding into the room and tripping, sending her sister’s glasses failing into the air, which were thankfully caught telekinetically by the older unicorn.

“Thank you, Sweetie Belle,” said Rarity, hurrying over and helping her little sister up. “Now do please try to keep out of the way, I know you mean well, but sometimes too many cooks spoil the broth.”

Sweetie Belle blinked in confusion. “I thought you were making dresses.”

“It’s an expression, it means having too many ponies working on one thing, even if they’re all good at it, can cause it to turn out badly,” explained Rarity, trying to be gentle with her baby sister. Even if Sweetie Belle tended to cause more harm than good in the boutique, she didn’t want to outright tell her she couldn’t help because of it. “And Trixie needs this job, you understand? Plus I am trying to get finished early to spend time with you later.”

Sweetie Belle gave an understanding nod, though looked a little disappointed. “I understand, sis...”

Trixie looked to Twilight in surprise. “Twilight… You consider me-er- Trixie your friend?”

Twilight nodded sincerely, giving a warm smile to the unicorn. “Yes, Trixie, I do. I admit, I wouldn’t have been the first one to say it a few days ago, but now that I’ve actually gotten to know you, I honestly consider you a friend. Especially after how you helped me last night.”

Trixie looked conflicted and uncertain as Twilight said that. Desperate to change the subject to something less awkward, she looked to Sweetie Belle. “T-Trixie didn’t know Rarity had a little sister…”

Twilight nodded, allowing Trixie to change the subject. “She doesn’t live here, but she visits a lot. Her name’s Sweetie Belle.”

Trixie watched Rarity nuzzle her little sister and vice versa, they looked very happy together. Trixie’s ears lowered in sadness as she watched the happy siblings. She shook it off as best she could. She walked over. “R-Rarity… What job should Trixie do?”

Rarity turned and looked to Trixie. "It's quite simple," she said, showing her to a sewing machine. "Simply stitch these patches onto these dresses," she explained, showing patches with symbols on them and a number of very beautiful dresses, each decorated with gems of all types, as was Rarity‘s style. One was essentially covered in sapphires. "They're labeled by names and the dresses have an outline where the patches go, so if you pay attention, nothing should go wrong," she explained, having been extra careful to make sure nothing went amiss. She’d normally only do work herself, but in this case, she’d make an exception. “I need to get this work done quickly; I have a client coming by to pick up their dress later today. Then I have to help Applejack prepare for a very important fair in Canterlot afterwards so I can take Sweetie Belle and her friends on a camping trip,” she said, giving her little sister a smile.

“Camping?” asked Trixie, surprised clear in her face that. “Isn’t that a little…dirty for your tastes? Last time Trixie saw you, you ran for the hills from having your hair a little messed up.”

“It is a tad unclean, and I don‘t particularly enjoy getting dirty,” admitted Rarity, before looking to her sister. “But my sister matters more to me than getting my hooves a little muddy.”

Sweetie Belle nodded, smiling up at her big sister. “Rarity and I do stuff like this all the time!… Well, ever since the Sisterhooves Social.”

Twilight saw Trixie’s confusion at mention of the Social. “It’s a yearly competition between teams of sisters at Sweet Apple Acres. Sweetie Belle and Rarity came in second last time…is something wrong?” she asked, noticing Trixie looking rather upset and distant at that mention.

“Oh… N-nothing, n-nothing wrong, T-Trixie was simply lost in thought…again,” said Trixie, shaking it off.

“Wait, I thought you were Trixie…” stated a rather confused Sweetie Belle.

“That’s right,” said Trixie, looking back at the confused filly with a raised eyebrow.

“Then why do you keep talking about yourself like you’re another person?” asked Sweetie Belle with a raised eyebrow of her own. Trixie wasn’t sure she was mimicking her or just equally as confused.

“Trixie speaks in the third person, Sweetie Belle,” explained Rarity, looking to her little sister.

That just caused Sweetie Belle to look even more confused. “But there’s only one of her!”

Rarity gave a sigh, but understood her little sister was still a filly. “Third person means she talks about herself like she’s a different person, like how when Princess Luna was here she called herself ‘we’ instead of ‘I’, it’s just a specific manner of speaking.”

“Oh…” said Sweetie Belle, before giving a small smile. “Ok, I think I get it…That’s actually kind of cool!” she exclaimed, much to Trixie’s visible surprise.

Rarity then turned to Trixie. “Shall we get to work?” she asked, heading over to the sewing machine and getting to work, floating her sewing glasses onto her face.

Trixie went over and her jaw dropped when she saw the names listed. “Sapphire Shores?! Hoity Toity?! Spitfire?! Octavia?!” she exclaimed in utter disbelief. “You… You’re making dresses for all these famous ponies?!”

Rarity gave a slightly prideful nod. “Yes, I get quite a few famous clients here, though Hoity Toity ordered designs in bulk for his new fashion line, second year in a row, so he‘s got quite a few. And Sapphire Shores is a regular customer, that‘s why I always keep a big supply of sapphires around. I must also admit that I was recommended to Octavia by Pinkie Pie of all ponies, I didn‘t even know the two knew one another.”

“She’s also a personal friend of Fancypants,” bragged Spike, standing as close to Rarity as he possibly could, Rarity didn‘t mind either action.

“F-Fancypants?! The Fancypants?!” asked Trixie, jaw dropping almost to the floor.

“Well personal friend may be a tad strong, but I do know him quite well,” said Rarity, smiling lightly at Spike. “But be that as it may, we have work to do, Trixie,” she stated, before Spike’s bragging gave the poor mare a stroke, as much as Rarity enjoyed it.

Trixie shook off her shock. “O-of course…” she said, going to the sewing machine and getting to work.

Trixie actually did fairly well at the work, much to Spike’s surprise. “You know how to sew?” he asked, watching her work the sewing machines.

Trixie nodded slightly. “Yes, it’s a useful skill for somepony who lives on the road to know. Trixie didn’t have time to stop at a tailor every time a curtain or her clothing became torn or ripped. So it paid to have such a talent.”

Spike nodded. “Well, you’re good at it.”

Trixie smiled proudly as she finished sewing another patch on. She set the dress back on its model so it wouldn’t wrinkle. “Thank you, Trixie takes pride in her work.”

“Well you’re doing pretty good this time,” said Spike, though naturally, having Rarity endorse Trixie had a rather sizeable say in his own opinion. “Where’d you learn?”

“Grandmother taught Trixie,” explained the unicorn mare as she continued to work. “It was one of those things Trixie had no interest in at the time but she said would come in handy, and it most certainly has.”

Spike gave a small nod. “Yeah…So…you learn a lot from your grandma?”

Trixie gave a true smile, as true a one Spike had seen her give to be honest. “Yes, Trixie did…” she said, continuing to work. She heard the same biting words clawing their way into her head again, but this time, she felt her mind becoming conflicted and decided to change her train of thought ASAP. “…Why has your opinion of Trixie changed so much, Spike?”

Spike blinked in surprise. “Uh…n-no reason, just thought I’d give you a chance is all…”

“Does this have anything to do with the fact a certain mare has accepted Trixie?” Trixie teased, she’d seen how the little dragon behaved around Rarity, hung on her every word as if they came from Celestia herself.

Spike looked shyly and blushed. “Well…maybe just a little…” he said, getting a little chuckle from Trixie.

"Wow, Rarity, your new line is beautiful!" said Twilight, who was now browsing through ALL dresses laid out.

Rarity smiled, continuing her work. “Thank you, Twilight, I’ve worked very hard on them all, all that’s left is to sew these patches on,” she said, concentrating more on her work than anything else until the thread ran out completely. “Oh, out of thread,” she said, trotting out of the room to get more.

“Well I’m sure your clients will love them,” replied Twilight, looking them over carefully as Rarity left the room, Twilight didn‘t notice.

“My big sister always makes great dresses,” said Sweetie Belle, smiling from ear to ear with pride.

Twilight smiled down at the little filly. “She sure does,” she said, happy to see Sweetie Belle brag about her sister. “So how are you and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders doing, my little pony?”

“We’re good, we have a lot of fun,” said Sweetie Belle, smiling widely. “Yesterday we tried being Cutie Mark Crusader Tennis Players.”

“Really? How did that go?”

Spike looked over and noticed Trixie’s long hair was resting on the very dress she was sewing. The mare hadn’t had a manecut in quite some time and her hair had grown out a fair bit. “Uh, Trixie, you may want to-”

“You can relax, Spike, Trixie knows what she‘s doing,” replied the unicorn, continuing as she was.

“But-”

"Trixie doesn‘t need any help, she can handle this!" replied Trixie, getting a little angry. She switched to the next dress, one with a checker board motif with the theme being rather regal. She began to sew on as normal… until she noticed the name on the dress tag, eyes going wide and a chill going down her spine. ‘Her? N-no, it c-can’t be…’ she thought, then read the name again, her heart racing in terror. ‘I-it is her!’ She seemed to just freeze up, staring at the tag in fear.

Spike blinked. “Um…Trixie?” he asked, not getting a reaction. “Trixie?” he asked, putting his hand on her side, a tad concerned.

Trixie screamed in surprise, pushing the dress forwards sharply…and let out another scream as her mane got caught up in the sewing machine.

Spike cringed and covered his eyes. "I tried to warn yah."

Trixie's struggled, trying to pull her mane out of the machine, only succeeding in making the situation worse. Spike grabbed her tail and tried to help her pull her mane out of the device.

“…so we had a lot of fun, even if we can never go back to the tennis court again,” finished Sweetie Belle with a smile to a rather confused Twilight. She then heard the ruckus from Trixie‘s accident and looked over. “What’s going on?”

“Huh?" Twilight asked, looking in direction of the noise. She then saw Trixie’s plight. “Trixie!” she yelled and ran over to her. Twilight grabbed Trixie and pulled, trying to help her dislodge her mane with Spike‘s help. Trixie’s tangled mane finally gave way, causing her to stagger backwards and hit Twilight in the face with her hoof. Twilight was sent backpedaling and right through a window with a scream while Trixie continued backwards into a shelf, knocking it over into a bunch of manikins, which knocked one another over like dominos, setting off further chaos in the process.

Rarity walked back into the room as the resulting disaster ended. Rarity gave a gasp, looking around the ruined room in shock. “W-wh-what happened?” she asked in surprise and with a slight eye twitch. Her eyes then fell on Sweetie Belle with a slight glare.

Sweetie Belle blinked in confusion, before realizing what was going on, glaring in return. “Hey! It wasn’t me this time!” she exclaimed, her and Rarity jumping as the sewing machine burst into flames.
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Trixie looked down guiltily as Rarity fixed up her hair, the room still a disaster. “Rarity… Is Twilight alright?” she asked, honest concern in her voice.

Rarity nodded lightly, working on getting the tangles out and cutting some split ends. “She will be, don’t worry. She just got a few scrapes and bruises, she’s had worse. She‘s just going to the hospital to get checked out and make sure.”

Trixie nodded, but looked almost sick to her stomach with guilt. “Looks like Trixie messed up again…” she said with a miserable sigh, leaning forwards and letting her forehead slam into the wall, not moving otherwise.

“Oh it’s nothing, darling. Sweetie Belle has made bigger messes and I really need to stop setting up my shop in such a way that one little thing toppling over somehow sets off a chain reaction that wrecks the entire room…” said Rarity, trying to choose her words carefully. She knew Trixie didn’t mean to do this; it was an accident and nothing more. But she could practically feel the mare’s guilt, something she never thought she’d see from Trixie of all ponies. From the conflicted look on her face, Rarity doubted that the blue unicorn expected it from herself either. “Besides, you did get about ¼ of the dresses done, which is still a help…”

“The sewing machine burst into flames…” Trixie said in a completely deadpan voice, not moving her head from its spot resting against the wall.

“Oh that… D-don’t worry, I’ve got another one and it was just because your mane clogged up the machinery…I think…” said Rarity, looking at the burnt up machine, and the burnt dress which she’d now have to remake. “But it does mean you can’t do anything more today I suppose… But I shall pay you for the work you already did, I cannot blame you for an accident.”

A knock came on the door, prompting Rarity to give a growl. “Oh what now?!” she asked, opening the door, only for an orange and yellow streak to fly by her.

“HEY RARITY!” yelled two excited fillies as they flew past the mare.


“Oh… Hello girls,” said Rarity, getting a little nervous.

“HEY SWEETIE BELLE!” exclaimed Scootaloo and Applebloom, skidding to a stop in front of Sweetie Belle.

“Hey Applebloom! Hey Scootaloo!” yelled Sweetie Belle, smiling widely.

Scootaloo looked around the place. “Wow, it looks like a tornado tore through here!”

“Or an earthquake…” said Applebloom, likewise looking around.

“Or a tornado AND an earthquake…”

Both fillies then gave Sweetie Belle a look. She gave a glare back. “It wasn’t me this time! Why does everypony automatically assume I was the one who wrecked Rarity’s shop?!”

The two simply gave her a raised eyebrow.

Sweetie Belle got a sheepish look in response. “Oh yeah…But how was I supposed to know what the red button did?!”

“It was a wrecking ball! What else was it supposed to do?” asked Scootaloo with a small glare.

“I didn’t know we were in one! We were supposed to be Cutie Mark Crusader Basket Weavers!” replied Sweetie Belle with a glare of her own. “Not Cutie Mark Crusaders Demolition Ponies!”

Applebloom blinked, giving a perplexed look. “Yah know, she’s got a good point… How did we even end up in that thing anyway?”

Scootaloo was about to respond but blinked, rubbing her head in confusion. “I don‘t know…”

"Well, yah got bored and said basket weavin' was dumb, then there was that bird..." said Applebloom, cringing at that part along with the other two.

"Fluttershy wasn't too happy about that..." reminded Sweetie Belle in a sheepish tone.

"Yeah, I was afraid she'd use the Stare on us..." muttered Scootaloo with a nod.

"And Ah don't even know how that one ended with us covered in tree sap..." said Applebloom, rubbing her head in confusion.

Scootaloo nodded. “Ever notice that a surprising amount of our Cutie Mark attempts end with us covered in tree sap?”

Sweetie Belle nodded, equally as confused. “Yeah…But it really wasn’t me this time!”

Trixie sighed miserably, finally moving her head from the wall to look at them. “Trixie is afraid it was her fault…”

“Should’ve known it was you,” said Scootaloo, glaring daggers at the mare. “See Applebloom! I told you so!”

“Ah guess you were right about her bein’ trouble, Scootaloo,” replied Applebloom, likewise glaring at her.

“Wait… Applebloom?” asked Trixie, blinking in confusion. She then cringed in realization. “Let Trixie guess… You’re related to Applejack?”

“Yep, Ah‘m her little sis.”

“And you’re still mad at Trixie for publicly humiliating her?”

“Yep, that’s about right.”

Trixie gave a sigh. “Of course…”

“Hey, don’t worry about her,” interrupted Sweetie Belle, trying to settle things down a bit. Truth be told, she really didn’t see anything wrong with Trixie personally. She’d made worse messes of the shop herself. And Rarity forgave her after all, she can‘t be all bad. “Remember what today is?”

“Oh yeah,” said Scootaloo, giving a wide grin.

“How could Ah forget?” asked Applebloom, smiling wide as well.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER CAMPING TRIP WITH RARITY!”

Trixie was nearly knocked off her hooves by the massive yell of the trio of fillies and dazed for a moment by the volume of it. She shook her head to get rid of the ringing in her ears. “Now Trixie knows what Spike meant…”

“Um girls…” said Rarity with a sad look, trying to approach this as carefully as possible. “I’m afraid we may have to cancel the camping trip…”

“Aww, why?”

“Yeah, what’s goin’ on, Miss Rarity?”

“Yeah, sis, you promised!”

Rarity sighed miserably, trying not to look at the three hurt fillies looking up at her. “Well… I was really relying on Trixie’s help to finish everything in time so we could go…” she said, not wanting to put the blame on the poor mare, any more than the trio already HAD. “And the sewing machine she was using…”

“Burst into flames…” muttered Trixie, lowering her head in embarrassment. Rarity couldn’t help feeling she looked…scared.

“Yes… So I’m going to have to do everything myself,” continued Rarity with a sad sigh. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to cancel the camping trip…”

The three fillies all looked down in disappointment.

“But sis-”

“I’m sorry, Sweetie Belle, but I‘m afraid there‘s nothing else I can do…” replied Rarity, looking sadly at her sister, heart practically breaking at the sad look in Sweetie Belle’s eyes.

Scootaloo and Applebloom both gave Trixie a glare. “Gee, thanks a lot for ruining our day,” spat Scootaloo bitterly, glaring straight at Trixie.

“Yeah, yah had to go and wreck our campin’ trip! Yah have any idea how long we’ve been waitin’ for this?!” asked Applebloom, anger clear in her voice.

“Now girls, you’ve got a clubhouse and I’m sure you can find plenty of things to do without bothering Trixie…it wasn’t her fault, it was an accident,” said Rarity in a stern tone. She noted Trixie seemed rather hurt by their words, something Rarity had never expected from her.

“Come on, girls, let’s go,” said Scootaloo with a growl, leading the way out of the shop, the other two following suit.

Rarity sighed. “I’m sorry about that, Trixie… I know it wasn’t your fault…” she said, giving Trixie a sympathetic look.

Trixie looked up at Rarity. “Trixie isn’t sure if it was or not, Rarity…” she muttered. “Trixie will leave you to your work…” she stated, heading out of the store with her head low.

Rarity shook her head. “I hope the poor dear will be alright,” she said, looking around her ruined shop, which she’d have to fix up quickly as possible to be able to help Applejack in time. She went over the ruined dress. “Now which dress was this?” she asked, levitating the burned, but still legible tag. “Checker Monarch… Oh no! She‘s coming to pick it up today! I mustn’t be late on this one, she won’t tolerate tardiness on my part!” she exclaimed, getting to work on a replacement dress before she even finished the sentence.
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“I guess I’ll just go back to the library and wait for Twilight…” muttered Trixie, trotting along with her head low. “…Why do I feel so rotten?” she asked, thinking about it long and hard. “This was an accident, I didn’t do anything wrong…It’s not my fault, why should I feel so guilty?” she asked lowly, her mind completely and utterly conflicted. “I have publicly humiliated dozens upon dozens of ponies all over Equestria, from Manehatten to right here in Ponyville, without any remorse…So why is it NOW that I feel like a complete and utter heel?” she asked, letting her long hair almost touch the ground. “And why did seeing I ruined those filly’s play date…scare me?” she asked, remembering the chill that had gone down her spine at that point. Why had she managed to frighten herself doing that but none of the other things she’d done before had ever registered that way? “Is it because Twilight and Rarity are so kind to me?” she asked, thinking over the two mares who had declared her their “friend“. “But that doesn’t explain why I was scared when I found out I ruined those filly’s camping trip with Rarity…Seeing her name makes sense, but…or maybe that‘s exactly why it scared me…”

She then heard voices coming from nearby. “Huh?” she asked, poking her head through a nearby bush.
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“Well this is just great, I told you that Trixie was no good!” said Scootaloo, her and the other Crusaders in a clearing.

“Yeah, you were right, Ah guess,” replied Applebloom, kicking a rock. “Ah was really lookin’ forwards to that trip too…”

“Wait, Rarity said it was an accident,” said Sweetie Belle, trying to be the voice of reason if at all possible. “We shouldn’t be mad at her for a mistake, should we?”

“Oh wake up, Sweetie Belle!” said Scootaloo, as if Sweetie was crazy. “Trixie is no good; she probably did it on purpose!”

“How do you know?” asked Sweetie Belle with a raised eyebrow.

“‘Cause Rainbow Dash told me!” replied Scootaloo, proudly. “She told me Trixie’s got the others fooled, but not her!”

“Besides, Sweetie Belle, ain’t yah sore with her for hurting your sis?” asked Applebloom, confusion clear in her voice.

Sweetie Belle looked a little confused. “Well…yeah, I guess…Anyway, what are we going to do now?” she asked, trying to change the subject before they went too far down that path.

“Simple,” said Scootaloo, smirking rather mischievously. “Rainbow Dash showed me this really neat spot; let’s just go camping on our own!”

“Yeah, that’s a great idea!” replied Applebloom, giving a smile.

Sweetie Belle thought about it for a second and nodded. It sounded like a decent idea to her. “Yeah, let’s do it…Where’s the spot?”

“In the Everfree Forest.”

“The Everfree Forest?!” exclaimed Sweetie Belle and Applebloom at the same time.

“Scootaloo, that forest is full of all kinds of monsters,” said Applebloom, giving a shiver at her memory of past adventures there. “What makes you think campin’ there is a good idea?”

“Oh don’t be scared, Rainbow Dash showed me the trail, I know how to get us there easy,” said Scootaloo in a confident tone reminiscent of the rainbow haired mare herself. “What’s wrong, you two chicken?”

“No! Ah ain’t chicken!” replied Applebloom, glaring. Nopony called an Apple Family pony a coward.

Sweetie Belle looked apprehensive, once more trying to think with common sense. “You’re sure you know the way?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah, like the back of my hoof! And everypony knows the monsters in the Everfree Forest don‘t come out until after dark! Why do you think Twilight always goes to visit Zecora during the day?”

“Ah guess that makes a good bit of sense…” said Applebloom, still thinking about it. “Alright, let’s go…”

Sweetie Belle hesitated a moment before nodding. “Sure, I guess it’ll be alright…But we don‘t stay after dark, ok?”

“Sure, we’ll be out before dark, promise,” said Scootaloo, smiling. The two others nodded.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CAMPING TRIP! YAY!”

The trio gleefully trotted off on their way.
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Trixie fell backwards outside the bush as the fillies screamed, still unseen by the trio, ears once again ringing. “They’re going into the Everfree Forest?!” she asked aloud, thinking about it with dread. She gave a shiver, remembering one specific creature there more than anything else. She then shook it off as best she could “Oh well, I’m… I’m sure everything will be fine…They know the way, what’s the worst that could happen?” she asked aloud, trying to settle herself if at all possible. She then resumed her path towards the library. “They’re just three fillies going camping in a forest… They’re just going camping, that‘s all…alone…in a dark…unnatural…deadly…monster infested forest…” she muttered to herself, getting more and more apprehensive with each word, dread building in her heart.

Trixie gave a sigh and turned around, heading after the trio. “Of all the days for me to start actually caring about somepony else‘s well being…” she muttered, following the girls towards the Everfree Forest.

New chapter! Same as always, MLP belongs to Hasbro!

Into The Forest

“Well, here we are,” said Applebloom, looking up at the entrance to the Everfree Forest, looking more than a little nervous. The three had stopped by their clubhouse and now wore their Cutie Mark Crusader capes proudly.

“I’m still not so sure about this…” Sweetie Belle stated, looking into the deep forest with a shiver, ears pinned back as the memory of the Cockatrice encounter came full front to her mind. “What if we run into the Cockatrice?”

“We’ll just say Fluttershy is with us, that‘ll scare it off,” said Scootaloo giving a smirk. The other two couldn’t help giving a chuckle about that. “Come on, we’ll be fine! Twilight goes to Zecora’s all the time, hay, Zecora lives in the Everfree Forest and gets along just fine,” she added, looking to the others. “Besides, remember what Granny Smith said during Family Appreciation Day? Zap Apples were from the Everfree Forest, and so are a lot of the things Zecora makes her potions with, who knows what else could be in there!”

“That’s actually a good point,” admitted Applebloom, smiling at the mention of her grandmother. “After all, most ponies are too scared to go into the Everfree Forest, so Ah reckon there’s probably lots of good things in there we just don’t know about along with the bad we do.”

Sweetie Belle’s excitement got the better of her and she smiled widely. “Yeah, that would be cool! We could get a Cutie Mark for exploring!”

“Yeah! That’d be awesome!” replied Scootaloo, giving a smile at the thought.

Applebloom nodded quickly, fantasizing about what an exploring Cutie Mark would look like. “Alright, let’s give it a shot! But remember, we get out before it gets dark.”

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS EXPLORERS! YAY!”

With that, the three fillies dashed off into the Everfree Forest.
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Rarity sewed the patch onto the recreated dress she was working on, giving a sigh of relief. “Done at last, I almost thought I wouldn’t make it in time…” she said, looking around the shop, which was still a disaster area. She gave a frustrated sigh at the sight. “Hopefully I can fix up the shop before Checker Monarch gets here and sees this…” she said, horn lighting up as she telekinetically put a manikin back in its proper place, putting the dress on it for her client to examine.

Opal, sleeping peacefully on an overturned basket, was awakened when Rarity pulled it out from under her. Giving a yowl, the cat glared at her master before looking at the design set up. She gave a loud hiss at it and looked quite irritated, tail batting back and forth furiously.

Rarity sighed. “I don’t blame you Opal, I don’t like Checker anymore than you do, but she’s a paying client,” she stated, then heard the door open, turning to see Twilight Sparkle and Spike enter, Twilight sporting a few bandages, but nothing too severe. “Oh, hello Twilight, Spike. Is everything alright?”

Twilight gave a smile to her friend. “Hello Rarity, and everything‘s fine. I got hurt worse following Pinkie that one day…Where’s Trixie?” she asked, looking around with a bit of concern once realizing the blue unicorn wasn‘t present.

“She left awhile ago…I feel bad for the poor mare,” said Rarity with a frown, moving a shelf back into its place and telekinetically replacing its contents. “She blames herself for all this when it was just an accident…She seemed to feel especially guilty for harming you, dear.”

Spike blinked in suprise. “Wait wait wait, Trixie feels guilty about something?” he asked, looking a little uncertain about it.

“Spike, she might have acted like a jerk before, but she’s just like anypony else,” admonished Twilight, giving a frown. “The only being I’ve ever met who couldn’t feel guilty is Discord.”

“The only creatures who can‘t feel remorse have no heart, Spike,” said Rarity, keeping her telekinesis working on fixing up the room. “And I personally think Trixie has a good heart, one even she didn‘t know it was there…”

Spike blinked, then gave a sheepish smile. “Alright, if you say so Rarity…”

“Speaking of Trixie, I‘d better go check on her and make sure she‘s ok,” said Twilight, looking to Rarity with a tad bit of concern. “Good luck with your work, Rarity.”

“You go on, Twilight,” said Spike. “I’m going to stay and…uh…help Rarity clean up, ok?” he asked, covering for himself by putting some spools of thread and ribbon back on a table.

Twilight gave a small smirk, seeing right through the little dragon. “Alright Spike, I’ll see you at the library later.”

Rarity smiled warmly. “Thank you, Spike, that’s very kind of you,” she said, giving him a warm nuzzle. She knew about his crush, of course, as he’d confessed to it when they’d both believed they were falling to their deaths, though she’d figured it out a good bit prior. But as of yet, they hadn’t moved any further than that, Rarity preferred to see how things progressed naturally, without trying to force them. Sure, he was a dragon, and a few years younger than her (though since Twilight hatched him when she was a filly, not THAT much younger), but he was still devoted and kindhearted, not to mention generous. In short, essentially everything Blueblood wasn’t, so she was open to the possibility.

Spike blushed at her nuzzle. “You’re welcome, Rarity…” he said, smiling sheepishly as he continued genuinely helping put things back in place. “So, whose dress did Trixie burn up?”

“One for a regular client of mine,” explained Rarity, looking to the repaired dress. “A very wealthy business pony from Manehatten,” she continued, keeping her focus on fixing her shop up as she spoke. “Her full name is Checkmate Monarch, but she goes by simply Checker Monarch.”

Spike looked uncertain for a moment, something coming back to his memory. “Rarity…When Trixie saw who that dress was for, she seemed really scared…” he admitted, actually feeling a chill going down his spine.

Rarity looked back, not seeming surprised at all. “Well I honestly cannot blame the poor girl if she knows Checker at all, even I’m a tad bit afraid of that mare to be honest.”

Spike’s eyes went wide for a second. “Really?”

Rarity nodded, pushing a manikin a few inches so it was back in its proper place. “She owns a huge business and loves my work, but I honestly get chills whenever I talk to her. She’s cold and distant, even when she’s acting perfectly pleasant….It’s somewhat difficult to describe, but her voice just has absolutely no real compassion in it, like she‘s talking to an object instead of a pony. But if I had to nail down one thing that makes her frightening, however, it‘d be her eyes. She seems to look at the world like everything is a pawn, as if she has no real connection to anypony or anything and everything exists solely for her.”

“So in other words, like Blueblood?” asked Spike, getting chills just hearing Rarity talk about Checker.

“No, Blueblood is more like a spoiled brat, viewing the world like it revolves around him because he‘s from a privileged family. Checker is like somepony observing the world trying to find out how to make it revolve around her because she wants it to. She honestly reminds me a tad bit of Discord in that respect…But she pays well and having one of the richest ponies in Manehatten wearing my designs certainly helps me, so please do be polite around her if she comes while you‘re here.”

Spike shivered, but nodded. “Alright, Rarity…” he said, then heard something and looked out the window. “Uh, Rarity, look.”

Rarity came to the window, looking out in time to see a pegasi drawn chariot make it’s landing nearby. It was sleek and black in color, its sides high enough to conceal its rider from sight. Unlike the Princess’ chariots, this one was not drawn by royal guard pegasi, but ones dressed like chauffeurs, in black suits and with a fitting hat.

“Speak of the Draconequus…” muttered Rarity, going a tad rigid at the sight. “Spike, please, don’t say a thing, allow me to do the talking, understood?” she asked, completely serious in her tone. “In fact, hide under that table over there please, and don’t make a sound.”

Spike nodded, noting how Rarity was reacting to the arrival of this mare. “Anything for you Rarity,” he said, showing a bit of concern as he did as she‘d requested of him. To his surprise, Opal joined him. “You don’t like her either?” he asked, blinking as the cat seemed to nod in agreement.

A scrawny looking male unicorn opened a door, having a white coat with a black mane and tail, mane combed straight back on his head. His Cutie Mark was of a pony’s head nodding. He held the door open, glasses reflecting in the light as the mare Rarity had spoke of emerged from inside. She was a light blue in color, slightly darker than Trixie was. Her light grey mane was long, but kept back behind her head, perfectly maintained in every sense of the word, her unicorn horn emerging from the front of it being the only disturbance. She wore a dark grey vest, resembling a business suit, and wore black horseshoes that gleamed in Celestia’s sun. Moving further out of the chariot revealed her Cutie Mark, a red heart with three chess pieces in it, two pawns and a queen.

Her purple eyes went over her surrounding analytically, as if taking in every little detail of them, before she walked towards the boutique, carrying herself in such a way that made it clear she was of the upper crust.

Rarity struggled to get everything back in order as her client approached, but didn’t get nearly as much done as she would’ve liked when Checker’s assistant swung the door open. Rarity instantly straightened up, so as to make a better impression. “Oh, h-hello, M-Miss Monarch,” she stuttered, feeling a chill looking into those cold, calculating eyes.

Checker walked in slowly, letting the sound of each hoof hitting the hard floors resonate throughout the room as she approached, her assistant following closely behind her. “Rarity, wonderful to see you again,” she stated, the compassion in her voice transparent to anyone paying serious attention, doing nothing to hide the fact her tone was cold as ice. Checker’s analytic eyes went over the room, noticing every minute, out of place detail. “Your boutique is a mess…” she stated simply, making no attempt to hide her disapproval of that fact as she stared back at Rarity.

“Oh, yes…I’m afraid some hired help had an accident on the job and it made quite the mess,” explained Rarity, something in her just screaming to her not to reveal who it was. Rarity didn’t know why, but she was smart enough to listen to her gut at times like this. She did her best to hide her discomfort as the business mare’s cold eyes probed her, as if looking for one small slip up or misstep. This, combined with the lack of attachment to be seen in Checker’s eyes to begin with, made Rarity feel like she was an item being examined for cracks under a magnifying glass instead of a flesh and blood mare, a feeling that sent a chill down her spine and made her skin crawl. Rarity was very thankful she was good at remaining composed; at times like this it wasn‘t easy.

Checker looked down at the spot were Rarity had fixed up Trixie’s mane after the incident, horn lighting up an extremely deep violet, almost black, as she levitated a clump of white hair up to examine with a somewhat suspicious gaze that made Rarity gulp nervously. “Yes, and it would appear they left quite a mess indeed. Nevertheless, that’s your problem, not mine,” she said, dropping the hair clump and turning to Rarity. “I have come for my dress, where is it?”

Rarity fought the urge to give a sigh of relief when Checker chose to change the subject. Doing everything she could to avoid eye contact with the mare without appearing suspicious, Rarity lead the way to the dress, identical to the previous one, only with the addition of a tiara with the center piece a bright red ruby cut into the shape of a chess queen. “Here you are, Miss Monarch, the theme you requested, with a few of my signature stylings thrown in as always,” explained the dressmaker, allowing a little bit of pride to slip into her voice.

Checker walked up to the dress, once more looking over it with a calculating, analytic gaze. Rarity watched nervously as Checker looked over the dress for several moments in silence, summoning her willpower to prevent the tension from getting to her. Finally, Checker gave a smug, cruel looking smirk. “Perfect, Miss Rarity, it is exactly what I envisioned,” she stated, turning to look at Rarity, though the tone she delivered the praise in sounded more like somepony bragging about their own accomplishments than praising those of another. “I knew there was a reason I decided to make you my go to dressmaker, you always do spectacular work,” she continued, giving the dress another once over. “I shall wear it to the Grand Galloping Gala this year.”

Rarity gasped in surprise. “Y-Your Gala dress? You mean that?”

Checker nodded, smiling as she looked at her reflection in the jewel in the tiara. “Yes, I do. It suits me perfectly, I can think of nothing better for me to wear to the Gala…But I do believe you had a sign up when I ordered it, didn’t you? A discount on dresses for the Gala? Is that still in effect?” the mare asked, letting her cold eyes fall on the mare before her.

No, it wasn‘t, but at this point she just wanted Checker to leave. Those cold eyes of hers made it feel like ice was running through Rarity’s veins instead of blood. Plus, no matter how much she disliked the pony, Rarity had to admit having such a wealthy mare wearing one of her designs to the Gala would be a big boost for her business. “Y-yes, I suppose that is only fair. It was 20 percent off if I recall.”

Checker nodded with another one of those smirks of hers. “Helping Hoof, please pay Miss Rarity,” demanded the business pony, not even looking to her assistant.

“Yes, Miss Monarch,” replied the submissive unicorn quickly, saying the line as if it was rehearsed for a play or other performance, taking out the bits to pay Rarity.

Rarity took them via telekinesis, counting them up and giving a nod. “Thank you for your business, Miss Monarch. It’s been a-”

“Pleasure? Of course it was,” interrupted Checker, levitating the dress off it’s model, folding it, and laying it across Helping Hoof’s back. “Goodbye, Miss Rarity, keep up the fine work and we’ll be doing business again soon,” she said, not even looking Rarity’s direction as she spoke. “Come, Helping Hoof,” she said, leading the way.

“Yes, Miss Monarch,” replied Helping Hoof, heading for the door and opening it for his boss.

Checker gave a suspicious look over her shoulder before walking out the door, Helping Hoof following and shutting it.

Rarity finally let out a sigh of relief. She couldn’t help but tremble slightly from the stressful experience. “Thank Celestia that’s over with…”

“Yikes!” exclaimed Spike, crawling out from his hiding spot. “You weren’t kiddin’, I got chills and I’m cold-blooded!”

“I know…” said Rarity, shaking it off as best she could, to her surprise finding Opal staring at the door, tail batting back and forth aggressively. “It’s alright, Opalescence, she’s gone…wait…if your cold-blooded, how do you stay out in the winter?” she asked, looking back to Spike with a raised eyebrow.

“My dragon fire keeps me warm,” explained Spike, giving a small puff of green fire into the air to show it. “Which is another reason me getting cold chills isn’t a good sign…though it doesn’t explain how I’m able to blush…Anyway, did you see that smile of hers?” asked Spike, giving a shudder. “It reminded me of Fluttershy when she was brainwashed by Discord!”

Rarity nodded in agreement, willing her trembling cease and finally succeeding. “Makes me terrified to think what that mare must’ve been like when Discord got his claws in her…” she said, something not sitting right with her.

“What’s wrong? Like you said, she’s gone,” said Spike, putting his hand on Rarity’s side to try and settle her.

“It’s how she looked at Trixie’s hair,” said Rarity, remembering it well. “It’s almost like she recognized it…”

“I don’t know,” said Spike, thinking about it. “White isn’t exactly an uncommon hair color, there’s like three other ponies in Ponyville with the same color hair.”

Rarity sighed. “I know, but since Trixie seemed positively terrified of Checker’s name, I’m still more than a little concerned…” she replied, then gave another sigh. “Come on, Spike, we’ve got a lot of work to do if I want to make it to Applejack’s in time to help out.”

“Right behind you,” said Spike, following her as Opal continued glaring at the door, giving a low growl.
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Checker Monarch set quietly next to the door, her horn glowing. “I knew it’d pay to use a good old eavesdropping spell and listen in,” she said, giving a devilish grin. “It looks like little Trixie is getting back on her hooves.”

“Yes, Miss Monarch,” said Helping Hoof, prompting his boss to glare menacingly at him, any facade of compassion vanishing in an instant. Fear suddenly in his face, he realized his error. “I-I m-mean no! No, M-Miss Monarch!”

Checker gave a sigh of frustration at his stupidity, regaining her composure. “I’ll be staying in Ponyville just a little bit longer, tell the chariot to return to my mansion, I’ll send a message when I’m ready to go.”

“Yes, Miss Monarch,” replied Helping Hoof, going to do as she‘d asked. “Should I take the dress and tell them to prepare it for the Gala?”

“I don’t even know if I’m going to the Gala this year, just have it put with the rest.”

“Yes, Miss Monarch.”

“Might not be too bright, but he‘s dedicated yes-man,” muttered Checker, before hearing more talk from inside. Her horn lit up again and she listened in.

“Oh my, it looks like I used the last of my gems remaking Checker‘s dress, I’ll need to go get some more once I’m done helping Applejack.”

“I’ll come with you, no way am I letting you go up there alone, not with those nasty Diamond Dogs running around.”

“Don’t worry, Spike. I appreciate your concern, but those greedy brutes are easy to outwit once you know what you’re doing.”

Checker got an insidious smirk as thoughts ran through her mind.
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Trixie panted, in full gallop after the trio of fillies. “How can three little fillies run so fast?” she asked aloud, having to slow down in order to avoid expending all her energy just running there. “…Or maybe I’m just slow…I still haven’t recovered from my malnourished state…” she admitted, though she was definitely a tad better off than she was when Twilight found her.

Trotting along at a slower pace to catch her breath and rest, she went past Fluttershy’s cottage, keeping an eye out for the ninja chicken she felt was going to jump out and attack her at any moment.

“Oh, hello Trixie,” called a shy, timid voice.

Trixie turned to see Fluttershy approaching. “Oh, hello, Fluttershy…Nice day we’re having…” she said, a tad nervously. ‘If she knows about the fillies, she’ll want to help, and I won’t accept it, I know I won’t. And then, she’ll know about it, and if anything happens, everypony will know, and then who knows what will happen!’

Fluttershy trotted along next to Trixie. “I’m so very, very sorry that Sally sprayed you like she did yesterday,” apologized the Pegasus, as if she’d actually committed some heinous crime.

Trixie blinked. “Sally?…Oh yes, the skunk…” she said, feeling a tad embarrassed. “Its fine, it was Trixie‘s fault…Do you name every animal in your care?”

Fluttershy nodded proudly. “Of course, giving them names let’s me connect with them better, it makes them feel more like individuals.”

“Trixie can understand the desire for that…And you remember all their names?”

“Yes, of course, every last one of them.”

Trixie gave a rather impressed glance to the pegasus. “Even all the bunnies?”

“Especially all the bunnies, Angel would get so upset if I mistook him for one of the others.”

Trixie nodded slowly. “Yes…Trixie supposes he would…” she said, part of her wanting to hurry up and get away from the pegasus who she’d somehow ended up in a conversation with, but another part of her was curious after all she‘d heard of about this pegasus. Extremely so. She looked ahead, Everfree Forest was still quite some distance away, and she was still fatigued from her run this far. She gave a thoughtful look before looking to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy…How did you manage to cow a full-grown dragon and outstare a Cockatrice? No offense, but you seem kind of…”

Fluttershy didn’t look offended at all. “It’s alright, I understand. I know I’m weak and helpless.”

Trixie gave her an astonished look. “Fluttershy, the stories Trixie told, which were complete fabrications, don‘t even compare to what you‘ve done, so how can you call yourself weak?” she asked, in disbelief a pony could actually consider themselves weak but still be completely content, let alone after doing what Fluttershy had. “And that’s without factoring in that you’re one of the ponies who saved the world…twice.”

Fluttershy blushed, looking down uncomfortably. “Um…T-thank you…But really, I’m not strong at all. I‘m not very brave either, sometimes I’m even-” she said, just before catching sight of her shadow, giving a cry of fear and hiding in a nearby bush. She peaked out timidly, Trixie looking at her with a raised eyebrow. “…Scared of my own shadow…” she added, the shy little Pegasus coming out and following Trixie once more. “But those things I did that you say are so strong and brave…I only did them because somepony I cared about was in danger.”

Trixie blinked in complete surprise. “Wait…so you’re saying caring for other ponies is what makes you strong?” she asked, clearly surprised and in disbelief, as if the very idea was alien to her.

Fluttershy nodded without hesitation. “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. I couldn’t do anything brave, or strong, or impressive on my own, but when I’m with my friends, I feel completely different…and when one of them, or anypony else important to me is in danger, its like I‘m not afraid of anything except of losing them, it‘s like I‘m a totally different pony…if that makes sense…”

Trixie looked confused, as if something inside her head was wrestling with what she was just told. “So…Trixie assumes you’re still upset about how badly she treated your friends…” she stated, surely someone who cared that much for her friends would be mad, right?

Fluttershy gasped and shook her head. “No, not at all. I think you’ve been punished more than enough, and two wrongs don’t make a right,” she said, her shyness seeming to melt for a moment. “And now that I’ve seen what you’re really like, I can tell you aren’t a bad pony, you’re a good one who just made a bad decision,” she said, looking up at Trixie, no hint of anger or hatred or anything negative in her big, sweet eyes.

Trixie was completely at a loss for words, even knowing Fluttershy was literally kindness incarnate hadn‘t prepared her for something like this. “Fluttershy…” she muttered, not sure how to react. She was somewhat relieved when they arrived at the entrance to Everfree Forest, prompting a frightened gasp from Fluttershy.

“You’re going into E-Everf-free F-forest?” asked the yellow pegasus, eyes wide with worry and fear.

‘Should I go in alone? She’s right here, and surely she’d want to keep the girls safe…is it asking for help when it’s a mutual concern driving the other pony‘s involvement?’ Trixie thought, uncertainty clear in her face. The truth was, she was every bit as scared as Fluttershy of going alone into Everfree. ‘Besides, she knows the area, I don’t. There’s nothing wrong with asking for a guide.’

“Yes…Trixie is…Fluttershy, Trixie wants to tell you something, but you must promise not to tell anypony else,” said Trixie, giving the pegasus a serious look.

Fluttershy nodded. “Of course, I’ll even Pinkie Pie Swear.”

Trixie rose her brow. “Pinkie Pie Swear?”

“Oh! I’m so sorry! I forgot you‘re new here…It’s our own way we promise to each other when it’s really, really, really important,” explained Fluttershy. “We named it after Pinkie Pie because she takes promises very, very, VERY seriously. She always reminds us that breaking a promise to a friend is the quickest way to lose their trust, and losing a friend’s trust is the quickest way to lose that friend-”

“FOREVER!” yelled Pinkie Pie, popping out of a nearby bush without any warning, causing both to jump about three feet in the air before slowly sinking back into it, not taking her eyes off either of them as she did so.

Trixie was shaking from surprise and looked into the bush, finding Pinkie gone. “How did she…when did she…where did she g…What just happened?!” asked the extremely bewildered Trixie, looking into the bush again but still finding no sign of Pinkie.

“Um…Pinkie does things like that…” said Fluttershy, settling down. “…Sorry, I can‘t explain it any better than that, but even Twilight can’t figure out how Pinkie does a lot of the things she does…She‘s tried…”

Trixie calmed herself down. “A-alright t-then…” she said, clearing her head and regaining composure. “P-proceed with the Pinkie Pie Swear…”

Fluttershy nodded quickly. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” recited Fluttershy, doing corresponding motions with her hoof, but making sure to close her eye for the last part. “And you can trust me, you don’t want to know how mad Pinkie would get at me if she found out I broke a Pinkie Promise!”

Trixie blinked at the strange ritual, and then nodded, taking a deep breath. “…Trixie overheard those three fillies, Rarity and Applejack’s baby sisters…and an orange pegasus whose name escapes Trixie…They got furious that their camping trip with Rarity and said they were going to go on one themselves…” she explained, guilt surfacing again before she pointed to the forest. “In there…”

Fluttershy gasped in shock, suddenly looking terrified. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders are in the Everfree Forest?!”

Trixie nodded, looking down at her hooves. “And their trip was ruined because Trixie messed up…Trixie is going after them to make sure they’re safe…But she’s never been in Everfree Forest before, will you please accompany her, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy was almost hyperventilating, but nodded quickly. “Yes, of course! They could be in big trouble!”

Trixie blinked. “You took that considerably better than Trixie expected.”

“I‘m sorry…But the same thing happened to me once when I was foalsitting them, so I‘d be a hypocrite to be angry at you,” stated Fluttershy, worry, but also understanding clear in her voice.

Trixie nodded. “Alright…Let’s go…” she said, starting off into the forest, her and Fluttershy both giving a gulp as they did so.
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Had to split it, went too long.

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“This seems familiar,” said Sweetie Belle, looking around, ducking under a big creepy tree limb looking like a claw.

“Yeah, Scootaloo, Ah think this is the same way we went last time,” said Applebloom, looking around at their surroundings. The deep, dark, foreboding forest stretched on in all directions with no end in sight.

“Yeah, but that’s just cause the path goes the same way,” replied Scootaloo, leading the group confidently. “Trust me, have I ever got us lost?”

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked to each other nervously, then back to Scootaloo. “Yah sure Rainbow Dash taught you this way?”

Scootaloo nodded swiftly. “Yeah, she took me there one time, it’s AWESOME, trust me!”

“Alright, Ah guess if Rainbow Dash taught yah, she knows what she’s doin’,” said Applebloom, a little reassured. “But Ah still ain’t sure we should be going the same way we did before, considerin’ we ran into a Cockatrice that time. Yah all remember what Fluttershy said when we tried bein‘ Cutie Mark Crusader Park Rangers?”

“Don’t make bear sounds or you’ll attract them?” asked Sweetie Belle, rubbing her head with her hoof.

“No, before that!…Besides, yah didn’t sound anything like a bear anyway. What I mean is how she told us animals have a territory that they claim and don‘t wander from? What if this is that Cockatrice‘s turf?”

Scootaloo scoffed. “Yeah, but it’s daylight, it’s probably asleep,” she said…before suddenly stopping, the other two crashing into her flank before looking around, seeing a green, snake-like tail with red spikes laid out over the path, it‘s owner in a bush next to it. “Uh oh…”

The trio prepared for the owner of the tail to strike…but nothing happened. “What’s goin’ on?” asked Applebloom, a little surprised.

The trio waited a few moments…then heard a strange noise, like a snoring chicken.

Scootaloo and the others peeked into the bush the tail lead into, finding the chicken-headed, snake-bodied monster sound asleep inside. Scootaloo gave the other two a smirk. And shushed them, the trio pulling out and tiptoeing ahead a good distance ahead. “See, told you it’d be sleeping.”

“Yeah, I guess you were right…” said Sweetie Belle, surprised by this, not that she was complaining.

“Come on, let’s get goin’ before it wakes up,” said Applebloom, the other two nodding and continuing on their path.

The Cockatrice poked its head out with a yawn, looking in all directions and seeing nothing. It gave a growl of annoyance, but simply went back to sleep, leaving it’s tail stretched out across the path…
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“So you had to chase them into the Everfree Forest once too?” asked Trixie as the two followed the fillys’ hoofprints through the dark forest. It honestly gave her the creeps. In all directions nothing but deep, dark woods. The canopy was so thick that only a tiny bit of light made it through to light their path, giving it an even more surreal feeling. It was the kind of place you’d expect a horror story to be written about. And Trixie couldn’t help the feeling something would jump out of nowhere to attack her.

Fluttershy nodded, looking down at her hooves timidly. “Yes…But please don’t let anypony know, it’s kind of between me, Twilight, and the girls.” Fluttershy would’ve liked to move faster, but she knew Trixie wasn’t in the best of shape right now and couldn’t run for very long, so they’d kept it to sprints, walking slower when Trixie had to catch her breath.

Trixie gave a small nod. “You are keeping Trixie’s secret, so she shall keep yours…”

“Pinkie Pie Swear?”

Trixie sighed. “Alright…cross Trixie’s heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in her-” Trixie screamed out in pain as she accidentally jabbed her hoof into her eye.

“Twilight always does that too…”

Trixie gave a sigh, but was relieved it wasn’t just HER. “Anyway, what happened?”

“They wondered off into Everfree after Elizabeak, one of my chickens and got attacked by a Cockatrice, who turned Elizabeak to stone, I had to protect them,” explained Fluttershy, remembering it vividly. “I ended up having to use the Stare to scare it away.”

“Ah…That was when you saved Twilight, correct?” asked Trixie, getting a small nod. “She told Trixie that much, and that you saved fillies from it, but didn‘t go into detail on the matter…”

Fluttershy nodded, but blushed at the mention she‘d saved her friend. “It was honestly one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me,” she continued, giving a shudder. She then looked around the area. “Come to think about it, it was actually right about here.”

Trixie blinked, looking around a tad fearfully. That feeling like she was in a horror story reared its ugly head again. “Really?”

Fluttershy nodded, looking at the ground. “We should be very careful, this is probably the Cockatrice‘s territory…But it should be sleeping during the day, they’re nocturnal, we just have to make sure we don’t wake it up…”

Trixie nodded, keeping her eyes out in all directions as they continued. “And hope those three loud fillies haven’t already done that…”

Trixie suddenly tripped over something in the middle of the path. “Ow! What was that?!” she exclaimed, quite loudly.

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide as she saw just what Trixie had tripped over. “Trixie! Run!” she yelled, running over and helping Trixie to her feet, trying to pull her, all the while looking back in complete panic. “Hurry! We have to get out of here!”

“What?” asked Trixie, looking back to see the long tail of the Cockatrice recede back into the bush. Trixie promptly screamed and ran along with Fluttershy as the now furious Cockatrice, having been trying to get back to sleep, took off after the two fleeing mares with a roar.

“You already beat it once! Why are we running?!” asked Trixie, panting as she did so. She knew she should’ve trusted that “you’re in a horror story” feeling…

“I‘m sorry! I-I can‘t!” replied Fluttershy, fear induced tears streaming down her cheeks. “I can’t control when that happens!”

Trixie just kept running, realizing that it probably was best to do so if they could get away without fighting the dang thing. She then peaked back to see if it was still following them.

Big mistake.

The Cockatrice narrowed its eyes as they met Trixie’s and Trixie suddenly felt a cold feeling begin up her hind legs, falling flat on her face, thankfully breaking eye contact. Trixie groaned, looking back and giving a gasp of surprise as she found her hind legs partially turned to grey stone, rendering them completely useless. Trixie quickly gave a scream and covered her eyes as the Cockatrice flew over her and landed with a loud thud in front of her, giving a screech.

Trixie trembled in fear, keeping her foreleg over her eyes so tight it hurt, feeling and smelling the Cockatrice’s hot breath on it as it kept its eyes focused where hers were, just waiting for the chance to turn the rest of her to stone. ‘Is this how it ends? Turned to stone by a monster in Everfree Forest?’

“P-Please! Stop! I‘m sorry I woke you, but don‘t turn me into a statue!” begged Trixie, absolute terror in her voice, heart racing from blind panic as she tried to keep her hoof over her eyes and not look.

The furious Cockatrice batted her hoof off her face with its wing and locked eyes with her before she could close them. Trixie couldn’t force herself to break eye contact, despite the bone chilling feeling of cold, lifeless stone creeping up her body. She tried screaming, but felt her jaw and mouth turn to stone before the sound could escape. She couldn’t move or speak as she felt the stone slowly closing in around her eyes, terror utterly consuming her as she tried to think of any way to save herself, fear induced tears running down her face. ‘Please Celestia, don’t let me die here! Please!’ she begged in her mind, praying for anypony or anything to save her.

“Stop that right now, young man!”

The Cockatrice’s head snapped away to look at the source of the scream. Trixie, the only things not turned to stone being her eyes and part of her nose, moved her eyes to look over at the source of the sound seeing Fluttershy glaring daggers at the Cockatrice. At least she thought it was Fluttershy. Instead of the shy, meek little pegasus she was used to, Fluttershy stood strong, not a hint of fear in her tone or appearance at all. Instead it was the Cockatrice that suddenly looked terrified when it recognized her.

“What did I tell you about turning others into stone?” asked Fluttershy with the sternest voice Trixie had ever heard, that was clear despite how muffled it sounded to her petrified ears. “You turn her back to normal this very second, before I find your mother and tell her you’ve been turning innocent creatures to stone again!”

The Cockatrice whimpered and gave a squawk, pointing to Trixie.

“Yes, I know she woke you up, and I’m very sorry about that, but you should know better than to leave your tail across a path ponies and creatures walk on, you or someone else could get hurt,” stated Fluttershy, not giving an inch, but her tone became somewhat sympathetic, almost motherly. “Now you turn her and any other innocent creature you’ve turned to stone back to normal right this instant!”

The Cockatrice gave a fearful nod, turning and concentrating on Trixie, who felt stone glow and shatter off her body. Trixie gave a gasp as she could move again. She panted as she shakily forced herself back to her hooves, only to find Fluttershy hugging her, once more the timid, scared little pegasus she’d come to know.

“Trixie, are you alright? I heard you scream and realized you must’ve tripped. I’m so sorry I didn’t notice you‘d fallen, please forgive me!” begged Fluttershy, looking worried half to death, Trixie could feel her heart racing a mile a minute.

“You…you saved me…” muttered Trixie, staring at Fluttershy in complete awe. Sure, she’d heard stories, but that was next to nothing to seeing something like this with your own two eyes. She looked up and saw the Cockatrice running away from Fluttershy, squawking like a frightened chicken. If Trixie hadn’t seen it with her own two eyes, she’d never have imagined this soft-spoken, sweet little pony in front of her had sent it running for the hills… “But…I thought you could only do something that if one of your friends was in danger…”

Fluttershy smiled warmly. “One of my friends was in danger.”

Trixie gave a small gasp of surprise. “…I’m your…friend?” she asked, in complete shock.

Fluttershy nodded without question. “Of course, and I‘d never leave a friend behind…Well, except for that one time when we accidentally left Rarity and Pinkie Pie in Dodge Junction, but that was an accident and we all felt really, really, REALLY guilty about it when they got back.”

Trixie didn’t know what to say. All that she could think is this little pegasus just saved her life because she actually cared about her. Trixie figured even the ones she’d previously thought cared about her before her return to Ponyville would’ve left her to the Cockatrice and saved themselves.

“Trixie…Real friends? They’re the ones that still care about you when you’re down on your luck…In fact that’s when they care the most…”

“…I don‘t know what to say except…thank you, for saving my life…”

“It was nothing, really. I was just doing the right thing is all…Can you walk?” asked Fluttershy, concern clear in her voice as she looked over the unicorn worriedly.

Trixie nodded slowly, wiping the fear induced tears on her face away. “Yes, Trixie can…We should continue, those fillies might be in danger…” she said, walking on, side by side with the timid little pegasus, trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened.
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“Alright, we’re almost there,” said Scootaloo, leading the way forwards down a dirt path.

“Wait!” called Sweetie Belle, recognizing the path. “If we go that way, we go right past Zecora’s hut!”

“So?

“So she’ll see us!”

Applebloom gasped in realization. “Yeah, and then she’ll tell the other grownups and we’ll get in big trouble!”

Scootaloo stopped and rubbed her head. “Yeah, I hadn’t thought about that…” she muttered, looking around and seeing a second path heading through the forest. “This looks like it leads the same way; we just cut through here and come out up there around Zecora’s.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Sweetie Belle, giving a nod.

Applebloom looked down the path, something in her telling her it was a bad idea. She then gave a gasp as the location of this path clicked in her mind. “Oh no, we ain’t goin’ that way, trust me,” she stated, suddenly seeming scared. “Ah’ve been that way, it’s WAY too dangerous.”

Scootaloo blinked, about to say something, but relenting when she saw Applebloom was dead serious and seemed a bit afraid. “Alright….So then how do we get past Zecora’s place?”

“Well…let’s just cut through the woods over there, it shouldn’t be that far from the path, right?” asked Sweetie Belle, getting nods from the others before leading the way.
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Fluttershy and Trixie continued along as fast as they were able, Trixie not sure how to feel right now. “Fluttershy…All Trixie’s life, she‘s believed caring for others made one weak, it‘s how she was raised…Now that she’s seen what you and the others have done, despite how caring you all are…Trixie doesn’t know what to believe…” she stated, confusion clear in her tone, along with a little pain.

Fluttershy gave a small gasp, but looked to her kindly. “Um…I’m not the philosophical one, but…I know if I didn’t care for other ponies nearly as much as I do, then I’d never have been able to save my friends from that dragon, or the girls, and you, from the Cockatrice…That‘s something I know, not just something I believe…”

Trixie gasped, listening to the soft, soothing voice of the tenderhearted pony walking along, unsure of how to react to what she was being told. But the more she listened, the more she saw, the more she thought…the more Fluttershy seemed right, no matter how much Trixie’s own mind tried to support the contrary…
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Trixie and Fluttershy galloped up to the area were the Cutie Mark Crusaders had headed into the forest, following the three little sets of hoof prints, which were fresher now than before, meaning they were catching up. “This isn’t good; they left the path…” said Fluttershy softly, worry clear in her face. “They could get lost or worse, run into something that lives out here!”

Trixie nodded, finding worry that surprised even her slipping into her mind. “Trixie understands…In that case, we’d best move quickly,” she said, starting into the forest with Fluttershy before she realized something. “But what if we get lost following them?”

Fluttershy gave it some thought. “Sorry, I hadn’t thought of that…”

Trixie scratched her head, thinking. ‘Come on, Trixie, you’re a traveling pony, this should be easy to figure out…’ she thought, looking around.

“We could mark the trail…but I didn’t bring anything we could use…” muttered Fluttershy, looking concerned.

Trixie gave it some thought, and then it hit her. Trixie’s horn glowed as she manifested some brightly colored confetti and floated it in the air. “We’ll leave a trail of this.”

“But isn’t that littering?”

“It’s magically generated, that means that Trixie can decide how long the spell lasts. When the spell ends, the confetti vanishes,” explained Trixie. “Surely you’ve seen Twilight do something similar.”

Fluttershy nodded. “The spell she used to make our coach and the horses to pull it for the Gala only lasted till midnight…though the horses didn’t work out so well, she used mice and they were…well…”

“Trixie understands,” said Trixie, shuddering at how that probably ended. “Now let’s hurry, shall we?” she asked, sticking some on a tree branch so it wouldn’t blow away. “10 hours should do,” she said, the two galloping along, Trixie telekinetically placing the confetti in trees were it was plainly visible to them as they ran.
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“Scootaloo, we’re lost,” said Sweetie Belle.

“What makes you say that?”

“Well for starters, we’re in a cave,” said Sweetie Belle, the trio standing in the middle of dark cave.

“How did we even get in here?” asked Applebloom, looking rather perplexed.

“…Well…we wouldn’t have gotten lost if you hadn’t brought up Zecora’s!” retorted Scootaloo, glaring at her and vice versa.

“Well we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place if you hadn’t decided to lead us into the Everfree Forest!” yelled back Sweetie Belle.

“Girls, let’s settle down,” said Applebloom, trying to separate the two.

“Oh, and you’re innocent? If you hadn’t decided to lead us off course!” yelled Scootaloo, snarling at Applebloom.

“If Ah hadn’t we’d be in big trouble!” Applebloom yelled back. “Besides, we wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for your dumb campin’ spot!”

“Yeah!” shouted Sweetie Belle, before her ears twitched. “Hey, wait…” she said before Scootaloo could retort, hearing something that sounded like heavy breathing. “Do you guys hear something?”

The other two stopped and looked around them, hearing it as well. “Yeah…It’s kind of creepy…” said Scootaloo, a chill going down her spine.

Applebloom nodded, looking around fearfully. “It sounds like breathin’…” she said, getting frightened. She then felt something wet land on her head. “Uh gals, I think somethin’ just landed on my head…”

The trio gulped, then looked up at the ceiling and into the blank eyes of a large bat-like creature which lit up white as it spread its massive wingspread with a loud screech.

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Trixie galloped along with Fluttershy, adrenaline pumping. Part of her was downright furious at those three for dragging her through all this. Not only where they in the heart of a forest of death, she‘d nearly been turned into stone! It was just too much to put somepony through…

“Help! Somepony! Anypony!” screamed three young voices, screeches cutting through the air.

And somehow, she forgot all of that hearing them scream, something that made her blood run cold. Without hesitation, she sped up.

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The girls ran out of the cave, the creature flying low after them. It was a massive vampire bat-like beast with pal grey fur, but giving off a white light all around it. Its eyes were blank, grey, and it had a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

“What is that?!” yelled Sweetie Belle, screaming as they jumped out of the way of a dive from creature.

“Ah don’t know! But let’s just get away from the darn thing before it eats us!” yelled Applebloom, ducking as the creature dove overhead, barely missing her with its talons as it flew back up with a vicious screech. “That was too close!”

Scootaloo nodded, giving a scream as the trio hit the dirt, the wind from the creature’s passing blowing through their manes. They quickly resumed their run, the creature’s shining form circling them as it screeched, like a banshee hunting its prey.

Sweetie suddenly tripped and fell, looking back to find her hind hooves caught in a tangle of vines laying on the ground. “Scootaloo! Applebloom! Help!” she screamed, trying to untangle herself.

“Sweetie Belle!” the other two screamed, instantly racing back and trying in vain to free the white unicorn filly.

The monster sensed its chance, giving screech as it dove at them, teeth gleaming in its own light. The trio screamed and covered up…only for a fireworks style explosion to go off between them and the flying monster. The creature screamed and flew back, seemingly disorientated by the explosion.

“Huh?” asked Scootaloo as Trixie dashed between them and the beast.

“T-Trixie?!” all three Crusaders asked at once.

Fluttershy ran up, to her surprise having been left in the dust by Trixie. “Are you girls alright?” she asked, worry clear in her voice.

“F-Fluttershy?!” asked Applebloom. “What are you doing here?”

“Trixie came to make sure you were safe, she picked me up on the way,” the pegasus explained, trying to free Sweetie’s hooves.

Scootaloo looked up at Trixie, who was standing between them and the monster, not taking her eyes off of it. She didn’t look scared at all. “You…you came to save us?” “Mainly Sweetie Belle, but yes,” said Trixie, horn lighting up. Sweetie Belle had stood up for her and seemed to like her, that meant something to Trixie...But she wouldn't say the other two meant nothing to her. “Besides, if anything happened to you, your families would never forgive Trixie!…And Trixie would probably never forgive herself,” she muttered, a blue smoke beginning to form around them. “Now quiet…” she whispered, the smoke hiding them from sight.

Fluttershy gasped. “But Trixie! That won-”

As Fluttershy said that, the monster dove through the smoke and Trixie narrowly evaded its gapping maw, being knocked to the ground by its wing. “That didn’t work?” she asked, surprised it was able to find them in the magically generated smoke.

“It’s a Ropen!” stated Fluttershy as she continued to try and free Sweetie.

“A Ropen?” asked Trixie, blinking, seeing the monster coming at them again and setting off another explosion of magical fireworks, driving it back once more.

“They’re huge bat-like creatures that hunt by sound!” replied Fluttershy, urgency clear in her voice. “It’s blind, but can see with echolocation! The light is just to lure prey closer in the dark, like an angler fish!”

Trixie gave a nod, seeing it come at them again and jumped back to avoid a bite, giving her enough time to set off another fireworks explosion and force it back, realizing it was the sound of the explosions that worked. ‘If it can’t see, that means “the Stare” won’t work on it either. At least loud noise works. Looks like my first show still has some value to me after all these years after all.’

“Trixie is getting tired, Fluttershy!” Trixie called back, summoning another explosion as it dove at them to keep it at bay. “She can’t keep this up forever!”

“Almost done!” called back Fluttershy, working furiously, the Crusaders helping her as well..

Trixie set off another firework blast to drive it back again, panting heavily. The Ropen was relentless, it just wouldn’t quit and she was beginning to lose strength. ‘Think Trixie! It sees with sound, but the fireworks aren’t enough to drive it off! You need to do something to keep it occupied so we can get her hooves free!’ Trixie took the opportunity to look around quickly, seeing the vines laying around. She gave a gasp of realization.
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The rope slithered up like a snake under Trixie‘s control, Applejack watching its movements in confusion as the other end rose up, wrapping around an apple in a tree. The other end lassoed the mare’s legs and hoisted her into the air, the rest of the rope stuffing a red apple in her mouth.
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“Well, it‘s worth a shot I suppose…” muttered Trixie, horn lighting up as she caused a long vine to slither up like a snake, moving back and forth in place like a cobra following a flute. Trixie made it hit leaves to make more noise, attracting the Ropen’s attention. Giving a screech, it dove for what it presumed was easier prey. The vine snaked around as the Ropen tried to bite it, the other end snaking up and suddenly wrapping around the creature from behind, ensnaring its wings and talons, sending it crashing to the ground with a screech. As it struggled, the remaining end of the vine wrapped around its jaws, clamping them shut.

Trixie rushed over and began helping Fluttershy at freeing Sweetie Belle as the monster struggled in its bindings. “Hurry! That won’t hold it for long!” she pleaded, the Crusaders helping as well.

“Wow! Where’d yah learn to do that?” asked Applebloom as they tried to free their friend.

“Actually, that was how Trixie…humiliated your sister,” said Trixie with a nervous tone. “The irony does not escape Trixie! Hurry up!” she pleaded as the Ropen began breaking the vine entangling it.

“Got it!” yelled Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle’s hooves coming free at last as the Ropen’s bonds snapped and it tore off the vine around its mouth, giving a screech and diving at the group, slamming into Trixie and knocking her off her feet.

Trixie panted and struggled to her feet, seeing it come back, aiming at the girls. She growled and jumped in the way. “Beast, you shall not harm these girls! So says the Great and Powerful Trixie!” she announced, horn lighting up as she waited for it to get close. She reared up on her hind legs and brought them down as it dove, setting off as big of an explosion of fireworks and smoke as she could, the Ropen screaming out in pain as it was blinded from all the sound.

It flew through the smoke, the group having vanished. Still blinded, the creature’s echolocation didn’t return to normal until it was too late. It gave a screech and slammed full on into a tree. It gave a groan as it slid down the tree and fell unconscious to the ground with a thud.
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Trixie panted heavily, her lungs felt like they were on fire. They’d practically ran top speed all the way back from the cave, following the trail of confetti, only stopping once they‘d returned to the trail. “Do you girls…have any…any idea what you…what you put Trixie through today?” she asked, rather sternly, sweating heavily and barely able to breathe. She couldn’t remember being this tired before.

“Trixie’s right, if she hadn’t heard you saying where you were going, you could’ve been hurt or worse,” said a worried Fluttershy, somewhat stern as well.

The three fillies nodded slightly, looking down, Applebloom and Scootaloo seeming more ashamed than Sweetie Belle. “We’re sorry…” they all three said at once.

Trixie sighed, finding herself unable to stay mad at fillies. “…Well at least you’re all alright…Trixie supposes that’s what’s most important…”

Applebloom looked up at her, feeling just plain rotten. “…And Ah reckon we owe yah an apology for treatin’ yah like dirt before…” she said, then heard Sweetie Belle clear her throat. “Well…Most of us…” she said, Scootaloo nodding slowly.

Trixie gave a small smile, looking gratefully to all of them, but especially Sweetie Belle. “It’s alright…Trixie forgives you…Trixie would not have learned a valuable lesson today if you hadn’t…Trixie is just glad you’re safe…”

Scootaloo nodded, then filly excitability kicked in. “But you were awesome back there! With all the explosions and vines! You kicked that thing‘s tail!”

“Yeah, it was so cool!” added Sweetie Belle, looking up to Trixie with a big smile.

“And that big explosion at the end that let us get away! You were like a ninja or somethin’!” continued Applebloom, sharing her friends‘ excitement. “You’re a great magician! Think yah could teach us stuff like that?”

Scootaloo nodded rapidly. “Yeah! Maybe we could earn a magic Cutie Mark!”

Trixie found herself blushing slightly at the genuine praise. “Well…only one of you is a unicorn, but Trixie does know some stage tricks anypony can do…” she stated, before her adrenaline rush finally ended and their words just caught up with her, as well as her fatigue. She gasped in surprise. “I…I saved them from…the Ropen…” she said, realizing just what she’d done. “I just went into a forest of death, nearly got turned to stone by a Cockatrice, and fought and defeated a Ropen all to save three fillies I only met today…” she stated, eyes wide as it hit her. Especially the fact she hadn’t felt afraid of the Ropen at all while fighting it to protect them.

“Yeah! And it was awesome!” exclaimed the Cutie Mark Crusaders together.

“…T-Trixie needs to lie down now…“ said Trixie as her eyes rolled back and she fainted in an overly dramatic fashion.

“Hey, she faints just like Rarity!” announced Sweetie Belle, rather cheerfully as they gathered around the mare to help her recover.
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“Ah keep tellin’ yah, Rarity, Ah ain’t got no accent!” yelled Applejack as the two walked back towards Rarity’s boutique.

Rarity sighed. “Applejack, everypony has an accent, even me. I’m just saying, we might want to make you sound a tad more refined to fit in at the fair is all. I’m not insulting you, I’m just saying it’d help make you look more professional.”

Applejack sighed. “Fine. But Ah don’t need no lessons,” she said, thinking hard and trying to remember her time in Manehatten. “I picked this up in Manehatten, is it good enough for the fair?” she asked, in a near perfect Manehatten accent.

Rarity’s jaw dropped. “You…You can talk like that?” she asked, a dumbfounded look on her face.

“Yes, when I was staying with my Aunt and Uncle Orange in Manehatten as a filly, they arranged for me learn how to speak like a ‘proper’ Manehatten pony, at least as far as they saw it,” continued Applejack, still keeping up the Manehatten accent. She shook her head. “But dang, Ah don’t like doin’ it, it don’t even sound a thing like me.”

Rarity smiled, though still clearly shaken by it. “I agree, Applejack, but it’ll probably help at the fair,” she said, then blinked, hearing the sounds of three cheering fillies.

“That’s very good, girls, Trixie approves,” said Trixie’s voice.

“What’s going on?” asked Rarity, leading the way over to where Trixie and Fluttershy watched the Cutie Mark Crusaders each standing by a top hat, dressed like magicians. Rarity looked to Trixie.

“Oh, hello Rarity, Applejack, Trixie is just teaching the girls a little stage magic. We…spent some time together today and they decided they wanted to be Cutie Mark Crusader Magicians,” replied Trixie, keeping her mouth shut about the Ropen and Everfree. Not only did she not want her new fans to get in trouble, but she figured there was absolutely no way Rarity and Applejack would believe her. She hardly believed her!

Trixie looked back to the girls. “Alright, girls, show them what Trixie taught you.”

“Alright, here we go! Watch this sis!” said Applebloom, reaching into her top hat and pulling out an apple in her mouth. Applejack smiled and applauded her baby sister.

“I‘m next! Watch, Rarity!” yelled Sweetie Belle, reaching into hers and pulling out a rabbit, Angel to be exact. The bunny gave Fluttershy a rather annoyed look with his front legs crossed as Rarity clapped.

“Sorry, Angel...” said Fluttershy in a sheepish tone. “But it makes the girls happy.”

Angel sighed and looked at Sweetie Belle’s smiling face. He sighed and gave a small smile.

“Alright, my turn! I wish Rainbow Dash could see this!” called Scootaloo, reaching into her hat and pulling. She had trouble, whatever it was wouldn’t budge. “Oh come on!”

“Trixie felt that since she ruined their camping trip, she should do something to make up for it,” said Trixie, giving Rarity and Applejack a smile. ‘Well, at least if I go on the road when I get back on my hooves, I’ll have a REAL story to tell…Strange, all it took to be the hero I’ve lied about being is to have something I care about enough to protect it.’

“Well that was right nice of yah, Trixie,” said Applejack, looking up as the other two Crusaders helped Scootaloo pull. “Ah wonder what’s in that hat.”

“Tada!” they exclaimed as they finally pulled something out of the hat…Pinkie Pie, she exclaiming the same along with them, causing the watching mares to clop their hooves in praise.

“Hey wait a minute…” said Scootaloo, rubbing her head in confusion. “When did Pinkie Pie get in there?” she asked, the other two joining in with her confusion.

Trixie blinked as that fact hit her. “That’s…that’s a good question…”

Pinkie Pie simply chuckled.
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“Wow, Trixie, it sounds like you had quite the adventure today,” said Twilight, sitting at the table with Trixie for dinner.

Trixie nodded. “Yes, Twilight, quite…” she then gave a sigh. “It’s a shame no pony will ever believe Trixie…Trixie hardly believes it!”

Twilight smiled, putting a hoof on Trixie‘s shoulder. “I do…” she said, getting Trixie to give a small smile.

Trixie gave it something a thought, thinking about the day, how she‘d managed to do something she was VERY certain she‘d never had if she‘d not cared for the wellbeing of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. How strong that had made her. How brave it had made her…And the fact that doing it made her actually felt truly happy for the first time in a months. ‘…I think grandmother was strong after all…I was just too much of a fool to see it…’

“…Twilight…you said any of your friends who learned a friendship lesson may send a letter to Princess Celestia about it?”

Twilight nodded quickly. “Yes, that was what the Princess said. Any time one of my friends learns something about Friendship, they have Spike take a letter and send it to the Princess.”

“Trixie sees…Spike…Could you please take a letter?”

Twilight and Spike both gasped. “Trixie…you actually want to send a friendship report?” asked Twilight, startled. Not an unpleasant startled, mind you, but startled nonetheless.

“Yes, Trixie believes she’s learned one,” replied Trixie, with a serious ton. “So can she?”

Twilight gave a small smile. “Of course, Trixie.”

“Alright, Spike, will you take the letter?”

Spike pulled out a scroll and a quill. “Ready!”

Trixie cleared her throat and gave it serious thought as to what to say. After all, she was a sending a letter to THE Princess Celestia, even if it was based on friendship, she wouldn‘t be sloppy about it.

“Dear Princess Celestia;

I am a new…friend of your student, Twilight Sparkle, so please excuse me if I do this incorrectly, I am not used to this sort of thing. Today, I learned an important lesson about friendship… All my life, I believed that showing kindness and caring for others made you weak, that nice ponies finish last. But thanks to your student and her friends, I now know that the opposite is true. Not only can a kindhearted pony still be strong and successful, caring for others can actually make a pony stronger, not weaker. I used to tell lies to try to make myself seem better than I really was, but because I cared for the wellbeing of three of your youngest subjects, I was able to be the heroine I always pretended to be, and I didn’t have to tell a single lie to be her.

Trixie Mon-” she stated, then stopped when she got to her last name.

“What was that?” asked Spike, blinking as he looked up at the mare.

“Trixie…Midsummer,” finished Trixie quickly. “How was that, Twilight?”

Twilight smiled. “Wonderful Trixie, good job,” she said, happy to hear Trixie learn such a valuable lesson.

Spike nodded. “Yeah, and you’ve got a really cool last name. Now all that’s left is to send it…” he said, walking over to the window and breathing fire on the letter, sending it on its way.

Twilight looked back to Trixie. “Well it seems like you had a good day.”

Trixie nodded with a smile. “Yes, not only did Trixie realize something extremely valuable, she found this lovely blue flower in the woods on the way back,” she said, pulling out a multi-petaled blue flower, then noticed both her friends suddenly recoil from it. “What?”