Part 1: A Story Amongst Friends Begins
Shape Shift looked up from his book to look at the Alicorn in the door. His once-broken horn was half-healed. It was a long wait, and he had grown fairly close to all his friends. Twilight, at this moment, was coming in from a storm the Pegasi had planned for today. Her mane was soaked through from the rain, but she didn’t seem to mind. She was happy to be home, it seemed. It was a long week for her, with all her Princess duties piling up, and a few Elements of Harmony situations. She held her smile because she was home for a while. With this storm, she would have the perfect reason to spend the afternoon being lazy. Behind her filed in five other ponies.
First, there was Applejack, who had a crop of corn. She smiled bright as she saw him, and he was happy to see her. The orange mare always brought the most delicious of treats. On this occasion, hidden inside the corn, there was an apple pie.
Behind her was none other than Rarity. Her hair was at least ten times more beautiful soaked. She looked miserable, but beautiful nevertheless. She brought with her a small chest that she opened to reveal even more cloaks and a scarf.
Next in the procession was Pinkie Pie, who was bearing her fixed Party Cannon. Twilight gave her a scowl and she returned it to wherever she seemed to keep it when not wheeling it in front of her. She beamed bright as she hopped into the library, taking her place in the crowd.
Next, there was Fluttershy. The reserved yellow Pegasus was now comfortable around Shape Shift, even if she did still express guilt for crashing the Pegasus carrying him, resulting in the break his horn. She smiled at him, though, though he could see in her eyes that she was still carrying the self-imposed burden of breaking his horn. He had tried so many times to let her know that it wasn’t her fault; it would have happened if it was Rainbow who had saved him, but she would have none of it.
When Shape Shift began to get worried about it was when none other than Rainbow Dash herself showed up. The Rainbow-maned Pegasus smiled brightest of all. She sat the closest, edging out the other blue pony in the room for proximity to Shape Shift by taking his right hoof in hers. She wore the broken fragment of his horn around her neck for two reasons: it reminded her of him every day, and the joys that he gave her, and to motivate her to be an even better flier so that she never failed him again. As much as Shape Shift tried to convince her there was nothing more she could have done, she still worried and moped sometimes.
Trixie Lulamoon, who had been invited to stay at Golden Oaks Library by Twilight, watched as Rainbow moved closer to the stallion she had loved so long ago. The look in her eyes was a mixture of the old emotions she had for him and the look of defeat that Rainbow was taking her away from her. She edged closer to his other side, and Shape Shift began to grow a little concern that the tree wasn’t somewhere that he wanted them to go after each other.
They seemed to keep from each other to pay attention to him. He wasn’t truly comfortable with the attention, but he supposed it was better than the false attention that he got if he went out into town. Even with the Amulet these days he turned heads. He hoped it was because of his still-healing horn, but it could have been because of the spell that Twilight kept talking about.
She had been researching why the mares all went crazy. While yes, Lyra Heartstrings had put a tweak on the repulsion charm on his amulet, but the sheer change in their behavior wasn’t explained by just that. Twilight had a couple of sleepless nights while she tried to figure it out. She said she had been consulting with the Princess of Love, Mi Amore Cadenza, to try and figure it out. From her recent reports, they were close to figuring out exactly what was going on and how to reverse it.
As for now, during this storm, there was only one thing everypony really wanted to do. It felt like a good night to sit with a bunch of friends and tell a story, and that was exactly what Shape Shift intended to do. It was story that the Elements of Harmony all asked him for the most, and he was going to tell it tonight. It made him a little uncomfortable having the target of the story sitting so close to him.
“I’ll make us some tea and popcorn,” Twilight offered, as all the mares gathered around the stallion. “Go ahead and start, I can hear you from the kitchen.”
“Well, I suppose you all want to know the love story of me and Trixie from when we were in high scool,” Shape Shift started, “and it’s a long tale. I suppose I should start from when I was young to truly explain the meaning of what Trixie had meant to me.”
“Trixie wishes to know what you thought about our relationship…” she said, “since I never really asked back then,” she added in a much quieter tone. Almost nopony caught the drop out of third person, and the only one who did was the one sitting next to her. He didn’t comment because he knew this was a hard topic for her already, and he didn’t want to complicate the issue.
“It’s fine, Trixie,” Shape Shift assured. He smiled at the crystal-blue pony. Judging from the ponies caressing his forelegs, he had a type: blues, certainly, outspoken personalities, and extreme sense of self-identity. He was sure he cared for all the ponies in this room, but the two at his sides were obviously the ones that cared for him the most in return.
Twilight came back into the center of the library with a large bowl of popcorn and teacups for everypony. Shape Shift was able to use levitation with is horn in its current state, but that was about all he could do. He needed to drain the magic from it every now and again, for fear that he might lose his magic capabilities forever if he didn’t. If he did, because he was originally a Unicorn, he would practically be useless, since he didn’t have the Earth Pony strength. That, and his talent was strictly magical.
“Now, I think everypony’s ready to hear this.”
Part 2: The Mane Attraction
“When I was a young colt, I never really made any friends. I suppose it was because of my low levels of self esteem. My coat and mane colors appalled me: cream and orange? Who would in their right mind like those colors?
“Sure enough, when I learned Transmogrification was my talent that was one of the first tricks I learned. For the next long years, I nearly forgot what my true coat color was. I was so caught up in trying to improve my art that I neglected what few friends I did have at the time. I became somewhat of infamous at my school.
“Ponies wouldn’t sit with me at lunch soon after, and they would always point at me before donning wide smiles and laughing their cruel laughs. I was told by so many of them that my talent was useless.” He looked back at his cutie mark: half of an apple, butted up to half an orange. It represented the bread-and-butter trick he always used.
“It’s not useless!” Applejack was first to comment.
“I know this,” Shape Shift continued, “but remember I was just a teen at that time. Everything seemed to affect me so much more at that age.
“Eventually, I reclused, I shut myself away from the world because none of them had anything I ever wanted to hear. They were bullies in the very core of the word, and I wanted nothing more to do with them. Even those I had once called my friends turned on me because I had left them. My only friends were then the apples I transformed into oranges, but even then, they were fruit.
“My talents were being squandered back then. I figured that no pony would ever want to watch a show from such an unlikable character. I had some interest in mares, but I hadn’t really hit that stage of my life yet. The books I read and the ponies I knew, they were sufficient to fill my heart.
“It was my freshman year in high school that led me to Trixie. I was so uncomfortable in school, but I did know that I had to complete it if anypony was to respect me as a show pony. I took to designing my cape and insignia back then. I didn’t really care what anypony thought at that point. I had enough of other ponies’ minds to fill mine three times over. Everypony seemed to have a joke to make me the butt of, all except one.
“It was the most magnificent mare I had ever seen in my young life. I simply adored her crystalline color, her magnificent gaze, and the way that she presented herself. I felt some magic almost escape my horn when I first saw her. It was rather embarrassing, really, but nopony had noticed. I knew that she was the mare I wanted by my side. I just didn’t know how to approach her.
“She never seemed to poke fun at me, and I started to notice over the next few days that instead she was also the butts of the jokes around her. She seemed to take it so much more in stride than I had. I observed the bullies to see what they had to say about her.
“They called her names like ‘Loony Moon’ and—“
“Must Trixie relive this part of her life?” the showmare asked.
“I feel that it adds to the depth of the story, Luli,” Shape Shift said, daring to use his old pet name for her again. She gave a deep glare before lightening her countenance.
“Trixie hopes you understand that you are the only pony who is allowed to call her ‘Luli.’”
“I know. And I’ll get to why I call you that here soon. Can I continue?” With a nod from the other pony, he ventured on into his tale. “The nicknames were cruel to suffice, but I assure you, they were difficult for even me to hear. She sparked something in me that I didn’t know could exist inside myself. I just had to wait for the right time.
“I spent months watching her from afar, never working up the courage to talk to her. It broke my heart when I saw her being teased, but, like her, I had no defensive or offensive magic at that age. There was literally nothing I could do to stop the teasing. The teachers I talked to told me that she would come to them herself if she was actually bothered by the teasing, but I knew differently, mostly from the fact that I was not too dissimilar from her. I would let the other ponies say what they would and never turn the other way.
“I just needed a way to get close to her. I needed a way to see if I could help her. The school dance that was set for the next week seemed to be the perfect chance. While I didn’t know it at the time, things were going a little too well.” He took a deep breath and sipped from his tea. The popcorn bowl had run a little low already and Twilight had, in anticipation, rose to her hooves and headed for the kitchen.
“Geez, girls, I knew you liked popcorn, but I don’t have that large of stock. Tone it down will you?” She giggled a little as she popped some more. “I can still hear from in the kitchen, go on, Shape Shift.”
“Very well, to suffice, I was going to ask her to the dance. I was certain that she hadn’t had any other ponies asking her out, with all the incessant teasing and such. I just needed a way to enter her heart and make my mark.
“I had noticed her cutie mark. I researched it and traced it back to some of the vaudeville performers of old. They really seemed to know there stuff. I know of one earth pony who was able to perform feats that previously it seemed that only a unicorn could accomplish.”
“Oh, oh!” Twilight squeed excitedly, “I know that pony! He’s ‘The Great and Powerful Lulamoon.’ He’s actually Trixie’s grandfather, if I’m not mistaken.”
“How do you know this, Twilight?” Trixie asked in disbelief. “Trixie has never told anypony about her grandparents.”
“It only follows, doesn’t it? Generally, families carry similar special talents. There are the occasional disparities, but your grandfather was a showpony the likes of which had never been seen before, and who’s to say that you didn’t inherit some of his love for the stage?”
“Trixie is slightly impressed with your deductions.”
“Furthermore, he’s one of the greats. I read up on him in…” she racked her brain for a second, poking her head through the door from the kitchen, “oh, what was it?”
“Was it this?” Pinkie asked, pulling a book from the shelf behind her, without even getting up from her sitting position. “It’s called ‘Show Magic: Not Just for Unicorns’?”
“I think that’s the one!” Twilight returned to the popcorn and brought out the bowl, topped off again.
Twilight levitated the book and skimmed through the pages, until she stopped at a picture of a pony with a starry cloak and matching hat. They all recognized that ensemble immediately, but Rarity was the first to speak:
“So that’s where you got your charming outfit?”
“Of course. Trixie has lost it so many times, but it still finds its way back to Trixie,” she spoke with an air of nostalgia. “Trixie supposes this is one of her grandfather’s last tricks.”
“In fact, I think we have our own magic Earth Pony here,” Fluttershy commented, looking at Pinkie. “She’s always making people smile.”
“Oh, I’m not magic at all, Fluttershy!” Pinkie exclaimed. “That’s something everypony could do if they just put their mind to it!” She smiled and it infected all the other ponies at the table, each one wider and wider. Rainbow’s was the widest of all, but it had never left her face since she sat beside Shape Shift. She seemed to be lost in the moment of having him beside her, rubbing her delicate hooves across his. This actually surprised him; she was soft and delicate despite being a rough and tumble personality. In fact, the others had noticed a difference in her since he arrived. Yes, they did report that she pushed herself ever harder to fly faster and stronger, but she didn’t try nearly as many of her patented tricks these days. Her friends were relieved this was the case, as it meant that she was much safer, and there was much less worrying about her.
“I digress,” Shape Shift added, trying to return to the relevant story at hoof. “I found out that her talent is Showmare Magic. It meant she was excellent at performing tricks and magics that would astound crowds, but were fairly pointless in any more dire situations. I’m sure all of you know that’s her talent.
“Either way, I figured that she was a show pony the same as I, so I would use that as my leverage into her heart. I started slow: I left a small note in her locker on the first day. Do you remember what it said?”
“Trixie believes she can remember it,” she said smugly, levitating her hat and pulling out a piece of paper from inside. “But Trixie believes she can read it better.”
Dearest Trixie Lulamoon,
I may not have yet met you, but I fell there may be something if we give it a shot. Perhaps you’d like to meet me today after classes at the Canterlot Tea Shoppe?
Sincerely,
Somepony
Trixie smiled as she read the letter again. “It has been a while since Trixie has read those words.”
“Surely, this was the beginning of something, I assured myself. I went straight to the Tea Shoppe after classes to see if she had any interest in a colt like me. I waited there as Celestia’s Sun moved past the buildings and the shadows fell long. I was about to leave when I saw her cantering in. Her mane was slightly disheveled and her hat was on crooked. She had obviously been in a hurry to get to the shoppe.
“I felt sure I could forgive this tardiness. She was a beautiful mare, and this sudden rush meant that she was aware she was late.”
“Trixie was afraid she had missed her admirer. At that point, Tri—I mean I was starting to feel that nopony could ever love me.”
“And that’s how I felt too. It just never occurred to me before I saw you that I wanted love in the first place. As it happened, I retreated to the table. She saw me, and I saw her. That day I think my coat was…” He thought long and hard, but he couldn’t remember what he had styled himself with that day.
“It was the most beautiful copper,” Trixie said, “Tri—I remember it so well. And your mane was contrasting silver.”
“Oh yeah, my Metallic phase. All the colors I used in that time were metallics.” Shape Shift smiled at the blue unicorn in the room before turning back at the cyan Pegasus, who hadn’t noticed because her eyes were closed, his hoof in hers. “Well, I was growing more and more nervous about talking to her, so I began to regret being so direct. She was such a belle, how could I ever hope to woo her?”
“Little did you know that you already had Tri—my attention.” Trixie kept correcting her use of the third person.
“I know now, but back then I didn’t have a clue.” Shape Shift wanted so badly to reposition himself, but between the two mares there was no room to move to, and he didn’t want to disturb either of them; they seemed so happy. “I stayed, though, much against my fears. I knew that the only way to conquer fears was to face them; it was how I vanquished stage fright. I simply took theater in middle school.” He gave a smile, thinking of the days he had been in theater, but they weren’t pertinent to the story he was telling to continue on that road. “My point being is that I faced my anxiety of talking to Trixie by actually talking to her.” Fluttershy seemed to be the recipient of this comment. “And I was glad that I did.
“We started talking about showmareship, and how we both one day wanted to head out on the road to see the world and have them see us. It was quite the adventure, we figured, and it called to both of us. As the sun started sinking, we both started to see the similarities between our souls.
“I grew more comfortable with her presence, but I still wasn’t comfortable enough to ask her to the dance. I knew there wasn’t going to be a better time, though, so I just blurted it out.”
“You were very cute when you did it, though,” Trixie said.
“Sure, if you consider a squeaky voice and sudden drop in volume cute. The words almost didn’t come out of my mouth.”
“But they did, and I heard them ever so clear,” Trixie returned, clearing up her pronoun issues.
“I don’t think I actually used my voice for a single word in the question. I continue, though, because she gave what felt like an eternity of pause, looking everywhere but my face. I was certain that she was looking for some excuse to miss the dance. The thoughts that raced through my mind were making it clear that I had gone down a road that I never should have ventured. Mares didn’t like me, and I suppose I didn’t like mares either. I supposed that I should have just left my life to being a show pony and not take any more to it. Her words never seemed to come as I watched her open her mouth.
“She gave me this form of goofy stare.”
“I was in pure shock,” the unicorn beside Shape Shift commented. “How could any stallion ever think I was worth going to a dance with? I figured you were just pulling a prank on me.”
Shape Shift was feeling something brush up against his right side. It felt ticklish, and when he looked over to see what it was, he found Rainbow’s wings rising gently from her sides, pushing past his side to a fully extended position. Rainbow didn’t seem to care, but he could tell from the expression on Fluttershy’s face that this wasn’t something that was normally shown in public. It wasn’t the typical wingboner, often accompanied with the sound ‘pomf.’ This gentler side of the Pegasi form of expression gave Shape Shift some heart. Although, it did probably mean that what Dash was letting through her head was less than what he would call appropriate for this moment.
“Either way, Trixie ended up speaking in a squeak. She nodded to me instead as she started to realize that I was serious.” Trixie let a small smile grace her lips as she remembered that night with Shape Shift. “She left me that night with a smile as wide as it would have ever been.”
Part 3: Complexities in the Heart and Soul
“I didn’t take any notice at the time because she was standing in front of me, but I noticed something the next morning after I asked her to the dance. She was wearing her hair in a different style than she normally did. Instead of bearing her adorable face, it was covering up her left eye.
“I went to inquire, and she stormed off, crying. I would have pursued her, but she turned into the Mare’s bathroom. I wasn’t sure how I could help her if I couldn’t get to her. No matter what my transfiguration powers were, I couldn’t—and actually still can’t after researching the spell—perform the Gender Reversal spell. It would take a lot of power, and I’m not even sure that I could do it with a fully healed horn and help from an alicorn.”
“Where did you find that spell?” Twilight asked. “I know I faked it once, but I didn’t think anypony had ever actually invented the spell.”
“I’m surprised you don’t remember it, Twilight, it’s upstairs in the loft. It’s in the Star Swirl the Bearded works. Specifically ‘Tome III: Mastery of the Magicks.’”
Immediately, Twilight was up the stairs, trotting around. Spike could be heard complaining about her interrupting his dreams, as was often the case on his days off. She came trotting down about three minutes later, carrying a thick book in her telekinetic grasp.
“I could have sworn I’ve read this a dozen times, but I don’t remember a gender reversal spell.” She cracked the tome and sped through it.
“I know it’s in there,” Shape Shift replied. “I was surprised that Star Swirl the Beared would invent such a spell.”
“I know he was famous for inventing spells of all kinds. One of which I actually had to correct.” She gave half a smile, half a grimace as she thought about that day.
“Regardless, I had noticed this change in appearance from Trixie.” She seemed to flinch when he reached this point in the story. “I needed to know what was wrong. We were everything but dating, so I figured of any pony, I should know what was wrong. She had stolen my heart, and I couldn’t do anything but worry as I had to go to class.
“I didn’t really pay attention at all. I was spending all of my brain power trying to figure out what was wrong. She wouldn’t let me in. I was beginning to wonder if it was regret she was feeling for accepting my invitation to the dance.”
“I… I wasn’t regretting it at all,” Trixie responded, her eyes turned to the floor.
“I know, but at the time that’s what I was thinking. I had spent the rest of that period thinking about you, wondering what I could have done wrong. What could I have done to drive you away so quickly? Had I really been that bad?
“She avoided me for the rest of the day, and I didn’t know what was going on. I tried asking her about if we were still going to the dance, but she simply eluded me again. I was feeling like I was pushing her too hard. Perhaps I was taking things too quickly. I needed to back off.
“It was the day before the dance, and I was sitting in the cafeteria, minding my own business when she walked up to me again. Her face again uncovered, but there were tears in her eyes. She asked me if I could forgive her. She wanted to still go the dance. I offered a teary smile myself. I had been crying, wondering if she could love me. I didn’t think there was any mare who could.
“We met up at the Tea Shoppe about an hour before the dance. She was carrying a sack full of things. When I inquired about it, she said she was going to spend the whole night out. I was wondering if she wanted to spend the night at my parents’ place, but she declined. I was concerned, and when I expressed it, she hushed me and told me not to say another word. ‘Tonight,’ she told me, ‘was about the here and now, not the past, not the future.’ I took the words as solace, but they didn’t really comfort me at all.
“We were both awkward at dancing, but I suppose that’s how all high schoolers are. We spent most of the night sitting at the table talking to each other. We conversed about all kinds of things, but the one thing that we talked about most excitedly was the talent show that the school was hosting the next weekend. We figured we could put together a little show combining the both of our talents.
“It had been a silly little dream we pondered, whether we could put on a show together. Something I’ve always wondered since the day that we first talked about it. That’s why the first thing I always see when I wake up in my caravan is a poster about your performance, Trixie.”
She seemed flattered, but also partially sad. She looked like she had disappointed him in some manner that she had been previously unaware. She held this look that if one thing in her life were different, she would be on top of the world, where she wanted to be the most.
“We resolved to enter the competition together, as a team act. I always wanted to be in a show, and this was the perfect opportunity. Trixie and I were two showponies, how could we not do well? We planned out a show instead of actually participating at the dance. We headed out at midnight, when the dance kicked us out, both of us bright-eyed about our team performance.
“We said goodnight when I turned down my street, and I watched her walk off. I didn’t know what was going on, but she disappeared down a corner. I was riding the high of our plans to duet at the Talent Show. I didn’t know just how things were going for her.
“Monday morning I looked anxiously for her all through the campus of school, but I couldn’t find her before I had to go to class. It concerned me, and I couldn’t focus on my schoolwork. As the day wore on, I wondered where she could be. The talent show was about two weeks out, and we still hadn’t planned anything for sure.
“It wasn’t until Tuesday that I saw her again. She was reclusive, and I wanted to talk to her, but she stayed silent. I couldn’t get a word out of her. Wednesday, she was a little more responsive. We started solidifying plans. I could still not find out why she was being so shy. She wasn’t this reserved around me any other time than when she spent the night with me. And that was when I realized something, no matter how erroneous it was.
“She had fallen into a depression like this only twice, and she had been out with me twice. I figured it was me. She was feeling bad for spending the nights with me. She was becoming depressed because she was spending the nights with me.”
“It wasn’t that,” Trixie interjected. Her eyes hadn’t left the spot on the floor the whole time that Shape Shift had been talking about this section of their tale.
“I know, Trixie, but I didn’t figure that out until later,” Shape Shift addressed the pony to his left. “And it wasn’t your fault.”
“That’s not what my father said.”
“We rehearsed during lunches, and soon we felt we had an entire act together. It involved me transfiguring several fruit into others, while she put on a fireworks show. We each practiced our spells when we could. Soon enough, it was time for the Talent Show. We had almost been taken by surprise by it. We thought we had another day, but it was actually that Wednesday.
“We lined up backstage that night, all nervous as we could be. The other acts all had their quirks, but often failed since we were, after all, only teenagers, still bound by our growing selves. The only one that I really thought could top ours was Lyra’s. She was playing three instruments at once. It was quite impressive until she dropped her lyre at coughing in the crowd.
“Among the other entries were Minuette’s dance and Twinkleshine’s light show. Other than that, the contestants got stage fright. We went up last, to close out the show because we were a duet. Trixie led me in with an impressive display of brilliant lights and glows, leading me up to the fruit sitting on the table set out there. I managed to pull off the apple to orange, which everypony who knew me expected, but I also completed the banana to papaya and kiwi to lime. Those I don’t do anymore because of that night.
“You would think that we mastered our arts, that the judges would love us and our talents. We showed the crowd what they came for, and they cheered for us, perhaps out of awe, perhaps out of actual amazement, or perhaps out of sympathy for our weak act, I guess.
“The results came in quickly, and the groups of us gathered around the stage to hear them. In third place was Minuette’s dance. It was an impressive feat, and Twinkleshine was dismissed as fourth place. That left Lyra and us. We felt we had it. I looked out to my parents, who were beaming with pride. I’m sure that Trixie was looking out at hers, but the look on her face told me that she was nervous, even now, when we had completed our act. In reality, she seemed more nervous awaiting the results than she had been before we performed.
“I could see her knees wobbling, and I could hear her breathing fast. I put a hoof around her, to try and show her that I would be there, but she batted it me off her as fast as she could. It felt like another eternity. The words couldn’t come out of the announcer’s mouth as she read out the cards to determine the outcome. Soon, she finally said the words that put my waiting to and end: “Lyra Wins.”
Part 4: Consolation Prize
“I smiled, knowing that we had come in second, but that wasn’t the expression on Trixie’s face. She looked like we had just lost everything in the whole world. It looked to me like she had just heard her pet had died or something. The look on her face told me that everything was going wrong. It was only second place.
“I wouldn’t figure out until I saw her, not on Thursday, but on Friday. She was hiding her face behind her mane again, but instead of letting her escape, I confronted her. I asked her why she was being so elusive with me. I figured that even after all this time that she didn’t trust me of all ponies. I was hurt and downtrodden with this thought, but I needed to know the truth. It was then that I saw what she was trying to hide behind her light-blue mane.
“There, like a corona around her eye was a bruise that seemed the exact shape and size as a hoof, specifically a stallion’s. She looked at me with tears in her eyes. I could tell she just wanted to leave. That was when I did something that I didn’t think I would ever do as a foal: I skipped so that I could be with somepony.
“We made it out to the plaza. We just sat there at the café, looking at each other in awkward silence. She finally broke it when she said that her family didn’t want her to see me anymore. They figured I was a bad influence on her. It wasn’t anything I did, she explained, but they just didn’t like me.
“And I was just sitting there wondering, as she walked away from the table, what could I have done to be better? What was it that I neglected to do? How could she just walk away from me? Wasn’t our dream worth chasing? Two ponies spreading wonder across all of Equestria?
“I know that we hadn’t won, but that didn’t seem like any reason to just split up like that.” He took another sip of his tea, trying to maintain his composure. It had been years, and he had thought he was through the sadness of these memories, but they still hurt a little. Trixie looked at him with her shining eyes, made even more reflective through the tears that she was ready to spill.
“It wasn’t anything you ever did or didn’t do,” Trixie entered into the silence, “it was my father, really.”
“I had figured that out later. I had the pieces then, but I didn’t see it.”
“My father, he was always telling me how I would never be as great as my grandfather. He was often drunk off his plot with cider, but he was right. I would never be as unique as The Great and Powerful Lulamoon. He was, after all, an Earth Pony.” Trixie turned her gaze to the ground once more. “And after I took second, he was reminding me with his hoof a lot more than ever before. He told me that the ‘Great and Powerful’ would never pass into me. I would never be a great pony.
“I tried telling myself in the mirror that I was the greatest Unicorn to ever live. I made up these stories of my feats soon after. I never told anypony because all of the high school would know that they were lies. I tried making myself believe that I was the Great and Powerful Trixie. And it began to go to my head.
“I was broken, and I didn’t think that anypony would love me for who I was otherwise. I told you that it was my parents, and I suppose that was half-true. They drove me to lie to myself. It took a purple unicorn to teach me that I could be more comfortable with who I really was.”
“In fact,” Twilight said, “I think this is the most you’ve ever spoke in the first person about yourself, Trixie.”
“I developed that habit to separate my actual self from what I told myself I was. The real Patricia Lulamoon was a failure, somepony that nopony ever liked or appreciated. I became the Great and Powerful Trixie. They seemed to be two completely different ponies.”
“Perhaps that explains the next part of the story, but we’re not there yet,” Shape Shift returned, steering them back from the tangent. “While she was going through all of that, I was concerned for her. I watched for her, but I never saw her. She wasn’t at class, and soon, the teachers began to ask me where she was. I didn’t know myself, but the worry I had grew every time they asked.
“My parents were worried about me; my grades were slipping and my mind was constantly elsewhere. They tried to ask me, but I didn’t have the words at the time to explain it more than Trixie was being hit at home. The Royal Guard had been called out, and my parents had me try to explain what I knew. They said they would investigate.
“It wasn’t really what I wanted at the time. I just wanted Trixie. I figured I should find her before something really bad happened to her. The only real place I knew to look for her was heading down the road from my house. I followed the direction that I had seen her go after school one day, but I didn’t know where else to go from the corner there. I only knew that there was somewhere around here that she had spent time, and I figured that she would probably spend more time here.
“I wandered about the streets until I found a light blue tail dashing into an alley. I recognized that pattern immediately, so I chased it. It led me down the alley and into a little nook, a sort of make-shift shelter made of cardboard and newspaper. The mare I had been smitten with stared at me with sad eyes when she turned around.
“She spoke, ‘I suppose you see the glamour that I live in now.’ I could only ask what had led her here. She responded with a long explanation that the Royal Guard had come to her house, and that it hadn’t been the first time. Her parents had put on their airs again, appearing to be the perfect parents they weren’t. The Royal Guard believed them. She seemed in disbelief that the Royal Guard fell for their tricks again. She continued on to talk about how her father was going to hurt her, quoting specific threats such as breaking her horn or her jaw. I could see the look in her eyes as she knew the truth behind the words.
“The tears she cried were real too. It was then that she had started calling herself in the third person instead of first. I tried to inquire, but she pushed through the question, talking about how she was going to be a showpony to outshine all those who went before. And that was the first time I heard her ever say she was the Greatest Pony Who Ever Lived.”
“That was a dark day for me,” Trixie commented. “I had just barely escaped my father. He was chasing me, and I was sure that you were him when I heard you chasing me. That day, that day was stamped into my mind.”
“It’s fine now,” Shape Shift comforted. He would have wrapped her in a hug if Rainbow hadn’t been wrapped around his other hoof. She looked so content, even though the story had taken such tragic turns. He wondered if she was actually listening to the story, or if she was so lost in the thought that she had him. “Either way, I took her in my arms, letting her cry on my shoulder. I told her that her consolation prize for second place was me. I would be there for her when no other pony would be.
“She liked that thought, and I led her to my house, where my parents saw the pain and the fear in her eyes. Unlike her father, mine was a very caring individual when he wasn’t at work. My mother took her and tended to her black eye, and the various other scrapes and bruises. The whole time, they talked about her coming to stay with us.
“My father came home after work and saw the bruises on Trixie, and he was immediately furious. We knew how he felt about anypony who used violence, but we never knew the extent of his anger toward abusers. I could have sworn there was fire coming from his horn. He left that night, and we didn’t see him again before I went to bed.
“Trixie had the couch. We offered her my bed, but she wouldn’t take it.” Shape Shift paused when he heard sobbing from his left side. “Are you okay, Trixie?”
“I’m… I just remember this all, the kindness you showed me, and how I never repaid any of it.”
“Trixie, you were going through rough times. You can’t blame yourself for being anything more than fallible. Everypony makes mistakes, it’s part of being pony. I don’t want you beating yourself up for this, Luli,” he said softly.
“I just can’t stop myself… every time I made a mistake growing up, my father would take it out of my coat. There was simply nothing I could do,” she mentioned, nearly in tears. “There was nothing I could do.”
“It’s better now, isn’t it?” Shape Shift asked, “Haven’t you achieved your dreams?”
“Well, I thought I had, but then Twilight showed me the error of my ways. I had got so caught up in myself that I was taking it out on everypony. It was especially bad when I had the Alicorn Amulet.”
“Let’s not bring that up now,” Twilight interjected, knowing exactly where this road of conversation led.
“I suppose you’re right, Twilight, I shouldn’t dredge up those memories.” She stared at the puddle on the floor underneath her eyes. It had been pooling since she started this part of the story, and it seemed that it was still hard for her to accept.
“There’s a better span of story coming up, I promise,” Shape Shift replied. “This is the part where we actually fell in love.
“Remember, I told Trixie that I was her consolation prize for second place when nopony else seemed to appreciate it? Well, I stood by her side the whole time that my father took Mr. Lulamoon down for filly abuse. It was a rocky battle, and Trixie spent every night at our house. We spent a lot of time out of school waiting for the trial. I was even put on the stand to talk about what I had noticed about Trixie. I noticed the reactions from the jury; they saw the hurt that I reflected from Trixie.
“As for her mother, well, she fled. We couldn’t find her no matter where we looked. We could only hope that she didn’t return. If her father was the physical abuser, her mother was the emotional tormentor. Of all the stories I heard from Trixie, the ones that left me the most uneasy were about her mother.
“My father spent most of his nights sitting in the chair closest to the door while Trixie tried to fall asleep. She had problems doing so because of all the nightmares of her father returning for her. She was certain that he was going to, but my father tried to reassure her every night.
“Soon, though, he couldn’t hold himself awake. There was no amount of magic or pastries that took the place of sleep. By that time, though, I was staying awake with her. We would spend hours talking about the travelling show that we wanted to put on together. She always seemed more comforted by those thoughts than anything I ever heard my dad tell her.
“Then there came the time when she started looking at me with that look. I had only seen that look a couple times before, and never directed at me. It was a look that my mother and father gave each other, and it was a look that I equated to love. Sure enough, I found myself becoming conscious of giving the look as often as I received it.
“It was summer, finally, when we started to act on those looks. We weren’t a rich family, so we couldn’t do much in the way of diversion in Canterlot, or leave it for long either, but we always found our fun within the Royal City. That particular summer, Canterlot was again holding the Summer Sun Festival, and my father had volunteered us as one of the acts to entertain during the eve of the festival. He went even so far as to rent us a caravan, specifically the one that Trixie ended up using. I bought my own caravan before heading out of Canterlot.
“We set up along the main boulevard, preparing the show we would perform. Trixie would do like she did at the talent show and lead me into my shape shifting routine. We even worked in telling a story or two with our combined talents.
“We finally pinned down the details the morning of the Summer Sun Celebration, and we settled in to perform when it was our time to. We cuddled together in the closed Caravan, just holding each other close. Sure, we had probably both thought about this moment a hundred times before now, but it never seemed like it would work. We were both lost in each other’s eyes now, our hormones finally kicking in.
“She had been through a lot, and I had been there for her during the whole complicated issue of taming her father, and freeing her from her mother. Our bonds between us were strong as they had ever been, and I, well, we, did something that would change the course of our relationship forever.”
“What was it?” Pinkie asked, breaking the flow of Shape Shift’s story, garnering glares from everypony in the room. “I mean, if it changed your relationship forever.”
“We kissed, Pinkie. It was my first kiss with a mare so beautiful, and I felt things running through my body that I had never felt before. We were locked away in that little caravan, and we were in love, or at least as much as two teenagers could think they were in love.
“The energy I felt, that was nothing compared to how I saw Trixie react. She was melting in my hooves, and I couldn’t actually hold her up. We found ourselves, lips locked, lying on the ground of the caravan.
“There came a knock on the caravan door, though, before we could go any farther, to remind us that our show was about to take center stage. We got up, brushed ourselves off, and both of us donned our own costumes. We opened the caravan to a large gathering of ponies, only a few of which either of us remembered seeing before.
“We were show ponies; that’s what we had dreamed about since the first night we went out together. We put on our show, and everypony applauded. It was amazing to feel that in my heart: we had finally succeeded.
“As the time went on, we would accrue fandom across Canterlot. Ponies would always pay us to perform together. It was amazing for us, and I assumed for them too, but as with all great things, it was bound to come to an end.”
Part 5: The Fight of A Thousand Mistakes
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked. She had been enthralled in the story so far that she hadn’t noticed the popcorn bowl emptied long ago. Now broken from her concentration, she glanced at the bowl with a couple of blinks, but left it alone.
“We managed to find the one pony in all of Canterlot that could drive a wedge between us: Mrs. Lulamoon.” Trixie shuddered when she heard the name. “Trixie’s mother was very disapproving, and she was a master at making one doubt themselves. At this point in our relationship, Trixie and I had figured that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together, being traveling showponies. It seemed only a natural step from where we were at then.
“Running into Trixie’s mother wasn’t on our to-do list, but it happened one stormy night in late summer. Trixie and I had just left our engagement for the day with a successful performance. We were happy as happy could be, riding the waves of enjoyment of the many fans we had acquired in the city.
“We had taken the back road, like we normally did, to avoid the ponies who constantly obsessed over us. I’m sure you can understand how we felt, being famous yourselves,” Shape Shift pointed at the Elements of Harmony. “Particularly you, Rainbow.”
The cyan-blue Pegasus had hardly moved since she wrapped herself around his hoof, and this sudden address to her directly startled her. “Oh, uh… I kinda wasn’t paying any attention.”
“I was saying that we used to have quite the crazed fans,” Shape Shift repeated.
“Well, I wouldn’t call Scoots crazed,” Rainbow replied, shaking her head to clear it and awkwardly folding up her wings again. She got back to her hooves and gave a serious look at Shape Shift. “She’s a little filly without much to go on. She’s clinging to the hopes that one day she will fly. When she sees me fly, that, I guess… what’s the word…”
“Resonates in her dreams,” Twilight offered.
“Yeah, that. I mean, she’s like a little sister who always looks up to me. I’m sure it’s because I’m the best flier in Equestria, but to Scoots it seems more than that.”
“Sure,” Shape Shift replied, “I think that there are other fans you have that are crazier, though, with you being a Wonderbolt and all.”
“To tell you the truth, Shape Shift,” Dash replied, tearing up a little before returning her gaze to the unicorn, “I kinda quit being a Wonderbolt after you broke your horn.”
“Wait… wait…” Twilight stopped. “You gave up being a Wonderbolt. You gave up being a Wonderbolt. I… I don’t believe this.” The princess gave a look of sheer disbelief to the Cyan pony across from her.
“Why do you think I was here every day, Twilight? Spitfire had quite the fit when I turned in my uniform. I… I just couldn’t keep my mind on my performances when he was like this. It was like he had wormed his way into my brain, and all I can think about is him.” She blushed. “I… I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“It’s because you genuinely care for him,” Twilight said. “I’ve heard stories about this all the time from Cadence all the time.”
“Well, I suppose I should continue my story,” Shape Shift said, hearing the gongs for noon. “Either that, or we should get some lunch.”
“I’m always prepared,” Twilight reminded Shape Shift cheerfully, “I made us all lunch before you got up!” Doling out sandwiches, Twilight motioned for Shape Shift to continue his story.
“Well, we passed by the old cardboard house that Trixie had when I had found her on the streets. There, to our surprise, was a light blue mare with a white mane. I hadn’t seen her before, but the look on Trixie’s face said everything.
“She gave us the most accusing of glares before getting up and cantering over to us. It seemed that she knew exactly what she was going to do to us, and I didn’t really like where this was going. Her gaze was something I thought only cockatrices could perform, and I felt myself paralyzing in the legs. I was sure that this effect was doubled for Trixie.
“’You did this to me,’ she said, ‘you left me for the streets, you made me nothing, you are the reason that I don’t know where my next meal is coming from.’ The emphasis she put on ‘you’ seemed like a hammer hitting on some nail in Trixie’s head, because she flinched every time, and her stance grew less and less confident with ever pass of the word. ‘You are never going to be Great and Powerful because you left your own mother out on the streets to die.’
“I pulled Trixie along behind me after I finally found movement in my legs again. It was too late; the damage had already been done. She seemed distant when I tried to talk to her over the next few hours. I could barely get a response from her. It wasn’t until my father came home from work that things took the worst road possible.
“She gave a glare not unlike the one her mother had given her only a few hours before. The words she said would haunt me just like her mother’s. ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie does not need your help. Trixie was doing fine on her own. Now, if you are done ruining Trixie’s life, then Trixie would like to go now.’”
Trixie gave a shudder and a sob as she remembered that day with Shape Shift. It seemed to haunt her the way it haunted him. Finally with hoof free, Shape Shift wrapped it around Trixie to comfort her. Rainbow gave a small frown until she realized what was going on. She had only been half-listening to the story, but it was clear to her that Trixie needed some comfort.
“I chased her out the door past my confused father. She led me on a chase through Canterlot before I finally caught up with her on the other side of the city. She turned to fight me, but we both knew that neither of us really knew any offensive magic. She gave off a different energy now. I tried to console her, but she would have none of it. She constantly rebutted all my arguments with how my family had to butt into her life and ruin it.
“I tried explaining that the life she had before we stepped in was not a good life at all, and we were only trying to help. Every time I came up with another reason, she, using her full self-given title, would break past it with whatever fallacy she decided she could come up with.
“I told her that this wasn’t the Luli I fell in love with in that caravan two months ago, and it wasn’t. She was a completely different pony. I was trying to figure out what exactly happened, and at that point I couldn’t put the pieces together. It wasn’t until afterward I realized that it was that encounter with her mother that made everything go south.
“She told me that the Great and Powerful Trixie was worth more than I would ever deserve. I tried to remind her that I loved her for her innocence and all of the great times we had together. I was losing a battle designed to have no winners.”
Trixie began speaking, much to the surprise of everypony in the room. “I had been infected by something from my mother. It was a poison of sorts that destroyed my confidence and completed the self-induced transformation of my personality into the Great and Powerful Trixie. I began changing everything about myself because I felt that no pony could every truly love who I had become.”
“But I loved who you were,” Shape Shift reminded. “I tried to bring that part of you back, to see the Luli I loved, but there was no rescuing her from the depths of the Great and Powerful. I was heartbroken as the school year began, and I could hardly keep my thoughts straight. I figured that there was something I could have done to save her. Something I should have done to make sure that she was safer.
“My parents grew more and more concerned. They began talking to me about letting her go, that it wasn’t healthy to crush myself about anypony else and their shortcomings. But I felt that it was my fault that Trixie had become the way she had.
“She met up with me, one school day. She gave me some looks that I didn’t really understand until after that day. She started talking to me in a voice I never heard from her mouth before, and she was trying to tell me that I was perhaps the most handsome stallion she had ever seen. She started giving me an air that I, even after everything we had been through together, found uncomfortable.”
Trixie picked up the story. “I felt that if I could get the carnal attention of a stallion, then perhaps it would ease my brain and help me assert that I was capable of being myself. The change in my mind was almost complete, and that was the last of my old self trying to save itself, just in the most inappropriate way possible.
“I had made moves on multiple stallions, but I knew that the one that would give me the best chance was the one who actually cared for me. I just… I did it the worst way possible.”
“I mentioned my discomfort, and she grew angry with me. She started to tell me that I never loved her, that the things I said in that alley, trying to convince her that I did were all lies, that she had finally lifted the veil to see what was behind. I was hurt. I told her that she wasn’t the mare I fell in love with, and that I wanted my Luli back. That was, I suppose, the breaking point.”
“I,” Trixie continued, “I cut the rest of the day and found myself in a part of Canterlot I always wanted to visit as a child. The Royal Gardens. They were magnificent, and I wasn’t sure why my family had never come here. I was a mess, and I let out a little wish that I have regretted since the day I made it. I wished that if this ‘love’ made Shape Shift so uncomfortable, then perhaps all mares should love him this way. That way, he would have to choose me. I didn’t know it at the time, but the wish had become a spell, one that was worked between my own magic, and the magic of the princess on the other side of the hedges at the time.”
“Princess Cadence?” Twilight asked. “She was involved in this?”
“Well, to be specific, she wasn’t directly involved. I know that she helped with the spell in some way, whether she was conscious of it or not, but she did harness her mastery of love to power the spell. I only noticed the effects afterward,” Trixie stated. This seemed to trigger something in Twilight.
“I know exactly how to counter this, I just need to write Cadence!” She ran up the stairs, grabbed quill and ink, and laid down in her spot. “Do go on, I don’t wish to stop the story any.”
“Well, I noticed the change in the mares, and I didn’t really want any relationship at the time. I was only wanting Trixie, and to tell the truth, it wasn’t until I met all of you that I really wanted any other mare in all of Equestria. In the moment, though, I was reeling from the disappointment, both in Luli, and in myself. I figured that there was something I had done, or rather not done, to cause this change in Trixie.
“Soon, though, the time came for me to do something that I hadn’t ever wanted to do.”
Part 6: Difficult Choice to Make
“Spiike!” Twilight called, interrupting the story for a moment. “I need you to send this letter to Princess Cadence as quick as you can.” With a burst of green flame, a plume of smoke, and a comment or two under his breath, we went back upstairs, the letter on its way. “Sorry, Shape Shift, I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”
“Well, the time had come to make a choice that I did really want to make. Between the drop in my grades, the consuming depression I had fallen into, and the complete change in Trixie, I didn’t know what I could have done to change any of it. I needed to choose if I would continue to worry myself about her, or if I would cut my losses.”
“I…” the other showpony replied, “I had only a little amount of ‘Luli’ left in me. I could feel that part of me slipping away like water in a stream. In fact, the more that I tried to hold on to her, the more that she slipped away. I tried to talk to Shape Shift one more time before the change was finished.”
“I could see it in Trixie’s eyes, there was a hint of the Luli I had fallen in love with: the showmare who was dedicated to sharing her expertise to the world as a diversion from the rut of everyday life. I had to make the most difficult choice of my young life. Would I stay to kindle this Luli in hopes of saving her, or would I retain what I had left of my life to try and make myself a name as a Transmogrifier. It was going to hurt one of us either way, and the thought killed me inside.
“I didn’t know which way I wanted to go, and I couldn’t make my choice then and there. It was something that one needs to think long and hard about, wasn’t it? I mean, the pros and cons of each side were clear, but they were more to think about than a moment can offer.
“If I chose Luli, then I would have the one mare in all of Canterlot that I wanted most. She was a show mare, one who would understand the complexities of being on the road, and we did so well together as a duet. If I could manage to kindle Luli within her, then I could have not only a lover, but also a partner in the circuit. I would know that every day she was being treated the way that she truly deserved. She needed to be loved, and that much was clear to me.
“On the other hoof, if I led my own way, then I would save whatever sanity I had left, waning on my attempts already to see Luli within the ‘Great and Powerful Trixie.’ I could live on my own terms, complete high school and set out to live my own life. I would hurt her, but in the end, I would hurt myself trying to save her.
“My dreams were more of pure nightmares, and I couldn’t get any rest that night. My parents saw what was going on with me and inquired, but I didn’t think I could ever explain it. They hadn’t seen the complete transformation of her personality—my father had only caught a small glimpse of the beginnings of it. I had made one choice when I got up, but had decided against it in the next moment, changed again in the one following. The closer I got to school, the less confident in my choice I was.
“My head was pounding from the toggling of choice, and I really didn’t want to make it. I wished that we had never ran into her mother in the alley. That was when everything changed. I wanted my Luli back, but when I saw her that morning, I knew that whatever hope I had clung to of her still being salvageable was vanquished.
“She had been standing on the table, challenging any and all ponies to defeat her in a show of talent and magic.”
“That seems very familiar,” Rarity said. “I suppose this was the Great and Powerful Trixie we met so long ago?”
“Yes,” Trixie said, ashamed with the turn of events in her life. “Even after the removal of the Alicorn Amulet, I had a lot to learn. As I ventured around Equestria, trying to apologize to all of the ponies who I had hurt in my travels, I learned that there were some wounds that not even time could heal. I haven’t been back to Canterlot since I got the Alicorn Amulet.” She looked out the window toward the Royal City. “I just couldn’t bear to think what would happen if I ever ran into my mother again.”
“In short, I had decided to save Luli, but it was too late. I wanted so hard to believe that she was still in there; that the little mare that we had rescued, who was so cheerful and caring… she was gone. Far beyond any amount of work that I could do to bring her back. I told her that there was nothing more I could do for her.”
“And that was the final nail in Luli’s prison. It took being exposed to you all for her to have a chance to show again,” the show mare said. “But remnants of my life still rule me from time to time.”
“I think I can help with that,” Twilight said, grinning broadly. “Girls,” she said to the other Elements of Harmony. Each of them put on their Element. “I hope this works.”
The glow from her horn was sure to have been bright enough to rival even Celestia’s sun, and the warmth that crossed the skins of all the ponies in the room as the magic surrounded them was inviting. Trixie was enveloped in the magic, with it brushing across her fur, she shuddered as a dark cloud materialized around her, taking the shape of her in her full regalia, before dissolving in the light.
“How was that so easy for you, and why couldn’t you do that before?” Trixie asked.
“There have been a lot of things I learned when I became an Alicorn. Among them was a little spell that I knew only the Elements of Harmony could accomplish. It brought out the part of you that makes you everypony’s friend. I just hope that you find a way to keep it there, and don’t let the ‘Great and Powerful’ overtake you.”
“I can think of one way,” she said, giving Shape Shift a look that he had missed seeing in her eyes for quite a while. It was that look they had given each other back on the day that they had started their circuit of shows around Canterlot.
Part 7: Impossible Choice to Make
This was another moment that Shape Shift had dreaded to come to: should he ever run into his ‘Luli’ again, would he be able to choose between the mares he liked at that point, and her? It was something that had only crossed his mind once, and left it the minute after. He had mares in this room he loved, and he didn’t want to break any of their hearts. The looks that Rainbow and Trixie were giving him both showed that there was a deep caring in their hearts for him. He wanted to pick both of them, but that would never be acceptable.
It was the impossible choice he would have to make. If he chose one, the other would surely be heartbroken. Trixie might fall back into her ‘Great and Powerful’ and he couldn’t really live with himself if that happened. Rainbow had given up so much for him: she had left her dreams behind to stay with him. Both mares had a plethora of qualities that he liked about them, and each had their small downfalls. He was sure that he could be happy either way, but would he truly be happy?
“I…” Twilight said, noticing the tension in Shape Shift, “I think that you need to get some time to think about this before you make your choice, Shape Shift.” The mares in the room, starting with Pinkie Pie, and ending with Dash and Trixie filed out, leaving Twilight and Shape Shift.
“I don’t want to make this choice, Twilight,” he said. “How could I do that to one of them? No matter who I chose, it will hurt the other.”
“Unfortunately, life can be like that,” she said, collecting the teacups. “Just because a choice is hard doesn’t mean there isn’t an answer.” She stopped to look at the unicorn. “This one just doesn’t have a right answer. You have to look to yourself to decide what you’re going to choose.” She took the dishes into the kitchen, leaving Shape Shift to his own thoughts.
“I don’t want to hurt anypony. I love them all…” he felt the tears collect in his eyes. “I… this is just an impossible choice if I’ve ever had one.”
The night was familiar. Nightmares plagued him into little sleep, but Trixie was there by his side the entire night. He weighed the options, knowing that only one mare could be beside him, and the other would probably be heartbroken for quite a while. When he did fall asleep, he was thrown into a horrible mix of thoughts that if he didn’t choose correctly, then he would destroy all the friendships he had accrued here in Ponyville.
When Celesita’s sun rose the next morning, he found Trixie stroking his mane in a comforting way. He watched as the other mares came back to hear the news. It was like a trial, and the verdict would exonerate one heart and condemn the other. He was judge and jury, and he felt a little executioner. How could he make a choice like this?
“I had a rough night, and I want to choose wisely. The thing is, though, that I love all of you, just some in different ways.
“Rainbow, you showed me what a good friend could do. You were there for me, and you protected me with all you had. I may not like the fact that you gave up on being a Wonderbolt for me, but I can understand.
“Trixie, you were my first love, and there’s always something special about that. You’ve come so far from when I left you on that table in Canterlot.
“I guess it’s like a bandage, and should be done quickly so as to not hurt more than it should…” Shape Shift said, solidifying his decision after all the turmoil.
“I choose…”