//------------------------------// // Letting Go Somehow // Story: We Remember Everything // by Thunderscourge //------------------------------// A/N: Special thanks to Evilhumour, ledezma25, JaceArveduin, ABitterPill, Killabyte, hs0003, Scarheart, Silver Page, Drgnwolf, Cadmium, Kamunari, The Batmane of equestria, digital_light, Ketvirtas, GlassFloors, MoonSparkle The Vampony, Corrupt Gnashty, and LordSiravant for your comments last chapter. Thank you again, and I hope to continue hearing from you all! Title is from the song "Fading" from Decyfer Down. Your thoughts mean everything to me and I would love to hear from you in the comments below! Comments are after all, and I could not get by without them from you all! “You are one cold woman.” Loki glanced over to the cloaked woman beside him, her obsession with covering herself still astounding him after all these months, “At least you have granted me an alternate route to leave this place. It only took another year or so. Does this make up for whatever time I neglected you as a child?” As to be expected, Lady Death gave no verbal response, leaving Loki to do as he pleased. A look down to the weapons in his hands made the Asgardian Prince sigh. They, along with his necklace and pants, were all he had, and he would hold on to them with all of his might. “If only we all made it,” he sighed as memories rushed back to him of the discoveries and battles he had made across his journey. The past did not matter however. It was time to go home. After the Equestria Games affair concluded with Trixie crowned champion of all affairs magical, the four who had stood on the field at the end of it all sought out a fitting dining venue to rest at. It had been a long, stressful event and the three princesses and champion needed a break to cool down. They settled on a high class restaurant that Cadance suggested to them, unable to attend with her husband because of their duties in overseeing the clean up of the Equestria Games. After they had been granted their table Celestia left them to find a restroom, citing stomach issues due to her condition. Twilight rose her brow in confusion while Luna and Trixie each nodded, though this did not influence the timing of their food as the oldest pony in Equestria returned before the waiter even arrived. No sooner had the (noticeably nervous) waiter placed down water and a basket of bread did Trixie levitate a piece from it and onto her plate. Her stomach had been rumbling furiously on the way to finding a place to eat, and now she had what she might consider a delicacy. While Trixie moved to slice it up and butter it with obvious interest, Luna rolled her eyes at just how easy her student was to please when it came to food, “Bread? Really?” Twilight found herself close to giggling at the sight of Trixie wolfing the bread down, and Celestia found herself smiling too. Trixie just gave a confused glance at Luna, her voice muffled but sounding as if she was explaining the obvious. “Itsh really goowd.” That muffled voice made Luna audibly groan. She would be adopting an adult, not a child, so she expected a little more from her, “Do not speak with your mouth full, Trixie. It is not proper.” Trixie quickly swallowed the second small piece of bread she had brought to her mouth before giving a nervous chuckle, “Sorry.” Luna felt a little dizzy only to remember she had not been drinking much that day. An obvious sign of dehydration, so she drank the water afforded to her by the waiter earlier in a most noble manner. Beside her, Trixie tried copying Luna’s mannerism with her own water. Luna noticed her copycat, but she did nothing to stop Trixie. Trixie would have to learn certain etiquette related matters given her humble upbringing in comparison to how Luna, Celestia, Cadance and Twilight all had experience with more noble and refined characters during their own lives. Seeing Twilight eat a piece of bread on her own made Luna realize that maybe the newest princess had lost some of her own manners when she took to life in Ponyville, since no Canterlot trained individual would eat in such a plain manner. Seeing the others eat the bread granted to them made Luna think to her own stomach, which in turn made her realize that something had crept up on her. Not hunger, but nausea. Perhaps she had caught something from the masses who attended the event. Luna stood up to go correct this while patting her mouth with a napkin, Trixie also patting her own mouth gently in mimicry, “My stomach is feeling upset. I will go tend to this matter before we eat.” Trixie smiled to the princess as the latter stood, “I’ll be sure to get you another drink, mother.” Luna smiled to her, proud to at least see that Trixie was not miles away from knowing proper etiquette. In fact, just looking at Trixie made her proud. Luna had taken a street rat and turned her into a successful being who rivaled her sister’s student of years, and now that she had finally triumphed over her rival she could move past her own emotional baggage. “Thank you, dear.” There was no longer any foe to defeat, to get even with. She could just be herself, no longer embittered by a past conflict. Once Luna left the other three to peruse their menus, Twilight leaned in towards Celestia to ask her a question in a hushed voice. “Why is she calling Luna her mom?” Celestia smiled as she responded from behind a menu so that Trixie could not see her mouth moving, “Luna took her in some months ago you may remember, and she will be adopting Trixie soon.” Despite their attempts at engaging in subtle chatter, Trixie spoke to the two of them with a confident smile, “Yes, it is true.” Having been caught, Twilight blushed as she looked to Trixie. Something came to Twilight’s attention given their previous talk during the duel, and her curiosity was honestly piqued at the implications of what Celestia said, “So are you going to be a Princess too?” Trixie shrugged nonchalantly, as if they were speaking about the weather or their everyday lives, “That is up to the reigning princesses to decide,” she became less nonchalant about it all as she smirked at Twilight, “You, included.” A vote of sorts? That sounded fair to Twilight. It made more sense than a spontaneous transformation late at night with no sort of real process or organization, “Oh, I see.” Celestia, unlike Twilight, was not as okay about this topic. Her sister’s strong words had left a mark that would not fade without further discussion. Still, she would not be the one to sour the mood especially as Luna was not even there, so Celestia instead took to praising the new champion of magic, “I must admit that Luna has done well teaching you,” Celestia glanced over Trixie fully, taking in how she sat at the same level as Twilight did even across the table. Celestia remembered something from her mother about height being tied to power, though she had never really looked much into the matter until this remarkable growth spurt she could see through Trixie, “You have been growing quite immensely under her tutelage.” Trixie did not notice that Celestia was partially referring to her height, so she brought it up herself, “And ever since I came back from that shadowy dimension, I’ve grown physically as well. I must say I enjoy this new height, just as you must Twilight.” Twilight too was beginning to notice that Trixie was not shorter than her, unlike most mares, and this fact confused Twilight to a large degree, “Yeah, you’re as big as me,” after their encounter in the duel Twilight had to also agree with Celestia’s assessment about Trixie’s growth, “And maybe not as strong, but certainly skilled.” “I was trapped in a place where I could do nothing but think about and contemplate spells for quite some time. I only just was granted the chance to practice them, however.” It had felt like years, though Trixie knew she had not been asleep that long. It had given her plenty of time to think though. To learn. To practice in the ethereal realm planted in her mind by the mistress of Hel, that mysterious daughter of Loki who had granted Trixie a path out of Hel after first giving her the tools needed to improve her control over magic without ever doing so physically. Trixie’s true trick now was that she knew everything in and out about controlling her magic, though she would have to do some more physical practice to get the real feel for it. Twilight knew little about the details of Trixie’s disappearance and coma, though Celestia knew enough to know that whatever Trixie had been put through was not something she would wish on any pony. Celestia frowned as she looked over the positively ecstatic blue mare who sat across the table. Looking at her gleeful face would not reveal just how much she had had to suffer to get to this point. “You must have been through a lot these past months.” Trixie’s mood faltered momentarily, “More than I would have cared for, Princess,” her smile came back in time for her to joke, “I have a pet Elf now though, so that helps balance things out. I think I will name him Absy.” Her eyes went over to her former rival, “How were things for you, Twilight?” Twilight felt kind of guilty that there was little she could report about what she had been doing. Nothing really stuck out to her in particular, for she had just been doing everyday things. Just like she had been before she became a Princess. “I can’t say too much has happened. There has been a lot of preparation for the Equestria Games, but now that that is over everything will be returning to normal it seems.” It was then that Luna returned from her time at the bathroom, resuming her place across the table from Celestia and next to Trixie, “Sorry for my absence.” The waiter was right behind her, arriving just in time to include Luna, “Are you ready for me to take your order?” Celestia smiled at him while nodding politely, “I believe, thank you. I will have—” Luna cut her off while rolling her eyes, “You would order first.” Celestia darted her gaze over to Luna, keeping her voice pleasant while responding in a cutting manner, “Yes, I would, because I don’t hide what I desire from those who ask.” Both Trixie and Twilight shot eachother worried glances, though neither moved to stop the inevitable train wreck they were now a part of. Luna’s tone crept up as she scoffed at her sister, “It’s not hiding if the ponies involved are just too ignorant to notice.” “I am sorry that I cannot be aware of everything when I am busy actually running Equestria and not just playing around at night,” Celestia rebutted, her tone remaining pleasant in a more mocking way now. “Oh, and you’ve been doing such a great job at it, haven’t you?” Luna sarcastically quipped from across the table, “Monster attacks every day, constant threats to our nation that could have easily been prevented if you had the intelligence to plan ahead—” Now on the defensive, Celestia’s voice became much more aggressive, “How could I possibly know that Discord and Sombra would return?” Luna smirked, glad to have the momentary advantage, “I don’t know, how about by not leaving Discord in the garden? Oh, wait, I know, you probably left him there so you could admire him these many lonely years.” Having had the subject of lovers brought up, Celestia returned fire, “At least my lover did not stab me in the back after he joined me—” “Everypony be quiet!” Everyone at the table as well as the nearby area turned to face the pony who had yelled so loudly. Her face was scrunched up in a hurt fashion, but her eyes remained strong and were fighting away tears. Trixie had grown to love her mentor for everything she had given her. She would not see her and her only living family member fight over nothing. Luna was shocked that Trixie was willing to challenge her while Celestia was more shocked about being called out on her behavior at all, not having had anyone do so other than Luna for what felt like millennia. Having gotten the sisters’ attention, Trixie took a deep breath in before calmly giving a rhetorical question, “We all make mistakes, right?” “Some more than others,” Luna snipped under her breath, though this earned her a glare from Celestia. Trixie was not about to let Celestia fire back, so she spoke up again, “Still, we all do,” she paused to look around the table with a strong scowl, “So, if we all make mistakes, what matters is how we try and fix them. You are both acting like school fillies.” Though not used to questioning her teacher, Twilight had to admit that she was in full agreement with Trixie, “She’s right, you know.” Celestia was actually even more surprised to have her own student call her out, “Twilight?” Trixie sighed as she gave Celestia and Luna each a sad look, “I understand your hormones might not be helping matters, but you two really need to just get over yourselves.” Luna winced at how Trixie called her out on her pettiness. On one level Luna was registering that Trixie was being mature and that she should be proud of this fact, but on another she was being called out by a pony whom she cared about dearly. This mixture of feelings choked Luna up and allowed Trixie to address her directly. “Mother, you can be sweet and kind when you wish to. Just accept that your sister is absentminded and oblivious at times and that you need to be assertive enough with her to make sure she does not go around acting as if she is the sole authority in Equestria.” Luna’s shoulders sunk at the lecture, knowing what was said to be true. Where had she lost herself to her jealousy again? Looking back, perhaps fusing with the Nightmare being around the same time as Twilight’s coronation was not a great idea… Celestia was not above Trixie’s criticism however, and the blue mare turned to face the older sister with just as much seriousness, “Princess Celestia, please, do your best to understand that your sister has been embittered by the years of neglect she has had to endure,” a look at the disheartened Luna made Trixie pause though it empowered her to finish, “Neglect not lifted or helped now that she has returned, since you haven’t done much if anything to reinstate her into our society.” Not used to being the one on the receiving end of a lecture, Celestia was finding herself in unfamiliar territory. She could not brush off what was said because there was a truth to it all, and the more Trixie spoke the more Celestia felt terrible about herself. Trixie sighed before adding one last part, “She is a Princess just like you. She deserves the respect of one, and you should support an effort to dispel the myths and wrongful hatred she receives.” Celestia looked first to Luna and then down at the table, ashamed about how she had been acting these past months and hours, “She is right. We are acting like foals.” Luna closed her own eyes as she thought back to just how petty she had let herself become, “I agree.” After a moment of silence Celestia looked over to Trixie and showed her a sad smile, “Thank you Trixie. I think we both needed that.” Trixie felt a wave of nervousness creep up her spine as the princess addressed her, “Sorry for speaking out, but it was getting obnoxious.” Instead of scolding Trixie for speaking the truth, Luna found herself agreeing with Celestia and in turn being proud of what her student just stuck her neck out for, “Please, always speak your mind when I am out of line.” Twilight smiled at how well everything went, the situation apparently defused, “Sometimes family just needs to talk.” The waiter had left while everypony else was distracted to allow them some space, but he returned with some urgency once things settled down. “Ms. Lulamoon, th—” Trixie waved a hoof at him as if to shoo him away, not bothering to even look in the stallion’s direction, “Sorry, could you come get an autograph in a minute? Kind of busy.” He cleared his throat and tried again, “Ms. Lulamoon, I am here to say—” Celestia turned to face the stallion with an intimidating glance, “Sir, is this important?” He nodded quickly before addressing the intended party, “Yes, I am here to say that there is a Ms. Lulamoon for you here, Ms. Lulamoon.” His statement confused Twilight and Celestia, worried Luna, and amused Trixie, “Haha, very funny. How can I visit myself? I am using no illusions.” The waiter bowed his head as he continued to address the champion, “She claims to be your mother. Shall I send her away?” Trixie froze up at the word, her eyes widening and her mouth stuck open. Beside her, Luna sighed as she looked past the waiter, “Too late now.” “Trixie,” a voice very similar to the stated pony’s stated. Despite all her feats of accomplishment, recovered reputation, and overall increased life, Trixie had not expected for any of that to drag up pieces of her past she rather leave untouched. Her biological mother had come to visit.