• Published 16th Feb 2014
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Trixie's Forest Retreat - crowscrowcrow



Following the events of Boast Busters, Trixie decides to hide from the town (and Rainbow Dash in particular) by taking cover in the Everfree Forest. Not every problem can be outrun, and sometimes facing them can have unexpected consequences.

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Chapter 118 - Reasonable

The stars dotting the clear night sky shined a gentle light on the fleeing trio's escape from the Apple homestead. With barely a nod of agreement between the two mares vying for dominance during the flight, they plunged into the darkened orchard. If not for the moon shining between the apple trees, their escape might have ended up much like Trixie’s attempt a month ago, crashed into a tree. As it was, they could make their way fairly easily.

Although the night had not quite gone as it should have, Trixie couldn’t be happier. Maybe that meant it actually had gone normally? Trixie had not been invited to enough social events to be able to contrast and compare.

However, she was reasonably sure that fleeing the scene was not standard practice for such an occasion. Which was a shame, since she considered herself an accomplished escape artist.

Once they'd reached the other edge of the orchard, Rainbow Dash finally slowed down and allowed for a brief rest while she looked over her shoulder. "I think we lost her."

"We were never followed, genius."

“Because we were too fast.” Rainbow Dash had that stupid grin on her face, which she only wore when she was goading her.

The only winning move was not to play, but it was too late for that. Trixie groaned and rolled her eyes. “Yes, let’s go with that. You outran a little old lady with a bad hip. Be proud.”

"She's hurt?" Fluttershy gasped.

"She's old," Trixie corrected, "there's a difference."

Fluttershy threw a brief look with Rainbow Dash, who was busily flexing a sleeping wing and trotting ahead. Noting she was alone in this, Fluttershy gave Trixie an uneasy look. "That's, uhm, not very nice, Trixie."

After tonight, Trixie knew more about being old than she would ever wish upon her worst enemy. In excruciating detail, Granny Smith had shared with her the ins and outs of weather prediction through creative use of arthritis, among many other things, and an outlandish claim of weather 'creation' by doing it all in reverse.

Trixie shuddered at the thought of ending up like that one day. "No, it really isn't. Hopefully somepony will have perfected an anti-aging spell by then."

"Uh, that's not what I—"

"You girls coming or what?" Rainbow Dash called out from half way down the road. Apparently she had finally realized she was not being followed.

“What, are you scared to be alone in the dark, Dashie?” Trixie teased as they made their way over to her.

“As if.” Dash turned her back on them and resumed walking, ensuring she stayed ahead of the pair just enough to appear independent. “I just figured you two scaredy-ponies wouldn’t move a hoof forward if it wasn’t for me.”

“Oh, so good of you to keep us safe.” Trixie said mockingly as she kept Fluttershy by her side and followed after Rainbow Dash.

“Just hurry up.” Oddly, Rainbow Dash didn’t bother to engage any further.

It took Trixie a moment to realize that she may have actually hit the nail on the head. Dash hadn’t bothered to accompany them during the day, but now that it was night she was walking them home in the dark. There wasn’t any reason for Dash not to fly straight to her own home and get some much needed rest, unless she really was trying to guard them. Or perhaps, Trixie in particular.

Is it because of what Trixie said at dinner? A dull stinging feeling pierced Trixie’s chest as she thought back to how she’d yelled at Dash for not being clairvoyant. How else was she supposed to know what Twilight was planning?

A gentle nudge to her shoulder brought Trixie back down to earth.

“Are you okay? Do you feel too tired?” Fluttershy looked worried.

“Huh? No, Trixie was just thinking.” Smiling, Trixie shook her head. Putting Fluttershy at ease, she kept walking.

“If you say so. We’re almost home.” Although Fluttershy was a little overbearing, it was a nice to be reassured she cared for her.

A warm sensation spread through Trixie as she looked from one lovely pegasus to the other. Rainbow Dash’s protection. Fluttershy’s support. In their own way, each showed how much they cared for her. The cool night air was no match for the warm and fuzzy feeling inside of her. Trixie wouldn’t trade it for all the bits in the world.

Trixie still had to tell Dash about her and Fluttershy. The setting during dinner hadn’t exactly been comfortable enough for her to bring it up, but now… this felt like a good time. If she could only figure out how to broach the subject.

Watching Dash forge a path ahead through the darkness, Trixie swallowed uneasily. It’s never like this in any of the stories. Is Trixie supposed to just say something like: Hey, Dash, you’re cool with it if Trixie and Fluttershy do it, right? Gah, that’s terrible! Hay, Fluttershy probably would die on the spot if Trixie said something like that.

Fortunately, she had the whole trip to think on it. With the serenity of the pale moonlight and refreshingly cool night air rushing through her mane, Trixie was positive she’d think of something before long.

“Dashie?”

Rainbow Dash groaned, not even bothering to look back. “I keep telling you do—”

“Don’t call me that. Yes, yes, Trixie knows. When are you going to accept Trixie will not listen? Honestly, Trixie would have thought you’d be smarter than this. You’re just annoying yourself.”

Stumbling, Dash looked over her shoulder with a disbelieving look on her face. “What? How did this suddenly become my fault?”

“Trixie just got through explaining that.” She huffed as though it was painfully obvious.

“Gah, whatever.” Dash returned her attention to the road ahead.

Trixie gloated over her victory. It was just too bad that Dash wasn’t looking anymore. “Anyway, Trixie wants to talk to you.”

“If I say no, will you not talk?” Dash sounded agitated and tired.

“It’s about the three of us.”

To her satisfaction, Trixie saw Rainbow Dash’s ears perk up. She clearly had her attention.

Fluttershy eeped and mumbled in Trixie’s ear. “I, uhm, Trixie, you mean…?”

Nodding at Fluttershy, Trixie continued. Despite how confident she was that there would be no problem, she couldn’t completely overcome her nerves. “Trixie meant to tell you straight away, but you’ve been so busy that she didn’t find a good time.”

“Heh… yeah, sorry about that. I’m sure I’ll have more time soon. I hope.” Rainbow Dash sighed as she looked up at the mass of clouds hanging over the middle of Ponyville. A drawn-out yawn escaped her before she shook her head. “Anyway, what did you want to tell me?”

"W-well, you see. Trixie and Fluttershy have grown umm...closer over the last few days. Really close." To accentuate her words, Trixie leaned in and gave Fluttershy a tender nuzzle, causing Fluttershy to go redder then she already was at the conversation.

“That’s cool.” Dash shrugged without even looking over her shoulder. “So?”

"S-so, Trixie was hoping that you'd be okay with this? I-it won't affect how Trixie's feels about you, Dashie! It just means that, well, Trixie would get to be together with the two ponies she cherishes the most in this world."

“Why wouldn’t I be? I thought we went over this already.”

“You are?” Trixie utterly failed to keep the relieved tone out of her voice. She heard Fluttershy gasp, reminding her she was supposed to be acting confident. She gave herself a few seconds to recover by clearing her throat. “Trixie means, of course you are.”

Trixie couldn’t tell if Fluttershy was blushing at all, as most colors for her were faded due to the pale moonlight. The only thing that was obvious was that her eyes were huge.

Finally, Fluttershy found her voice. "R-really?"

“What is with you two? Were you expecting me to be surprised or something?” Dash flared her wings and flew up a few feet above the ground. With a practiced ease, she spun around and flew backwards ahead of them. Her front hooves moved behind her head as though she were leisurely laying back in midair. “If anything. I’m surprised it took this long. You two LIVE together, for crying out loud.”

Although Trixie had been almost entirely sure this was going to be fine, it was still only almost. While she felt relieved to know her fear had been unfounded, the thought that she had doubted Dash for no good reason left a shameful stain. They had talked about it before, after all.

She’s not hurt that Trixie asked her again, is she? A sideways glance revealed that Fluttershy was too stumped to formulate a proper response. The sight made Trixie feel just a bit better about this. Of course Trixie trusted Dash. This is merely to reassure Fluttershy.

“So well uh, just to be clear. Trixie means she and Fluttershy will uh, do stuff, together. You know. Without you, u-unless you want to-uh, Trixie means, well... she hasn't really talked about that yet.” Trixie’s cheeks felt like they were on fire.

“Oh, ‘stuff’, huh?” Rainbow Dash suddenly showed a lecherous grin. “Got any plans then?”

Trixie was sure she was soon to be in danger of setting the orchard on fire with the heat radiating off her face. That horrible tease. “W-well, no, not as such. We’re, uh, planning to go to the spa, though. But, the rude white pony will be there too.”

“Rarity now too? Oh my gosh.” That shiny grin on Dash’s face only grew wider. “Well, you don’t waste any time, do you? You know, that would almost be enough for me to set hoof in a spa, but I really can’t skip out on work again. I can’t fault your taste, though.”

“N-not like that, you cretin!”

“Heh. Sure, if you say so.” Dash made an exaggerated shrugging motion.

Trixie turned her head away with groan. “You’re the worst.”

As fluid as water, Dash slinked her way back into Trixie’s vision and reached out her one hoof to flick her horn. “Hey, I’m not the one who’s trying to get so ‘close’ to so many mares.” She said teasingly.

Fighting back the searing feeling in her cheeks, Trixie was catching on now. Dash was making fun of her. Well, two could play at that game. With a sly smirk she leaned in closer to Rainbow Dash. “Well what was Trixie to do? Her only lover ‘dashed’ out on her for a whole week. Of course she’d go looking for warmth elsewhere.”

Not quite ready to give up her play thing yet, Dash made another probe at Trixie. “What have you and Fluttery been doing?"

A squeak fit for a mouse told of Fluttershy’s embarrassment.

Like a shark smelling blood in the water, Dash’s eyes flicked over to Fluttershy. “Actually… on second thought,” Dash zipped over to Fluttershy and patted her on the head. “I don’t want to know how she corrupted you like this, unless you wanna tell me?” She grinned again as she brought her face closer to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy made a noise that would have alerted dogs had it been any higher. “But, uhm, no, I, uh, wh-what I mean to say, or erm.”

Although Trixie hadn’t been much of a fan of it when she was being teased. Now that she saw Fluttershy squirming, she was unable to resist. Trixie moved closer and wrapped one foreleg around Fluttershy’s neck. “Oh, don’t be shy. Tell her about all those long nights we shared together in your bed. Trixie never knew nights could be so warm.”

Despite her mouth opening and closing, no sound came out. Frozen stiff, Fluttershy stood in the middle of the road, trapped between two ponies dead set on making her die of embarrassment. The two ponies best for it, no less. She was akin to a mouse wedged between two particularly playful cats.

Rainbow Dash waved her hoof in front of Fluttershy’s face. After getting no reaction, she turned her attention back to Trixie. “I think we broke her.”

“You think? She’s clearly overheating.” Trixie giggled and took a few steps back from Fluttershy. Afterwards, she snagged Dash in her magical grasp and dragged her away as well. “Let’s give her a little time to cool off. There’s, well, uhm, Trixie wants to talk with you about this some more… Be serious.”

“I make no promises.” Dash landed in front of Trixie once the telekinesis had faded. “What is it?”

Scratching at the ground, Trixie suddenly felt a lot more self-conscious. It had been so much easier while they were messing around. “It’s just… Trixie’s never been in something like this before, and she knows she’s going to make so many mistakes with this. Like how to divide her attention, and, and Trixie wants you to know she is going to screw this up a couple times before she gets it right."

“Whoa, what did that mood ever do to you?”

Trixie gave Dash a confused look. “…What?”

“You killed it dead. You know, like you killed the… Eh, forget it.” Dash waved it off and cleared her throat. “Right, okay, serious. I keep forgetting you have no experience at any of this. Look, it’s gonna be fine okay? Don’t bother trying to spend equal time with everpony. Just make sure you’re spending quality time with everypony.”

Trixie blinked, then blinked again, then rubbed ears, then rubbed her eyes. Finally, she was forced to confront reality. “Did… did you just say something actually reasonable?”

“Heh, don’t get used to it. That particular nugget of wisdom was something my mom used to say. I guess it stuck.” Shrugging, Dash threw a glance towards the mass of clouds in the north.

Trixie had to squint to make out what Dash was looking at. Cloudsdale? Isn’t that where she’s from? Maybe her mom still lives there. “She sounds nice. Your mom.”

That Tartarus-forsaken grin was back. “She’s taken.”

Author's Note:

The end of the Apple Appetizer Arc (I just made that up, don't worry about it). Let's see if I've gotten any better at keeping these nights to a reasonable length.... Though it included a few extra long chapters, I think it averages out to about five chapters. Yay, progress. :yay:

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