Twilight still wasn’t feeling great, but she wasn’t feeling so not great that she couldn’t expend a little bit of her time to help out a friend, and in this case it was Pinkie Pie who needed her help. Also, helping out Pinkie Pie would give Twilight a little more time to not think about Shining Armor and everything else.
And on top of that, it would give her some time to process what went down with her, Rarity, and Fluttershy because WOW. Twilight had no idea that was Rarity so… WOW.
“Thank you for doing this, Twilight,” Pinkie said softly, walking hand in hand with Twilight to the Crystal Empire train station, such as it was.
“It’s my pleasure, Pinkie,” Twilight smiled. “I’m happy to help, and plus I’m excited to meet your sister.”
“Oh, Maud is super great!” Pinkie beamed and jumped for joy; it seemed just mentioning her sister was enough to get her excited instead of nervous. “She’s super smart and cool, I think you’re gonna like her a lot.”
“I hope so,” Twilight giggled and squeezed Pinkie’s hand. “If she’s anything like you, I’m sure I’ll love her.”
“She isn’t,” Pinkie said innocently, and something about that made Twilight laugh, “but I’m sure you’re gonna love her anyway!”
“I’m sure I will,” Twilight nodded.
Granted, helping Pinkie and meeting her sister weren’t the only reasons Twilight agreed to walk Pinkie to the train station. Twilight was also looking forward to meeting up with a familiar face, and it was hard not to notice her lounging on the station platform since she was sprawled across it in her true form.
“Trixie!” Twilight said delightedly, the dragon lazily looking over at her with a decidedly unenthusiastic look on her face.
“Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie yawned. “Still going with the whole pony disguise, huh?”
“Well, yeah,” Twilight said bashfully. “I don’t wanna cause anyone any trouble.”
“Gawd, you’re such a narc,” Trixie cackled and rolled her eyes. “There’s no one here for you to inconvenience, nerd. Unless the puffball has a problem.” Trixie pointed a claw at Pinkie, whose face scrunched up in resentment.
This was the whole reason Pinkie wanted Twilight’s help, as a buffer between her and Trixie. And it needed to specifically be Twilight, since she was the one who considered Trixie a friend.
That said, Trixie made a good point.
“Pinkie Pie,” Twilight looked eagerly but nervously at Pinkie, genuinely worried what she would say, “do you mind?”
“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie gasped and jumped in the air. “I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to see your big form before! Not like, at least not since the Everfree! Showmeshowmeshowmeshowmeshowme!!!”
Twilight grinned ear to ear, basking in Pinkie’s excitement and even the slight smile that Trixie was trying to hide with her hand, as Twilight burned in purple fire, her fur and skin smoldering off and being charred to ashes as her bones grew in size and shape, her body wrapped in a protective blanket of shimmering scales.
She outstretched her wings that had galaxies painted into their leathery flesh, and she let out a roar that could shake the heavens. There was so much to love about being a pony, but there was truly no feeling more heady than returning home.
Twilight hadn't realized until she had returned to her true form how massive and imposing the spires of the Empire had felt to her before, and now it almost felt like Twilight could fit them in the palm of her hand.
Even Trixie, a relatively small dragon, was twice Twilight’s size or more, and now Twilight could pick her up and pet her cute little head if she wanted to. She didn’t want to, but she could have and that’s what was important.
Pinkie cooed in amazement at Twilight’s form, and she responded with a gleaming grin, Pinkie screeching in delight.
“The fangies…” Pinkie whispered.
“Oh?” Twilight smirked, letting her razor sharp fangs take the spotlight for Pinkie’s viewing pleasure, and Twilight could see Pinkie’s legs getting wobbly underneath her. “You like these guys?”
“Everyone likes the fangies,” Trixie said confidently, smiling and showing off her own impressive chompers as she idly looked over her claws.
The whistle of an oncoming train alerted everyone’s attention, especially Pinkie who leaped over the bench to run to the very edge of the station platform, to the point that Twilight was worried for a moment that she would have to pick Pinkie up off the track or something.
Trixie too gave the oncoming train her full, enraptured attention, looking a lot like a dog who was waiting at home for its master to return. Maybe that was an unfair comparison, but it was wild to see someone as, well— who cared about as little as Trixie cared about, giving her full attention to anything.
As the train rolled in, the two women got increasingly anxious, and it was starting to rub off on Twilight too. She just couldn’t wait to meet this Maud and see what kind of person she was like.
Only a single passenger departed the train: a dark grey earth pony mare wearing very bland, bleak-colored clothing. Her hair was neat and straight, and her expression was completely nonplussed. This was Maud Pie, no doubt about it.
“MAUD!!” Pinkie was the first to pounce, and pounce she did, quite literally jumping into Maud’s arms, who caught her without even flinching, Pinkie burying herself in her sister’s embrace as she wrapped her up in a tight hug. “I AM SOOOOO HAPPY TO SEE YOU!”
“I’m happy to see you too, Pinkie,” Maud said flatly. It was off-putting at first, almost sarcastic-sounding, but the joyful expression on Pinkie’s face didn’t change, so Twilight just presumed that was simply the way Maud talked.
“Hey,” Trixie said casually, and it was funny seeing her try to act cool after she was practically salivating waiting for the train to roll in.
“Hey,” Maud said, letting Pinkie go, and Pinkie politely bounced out of the way so Maud could have her moment.
“Like what you see?” Trixie said smugly, presenting herself like a gift.
“I’m rock hard,” Maud said, Trixie nearly choking on her laughter.
“I know you only said that cuz it’s a rock pun,” Trixie cackled, sticking out her tongue playfully, “but I appreciate the sentiment.”
“I said it because it’s a rock pun, and also because my penis is erect looking at my sexy dragon friend’s naked body,” Maud explained, and wow Twilight was genuinely impressed by her brazenness. Not as impressed as Trixie though, who was stunned silent with bright red cheeks.
“OKAY SO ANYWAY!” Pinkie loudly chimed in, marching up to her sister and grabbing her hand.
“Sorry, Pinkie,” Maud said. “Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I was just flirting with Trixie for a second. Because she’s beautiful and hot and I want to date her.”
Trixie, for her part, said nothing. She had the vacant look of someone whose brain was sparking and fizzing with gay feelings; she was clearly not so prepared for Maud’s bluntness, but Twilight was more amused than anything. Turns out the Pie sisters weren’t that different after all.
“It’s fine it’s fine it’s fine,” Pinkie dismissed Maud’s concerns with a wave of her hand. “What I wanna know now is, how do you and Trixie feel about, drum roll-” Pinkie took a second to imitate a drum roll, and it was adorable. Even Maud cracked a little bit of a smile. “-double date!!”
“Double date?!” Trixie balked, recoiling in what looked like anxiety-induced panic. Twilight knew the feeling well. “We haven’t even single dated!”
“That’s okay!” Pinkie said, pumping her fists. “I really wanna get to know Trixie, and I also wanna hang out with Maud! And I want Maud to hang out with Trixie too, so… double date! Everyone wins!”
“I’m down,” Maud said, and looked up at the increasingly nervous Trixie. “What about you, Trixie?”
“Sure, sounds uhhh super fun,” Trixie chuckled awkwardly, and Twilight leaned over and pat her on the shoulder.
“Get used to surprises like this Trixie,” Twilight said sympathetically. “This is just part of what it means to be in the orbit of the Pies.”
Quite.
I disagree, you're both similarly "quirky", both have a theme, are both very much caring ponies, it's just that where you're generally very over the top, Maud is very deadpan and mellow.
I love her enthusiasm for life. She's like a poodle. (Seriously, poodles are happy about life and are an absolute joy to be around)
"Now shall you deal with ME, oh Prince. And all the powers of HELL!" Don't give me that look, it's a damn cool moment and you know it.
Correct.
I love her already.
Toldja.
Hey, your nearly 300 chapter long story, your rules.
In the Pie Hole
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i'd say "that's where trixie wants to be" but that girl's a bottom, no question
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Pie sandwich?
awwww
handholding the cutest
twi's big and stronk
pointy chompers!
yes yes yesssss
also i'm a tad confused
wasn't the restriction in the empire about always staying in pony form? is that only inside the border so the train station doesn't count?
if dragons stay in pony form so frequently how does nobody know the defining feature of dragons being the glowy eyes? how then did they not notice fluttershy or twi?
do they just not care about vacationing dragons as long as they don't cause trouble?
or did cadance pull something behind the scenes to cause less of a ruckus?
also, does the crystal empire just have like no contact with equestria because wouldn't the concept of dragons being able to disguise as ponies be more widespread? currently it seems like only slayers know it's a thing, and even then they haven't found enough to notice the glowy eyes being a common feature (this could also be due to wanting to reduce panic among the non-slayers)
i know we'll get some answers for this once shining decides to not be completely absent but that doesn't stop the current confusion
aww
i love maud just instantly able to adjust to whatever pinkie picks to do at that moment
maud does not use euphemisms.
now that's a statement
of course!
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yea fair. i think alot of this confusion probably stems from the fact that worldbuilding isn't rly my strong suit (rly can't thank earthsong enough for giving me so much to work with quite frankly), but at the very least i'm happy to explain as well as i can in the comments
yes that's true, but with no one around to enforce that ruling, it doesn't matter (that was trixie's "ur such a narc, no one's looking" line was referring to)
the glowing eyes aren't common knowledge because ponies and dragons don't have much contact with each other, even within the empire. and the crystal empire's policy on dragons isn't explicitly racist, so they have no reason to antagonize twilight or flutters or trixie or anyone else. there's no rule against dragons going wherever they please, they're just discouraged from doing so due to things like societal and economic pressure, things that don't rly affect twilight's group.
the crystal empire has basically no contact with equestria (that's why the trains are so empty). again, there's no laws stopping travel between the two nations, but the beef between the crystal empire and celestia is fairly well known, so most equestrian ponies don't want to go there
dragons being able to disguise as ponies is more or less common knowledge, but it's the kinda thing that no one wants to think about so most people just... don't think about it. and the glowy eyes thing isn't common knowledge because equestrians haven't had enough contact with dragons to make the connection, and crystal empire folks tend to avoid dragons as well.
also, and this is something i should establish in-story but hadn't rly thought about until now, the dragon population in the empire is tiny. probably less than a hundred dragons in total, which is miniscule when u consider the empire, while not seeing its best days, is still huge
well hopefully i was able to clear some stuff up,, like i said, worldbuilding isn't my strong suit but i do appreciate knowing what aspects aren't clear and what i should be paying more attention to
wait, so, how is the "dragons must be in dragon form" rule enforced?
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mostly just threats
also, they only need to stay in pony form within the city limits. it's a common occurrence for dragons to be flying and climbing around the mountains surrounding the empire (cuz as we have learned from twilight's library exploding adventure, dragons can't remain in pony form indefinitely)
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thanks, that does clear things up nicely
It doesn't hurt that your dragon form is so miniscule, Trixie....Twilight's full form likely takes up a substantial portion of the station.
And I love how flustered Trixie immediately gets around Maud, despite being three or four times her size. Though I do not doubt that how bluntly Maud stated things certainly helped with flustering her.