Doubt

by DitsyHooves

Chapter 7: Carrots

CHAPTER SEVEN
CARROTS

“SPIIIIIIIIIIIKE!”

The yell was distant, but still audible. Her ears perked up as the sound reached them, her eyes darting around, trying to find the source of the call. Right now, Trixie was just glad to know that somepony was home.

It sounded like a mare’s voice, calling from… upstairs? She couldn’t be sure; after all she had never been here before and didn’t know how big the tree house was. But then again, most of the stores Trixie had been to over the years were also the homes of the owners. Most of them had been run by a married couple, possibly with small fillies to boot, and they usually all lived above the main shop. Maybe the mare, who must have been the librarian, was yelling for her spouse.

“SPIKE!”

The yell came again, shorter this time, and was followed by the muffled sounds of talking, then a faint pattering. The noises were coming closer, but they didn’t sound like the sounds of a pony. Instead of the usual Clop Clop Clop of hooves, Trixie instead heard a soft Slap Slap Slap.

The slapping noises were coming closer very fast, growing louder as they approached.

“Mythical Monsters for Dummies. Mytha- What? Oh yah, Mythical Monsters, Mythical…”

A voice, much louder and clearer. It sounded like it belonged to a young stallion, perhaps even a filly. It seemed to be repeating something that sounded like a book title; the owner must have come looking for a book.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Trixie saw a purple and green figure come into view. She turned her head quickly to the side, and was instantly met by an unbearable pain coming from her head. She scrunched her eyes up tightly and once again began to massage her head with her hoof, right over where she assumed the blow from one of those fillies Braeburn had told her about had landed; it was the spot that hurt the most.

Remembering why she had looked around it the first place, Trixie opened her watering eyes to stare at what seemed to be a doorway, but it was empty. For a second, she thought her eyes must have been playing tricks on her, until she heard the voice again, very near now, as though it was right on the other side of the wall.

“TWILIGHT! Come see! It’s-“But the yell was cut short by a several loud thunking noises.

“Spike! I was almost done reshelving in here!” The mare’s voice, very annoyed, responded. It sounded somehow familiar to Trixie, but there had been nopony with a book cutiemark at her last show. Only a huge egghead like that would run a library. And the name Twilight… Wait.

“Just come on! It’s important!”

“Fine. I doubt it’s more important than this, but fine.”

No no no no no. It couldn’t be… Not… HER.

But through the doorway came the unicorn, followed by a small, could it be? A baby dragon? But that was the least of her worries, because now she could see the light purple coat and the dark purple mane, and the look of annoyance on the mare’s face turning into a look of complete shock, which Trixie knew she must have had on her face too.

“Trixie?” Twilight Sparkle sounded confused. Not angry, just puzzled.

“I-Ahhh-Erm….” Where the only things that came out of Trixie’s mouth in reply.

“Not you!” Cut in the dragon, sounding exasperated. He walked up to Trixie, who then realized where the slapping noises must have been coming from. “What are you doing here?” Twilight just stood there, looking confused.

“I-“ began Trixie, speaking quietly.

“We don’t need to hear your stories!” Interrupted the dragon angrily, “Just get out!”

The dragon pushed Trixie with one of his scaly hands. It wasn’t a powerful push, but it still made Trixie’s head spin.

“OW!” She yelped, clutching her aching head with her hoof.

“Are you injured?!” Twilight finally began to speak, sounding worried.

“I-It’s none of your business!” Trixie spat.

“We’ve got to get you to the PonyVille Hospital. I read about this in a book about the pony body, you might have a concussion,” Twilight replied, trotting towards the pained blue unicorn.

“A what now?” Trixie had never heard of a ‘con-cushion’.

“A concussion,” Twilight corrected, “It’s an injury to the head, and a pretty serious one. We should at least get you checked out to make sure.”

“Wait, Twilight,” Spike interjected, “you’re going to take Trixie to the Hospital?”

“Yes! Why wouldn’t I help an injured pony?” And with that, Twilight trotted over to the door, swinging it open with magic as she did so. “Oh? What’s this?”

Something rectangular and covered in a shining purple aura floated next to Twilight as she closed the door and backed back into the house.

“Oh, it’s only the newspaper,” She said, allowing it to drop to the floor, where Spike ran to inspect it. “We can get going now,” And once again, she trotted towards the door.

“Uhhh, Twilight?” Spike muttered, offering the newspaper to the back of the purple unicorn, “You might wanna see this.”

“Ergggh, what?” Twilight picked the newspaper up again and began reading. Her eyes widened as she read:

UNICORN ASSULTS WONDERBOLT

The whole of Canterlot has been in uproar over the attack on Soarin’, one of the famous Wonderbolts. Unicorn after Unicorn has been reporting to the police station that a Unicorn, female, light blue, with a silver mane, attacked the Pegasus yesterday afternoon. According to eyewitnesses, the unicorn attacked Soarin’ as he stopped for a break, using both magic and her hooves to attack the innocent hero. “Really, I’m not injured,” claimed the Wonderbolt, but experts say that this is clearly a case of extreme denial. He was unavailable for further comment due to his nurse telling the reports to buzz off or she would call the Hospital clown on them. The assault…

But Twilight couldn’t bring herself to read any more.

“What?” Said Trixie, annoyed, “What?!”

Twilight turned, but before she could say anything, she felt the newspaper being yanked away. Trixie winced as she held the paper in her magical grasp, her head pounding worse than ever, but she did her best to ignore it. Her eyes darted over the paper, but after a few moments, she smashed it on the floor.

“Lies! You filthy little paper! “She yelled at it.

“Trixie…” Muttered Twilight, “You didn’t… You… Did you?”

“No! Well, yes. But no!” Trixie yelled, annoyed. “I-“

“Not important,” Twilight interjected, “for now, all that matters is that we can’t get you to the hospital.” Trixie gave Twilight a confused stare, and she sighed and continued, “Now that this is on everypony’s doorstep, you’ll be even less welcome here. You saw how Spike reacted; now add that you’re a criminal… No. We can’t have you walking through the streets as… you!”

“Well, I’m sorry,” began Trixie, “but I can’t exactly morph into another pony whenever I feel like it!”

“That’s a brilliant idea!” Yelled Twilight, evidently excited, “Be right back!” And she dashed into another room.

“Huh?”

“She does that a lot,” Spike said, glaring at Trixie.

They stood in an awkward silence for about a minute until Twilight returned, galloping back into the room and looking pleased.

“This is the perfect opportunity to test out this new spell I’ve been learning!” She said, “Now, Trixie, just stay still for a second…”

“Wait, what are you-“Trixie began, but the other unicorn’s horn had already begun to glow, her face assuming a pained expression.

Within seconds, Trixie had been engulfed by a bright white light. It surrounded her, swirling and glowing, then suddenly disappeared.

“What did you do, exactly?” Asked Trixie, not feeling any different.

In response, Twilight pulled over a large mirror. It drifted lazily to a halt in front Trixie, but what met the blue unicorn’s eyes was quite unexpected.

In the mirror stood a pony, but that pony wasn’t Trixie. Her coat was the same colour as Braeburn’s instead of the usual light blue. Her main, instead of sleek and silver, was puffy and green. She turned, and saw that her flank was decorated with carrots, and that her tail was in the same state as her mane.

“I-What-You-I…” She tried to speak, but was too confused and shocked to do so.

“Don’t worry. All I did was create a layer of magic over your body. It refracts light differently and forms in a different shape were your mane and tail are concerned.” Twilight explained, but Trixie still looked confused. “It’s an illusion.’

Moving her gaze from the purple unicorn back to the mirror, Trixie realized that she still had one problem.

“My mane is… Green!”

Twilight looked annoyed, but with a sigh and a flash from her horn, the bouncy hair became a bright shade of orange.

“Better.”

“Well, in that case, Carrot Top,” Twilight said as she walked towards to door again, looking at the earth pony as she spoke, “Let’s go!”

Comments

[DitsyHooves]

Twilight's good heart is enough to stop her from fighting, but you just wait till they have to live together...

[Frankie]

So now, Trixie is wanted for assault. If that was the case, why wasn't she arrested while she was sitting on the stage all day? Why did the guards let Braeburn leave with her? There were enough witnesses and time that charges should have been made.

[Frankie]

Wait a minute. Isn't there a pony already named Carrot Top?

[LadyofSorrows]

1256611
Well Twilight is friends to two of Ponyville's premier pranksters. So long as they don't run into the real Carrot Top the disguise works.

[Frankie]

1288107 Yeah, but knowing Trixie's luck...

[LadyofSorrows]

This is true, I'll just have to wait and find out.