Chapter 3: Animal Care
"So, she lives here?" asked Trixie, looking around the grounds surrounding Fluttershy's cottage. "The cute, timid little pegasus who personifies kindness lives next to the unnatural, terrifying, monster-infested forest of death?" she asked, looking over at the nearby Everfree Forest, which was notorious throughout Equestria for its… unusual fauna. Including the Ursa. Trixie gulped and gave a shiver at that last thought, before quickly composing herself. "Does the hyperactive, party loving earth pony that embodies laughter live in a mausoleum?"
Spike gave a chuckle. "Fluttershy is tougher than all those monsters."
Trixie blinked in clear surprise. "Say what?"
Spike smirked, enjoying getting under Trixie's skin a bit. "You know about dragons, right?"
Trixie gave a shudder. "Yes; massive, mountain-sized, greedy brutes that horde gems and will destroy pretty much anything that comes looking for their stash of treasure. They also have very bad breath," she stated simply. Spike gave a glare and cleared his throat. "Trixie knows what she said," the female unicorn replied, giving a smug smirk.
Spike sighed. "Whatever, a full-grown dragon made his lair in a cave up there on that mountain and was threatening to cover all of Equestria in smoke," he explained. "Fluttershy made him cry and run away."
Trixie gave an eyebrow before looking over at Fluttershy. A leaf fluttered down and landed on the pegasus' back, causing her to scream and zip into a bush, peaking out fearfully. "Trixie is having difficulty believing that…"
"That's 'cause you haven't seen what Shy's like when she's mad," said Spike, giving a smirk.
Trixie looked back as Fluttershy peaked out of the bush, looking around, only to retreat with a shout when another leaf landed on her head. "Trixie is still not convinced."
"You haven't seen the Stare," said Spike, giving a spooky tone when he said "the Stare".
"That Stare? What's that?" asked Trixie, giving him a confused look.
"Ever heard of a Cockatrice?"
Trixie's gave him a raised eyebrow. "You're not trying to tell Trixie this pony can turn things to stone, are you?"
"No! But she's out-stared one before," replied Spike with a smirk.
"Now you're just being ridiculous. You're trying to tell Trixie this pegasus who's scared of her own shadow can scare away an adult dragon and stare down a Cockatrice?" asked Trixie with a scoff. "That's as outlandish as Trixie saying she vanquished an Ursa Major."
"I know it's hard to believe, but just be glad Fluttershy didn't see you humiliate AJ, Rainbow, and Rarity, or you'd have been in big trouble," said Spike, looking back.
"Can Trixie just get her job now?" asked Trixie, ignoring the little dragon.
Spike rolled his eyes and lead the way over, Fluttershy having got back to work in the meantime. "Hey Fluttershy, Trixie's ready for her job!"
Fluttershy had flew up into a tree to feed some animals, but gave a nod. "Ok, my job is to take care of all the animals," she explained, giving a bird some seed before descending to the ground. "This is Angel," she stated, pointing to the little bunny. "Say hello, Angel."
Trixie looked to Angel, who was almost glaring at her, which made her feel rather uneasy. "Um… Hello there..." Angel just glared again. "… Anyway, what should Trixie do?" she asked, finding the little rabbit too unnerving.
"Um..." said Fluttershy, looking around with a confused look. "Oh dear..." she muttered, not sure what to say. "Well you could, maybe, if you don't mind…"
Trixie started to get a tad annoyed. "Trixie gets the feeling you're not used to being the boss of another pony, are you?"
"No... I'm sorry..." said Fluttershy, lowering her head as Trixie face hoofed.
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Applejack was on her way to the farms when she came across a mountain of glorious, beautiful, tomato red apples!
"Big Mac! What are all these... glorious... perfect apples, doing here? Don't you know that a storm is comin'?" Applejack asked out of confusion and anger alike. Then she turned her stare to WHERE the apples were. In front of Sugarcube corner, she panicked at the thought of Pinkie Sense striking the apples.
"Eeyup! Ah knew that a storm be comin', Applejack. Ah was takin' the apples home. Ah was just showin' 'em off a bit, Granny Smith's idea," Big Mac replied, much to the relief of Applejack. But then she noticed the amount of Apples, it will take a long time to bring down the mountain. She did not want the apples catch dust or be damaged, after all, since apples like these were very rare and this batch was quite important. Suddenly, she saw Pinkie coming. "Pinkie, careful!"
Pinkie blinked as she seemed to stop in mid-jump for a moment before landing. "Huh, what's going on Applejack? Is this a subplot?"
"Uh… Ah guess… Just these apples are kind of important," replied Applejack, rubbing her head at Pinkie's weirdness.
"Oh… Why?"
"Well you see, these apples are, well, flawless," replied Applejack, taking one of the apples, very carefully, which had a completely smooth surface, bright red with a beautiful shine. "We get lots of really good apples every year, but perfect apples like these almost never happen, let alone this many of 'em. We've been workin' our flanks off growin' all these for this big fair in Canterlot. If we win, we'll get a really big prize, Ah mean really big!"
"Oh! So this is how you're going to resolve your story arc from the Grand Galloping Gala and fix up your farm!"
"Eeyup," answered Big Mac, loading the apples carefully into a cart.
Pinkie nodded, then gasped, remembering something. "Oh! Hey Applejack! The Cakes need about hundred apples!" Pinkie said, much to the surprise of AJ. "We just got a really, really, REALLY big order for apple pies and we're all out of apples!"
"H-Hundred? On it!" Applejack said and ran away to the farms.
"Hey! Aren't you gonna help me take down the apples?" Big Mac yelled as Applejack headed off. The big Earth Pony gave a sigh and kept loading as Pinkie Pie hopped into Sugarcube Corner.
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"Well I guess you could…" started Fluttershy, rather shyly as Trixie stared at her expectantly. "On the way to the library, Pinkie asked me to get the Cakes at Sugarcube Corner a lot of eggs… You could go get them from the chickens, I mean if you really want to…"
Trixie blinked. "And you're alright with taking eggs from chickens? Trixie is surprised."
"Oh, not the eggs that'll become cute little chicks, I'd never do that," responded Fluttershy, giving a gasp of surprise when Trixie brought it up. "But unfertilized eggs will just go bad if nopony uses them, those are the only ones I take."
"And how do you know which are which?"
"Oh, the chickens tell me if they're going to have little ones. Don't worry, there aren't any right now," replied Fluttershy with a rather cute smile.
Trixie looked at her like she was insane. "Uh… Right…"
Spike sighed, tugging lightly on her mane to get her attention. "Trixie, communicating with animals is Fluttershy's special talent."
Fluttershy nodded. "It's what I got my Cutie Mark for."
Trixie sighed. "Whatever… Ok, so just get the eggs?" she asked, telekinetically picking up a bucket for that very purpose before starting towards the chicken coup.
Fluttershy gave a nod. "Yes, if you don't mind… Oh! And one more thing!"
Trixie gave a sigh, turning to look at her. "What now?"
"Oh sorry…" muttered Fluttershy, looking down shyly, then peaking up at her timidly. "I was just going to say that one of the hens, Gertrude, is a bit temperamental about her eggs. You need to be very careful and talk to her calmly so she'll let you take them."
"Fine, temperamental chicken, can Trixie go now?" asked Trixie, wanting to get this over with.
Fluttershy gave a whimper and nodded slowly.
Trixie headed into the chicken coup, giving a face, chicken coups weren't known for smelling good after all. She lifted a sleeping hen with telekinesis, floating the eggs out from under her and putting them in the pail, which Trixie set on the floor for this task, then floating it along as she moved to the next.
"Why do you put the bucket down each time?" asked Spike, perplexed by the action.
"While unicorns can multitask with telekinesis, setting down something one doesn't need to be carrying makes it easier to work," replied Trixie, levitating more eggs into the bucket.
Spike scoffed. "Twilight doesn't ne-"
"Did Trixie ask what Twilight needs to do?!" snapped Trixie, dropping a batch of eggs and just barely catching them before they hit the ground.
"Fine! Geez! Talk about temperamental!" replied Spike, rolling his eyes.
Trixie gave a snarl, but continued until she finally came up to the chicken which she'd been warned about, Gertrude. However, she prepared to do the same with her as all the others.
"Hey, Trixie, that's the chicken Fluttershy warned you about, remember?" asked Spike, a little worried.
Trixie gave a small growl, then a sigh. "Fine," she muttered, looking at the chicken. "Gertrude, may Trixie please have your eggs? Fluttershy asks this of her," she requested, as politely as possible. She couldn't believe she was doing this. The hen merely clucked and preened herself. Trixie sighed and began lifting the hen, only for her to squawk loudly and take a peck at her. Trixie jumped back quickly, out of the way as best she could, dropping Gertrude back on her nest. Trixie gave a snarl. "Stupid bird, what'd you do that for?!"
Spike sighed. "Ask again, and this time be-"
"Trixie doesn't need your help!" replied Trixie with a growl. She looked back to Gertrude and tried her best to look calm. "Trixie is sorry about that… Now please, Gertrude, Fluttershy needs the eggs, please just let Trixie get them," she stated, stage practice letting her keep her voice calm, despite her frustration and embarrassment. She tried lifting the hen again, only to get about the same result. Trixie gave a growl. "Listen, Trixie is losing her patience, chicken! Relinquish your eggs now or face her wrath!" she exclaimed in a theatrical manner.
Spike backed away. "I don't think that's such a good idea…"
"Did Trixie ask you if you did?" snapped Trixie, glaring at the baby dragon.
"Maybe you should just ask Fluttershy to help, she's good with animals and I'm sure she won-"
"Trixie does not need help dealing with a chicken!" replied Trixie in a stubborn tone. "She's just a chicken, how tough can she be?"
Spike sighed. "I wonder how Twi's doin'.."
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Twilight gagged, telekinetically hovering a mop around, trying to telekinetically mop the smelly, extremely stubborn, green goo, the source of the stench, off the tile floors of Blueblood's room, eyes watering from the horrid odor. Just what had Rainbow put in that stink bomb anyway?! She did her best to hold her breath as she worked. It didn't help that much. 'Note to self; look up cleaning spells when I get home!'
"Careful! Those are imported tile floors!" exclaimed the Prince, watching over her shoulders with a white, diamond studded gasmask on.
"I'm try-" replied Twilight in a disgusted voice, coughing mid-sentence, regretting inhaling. "Why are you the one wearing the gasmask anyway?" she asked, not even asking why it was an extremely fancy one either.
"And allow my royal nostrils to be defiled by this horrid stench?! Never!" replied Blueblood in his usual pompous tone.
"Then why are you -cough- even in the room!" replied Twilight, continuing to clean to the best of her abilities.
"The only ponies allowed in my room without my prescience are auntie Celestia and auntie Luna, and my royal maids, how else can I be sure that you're not going to break something valuable?!" asked Blueblood.
Twilight gave a growl. "Blueblood, I'm not THAT clumsy. We've been in the castle at the same time since we were kids! We might not have known one another that well, but have you ever heard of me breaking anything outside of messing up a new spell Celestia was teaching me?"
"You've been living in Ponyville for over a year, how do I know you can still be trusted?"
Twilight growled deeper, scrubbing a bit harder as the irate prince kept nagging her ears off. 'I hope Trixie is having a better day than me…'
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Fluttershy softly tended to red lumps all over Trixie's head from Gertrude's beak as the mare set in a chair outside the house. "Ow!"
"Sorry…" muttered Fluttershy, putting some medicine on each wound.
"Boy, you sure showed her," said Spike in a tone dripping with sarcasm, rolling his eyes.
"That was not a normal chicken!" replied Trixie, blushing heavily at the fact she'd gotten her flank thoroughly kicked by a chicken. "She was like some ninja chicken!"
Spike rolled his eyes. "She wasn't a ninja chicken…"
"Then explain the flying dragon kick!"
"Uh… Rainbow taught her martial arts?"
"I'm so sorry, I've never seen Gertrude so aggressive!" stated Fluttershy in an extremely apologetic tone.
"That's because she's never had a unicorn try to pry her off her eggs with a crowbar," muttered Spike, glaring at Trixie.
"Forget it, let's never speak of it again," stated Trixie, rather eager to forget it herself.
Fluttershy finished tending to Trixie's head about 20 minutes later. "What next?" asked Trixie, keeping her distance from the chicken coup.
Fluttershy blinked. "Well… Um, let me think…" she muttered, looking around at her surroundings. She saw the animals' dens down near the stream surrounding her house. Normally she'd feed them herself, but she still had to collect a lot of eggs since letting Trixie back in the chicken coup wasn't the best idea. She got some food for them in a bucket. "Could you maybe feed those animals down there, if it's not too much trouble I mean..."
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Rainbow Dash laid on a cloud a good distance away, watching the scene with binoculars. "She'd better not do anything to hurt Fluttershy or I swear…" she muttered. Even if she WAS angry with her friends for siding with Trixie, she wasn't about to leave them high and dry if Trixie really was up to something. "At least Pinkie leant me these binoculars to keep an eye on things." she said, lowering them to reveal ink circles around her eyes. She then blinked and took them off, looking at her reflection in them. She promptly face hoofed.
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"Ok, now here's a map of what animals live where and what to feed them," explained Fluttershy, handing it to Trixie. "The black ones are nocturnal and are sleeping right now, so you don't need to worry about them. The red labeled ones are easily startled, so be very careful. A frightened animal can be dangerous."
Trixie looked over the note and nodded. "Alright, sounds simple enough," she replied, looking it over. Trixie's horn glowed and she floated the basket of food up. "Anything else?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "No, that's all…" she said, then looked to Spike, hoping everything went alright. She fluttered over to the chicken coup and got to work herself.
With that, Trixie started down the rather steep slope towards the stream below.
Spike noticed this before she did. "Hey, you'd better watch out!"
"Trixie's got it," said Trixie, in a stubborn tone as she continued.
"But-"
"Trixie's got it!" replied Trixie, carelessly continuing on.
"But the slope is really-" said Spike, right as Trixie screamed and slid down the slope as she lost her footing, landing face first in a mud puddle. "Steep…"
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Rainbow burst out laughing as she watched through the binoculars, having cleaned them, and herself, off. "Serves her right for bullying everypony," she said, chuckling to herself, but gave a small growl at mention of bullying. "At least she didn't call me Rainbow Crash…" she muttered slightly, putting the binoculars back up to continue watching.
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Trixie grunted, managing to catch the basket but getting covered in mud. "Trixie is fine!" she called up, levitating the list and food as she got to her feet.
Trixie deposited food to a few animals using the list with relative ease. "Ah, this isn't too hard," she said aloud… before she came to one and realized it was mostly covered in mud on the list, rendering it illegible. She hesitated.
"Everything alright, Trixie?" asked Spike, still standing on the ledge, watching.
"Yes yes, everything is fine, Trixie is in no way confused and in need of assistance!" called Trixie, looking back at the list. "I got a good enough look at it, I'm pretty sure it's safe, but which animal is it?" she asked, able to make out the front letter of the name. "S… Squirrels? Shrews? I remember it was a mammal if I'm not mistaken…" she recalled. "I've got to call it out for its food anyway, so I might as well do that and see what it is…"
Trixie cleared her throat. "Excuse me, animal. Trixie has your food ready…" she said simply. No reply. "Um, excuse Trixie, come out and get your food," she stated, a bit louder. Still nothing. Trixie gave a growl. "Trixie said come out and get your food!" she called, raising her voice. Still nothing. Maybe the den was empty? Forgetting what Fluttershy had said about some of the animals, she poked her head in and saw a furry shape. "Ok, let's see what…you…are," she said, as she lit up her horn and realized what was in the den, as it gave a start and raised its black, white striped tail. "Horseapples…"
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"There, all… all done," panted Twilight, looking around Blueblood's spotless room as the prince set on comfortably, drinking some fancy imported water, naturally not thinking to offer the exhausted mare anything at all. "I cleaned the entire room from top to bottom, I even dusted your statues," she reported. 'Of yourself,' she added mentally.
Blueblood sipped his ice cold water as Twilight panted. "Good, it's the least you can do after that bratty little dragon of yours defiled my private quarters as he did," he added, not even looking her direction.
Twilight snarled at hearing him speak that why about Spike, but held her tongue. 'Let it go Twilight, let it go. You can't turn him into a frog, he's Celestia's nephew…' she recited mentally. "Well I'm sorry he did it, and I punished him for it."
"As you should," replied the prince. "I haven't been treated so disrespectfully since the Grand Galloping Gala. That was probably the worst night of my life. I mean first some country hick defiles my royal pallet with her disgusting carnival food," he stated with disgust, not noticing Twilight shooting him a death glare. "Then an insane pink pony jumps off the stage like a madmare and launches a cake at me followed by some lunatic nearly bringing down the ballroom showing off. And some screaming beast chases all the garden animals into the room and caused mass hysteria. How they managed to crash the party is beyond me."
Twilight snarled with rage, snorting hot air out her nose, but took a deep breath and calmed herself. 'Mean, yes, but we did kind of ruin the Gala, he has every right to be angry… Even if he has absolutely no right to say that about Applejack… Just let it go, Twilight, let it go…'
"But the worse part was my absolutely selfish date," stated Blueblood with disdain.
"S-selfish?" asked Twilight, staring at him in disbelief.
"Yes, she kept expecting me to lower myself and open doors, buy her food, then she called me an "uncharming prince" and defiled my suit with cake!" he exclaimed, as if that were a heinous crime. "I'm a prince, I shouldn't have to be subjected to such treatment."
"R-Rarity… You think… You think Rarity is selfish!" snarled Twilight, anger rising.
"That's her name? Yes, after all, why else would she be expecting a prince to do manual labor?" asked Blueblood, completely obvious to Twilight's fury, until he looked over to find her literally burning with rage. "Twilight! You're on fire! Please put yourself out before you burn something important!"
As Twilight's flaming mane and tail went out and she landed, still smoking and covered in ash, she telekinetically twirled Blueblood around to face her. "I don't care what you say about me, I can even forgive you for saying Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy ruined the Gala, because they actually kind of did! I may even be able to forgive you for insulting Applejack's cooking! But you do NOT call Rarity of all ponies selfish!" she yelled, getting in the pompous prince's face. "She may be a little vain sometimes, and sometimes she lets her desires get the best of her, but she's the most generous and unselfish mare I know! She's the Element of Generosity for crying out loud! She worked herself ragged making me and my friends TWO sets of Gala Dresses, doing everything we asked even though she knew our designs were a big disaster! And you know what, Blueblood? She didn't even think about working on her dress until she had ours made! Is that selfish?!" the furious unicorn screamed, noting that Blueblood seemed surprised at that. "Does that surprise you? Of course it would surprise a self-serving, egotistical, narcissist like you! You know, I wasn't expecting you to be her prince charming, but I was expecting you to be a proper gentlestallion! That's ALL she wanted for you to do! She'd probably even have been happy if you'd just split everything 50/50! Instead you were a selfish, egocentric, self-absorbed royal PAIN who only cared about yourself and wanted your date to do absolutely everything for you! And now you have the nerve to call that poor mare selfish?!"
Before Blueblood could respond, Twilight glared at him, coming close to "the Stare" in sheer intensity. Not quite there, but as close as anypony who wasn't Fluttershy could get. "And don't you DARE use the fact you're royalty as an excuse! Because it's NOT! Princess Celestia is a lot more royal than you are and she gave me a place to stay in Ponyville just because she knew I'd be miserable without my friends! She lent me and my friends the castle ballroom for my birthday party without even being asked! She gave Rarity a room in the royal palace just because I told her Rarity needed somewhere to stay! Celestia set everything aside and came to Ponyville as fast as she could just because Spike wrote her a letter saying I was getting worked up at making a deadline! So no! Being royal most certainly isn't an excuse, Blueblood! And let me tell you something else! It's not an excuse to treat ANY of your subjects who look up to you like dirt the way you did Rarity! Celestia and Luna both go out of their way to befriend and have a good relationship with their subjects. Luna, who rules the night, set everything aside to try and reconnect with her subjects on Nightmare Night! And Celestia isn't too 'refined' that she can't take a little commoner food! If anything, Celestia tries to be LESS royal than she really is!"
"If they're the highest royalty in the land, Blueblood, what does that say about how you behave when you're so much lower than they are?" asked Twilight, staring Blueblood right in the eyes. "A ruler's duty isn't to treat their subjects like their personal servants. That isn't how Celestia and Luna rule, and if you really want to be a proper prince, you shouldn't either," spat Twilight, giving one last glare before turning and heading to the door. Hearing Blueblood let out a sigh of relief, she looked back to see a rather confused look on his face. "And for the record, I wasn't ordered to come clean up your room. I volunteered to do this because I actually felt guilty Spike pranked you like he did…and now I'm not sure rather I should've felt guilty or not," she added, glaring at him, trying to make sense of the look on his face. He looked a bit scared, definitely confused. And maybe just a little conflicted. "Now if you excuse me, I've got a mare who really needs my help to get back to helping," she stated, trotting out and slamming the door hard.
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Back at the library, Trixie was in a large tub, having Spike dump tomato juice on her and scrub her down, trying to get the skunk stink out of her fur. "Uh Trixie, one thing," said Spike, taking the clothespin off his nose to sniff. He gagged and put it back on before getting another can of tomato juice.
"Yes, what?" asked Trixie in a rather miserable tone.
"Why didn't you just use your magic to float the food down to the animals?" asked Spike, opening the can.
Trixie promptly slammed her head into the metal rim of the tub with a resounding thud after which Spike dumped the tomato juice on her back.
"Hey everypony, I'm home and-" said Twilight, walking in and blinking at the sight before her. "Uh… What happened?"
Trixie groaned. "You mean you can't smell anything out of the ordinary?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, my nose is pretty much burned out from cleaning up somebody's stink bomb," she said, glaring at Spike, who just whistled innocently.
"Long story short, Trixie got sprayed by a skunk…" replied Trixie in a rather annoyed voice.
"And beat up by a chicken," added Spike.
"Ninja chicken! And Trixie thought she said never to speak of it!" replied Trixie insistently, before looking at Twilight and realizing she was blackened with ash. "What happened to you?"
Twilight gave a frustrated sigh. "Lets just say Blueblood pushed too far and I finally blew up."
Trixie blinked. "Literally it looks like…" she muttered, clearly surprised. Twilight had just been so calm and collected before, it was a big surprise to see something get her mad enough to literally burst into flames.
"Anyway, I'm going to go get a shower, tomorrow we can try with Rarity," Twilight said, heading towards the bathroom, then blinked, looking back to Trixie with a raised eyebrow. "Ninja chicken?"
"Trixie doesn't want to talk about it!"
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Trixie laid in the bed, a pillow cupped around her head as Twilight spoke aloud for Spike to copy down… again!
"No… No… That's no good, throw it out," said Twilight in a quite frustrated voice, Spike noisily crumpling up the paper and throwing it away.
Trixie gave a growl and shot up, throwing the pillow to her side. "That's the fourth time! Whatever are you working on that is so important?" she asked in a rather sharp voice. Her normally white mane and tail were now bright pink from the tomato juice; Twilight had said it'd go away in time, but Trixie was still in a rather foul mood.
Twilight sighed. "Sorry I kept you awake," she said, looking up at her. "It's a letter to Celestia; I, or any of my friends, are supposed to write her one every time we learn a lesson about friendship."
Trixie sighed in confusion. "Interesting… So, does it always take this long for you to write one?" she asked in a rather bored voice.
"No, it's just this time is hard to write about because I'm still steamed at what Blueblood said," explained Twilight, looking up at Trixie.
"You didn't get that angry at Trixie when she was publicly humiliating your best friends, why was now different?" asked Trixie, giving Twilight a confused look.
"You didn't try to paint yourself as anything you weren't, outside the Ursa Major thing," said Twilight, thinking about it. "You gave an open challenge, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity accepted it, you beat them, that was it. You didn't hide your intentions or act like they were the bad guys. Blueblood on the other hoof tried to present himself as the victim in everything. I could take him saying Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy ruined the Gala, they kind of did."
"Wait… They ruined the Gala?" asked Trixie, giving an eyebrow. "You were AT the Gala?"
Twilight nodded with a frown. "Yeah…long story short; Rainbow went overboard showing off for the Wonderbolts, Pinkie Pie was… well Pinkie Pie, and the animals in the palace garden ignored Fluttershy, causing her to go temporarily insane and chase all animals into the castle ballroom while screaming 'You. Are. Going. To. LOVE ME!' at the top of her lungs…"
Trixie just stared in blank shock at that last part.
"Yeah, even she was surprised when she came to her senses…"
"If you think that's bad, you should hear about when Twilight-"
Twilight quickly covered Spike's mouth with her hoof. "Anyway, I could even forgive the fact Blueblood hated Applejack's food, personal taste and all that, but calling Rarity selfish? All she'd done was have the very realistic expectation of him being a decent stallion to her. Instead, she ended up practically being his slave all night trying to please him and he refused to so much as open a door for her. He made her the bad guy, and he was being a blatant hypocrite about it too. That's what got me angry."
Trixie nodded slowly. "Trixie guesses that makes sense…" she muttered blinking. She was now seriously reconsidering what Spike had said about Fluttershy being capable of cowing a fully grown dragon singlehoofedly. "Carry on…"
"Alright, Spike, one last time," Twilight said, Spike getting ready. "'Dear Princess Celestia; today I learned a valuable lesson about friendship. It's always important to stand up for your friends, even if the pony who's dragging their name through the mud happens to be important or influential. No matter how high up they are, nopony has the right to look down on somepony else just because they're less successful, less fortunate, or less wealthy than they are. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle'," she finished, Spike writing it down as she spoke. "I think that's a keeper."
Trixie watched Spike poke his head out the window and blow fire on it, sending it out. "… Twilight, you honestly believe that?" she asked, a tad confused.
Twilight nodded without hesitation. "Of course I do. I've seen the power of friendship first hand."
"Since friendship is magic, that means Twilight is the Element of Friendship I guess," said Spike, curling up in his bed with a yawn. "She should know it better than anypony."
Trixie laid down on her back, looking up at the ceiling, rather confused. "… I see… Twilight… If that is the case, why didn't you stand up to me when I… er, Trixie was publicly humiliating your friends? Trixie knows that you could've kicked her flank in an instant if you so chose, but you didn't. Why?."
Twilight looked up at her. "I saw how everypony, well…hated you for being a showoff… No offense…"
Trixie sighed. "Its fine, Twilight Sparkle… Trixie wasn't in town to make friends…"
'I'll cross that bridge when we come to it,' thought the purple unicorn. "I didn't want to look like a showoff and get hated too… But in the end, after I stopped the Ursa, I found out that my friends didn't care about my magic, they liked it about me… What they… well, didn't like about you was how much you bragged and boasted about your magic."
Trixie blinked, rolling over and looking down at Twilight. "You didn't want to stand out?" she asked, as if that fact were insane.
Twilight shook her head. "No… Actually, part of the reason I love my friends in Ponyville so much is they're my friends for who I am, not what I can do or what rank in society I am. Back in Canterlot, there were a lot of ponies that tried to be my "friends" just because I was Celestia's personal student…"
"Sounds pretty good to Trixie."
"But that's just it, Trixie, it seems good on the surface, but it's not," said Twilight, somewhat sternly. "Friends like that don't care about YOU, they care about what you've got or your status. You don't matter to them. If I lost my status as Celestia's personal student, they'd have abandoned me like I had the Cutie Pox…" she continued, then saw Trixie looked like she was on the verge of tears. "Trixie… What's wrong?"
"N-nothing… N-nothing's wrong… G-goodnight, Twilight," said replied Trixie, abruptly turning over and covering herself up.
"What's wrong with her?" asked Spike, for once sounding genuinely concerned.
Twilight shook her head. "I don't know Spike…" she whispered, turning out the light and laying down in her makeshift bed. "… Maybe she's just a lot like how I used to be…" she muttered, yawning, her exhausted body begging her to sleep. "Goodnight Spike…" she replied, trying to go to sleep.
Trixie laid under the covered, choking back sobs. "… They don't care about you… They only care about what you've done…" she whispered, tears flowing down her cheeks.
"Worthless mare, until you make something of yourself, don't you dare darken our doorway again! Not until you're a somepony. If you're not a somepony, then you're a nopony! Never forget that, Trixie!"
Trixie did her best not to sob out loud that anyone could hear, but it wasn't easy. "They don't care… They don't care unless I make something of myself…"
Twilight looked up, hearing mumbling but nothing else. "Trixie… Real friends?" she asked, not knowing if Trixie was really asleep or not. "They're the ones that still care about you when you're down on your luck… In fact, that's when they care the most… Goodnight…" she said, laying down and letting sleep overtake her.
Trixie gave a small gasp. She looked conflicted as she ran that over in her head, not sure what to think about it. She sank into sleep with more questions on her mind than ever, tears still in her eyes as her conflicted mind tried to answer those questions.
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"coop." not "Coup." A coop is a henhouse. A coup is a military takeover.
Generally, you collect eggs in a BASKET, not a BUCKET. It's safer for the eggs.
You might want to ask someone who participates in county fairs how they go about collecting and entering apples for a judging... I'm pretty sure they don't pick them months ahead of time. And lugging them around to show off... a bit odd.
Chapter 3 art by Paraderpy
fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/018/e/2/bad_day_by_paraderpy-d4mty0p.png
That rant at Blueblood... Brilliant!
I really want to know Trixie's backstory now.
Also, I'm liking this Chapter art you're posting in the comments.
This is the most satisfying chapter yet. Prince Blueblood got the talking-to he deserved (without it being too much), there's plenty of Spike and Trixie interaction (I would LOVE to see those two shipped more frequently), and the ending was just beautiful. I love Trixie more now than ever before.
Found this story from the pictures on EQD. It looks to be a decent read from what I've read so far. Let's see where this thing goes!
Trixie:
SHE'S A CHICKEN! SHE'S A NINJA CHICKEN I TELL YOU!
ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61C-G9AVgJL._SL500_AA300_.png
Wow.....this is getting really good.....keep it up
I like this story so far, I think it deserve more popularity then it receive.
Chapter 3
"(That) Stare? What's that?" asked Trixie, giving him a confused look. You mean The Stare, right?
Fluttershy had (flew, should be flown) up into a tree to feed some animals, but gave a nod. "Ok, my job is to take care of all the animals," she explained, giving a bird some seed before descending to the ground. "This is Angel," she stated, pointing to the little bunny. "Say hello, Angel."
"Eeyup! Ah knew that a storm be comin', Applejack. Ah was takin' the apples home. Ah was just showin' 'em off a bit(. Granny Smith's idea,") Big Mac replied, much to the relief of Applejack. But then she noticed the amount of Apples(, it will take a long time to bring down the mountain.)<--can you clarify this part? She did not want the apples catch dust or be damaged, after all, since apples like these were very rare and this batch was quite important. Suddenly, she saw Pinkie coming. "Pinkie, careful!"
Trixie headed into the chicken coup, giving a (disgusted) face. Chicken coups weren't known for smelling good after all. She lifted a sleeping hen with telekinesis, floating the eggs out from under her and putting them in the pail, which Trixie set on the floor for this task, then floating it along as she moved to the next.
"Yes yes, everything is fine, Trixie is in no way confused and in (no) need of assistance!" called Trixie, looking back at the list. "I got a good enough look at it, I'm pretty sure it's safe, but which animal is it?" she asked, able to make out the front letter of the name. "S… Squirrels? Shrews? I remember it was a mammal if I'm not mistaken…" she recalled. "I've got to call it out for its food anyway, so I might as well do that and see what it is…"
"Now if you excuse me, I've got a mare who really needs my help (to get back to helping)<--this part should be ommited," she stated, trotting out and slamming the door hard.
Twilight gave a frustrated sigh. "Lets just say Blueblood pushed (me) too far and I finally blew up."
Twilight sighed. "Sorry I kept you awake," she said, looking up at her. "It's a letter to (Princess) Celestia; I, or any of my friends, are supposed to write (to)her every time we learn a lesson about friendship."
'I'll cross that bridge when we come to it,' thought the purple unicorn. "I didn't want to look like a showoff and get hated too… But in the end, after I stopped the Ursa, I found out that my friends didn't care about my magic, (they liked it about me)<----should be changed to they like me for me… What they… well, didn't like about you was how much you bragged and boasted about your magic."
The last two paragraphs should be switched around, but that's just me...
Trixie laid under the covered, choking back sobs. "… They don't care about you… They only care about what you've done…" she whispered, tears flowing down her cheeks.
Trixie did her best not to sob out loud that anyone could hear, but it wasn't easy. "They don't care… They don't care unless I make something of myself…"
"Worthless mare! until you make something of yourself, don't you dare darken our doorway again! Not until you're a somepony. If you're not a somepony, then you're a nopony! Never forget that, Trixie!"
Followed by...
Trixie shut her eyes really tight in an effort to stop the tears and gritted her teeth. She remembered those harsh words from (not too) long ago.
I sent these corrections to Kendell 2.
Wow. Like 4 paragraphs of Twirage.
The chicken was actually Scootaloo is disguise.
fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/250/2/9/scootaloo_by_speedingturtle-d497gzf.png
Also, Pinkie asked me to tell you that she doesn't break the fourth wall quite that much.
Anyone else hoping to see some Bluelamoon here? If Blueblood gets his act together that is.
5502421 I don't think I've ever had a more humiliating death than the time I was killed by a swarm of angry cuckoos. It was horrible!
Now it's kinda getting absurd.
That was a long winded rant, even for Twi. Not that he didn't deserve it.
Huuuuh... Another story dropped , and it looked so good too.....oh well. I'm sorry author , but after so many stories who make pinkie just some random 4th wall breaking bint I can't take it enymore.
The ninja chicken and skunk attack were pretty amusing to read.
The sub-plot seems...............random................I guess I will find out how perfect apples are relevant to the story.
And glad to see Twilight giving Blueblood the what for he needed. Two thumbs up for that.
7103517
Feels like there would be more to the story still...and perhaps Pinkie Pie doing this can be attributed to doing this for the part of establishing when the story is taking place. And her doing that IS a facet of her character...heh.
In any case, solid story so far, and am diggin' it~!
Ah, now tis is what i love about this story, how much it appeals to cannon and stays true to the characters.