By the time we were back in town the sun had already began to set. I thought Rainbow Dash was supposed to be the fastest flier in Equestria, but I suppose carrying my weight must have been awkward for her. I wasn’t exactly fat, but working on the farm had me with a few more muscles, and muscles were kinda heavy. The moment I saw the town I felt the uneasiness in my heart lesson just a bit.

We were almost there. Almost back to Pinkie Pie. I had to make up for this. It was my fault she was so distressed, I couldn’t just leave things the way they had been. Whatever I had to do, I would do it for her.

We swooped down toward the Sugarcube Corner and Rainbow Dash landed on the balcony with a bit of an hefty drop. She laid down and looked at me. “This is your stop, don’t get lost now.”

I watched her as I got off her back. “How could I get lost from up here?”

Rainbow Dash flexed her wings once more. Jumped into the air and said, “Weirder things have happened.”

I watched her fly away into the distance. For a long moment I didn’t want to actually go inside. Going in meant I would have to face up to my mistake, to my sin of hurting Pinkie. Yet, if I didn’t go in, Pinkie wouldn’t ever be at rest. I sucked in a nervous breathe and slid the door open.

I walked in as quietly as I could. The first thing I heard was silence, it was deftly quiet in here. It took am moment but my ears adjusted to hear the soft sounds of a muffled whimper. I looked over the edge to see Pinkie Pie lying face down into her bed, her face buried into her pillow. The pillow was wet with tears. Oh Celestia, how long had she been like this for?

I ran down the stairs and galloped to Pinkie’s side. “Pinkie, I’m okay!”

Pinkie Pie looked over at me. Her beautiful blue eyes were stained red and snot ran down her face. “No, you’re not. If you were, you wouldn’t have run away. I’m sorry, it’s my fault that you got hurt.”

I shook my head. “Rarity made her own choices. You tried your best, that’s all that matters. I’m the one who’s sorry, because I hurt you by running away like that.”

Pinkie Pie buried her face back into the pillow and sobbed. All I could do was reach out and pet her back. It wasn’t much but I could feel her muscles relax as I stroked her. God, we hadn’t even started dating and I was a horrible marefriend. At this point if she didn’t want to date me anymore, I was okay with that. I didn’t deserve it.

It took awhile but Pinkie began to cry less and her body grew relaxed. I had stayed fairly quiet as I stroked her back. When she rolled over to look at me, her face a damp mess of tears I saw something I couldn’t believe. I saw a smile. Pinkie’s next words hit me like a train. “Because of the dreams you’ve been having, I thought might have… taken your life…”

Fear shot through my veins like razor blades and sunk deep into my heart. I stared at her, making eye contact. She was a sobbing mess because she thought I was dead… My life actually mattered to her. I lowered my head. “I… I won’t lie, the thought had crossed my mind, but I don’t think I would actually… you know?”

Pinkie shook her head. “It’s the fact that the thought crossed your mind that scares me.”

I had to make this right. This was my fault. “I… I promise I won’t do something like that. I won’t run away again.”

The door opened from behind me and I heard two ponies entering the room. It must have been Applejack and Maud, I would have to apologize to them too. I turned and already began to say, “I’m sorry.”

I saw Rarity and Twilight standing there. Rarity was glaring at me. She took several steps toward me and I could tell from the look in her eyes she was not here for a polite conversation. Each step she took I grew increasingly scared. I didn’t know what she was going to do to me, ponies had already hurt me plenty in the past, no evil seemed unlikely at this point.

I managed to speak in spite of my fear. “Please don’t. F-for Pinkie’s sake, please.”

She stopped a few feet away and I could feel the venom in her words. “You broke her heart.”

I was shaking all over again. “I-I didn’t mean too. I’m trying to d-do better.”

She took another step toward me and I flinched. “You coward!”

Twilight’s words cut in with a very warning tone. “Rarity.”

Rarity didn’t give her even a moment of her attention as her eyes drilled hate filled holes into mine. “You, what happened to you? You used to be a proud unicorn, maybe too much so, but you had something. Now your shivering, and look like you’re about to make a mess of Pinkie’s clean floors.”

I tried to retaliate but the look in her eyes. I had never seen such intense anger before, even Applejack’s mistrust of me on the farm hadn’t been this bad. “I-I wouldn’t, I haven’t ever-“

“YOU!” Rarity shouted as she shoved a hoof toward me.

I fell backwards onto my back and felt my entire body growing tense. I just wanted to crawl into the fetal position and never move again. “I said I was sorry.”

Rarity took another step towards me. “I know.”

A red aura surrounded Rarity and she was dragged back a few feet giving me some breathing room. Twilight’s voice was calm but carried severe weight to it. “Rarity, what did you come here for?”

Rarity growled. “I know.”

“Then say your piece and leave.”

Rarity shot the glare back at Twilight then looked back at me. “Fine, I’ll forgive you Trixie. Based only on the good word of my friends, and how they have explained to me that you are trying your best to turn a new leaf. I will forgive you. But do not come anywhere near my home or my family again.”

I nodded.

Rarity spun around, flicked her tail dismissing me and walked away. Once she was out the door Twilight closed it behind her and shook her head. “I’m sorry about that Trixie, she seemed so calm about trying to talk to you until the moment she saw you here. Maybe it was seeing Pinkie that set her off… Still I’ll talk to her. She forgives you at least, right?”

I nodded. “Y-yeah.” With a bit of effort I rolled over and sat up.

Pinkie’s words came out quietly, so quiet I almost missed them. “If you don’t want to date me anymore, I’ll understand.”

I looked at her, she had closed her eyes and buried her muzzle into her blanket. I gently reached out and stroked her cheek with a hoof. “Why would I ever say no to dating you?”

“Because I won’t be a good marefriend. I can’t even protect you when somepony is being mean… how can you expect me to be there for you at all?”

I shook my head. “You don’t have to protect me. Just be there for me in my quiet moments, that’s all I ask.”

She opened one big blue eye at me. “Is that really okay?”

I nodded. “Of course it is.”

She closed her eye again. “Okay. I’ll be there in your quiet moments to make you feel loved.”

I leaned over, I wasn’t sure what I was doing but it felt right. My lips gently met Pinkie’s forehead and I felt her body go tense for a moment before completely relaxing. When I pulled back she was staring up at me with two beautiful blue eyes and her face seemed to be a deeper shade of pink then before, was she blushing?

I glanced over and saw Twilight’s cheeks completely flushed with pink and her hooves held up to her mouth. “Oh my Celestia, that’s so cute!”

It was then that I realized some things really didn’t need an audience even if I was a stage magician at heart. I nervously scratched the back of my head. “It’s nothing, just thought Pinkie could use some TLC.”

Twilight nodded. “You girls will be so cute together! I wish Rarity would see that sooner.”

That made me feel just a little bit down. I wish Rarity could see it too, but I accepted that she might never understand it. So long as she learned to respect Pinkie’s choice, then maybe things would turn out okay. I could at least ask for that right? At the very least I had finally gotten what I’d come here for, I had apologized to everypony. Maybe I could finally get some sleep for once… yet why did my heart still feel so empty?

Twilight’s next words were sure to keep me distracted. “Now that we’ve gotten you’re apologized taken care of, let’s do some experiments.”

I stared right at her. “Experiments!”

“Yep, gonna take that brain apart and figure out why you’re still suffering from after effects of the Alicorn Amulet.”

I shot a dirty look at her. “Twilight, be careful with the use of that word. I thought you meant something completely different by ‘experiment’.”

Pinkie chimed in. “Oh, we could do that kind of experimenting later. I’m sure Twilight would love to.”

Twilight looked between us. “Um… I think I’m missing something.”

I lowered my head once more, but at least I was smiling. Looked like things were returning to normal again at last. Pinkie could make jokes, Twilight could be completely ignorant of the world, and I could… exist somewhere in between them.