//------------------------------// // Highly Unwise // Story: Grief is the Price We Pay // by Scyphi //------------------------------// Naturally, the whole story was related to Thorax after that, Spike escorting the changeling up to their room for privacy and explaining all he knew of the mare and magician known as Trixie. To Thorax’s obvious surprise, Spike had encountered the mare a few times before, the first just within the first few moons after he and Twilight Sparkle had first started living in Ponyville, sometime still before Twilight ascended to alicornhood. In that instance, Trixie had arrived in the town to put on a show too, but spent most of it more demonstrating how she was magically “superior” than everypony else, and was basically used as just a chance to brag and show off. While her magical feats were certainly flashy, most weren’t especially impressed by Trixie’s bragging as Spike recalled. But more importantly, Trixie’s bragging was also exaggerated to the point that she claimed she could do far more than she actually could, to the point that Spike personally thought some of it was ridiculous, especially her claims that she had defeated an Ursa Major in single-hoof magical combat. He didn’t hesitate to say so either. Which, Spike admitted, might be part of the reason why two “especially naïve” colts who had completely believed Trixie to be the real deal, decided to take it upon themselves to lure the next best thing to an Ursa Major, an Ursa Minor, into Ponyville and have Trixie defeat it for their entertainment. Trixie, of course, could no such thing, and probably would’ve left Ponyville to suffer further damage from a cranky Ursa Minor had Twilight not intervened and used her own magic to sort it out. Upstaged by this, this didn’t go over well with Trixie’s ego, and she left cross and humiliated, but ultimately no more humbled leaving Ponyville than she had been arriving. Thorax was somewhat surprised to hear all of this; during his brief encounter with Trixie, he of course had sensed a strong feeling of personal pride in Trixie’s emotions, supporting the notion of her large ego, but had found that Trixie did a fair job keeping it in check, and acknowledged the limits of her own abilities. In other words, he didn’t really find her as the braggart Spike described. But Spike’s tale wasn’t finished, and he went on to explain that “a year or so” went by in which they saw no hair or hide of Trixie, but apparently word of the fiasco in Ponyville had haunted Trixie long after leaving the town, and found her reputation ruined and financially struggling during that space of time. Blaming Twilight for upstaging her so, Trixie eventually came back to Ponyville, just moons before Twilight became a princess, seeking revenge on Twilight via a magic duel, unfairly aided by a powerful dark magic artifact that increased Trixie’s magical abilities by several fold. Unfortunately that same artifact, a type of enchanted amulet, also corrupted Trixie the longer she wore it, so upon soundly beating Twilight in the magic duel, she banished Twilight from Ponyville, sealed the town off from the rest of Equestria, and then proceeded to rule harshly over the town as its increasingly tyrannical ruler. Spike and the rest of Ponyville then had to suffer Trixie’s ever-growing darker rulings for the next couple of days while Twilight worked from the outside to somehow find a way back into Ponyville and stop Trixie. It was here that Thorax sensed Spike’s disinclination for Trixie was at its strongest, and it wasn’t hard to see why, but Thorax knew Spike was in no way exaggerating either, because he also sensed a hidden ball of genuine fear hidden deep in Spike’s emotions surrounding the memories, and the dragon confessed that he shuddered to think what dark deeds the amulet may had eventually driven Trixie to do had Twilight not finally found a way to trick Trixie into removing the amulet halting its influence, and restoring things back to normal after that. Trixie, for her credit, woke up to the realization of her actions, and was genuinely apologetic about her foolishness and what it had nearly driven her to do, which Spike admitted improved his opinions slightly about the mare, especially after she sought forgiveness from Twilight, wanting to make things better, and Twilight had given it. Yet that rift and rivalry still seemed to exist between them, as whenever the subject of Trixie came up again around Twilight, Twilight generally responded with partly concealed distaste in regards to the magician. It was another some years before they saw Trixie again though, but Spike states he still caught occasional wind of Trixie going around Equestria, attempting to rebuild her reputation, though she didn’t seem to be having a great deal of success, now having to overcome word of both the Ursa Minor incident as well as the amulet incident. Starlight Glimmer eventually entering the picture as a new threat, then later as Twilight’s reformed student, ultimately kept them both distracted from the matter of Trixie though. As it happened though, just a few short moons ago they crossed paths with Trixie once more when the magician passed through Ponyville yet again on a sort of “apology tour” she was undertaking throughout Equestria. Spike wasn’t directly involved in this incident this time, but it was during this visit that Trixie managed to befriend Starlight, leading to friction with Twilight over the matter who, despite an attempt to try and hide it, revealed she still didn’t trust Trixie, and preferred Starlight stay away from her. It didn’t help that Trixie took advantage of the matter to yet again try and one-up Twilight and, according to what Spike was later told, led to a small fight between all ponies involved. They ultimately sorted it out…sort of. Trixie and Starlight managed to maintain and strengthen their friendship at least, and Spike was personally glad for this, because the two mares did get along surprisingly well. Twilight, meanwhile, endeavored to keep her hooves out of the matter as a show of trust in her student and her ability to make her own decisions. She still didn’t hold Trixie in especially high regard and preferred to not be around her as much as possible, but now Twilight worked to keep it to herself for Starlight’s benefit. From what Spike had seen, Trixie was trying to do the same, though her ego generally led her letting it show a bit more than Twilight did. But this led to what was Spike’s point behind all of this; last he had seen, though Trixie was still touring throughout Equestria conducting her act, she and Starlight still kept in regular contact via letters, and by now Trixie had certainly heard all about their banishment. She no doubt wasn’t actively keeping an eye out for them, but she was also perhaps the only mare in all of Vanhoover at the moment who stood the strongest chance of seeing through their disguises and selling them out. As such, Spike thought it would be “highly unwise” for him to attend Trixie’s show tonight for fear of Trixie recognizing him, and thought that because of Thorax’s strong association with Spike, it was too risky for Thorax to do so either. Thorax didn’t particularly like that though. “But…she’s so kindly invited us,” he objected dejectedly, regarding the tickets and now-ruined poster Trixie had given him lying before him. “She gave us free tickets and everything!” “I know she did, and normally that’d be great,” Spike admitted. “But Thorax, all it’d take is one wrong word slipped to Starlight via Trixie, and then the next thing you know, Twilight’s swooping down on top of us, planning who knows what for us.” “You don’t know that,” Thorax argued. “Besides, can’t I at least go? Miss Trixie has never met me before in any form before now, and she didn’t suspect me of anything at all while at the store…” “And we should thank our lucky stars that was the case,” Spike interrupted. “Thorax, Trixie may be an egomaniac, but she’s also intelligent enough to see the pattern with the right clues. And I can’t possibly expect her to keep a secret like this.” “You make it sound like I plan on giving her my whole life’s story! Spike, I’m just going to see her show she’s so kindly invited me to come see. The most contact I expect to even have with her is to see her from a distance performing on stage. It’s not like we’re going to talk in depth before, during, or after the show. She probably won’t even notice me sitting in the audience because she made it sound like the show was sold out.” “Then she probably won’t even notice if you’re not there,” Spike pointed out in return. He sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Look, Thorax, it’s not that I’m trying to be mean or anything here. You know I try and not stand in the way of anything you want to do, because you deserve that freedom. But at the same time, I followed you into banishment with the hopes of keeping you safe. And after the last few close calls we’ve had lately…I can’t help but feel like I haven’t been trying hard enough to do that sometimes. And frankly, I just think taking the risk here so to repay a courtesy Trixie has given you just isn’t worth you potentially getting caught.” Spike sheepishly fidgeted with his claws for a moment. “And I don’t know what I’d do if that happened to you Thorax. You’re my best friend…I just want you to stay safe, is all.” Thorax sighed heavily, feeling guilty now as he sensed the waves of concern Spike was giving off in his emotions. “I’m sorry Spike,” he said. “I really do appreciate everything you’ve done and continue to do on my behalf. It’s just…” he hesitated, looking for the right words. “…after Miss Trixie went to all the trouble to so kindly invite at least me to her show, it seems rude to not attend, regardless of whether she’s actually aware I’m there or not.” Spike grinned sadly. “And that’s great of you Thorax. You really do have a good heart.” He took a deep breath. “It’s just that in our precarious situation, sometimes it’s just not a good idea to let that good heart dictate your every action. Sometimes logic still needs to be the better action. And I worry that in the case of Trixie, your good heart is only going to lead to trouble around her and her ego.” “Actually from my meeting with her in the store, I wouldn’t call her that egotistical at all,” Thorax said. He tilted his head at Spike. “I think that everything that’s happened to her up to now has humbled her more than you give her credit for.” “Be that as it may,” Spike said, folding his arms. “I really do think it’s smarter that neither of us to attend this show, just to be safe, if nothing else.” Thorax timidly ran his hoof over the floorboards of their room. “…I could go in disguise…you know, some disguise other than Thornton…some pony she wouldn’t know.” “Why do you even want to go to this show anyway?” Spike asked, curious. “I guarantee you that you can do better magic than whatever Trixie’s using.” “I’m not that skilled a magician,” Thorax repeated for the second time that day. “Judging from what I last saw of Trixie’s repertoire of magic, it’d still be better than her skills,” Spike persisted. “Unless Starlight’s been giving her magic lessons without anypony knowing, Trixie isn’t especially skilled with magic. Everything she does is more just trickery and illusions to make them seem like they’re something more advanced than they are.” “And see, that’s what interests me about it,” Thorax pressed. “Changelings thrive on illusions, we have to. Our very survival depends on them. But where changelings use illusions to survive, Miss Trixie is using illusions just to entertain. And the idea of doing that is, well, frankly alien to me, and I can’t help but be curious to see what clever ways she intends to use illusions I’ve always regarded from a practical point of view in a very casual and non-practical manner.” Spike chuckled a little at Thorax’s enthusiasm, but his stance on the matter didn’t change. “Thorax, really, if it was anyone else putting on the show…” “I know, I know,” Thorax finally conceded with a very heavy sigh. “I get it…it’s just…I still don’t have to be happy about it, now do I?” “I know,” Spike said, not objecting to that much as he picked up the tickets sitting between them, confiscating them and taking them over to stuff in the desk drawer. “Sorry to disappoint you like that. But I really think we’ll both be better off just keeping our distance from Trixie, for our own safety.” “Yeah,” Thorax responded half-heartedly, letting the matter drop. But in truth, Thorax still wasn’t satisfied with this outcome. A large part of it was just because he really did think it would be impolite to not make at least some effort to attend the show after Trixie had so politely invited them both to come. He relented in the fact that it probably was unwise for Spike to come in light of learning that Spike and Trixie had met previously without Thorax’s prior knowledge, and had he known that in advance, he would’ve rejected Trixie’s offer of a second ticket (though he supposed he could’ve given it to Fly Leaf). But that didn’t mean Thorax couldn’t come, and it was Thorax alone that Trixie was probably truly inviting anyway. It didn’t help that the way Thorax saw it, there was no danger so long as he kept his disguise up, which Thorax obviously would’ve done anyway. Trixie had no clue the pony she knew as Thornton was in any way related with his and Spike’s banishment unless he said something to clue her in, and Thorax knew he hadn’t. It would be easy to keep it that way too. He realized the bigger problem was that Spike, despite conveying the sense that he was largely okay with Trixie on a whole, in reality didn’t trust her much at all, and seemed to be operating on the impression she would make no effort to aid them…and would only need one excuse to give them away. And it was a problem because first of all, Thorax knew it was an exaggeration; Trixie was oblivious to the truth and had shown no sign she was even actively looking for the truth. And she had no reason to; she took Thorax to genuinely be the pony he was disguised as, and while Thorax had told her he had a roommate, he had said nothing about Spike beyond that, having not even given her a name or even confirmed he wasn’t a pony. Trixie hadn’t asked either. As far as Thorax could tell—and he did have a minor advantage in that he could sense Trixie’s emotions too—Trixie was being genuine, and was of no harm. Second, he couldn’t help but feel Spike was perhaps being too quick to judge, something that bothered Thorax because it reminded him all too quickly that it was that exact same problem that had gotten them banished in the first place. So alarmingly, Thorax saw this was leading him to seriously questioning Spike’s judgement for the first time since they had met, because the mare Spike described wasn’t matching up with the mare Thorax had met; Thorax was confident enough that he liked to think that even if Trixie knew everything, she wouldn’t be so quick to sell them out like Spike believed. Yet at the same time Thorax didn’t want to just dismiss Spike’s concerns either. He still trusted Spike, and had followed his judgement in the past despite misgivings, and thus far it hadn’t steered them wrong. Thorax also knew he couldn’t ignore the fact that he had only just met Trixie himself, whereas Spike had interacted with the mare himself on more than one occasion. It left Thorax feeling conflicted as he realized the only solution was to determine who he trusted more in this matter, Spike or Trixie, and the fact he had been brought to this point didn’t sit well with him. In fact, it bothered him so much that Thorax’s first solution was simply try to not dwell on the matter and instead ignore it for the time being and get on with his day. As Trixie’s show wasn’t to start until eight that evening anyway, he would have time to put off making a decision. But it was also a Saturday, and Fly’s shop wasn’t open for business, and having already run his errands for the day, Thorax found there wasn’t much to do, at least that could take his mind off it. He tried to sit down to try and start making his first batch of cheese like he originally planned, but found he couldn’t concentrate, and fearing it would only led him to make a critical error, abandoned that project for now. He also found he couldn’t concentrate on reading his books, or even listening to his records, regardless of whether it was radio drama or music. The weighty matter on his mind simply wouldn’t be ignored. It made his stomach churn uneasily too, so much so that when dinner rolled around, Thorax ate even less of the meal Fly Leaf served than he normally would. This was something that naturally didn’t escape Fly’s attention, and perhaps also noticing that Thorax was looking troubled, she waited until Spike had finished and excused himself from the table then brought up the subject. “Something on your mind, Thornton?” she asked calmly, but with a note of concern in her voice. Thorax looked up from the meal he had been half-heartedly stirring on his plate but not eating. “Just lost in thought, Miss Fly,” he said. “You don’t seem to be particularly happy about it, and that’s surprising seeing you ran in this afternoon all excited. What was that about anyway?” “Oh, that…I, uh, I met a performer at the store who was kind enough to give me tickets to see her show this evening, and I was hoping to go…” Thorax hesitated briefly, knowing he shouldn’t get too detailed about the subject around Fly, but couldn’t bring himself to stop now. “…but Spark thinks it’s better that we don’t.” Fly wrinkled her snout, surprised and confused. “Why?” “Well, to make a long story short, he knows this performer and…basically doesn’t hold her in high regard. But…” Thorax trailed off, stopping himself from admitting what was flitting about his mind. Fly knew what he was getting at though. “…but you don’t agree with him,” she concluded. Thorax sighed, and nodded. “Please don’t tell Spark I feel that way though,” he said. “He’s my friend, and I’ve always trusted his judgement before…the fact that I’m…I’m…second-guessing him now, after all we’ve been through…it just doesn’t sit well with me.” “My lips are sealed, Thornton,” Fly assured him, starting to collect their dishes off the table. “And I understand where you’re coming from. Trust in someone is important for any pony. To have to face the prospect of it weakening for any reason, real or imagined, can be hard to deal with.” She carried the collected dishes to the sink. “But I know you and Spark, Thornton. You two are much too good of friends to let something like this dampen that friendship.” Thorax sighed. “I like to believe you’re right Miss Fly,” he said. He gazed vacantly across the table while Fly worked at the sink behind him. “I don’t know…what do you think I should do?” Fly finished with the sink and trotted back up to him, placing a reassuring hoof on the shoulder. “Whatever you think would be best, Thornton,” she said. “You’re a good pony, after all. Trust what your heart feels is right.” She then gave him a pat, grinning. “But also don’t let yourself get too worked up over this little thing. Whichever you choose, it’s not like it’s going to end the world because of it.” Thorax grinned a little seeing her point. “Maybe I should relax a little about it,” he admitted, feeling a little reassured and his stomach settling a little. “Thank you, Miss Fly.” “Any time,” Fly responded, collecting the remaining dishes on the table to take back to the sink. The evening wore on, and eight o’clock drew ever closer. Thorax and Spike retreated from their room as they usually did at that hour, Spike focusing on his writing projects, while Thorax sat in his sleeping nest, lost in thought. Fly Leaf, meanwhile, finished cleaning up from dinner then retreated to her desk in the living room downstairs to work on some bookkeeping and accounting work. Bedtime started to draw near, and so Spike and Thorax proceeded to prepare for bed. Spike had slipped into their attached bathroom and proceeded to take a bath. Thorax meanwhile laid in his sleeping nest, mulling about possibly turning in early, hoping sleeping this matter off will help him find the resolving peace he longed for. But in reality, he couldn’t sleep. The fact that he was still looking at not going to Trixie’s show bothered him too much, feeling like that he’d be letting Trixie down. Confident still that he could go without giving himself or Spike away, he began to wish he could just go to Trixie’s show without Spike knowing about it…and then realized with a start that maybe he could. He turned his head and looked across the room where the writing desk stood, remembering Spike had placed the tickets in the drawer. And with Spike currently in the bathroom with the door closed… Without even really stopping to think about what it was that he was doing, Thorax rose and cautiously moved to the desk, being careful to not make any noise Spike might hear while he bathed in the bathroom. He cautiously pulled the center and thin writing drawer open and peeked inside. On top of Spike’s stored writing notes were the tickets, lying where they’d be easy to grab. Hearing a splash inside the bathroom, Thorax stole a glance back in its direction to make sure Spike wouldn’t be coming out soon, then quickly levitated one of the tickets out of the drawer and closed it again. He then retrieved his jacket from the wardrobe and put it on, stuffing the ticket into the pocket. Taking a deep breath and realizing he needed to provide some kind of cover story, Thorax turned to the closed bathroom door and rapped gently on it. “Spike?” he called. “I can’t sleep, so I’m going to go downstairs and help Miss Fly with the bookkeeping.” He heard Spike shift in the bathwater inside. “You sure?” the dragon called back. “That’s usually my job, and I’m not aware of you ever trying to do bookkeeping before…” “Well, I figure I ought to learn eventually, so no better time than now, right?” Thorax reasoned quickly. “Anyway, I might be downstairs for a while…no need to keep up waiting for me.” Spike was quiet for a moment. “All right then,” he finally said cheerfully, to Thorax’s relief as the dragon bought it hook, line, and sinker. “Have a good night!” “Right, you too,” Thorax called back, and then quickly slipped out of the room. This just left slipping out of the shop unnoticed then. Preferring to maintain his normal disguise as Thornton, Thorax decided to stick to the ground exits, which just left the shop’s front door or back door. The front door seemed too conspicuous though, so Thorax proceeded to head for the back door. Aware this meant he would have to pass by the entrance to the living room, where it would be easy for Fly Leaf, working inside, to see him, Thorax decided to sneak past the room changeling style, and used his grippers to climb up the wall just inside the kitchen to the ceiling, and then sneak past the living room on his belly upside-down via the ceiling, where he was far less likely to be noticed. As he passed the living room, he found Fly was engrossed in her paperwork anyway, humming softly to the music she had playing on her cabinet radio, and never once looked up from it. Thorax safely slipped past her unnoticed. Once he was past the living room door and more than halfway down the dark hallway lined with the shop’s stock, Thorax climbed back down from the ceiling and proceeded on for the back door directly ahead of him. This door led onto a covered porch, enclosed with a series of windows and a screen door, running along the length of the back of the building, opening up into the back alley that went behind it, from which Thorax was basically home free in his sneaking out endeavor. But the door dividing him from that porch was locked with the high-security locks Fly Leaf employed. The locks were very particular about how they operated and were not simple to unlock. They couldn’t just be forced open through magic or physical force, and were complicated enough that even a skilled lock-picker would be working for quite a while to open it. It was also magicked to be protected against most common spells that would unlock it magically. It was so complex that Spike could never figure out how they were supposed to work despite repeatedly trying to learn. Thorax, fortunately, had no such problem, and knew precisely how to open the lock himself. A few moments work later, the lock opened with a light pop, and with a grin, Thorax started to pull the door open, wondering how he should leave things so he could ensure he could get back inside the shop afterwards. “Sneaking out tonight, are we Thornton?” Thorax jumped with an involuntary yelp, and instinctively lit his horn as he spun around and found Fly Leaf leaning out the living room door and gazing down the hall at him, her face half-illuminated by the light being cast out the doorway. “Miss Fly!” Thorax declared, and realizing what this all no doubt looked like. “I, uh, that is, um, well, I uh…” His struggles to form some sort of explanation degraded further as Fly, faintly amused by his attempts, raised a questioning eyebrow at him. Thorax then got to wondering how Fly found he was here at all. “H-how did you figure out what I was doing?” “I know the sound of my locks opening anywhere,” Fly responded with a grin. Thorax blinked, realizing Fly must have good hearing to be able to hear the sound of the door’s lock opening from down the hall in the living room while the radio was playing. “So…whatcha doing, Thornton?” Thorax winced, rubbing one foreleg against the other sheepishly. “Going to the show,” he finally admitted, deciding lying wouldn’t help him in this case. “I take it Spark doesn’t know,” Fly surmised. Thorax shook his head. A moment of silence followed, during which Thorax anxiously wondered what Fly would do about it. Finally, Fly spoke again, and to Thorax’s surprise, casually shrugged. “All right then,” she said simply. “I’ll cover for you.” Thorax blinked in disbelief. “You will?” “Sure! As far as Spark will know, you never went anywhere, and certainly not to any show,” Fly explained with a wink as she strolled up to the back door, pulling it open for Thorax. “So go on, Thornton. I’ll open the back door again for you when you get back.” Thorax glanced out the open door for a moment, then back at Fly, starting to grin. “I owe you one, Miss Fly,” he said as he started to step out. “Nah,” Fly said, waving one hoof. “I’m just helping out. Now go have some fun.” Thorax’s grin grew, and with that, he slipped through the back porch and on out into the night, suddenly feeling more confident of his line of actions than ever before.