Home is Where the Hearth Is

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Nine: Running Red

I stood in the map room with Twilight by my side. Aside from her I also saw Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and even Rarity. The latter of which had her nose stuck up in the air. There was a single bed placed in here. Ignoring the stuck up unicorn for the moment I looked to Twilight.

“I only count five ponies here, isn’t there six elements of harmony?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, but Fluttershy is currently out on some kind of expedition to see some exotic animals.”

“Hmm, okay, but what are you five going to do to help me with my nightmares. Clearly apologizing hasn’t worked.”

The doors leading the map room opened and I heard a majestic voice that filled the air. “That is why I’m here, little one.”

I looked back and saw the massive form of Princess Luna walking into the map room. Her mane was long, so long it trailed behind her on the ground yet seemed to never quite touch the earth as if it repelled anything that might dare soil it. The mane itself was like staring into the dark blue night sky with stars twinkling throughout. The closer she got to me the more I realized the difference in our size was substantial.

Once she had gotten within a few feet of me I could feel a cool energy rolling off of her. It was calming and made me feel a little sleepy. She looked down and met my eyes with a smile. “Hello, Trixie. I’ve long since wanted a meeting with you, I have many questions about your experiences but I will save the pleasantries for later. For now I wish to help you with your dreams.”

Twilight added. “See, everypony is here to help you.”

Rarity muttered under her breathe but just loud enough for us to hear. “Not everypony.”

Luna looked at Rarity. “Rarity, we need your assistance with this. I believe we all stand to learn something positive from this experience.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Oh, like what?”

Luna smiled but it came off cold. “Like how every action has consequences, and we may not always see where, why, or how those consequences will play out.”

Rarity huffed. “Fine, I am sure this will be some sort of learning experience, but regardless if my friends need me I will be there for them. Let’s stop wasting time and get to work already.”

Hearing Rarity’s disregard for me only made that empty feeling in my chest expand. I tried to ignore the darker thoughts coming through, but they weren’t going away. Maybe I agreed with one part of her sentiment, we should stop wasting time and get this ball rolling, I didn’t want to be in her presence any longer than I had too.

I felt a leg wrap over my back and pull me into an embrace. Pinkie had snuck up to my side and hugged me. I leaned into her. She whispered softly. “We’re going to fix you, I promise.”

I nodded. “Thank you, Pinkie. Thank you, everypony.”

With that said it was time to start. Luna had me climb up and onto the bed as everypony circled me. I was apparently supposed to fall asleep like this. Impossible considering how close that meanie head Rarity was to me. I could hear her frustration through her nostrils.

Luna started to sing and with every word I felt my body growing heavy, numb, and utterly relaxed. “Hush now, quiet now. It’s time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now. It’s time to go to bed.”

By the time she said the word bed my entire body had gone numb and the voice trailed off and echoed as if I was going down a long tunnel. Everything became quiet for a long moment, darkness was all around me. Somehow this felt different, I felt awake, yet I knew I wasn’t in the map room anymore. Had they secretly teleported me? I didn’t care, I was so relaxed that I could lay like this forever.

I quickly became aware of something wrong and opened my eyes. I was on stage again. I pushed myself up but my muscles felt weak. The crowd was still here, but each one of them was hidden in a thick fog, only visible as an outline. How did I get here?

No, this must have been the dream. Yet I was awake inside the dream? How could that happen?

It didn’t matter as I heard voices in the fog. Voices I remembered and never wanted to hear again. Rarity’s voice played a melody of menace as it spoke. “Oh, look at that, the lazy unicorn is sleeping in the middle of the show.”

Rainbow Dash’s voice chimed in. “What’s the big deal, I can nap too. I’m not self centered enough to make ponies watch me as I do though.”

The four ponies began marching out of the fog and I saw them clear as day. Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were all there. I walked a few steps forward to greet them. I was awake this time, I wasn’t going to just stand for them being rude to me.

“I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, how dare you attack my show.”

Applejack hopped onto the stage. “Oh, come on now, ya can’t be calling this a show. It’s just you sleeping on a stage. Yer about as dumb as the ponies watching this crap.”

I glared at her. “If you don’t like it, you can always leave.”

Rainbow Dash leapt onto the stage next. “Why would we do that, it’s too fun to torment you.”

Rarity nodded at Twilight. With a flap of her wings Twilight was into the air and flying above us. “Everypony, look at how selfish she is. She wants us to praise her just for sleeping. Anypony can see how awful that is. As the princess of friendship, I ban her from being allowed to have any friends.”

I stared up at her. “You can’t do that!”

Twilight glared at me. “It’s already done. Thanks to your terrible show everypony in Equestria will know how awful you are.”

The ponies in the fog, my crowd all vanished one by one. “Please, no! Come back, I’ll be better, I’ll do better!”

Rarity walked up onto the stage. “No, you won’t. You messed up once, and that was enough for us to completely ruin you. If you really want to make amends though, there is an option.” She glanced at something behind me.

I turned around and saw a rope hanging with a noose from the top of the stage. “But, how did-“

Rarity added in. “It might be the only show worth watching that has you in it.”

I felt my eyes stinging. I knew she was probably right. After everything I’ve done, this was the only thing left for me. Still I couldn’t accept this. I had friends, I had family. I knew that I did. I glared back at her. “All I wanted to do was to run a magic show. Why do you four hate me so much?”

Applejack stated, “Because we don’t think you should be allowed to act all high and mighty when yer really a bunch of nothing.”

Rainbow Dash added, “Because I’m obviously cooler than you’ll ever be, so don’t even bother trying to be cool, cus you’ll always fall short.”

Twilight added, “Because if even your father abandons you, how could you be worth anypony’s attention, especially ours.”

Rarity finished, “Because you are not even worthy of being a unicorn. Not when you’re just a pathetic lying scumbag like yourself.”

I closed my eyes. “It’s just an act. I’m not really high and mighty, that’s just the character I play. You can’t be mad because I play a role on stage. You just can’t!”

Rarity jumped in close and I opened my eyes to look into hers. There was something there, a green tint I hadn’t seen before. It was like looking into the eyes of something strange, something evil, something real. “Trixie, you know that you can’t separate between a stage performance and real life. After all, we can’t. So you should be punished for the character you played, even if it isn’t real it’s against MY values. And for that you should only get to kill yourself.”

I took a step back. “N-no.”

Rarity’s horn lit up and my curtains were torn down with a furious green light. “You don’t’ deserve these when your show is so horrible.”

“NO! Stop, those are expensive, I can’t buy more! Please stop being mean to me!”

Rarity quickly turned it into a green dress with spikes and sharp cuts that she slipped one without even moving an inch. “Oh, this works much better for me than it ever did for you.”

Rainbow Dash stood at the edge of the stage. “Look at how much cooler I am! Stop paying attention to this mess and look at me do cool flying tricks!”

I shouted at her. “What are you doing? You’re not even an entertainer, why are you stealing my crowd?”

Applejack stood on the other edge. “Nope, listen to me, this filly is a liar, her tricks are just that, tricks. Ain’t worth yer time or money.”

I shouted as tears filled my vision. “My show is free! They don’t have to play me! Please, stop!”

Twilight’s horn lit up and a menacing red light filled the sky. “Trixie, if you aren’t going to be decent enough to kill yourself, then I’ll just have to help.”

I stared up at the light as it grew into a red ball floating in the sky. It was huge, it was as large as the sun. “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to hurt. I just want to be okay and have friends again, please, somepony, anypony, help me.”

In the distance, past the red sun forming just over Twilight’s horn I saw six black dots. They grew steadily larger in size as they approached. Rarity looked up and glared at them. “Outsiders, not on my watch. Trixie is my toy to torture.”

As the six red dots increased in size a green energy barrier rose around the area. The six dots vanished as the shield closed above us and I could feel something cold, dark, and malicious coat the inside of my skull. It was like some kind of fell slime that was washing over my brain, I felt like vomiting.

Rarity looked at me again with those green piercing eyes. “Time to suffer, you little ingrate.”

The red sun began to descend and Twilight was quickly absorbed by it. Pieces of wood began peeling off the stage and flying upwards toward it as if the red sun had its own gravitational pull. Even my mane was lifting upwards toward it as it took over the entire sky.

A lone figure jumped in front of me and I saw a blue aura surround us creating a smaller bubble of energy. I looked up to see Rarity, a second Rarity standing there. She was glaring at the version with those hateful green eyes. “How dare you imitate me! Imitate me, whiling wearing green of all things. This insult will not stand.”

The green eyed Rarity’s lips curled up at the corners. They continued to curl up until the split open and the grin ripped the flesh going all the way to her ears. Her eyes hollowed out and only endless blackness with two pinpricks of green light remained. “Oh ho, the real one appears. And with your mind I can see such delightful fruits. In fact we’ve even committed the same sins as Trixie here. From forcing our friends to work as slaves for a clothing show to actually using a dark magic book to destroy the entire town.”

The normal Rarity replied. “I will admit that I have done those things. Maybe Twilight and Pinkie are right and I’m more mad at myself than I am at her, but this does not mean I will let you mock me.”

“Oh, but it gets so much juicier. It would seem that our hatred of Trixie knows no ends. Would you like to tell her how come it is she was never able to obtain a job, why her father threw her away like the garbage that she is?”

Rarity growled. “I have no idea what you are talking about you monster.”

The monster laughed, it sounded inhuman, cold and wet. “How many potential employers did you go to in secret, how many did you tell about Trixie’s sins. How many did you convince to never hire Trixie because of her actions in Ponyville? Do you even know, can you even count that high?”

Rarity shouted. “SHUT UP YOU FREAK!”

A beam of blue energy lashed out from her horn, went through the shield and hit the monster in the face. A hole ripped open but only black ichor poured out. The laughing got stronger. “Fine, I’ll ruin both of you at once, my filthy little toys!”

The sun descended at a blinding pace. I felt the world turn upside down and everything was consumed by that red light. As everything was washed away I heard Rarity speaking. “I’ve already done enough damage, let me do something good for once.”

I felt my body lying against something cold and wet. The red light seemed so oppressive that I wasn’t sure I’d ever move again. Slowly the light seemed to ease off and I could make the world around me. My stage was completely gone. I was just lying in the mud now. Everypony else seemed to be gone as well.

The further off I stared the more I saw the two shapes in front of me. One on the ground and one floating in the air and a long string of darkness connecting the two. I heard something wet. Breathing, it was breathing, hard, wet, gasping.

I blinked and all the color came back at once. I saw the green eyed monster standing on all fours. Tendrils of black slime were leaking from its body, one of which had stretched out into the air and had gone straight through Rarity. I stared. Rarity was hanging mid air, her hoof grasping the tendril as the thing pierced her chest. Crimson liquid rand down her lips and down her body before dripping into a pool in the mud.

Rarity wasn’t looking at the monster, she was staring at me. For once her eyes held no trace nor hint of hatred. Instead there was a deep look of pain, of sorrow. She spoke, each word wet with blood. “Trixie, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”