//------------------------------// // Chapter Six: Of Clouds and Closets // Story: Trixie is Pregnant and It's Twilight's Problem // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// Trixie is Pregnant and it’s Twilight’s Problem Chapter Six: Of Clouds and Closets Written by TheCrimsonDM It wasn’t until later that day Trixie found Twilight coming up the stairs. Twilight looked a little tired and promptly plop herself in front of the fireplace. Trixie watched Twilight for a good couple of minutes before she levitated a book from one of her shelves. There seemed to be a bookmark in place and she skimmed through it. Twilight asked, “Is it possible that six ponies might be considered crowded?” Trixie shrugged. “Trixie is used to large crowds. Is there a reason you ask?” “It says in my book that pregnant mares don’t do well in large crowds as instinct kicks in and they try to keep their unborn foal safe by staying in small groups of trusted individuals.” Trixie raised an eyebrow. “And what makes you think Trixie trusts anypony?” Twilight opened her mouth then closed. “I uh… I trust them.” “And that applies to Trixie how?” “I thought trusted individuals meant ponies that were trustworthy…” “And why would Trixie consider those mares trustworthy when they have previously been hostile to Trixie?” Twilight looked conflicted. “I… I’m not sure. Now that you say it that way I feel really stupid. I just wanted everypony to be friends really quickly.” Trixie found a series of pillows she could use as a comfortable place to lie down on. “Trixie may not know about friendship but she thinks maybe it takes longer than a few minutes.” Twilight blinked. “Pinkie pulls off the whole friends in a few minutes thing… usually.” Trixie shook her head. “Trixie does not even know the first thing about friendship, so this was very poorly planned on your part. Do you really know what you are doing?” The room fell silent for a little while. Eventually Trixie gave up on hearing a response so she resorted to skimming through a few books herself. There was one in particular about how to ‘break the ice’ with new ponies. Generally Trixie did this by showing off her amazing magical skills but she was not willing to risk too much excitement. Trixie did not exactly enjoy that part of the pregnancy, but anything to keep Trixie Two safe. Twilight eventually spoke breaking Trixie from her reading, not that the book was really helping much. “I don’t.” “Don’t what?” “Don’t know what I’m doing.” Trixie looked up from her book. Honesty was not what she expected to be taking place here. “Oh?” Twilight let out a sigh. “Sure I raised Spike but I’ve never been pregnant and although I’ve done a lot of research I’ve always been distant from pregnant mares. So I really don’t know what I’m doing but I still want to help. It even seems you’re trying to understand friendship but I’m not doing my part very well.” Trixie stared at Twilight for a moment. She let out a sigh. “You are doing better than Trixie. She has not been as forthcoming with you as she’d like.” Twilight stared at her, but the looking n her eyes still seemed distant. “What do you mean?” Trixie looked over at the wall of books. “Trixie actually bedded a stallion while she was here. She suspects he is the father. Well… he would have to be after all Trixie usually prefers herself a pretty mare. This stallion was just so handsome, strong, and gentle. Perhaps too gentle.” Twilight stared at her. “Are you looking for him?” “Trixie’s father was never part of her life and she figured maybe she could try and have the father of her own child be part of its life. She is not keen on the idea of continuing a relationship with him though, if that makes sense.” Twilight frowned. “Not… really, but then again romance is not my specialty. That’s Rarity’s thing.” Things quieted down for a little bit longer. Looking up at the ceiling she realized just how curved this place was. The walls were rounded, the ceiling had designs and twists in it from the wood. There were a few balconies that led out to show different views of the town this place was amazing to look at. How had Twilight manage to get such a stunning home she couldn’t tell. It only needed a few paintings or posters of Trixie about and it would be a perfect home. Trixie let out a sigh and lowered her head. She was going to have to deal with the rightfully angry Rainbow Dash now. It wasn’t like the mare had known Trixie was pregnant, if she had maybe it would explain why Twilight got so defensive. Even Trixie didn’t expect that of Twilight. In fact it only made certain things more fearful in her mind. Trixie found herself thinking aloud, “Do you think Rainbow Dash might hurt Trixie?” Twilight snapped to attention. “Of course not. I won’t let her.” Trixie looked at Twilight. “So you think she might try?” Twilight bit her lower lip. “She is the most aggressive of us, I’ve seen her get into hoof fights before but I think she’ll respect my wishes on this. Even if she doesn’t I won’t let her get close to you.” “Why are you doing this?” Twilight smiled. “Because I honestly think that you need help and I want to do everything I can.” “You have to be getting something out of this.” Twilight shook her head. “Not anything I can think of. Other than maybe knowing I did the right thing in helping a friend.” “We have properly known each other for twenty four hours. Are we really friends?” Twilight beamed. “All the ponies you met downstairs, I became friends with them in less time.” All of them? Now that was a strange thing. Maybe Twilight got her kicks off on this whole friendship thing. That was far from the worst motivation. Still Trixie was sure there was something else, something Twilight didn’t tell her about. This was still the safest place for her, but that was only just above the idea of starving in a gutter somewhere… no, she couldn’t think about that. Her child was too important. Deal with the crazy pony being crazy and if things actually did take a turn for the worst she could scamper out of there, Trixie was after all, a master of disappearing acts. *** Rainbow Dash kicked another cloud with enough force to pop it. Her muscles were beginning to ache and her hooves hurt but she still had anger to burn out of her system. The look Twilight gave her, she’d never seen that before, and for what a little threat that she wasn’t going to make good on? Why would that bother Twilight so bad? It was just Trixie, not like it was somepony important even! She kicked another cloud and watched it pop into nothingness. If she kept this up she was going to hurt herself and she knew it. She didn’t care though she kept kicking and trying to get the anger to go away. It burned and stabbed at her heart. Why did it hurt? It was just anger. Rainbow Dash kicked another cloud and this time felt the pain in her hoof. She clutched it to her chest and whimpered. Moving it a little she felt the pain grow worse. “Yep… sprained.” The fact that her hoof was now sprained all because Trixie had to appear only made her anger worse. This was all Trixie’s fault. If she wasn’t there she wouldn’t have gotten into a fight with one of her best friends. She wouldn’t be so angry she was in pain, and she wouldn’t have a sprained hoof. Great, what was she going to do with her job now… well she did sleep a lot so it didn’t exactly change anything but that didn’t change the insult turned to injury. She’d been up here kicking the crap out of clouds for a good while now but it was finally time to give up. She didn’t want to hurt herself further. Instead she knew of one pony who might be able to help with the physical pain but sadly not the emotional. Rainbow Dash swooped down over Ponyville. She spied Twilight’s house in her path and took a wide detour around it. That was the last place she wanted to be just then. Instead she flew straight to a little cottage that was far out of town. Landing on the little hill the cottage sat on she felt the pain explode in her right foreleg. A cry of pain escaped her lips. The door opened immediately and Fluttershy stood there, her face half covered with the long pink mane. She eyed Rainbow Dash for a moment and then her eyes drifted to the leg Rainbow was favoring. Her eye showed that concerned and fearful expression. “Rainbow, you didn’t…” Rainbow Dash grunted. “Punch clouds until I hurt myself, no, I wouldn’t do that. I just uh… did exactly that.” Fluttershy ushered her inside and shut the door behind her. With a motion of her wing Rainbow was led to the couch where she crawled on it and laid down. Fluttershy was busy looking around through a nearby closet where a large assortment of oils, herbs, and ointments sat on various shelves. She pulled out one that had a white colored goop inside which made Rainbow Dash feel a little awkward to stare at. Fluttershy came back to the couch and sat down. “Show me.” Rainbow Dash reluctantly showed her the hoof and with careful gentle hooves Fluttershy began applying the ointment to the affected area. It was freezing cold at first. The more Fluttershy massaged the hotter it grew. Until it felt like Fluttershy was drawing burning lines across Rainbow Dash’s hoof and leg. At some point Fluttershy was just massaging the wound and all the pain was gone. Just a hot tingly feeling that Rainbow couldn’t say was bad. Rainbow Dash stared at Fluttershy as she worked her magic hooves into her leg. Eventually she pulled away and the leg became cold again. This wouldn’t do, Rainbow Dash hadn’t enjoyed that nearly long enough. “O-ow. Fluttershy, it still hurts.” Fluttershy’s lip quivered. “O-oh no, let me, um let try.” She returned to massaging the leg. “Is that b-better?” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Yeah, just keep doing that, for like, awhile.” Fluttershy’s lip curled up at the corner. If she caught on to what Rainbow Dash was doing she wasn’t arguing. So long as she had the opportunity she was going to milk a free Fluttershy massage for all it was worth. Of course there were other parts of her that she felt Fluttershy would be better off massaging but the idea of asking for that gave her the image of a terrified Fluttershy running away and not talking to her ever again. No, she’d keep those ideas firmly to herself. Fluttershy was a friend, just a friend…