Chapter Fifty Six: Of Idiot Gods and Mushroom Tea Hogs
Written by TheCrimsonDM
Trixie looked all over the house. She looked in the bathroom. In the basement. Under the bed. All she found were some pornos and a snail with two feathery wings and a rainbow-colored shell. She escorted the snail outside and that's when she saw it. Twilight was outside, just a purple dot in the distance but one she could make out easily enough and Twilight was walking away.
Trixie's heart sank as she watched. She didn't know where Twilight was going, or what was going to happen to them. She wanted nothing more than to talk to Twilight and to somehow fix this. It felt like this was all her fault. She looked over at Spike who had woken up a few minutes prior. "Spike, is she going to leave Trixie?'
Spike gave her a blank stare. "Are you joking?"
Trixie shook her head.
Spike groaned as if in pain. "You crazy mares. No she's not going to leave you. She feels like a monster learning about what she did to you. She’s not going to leave you, but she might do something stupid."
Trixie stood up. "No, she can't. Trixie needs her."
Spike met her eyes. "Hold up, what do you think she's going to do?"
"Something stupid."
"Okay, but what do you think that means?"
Trixie's ears folded back. "Trixie... isn't actually sure."
He shook his head. "Look, I know her, she's my mom after all. She's probably going to go stuff her face full of cupcakes or cry on one of her friend's shoulders. Or take over the entire town with mind control spells. She’ll be fine. She just needs to work through this her way."
"And what will Trixie do until then?"
"What you normally do, be lazy, eat our food, and look pretty for when Twilight comes home to take you."
Trixie stamped a hoof. "Haha, very funny, mister the dragon."
He shrugged. "What can I say, I'm a comedian."
She stuck her nose up and walked away. "Well Trixie is going to go downstairs, eat some pickles and peanut butter and do her makeup."
He rolled his eyes. As if he'd understand how hard it was to make herself presentable for her loving fiancé. It took hard work, especially when she was pregnant. Though to be fair, being pregnant didn't always feel too much different than she normally did. She hoped that would last because she was going to be like this for a whole year.
Luna had remained in the kitchen and was currently sticking her head into the fridge. Trixie watched her with some manner of horror as Luna's face was stuck into a bowl of pudding. She pulled her face out, covered in chocolate pudding. "Want some?"
Trixie knew that it must now be filled with Luna's dark blue fur by now. "Not anymore."
Luna shrugged. "More for me than."
Trixie grumbled, pulled out a jar of pickles and then went to her place at the kitchen table and to the jar of peanut butter she'd left out. At least she could enjoy a good meal. Though hearing Luna eat like a pig directly out of the fridge behind her was unsettling. Luna had also drank all the coffee. Luna was a bit of a household nightmare wasn't she?
The back door opened and Celestia walked in. She looked at Luna and then Trixie. "Hmm, anypony see Twilight."
Trixie groaned. "Don't talk about that. She’s upset."
Celestia frowned. "Ah, first fight?"
Trixie glared at her. "Not the first one, but certainly one of our earliest."
Celestia raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
Luna pulled her head out of the fridge. "It means that Trixie remembered how Twilight got corrupted by dark magic in school, then forced Trixie to be corrupted by dark magic, and how Trixie's entire life was ruined by the Alicorn Amulet."
Trixie shot a glare at Luna. "Wow, you have zero tact, don't you?"
Luna shrugged. “I’m sleep-deprived and hungry."
Celestia's eyes widened. "Twilight knows."
Luna nodded. "Yep, she knows and she probably realizes that it's all your fault. Honestly you have the worst luck with your students going to the dark side. At least none of mine ever did."
Celestia growled. "That's because you ended up either killing or marrying all yours."
Luna shrugged. "When you have only had two students, there can only be two options."
Celestia turned to face Trixie. "Where is she? I need to comfort her."
Trixie laughed bitterly. "So you can remove our memories again? Trixie thinks not."
"No, I wasn't planning to do that yet."
Trixie jabbed a hoof at Celestia. "HA! Trixie knew you couldn't be trusted."
Celestia puffed up her cheeks. "Just tell me where our mutual fiancé is."
Trixie folded her hooves over her chest. "Trixie doesn't know, and even if she did, she wouldn't tell you."
Celestia looked at Luna. "Where is she?"
Luna smiled cruelly. "Oh, you think I know your student better than you? Where does she go when she's emotionally upset?"
Celestia's ears folded back. "I... I don't actually know." She let out a sigh and walked into the kitchen fully shutting the door behind her with a flick of her tail. "I'm awful at mentoring, loving, and friendship aren’t I?"
Luna rolled her eyes. "Considering you just suggested you were planning to erase Twilight and Trixie's memories, yes." Luna held out the bowl of pudding. "Want some?"
Celestia raised an eyebrow at the pudding. "You've been eating directly out of the bowl again, haven't you?"
"Well of course I have. I didn't expect them to have an alicorn-sized bowl here, but here it is."
Celestia stared at her. "That's... that's not an alicorn-sized bowl. That's a mixing bowl. You aren't supposed to eat out of it."
"But it's just my size."
Trixie decided to ignore the two idiot gods. She had pickles, peanut butter and a hungry baby to care for. Though her mind did wonder to worrying about her lover. She really hoped that Twilight would be okay, and that she could get help from one of her friends. Trixie knew that Twilight was going to need it, after all, Trixie could understand that level of guilt very well.
***
Twilight had wondered through the town. Her mind was almost blank with the horror of her past actions. She kept telling herself it couldn't be true, it was just some hallucination that Trixie had experienced or perhaps just a nightmare. A normal old-fashioned nightmare. She told herself this, but there was a problem with it. Somehow, deep in her gut, she felt like this was true. That she really had been corrupted by dark magic, had been evil, had done horrible things to Trixie. Had... been the one to ruin Trixie's previous life.
The woman she loved, the woman who was pregnant and going to start a family with. Twilight had done irrevocable damage to in the past. It wasn't even just that event, Twilight knew she'd not had good relations with Trixie before the pregnancy thing. She knew deep down that a large part of her had just hated Trixie, and she never understood why, or where it came from. She blamed it on Trixie's personality, on her stage performance, on her arrogant boasting or how she used dark magic so willfully to one up Twilight.
Yet deep down Twilight had always known it ran deeper than that. She always knew it ran deeper than that, and all these past memories of hers that were gone. The ones she had decided to never question too hard, now were finally forcing themselves to become a problem. She had no idea what to do, or where to go. She pondered going to Pinkie’s but she didn't want to bother the happy couple. She could have gone to Rarity but she and Rarity still weren't on the best of terms after the whole Spike thing. Applejack was always there for her, but she lived so far away.
There was only one friend who might be able to help, and it was one that she hadn't wanted to consider up until now. With a resigned sigh, Twilight looked up and found herself already here.
At the front door to Fluttershy's house.
Twilight lifted a hoof, and gently knocked on the door a few times. She hoped that Fluttershy wasn't going to hate her for her actions, but she wasn't sure that their own bond had healed yet either. There were so many rifts in her friendships lately, it felt like everything was being torn apart, and she didn't know how to fix any of it.
The door opened and Fluttershy stood there. She wore her hair tied into a ponytail, and offered a warm smile to Twilight. "Twilight, I didn't expect you to come visit me. N-not yet anyway."
Twilight lowered her head and stared at the dirt beneath her hooves. "Can I come in?"
Fluttershy nodded and took a few steps back. "Of course, please do. I'm m-making tea if you want some."
Twilight walked forward and entered the house. It was a lot brighter in here than she expected, and it looked fairly clean too. She followed Fluttershy over to the kitchen, and was a little surprised to see a sway in Fluttershy's hips. From the kitchen she heard music playing, but it was far from what she'd have expected. It was classic rock.
Fluttershy gestured to the table and chairs were Twilight climbed up and took a seat. Once there she waited patiently trying to ignore the pain in her heart as Fluttershy poured a cup of tea for her from the kettle on the stove. She set the tea down in front of Twilight and offered a smile. "D-don't drink it all too fast. It might hit you harder than um, n-normal."
Twilight sniffed at the tea. It was sweet but there was a hint of an earthy smell to it. "Fluttershy, what kind of tea is this?"
"The feel good even if you’re really sad kind."
"So it's drugs."
Fluttershy gasped. "Of course n-not, who do you think I am? Some horrible Pinkie, I mean monster?"
Twilight gave her a level stare, then gave up and went to the tea. She took a sip of it. Still hot but it wasn't half bad for flavor. She could however, taste mushrooms in it. It only occurred to her a moment later what that might indicate. Her eyes widened and she went back to staring at Fluttershy who was drinking her own cup of tea across from Twilight. "What did you put in here?"
Fluttershy smiled. "Why, does it taste bad?"
"It is drugs isn't it?"
"Would that be such a bad thing if you feel sad right now?"
"No, it wouldn't, but I want to know if the plan is to get high or not before I do."
Fluttershy’s eyes widened. "T-Twilight I was joking. Of course it's not drugged. Those are Gem Mushrooms, not the um, fun kind. If you r-really want those... I um... might know a mare." her eyes darted to the side guiltily.
Twilight let out a sigh of half relief, half disappointment. "Okay then. Why is it feel good tea?"
"Because it's well documented that mushrooms and honey will make you feel better when you’re sad."
Twilight blinked. "Documented by who?"
"Hippy Dippy Monthly. The magazine run by the stallion Hippy Dippy himself. I also found some healing crystals to put around my home as well as sagebrush to burn to help clean the negativity from my life and soul."
Right... this version of Fluttershy again. "You um, enjoy your alternative healing methods don't you?"
Fluttershy giggled. "Oh, Twilight. The Practice of Mental Alchemy, or PMA for short, is a well-documented and scientifically proven method. It also doesn't hurt my parents were actually friends with Hippy DIppy. Did you know they were part of his commune?"
"No, I didn't. I didn't even know you had parents."
Fluttershy looked down. "I don't. I also don't have a brother that I loathe. What I do have, is good memories, friends, and... um... good music I guess."
"Is the music another thing you got from the parents you don't have?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Now you're getting it. And yes. It is. The little cloud home used to be filled with happy smoke that would make ponies giggle, as my parents, Rainbow Dash's parents, and a few other couples would exchange keys with each other or just all go into the bedroom and lock the door for secret stuff."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "That's weird. What were they even doing?"
Fluttershy giggled. "O-oh, n-nothing I assume. Just um, being adults?"
Twilight shrugged and took a big drink of the tea. It didn't really make her feel better but somehow Fluttershy's company did. Fluttershy seemed a bit different, a bit better than before. Twilight wasn't going to bring up Fluttershy’s recent past, but it was nice to see her feeling better.
Fluttershy let out a small sigh. "Twilight, I'm sorry."
"Sorry about what?"
"I went into your home, and caused a big mess. It was entirely my fault, and I see that now. The fact it took you this long to even come visit me proves how much I messed up. I hope you can forgive me one day."
Twilight smiled. "Of course I can."
"And... maybe... you can um..."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Can what?"
"S-share... Trixie?"
Twilight glared at her. "Do I really have to leave?"
Fluttershy raised her hooves and laughed nervously. "I was joking."
Twilight took another sip of tea. Thought about it for a moment. "I'll ask Trixie about it."
Fluttershy stood up. "No, Twilight I was just j-joking. D-don't do that. She’ll hate me."
Twilight met her eyes. "Maybe. Or maybe she'll think it sounds like a fun idea now that your single."
Fluttershy's entire face turned bee red. "I, uh, um, wh, what?"
Twilight giggled. "No wonder Trixie like teasing me, this is kind of fun."
Fluttershy sat down and began fiddling with her ponytail. "O-oh no... this is so embarrassing."
Twilight smiled around her cup of tea. No, this was great revenge. She had to stop herself and think for a moment. Maybe this wasn't the best thing to do to get their friendship rekindled. Twilight let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, I think I'm just in a weird place right now... is okay if I talk to you for a little while?"
Fluttershy met her eyes. "You can talk to me about anything."
"Thank you."
Twilight proceeded to bare her heart to Fluttershy. Telling her all about the recent memories Trixie had, about how painful it was to think she'd hurt Trixie so badly. How she blamed herself for all the things that happened to Trixie. Most of all, how scared she was to finally confront the idea, the fact that she had large missing chunks of her memories from before Ponyville.
Needless to say, there was a lot to get off of her chest.
And Fluttershy listened patiently to all of it.