This pony has both wings and a horn. She’s that Princess, Mi Amor Cadenza! A Princess! W-Why is she here, standing before right now? … No, the reason doesn’t matter. I just have to hide my horn! If she sees that, she’ll know I’m from Equestria, and she’ll force me back there!
“Are you okay?” she asks as she takes a step forward. I quickly pull down on my hat. I have to hide my horn, no matter what. “You’ve been crying. What’s wrong?”
“N-Nothing.” My voice is weak, and shaky, and it’s clear that she isn’t buying it. “Really, I-I’m fine.” I wonder if she can hear the fear in my voice? Maybe I should try to blind her with my magic, and make a run for it.
“Please, miss. Let me know what’s wrong, and I’ll see if I can help you.”
… Help me? Has she not realised that I’m not one of her subjects? Well, that’s a relief. But, I can’t let down my guard just yet. This could just as easily be a trick. I’ll just make something up to get her out of here, and then… I don’t know, I guess I’ll just keep going north. Nopony knows what lies out there, which means I don’t have to worry about running into anypony if I go there.
“You know, you remind me of a certain young filly I used to sit for, back in my teenage years.” Huh? What’s she getting at? “Just like you, she didn’t like to share with anypony what was troubling her. But I discovered one method that proved rather effective at getting her to open up.”
“Look, I just want to be alo-” Before I can even finish, she moves forward at lightning speed, and pulls me towards her. Crap! I totally let down my guard! Now she’s got me right where she wants me! Where I can’t escape! Where I can’t fight back! Where I… A-Actually, she’s not holding me that tightly. I can probably squirm my way out with ease, and then run away.
… Oh no! My hat! My hat came off when she grabbed me! Please tell me she didn’t notice! I look up to check. Good, her eyes are closed. Why they’re closed, I have no idea, but at least I’m safe. Now I can just levitate my hat back onto my head, before she notices my horn.
“You don’t have to talk, if you don’t want to,” she says, her voice soft, and quiet, and… rather soothing, actually. “And you don’t have to stay, either. It’s up to you.” … Well, if that’s the case, then I’d better get out of here already. Her grip really isn’t that tight, so it won’t be hard at all to get free.
But… for some reason, my body isn’t moving. For some reason, I can’t seem to find the will to break out of her hold. I feel so warm like this. So safe, and secure. Even though she’s an Equestrian, I feel like… I could just fall asleep, right here, and not have to worry about the nightmares coming to haunt me.
“Do you feel better now?” she asks after what seemed to be an eternity of silence. I had actually forgotten that she was there… I think I was about to go to sleep, but her voice must have stopped me. “If nothing else, could I at least know your name?”
“… Tri-” No, wait! Phew, that was close. I almost gave out my real name without thinking! What’s wrong with me? Why am I even answering her? “Will-o-Wisp.”
“Will-o-Wisp, it’s pretty late, and the weather team have forecast a cold night tonight. I would suggest you head on home and get some sleep, but… if you don’t want to be alone, you’re welcome to stay at the palace for the night.”
At the palace? Is she serious? Why does she care so much about one random subject that she just happened to see crying? Why would she care? Since when do Royals care for anything other than grooming themselves to look all pretty, and stuffing their faces with so much high-class food that their flanks start to cover the sun?
Whatever the case, I’m not going. Not with an Equestrian. Not happening. “No,” is all I manage to say, but I still can’t manage to free myself from her hold. What kind of magic is she using on me?
“Are you sure?” I nod my head. For Faust’s sake, let me go already! “Well, if you say so.” She releases me, so now I can walk off and be alone. Right? Wrong, apparently. She does something else entirely, that I, again, wasn’t expecting. I feel something rubbing against my head, and look up to see this mare… nuzzling me. It feels nice, but I don’t get it. What is she after?
Huh? Why am I… crying? What am I feeling right now? It’s just like what I felt when Appletini said that she would protect. It’s not a bad feeling, I don’t think. It’s almost like… I think I can trust her… Despite the fact that she’s an Equestrian, this mare is somepony that I can trust, and confide in. And it will all be fine. That’s what my mind is telling me right now. Clearly, I’ve gone mad. Surprised it took so long.
“… I have nowhere to go.” Why am I telling her this? “But I don’t want to stay with an Equestrian…”
“Why not?” Her tone suggests that she’s not asking out of curiosity, or that she feels insulted in any way. So what is it? It’s so similar to the way Appletini spoke to me, when I told her that I don’t want to go home.
“… Because how do I know that you won’t try to harm me? What reason do I have to trust you?”
She looks sad… Good. It’s about time that somepony other than me feels that way. “Well, if you don’t want to, I can’t exactly force you. But, what did you mean when you said that you have nowhere to go? What happened? Don’t you have a home to go to, or a family to confide in?”
I wish I were that lucky. “No. I don’t. I had an… A friend…” That word still feels funny to say. “… Who let me stay at her place for a little bit. But I can’t go back there now. She’ll never forgive me, and now I’m back to being all alone again. I… I…”
Her wing wraps around my body. “Ssh. It’s okay. Don’t cry, little one.” Cry? Who’s crying?! … Oh, I am. “It’ll be alright. Now, what exactly did you do to upset this friend of yours?”
“… I… I destroyed something important to her. It was an accident, and I was going to repair it before she noticed! But… she found out.” The painful memory of Appletini yelling at me as I returned to her home suddenly comes flooding back to me, and no amount of warmth from this pony’s wing can slow down my tears. “She was the first one who ever truly accepted me, and I blew it…”
“Are you sure?” I look up at the mare before me. “I mean, if she’s your friend, then surely she’ll forgive you. After all, that’s what friendship is all about. Forgiving each other when you make mistakes, and having fun together.”
No, that can’t be right. “I don’t think so. Ponies aren’t capable of forgiving others.”
“… I don’t know why you would ever think such a thing, but you’re wrong.” No, I’m not! I have experienced it firsthoof! Ponies don’t forget the past! They don’t think stuff like: ‘Oh, I’m sure you had your reasons. I’ll give you a second chance.’
“Appletini hates me now. There’s no way she would ever let me stay with her again.”
“Are you sure?” What is with this pony? She’s a Princess! Shouldn’t she know how ponies work? Shouldn’t she know that there are no second chances in life?! “Did she, herself, say that she hates you?”
“… Well, no, but-”
“Then how can you know for sure? And did she say that she would never forgive you?”
“No, but-”
“Then talk to her. Never give up. If you quit this early, then of course you’ll wind up alone. But if you keep fighting, your friendships will never die. And believe me when I say that, in the end, you’ll be glad that you kept going.”
…
“Now, how about I leave the two of you alone?” … Wait, what? The two of us? Who is she-
“Thank you, Your Highness.” That voice. I know that voice. It belongs to Appletini! Then, that means that she’s been here, this whole time?!
Cadance moves away from me, and flaps her wings to lift into the air. “Don’t give in to despair,” she mouths to me as she ascends into the air. She flies away from me, soaring into the night sky. Leaving me alone. No, not alone… I turn around, and sure enough, Appletini is standing there behind me.
“Trixie,” she says as she walks towards me. Is she… out of breath? “I’m so glad I managed to find you. Why did you take off like that?”
“… You know why.” She stops walking, but she doesn’t look angry, like I thought she would.
“Enlighten me.”
“… I broke your vase. Your important vase… It’s destroyed now, thanks to me. It’s irreplaceable, right? Therefore, there’s no way you’d want to be my friend anymore.”
A silence passes over us. It drags on for a little bit, before Appletini begins to walk towards me once more.
SLAP!
… S-She just…
“Who do you think I am?!” she shouts. I jump back, but she simply takes another step forward, closing the distance once more. “Do you think I would honestly break it off with one of my friends, ‘cause of one little mistake like that?! Do you really think that I would treasure the past much more than my present?! That vase may have been important to me, but so are you!”
I’m… important to her? “I said that I would help you, didn’t I? I told you that I’d be your friend. Yes I’m mad that you broke my vase, and then lied to me about it, but that doesn’t give you the right to suddenly decide we’re not friends anymore!
“Now come on! Let’s go home!” She turns around, and begins to walk away. I don’t follow. My mind’s in complete disarray right now. I don’t get it. So, we’re good, then? We’re… still friends? She stops and turns around to me. “It’s getting late. We’ll talk about this whole thing tomorrow, but right now, I wanna get some sleep. And I can’t do that if I know my friend is outside, freezing herself to death.”
“… Appletini…” I take a small step forward… and see her smile. That’s all the motivation that I need to keep going. She’s not angry at me. She doesn’t hate me. And she’s not trying to chase me out of town! She… actually wants me to come back to her. I can’t believe it… My movements pick up speed, and I’m soon walking alongside Appletini at a leisurely pace. “I’m sorry.”
“… It’s okay,” she says as she wraps her foreleg around my neck. “I forgive you, Trixie. If you wanna make it up to me, you can help me with my work tomorrow.”
“But… that won’t bring back your broken vase, will it?”
Appletini doesn’t reply straight away. “True, but nothing will, now. Best I can do is have it repaired, but even then, it still won’t look the same. Still, don’t see where the sense would be in losing two important things, as opposed to just one.”
She called me important again. I’ve never been important before. That privilege is usually saved for ponies that just happened to be born into the right families. But to her, I’m important. Somehow, that washes away all the sadness I had just moments ago, and allows me to just calmly walk together through the streets of the Crystal Empire, in the warm company of my… friend.
“So,” she says, breaking the peaceful silence all of a sudden, “Was that… really the Princess that you were speaking to just now?”
“Oh, yeah… I don’t know what she was doing out here, but she…” I stop as I remember the conversation that I had with her. All of it comes flooding back to me, in good detail. And the I realise something. “… No way…”
“What? What is it?”
“… She got me!” I shout, and rightfully so. That Princess, how did she? “She actually got me to spill my guts!” Something the Princess said comes back to me. ‘But I discovered one method that proved rather effective at getting her to open up.’
“Trixie?” I turn my attention to Appletini. Not even this pony could get me to open up like I did with Cadance. It seems that Royals really do have some frightening powers. I’d better be careful, if I ever encounter her again.
“It’s nothing,” I say with a smile. Or, what I hope is a smile. I’m not really used to those yet. “I’m just tired, that’s all.”
She nods. Did I convince her? “Yeah, maybe we should pick up the pace.” … Her voice sounded a little different just then. I don’t think I managed to fool her… But, at least she’s not pressing me on it. So it should be fine, right?
I’ve been here before… It’s a place I recognise all too well. It’s that rock farm. The one owned by the Pie family. I stand before a huge boulder, with a rusty mining pickaxe in my hooves. Am I expected to mine this thing? No… I won’t! That’s not who I am! I am Trixie Lulamoon! It isn’t my destiny to mine rocks, and harvest the gems within them!
My destiny is to dazzle ponies with my spectacular magic! My destiny is to become a living legend! A hero for foals to look up to, and an idol for the common ponies to admire! I am the Great and Powerful Trixie! That’s what my Cutie Mark is telling me! … What?!
M-My Cutie Mark! It’s… It’s not there! No, it is, but… there’s something over it. Is that… It’s her Cutie Mark! “Twilight Sparkle!”
“Yes?” My ears stand up, and I turn my head to the source of the familiar voice. “What are you doing? Start mining, now!”
“H-How dare you?! Who do you think you’re talking to?! I am the Great and-”
“Just shut it and start mining already!” a new voice calls out. I turn around, and see that it belongs to that Rainbow one. Behind her, there are many ponies, most of which have their faces hidden behind shadows. “It’s all you’re good for, anyway.”
“T-That’s not true! I have a wide variety of talents, and-” A rock hitting my face cuts me off. “Hey!” Another rock hits my face. “STOP IT!” A third rock comes my way, followed by a fourth, and a fifth. The sixth brings me to my knees, and the seventh one is accompanied by a storm of angry, scornful comments.
“Nothing but a fake!”
“You’ll never belong!”
“Never show your face in our town again!”
“STOP IT!”
… Wait, that voice wasn’t mine. And… the rocks have stopped. I dare to look up at the crowd of angry ponies… There’s somepony new there. Do I know her? She looks familiar…
“I said stop it!” she shouts. Her voice is every bit as angry as those ponies that were just scorning me, but it’s not directed towards me. “She may not mean much to you, but to me, she’s important! She’s my friend!”
Appletini! What’s Appletini doing here? More importantly, is she defending me? The ponies in the crowd turn around, and begin to walk away. I turn around, and find that Twilight Sparkle is no longer there.
“Are you okay?” I turn back to Appletini, and see her smiling at me. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
“I don’t understand. What are you doing here?”
“Is there something wrong with me being in my own house?” I look around, and realise that she’s right. We’re no longer in that cold, lonely rock farm. We’re in her house… Her house in the Crystal Empire. “Of course we’re both here. After all, this is our home, right?”
Home? This is… my home? The place where I belong?
My eyes open to the feel of something shaking me about on my bed, and the sounds of somepony calling out my name. I look over at the window… it’s still pretty early. Oh, that’s right. I agreed to help Appletini out at her job today.
I roll around in my bed, and sure enough, there she is. Appletini, the mare who took me in, when I had nowhere else to go. The mare who forgave me when I hurt her. And, the mare who drove away the nightmare that has been haunting me for the past year.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” she says as I sit up, groaning from the effort that it takes. “You sleep well?”
I turn to her with a smile on my face, and nod. “Thanks to you.” She tilts her head and gives me a confused look, and I guess reaching out to her and hugging her wouldn’t exactly help any… Ah, screw it! The urge is too great! “Thanks,” I whisper as I wrap my forelegs around her neck.
“Um… D-Don’t mention it?” Yeah, I don’t blame her for being confused. Truth is, I’m just as confused about this whole thing as she is. But I don’t need an explanation. I’m happy, and that’s all that matters right now. “Hey, not that I’m against a little morning display of affection or anything, but if we don’t hurry, we’re gonna be late.”
I pull back from her, and hear my stomach rumbling. Well, that’s embarrassing… She begins to laugh at me, but it’s not the jeering, mocking laughter that I’m so used to. It’s a beautiful sound, that I’d hate to hear end. At the same time, I can’t help but feel embarrassed as she continues to laugh.
“Silence!” I shout. It doesn’t work. “I order you to stop that at once!”
“Or else what?” she asks. That look in her eyes, and the grin on her face… Is she challenging me?
“… Or else, I’ll make you stop.” She sticks her tongue out at me, and then turns around and runs out of the room.
“To do that, you’ll have ta get out of bed! Then you’ll have ta catch me!”
Challenge accepted! “Just you wait ‘til I get my hooves on you!” I shout as I jump out of bed, and charge towards her with all the dizziness of a pony who’s had one-too-many drinks. She runs down the hallway, and I can hear her running down the stairs quickly.
“Can’t catch me!”
Oh, it. Is. On! I rub my eyes, and let out a loud yawn. I stretch my legs, and give my brain a moment to switch on. Right, now it’s time to show this pony why I’m called the ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’. I charge out of the room, turn around the corner, and gallop full-speed towards the stairs.
“Trixie, careful on the-” CRASH! BAM! POW! “… Stairs.”