//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Trixie's New Big Red Life // by Captain-Brony //------------------------------// Fluttershy was moving quite quickly but Trixie was following hot on her trail. Fluttershy ran inside her cottage closing the door behind her…and on Trixie's nose. "OW!!" Trixie rubbed her nose tenderly for the second time that day. "What is it with the ponies in this village and slamming the door in Trixie's face?! Seriously, it's as though they have something against my nose!" Trixie knocked on the door rather impatiently "Trixie knows you're in there!" Suddenly something hit her in the head without warning. She rubbed her now sore spot and identified the mysterious projectile, she picked it up with her hoof and stared at it quizzically. "A…pinecone??" But it wasn't the only one she was going to run in to today, three more hurt her head. She winced and looked to the direction they came in, what she saw was a very peculiar sight. A small little bunny hopping furiously towards her, and carrying pinecones. "You dare to…" CLONK! The rabbit had thrown another pinecone at her. "You dare…" CLONK! CLONK! Two more pinecones hit her around the area of her horn. "QUIT IT!!" Trixie roared. Normally even Trixie would have a problem with attacking a small cute little bunny, but this one was self defense…and those pinecones really hurt! Her horn lit up and tossed little balls of light at the aggressive rabbit. He dodged most of them but when he tossed his last little pinecone it hit one of one Trixie's balls of light causing a huge flash which threw both fighters on to their backs. For a moment neither of the two moved, not even bothering to bring down their arms from over their heads. Then finally, the silence was broken. "We'll call it a draw!" declared Trixie. The sound of a door opening made her ear wiggle. She craned her head up to see Fluttershy peak her head out the crack of the door curiously. When she saw her pet bunny Angel and the unicorn that was chasing her on the ground she panicked. Trixie sat up as the pegasus ran over to them. "Is this YOUR rabbit?" Fluttershy helped both Trixie and the rabbit to their feet. "Are the two of okay?" the concern in her voice obvious. "No thanks to this hooligan rabbit." snipped Trixie "Oh I'm awfully sorry but he can be very protective of me, so when he saw you chasing after me he must have thought you were trying to hurt me." "But pinecones? Why pinecones? Trixie doesn't understand!" Fluttershy knelt down so she could look Angel face to face. "Now Angel, I understand you were only trying to protect me, but Trixie wasn't trying to hurt me…" Fluttershy trailed off and shrank a little as she looked at Trixie "Were you?" she squeaked. "Of course not!" Trixie snapped. "I just wanted to know why you didn't stick around the first time I came to Ponyville." "Oh…" was Fluttershy's only response to Trixie before turning her attention back to Angel. "Angel, those pinecones could have really hurt her. I know you can act better than that. Don't you think you owe her an apology?" Angel actually looked at her with surprise before crossing his little bunny arms and turning his back to her. Fluttershy sighed, she loved Angel but sometimes he could act so spoiled. "Now, Angel, you apologize right now, or... or... um... No extra carrots for dinner." Angel turned to her with the shocked looked a child usually has when a mother chews out her son for a misunderstanding when he was only trying to help. It came as shock to both ponies as the rabbit ran off right in to the wild forest, after which Fluttershy promptly chased after with a look of panic on her face. Trixie sighed. "A smart pony would just leave her to tackle her own problems and just go back to the farm." Trixie paused a moment and then started to follow after Fluttershy. "Too bad I'm not a smart pony." -- "And this place is called the Everfree Forest?" Trixie was walking besides Fluttershy, who had shyly accepted her help. "Yes. This place is wild, the animals fend for themselves, the plants grow without care, and the clouds move all by themselves." Trixie shuddered involuntary. "Creepy." "That's why nopony should try going in her alone. Which is why um…" her voice got even quieter, if that was physically possible. "Thank you for coming with me." "Oh um well…yes. I've been staying at Big Macintosh's farm and…" "You mean with Applejack?" "I guess, but to be honest it feels more like Trixie staying with just Big Macintosh. I mean Trixie gets along with the family just fine, save for Applejack, but it was Big Macintosh's invitation and…" "You're grateful." Fluttershy said quietly but clearly. "Well…yes. You see Trixie's life hasn't exactly been all that great since she left Ponyville, in fact I'd say I had hit rock bottom. Then Big Macintosh found me, he offered me a home to stay in and Trixie couldn't help but admire the warm life he shared with his family. So Trixie is hoping to start over for a better life, Big Macintosh says the best way to do that is to keep love and tolerance in my heart." Fluttershy opened her mouth to say something else but the sound of a twig breaking just made her give out a high pitched squeaked and quickly hid behind Fluttershy. A rustling in the bushes rationalized Fluttershy's fears somewhat. However, from out of the bushes came the little rabbit Angel. With a look of terror on his face he run past Trixie and hid behind her. This was starting to annoy Trixie, she had a rabbit hiding behind Fluttershy who was hiding behind her. "That's enough!" she snapped. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is not some kind of shield!" Fluttershy whispered and apology and got out from behind her. THOOM! Fluttershy, Angel, and Trixie felt themselves jolt upwards from the force of something heavy hitting the ground. Even in mid air they didn't move. THOOM! Another tremor shook them off the ground, but the sound was louder this time. THOOM! Whatever was causing these tremors was getting closer. Then, finally, it emerged through the trees, the monster that haunted Trixie's nightmares, the beast that put an end to her old life…it was the dreaded Ursa Minor! He reeled his head back and let out a mighty roar, Trixie ran off like a shot screaming her head off while Fluttershy actually stopped to pick up Angel before flying off in the same direction Trixie. Still holding a crying Angel Fluttershy caught up with Trixie flying along side her. "What kind of animal is that?!" "Haven't you ever seen an Ursa before?!" Trixie snapped as she leapt over some branches. Fluttershy held Angel tighter as she craned to look back at the bear that was still chasing them. "That's an Ursa Major?" Trixie quickly took a sharp turn in to the hollow of a dead tree where Fluttershy quickly followed. Trixie silently held up her hoof signaling Fluttershy to be quiet, the sound of the Ursa running by was the only noise. "Was that really an Ursa Major? I didn't think they were that big!" whispered Fluttershy. "That?" Trixie scoffed. "Oh that, wasn't an Ursa Major. Get this, that was it's baby! An Ursa Minor!" Angel whimpered as he cuddled deeper in to Fluttershy's grasp. Fluttershy rocked the rabbit back and forth like a newborn but still gave Trixie a concerned look. "But if that's just a baby then why does he want to kill us?" "He's a monster!" Trixie snapped. "He doesn't need an excuse to be mean!" Trixie must spoken too loudly because the tree they were hiding in was swiped away by a giant blue Ursa claw. Trixie sat in terror as she stared up at giant cub. She tried to move, to run away, but it was no good; she was frozen in place. "Trixie?" the sternness in Fluttershy's voice earned her Trixie's attention. Keep in mind she was still scared stiff, but her pupils had gone over to Fluttershy's direction. The steeliness in her gaze spoke volumes. "Hold. My. Rabbit." Fluttershy handed her Angel, who hadn't stopped making scared rabbit noises, and took off in to the air. Trixie meanwhile was rocking Angel back and forth, trying to calm down both herself and him. "It'll be alright, little bunny. Everything will be okay…provided we live…" The Ursa snapped at her but she managed to dodge it's snapping teeth as she flew over him. Without warning she started hurdling down towards it's back with her hooves pointed down. Fluttershy landed on the Ursa's back, who seemed to pause for a moment before opening his mouth and letting out a short but loud burp. After that his attitude seemed to do a complete 180. It even pulled Fluttershy in for a hug and start to lick her face affectionately. Trixie's jaw dropped. "I don't understand. What did you do to him? Why isn't he trying to eat you?!" Fluttershy delicately pulled herself out of the Ursa's grasp and started to scratch it behind his ear. "Oh he was just feeling a little irritable because he had a little gas, that's all." Trixie's jaw dropped once again. "A burp? That was what all that behemoth needed?! He just needed to be burped?! HE NEARLY KILLED US OVER A BURP?!" "Well he IS still just a baby you know. He can't help it if he feels fussy." Trixie gritted her teeth, steam erupted out of her ears, it looked like she was about to blow her top when suddenly…she let it all go. Trixie sighed deeply. "I give up." Trixie unwittingly planted her keister on a small blue flower, known to the Ponyvillians as Poison Joke. "It's not worth the effort." she hung her head sadly for the second time that day. "I'm just going to have to accept that there is yet another pony whose better than me in this town." Fluttershy cocked her head to the side and then flew down to Trixie. "What do you mean? I'm not any better than anypony else." This earned Fluttershy an annoyed looked from the unicorn. "Oh come on, you just managed to calm that big fella all by yourself, AND without magic might I add." "Oh no, I was just helping the poor little darling. I'm sure you're much more accomplished." "That's not how I see it." Trixie frowned. "Every time I come across that blue monster, sompony else always does what it takes to soothe him. Maybe…maybe I'm not so great and powerful…" Fluttershy flew down to the crest fallen show pony placing her hooves on her shoulders. "You might not have soothed our new big friend but I did enjoy your show. You had me on the edge of my seat I didn't know what you were going to do next. Your show was amazing." Trixie's frown had now turned in to a small smile. "You really mean that?" "Yes. And the reason I didn't stay for your show the first time because you just seemed so…mean. And my special talent is with animals…" "Obviously." Trixie rolled her eyes. "And after what you did to Applejack I knew you might do something mean to my little animal friends…so I left." she said timidly. Trixie's ears folded back sadly, she never thought her boasting would actually scare somepony anyway. "But after tonight, I think you might actually be starting to turn in to a better pony. I saw you trying to calm Angel down, nopony who was as mean as I thought would ever try to do such a thing." She craned her neck down to her pet rabbit nudging him a little with her nose. "Isn't that right Angel?" Angel rolled his eyes and pouted but tapped Trixie on the hoof three times supportively. Trixie couldn't help but smile at the kindness that was being shown to her. The ponies in this village were really starting to grow on her. -- Trixie rode in the back of Big Macintosh's wagon, reading one of her new checked out books on their way back to the farm. The clear night sky accompanied by the sound of crickets chirping made it a peaceful night for reading. "So did ya have a good time in Ponyville?" asked Big Macintosh. "Surprisingly yes, Trixie actually did enjoy herself quite a bit today. This town certainly does have some unique ponies." "So y'all made some good friends today?" asked Big Macintosh, sounding a little happier. "The Great and Powerful Trixie isn't sure she would call them 'friends' exactly, but she did find some surprisingly tolerable ponies." A deep sigh escaped from Big Macintosh. "Ah guess it's a start…" -- Trixie woke up the next morning with a yawn. The fact that she had managed to get up without Big Macintosh's help suggested that she was getting accustomed to farm life. She threw off her covers but as soon as she saw her lower half she let out a high pitched scream which echoed across the farm. Omake "See? Even our new friend thinks you're changing for the better." beamed Fluttershy. Trixie stared out with lowered eyelids as the Ursa Minor licked the left side of her head, covering her hair in his saliva. "…I hate my life." Trixie said dryly.