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// Prompt #497-Repeating Apologies 
// Story: Ponywatching 
// by ThunderTempest 
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Five hundred steps. It seemed so little, and yet so far. Five hundred steps, and then she could make everything right. Her body was wrapped in a cloak, the hood pulled down. She was receiving a number of odd looks from the townsfolk, but they were not worth any trouble on her part. She took the first step, and began the longest and shortest trek of her life.

20 steps in, she wondered why she was here. Why she felt that this was necessary. Had she not already apologised, and made everything right again? Had she not already been forgiven? If she was honest with herself, the answer to those questions was no. Sure, she had been honest when she first apologised, but it had been coloured by her normal demeanour. She had a funny feeling that she hadn’t been taken seriously.

50 steps in, and a chill was already settling over her. What if she hadn’t been forgiven? What if the other decided to get payback? By all rights, she would deserve it. The things she had done to the other were not trivial. It was a miracle in her eyes that the Royal Guard weren’t actively pursuing her.

100 steps done. She was a fifth of the way there, and her destination was clearly visible. The townsponies had more or less figured out who she was, but fortunately they weren’t reacting to her presence, other than giving her an unusually wide berth. She supposed that they were waiting to see what happened before judging. She admired their restraint. Celestia knows that she didn’t have the same control.

250 steps down, and two hundred and fifty remaining. Halfway. Her stride never lessened, her hooves kept up a steady cadence throughout the whole walk. She was sure that the other had seen her by now. Maybe the other had known she was coming ages ago. Maybe not. All she knew, all she chose to think about, was that she needed to apologise. Properly, this time.

400 steps gone, and the doubts were rampaging through her mind. She worried about the outcome, if the other pony would accept her. She knew she wasn’t perfect, but she was trying to be better. And it had been so long since she had someone that she could call ‘friend’. She could only hope that the other pony had actually forgiven her for the last time.

Five hundred steps finished. Trixie Lulamoon stared at the door to the Golden Oaks library, and her position. She was one step too short, just out of reach of the door. She took the final step, and knocked on the door. It was answered by Twilight Sparkle, her wings flared out, and her mane a mess.

“Trixie? What are you doing here?”

"Apology...bwa...You....what...wings?” stammered Trixie, and then she fainted.