//------------------------------// // Chapter 33 - Ruination // Story: Trixie's Forest Retreat // by crowscrowcrow //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash stared down the pair from amidst the scattered muffins and cupcakes she’d flown in for their lunch. She mentally tried to parse how much time had passed for her trip, did she accidently take a detour and come back years later? Why was Fluttershy cuddled up on the floor with Trixie, and why in Celestia’s name was Trixie kissing Fluttershy? “It is not what it looks like!” Trixie could not have sounded more guilty if she’d tried. The call shook Rainbow Dash out of her stupor, she could feel her heart race and her blood start to boil. “Are you kidding me! Not five seconds ago I was defending you! Do you realize what I had to agree to to get out of telling Rarity where you are!? Argh I can’t believe this.” She stomped a hoof down hard enough to crack the tile below it. Fluttershy’s head shot up, looking from Trixie to Rainbow Dash and back. Her ears laid down flat against her head with all the screaming. The wing that had been covering Trixie snapped back and locked itself firmly against her side in fright. “W-wait.” “No, Rainbow, Trixie swears this is different!” Trixie felt as if she was being choked, gasping for breath as she stumbled onto her hooves, and put a bit of distance between herself and Fluttershy. If she was not right next to her perhaps it would calm things down till she could explain. “Different? So you were NOT just kissing Fluttershy?! My Flu—my best friend!?” Rainbow Dash’s hooves scraped instinctively across the floor as she took a position ready to charge, her wings flared out. ”Hay! Seconds after you supposedly loved me! No that was the idea wasn’t it? I reject you so you thought you’d get revenge using Fluttershy! What did you tell Fluttershy the same thing? She might actually believe you! That’s a new low Trixie even for you!” “Trixie did no such thing! I-I mean yes the kiss. But that is not the point! Trixie did not tell Fluttershy that! Why do you always think the worst of Trixie?! It’s not fa—” Trixie paused and blinked as for a moment Rainbow Dash appeared to double. Rainbow Dash seethed while she focused on Trixie, everything else felt unimportant while she stepped closer. “Because you keep proving that’s what I should do! I try to give you every opportunity, I really do, because it’s my fault you are hurt.” She pointed a hoof towards the quivering Fluttershy, she looked nailed to the ground. ”Is this your idea of revenge? For what I did? I don’t care what you do to me, I probably deserve it. But you leave Fluttershy out of it! That’s where the line is drawn!” Trixie shook her head to clear her vision, a dull painful pulsing picked up through her skull after the act. She did her best to ignore it. “Trixie did nothing bad with her! Ask Fluttershy, we were just having fun!” “How does that make it any better?!” Rainbow Dash’s chest felt as though it was on fire while she stared at Fluttershy, hot tears ran down her cyan cheeks. Fluttershy was completely frozen under Rainbow Dash’s stare. “She does not look like she was having fun! You’ve been lying from the start! I fell for it! I see how it is now, I thought you were different. But the second you stopped being afraid of me you showed your true colors! You really are just a terrible pony!” “No! That’s not true! S-shut up! ”Trixie looked from Rainbow Dash to Fluttershy and stepped closer, reaching out a hoof towards Fluttershy. ”C-come wake up! Tell her! Flut—Gah!” The moment she saw Trixie make a move towards Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash covered the distance and put herself in between the pair, swiping one hoof at Trixie that forced her to back away. “No, you are not getting near her, ever again.” Fluttershy opened her mouth but no sound was coming out, or at least nothing that could over power the two ponies shouting at each other. Trixie stumbled back, trembling while she looked at the pair of ponies, that now seemed so far away. Her vision blurred as tears came to her eyes. “N-no! This isn’t fair, Rainbow Dash! You said you would not be mad if Trixie talked to Fluttershy! You promised!” Trixie swept up a hoof and cleared the tears away, but to her surprise her vision remained hazy. Rainbow Dash closed in on Trixie faster than she could backtrack, ending up face to face when she stopped. “That’s when I thought you actually had a heart! I did not think you would try to seduce her! For a moment I actually believed those things you said to me! I thought you were maybe just an unlucky good pony, but I was wrong!” Her entire body shook with rage. Trixie backed up away from till she could feel the stone walls behind her, the entire thing was becoming awfully familiar all of a sudden as she found herself in a corner again. Mere inches away from an enraged Rainbow Dash, back then Rainbow had not been nearly this angry. “T-Trixie m-meant them. Trixie did not lie… Please believe Trixie! Trixie only wanted to know how to fix it! She’s sorry!” The tears were back, as were the buffalo in her head, but they did not hurt nearly as much as Rainbow Dash did. “As if I would believe for a second you actually cared about anybody now!” She watched Trixie scamper away and closed in slowly, barely containing the urge to charge the cowering unicorn. ”You know what? I’m sorry Trixie.” “Y-you are?” “Distracting that timberwolf with your life, might have been the one selfless thing you would have ever done. I’m sorry I took that away! Maybe I should fix that!” She was every bit as terrifying as Trixie expected her to be back then. Trixie reared up on her hind legs as Rainbow Dash approached closer, pressing her back against the cold ancient stone. Raising her forelegs to shield her face she found herself repeating the same words. “G-go away! Leave, leave Trixie alone.” Rainbow Dash raised up, and struck her hooves against the cold stone on either side of Trixie’s head, glaring at her. “You think you are getting off so easy? You play your little game and get away with no retribution?!” She pulled her hooves off the wall and swung them back, poised to strike. To her surprise Trixie dropped her guard. “What do you think you’re doing?” Trixie sobbed in terror while she looked at Rainbow Dash, but let her hooves hang by her sides. She could feel her pulse going insane, the dull thuds had become searing. She could barely see the hesitation in Rainbow Dash’s face through the stars. “T-Trixie changed her mind, do it. Do whatever you want if it will fix all this, but… don’t leave Trixie alone.” “You, what?” For just a moment Rainbow Dash felt sorry for Trixie. But then she realized. Trixie was smarter than she was, manipulating her was easy, but it was not going to work this time! ”You think I won’t do it!? I’m not falling some cheap trick!” Rainbow Dash reared back, but then felt herself falling backwards, no not falling. A pair of shaking yellow hooves were wrapped around her chest from behind, pulling her back. Fluttershy collapsed on the floor with a yelp of pain as Rainbow Dash landed on top of her. She held onto Rainbow Dash for dear life. “P-please stop, Rainbow Dash. It’s okay! It’s true!” Tears ran down her muzzle. “It was not what it looked like. Calm down.” “F-Fluttershy!? I’m sorry! Are you hurt?” She felt her heart sink as she caught a glimpse of the mares face. She still did not understand what had been going on, but even the shadiest phrase she could imagine felt completely sincere coming from Fluttershy. She could feel the fire in her body drain away. Then the color drained out of her face as she looked up at the quaking unicorn still standing defenselessly propped up against the corner. “A-and I almost, why did nopo— Trixie!” Trixie panted heavily while she stared down at the pair of pastel-colored spots laying on the floor. She could hear their voices, but all she heard was that weird annoying buzzing noise, maybe it would go away if she slept for a bit. She felt so completely, unreasonably tired. Barely aware of the fact she’d lost her balance, the stone floor came rushing at her. She had time for just one last thought before it hit her. So that’s why Trixie is on the floor, maybe she’ll remember this time…