HEART OF STONE
Chapter Twenty Eight: Story Time with Rainbow Dash
With help from Applejack, Trixie stood up slowly. The gray mailmare was standing a few feet away. Trixie couldn’t help but feel pity for the mare after seeing at the guilt ridden expression she wore. “I’m sorry, I just don’t know what went wrong,” apologized the mailmare, in one of the cutest voices Trixie had ever heard.
Trixie felt her face warming up a little, Trixie then said, “it’s okay, Trixie is just fine.”
The mailmare’s eyes lit up brightly as she asked, “Trixie Lulamoon?”
Trixie nodded and the mailmare explained, “I have a letter for you.”
The mailmare quickly pulled out a letter from her bag and gave it to Trixie. Trixie looked at the letter and noticed the royal seal on its back. It was addressed to Trixie, and it came from Princess Celestia. Trixie let out a sigh, the last time she received a letter from Celestia it was calling Trixie to battle something terrible. Trixie did not want to deal with that again.
“Is that a letter from the princess?” Applejack asked, in a surprised tone.
Trixie smiled and said, “of course, why would Trixie receive a letter any less amazing.”
The mailmare smiled at Trixie and said, “I have to go, I’m on a schedule after all. I’m sorry I hurt you, I hope you have a nice day.” The mailmare then picked up the box, and carrying it between her hooves she took off into the air.
Trixie watched her leave and felt a little sadness in her heart. She wanted to enjoy the company of such a cute mare a little longer. Crazy eyes or not, that mare was really nice, Trixie wished she knew her name.
Returning her attention to the letter in her hooves Trixie turned it over and began rubbing her hooves at the wax seal. Trixie seemed to be having trouble opening the letter with her hooves. After a few seconds of struggling Applejack said, “do you want a little help with that?”
Trixie nodded and gave the letter to Applejack, who opened the letter with no problem. Trixie had thought she had gotten good at using her hooves, but maybe she wasn’t as good as she had hoped. Trixie now took the letter out and began to read in silence.
“Dear Trixie Lulamoon.
I have tried to reach on several occasions now, but it would seem none of my letters have reached you. Has something happened to your familiar? If something has you can use Spike to send me a letter, I would love to hear from you again. If you ever find yourself in Canterlot please come and visit me.
Now on to the reason I have sent you this letter. I have recently sent Twilight Sparkle a few books about a group known as Celestia’s Heroes. This was the group that your father once belonged to. I hope the information you find inside will be helpful. Please do take care of yourself, if you need anything let me know. I promised I would look after you, and I do mean to keep that promise.
With love, Princess Celestia.”
Trixie stared at the letter for a few minutes rereading it. Finally Trixie let out a sigh of relief and said, “I can’t believe it, I’ll be able to finally learn about him…I guess sometimes good things do happen.”
Applejack smiled at Trixie and said, “and don’t forget the Apple Pie. You did a good job Trixie, so you earned yerself a reward.” Applejack took a hard look at Trixie’s head and added, “and stick by me until I get you back to Maud. Don’t want anything else to happen to you.”
Trixie didn’t mind having Applejack around but she did want to go get those books from Twilight. Trixie let out a sigh and said, “okay, I can wait for you. But you must take me to Twilight Sparkle’s as soon as you can, I need to do research.”
Applejack nodded in agreement. After a few minutes of waiting by the apple booth, the big red stallion came back. Applejack took a look at him and said, “alright, Big Mac. Ah need to take Trixie to a few places. She got hurt, and needs my help. Think you can do that for me?”
Big Mac took Applejacks place by the cart saying, “Ayep.”
Applejack asked playfully, “do you think you can handle selling apples all by yerself?”
Big Mac gave her a frown saying, “Ayep.”
Applejack gave a little laugh at his response before saying, “good. Ah will be back soon.”
***
Half way to Twilight’s tree-castle Trixie realized that although the castle was pretty, it really didn’t belong in Ponyville. It looked very awkward in the middle of this small rustic village. Trixie was beginning to wonder if maybe there was some sort of spell that could be used to make it fit in more. Some kind of transmutation spell maybe? This lead Trixie to wonder if there wasn’t some way to rebuild the old Library.
“Hey Applejack, Trixie, over here,” a familiar voice called out from Trixie’s side.
Looking over Trixie saw Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and even Maud all standing in a small group next to some houses just off the main road. Fluttershy was still wearing the old cape Trixie had given her. It made Fluttershy look adorable. Trixie felt a small amount of pride in knowing how much Fluttershy had enjoyed the gift. Trixie and Applejack naturally walked over to greet them. Trixie nearly trotted over to Maud and gave her a big hug before saying, “I missed you.”
Maud embraced Trixie back saying, “I missed you too.”
The group then got together in a circle before Rainbow Dash explained, “I was just telling everypony a story about the time I was stuck in the hospital. Wanna join in.”
Trixie loved to listen to stories, but she also wanted to get the books as quickly as possible. Trixie let out a sigh before saying, “okay, but I need to get some books from Twilight after your story.”
Rainbow Dash grinned before saying, “alright, now I have a proper audience for my awesome story.”
Trixie began to feel a little dizzy standing and sat down besides Maud before laying her head against Maud’s neck as a pillow. Maud smelled lovely today, she could still smell the scent of the herbs in Maud’s fur. Trixie caught Fluttershy staring at her for a second with a disappointed expression, before quickly turning her head and looking away. A sudden ping of guilt shot through Trixie’s heart at seeing Fluttershy. Trixie might have to have one very awkward conversation about Fluttershy with Maud later, hopefully it wouldn’t end badly.
“So I was doing the most amazing flying maneuvers ever preformed in Equestria, “said Rainbow Dash. “I mean these were some epic tricks I was performing. And then I crashed into the ground…yeah, I do that sometimes. But this time I actually managed to be so awesome that I injured my wings.”
Trixie had to wonder if Rainbow Dash was serious about crashing awesomely, but then again if she was using the proper definition of the word, Trixie could imagine the crash being awe inspiring…and quite dreadful.
“So I was in the hospital for like a week, with nothing to do. No sports, no games, and no friends,” Rainbow Dash explained.
“Hey,” Pinkie interrupted, “we all came to visit you, every single day. I even spied on you at night to make sure you were safe.”
Rainbow Dash stared at Pinkie Pie looking a little perturbed by Pinkie’s revelation. After a few seconds of awkward silence Rainbow Dash seemed to recuperate and corrected, “okay, so I had ponies visiting me…and spying on me, apparently.”
Pinkie Pie grinned before saying, “thank you. You may now continue.”
Rainbow Dash sighed before saying, “anyway, before I was rudely interrupted.” Trixie could understand how that felt. Rainbow Dash continued, “I was forced to read a book. I used to hate reading because it was for egg heads, but then I learned really quickly that reading was actually fun. Especially the, Daring Doo, books. So I spent the week reading.
“I had gotten to the last chapter of the book when the hospital suddenly kicked me out. I didn’t know that Twilight was willing to let me borrow any books back then, so I decided to sneak inside the hospital and get the book back.” Trixie was normally against thievery but all things are fair in love and literacy, or something like that.
Rainbow Dash continued her story, “so I was underneath the hospital bed, reading the book. I got to the last couple pages when suddenly the door opened and I was accused of trying to steal someponies slippers. I wasn’t going to stick around after that, so I ran off. I didn’t try flying or else they would know it was me, and my wings weren’t entirely healed either. I lead them through the entire town before finally they used a tracking hound to catch me. I couldn’t escape so I tried to hide at Twilight’s. It didn’t work as their dog caught me.
“I stood there hearing the snarling sound of the beast behind the corner, I was trapped and alone. They had me against the wall. The dog’s shadow grew larger as it approached and then it jumped out to get me!” Rainbow Dash jumped forward as she finished the last sentence.
Fluttershy gave an audible gasp at the story, before falling on her haunches. Rarity rolled her eyes and for some reason, both Pinkie Pie and Applejack looked a little upset with Rainbow Dash. Trixie however was on the edge of her none existent seat. The story was intriguing.
After a long pause Rainbow Dash finally said, “and out popped the so called dog. Turns out I was being hunted down by a crazy old mare, who thought she was a dog. She growled and drooled at me, and I was now afraid that I was gonna be bitten by a crazy pony, one that would drive me insane with pony rabies or something. Like a zombie.”
Trixie’s heart froze, and her brain stopped working. Rainbow Dash’s crazy pony sounded too similar to Screw Loose…Trixie’s mom. Trixie opened her mouth, but no words came out she was frozen.
Upon seeing Trixie’s reaction Rainbow Dash grinned and continued, “oh you like that, it gets much better. This pony was totally insane. She was all barking mad, and stuff. She took slow steady steps towards me, and I walked back in fear. The foam was dripping from her muzzle as she gave me the craziest snarling grin I have ever seen. I didn’t want to have to fight her, but I was afraid of her biting me. Suddenly the doctor came out after her and pulled back on the crazy dog-ponies leash while saying, ‘bad, Screw Loose, stay.” He then looked at me and if not for Twilight stopping him, he might have sicked the crazy dog pony on me again. He was furious that I stole the hospitals book, but in the end my awesomeness saved the day.”
Trixie couldn’t move, couldn’t think, and couldn’t even breath. All she could do was feel the cold numb feeling inside her growing rapidly into a burning hot rage. Trixie fought against it, trying her best to suppress it.
Rarity then said, “Rainbow Dash, that story is cruel the way you tell it. Screw Loose wasn’t vicious, she was only following you…it was more…playful.”
Applejack then glared at Rainbow Dash and said, “and what if somepony other than us heard you tell that rude story of yers. I think you would make Nurse Red Heart pretty upset.”
Rainbow Dash waved a hoof saying, “pfft whatever. I only tell that story to my friends. It’s not like any of you care about it.”
Pinkie Pie silently glared at Rainbow Dash for a few moments before finally saying in a low even tone, “you know that I know almost everything there is about everypony. And I know that you don’t really feel that way about poor Screw Loose. So why don’t you apologize.”
Everypony was a little quiet for a moment before Rainbow Dash said, “what should I apologize to, the air? No pony cares about Screw Loose. I mean…er…well.”
Something broke inside Trixie, an old forgotten pain, brought to the surface faster than she could stop. Trixie’s body moved on its own and within seconds Trixie had stood up, and charged Rainbow Dash. Tackled Rainbow Dash onto the ground and then while sitting on top of her punched her in the face. Trixie could then feel herself screaming at Rainbow Dash for a few seconds but she couldn’t hear her own words.
As Trixie’s hearing came back she watched Rainbow Dash’s eyes grow wide in fear, there was a small cut on Rainbow Dash’s lip. Trixie heard herself screaming, “AND IF YOU EVER TALK THAT WAY ABOUT TRIXIE”S MOM AGAIN TRIXIE WILL CRUSH EVERY SIGNLE BONE IN YOUR ENTIRE BODY. YOU. ARROGANT. SELF ABORBED. SLU-“
Trixie stopped suddenly as a pair of gray hooves lifted her off of Rainbow Dash with ease and moved her a few feet away where they finally set the enraged Trixie down. Trixie turned to yell at whatever pony had dared to move her away from the mother insulting Rainbow Dash, only to find Maud staring at her. There was a small frown on Maud’s lips. Trixie’s anger was quickly washed away by the overwhelming shame of what she had just done.
Everypony was in absolute silence, a dreaded fear began taking over Trixie’s heart. Trixie forced herself to look at the faces of her friends and saw them all looking at her terrified. She had done it, she had finally broke. It took this long, but Trixie had finally proven that she had been the villain all along. Trixie stood with the intent on running, swearing never to bother anypony else again.
Trixie turned away to run, and found Pinkie Pie standing right in front of her. Trixie was quickly embraced by Pinkie Pie who simply held her tightly saying, “shh, it’s okay. You are not the bad pony here. Shh you’re a good pony, you are. Just calm down, don’t run. Just calm down and let us talk about this like perfectly reasonable adult ponies.”
Trixie felt hot tears running down her face and she turned her view from Pinkie Pie to look at Maud. Maud quickly wrapped her legs around Trixie as well and together the two of them held a now shaking and terrified Trixie.
“Trixie didn’t mean to hurt her, “Trixie began trying to explain. “Trixie doesn’t know what happened, she, she made fun of Trixie’s mom. And suddenly Trixie went crazy…Trixie…Trixie is crazy. Please just…let Trixie go.”
Dark thoughts began playing themselves in Trixie’s mind. After attacking Rainbow Dash like that, the one pony who had tried her best to save her…Trixie’s friend. Trixie felt like she no longer deserved that extra chance that Rainbow Dash had given her. The pain, the anger, the fear, the confusion, and the sadness…it was too much, and Trixie just wanted some way to make it go away. There was only one way to do that, but at least no pony would need to worry about her anymore…
“NO,” shouted Pinkie Pie. A look of fear was seen clearly in Pinkie’s eyes as she said, “you cannot do that to yourself. I know how bad you feel about attacking Rainbow Dash, but you don’t have to hurt yourself. We have all attacked each other at least once, and usually it’s Rainbow Dash’s fault. Please don’t feel that way. Please don’t hurt yourself.”
Trixie saw the tears in Pinkie Pie’s eyes, and despite knowing that Pinkie Pie had just read her mind…she didn’t care. Trixie could see understanding in Pinkie’s eyes and she cuddled into Pinkie Pie’s chest and sobbed. All Trixie could say was, “Trixie just wanted to make Fluttershy happy. And everypony made fun of Trixie...”
Nopony other than Fluttershy, and potentially Pinkie Pie had any idea what Trixie was talking about. But they didn’t care if Trixie made sense or not, they all cared about her. Trixie felt the kind caring hooves of everypony as they all gave her a group hug. All except for Rainbow Dash, who stood back while wearing the guiltiest expression that Trixie had ever seen.
Trixie enjoyed the love everypony was giving her, but she still felt confused and lost, and scared. A sudden fit of coughing hit Trixie. Everypony quickly backed up to give Trixie her space except Maud who was helping Trixie stay balanced. Trixie continued coughing hard for a few minutes. By the time she was done, her throat hurt, and she felt tired. Everypony around her stared at her, a look of horror set in their eyes. Trixie didn’t have to look down to guess why. She could taste the disgusting copper flavor in her mouth. Trixie wiped the blood away from her muzzle and said, “it’s not fair.”