//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty Seven: To Dust // Story: The Equestrian Venture // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE Chapter Twenty Seven: To Dust Written by TheCrimsonDM Later that evening Rita sat around the inside of the inn with a mug filled with super sweet mead and a plate with two hay burgers and some actual french fries on the side. Around her table sat Trixie, who was slowly sipping a glass of whisky with a small smile across her face. Spike sat across from them and was devouring a plate full of gems. Rita couldn’t help but smile at her companions, but even though she was smiling she couldn’t help but wonder as to where Twilight had gone after the fight was finished. After the dragon had crumbled, the storm clouds above dissipated, and the remaining forces of goblins and riders retreated south. It seemed like losing their dragon had destroyed their moral. The soldiers didn’t give chase but the Wonderbolts did send out a scouting team to make sure that they left Equestria’s borders without causing trouble. After that Twilight vanished and left the ponies to celebrate at the inn and around the town, mostly by getting drunk and singing. Rita chose to tactfully stay out of the singing, and instead stayed inside to eat some decent food. Trixie joined her soon after, and eventually Spike found his way to the table as well. So far everything was going pretty well for the three of them, even though they had noisy, happy ponies in the inn making conversation difficult between the three of them. “So what are your plans now, Trixie?” Rita asked loudly, attempting to speak over the volume of the ponies around her. “Wait for Peppers to get better, and then Trixie will head home with her. If Celestia says otherwise, we shall just tell her where to stuff it. Trixie won’t drag her friends into trouble again,” Trixie explained. “Glad to hear it, let me know if you need anything,” Rita said. “You have been nice to Trixie, and you haven’t told Twilight about Trixie’s failures… Trixie considers you to be a candidate for friendship,” Trixie said. “I’m honored,” Rita replied before taking a drink of her mead. The front door of the inn swung open with a sudden force although nopony noticed since this had been happening all night. When the purple alicorn walked in, not a single pony noticed, when she stomped her hoof down and glared at them they just blew her off. So when her horn lit up and everypony was suddenly covered in a pink aura, it wasn’t surprising that they all hushed up and looked fearfully in her direction. Twilight snorted angrily, and took slow steady steps toward Rita’s table while glaring right at Trixie. Trixie’s ears folded back and her eyes widened as she watched Twilight’s approach. When Twilight finally reached the table she simply stood there in complete silence for a few moments. Finally Twilight spoke slowly, with a venomous tone, “So tell me, why exactly did you break rank in the battle today?” Trixie’s pupils shrunk and her body began shaking slightly. Spike saw the fear ridden unicorn and spoke up, “Twilight, she doesn’t need to-“ “Shut it, Spike,” Twilight snapped. Spike did exactly as he was told. Rita simply watched as Twilight stared at Trixie. Trixie swallowed and even through a shaky voice she managed to say, “B-b-but Maud was in trouble.” “And I’m glad that you saved her, but I saw everything. You could have helped her from a distance, or brought her back to rear, you did not have to abandon your post for almost the entire duration of the battle,” Twilight stated, her tone was filled with anger. “Trixie is sorry, she didn’t mean to get caught up like that,” Trixie replied. “Did you know that several unicorns were injured because of your actions?” Twilight said with a twisted grin. “W-w-what?” Trixie said, tears beginning to stream down her face. “Do you want to guess at just how bad the injuries are?” Trixie’s entire body began trembling and she moved her mouth, but no words came out. Twilight grinned and said, “They only have minor injuries and will pull through, but I want you to think about your actions, and what they could have resulted in.” Suddenly Twilight’s horn stopped glowing and her spell was lifted off of everypony, but nopony moved nor spoke. Twilight just stood there, looking down at the shaking Trixie who couldn’t find the words to respond. Rita however had a few choice words to spare for the cocky princess. First Rita slammed her fist into the table garnering everyponies attention, second Rita stood up off her chair and stared into Twilight’s eyes. Twilight was taken aback and this gave Rita the moment she needed to get the final blow in. “Twilight Sparkle. Do you even know what Trixie has been through here? What she has lost? Guess what, that pony who died, that was one of Trixie’s only two friends. And that other pony who was injured horribly, that was her other friend. So if Trixie saw somepony that she cared about, one who was about to be hurt, maybe even killed, can you actually blame her for breaking rank to make sure that no matter what happened, that the pony would be safe?” Twilight’s eyes were wide, her mouth was hanging open, and she was back stepping from the table. A look of horror was worn across her face as she shook her head back and forth slowly. Twilight ended up staring down at the floor and closed her eyes shut tightly, a few tears escaped as she did. “So, what do you have to say now, Twilight?” Rita asked. Everything was silent for a very long time, but finally Twilight began to say, “I’m sor-“ Twilight was interrupted as the brown stallion from earlier galloped into the inn and past her. He stood in front of the table with blood stained scrubs, his face was dark. He looked at Trixie and spoke gently, “Trixie Lulamoon, I have some bad news.” *** Everything was quiet as the three stood outside the doctor’s house. There were no smiles, and no frowns, sure Twilight was crying silent tears, but aside from that everyone was just hollow. It would be more helpful if they could hear Trixie crying from inside, but only silence filled the air. Rita looked at Spike, he didn’t return her gaze instead he focused on Twilight. Twilight’s head was hung low, and she refused to make eye contact with anypony. Rita knew that Twilight didn’t know about what Trixie had been through, she knew that Twilight couldn’t have even guessed at how horrible Trixie was feeling, but she still felt angry at the lavender mare. At this rate it looked like Twilight and Trixie would never truly become friends, right now the only thing that Rita could do was try her best to keep Trixie afloat. The dark sky loomed over the world reminding Rita that sometimes the world is filled with darkness. It can’t always be happy and cheerful, sometimes life was just unfair, and brutal. If only Rita had known that there was an injured mare here, if only she knew that Trixie was hurting so badly, Rita would have been able to something… right? The door opened slowly, and everyponies eyes were drawn to it. Trixie stumbled out, she looked lost. Trixie walked past the three and onto the street before heading back towards the inn. No one knew what to say, so they just followed her in silence trying to make sure that she was safe. Back at the inn everything had quieted down, several ponies were lying over the tables drunk and sleeping. Trixie went back to the table they had been sitting at, she found her seat and sat down. She looked at the mare who owned the bar and within moments there was a bottle of whisky sitting on top of the table. Using her magic Trixie pulled the top off of the bottle and gave it a somber look. Trixie then put the bottle to her lips and began chugging. Trixie slammed the bottle down hard onto the table and gave Twilight a hateful look. “You are taking me home tomorrow, understand?” Twilight nodded and Trixie smiled. “Good, now I’m going to get stinking piss faced drunk, and if you or anypony try to stop me, I’ll send them straight to the moon.” Trixie went back to chugging the bottle down. Rita grimaced at the act, drinking whisky like that had to be a terrible experience, but if you wanted to get drunk… Spike sat down at the table across from Trixie and said quietly, “I’ll stay up with her, you two get some sleep. And, Twilight… never mind.” Twilight walked away slowly. As Twilight began walking up the stairs Rita crossed her arms nervously and said, “If you need anything, Trixie. I’m here for you.” Trixie pulled her lips away from the already half empty bottle and smiled. “That sounds pleasing, but I’m afraid that I have to disinterest. I’m into Maud ponies, like earth.” “What?” Rita asked feeling a little confused by drunk Trixie's speech. “You know what I’m mean. Too bad that I’m such a bitch that all I’ve do is make earth hate me. Shoulda never ever gone in and hurt the pink one,” Trixie said. Spike turned to her and spoke in a very gentle tone, “It’s okay, Trixie. Pinkie isn’t mad at you for what happened, you were under the effects of dark magic after all.” “But she didn’t care, do you know what she did to me when she found out that I hurt her sister?” Trixie said in protest. That was when Rita decided that it was about time to leave, despite how curious she was to learn about what happened with Trixie and Pinkie, she knew that she could always ask Pinkie in person. Right now Rita felt exhausted and she needed sleep more than anything else. She went upstairs but she knew that something was wrong. The room was dark, and Twilight was lying underneath the covers, but Rita could still hear the princess. Rita listened in for a second and quickly discovered that Twilight was crying softly to herself. Rita let out a sigh, it just seemed like everyone was falling apart around her, and yet she was the only one who was not breaking down, well her and Spike. Rita walked over and climbed into bed with Twilight. “What are you-“ Twilight began to ask but stopped when Rita wrapped an arm around the princess. “Shh, Trixie is sad, but Spike is taking care of her. You are sad, so I’m going to take care of you,” Rita said. Twilight was quiet for a moment, and then she scooted into Rita’s embrace and made a soft noise in the back of her throat. Rita thought it was an adorable sound, and so she tightened her embrace around Twilight’s waist. After a long quiet moment Rita began drifting off into sleep, and that’s when Twilight decided to say, “You know, I really like humans… so um… thank you for this.” Rita nuzzled the back of Twilight’s neck and replied, “Your welcome, I’m beginning to think that everyone needs cuddled sometimes.” After that Rita fell asleep with Twilight in her arms. *** The room was dimly lit by the fireplace, but Rita didn’t care about the lack of light. She just wanted Estella to be home already. The other two people in the room with her didn’t seem as bothered by the lack of a really cute princess as she was. Rita rolled over on the couch she was lying on so that she could better see the two friends that had stayed with her. A woman with pale skin, and long white hair holding strands of light blue, sat on a couch reading a book. This woman wore a blue kimono, and with the pointy ears Rita could easily tell that she was an elf. The woman known as Snow by most had a real name that she only gave to her friends, Rita was one such friend. “Hey, Sapphire,” Rita said quietly. Snow replied, “Please call me Snow, we are not in a safe enough location for you to be using my true name.” “Fine, Snow,” Rita replied. “That’s better, what did you need little one?” Snow asked. “What time are Estella and the others getting back?” Rita whined. “They should be back soon, probably after you fall asleep. It is already far past your bed time after all,” Snow answered while turning a page in the book she was reading. Rita stretched out and yawned. She was exhausted, but she refused to go to sleep without Estella to hold her first. Ever since Estella joined their team the two had never slept alone, so not having the princess with her now was painful for Rita. Rita turned her head and looked at the other person sitting on the floor. The young boy was about fourteen, the same age as Rita. He had brown hair similar to Rita’s only his was cut shorter, and he wore a set of blue monk robes, but considering the monastery they had picked him up in this made a lot of sense. Rita pointed a finger at him and said, “Reed, make me some coffee, I want to wake up.” Reed opened his eyes and turned his head back towards her before saying quietly, “I was meditating, please do not interrupt this moment of silence.” He turned his head away and after a moment he added, “Besides, you need to sleep. You have been pushing yourself again, and it is worrying the rest of us. Why do you think that Lamont didn’t take you with him on this task?” Rita pushed herself upright and said angrily, “What?” Snow let out a noticeable groan before closing her book and saying, “We weren’t supposed to tell her that.” “She needed to know the truth, she needs to know how much we worry about her,” Reed replied calmly. Rita swung her feet off the edge of the couch and tried to stomp her feet onto the floor. She couldn’t reach the floor though, and so her feet just dangled in the air uselessly. “Ugh, why didn’t you tell me about this? I could keep up with them, I’m not a useless little kid!” Snow stood up carefully, she stood five feet and eight inches tall, as tall as Rita’s father. Rita hated being a shrimp compared to everyone else in this team, Estella was six feet tall, if not taller, and Lamont was a giant of a man. Only Reed and Rita were short, although they were the same exact height. Snow grabbed the cup of coffee she had poured for herself earlier and walked with graceful steps towards Rita. She leaned over and gave the cup to Rita while saying, “Here you go, I know that it’s only half full but I’m afraid that we used the last of the coffee for this cup.” Rita took the cup gratefully and smiled at Snow. She took a sip and tasted the strange but delicious spices that Snow always added to her coffee. After a moment she looked up from the cup and said, “You didn’t have to do that you know. I’m just being a butt because I’m tired and need Estella.” “I know, but you still need her before you can sleep right? So if I can help you in any way, then I will,” Snow replied. Rita couldn’t stop smiling at her dear friend. Rita knew that she would probably fall asleep before Estella got home, and when she did the nightmares would start all over again. It wasn’t fair that nightmares plagued her every time she tried to sleep alone, but at least she had some minor comfort in knowing that when Estella did come back, she could sleep in the princess’s warm loving embrace again. *** The morning came and went without complication, Trixie and Spike had crashed on the other bed and Rita imagined how hilarious it would be if Rarity could’ve seen them, of course even Rita wasn’t dumb enough to tell Rarity about this one. After that Rita and the others packed their things and moved on to the train station. Everypony noticed the limp that Trixie carried in her walk, but avoided saying anything about it to her. Once everypony was finally on the train, they took their seats inside one of the private booths. Twilight and Spike sat together on one side, Rita and Trixie on the other. Trixie made no attempt at speaking instead choosing only stared blankly out the window. Twilight still looked depressed, and Spike looked pretty upset as well. The air in the room was tense, and it looked like nopony was going to try and break the silence. Once the train got rolling along the tracks, Rita decided that if nopony else was going to try and cheer up the room, then she would. Rita looked at Trixie and said in as gentle of a tone as she could, “So, you were really insistent on leaving today.” Trixie grunted in response. “Um… look if you need anything just let me know, okay?” Trixie gave a quick glance at Rita and said, “You can’t understand how I feel. So stop trying to.” Rita sunk back into the couch and pulled her legs up to her chest. This was a terrible idea, and Rita knew that it was just going to backfire. Rita let out a sigh and resigned herself to not being able to fix this situation. After a moment of silence Rita said, “You’re right, our situations are different. My friends and I all knew that death was a possibility, in fact it was more likely that we were all going to die in that final battle… the fact that only four of us died was a miracle.” Trixie looked over at Rita, and after a moment of silence Rita gave her best smile to Trixie before continuing. “You see, they were all my friends, and they were my family. One of them was actually my father… sadly the only two who survived the final conflict were me, and Princess Estella… the only person who I ever truly loved. Of course after that battle, I lost her friendship too… so that left me completely alone.” “Rita, I didn’t know,” Twilight whispered. “I’ve told you bits and pieces of this before,” Rita said quietly, the old pain was creeping up over her scarred heart. “So, Trixie, if you need anything just let me know… I was all alone when I lost the people that I love, I don’t want you to suffer like that as well.” A blue leg quickly wrapped itself around Rita’s shoulder and Trixie asked, “Is this good?” “What?” “Trixie is trying to hug you, is this good?” Trixie explained. Rita gave a tiny laugh before scooting in closer to Trixie. Rita then nodded and said, “Yeah, that’s fine.” “Good, because Trixie doesn’t like it when you cry. You are too small and it reminds Trixie of a foal crying, so please don’t cry,” Trixie said. “But I’m not…” Rita stopped talking the second she felt the tears running down the sides of her face. Rita sniffled a little and wiped them away with her sleeve. “Thanks, for that… guess I’m not quite over it yet.” Trixie looked back out the window and for a moment Rita thought that Trixie was going to return to her silence, but she didn’t. “Trixie is a strong mare, she will be okay. Trixie just needs a few days to sleep, and plenty of alcohol, but eventually Trixie will return to her traveling shows… that’s all Trixie has anymore.” “You have me,” Rita said. “Yes, Trixie does, doesn’t she?” Trixie said with a small smile. “Will you really be okay?” Rita asked. “Trixie just lost the only two real friends that she had left, but that does not mean that Trixie is all alone. This is not nearly as bad as when Trixie was forced to leave the rock farm,” Trixie explained. “What do you mean by forced? I thought that you left because you hated it, and wanted revenge on Ponyville?” Twilight asked. Trixie closed her eyes for a moment and then looked out the window again, her smile had faded. “Trixie went back to the rock farm after Ponyville. It was peaceful at the rock farm, and for once in Trixie’s life she had a place she actually belonged to. However a few days later Maud received a letter from Pinkie… and it was over, Trixie’s only home was again taken away from her. “Trixie might have talked rudely about the farm, but she actually enjoyed it… even if the work was really difficult for Trixie. The ponies did not care if Trixie was an ex magician, or if she was a failure, they did not listen to the slanderous lies spread by certain ponies from Ponyville. Everything was actually calm, and they accepted Trixie into their family,” Trixie explained. “But when Pinkie Pie told them of Trixie’s deeds they kicked her out.” Trixie began rubbing at her bum leg with a distant look in her eyes, as though she was remembering something from a long time ago. “I’m sorry to hear that… you know Pinkie Pie doesn’t hate you for it?” Twilight said. “Trixie knows, but she is not even allowed to befriend the pink mare now… Maud would get mad again,” Trixie explained. Rita finally had it with not knowing about what exactly happened to her marefriend, obviously it wasn’t so serious that everypony here hated Trixie, but clearly it was still important. Rita looked up at Trixie and asked, “What exactly did you do to Pinkie Pie?” “Trixie used a spell to remove the pink pony’s mouth… for a couple of days, she didn’t like hearing the pink one talk rudely to her,” Trixie explained. “Trixie could’ve starved Pinkie Pie, but it was not Trixie's fault, she was possessed by an evil amulet that made her… do bad things. Trixie did not even know of most of the spells she used during that time, so the magic couldn’t have come from Trixie…” “The amulet gave you access to magic that you would never have known normally, in fact I believe it even went so far as to take full control of you at certain intervals,” Twilight said. “Trixie still did wrong, and she has been punished. Now Trixie just wants to live a quiet life, but all she knows how to do is perform on stage,” Trixie said. “If working on a farm was such a fulfilling experience for you, why don’t you just work on the apple farm?” Rita suggested. “Trixie does not have the… strength to buck trees like Applejack does.” “So, they have carrots and potatoes and other vegetables and stuff. I’m sure that if you ask Applejack she could help you find something to do,” Rita suggested. A smile grew on Trixie’s lips as she considered this and then she said, “You are right. Applejack would surely help Trixie with this. After all, Trixie and Applejack are… almost friends.” “Don’t kid yourself, after you helped Applejack out with her sister, and her cousin, she’d be willing to help you with pretty much anything. You’ve earned her friendship,” Spike said. “What?” Rita asked. “Long story, but I guess we have time… How about you tell it, Trixie?” Twilight suggested. Trixie grinned and her horn lit up. Several illusionary puppets appeared floating in the air in between everyone. Trixie cleared her throat before saying, “Once upon a time, Trixie was working in Manehattan, she however wanted to attempt making up with some of the ponies she had wronged in the past. So a cunning strategist like Trixie could only come up with the most wonderful of plans, sending free tickets to those same ponies, so that they could see her new show. These tickets were even front row seats, securing seven front row seat tickets was however difficult. “At the same time the police were looking to capture an infamous jewel thief, and they needed Trixie’s help. Trixie knew that this was going to be an exhausting endeavor but she had to set things right in the world, what Trixie didn’t know was that there were forces at work to ruin her plan…”