Hearth's Warming on the Rock Farm, with Trixie Lulamoon

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Three: Old Friends

After the tears had been wiped away, and I was left feeling a lot better, Igneous told me that I could stay and after the holiday was over that I could get back to work. Until then he just wanted me to enjoy my time here and readjust to the house. Sitting in the living room I waited patiently for Marble and Maud to show up. It hadn’t really occurred to me just how much you could get to know somepony, or someplace in a year’s time. Almost nothing had changed here.

As luck would have it, Limestone walked in with both Maud and Marble in tow. Limestone was looking as grumpy as ever.

“I can’t believe you two. Trixie was standing out here in the cold for who knows how long,” She stopped looked over at me, and pointed a hoof. “Just look at her, she only has that pink sweater to keep herself warm, no shoes, no socks. I bet she was freezing out there. She didn’t even have any bags or personal belongings.”

“I have my hat,” I added.

“And that keeps you warm how?” She replied.

I looked away, defeated.

“She that! Did you see it? She can’t even retort now. You two are going to have to step up to the plate and take care of her, and if I see any slacking off from either of you two I will personally punish you,” Limestone demanded.

I wasn’t feeling up for any confrontation after my break down. I guessed that Limestone had seen how weak I was, and felt bad for me. Even with that said, I was not some foal in need of coddling.

“Limestone, I can take care of myself,” I said.

She ignored me. “We have our cousins coming over as well, and Pinkie Pie. Make sure that there are no problems. Got it?”

The two nodded.

“Limestone!” I said a little louder. She looked at me. “I know that I… had a moment back in the kitchen. I also know it’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, but I’m an adult, I don’t need to be protected or taken care of. It’s nice that you care, but can’t we just… I don’t know. Treat each other more equally or something?”

“Equal?” Limestone asked, her tone confused. “Trixie, just… be quiet and let us take care of you. We’re equal enough already, but don’t you dare try and get out of this.”

“I’m not getting out of anything. I just don’t want to be treated like a foal,” I defended.

Limestone narrowed her eyes for a moment, and then she began to smile. “You, you’re arguing back. Okay, fine have it your way. If you can defend yourself then you’re obviously well enough to not need us. Maud, Marble, just make sure nothing bad happens, it looks like she doesn’t need us to take care of her.”

They both nodded.

I went back to staring at the fireplace. The orange flames flickered and the warmth coming off of it was a nice change of pace from the cold outside. Though Limestone’s words left me feeling a little worse off. I hit me, the fact that I had honestly come here with everything that I own; a pink sweater and my magician’s hat. I even lost my cape somewhere. I really was at the bottom of the barrel again.

“The fire’s warm,” Maud said as she sat by me. Marble joined on the other side and offered a kind but nervous smile.

“Hi,” I replied lamely. “So, um, how’s the farm been?”

“Quiet, lonely,” Maud said.

Marble nodded. “Mmhmm.”

“It was always quiet, I’m sorry to hear that it’s been lonely though,” I said.

“It’s not quiet when you’re here, or when Pinkie’s here,” Maud said.

“I guess that’s true… I never got to meet Pinkie on friendly terms,” I told her.

“She makes things fun,” Maud said.

“That’s nice.”

“You were better at it though,” Maud stated.

I looked at her, I honestly didn’t know how she could look at me and still say things like that. “That’s not true.”

“S-s-stories,” Marble said in whisper.

I looked at her, my eyes slowly widened. She only spoke when things were really important, and even then she almost never finished the word she was trying to say. To hear her saying that made me seriously consider what they were saying. Could it be that they really liked my stories?

“And magic tricks,” Maud said.

Now it was her turn to get an odd stare from me. These two couldn’t be telling the truth, my stories were nothing more than blatant lies and my magic was pitiful at best. They had to be lying to me in an attempt to make me happy, but I knew them. I knew they weren’t lying.

“You really mean it don’t you? You actually liked my horrible stories and my worthless magic tricks?” I asked.

“You’re stories are full of fun and adventure. We know that they aren’t real, but that’s why they’re called stories,” Maud explained. “And your magic tricks made me happy.”

“That… that was a mouthful,” I said. “Thanks, Maud. I’m glad you liked them so much, though I can’t see myself doing either of those things again.”

“Why?” Maud asked.

I looked into the fire. Why can’t I do it? I know that I’ll never be allowed on stage again, but why couldn’t I just tell stories to these two. Is there really any harm in that?

“Did I ever tell you about the time I defeated the serpent of Horseshoe Bay?” I asked, I couldn’t help the shaky tone in my voice. I was terrified they would suddenly reject me.

“Can you do the voice?” Maud asked.

I stared at her for a long moment. She was really pushing me to tell a good old fashioned type of story wasn’t she? Well… after what I had done to them, who was I to refuse their request.

“Once upon a time, Trixie was out on sea. She was a captain of a very powerful ship called the S.S.Starswirl. Rumors had spread far and wide about an evil serpent rising from the sea and dragging unsuspecting ponies down below. This was going to end if Trixie had anything to say about it,” I began. Much to my surprise the two were paying attention, Marble was wearing a small smile, and Maud was staring at me with a completely flat expression. I never did learn how to properly gauge whether she was happy or not, but I hoped that she was as I continued my tale.

By the time that I was finished regaling them with my story, Limestone had joined us with four cups of hot cocoa. I drank slowly from mine, still marveling at the rocks floating in it. The first time I saw how they used rocks in both cooking and drinks, I was disgusted and confused, but after awhile they sort of grew on me. Well except for the rock in rock soup, the soup was fine, the rock… ew.

“That was a nice story, I especially like the part with the harpoon,” Limestone said. She took a drink from her cup. “What did you think, Maud, Marble?”

“There were rocks on the bay,” Maud said. “And Trixie didn’t crash into them.”

I couldn’t help but to giggle a little at her response. Maud was always so predictable, and I could tell that just hearing the mention of treacherous rocks had her excited.

Marble made some kind of noise, one that Limestone interpreted with a roll of her eyes and by saying, “Of course you liked the happy ending. You always like it when the ponies get saved.”

“Hey, Trixie,” Limestone said. “Where do you want to sleep tonight?”

“Wherever you guys can fit me is fine,” I said.

“That’s not good enough. Tell you what; Pinkie Pie isn’t going to be here until tomorrow anyway. You can sleep in our room on the Pinkie’s bunk. Tomorrow we’ll figure out what to do, since our cousins are going to take over that room,” Limestone said.

I was feeling distracted at the mention of Pinkie Pie. It was hard to pretend like I never did anything bad to her, in fact I don’t even recall apologizing to her, or even trying to. I let out a sigh.

“Hey! Stop that,” Limestone demanded. “No depressed or sad ponies allowed. You are going to cheer up right now!”

I looked away. “Alright.”

“Darn it!” Limestone cursed to herself. “That didn’t work. Why doesn’t yelling at sad ponies ever work? Fine we’ll try mom’s method. What’s wrong?”

I looked at her, and then at Maud, and Marble. I settled on looking at the floor. “You three know what I did to Pinkie Pie right?”

“Yeah,” Limestone said, her voice trailed off a little.

Marble nodded.

“Yes,” Maud said flatly.

“How come you three are still talking to me? How come you don’t… I mean… do you hate me?” I asked, my hooves were trembling, and my heart was pounding. I really didn’t want to hear their answer, but I needed to know why they were still here.

“Uh, because you’re our friend. I mean seriously, you lived with us for a year, told all these amazing stories, and even did some magic tricks. You can’t expect us to not like you anymore just because some dumb old amulet made you into an evil psychopath. We know who you really are, and that amulet was not you, you’re actually kinda weak and sad, but you know what, we’re here for you. So you don’t have to weak and sad all by yourself, we’ll join you,” Limestone explained.

Maud gave her older sister a frown. “She was not a psychopath.”

“Oh yes she was, but that wasn’t her fault. I mean I can understand why she did some of those things. Ponies just don’t listen unless you start yelling and failing that, start breaking things. They’ll listen after that,” Limestone said.

I was emotionally exhausted, and hearing Limestone call me a psychopath was not helping. It was sweet that Maud stood up for me, but Limestone was correct. I had been a psychopath. I stood up and walked toward the stairs. “Pinkie’s old bed right?”

Limestone looked up at me, but I didn’t meet her eyes. “Yeah, just like the old days.”

“Good,” I replied as I made my way to the bedroom.

“Is she going to sleep?” Maud asked.

“We need to do something to help her,” Limestone said.

Just at the top of the stairs, and almost out of earshot I heard Marble say, “C-can’t we hug it b-better?”

“That’s not going to work. If you two read that letter she sent to mom, you’d know that she needs a lot more than just a hug or two,” Limestone said. “Pinkie will know what to do. She’s better at this emotional crud than I am. She could befriend a dragon.”

“His name is Spike,” Maud added.

I had to stifle a small laugh. Anyone could make friends with Spike, you just need to tell him he’s smart and brave. He’ll fall all over you.

The bedroom was dark, cold and silent. I found Pinkie’s old bed easily enough, climbed in and closed my eyes. It really didn’t take long before I began drifting off to sleep. Of course I still didn’t feel very good. Limestone’s remark about me being a psychopath hurt.

As I lay on the very edge of sleep, the world whisking away from beneath me. I felt like I was in my mom’s house. The door opened with an old creak, and somepony walked in, their hooves lightly tapping against the old wooden floor. They stopped just behind me. The blanket was tucked in around me.

 “Welcome home, Trixie. Sweet dreams my little pony.”