//------------------------------// // Day 23: Trixie/Pinkie Pie (Tragedy) // Story: March-makers // by ObabScribbler //------------------------------// Title: The Visitor Pairing: Trixie/Pinkie Pie “Hiiiiiiiiii!” Trixie screwed her eyes shut and put her hooves over her ears. Not her again. Anything but that stupid ball of cheerful fluff. “Go away.” “Nope, nope, nope!” The pink blur circled the room twice more before coming to a screeching stop in the middle. This place was small enough without her and her huge personality to fill it up. “Hello hugs!” “No!” Trixie leapt up from where she had been innocently eating a bowl of cereal. She backed up so far that her tail hit the wall. “Get away from Trixie you … you freak!” “Aw, that’s not very nice!” Pinkie Pie pouted. “Aren’t you glad to see me?” She giggled. “Except you can’t see me with your eyes all shut like that, silly. C’mon, Trixie, open those peepers and give me that welcome hug I know you can do!” “No!” Trixie shook her head until the backs of her eyes hurt. “Trixie is not glad to see you! Just go away already! Can’t you take a hint?” “Not really. Applejack and Twilight say that allllllll the time. I can take a mint though. Would you like a mint chocolate chip muffin? I can bake a batch riiiight up.” “Trixie said go away! She is so not in the mood for this.” “Trixie?” Pinkie’s inflection was different this time. Sadder. Less bouncy. “Is something wrong?” Everything was wrong. Everything. “Go. Away.” “But …” Pinkie trailed off. Trixie knew that if she opened her eyes, she would see that stupid poofy mane losing its poof, like somepony had let all the air out or something. She pressed her eyelids tighter together. “Trixie …” Plaintive. Sorrowful. “Please …” No, no, no, no … “You’re being mean.” Pinkie’s voice throbbed with wounded emotion. She was always such a ball of feelings. Everything was bigger with her: she contained more happiness, more cheeriness, more happy, happy, happy! All the damn time. She was exhausting. It never ended with her. Even the injury in her voice now was so clear that an ignorant mare like Trixie could read it for what it was. Trixie had never been very good at emotions. She didn’t recognise her own very easily and was terrible at understanding them in other ponies. She was better at burying feelings under a shiny, bright coat of paint that glowed so bright and so gaudy that it fooled most ponies into thinking she knew what she was doing with her life. Except she didn’t. Very few had ever understood her enough to scratch the paint away. Even fewer had been interested enough to keep digging past the sequins and spectacle to find the insecure, vulnerable mare underneath. Nopony had cared enough to pull her out from inside the shell she had created for herself. Not even Twilight Sparkle, who had blithely accepted Trixie’s apology without seeing the scream behind her eyes. Twilight had hugged her and said it was all right, that everypony made mistakes, and then … that was it. Like a hug and a few words would be enough to fix the reasons Trixie had put on a magical necklace and tortured a whole town. Nopony had asked why as they all hurried to forgive her. Nopony except the stupid pink pony who had chased after her when she was already three miles outside Ponyville; the stupid pony who had made her talk on the steps of her parked cart, who had held her as she cried, and who given her a necklace of rock candies whose significance Trixie had not understood until later, when she summoned enough courage to see through her promise to come back to Sugar Cube Corner for her own birthday party. “You came!” Pinkie had yipped with delight when Trixie walked sheepishly through the doors. Streamers had been thrown. Cheers had rattled the rafters. Ponies had slapped her back and welcomed her into their midst. And through it all, that stupid pink pony kept up her stupid mile-wide grin, like Trixie gracing her stupid party with her presence was the best thing in the world. Don’t open your eyes. Don’t open them! “Tr …Trixie?” Pinkie whispered. “Do you really want me to go away?” “Yes. Trixie doesn’t want you here. Trixie doesn’t need you. She can cope on her own.” “Really?” Such a tiny voice from such a larger-than-life pony. “But … I love you.” Trixie’s chest felt like it was about to implode. Don’t do it! Don’t – She opened her eyes. There was nopony there. There had never been anypony there. Her chest collapsed in on itself and the wellspring of pain bubbled up where her heart used to be. “I love you too …” she whispered brokenly, slumping to the floor of her cart and burying her face in her crossed forelegs. “I’m sorry. I should have come back sooner. I should have said it before I left. I didn’t know you were sick. I didn’t get your letter. I didn’t know …” Nopony rubbed her back. Nopony mopped up her tears. Nopony presented her with a piece of cake and a smile. Trixie was alone with her pain. Just like always.