Marble Magic

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Fifteen: Cat's Folly

Marble stared up at Marigold with big round eyes. It was her fault that Trixie was in that scary forest, and in the middle of a storm no less. Marble just couldn’t believe that she had sent Trixie out into danger. The note was supposed to make Pinkie Pie scared, not whole town. There was no apology for her actions, and worse yet, ponies were in danger because of it. One thing was for certain, after this it wouldn’t matter if Pinkie Pie allowed her to be with Trixie, because Trixie was sure to leave her for this.

“Tell me exactly what is going on here,” Marigold said.

Rarity puffed out her cheeks. “We didn’t do anything wrong, we’re just trying to get Pinkie to see the error of her ways.”

“That’s bull and you know it, the whole town’s involved in this mess. Now tell me exactly what is going on.” Marigold had a fire in her eyes that scared Marble.

“Well you see,” Rarity began. “Um… I thought that if Marble pretended to runaway that Pinkie Pie would realize just how much Marble cared for Trixie. I was trying to get them back together, not hurt anypony. We were going to let Pinkie Pie sweat it out for a few hours and then tell her.”

“You… ugh,” Marigold rubbed at her eyes. “My oldest, Nixie, she did this to me once. I had royal guards out looking for her, and it turns out she was just hiding underneath our house until I decided to let her date a stallion that was clearly not a good match for her. I did learn my lesson but only after I grounded her for two months. By the time she was done with her grounding the stallion had already started dating two other mares. She was heartbroken and I was right. Nopony won.”

“Yes, that may be true but Trixie is not a bad pony. We both know how much they love each other,” Rarity said. “What else could I have done?”

“Talk to Pinkie Pie?”

“But… she was acting crazy.”

“Then wait and talk to her. They might have been hurt for a few days but after we’ve stopped Baast and cleared the town of dark magic, I’m sure that Pinkie would have seen reason, especially if Twilight went down to talk to her,” Marigold said. “This plan of yours was just… foolish.”

“And now they’re out in the rain, getting soaking wet and cold, and it’s all because I intervened?” Rarity asked.

“Pretty much, yeah.” Marigold looked out of the window. “The worst part is that they’re in danger. There is a powerful creature inside the castle right now, Baast is her name, and they went straight to the castle to find Marble. They were afraid that she might have been caught or hurt by Baast.”

Rarity gasped. “Then we must go save them!”

“You two ready to make up for this blunder?” Marigold asked.

“Of course,” Rarity said.

“Mmhmm!” Marble agreed.

“Then let’s go.”

They put on their raincoats and stepped out of the boutique. The rain was letting up a little at least, and the wind wasn’t as harsh as it had been but minutes before. That said there was something strange about the sky. Marble couldn’t quite place what it was but she could feel it in her bones. It was cold out here, dreadfully cold.

A ball of gray goo fell from the sky and landed with a wet smack against the muddy earth. The trio stared in silence for a moment, and watched as the goop pushed itself up and shaped itself like a cat. It cocked its head to the side and began shambling toward them with a body that jiggled like a bowl of jello.

“What in Equestria is that?” Marigold asked as her horn lit up. Amber light covered the creature and it lifted up into the air. Its body jiggled and moved in disturbing ways. “Let’s see, it seems to be made of goo, it’s shaped kinda like a cat, and it’s got a touching problem. If I didn’t know any better I’d say we just stepped into someponies sexual fantasy mixed with a foals nightmare.”

“That’s… quite specific,” Rarity said.

“What can I say?” Marigold said as the amber aura surrounding the beast tightened and the thing popped like a zit. “I’m an artist.”

There were shrieks coming from a few ponies not too far away. Marble turned and watched as a pink mare with a green colored mane galloped by with two of the things stuck to her. One of them was on her flank the other on her back. Marigold wasted no time in picking them off as the mare tripped and fell into the mud. They each had pink colored stomachs. They popped as easily as the first.

Where they had been stuck on the mare, there were gray patches of fur. The mare looked down at her own flank, even her cutiemark was grayed out on one side. A terrible scream escaped her lips, followed by a terrified voice that whispered, “The horror, the horror.”

“That is quite disturbing,” Marigold said. “You, get inside and stay safe. We’ll send somepony over to help you get your… color back after this is over.”

The mare nodded and picked herself up. She galloped away without another word. Marigold turned to face them and her eyes went wide. “RUN!”

Marble looked behind her and saw six of the goopy cats sitting on the roof of the boutique. All of them smiled down at her, and half of them had various colored stains mixed into their bodies. They had fed. Rarity galloped before anything else could be said. Marble’s legs went numb and her mind blanked. The cats all jumped.

Marble looked for an escape, she wasn’t fast enough to get away from them before they landed on her. When she noticed the broom lying in a wet puddle just within hooves reach, and an idea came to mind. The only thing she could do now was try to keep them off of her, and she had to do it fast.

She picked up the broom in her mouth, tasted the mud that it had been lying in. They came within hooves reach, falling through the air like vampires in the night. Marble closed her eyes and swung the broom back and forth as fast and as hard as she could. For several seconds she stood there, feeling the weight of the goopy cats as she swatted them out of the air.

Just like that it was over and Marble looked around to see five puddles of goo surrounding her. There were bones sticking out of the puddles. Marble didn’t drop the broom for one instant but she turned around to face Marigold and saw the mare grinning down at her.

“I might just have to adopt you,” Marigold said.

Marble looked around, shocked that the cats were all dead.

Rarity blinked. “She… with a broom?”

“Yep, with a broom,” Marigold stated. “Alright, keep that broom handy, and let’s get going already.”

Marigold took off toward the forest, and toward the center of the storm. The other two followed. Marble kept the broom close to her just in case. If anymore cats tried to jump at them, they would be swiftly dealt with. Then when they got to Trixie, Marble would use the broom, and the last of her marbles to rescue her.

The halls had grown quiet, and if not for the sound of rain dripping through the small room and the occasional thunder strike it would have felt muted. Trixie listened intently for any warning sounds of Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie. She didn’t hear anything that would give them away. So after much deliberation she finally decided to disable the illusion over the doorway and step out into the hall.

It was empty, that was a good sign. Trixie made her way through the halls, not back to the entrance but rather lazily toward the secret lab of Golden Oaks. She moved through the desolate halls and kept both eyes and ears looking for any sign of any danger whatsoever. Her heart was pounding so hard that she was sure it would break right out of her chest at any moment, and the further along she went the worse it got.  Several times she heard something, and stopped dead in her tracks for several long moments listening intently.

Eventually she found the room, and after some quick investigation she found it empty of all life. Several books were missing along with instruments and components. She only wished that she had asked more questions, instead of letting her mom play that mean joke on her. Then maybe she would have been able to figure out what to do next or where to go. About the time she reached to top of the stairs she heard a new sound.

A low bass sound thumped through the castle so loud that it knocked books off of shelves, caused dust to fall from the ceiling and made Trixie’s ears and head hurt. Whatever it was came from deeper inside the castle, and Trixie was sure that it was exactly where Baast was. Baast and Marble.

Cautiously she made her way in the direction the noise came from. It took several minutes, and lots of twists, turns, and even some climbing over rubble and up into the second story, but she did it. She arrived at the second story window overlooking an internal courtyard.

In the courtyard Trixie saw Baast standing, tall and proud. There was a pool of gray liquid next to her, along with a dozen gray cat like slime monsters. Across from the pool sat a cage where Trixie could make out Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Starlight Glimmer. Starlight was still knocked out. On the ground next to Pinkie Pie lay a black cat with a three pronged tail.

Guile! He’s alive, I can’t believe he’s alive and okay… I guess that means that Baast got herself a new body.

She looked back at the goo cats and shivered. Are those failures, mistakes, or just monsters?

Baast looked back the cage and smiled wickedly. “Okay every… pony, I have my body back, you three out of my way and I even returned my descendent back to his original self. Now that I have an army of slime kitties I will pull off the most chaotic move that you prideful mares have ever seen! I am making everything gray!”

Pinkie Pie blew a raspberry. “Uh, Discord already did that.”

Baast’s head twitched. “W-what?”

“That was like the first prank he pulled on us.”

“Oh… well… then I guess I’ll just have to take over Equestria with hugs then… not quite as fun but my loving darlings will do just fine,” Baast said. “And I’m still turning you all gray, because I can.”

“Can you?”

“Can I? Can I? Of course I can.”

Pinkie Pie giggled. “Can you do the cancan, or can you can apples, or can yo-“

“Shut up!” Baast hissed. “You’re jokes are more annoying then Discord on a Monday.”

“Uh… is that like a saying, or are you talking about the person, or what?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Shut up,” Baast said.

“Sure thing kitty Twilight.”

“I am not Twilight, she is my reincarnation, and a poor one at that.”

“I think it’s pretty spot on. Dark magic aside.”

“First I capture you, and then when you find out that I don’t have your sister you starting turning pink, and now you’re annoying me.”

“Yeppers, sounds like me.”

“Please be quiet.”

“Well since you asked nicely,” Pinkie Pie said. She beamed at Baast and remained silent. Trixie noted that some of Pinkie’s color had returned.

Baast looked at her cat army and said, “Alright you kitties, go look fur intruders and if you find any hug them into submission. I will build more cages.”

Trixie pulled her head back in and laid down to better conceal herself. This situation had gone from bad to worse, with the very ponies she was trying to stay away from captured as well she fully knew that there was no chance at winning this. Though she was glad to see Guile alive and well. Thankfully Marble wasn’t here, which meant that she probably hadn’t hid in the castle.

A terrible thought crossed her mind; what if Marble went home the second it began to rain and we have just been wasting our time out here?

Trixie cursed herself for being foalish enough to go straight into danger without looking in the most obvious place first. If only she was back home, she could get together a small army, check up on Marble, and then take the castle in order to save her bullies. Sure they deserved to be captured but Trixie couldn’t leave them to the paws of this monstrous cat. Rainbow Dash saved her once before from a kingdom of dog breathed dog faced, diamond dogs, even though Rainbow Dash had no reason too. It was time for Trixie to repay the favor.

“Okay,” Trixie whispered to herself. “Game plan; I go invisible, even if the spell only lasts about a minute that’s enough time to get to the lock and pick it. Once that’s done I get Pinkie and Rainbow Dash to come with me, Rainbow will have to carry Starlight because she’s the strongest one. Of course I’ll need a distraction… oh I know, I can cast an illusion of Twilight Sparkle and have Baast chase her deep into the castle thus getting lost. Okay, it’s game time.”

Trixie stood up and was face to face with a floating purple cat.

Baast smiled down at Trixie. “It’s so nice to see you again. Did you come here with the others?”

“I’m with the sleeping one,” Trixie said. “The two bullies aren’t with me.”

“Well, that’s about to change. Because I think there’s room in my cage for one more pony,” Baast replied.

Trixie gulped. Well crap.

Marble stared at the castle from underneath her hood. It wasn’t raining here, but the storm clouds up above were still thick and dark. Marigold had led them through the forest using the path that had been shown to her by Starlight. The forest itself was dark, and dank, but not as scary as she had thought it would be. Then again, right now all she had to compare it too was a town full of scary slime cats and scared ponies.

“Okay everypony,” Marigold said. “This is it. We go in, get our family and friends and leave. There is no reason we should have to fight Baast. If it comes to that leave the fighting to me and focus on getting the others out.”

Rarity stepped forward. “Are you strong enough to contend with a demigod?”

“I can hold my own long enough to save them,” Marigold said darkly. “Marble, stay close to Rarity and if any of the goo cats come at you use the broom.”

Marble clenched her teeth down around the broom handle and nodded.

“Good, all set? Alright let’s go,” Marigold said as she began trotting into the old ruins.

The trio moved into the old ruins and Marigold led them. It was cold here, very, very cold. It was almost like the air was freezing her very soul. A deep sense of wrongness filled her. Neither Marigold nor Rarity looked like they liked it either. Rarity was practically shivering.

“You feel it too?” Marigold said.

“My horn is so cold… why is it so cold?”

“This place is strong with dark magic. Whatever Baast has been doing here, it’s bad. We should hurry,” Marigold said.

They picked up the pace to a brisk trot as they made their way through the ruined hallways, stepping over and around puddles and trying their best to be quiet while still moving swiftly. They rounded one corner after another and the place just felt empty and alone.

They rounded yet another corner and were met face to face with a half dozen of the slime cats. Before any words could be uttered, both Marigold and Rarity began unleashing bolts of magic into the group. The cats exploded when struck, their goo going everywhere.

it was sickening to watch so she turned her head, only to come face to face with a dozen more goo cats behind them. For a half second she paused, her heart stopped and she felt like there was no way she could possibly escape. Then she pulled out the last Confidence Marble with a shaky hoof and smashed it against the floor. She guessed that she might only have a few minutes worth of courage, but that would be more than enough to get rid of these slimy monsters.

Marble let out a muffled battle cry as she charged, hot blood pumping through her veins. She swung her broom, hit one and watched it splatter against the wall. Hit another, and it left a goopy mess on the opposite wall. Marble kept up the one mare assault. One by one the goo cats were squashed, splattered, and squished. When it was over Marble stood there, the lone victor surrounded by a sea of white goop.

Behind her both Rarity and Marigold had finished and gave her an approving look. Marble smiled. Yet again Marigold took the charge and they made their way to an inner courtyard where Marigold stopped. A cage sat at the edge of the courtyard, inside of it lay Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Starlight Glimmer, and Trixie. There was also a kitty cat, a real kitty cat lying in the cage wrapped up in Trixie’s legs.

Marigold looked back. “Remember the plan.”

They nodded.

Marigold charged into the courtyard and both Rarity and Marble followed. They got a few yards in before Marigold’s horn lit up and an orange wall of light appeared beside them. It was translucent enough for Marble to see the beams of pink energy flying against it, slamming into the wall. Each time a beam would strike the wall, the wall would flash brightly and a crack would appear in it.

Rarity and Marble continued running to the cages. Six shadows appeared around them, and Marble looked up just in time to see six of the slime cats leaping through the air. Marble stopped dead in her tracks, which was the only reason she escaped. Rarity ran right into them as they pounced on her. They quickly held onto her legs and melded into giant masses of slimy goop and Rarity let out a scream as she fell to the floor.

Behind her Marigold’s shield exploded! A stray bolt of pink energy struck her in the side and sent the unicorn flying into the wall behind her. Marble tried to scream as Marigold sunk to the ground. Then she looked around and realized she was still a good thirty feet away from the cage, it was locked, and there was no cover between her and the magical attacker.

Marble saw it. She saw the barbed black stave, cradling the purple orb like grasping claws. The purple cat that sat atop it gave her a cruel stare as the stave hovered towards her.

“My, my, my, what do we have here?” Baast asked. “More interlopers?”

Marble gulped. Her confidence vanished in that instance and she wanted nothing more than to hide in a corner and cry.

“Let’s see, two horned ponies, and one… uh… dirt pony,” Baast said.

Marble dropped the broom and back peddled.

“Oh, are you scared? Poor little pony, now you don’t need to be scared, and you shouldn’t feel too bad about what my cats did to your poor fur. In good time all ponies will be just as gray as you are,” She said with a smile. “Now just walk into the cage willingly and I’ll be nice to you.”

Baast tilted the stave forward, but somehow the orb rolled back allowing the cat to stay seated. She was only mere inches away from Marble’s face.

“Leave her alone you stupid mean ugly cat!” Trixie cried.

“I already shut the pink one up, now you wish to get on my nerves as well?” Baast asked.

Marble glanced over and saw that Pinkie Pie had duck tape over her mouth. Her hooves were free to take it off, but she didn’t. Probably because it was going to hurt a lot. Tape stuck to fur like crazy.

“Now come here little pony,” Baast said. She raised a paw and reached out with it.

“MM-MMM!” Marble protested, but she was frozen. She couldn’t move. Cold fear gripped her heart and numbed her legs.

Baast pet the top of Marble’s head saying, “There, there, you’ll make a fine pet. Good pony.”

In that instant Marble saw what it was like. Being immortal, watching as the only five friends she had died off, one by one, and finally all she was left with was your husband. Her chaotic insane draconequus husband. Sure they got up to some good, even great fun. The sex was also fantastic. All that aside, he could never replace her friends. The shy one that always cared about everykitty, the pink one that made her laugh, the blue one that was awesome, the orange one that never once abandoned her friends or family and always told the truth, finally the white one that had the biggest heart. They were all gone, and there was no one left to give her the hugs she needed and to tell her it would be alright.

Nopony that was, until now.

Marble reached out and wrapped her legs around Baast and cooed her. At first Baast tried to fight back, but she began stroking the back of the cat’s fur and Marble whispered ever so gently, “It’s all going to be alright.”

“What? What are you talking about? You… no, no it won’t,” Baast argued. “I am the last of my kind, all of my friends are dead and my husband is an insane jerk. How will it be alright?”

“Shhh,” Marble said. She kissed the top of Baast’s nose.

“You… stupid… ugly… sweet thing you,” Baast said. Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes and the stave dropped to the ground. Baast fell against Marble’s chest and Marble held her gently.

“It will be alright,” Marble repeated.

“Are you sure?” Baast asked in such a fragile voice that Marble was afraid she would shatter.

“Mmhmm,” Marble replied.

“Y-you don’t hate me? For what I did? You don’t think I’m evil?”

“Mm-mmm.”

Rain began to fall, lightly at first, then it grew more heavy. By the time that Baast looked up into Marble’s eyes the rain had soaked her face and ran down like tears. “I don’t want to be immortal and lonely anymore. I don’t want to be locked up in a stupid orb. I don’t want everyone to just think I’m evil. I… I just want to be okay and have fun. I miss dancing with my friends. I know I suck at it, but it always made me so happy.”

Marble smiled down at her and squeezed gently.

“It’s so hard, to know that no matter who I befriend that I will have to watch them die and then I’ll be alone all over again. To make matters worse, my husband isn’t very supportive of my emotions, he’s more or less just there for fun. I… I just want friendship again. Thousands of years I spent in that stupid staff, knowing that everyone judged me, hated me, and thought I was evil because of my love for Discord.” Baast sniffled. “But there wasn’t anyone else who was going to live as long as me. What was I supposed to do?”

Marble shook her head.

Baast looked at the goop covering Rarity. Pink light surrounded Baast for a moment. The goop melted off of Rarity. Rarity looked down at the goo covering her legs and grimaced. “This… this is worse than any… oh Sweet Celestia, it’s like a dozen stallions just… all over my legs!”

Marigold walked with a limp over to her. “Oh don’t fret over that so much. I’m sure it’s just another Saturday night for you.”

“Miss Marigold!” Rarity snapped. “I am covered in ick, now is not the time for your jokes.”

“I’ll open the cages now,” Marigold said. “If that’s okay with you, Baast.”

Baast buried her head into Marble’s chest. “I don’t care anymore.”

“Thank you,” Marigold said as she walked over to the cages.

Baast looked up at Marble and frowned. “I… did I mess up? Did this joke go too far? Nopony’s dead, that’s all I promised not to do. I’m not… I’m not in trouble am I?”

Marble shrugged.

“I don’t want to be in trouble again.”

“It will be alright,” Marble repeated one last time.

“You won’t let them lock me away again, will you?” Baast asked.

Marble shook her head.

“Thank you… thank you so much,” Baast snuggled into Marble’s fur. “I… I don’t know if this counts but… but are we, friends?”

“Mmhmm!” Marble said excitedly. She never had a cat for a friend before, in fact most animals hated her. Now that she was holding Baast and petting her, Marble wished she could have a cat of her own.

“You know what,” Baast said. “I’ll try and make up for this. How’s that reincarnation of mine doing?”

“Twilight has a nasty head wound but she’s alright,” Rarity said.

Baast shivered. “I never meant to hurt her.”

Marigold was still fussing with the lock. Marble looked over and saw duck tape lying on the ground with pink fur stuck to it. Pinkie stood there, her mouth free, of both tape and fur. Pinkie Pie waved. “Hi, Marble. That’s for the rescue!”

Marble nodded, and looked down at Baast. Baast looked back up at her and asked, “Did she just rip the tape off? I could have removed it without taking off any fur.”

Marble rolled her eyes.

“She’s kinda impatient I take it?”

“Mmhmm.”

Baast sighed. “I’m sorry about all of this. I wasn’t really going to keep Equestria. I was just going to take it over just to prove that I could. I mean… what do I want with a country full of magical talking horses anyway?”

Marble shrugged.

“Anyway, I should probably get back to my husband. He’s probably bored out of his mind with loneliness.” Baast pulled away and flew into the air. “Marble, right?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Mind if I come back to visit you sometime?”

“Mm-mmm.”

“Good, I’ll see you later then, my pony friend.”

“Hey, Baast,” Marigold said. “If you’re going to make amends for all of this, could you fix what the stave did to my village. It turned everypony, and dragon into stone.”

“I suppose I could. Though to be fair that one isn’t my fault.” With that said, Baast flew into the air and vanished in a flash of pink light.

Marigold was still fussing with the lock when she looked back and said, “Hey, Marble, you have to pick up that stave and put it in that well. Nopony else is allowed to touch it or we all die. Especially not with magic.”

Marble gulped.

“It’s okay. Once she does, Rarity, I want you to collapse the well. Remember, do, not, touch, the stave. Not with your hooves or your magic. You can throw stuff at it all day, so long as it’s not a magical creature,” Marigold said.

Rarity blinked. “But why?”

“On site disposal. We get rid of it now before there is even a chance that what happened to Hoofington happens again.”

Marble picked it up at the mention of Hoofington. She still felt heart ache for all the ponies lost there, even though she didn’t personally know any of them. It was good news that Baast was going to fix them.

She quietly made her way to the well and dropped it in. Rarity followed and collapsed the walls of the well in after it. With several hundred pounds of rubble now covering the stave along with all that rainwater there was no way anypony would find it again, not without significant work.

The storm up above began to clear up and almost like the world was pleased with the disposing of the stave, the sunlight came out and shined down upon the courtyard. Warm, beautiful sunlight. Marble smiled.

Once she made her way to the cages she saw Trixie holding the black cat. Trixie said, “I’m so glad that you’re okay, Guile. I missed you so much!”

“I don’t even remember it, so um… could you stop with all the touching. My beautiful fur is being ruffled,” the cat replied. “But thank you for your concern. It would hurt to lose such a prize as me, wouldn’t it?”

Trixie put Guile down, and then looked at her mother. “Mom, you’re doing that wrong.”

“I am not,” Marigold said.

Trixie walked over to the lock, her horn flashed purple for but a second and the lock fell from the bars. “Oh, really?”

“I loosened it up for you,” Marigold said.

The door slid open and Trixie walked out. She started toward Marble and then Pinkie jumped up and shoved her aside. Pinkie Pie looked over at Trixie and growled. “No way, even if you didn’t fillynap my sister I am not letting you touch her.”

Marble had had enough of this. She grabbed her sister by the shoulder spun her around and glared into her eyes. Pinkie Pie only stared at her in dumb awareness. Her fur was still a bit faded and her mane was still down.

Marble inhaled deeply before unleashing a lecture the likes of which could decimate the heavens themselves. “Pinkie Pie, I am over eighteen, I am able to make my own deacons and I love Trixie. She has only ever done good things to me, and I could never be as close to somepony as I am her. I have seen the very depths of her soul, the regrets the fears and the self loathing. I have also seen her dreams, her aspirations, and the little things that make her life worthwhile.”

Marble pointed a hoof at Trixie’s saddlebags, and at the grappling hook. “That is the grabbling hook you got her for the PSSD, isn’t it?”

Pinkie Pie nodded.

“Do you know what that means? It means that she values what you got her, she could have gotten another grabbling hook easily, but she kept the one you got her special. Because even if you have been nothing but a bully to her, she still wanted to be your friend.” Marble took in a deep breath, it was exhausting to talk so much. “You don’t have to like her, you don’t have to be her friend, but you do have to respect my choices. One day I am going to marry her and we will have little earth pony unicorn babies and they will be beautiful.”

“Uh, ponies don’t work that way,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Did I give you permission to speak?”

Pinkie Pie shook her head.

“Then be quiet until I am done.” Marble walked over to Trixie and inspected her for any damages. She looked as perfect and attractive as ever. That wet mane only made her look more alluring, even with the mud on her hooves. “I love you, Trixie. With all my heart and soul I love you.”

“I love you too,” Trixie said. She sniffled and reached out to hug her.

Marble pushed Trixie’s leg away, and for a moment Trixie looked hurt. Marble then leaned in and kissed Trixie on the lips, and held herself against her lover for as long as she could. Fire raced across her face, and her tiny heart galloped with joy. Nothing in the world could have stopped her from being in love with Trixie. Not even Pinkie Pie.

When Marble pulled away she looked back at Pinkie Pie. “If you ever try to come between me and my lover again, I will leave your house and move in with Trixie, forever! Also I will tell Maud that you tried to keep me prisoner.”

Pinkie Pie gasped. “Don’t do that, please don’t. I won’t do it again, I promise. Please don’t tell Maud.”

Marble flicked her tail and stuck her nose up for good measure. “I’m a good sister, so I will forgive you.”

Trixie sat down. “You sound so beautiful.”

Marble stared at her. Sound… oh crap!

A tiny squeak escaped Marble’s voice as she wrapped her legs around Trixie and buried her head into her neck. I was talking! I was talking a lot! Oh no. Oh, and I said some awful things. Just now, didn’t I?

Trixie wrapped a leg around Marble and pulled her close. “Even if I don’t ever get to hear that lovely voice again, I will always love you.” Trixie then looked at Pinkie Pie. “Trixie is sorry about how harsh Marble was on you… Trixie knows that you have hurt her a lot, and Trixie has hurt you. Do you think that now we can try and be friends? Or at least be friendly towards each other?”

Pinkie Pie lowered her head. “I don’t like it.”

“Neither does Trixie, but she wants to be friends with Marble’s twin sister. Trixie would hate to come between you two.”

“You already- grrr, fine. I’ll try and be friends with you.” Pinkie Pie stood up. “In fact, I’m going to be a better friend to you then you can be to me! I’ll give you free cake, and hugs and presents! You can’t top that and then I’ll be the better friend!” Pinkie Pie turned around and marched off. She grabbed Rainbow Dash by the leg and dragged her with her. “I am going home to make a ‘New Best Friend Party’ and you can’t stop me!”

Trixie blinked. “If she wants to be friends with Trixie, then why does she sound so angry about it?”

Rarity shrugged. “Pinkie is Pinkie. The good news is, she will become your new best friend now, whether you like it or not.”

A shiver ran through Trixie’s body and Marble felt the fear mixed with joy that Trixie was feeling. Trixie looked at Rarity. “Okay, do we all go home now?”

Marigold nodded. “Of course. Just let me use a spell to wake up Starlight over there. She’s still covered in sleeping powder.”

Marble tightened her grip around Trixie. Trixie offered her the same before whispering, “You wanna go back to my place?”

“Mmhmm.”

“I love you.”

Marble leaned up to Trixie’s ear and whispered, “I love you too.”