Trixie Has A Problem

by Navi

Chapter 5

With an end to the problem in sight, Twilight’s pace was much more sedate as she passed through the gateway of woven branches, entering back out into the world from the forest. Her mind was calmer and preoccupied with more trivial things for a change, such as how she was going to convince Trixie to leave the safety of the library to get to Zecora’s hut, or even after that, getting her to go into the dark forest in the first place.

Twilight let out a nervous giggle, hopeful that Trixie’s physical condition had not somehow worsened in her absence. The worst possible thing that she could imagine had happened was that Trixie might have undergone a complete physical and mental transformation, changing her to completion into an animalistic pony. Her uneasy grin broke down to a deadened pout at this thought, worried what effect a psychological change such as that might have on Trixie when she would return to her human self.

“Maybe she’ll fall in love with grass,” Twilight murmured, “she certainly wouldn’t starve on the road if it came to that.” She let out another uneasy chuckle.

The short jaunt from the outer fields into town took no time at all, Twilight sighing as her home revealed itself from around the corner of a neighbouring house. She reached into her satchel for her keys as she approached, it was not normal for her to lock the library, but under the circumstances a little extra caution was in order. Twilight eased the door open and paused for a moment at the sight of the torn purple and blue rags that Trixie had burst out of, continuing on into the ground floor and picking them up as she went, laying them on the table laden with all of the work she was supposed to be doing. Immediately she perished the thought, not having to even consider whether or not Trixie was more important.

“Trixie, I’m back!” Twilight’s voice echoed without hindrance around the empty, silent bookshelves. After a few seconds without a response of any kind, she called again, moving with a building curiosity to check a few of the open rooms around her. The workings of a tightening on her heart mustered when the second response did not come, a sense of panic that she managed to keep in check, sure that Trixie must have just fallen asleep somewhere. Twilight raced up the staircase to the next level, throwing open the door of each room with more strength every time that she found one of them empty. Soon she came to the last door, her own bedroom. Gripping the handle, she stopped and bit her lip hard.

“Please, be here” she whispered. Her body was reluctant to turn the knob as a mounting sense of panic filled her. She needed Trixie to be sprawled across her bed, she did not care that it would be ruined by the incoherent clambering of an inept animal and its natural filthiness, Twilight just needed Trixie to be lay there. As the door left its frame, the fraction of hope that Zecora had given Twilight evaporated, the librarian stood, staring at her well-made, empty bed as she let out a gasp of pure disbelief.

The wooden steps of the library stairs were wrenched from each of their frames as Twilight tore down them, flipping over almost anything she could find in the foyer that was big enough for a pony to conceal itself beneath, the tables lining the room, behind the curtains of the windows, under the surfaces of the open kitchen. It was then that Twilight halted, feeling a soft breeze across her face. Looking up, she noticed the back door hanging ajar, and raced to it, looking all around the back garden for a sign of Trixie. The gate of the fence protecting her small portion of greenery clanged against its own wooden frame, and as Twilight’s attention was drawn, she saw the remainder of torn garments piled on the dirt path exiting her property.

Gazing out into Ponyville’s town centre, Twilight trembled, she feared that her suspicions of Trixie becoming a full animal had been realised, and that in the pony’s dumb innocence, she had wandered without intelligent thought out into the world. Any number of things could have happened to her, Trixie could have found her way back into the vast Everfree Forest where unicorns dwelled in their natural habitat, or she could have taken to the streets and scared the citizens, causing them to have had her captured and taken away by some form of animal control. Knowing that time was of the essence, Twilight ran towards the town hall, understanding that the longer she took to find Trixie, the farther away she could be reaching.

“Excuse me, have you seen a blue unicorn around here?” Twilight stopped and quizzed the first person that crossed her path. The closest option to begin her search lay with the townspeople, as it would make sense to check with them first before doing something drastic like organising a search of the entire woodland bordering the village.

“Uhh, no sorry, why? What’s wrong Twilight?” the short, blonde girl dressed in a grey uniform with a mailbag secured around her shoulder responded.

“Oh, it’s… I have to go! Sorry!” With the mildest form of ill manners, Twilight left the mail girl standing and rushed to the next person, repeating her question. Man after woman, nobody had any recollection of an azure unicorn anywhere about the place, a few whom Twilight asked scoffed at the idea, grasping the shoulders of their children with worry at the suggestion of a dangerous creature like a unicorn gallivanting about. There had been incidents in the past and whilst unicorns were known to be more placid animals, everybody believed that much caution was required in the presence of one. They had magic, and although they could never use it to the degree and complexity that a human could, when startled they were able to do terrible things with bursts of frantic energy, spawned from a shock or sudden terror.

After Roseluck, Daisy, Cheerilee, Golden, Merryweather, and even, in her desperation, Apple Bloom and the gang, Twilight clutched at the hair that lay on her shoulder as it became frazzled, she was running out of people to ask. At that moment, a familiar friend in black tracks and blue tank top bolted passed, a few mere seconds passing before the same flash of a person returned, having noticed Twilight’s obvious distress.

“Woah, hey, Twilight, what’s goin’ on? Are you stressing about a letter or something again?” Rainbow asked, laying a friendly hand on Twilight’s shoulder as she joked.

“No, Rainbow,” Twilight muttered back, “this is serious, really serious.”

“Oh,” the athlete replied, “what’s up?”

“Please, please, please tell me that you saw a blue unicorn this morning, only an hour ago or so, anywhere around town at all?” It was quite clear to Rainbow now that Twilight was not, in fact, messing around, as she was captured by a pair of enlarged amethyst pupils that were brimming with dread. “Come on, you must have! You jog every day all around town! Please Rainbow Dash!” Twilight’s voice wavered as she pleaded with her friend. Taking a breath and removing the clutching hands of a hysterical librarian from her wrists, Rainbow put her own on Twilight’s shoulders to help calm her down.

“Okay, chill out. This is obviously important,” she began, Twilight giving a sharp breath of positive hope, “now I haven’t seen any unicorn around, but if it’s this serious, I’ll help you find it, okay?” The same breath left Twilight as fast as it had entered her, but not without use, as now there was now someone to help.

“Okay… I’ve been asking everyone in most of Ponyville, but the only place I haven’t gotten to yet is the south of the town.”

“South of the town, got it,” Rainbow confirmed, posing to set off for the few streets a short run away.

“Rainbow,” Twilight paused, drawing back her friend’s attention, “thank you… so much.” With a stern nod of determination, Rainbow Dash disappeared into the nearby avenue, off to make short work of her task.

As Twilight watched her vanish behind the town tavern, she felt herself glued to the spot. With Rainbow finishing the only thing she could think of to do, she could not figure out how else to go about searching for Trixie. She wanted to seat herself at the outside tables of the building beside her, waiting with bated breath for her friend to return with good news, but did not think she would be able to rest, not until she knew that her unicorn was okay. With reluctance, Twilight moved over to and pulled back one of the aged, wooden chairs nestled beneath a parasol table out, planting herself on it as she rested her elbows, supporting her head with her hands trying to think of what else could be done.

Her thoughts fell away from how to find Trixie, and found themselves on the more worrying subject of what might be happening to her at that very moment. Twilight did not possess much knowledge on unicorns, though she knew that some were kept as helpful pets by a few witches and wizards, even if most would not dare to tangle with such a creature in an attempt to tame them. She had heard a handful of stories involving close calls where a budding witch would attempt to snag herself a magical pet, only to be transformed into an apple and almost devoured by the very thing they had set out to make their loyal companion, saved at the last moment by a friend. That was another thing Twilight knew, when dealing with a unicorn, always bring somebody with you.

“Somethin’ on ya mind, young lady?” a heavy foreign voice pulled Twilight out of her mess of thoughts, drawing her eyes behind her chair to a man sat beside the tavern door, filth ridden ranch boots resting on the table as he rocked back in his seat. Kicking his heels together to break some more of the hard caked mud from his shoes, he moved them to the side so he could see Twilight, smirking at the sight of her unkempt appearance, “Wow,” he continued, “what’s a doll like yerself carryin’ the world on her shoulders for?”

“Well,” she whimpered, ignoring the passing flirt, “have you seen a unicorn, a blue one? Anywhere nearby at all, sir?”

“Hm,” the stranger grunted, pausing with an air of contemplation about him, “you a witch?”

“Yes?” Twilight shook her head, at first being baffled by such a response to her question, but soon recalling the obvious connection between the two things. “Why? Could you answer my question please?” she beseeched.

“I reckon I might have seen somethin’.” he grinned beneath his cowboy hat as he saw Twilight’s face fill up with glee. Sensing a clear opportunity, he was not afraid to take advantage, as Twilight had by this point revealed herself to be a hapless social fool, and though the man was not aware of the vast vaults of knowledge resting inside her head, it would not have mattered, as to him a fool was still a fool. “Yeah, though I can’t exactly remember where.”

“Please try! Please!” Twilight could not contain herself, leaping out of her chair only to be sat down by the stranger, his firm hand on her shoulder. Sitting beside her, Twilight stifled a grimace of disapproval as he barged into her very personal space, folding an arm around her to make matters worse.

“I’m havin’ trouble thinkin’, though I figure it might help to have some ‘incentive’?” his fork tongue waggled in Twilight’s ear as she clutched to her newfound hope. She told herself that she had to endure the unpleasant experience, as it could be the saviour that she had been looking for, no matter how revolting and embarrassing it might be. Placing her hand on the bag of bits she kept tied to her belt, Twilight grumbled as she considered the offer.

“And how much ‘incentive’ are you going to need?” She loosened the string sealing the bag and tickled a few of the coin faces with her finger tips.

“How much have ya got?”

“T-twenty,” Twilight wavered. She was lying, and he knew it. Remaining silent, he gave a short grunt as he remained in his encompassing position, smiling whilst she could not stop herself trembling, partly from the excitement of telling a lie, and partly because she was afraid that he might stand up and walk away himself, leaving her no closer to finding Trixie. He would not do that however, as he knew that Twilight would crack sooner than his patience would run out. Heaving a sigh, she removed the pouch and dropped the whole bag on the table, wincing at her loss as he grasped it, feeling the weight. She heard a quiet, dark chuckling from the back of his throat, breathing easy upon the removal of his body from hers.

“That uhh, orchard place down the way, saw a blue pony there this morning,” he snickered, heading into the tavern.

“W-what? Wait, was it a unicorn or a pony?” Twilight called after him, but he had withdrawn into the thick, rowdy atmosphere of the bar, irretrievable to somebody such as herself. Turning in the direction of the farm, Twilight put a foot forward and froze. It occurred to her in that moment what the Apples had begun doing with horses and ponies at their farm, and stood speechless, motionless whilst her hands shook without control.

“Twilight!” Rainbow called, halting with a grind along the soil as she skirted the building. She put a hand up to lay on her friends shoulder, then fell forward and almost face first into the ground. Recovering and glancing up with a shock gasp, she caught a glimpse of Twilight disappearing around the corner as the librarian bolted away towards Applejack’s farm at a speed faster than Rainbow Dash could ever have hoped to achieve in her life.

Comments

[Navi]

2995190
Wow, those are very kind words, I'm glad I'm entertaining! (If that's what you were implying ) And hope I keep it up for you .

[Discorded Q]

Fffffffffantastic story you ave here, I saw this spring up on Devart and immediately loved it... Write on you incredible bastard.