75. Forked Destiny - Part Three
Letters From a Little Princess Monster
Forked Destiny - Part Three
The Great and Powerful Trixie had misplaced an alicorn.
Admittedly, it was only a small alicorn, and Twilight Sparkle could not have been misplaced very far, because there were no distant sounds of explosions or panicked guards. In fact, Trixie had suspected her hopes for a peaceful Sparkle family reunion at the cafeteria lunch table were about to be dashed, because everything had been going far too well for her lately. It only stood to reason that Twilight Sparkle would also suffer a setback with all the progress she had been showing recently. It was like Trixie and Twilight’s fates had been linked ever since the last time the two of them had been in Canterlot together as foals, when everything went to fire and chaos.
Thankfully, Twilight’s parents were taking the news well. They constantly reassured Trixie that they liked the progress they had seen by proxy, which was through the many citizens of Ponyville who sent them a constant stream of letters and photographs. They knew that any kind of progress in their daughter’s recovery from her brain injuries would be a long road, full of steps forward and backward, wobbling and tumbling in moments of heartbreaking progress and depths of setbacks like Equestria’s most vicious rollercoaster.
They seemed far too informed about Trixie’s life too, and about her parents, and their recent visit to Ponyville. They even seemed concerned about Trixie’s mental health, and talked with her while the rest of the school foals got their hayburgers and fries for lunch then scattered around the castle cafeteria. The parents did not even flinch when the scheduled time of Twilight’s arrival passed without a flicker of purple.
They were far too calm. Trixie suspected tranquilizers.
After lunch was over and while the rest of the students were being gathered together, Trixie stood up and began to make her excuses, expecting a few hours of backtracking their path through the museum while looking for Twilight’s current hiding spot. What she did not expect was the sharp prickle of teleportation magic, which gave her a split-second to scoop her diet soda off the cafeteria table before Twilight Sparkle materialized with a bright flash and a strange, high-pitched squeal.
No, wait. That was Twilight Velvet, who had both forehooves stuffed into her mouth to muffle her scream of joy.
There was an air around Twilight that Trixie had not ever seen. It was as if every conflicting emotion she could pack into that thin purple body was pressing against the inside of her skin to the point where she was about to pop like a balloon. Well, not every emotion. The emotional powerhouse did not seem angry, or even upset, other than with the way she had put one hoof down into the empty basket of hayfries on the table. For the breathtaking duration of a heartbeat, it could have gone either way, from panic-stricken flight to nervous breakdown, but Trixie calmly floated her soda over in front of Twilight and left it hover there until she took a sip.
“Thanks,” whispered Twilight. “Dry.”
“Don’t mention it,” said Trixie casually, despite an intense need to shout. “What’s with the extra saddlebags? I don’t remember you wearing those this morning when we left.”
Twilight turned her head, regarded the rather ordinary appearing bags which were sized for a much larger pony, then gently floated them over to her father. “Oops,” she whispered. “Dangerous.”
Night Light took the bags in his own magic, despite looking deeply conflicted by confusion and joy in equal measures, and took a look inside, at which time his face froze into a rigid mask and his eyes widened. “I… Oh. My. Um… Dear, I’m going to leave you two to catch up. I need to… um… get these…” All traces of indecision gone, he stood up slowly and floated the saddlebags in front of him while walking at a measured pace over to a nearby Royal Guard. There was a very short conversation which Trixie was not privy to, then both guard and parent began to pace cautiously away, deeper into the castle where other guards were moving at a brisk run to join them.
“Ah… you can fill Trixie in on that later,” said Trixie, turning her attention back to the long-delayed parent/powerhouse reunion. “Menace, are you going to be alright with a little squeezing, and some tears?”
Twilight Sparkle nodded once, but her eyes never left Twilight Velvet’s face.
“Missus Velvet, try not to squish Menace too much,” said Trixie. “I’ll be right here to break up your squishing contest if I hear any ribs break. Go ahead.”
Twilight reached out to Twilight, and Trixie could not tell which of the two were more terrified, or held each other gentler. More gentle. Really carefully. The little stitches of pain around Trixie’s ribs that twinged whenever she got a condensed alicorn hug told of just how much power those skinny little limbs could generate, but even a butterfly would have been safe if held between mother and daughter now. She watched, prepared to intervene if Twilight Sparkle began to show signs of instability, although if it did happen, all she really could do was throw a glass full of iced soda in her face. That would probably not calm her down, or maybe would, in fact, since Twilight had been progressing so well. There was a sign of stress that Trixie missed, however.
Thankfully, she had other friends nearer her own apparent age to catch it.
“Box! We need a box!” called out Featherweight, swooping down on the Hayburger section of the fast food vendors around the food court. “Thank you!” he called out as he dove into a pile of cardboard and emerged completely covered. His erratic path up into the air stabilized as Apple Bloom called out navigation instructions and Scootaloo jumped up to grab the bottom of the box and help steer. The incipient collision with the unyielding floor was dampened by a quick burst of magic from Sweetie Belle, and all of the little ponies scattered at the impact that left the unoccupied cardboard box skidding across the cool tile floor of the food court.
It was only unoccupied for a few scant seconds. Twilight Sparkle burst away from the table in one long leap and vanished under the box’s edge instantly, leaving a period of intense silence in her wake as the rest of the ponies at the food court looked up at the noise.
“Tada!” declared Trixie with her forehooves up in the air. “Thank you, thank you. We’ll be here all day.”
* * *
Sweetie Belle stood up and hustled over to the box along with all the rest of her friends while Trixie was talking with Twilight’s mother. It was a tight fit to get all of them around the box, but their teacher was holding the rest of the class in the hallway to wait for them, so they had time.
“Do you think you can walk along with us?” whispered Sweetie. “Miss Cheerilee said we’re going to go out in the gardens after lunch.”
“I thaved you a hayburger and thome frithez,” said Twist. “Well, motht of a hayburger. Scoots ate all the pickles off it.”
“And I got you a soda,” said Featherweight, looking back at the table where they had been sitting and the puddle of sticky soda dripping off the top. “Well, let me refill it. And get some more pickles.”
Three small holes appeared in the cardboard box, and Monster peeked out, horn first. “Mom not mad?”
“Ahh…” Sweetie Belle licked her lips and tried to phrase her words carefully. “It looks like she’s squishing Trixie and crying, but she’s got this big grin, so I don’t think she’s angry.”
“Itth a big thep for you,” said Twist with as much encouragement as she could muster. “We can talk about it in the garden if you want.”
“The sooner we can get there, the quicker we can go home,” said Scootaloo, nudging at the box until Monster started walking. “I swear, nothing here is different than last year. They won’t even let you try out the gliders in the aerospace wing. What took you so long to catch up, anyway?”
“Made a friend,” said Monster from inside the box while walking along with the rest of her class. “Two friends. Well. Complicated. Explain in the garden.”
~ ~ ✶ ~ ~
The inside of the Royal Physician’s office had not changed since the last time Trixie had visited. Even the doctor, a middle-aged but still spry mare, had exactly the same dry repetitive jokes as before while she gently moved her magic along Trixie’s tender ribs.
“I guess you’re not as—”
“—great and powerful as I thought,” completed Trixie. “I could make a few pounds disappear, need to get more exercise, and try to make a smile appear once in a while. Does that about do it?”
“Actually,” said Doctor Horsenpfeffer, moving her magic a little lower on her ribs and adding some heat to it, “your muscle tone is much better, you’ve lost five pounds, and your posture has improved far beyond anything I expected. You’re still frowning too much,” she added. “If it makes you feel better. Oh, and your ribs aren’t broken, they’re just bruised.”
Trixie paused. “So what’s the bad news?”
“No wings yet.” The doctor shrugged. “Give them time.”
Trixie raised one eyebrow and bestowed a skeptical look on the labcoat-clad doctor, who looked right back with just the hint of a smile. It was one reason that Trixie liked this particular doctor.
“Of course if you wish,” the doctor continued, “since we’ve been dealing with Princess Cadence and her Blessed Event, the office has the supplies to do a quite accurate pregnancy test to see if your wedding to the handsome Lord Green Grass has likewise borne fruit, so to say.”
Then again, she only made it more difficult to continue with what Trixie was intending.
“You know, Doctor Horsenpfeffer, I’ve apologized to just about everypony I’ve offended over the last twelve years, but I don’t think I’ve gotten to you yet. Have you got a minute?”
“I’ve only got a few hours left before quitting time,” said the doctor, “but I suppose I can schedule you in for a day or two next week.”
A smile crept onto Trixie’s face, giving every indication it was going to stay there for a while and quite overcoming any reluctance she had over that pregnancy quip. “Well, I’m supposed to be out watching the Ponyville students play in the gardens, but I think I can take a break since we’ve had all the chaos we’re going to get for the day. We could sit around the office and talk for a while, if you’re willing to give me some pointers for helping one of my students who had a traumatic brain injury and is working on recovering. Sound good?”
~ ~ ✶ ~ ~
In any group of X students in a statue garden with X-1 adult supervisors, it is fairly inevitable that one of the students will escape to explore the thick green bushes and bright statues. Then when one of the adults is sent to find the missing student, another one finds an opportunity to escape, and so forth, until all that is left is a teacher wondering why she is all alone with nopony listening to her well-prepared speech about the history of the wonderful place.
Not all statues are bright, white, and well-maintained, even in the most famous statue garden in Equestria, nor are the bushes trimmed to sharp corners and neat corridors. In fact, there are corners of the garden marked with yellow caution tape and ‘Closed’ signs, with the tips of overgrown vines snaking out across the overgrown grass of their pathways. This is where the quiet corners are. Peaceful corners, far away from the shouts of responsible adults and shrieks of delighted students running up and down the grassy corridors. Private places where even the garden staff did not visit, and by the looks of the weeds and thorns, might not have set hoof inside in years.
It was the perfect place for Monster to slowly emerge from under her cardboard box, surrounded by her friends. Twist spread a few napkins out across the top of the box and Featherweight put a soda next to the nibbled hayburger, then they all gathered close to provide emotional support and play with the little plastic toys they had gotten from their own meals.
“It’s good,” said Monster as she nibbled. “Don’t like pickles anyway.”
“So…” Featherweight snitched one of the loose pickles he had put down on the box. “You said you made some new friends. Can I get a picture of them so I can add it to your scrapbook?”
“Not… Well…” After finishing off the last of the hayburger, Monster stuffed a few hayfries in her mouth and thought while chewing. “Fizzlepop is with Cadence. Needs Cadence. Hurts. Uses her pain to hurt others. Needs time. Love. Healing.”
“Fizzlepop?” Featherweight’s jaw was hanging open. “That’s an awesome name. Who’s your other friend?”
“Starlight. We haven’t met yet.” Monster tried to think of another way to explain the memory she had gotten from the Starlight Glimmer inside the mirror. “Will be friends. Like him.”
The eyes of all of the little ponies followed their friend’s enraptured gaze to the filthy, pigeon-poop encrusted statue in the center of the garden clearing. Bits of vines and thistles wrapped around the stone creature’s mismatched legs, and a hive of wasps had taken refuge inside its open mouth. The statue looked nothing like any of the other pony statues in the garden, but more like a drunk sculptor had a number of leftover parts and slapped them together before passing out.
“It lookth happy,” said Twist encouragingly. “What ith it?”
“A dracone… dragoneq… a pony-dragon,” said Monster. “His name is Discord, and he’s a decept… deceit… liar. Mean. Cruel. He likes hurting ponies. It makes him laugh.”
“That don’t sound much like a friend,” said Apple Bloom.
“Yeah, more like Diamond Tiara,” said Scootaloo. “Well, before she… Um…”
“Became our friend,” said Sweetie Belle decisively. “She liked hurting ponies too. But she wasn't as… weird as that thing is.” The young unicorn cocked her head to one side and peered intently at the statue. “Wait a minute. Are you saying that’s not a statue?”
Monster nodded and touched the plastic Element of Magic on top of her head that matched all the rest of the plastic trinkets from Funland that the rest of her friends were wearing. “Celestia and Luna used the Elements. Turned him to stone.”
“Ewww!” declared Sweetie Belle. “That’s gross. We should go turn him back.”
“Then we can kick his flank!” declared Scootaloo, although after a sharp glance from Monster, she dropped back down to the ground and grudgingly added, “Or turn him good like we did for Diamond Tiara.”
“I dunno,” said Twist quietly. “I’d be pretty upthet too if I had to thand in thith dithmal plathe all covered in pigeon poop. Maybe he just needs a bath?”
~ ~ ✶ ~ ~
Trixie was late.
Not that way. Get your minds out of the gutter. Besides, she had not even had the pleasure of her husband’s company for one night yet, and she was getting impatient.
Not with that either.
What she was late for was a scheduled tour of the castle’s more private, princess-only areas, even though Princess Celestia had dropped by the castle infirmary to root Trixie out of a perfectly good conversation with the doctor and nudge her back onto some semblance of the schedule. Worse, the collected students of Ponyville still had to be collected from the statue gardens, which they also were late in departing, so Trixie had to gallop.
Admittedly, after the physical activities of the last four months or so, galloping did not leave Trixie in a breathless heap anymore, but it was still embarrassing. She ran up and down the garden’s green hedge corridors, calling out to the missing students until she heard a response from Featherbrain, who had flown up above the hedges and waved. Following the prompts, Trixie trotted at a much more dignified pace into a familiar hedged nook with a familiar sight, although with all of the familiar accumulated debris of the ages washed off the ugly thing. The rest of the clearing was likewise cleaned, with most of the thorns removed, the weeds cut back, and vines redirected to provide a clear path to and from the pristine statue with Twilight Sparkle standing on the very top of Ugly’s head, scrubbing one last pigeon stain away.
Which is more important, giving a tour of Celestia’s den or Twilight Sparkle’s happiness?
The rest of Twilight’s little friends were scurrying around with rakes and hoes, putting the finishing touches on a sloppy piece of yardwork that even Trixie could have done better, but they spared her a quick wave or smile when she walked into the clearing. They did look at Trixie a bit oddly when she started climbing the clean statue, taking a little longer to reach the top of the ugly draconequus head than she remembered.
“Hello, Menace.” Trixie managed to sound calm instead of out of breath from her climb, but settled down on a clean part of the statue’s head and tried not to look like she was about to fall down. “I see you found my secret hiding place.”
Twilight Sparkle looked puzzled, but nodded while continuing to run her scrub brush along the statue’s last bit of encrusted bird dung. “Discord,” she said quietly.
“Yeah, that’s written on a plaque somewhere back there,” said Trixie with an absent-minded wave of one hoof that almost made her tumble to the ground. “I used to climb up on his head when things got too tough at school and I needed a place to hide. You can see Ponyville from here, and the Everfree Forest behind it.” Bracing herself carefully, Trixie pointed with one hoof at the cheery town in the distance, which contrary to her expectations, was not on fire. “Used to think about you back then too. Watched from here whenever your brother and Princess Pink went out to look for you. Worried a little, I suppose. It’s a good place to worry. Nopony can see you, nopony yells at you for snitching a hatful of cherries from the gardens. You can spit the pits out without getting a lecture. It’s nice.”
“He’s not nice.” Twilight Sparkle finished her scrubbing and floated the brush down to the bucket on the ground. “He’s Discord.”
Trixie frowned. “Yes, I know. And there’s a statue named Victory in the garden, and one named Joy, and—”
“Those are statues,” said Twilight. “This is Discord.”
It was not the response Trixie expected, but when she looked down at the stone eyes of the statue, she could have sworn one of them was looking back at her. Moments later, Trixie was on the ground, with her body intact and her willpower in tatters. “Discord? You mean Discord Discord who Celestia—”
“And Luna,” added Twilight.
“—turned him into a statue with…” Trixie took a look at the statue with new eyes. Her brief and contentious experience with the Element of Magic gave her nightmares at times, but she had never really connected the statue of Old Ugly from her school years to the real Discord, the elemental force of Chaos who used the world as his own toy. It had been covered at one time in her history lessons, and by covered, she meant covered with scribbles and doodles of magic tricks in the book. The wave of abject terror only lasted a moment before common sense won out and she started breathing normally again.
“Oh, Discord,” she said with a short laugh. “Don’t worry, Menace. The Princesses took care of him.”
Twilight Sparkle just kept looking back at Trixie with those big, dark eyes.
“He’s going to get loose, isn’t he?” asked Trixie in a question she really hoped would get answered in the way she wanted for a change.
Twilight did not move other than to blink.
“At least he shouldn’t remember what happened while he was trapped in stone, right? Like how many cherry pits I stuck up his nostrils, or… Yeah, he probably will.” Trixie rested one hoof on her forehead. “Oh, what the buck. I’ve apologized to everypony else.”
“We cleaned him all up,” said Twist. “That thould count, right?”
“And we pruned back the weeds and thistles,” said Sweetie Belle, who was still covered in vine sap and dried grass clippings.
“But not too much,” said Featherweight, who was lining up a photograph of Trixie in front of the statue.
“Balance,” said Twilight.
It made sense to Trixie, far more sense than she expected. “Yeah, the rest of the castle seems like a giant puppet show of order sometime. Line up here, brush your mane, do your homework, eat your peas, try not to think of who is pulling the strings. I always liked getting away from it all here, except for the buckburs and thistles.” She rubbed the frog of one hoof self-consciously against her foreleg. “Well, this probably won’t mean much, Discord, but I’m sorry for being such a brat to you. And Celestia too, but you probably liked that, didn’t you? Oh, look at me. I’m talking to a statue.”
“Friend,” said Twilight Sparkle, who came over and wrapped herself carefully around one of Trixie’s legs. “He’s going to like you. More than me. I’m all rules and checklists.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Trixie made a show of scratching her chin with one hoof. “You constantly surprise me, kid. You turned down the opportunity to get toured through Princess Celestia’s private library in order to clean up a chaos god in her garden.”
“Library?” Twilight held very still.
“I mean I don’t know how you wound up here,” continued Trixie, “or why you think a god of chaos is going to be my friend. Well, Trixie thinks she can see that one. And I suppose seeing Philomena’s phoenix egg can wait until later.”
“Egg?” chorused the rest of Twilight’s friends.
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See, he’s still perfectly locked up. No worries.
I honestly can't wait to see Discord either get loose or be let free by Twilight. But is Philomena’s phoenix egg the phoenix herself or one she laid???
The scene with Twilight Velvet and Twilight Sparkle hugging made me feel warm and fuzzy, well done.
I'm really looking forward to how you will deal with Discord's escape. Something tells me it will be awesome.
Interesting. I wonder if Discord will remember this. I mean, it was canon that he could see while in his statue form, so probably. I like how Trixie casually mentions Twilight skipping the library to clean up Discord and Twilight is in shock.
8812635
Ditto to these responses.
Also throw in a little tear-jerking from the back to back family reunions.
I'm so happy. *sniff*
Alicorn Twilight with foreshadowed knowledge is a certified shenanigan-mode Twilight.
Poor Nightlight. Though I will say good on him for recognizing the threat of those bags.
Keepers of Discord?!?!?!!!!
YESSS!!!'
8812660 Not only does she have foreknowledge a lot of foreknowledge but she has the magic of an alicorn.. This is a double edge sword because the foreshadowing is of another universe things are different and will continue to be different
Georg, you are the wind beneath my wings.
8812622
YET. No worries YET
8812723
Eh, Menace was going to find herself in trouble either way, foreknowledge or no foreknowledge
Though I am very much interested in what sort of a waiting committee this much stronger
(Though the right answer would probably be to make sure he never escapes in the first place. But where is the fun in that).
TwilightMenace will set up for Tirek8812753 Wait for it....
8812735 Would I let Discord out?
8812677 Nothing escapes the alert attention of the Director of the Office of Diplomatic Support Services. Or the castle newsletter crew.
8812646 Dang it, I forgot to credit you. Ahem. Doctor Horsenpfeffer appears courtesy of Irrespective, and his story No Nose Knows (and the sequel) in which Baked Beans finds himself in an awkward situation when he bumps noses with Princess Celestia. Literally. And then finds out, according to Alicorn Law, that he is to be her husband because of that.
8812645 Small steps. And cardboard boxes.
8812644 Quite a bit of shock going around.
8812635 You (and Trixie) don't quite understand the situation. As long as he's in his statue, he can't be *blamed* for what is going on. It's his safe space, in a world where chaos is having quite a romp without him.
8812629 Philomena is currently nesting. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are in town. You may do the math.
8812833
I don't know. Would you?
(Would certainly make for an interesting plot twist if you did, so that's one good reason for you to)Residents or citizens perhaps
8812833
Another wonderful world next door to the original, and it's nice to see good neighbors like the Doctor show up in it. Also, sappy Crusaders being much happy, less snappy around Discord? A+.
Nice
I dunno Monster can be quite chaotic.
8812833
Well, Sweetie already has that tiny dragon egg, it would be cool to see another Crusaders get another pet. And since Applebloom technically has Wiona, Scootaloo could end up with a Phoenix pet.
8812970 Good point. Changed.
8813298 The flightless chicken and the flaming chicken. What a combo.
*snerk* that's a good bit of reasoning.
Dammit Trixie. Why??????
Anyway, onward to the Library and fireball eggs!!!
Yet...
Twilight needs parental hug therapy. Really sweet moment, btw.
That's a little unfair, I feel like she's probably graduated to just panicked guards with no explosions these days.
That is one dangerous set of saddlebags. Speaking of panicked guards.
Dynamic cardboard box delivery!
Harsh, and clearly anti-pegasus.
Too late, wrong mare, wrong pregnancy.
I blame Trixie for whatever comes next.
Discord's doomed. RIP in advance.
As I said.
I see, I like this plan.
Dooooooomed.
Egg? Egg!! EGG!!!
8861466
Eggcellent.
8861466
Oh, I fucking love that video.