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Chapter 1 - Inequity lives in us all2,765 words
Chapter 2 - Fitting shapes and passages2,723 words
Chapter 3 - Obstacles and shortcuts1,274 words
Chapter 4 - Temptation and reward5,359 words
Chapter 5 - Burning fuse1,978 words
Chapter 6 - Demolition mare4,219 words
Chapter 7 - Everypony hurts2,601 words

Chapter 7 - Everypony hurts

An hour later, another patient woke up groggy. She was nauseous and feeling clumsy. In the back of her strangely inefficient brain, she knew she had been given medicine to force her to sleep.

She opened her eyes and looked around herself. Many shadows greeted her vision. She moaned, irrationally fearing that she was in some kind of place of torment.

A gentle, yet stern, voice spoke, “Easy, faithful student. The doctors said that too much light would hurt your eyes right away.”

Twilight’s spirits soared. She searched around, but could not find her teacher.

She called out, “Princess? Are you there? Where are you?”

A tiny light appeared at the foot of Twilight’s bed. It illuminated the form of the alicorn who ruled all of Equestria. Her mane, normally gently flowing in some unknown gentle breeze, actually flapped as if in a strong wind.

Twilight remembered that meant the princess was seriously displeased.
Celestia asked, “Are you all right? I have many questions for you.”

The purple unicorn swallowed the bile that threatened to come up on her. She tried to speak, but it hurt her head. She just nodded instead.

With a very even tone, Celestia asked, “Why did you insist on taking Trixie as your apprentice? You know that you don’t yet have the training to guide a young mind.”

Twilight whimpered, “I’m sorry.” Knowing that such a statement would not evade the question, she added, “Her story was just…so sad. I felt so guilty over having everything growing up while she had next to nothing. I wanted…”

Seeing her student’s hesitation, Celestia prompted, “Yes?”

The purple unicorn squeaked, “I wanted to fix her. When she came back to Ponyville, she was broken, defeated. Totally penniless and homeless. I wanted to give her the chances that I had.”

Celestia waited a moment more.

Twilight finished by saying, “I wanted to be friends, to be sisters. I wanted to help her.” She closed her eyes tightly and cried.

The princess alicorn considered her next words carefully. She said, “You did a good job teaching her magic. You did not learn her personality or the depths of her problems. You needed to fix those before giving her something as dangerous as magic.”

The purple unicorn just wanted to hide under the covers rather than disappoint her teacher.

Celestia commented, “A while ago, Trixie woke up on the operating table.”

Twilight gasped and sat up in bed. Her hooves trembled at imagining what shock such a thing might be to a frightened unicorn.

She asked, “Did they put her under again?”

Celestia hunger her head and closed her eyes in sadness. She reported, “She tapped into a huge energy source and broken through the wall. My scouts lost her after she levitated herself into the Everfree forest.”

Twilight moaned, “This is all my fault! I never knew!”

Princess Celestia raised her head and opened her eyes to look curiously at her student. She asked, “Knew what?”

The purple unicorn began crying fully. She wailed, “It wasn’t until that last fight that I looked deep into her mind. She kept it so guarded until then. She was still crying inside. Crying because of her father. Crying because of her mother. Crying over losing her wagon. She’s lost home after home until she was totally beaten. Then…then…I threatened to take away the place she had just accepted as her new home!”

Celestia gently prodded, “What happened?”

Twilight admitted, “I set up a deal with the mayor of Appleloosa to have Trixie be your representative there like I am in Ponyville! I thought it would be good for her to have her own town to look after. I didn’t know I was taking away another home.”

The alicorn princess stood up, deciding that the rest could wait. She spoke, “Now you know why I told you not to take an apprentice. You were not ready and now you passed that inadequacy to another. To be a teacher some say is the highest calling. It requires training and discipline, not just desire.”

Twilight slipped under the covers, feeling very sick in both her stomach and her heart. She whispered over and over, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Tilting her head in curiosity, Celestia asked, “Who are you apologizing to? Me or Trixie?”

The purple unicorn took a deep breath and peeked her head out from under the covers. She meekly admitted, “Her.”

After a moment, a tear slid down her face, glinting in the light of the alicorn’s small light.

She begged, “Princess, help me.”

Princess Celestia walked over to nuzzle her faithful student tenderly. She whispered, “Of course, my dearest student. Always for you.”

=====================

A week later in Ponyville, most of the townsfolk stepped outdoors to watch the spectacle. It was nothing they haven’t seen before, but it simply wasn’t every day that a royal chariot came to Ponyville.

It landed in front of the library. Instead of taking off right away, an armored pegasus stepped down from the passenger section and offered his hoof to the other passenger. She took his hoof and slowly walked off the chariot and towards the library.

The guard walked with her the whole way like a gentlecolt. He even opened the door. Once she entered, he mentioned something kind to her and then shut the door.

Inside, Twilight Sparkle limped towards the ladder that served to ascend to the upper floor. Suddenly, the ladder seemed intimidating.

She wore bandages all across her chest and back. There were bandages around her head as well.

Suddenly, Spike came out of the kitchen. He stopped and stared, then blinked.

Suddenly it hit him. “Twilight! You’re back!”

The purple unicorn winced, feeling a headache come on. She said quietly, “Spike, keep it down. Everything hurts now.”

He raced over, calling, “Owlowiscious! Twilight’s back!”

The owl woke up immediately, gliding down from his high perch to rest upon her back. He called out, “Whoo?”

Reflexively, Spike restated, “Twilight! Don’t you remember…? Ugh, stop that.”

Twilight giggled at the old joke.

The baby dragon plied her with a million questions, including ones such as, “Are you okay?” and “What happened?” as well as “Do you want a sandwich?”

The purple unicorn looked up at her bedroom and hesitantly asked, “Actually, could you call the others here? I think I need to sleep on the ground floor for a couple of weeks. Also, I need to tell them something.”

=====================

A little while later, Applejack stood up at the top of the ladder, clenching a rope between her teeth. She lowered her head slowly, grunting the whole way.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash strained their muscles trying to lift up the bed, or at least lighten the load.

Pinkie Pie and Rarity received the bed on the ground floor, pushing it in front of the fireplace, but not too close.

Twilight slowly crawled onto the bed and lay down upon her belly.

The others gathered around her supportively.

Fluttershy asked, “So…uh, Twilight? What did you want to talk about?” She hastily added, “That is, if you want to talk about it.”

Rainbow Dash stated, “Just spit it out. What’s eatin’ ya?”

Pinkie Pie turned her head upside down and asked with a smile, “You need another party?”

Twilight chuckled until she coughed in pain. She answered, “No, I don’t need a party. I anted to share with you what Princess Celestia told me.”

Rarity fussed over her mane and commented sympathetically, “Oh, my. It must be serious if we all need to hear it. What is it, dear?”

The purple unicorn hung her head in shame, but bravely told her friends what she had to tell them.

“When I took Trixie as an apprentice, I wasn’t ready to teach. I never tried to figure out if she had any real problems before diving right in. Trixie has several bad issues that prevent her from adjusting to a normal life. I made that worse by pushing her to excel at her studies the way I was pushed. I had the support of my parents. Trixie watched both of her parents pass away when she was younger. I’ve never been desperate. She’s lived her whole life desperate. Finally, just when she was adjusting against all odds, I destroy that by forcing her away to a strange place.”

Applejack interrupted her by saying, “Horseapples! What she did to you was NOT your fault!” The others vehemently agreed with this.

Rainbow Dash added, “If I ever see her, I’m gonna kick her where she’ll be screaming for weeks!”

Rarity was shocked, “Rainbow Dash! I never want to hear you say such a thing again!” After moment, she added, “Not that I didn’t think of such a thing myself.”

Fluttershy quietly, said, “I think…”

Pinkie Pie interrupted by saying, “I’m never inviting her to another of my parties!”

Rainbow Dash offered, “Whaddaya say, Pinks? We go prank her right now?”

The pink one jumped up and down, screaming, “Prank contest! Whoever pranks her the worst gets all-she-can-eat cake!”

Flutter shy tried to speak, “Um, girls…I think…”

Applejack asked, “Say there, can anypony get in on this?”

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie gave her a high-hoof and said, “YEAH!”

Twilight said firmly, “No.”

The pranking trio deflated.

Pinkie Pie asked, “Why not?”

The purple unicorn stated definitively, “That’s the worst thing we could do. It’ll just make her more desperate.”

Rarity supported Twilight by saying, “Darling, don’t blame yourself. You can’t be held responsible for what she does.”

Fluttershy said, “Twilight did the right thing.”

Everypony looked at the yellow pegasus.

She shrank into the folds of the blanket and said, “Never mind.”

Twilight asked, “No, please finish your thoughts.”

Fluttershy stated, “I think Twilight was kind for trying to solve Trixie’s problems. I mean…how would any of us act if we were treated the way we treated her?”

Rainbow Dash peevishly asked, “You mean telling her to buzz off when she brings an Ursa into Ponyville?”

The purple unicorn rebuked her friend strongly by stomping her hoof onto the bed and saying, “Trixie did NOT bring the Ursa Minor into Ponyville! That was Snips and Snails. Perhaps she did brag, even outright lie. However, you can’t punish her for what somepony else does wrong. That’s not justice.”

Nopony had anything to say about that.

She continued by saying, “Fluttershy is right. Trixie came back to Ponyville when she was lost, scared, tired, hungry, nearly broke, and even homeless. The first thing she did was try to earn a meal. Was that so wrong? Then that waiter tried to cheat her! How would you react if that was the only treatment you ever received?”

Without thinking, Rainbow Dash blurted, “I’d sock the jerk right in the chops!”

Applejack agreed, “He’d deserve it, that’s right!”

Fluttershy explained, “Trixie really has worse problems than just being poor. She can’t even deal with what’s around her.”

Twilight regretfully stated, “When Trixie attacked me, she may have chosen that herself, however I was the one who made her feel threatened. Without asking her what she wanted, I wound up almost taking away the one thing that kept her stable.” She lowered her ears and finished, “A real teacher would have taken the time to learn al about her and given her the help she really needed. I really failed her. I gave her a powerful weapon and then made her think she was under attack.”

Pinkie Pie observed, “Well, it’s not like she’s all alone and homeless again…” Suddenly, her eyes went wide as she realized what she just said. She feebly said, “Oh.”

Applejack asked, “So, what yer sayin’ is that now we’ve got a super-powerful unicorn who hates everyone in Ponyville an’ she’s hidin’ out in the Everfree forest?”

Twilight affirmed, “That’s about the size of it. You should know that Trixie has more inner potential than I do. If a proper teacher ever started teaching her again, she would only grow more powerful. If we ever tried to capture her, she would only double her hatred towards us. I just don’t know what we can do about her. Princes Celestia has forbidden me from taking another apprentice until further notice.”

Rarity trembled on her part of the bed. Fluttershy placed a supportive wing over her back.

The stylish pony asked fearfully, “Wh-what if w-we just, um, ignore her? You know, live and l-let live?”

The purple unicorn felt the old fire in her soul. She felt compelled to help.

She recited, “I refuse to just let her suffer. I’m going to find a way to help her. Even if it means risking myself, even if it means letting someone more qualified than I am do it for me. Princess Celestia said to tell all of you, ‘Never judge a pony until you have walked a thousand miles in her horseshoes’.”

Silence reigned for several minutes.

Finally, Fluttershy piped up, “Um, Twilight? We’re with you.”

Rainbow Dash punched the air with her hooves, saying, “Yeah! Whatever you need us to do, we’ll do it!”

Applejack agreed, “Whatever makes you happy, sugar cube. I guess you really should turn yer back to yer problems.”

Rarity announced, “I shall be happy to assist you in any endeavor you choose.”

Pinkie Pie cheered, “Sounds like a party to me!”

Twilight smiled for the first time in days. She counted herself lucky. Suddenly, she looked out of the window at the bright, blue sky. She wondered if Trixie fared just as well without her own private cadre of supporters.

=====================

Deep in the Everfree forest, a group of manticores all surrounded a cave. The cave used to belong to them. However, an intruder had just through them all out at once.

The biggest male of the group was working up his courage to try to win his family’s cave back. Finally, he jumped in front of the cave and roared a challenge. He spread his wings menacingly and arched his poison tail in an attack posture.

The other manticores roared in support. The biggest male took a step towards the cave. His left foreleg stepped over the boundary of the mouth of the cave.

A soft, feminine voice spoke sweetly, “Wrong move, kitten.”

A lightning bolt erupted from the cave, drilling its way into the chest of the big male manticore. Shocked beyond pain, the creature fell over backwards onto its back.

Bright tendrils of blue energy snaked out, gripping the creature by its limbs. The strange things pulled the manticore into the cave in a single, swift motion.

All that was left was the whimpering of the manticore as it reached the master of the cave.

The rest of the family all mewled pathetically, hoping the monster in the cave would spare their family member.

The sound of sharp crackling answered their pleas. The weak sound of whimpering somehow came out amplified from the cave. The whimpering continued for nearly a minute.

Then the sounds of wet tearing filled the air. Gone were any trace of whimpering.

The family of manticores fled the area, deciding that they would find a new home somewhere…anywhere far away from here.

The last sound from the cave was the soft, feminine voice delicately saying, “Mmmm…juicy!”

THE END

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#1 · Oct 18th, 2011 · · ·

woah... evil ending... i must have more. trixy went evil. cool story brony.

#2 · Oct 19th, 2011 · · ·

SEQUEL

NOW '

DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT

MAKE A SEQUEL OR ILL GO OVER TO YOUR HOUSE... AND.. uhmn... CUT YOU!

Please?

LCranston

LCranston #3 · Oct 19th, 2011 · · ·

I love comments. Thank you, everyone.

I think this story does beg a sequel. However, I have to split my time between coming up with the rest of the chapters for "A Place for Everything and Everyone" and my civic duty to clean up Arkham City. Take that, Two-Face!