• Published 16th Feb 2014
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Trixie's Forest Retreat - crowscrowcrow



Following the events of Boast Busters, Trixie decides to hide from the town (and Rainbow Dash in particular) by taking cover in the Everfree Forest. Not every problem can be outrun, and sometimes facing them can have unexpected consequences.

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Chapter 109 - Riled


It was way too early in the morning for Rainbow Dash’s tastes. The sun was barely peeking above the horizon. To make matters worse, her earlier hours made it much easier for Celestia to personally torment her every day. The sun just happened to shine in her eyes on her way to work now. Every. Single. Time. She began to wonder if saving Equestria twice (Hey! That dragon had to count, right? It was huge!) was enough to ask for a slight change in where the sun came up in the morning. She could deal with that after a nice nap, but not in the morning. Especially now that she wasn't getting enough sleep in the first place.

Luckily, Dash was prepared for all weather types, if you were looking for a spot in the Wonderbolts you had to be. So, like most mornings since she was 'promoted', Dash was flying blind. Quite literally, in fact. She'd memorized most of the path to the weather office to the point that she didn't really need to see it, and thankfully going to work so early meant it was very unlikely for her to crash into another Pegasus. Of course, this approach to her problem would have been suicide in Cloudsdale. So, chalk one up to living in a mostly Earth pony town.

The ironic thing was, in the afternoon Ponyville would be in the shade. At least, until Dash called in the other weather teams to spread out the clouds to their designated areas. Right now, Most of Ponyville was overcast by the delivery of rainclouds that arrived the previous evening, but that only covered the actual sky, not the horizon where the blasted sun was tormenting her from.

A quick peek down revealed she was just passing over Rose Luck’s flower shop, which meant she was nearly at her destination: the weather team office. She had an hour or so of dull paper work, then it would be time to make her rounds and get everypony up to date, and then... She shuddered. Anything would be better than another day of this.

Would it be wrong to hope for a disaster to strike Ponyville? Nah, she was pretty sure that was a perfectly reasonable thing to wish for. Just a small one, like, maybe if Nightmare Moon came back to turn just mornings into night. Or, the dragon came back for its hoard. Or, the ursa came back to eat Trixie.

Actually, that last one sounded kind of bad, but Dash fully intended to save Trixie, obviously. It wouldn’t even be hard, bears couldn’t fly. She could just take Trixie up to a cloud, and keep her there until the ursa got tired and wandered off. Yeah, that was a great plan. Hopefully it would take a day or two before it gave up, which would give Dash the perfect excuse to just lay on a cloud for two days. With Trixie on top of her. On second thought, maybe that wouldn’t be quite as naptastic as she’d originally thought.

Her cheeks burned. Must be because of the sun, yeah.

For completely unrelated reasons, she found herself looking forward to dinner at Applejack’s place tonight. She’d really missed hanging out with her friends. Normally, she would have tried to visit Fluttershy’s house at the very least, but even just stopping by was more effort than her body was willing to put in at the end of the long days. Honestly, just dragging herself up to her own bedroom was hard enough, she’d defaulted to the couch once or twice already.

She felt awful for not seeing anypony, especially the pony she was supposed to be marefriends with. But, at least she wouldn’t have to feel guilty about it much longer.

Trixie would be there. A small smile found its way to her lips as she thought about her. She had not seen her in what felt like years. What was it? A week? Two days? A month? Too long at any rate. Given how clingy Trixie could be, she felt a little sorry for leaving her alone for so long. Hopefully the dinner would be enough to tie them both over for a while. Besides, it would be fun to see the pushy blowhard try to get through dinner without stepping on anypony’s tail. Actually, that was her pushy blowhard now, wasn’t it? Should she be telling her friends she was dating her? Meh, it was too much effort to think about. If it came up, then future Dash could be the one to deal with it.

However, Fluttershy would be there too. Even if Dash told herself she didn’t have time to visit the cottage, that was only partly true. If she really wanted to, she could have made the time, just like she was doing for tonight. “Ugh, I am the worst. What am I dodging Fluttershy for? Nothing's really different, right?”

No, that wasn't true. Something was different, and she knew exactly what it was. Fluttershy had, through setting her up with Trixie, rejected her. But then, Dash always knew that was gonna be an option. Hay, she wasn’t even sure if Fluttershy was interested in mares. Not for lack of trying of course. But if somepony thought it was hard to get Fluttershy to say her own name, they’d never tried to steer a conversation with her toward a personal question. Dash could have sworn Fluttershy was born with bright red fur whenever she even tried to approach the subject. It was impossible.

“She sure looks cute, erm, funny that way though,” Dash thought aloud with a smirk.

Her smile quickly faltered as she felt the familiar stinging feeling in her chest. Dash bit her treacherous lip; she was supposed to keep smiling! She wasn’t supposed to be this pathetic! Why did it bother her this much? She knew from the start it might not happen! Were her stupid feelings too stupid to understand that?

On the other hoof, it was kind of Fluttershy’s fault. She’d cheated! Everything would have been fine if she’d just let things be. They had a good thing going, right? Sure, just hanging out with Fluttershy hadn’t been everything Dash hoped for, but it had been good enough. They had fun, didn’t they? Maybe one day she’d even pony up, and tell Fluttershy how she really felt.

The aching in Dash’s chest got worse.

Dash was supposed to get around to bringing it up on her own terms, when she was ready for the consequences. It was unthinkable that Fluttershy would cheat and reject her preemptively like that. But she had, and it hurt. It hurt every time she looked at Fluttershy. She didn’t want to feel that way! She didn’t want to be forced to fake a smile now!

Dash smacked herself across the muzzle as hard as she could. “Get a grip!”

Any less awesome a pegasus might have sent themselves down into a spiraling crash if they’d tried that in midflight. With pride, Dash reconfirmed she was indeed awesome. Still, her cheek stung like mad! Maybe next time she’d not hit herself quite that hard. As soon as that thought registered, Dash smacked herself again. “No pussing out!”

This was exactly why she didn’t want to be around Fluttershy for a while. She was still her closest friend, but Dash couldn’t trust herself not to do something stupid. She was pretty sure she would be perfectly fine in a week, she was too awesome to be broken up for any longer than that, and if that meant using her job as an excuse to avoid seeing her, then fine. She’d be totally over it soon. Though, just as Fluttershy must have planned, Trixie had helped her immensely with that.

As annoying, loud, and clingy as Trixie could be, Dash had to admit she really did like spending time with her. Though in hindsight, and with a little help from Rarity, Dash figured out she should probably have offered to go on a date with Trixie, instead of jumping straight to ‘asking’ Trixie to be her marefriend right off the bat. Apparently that was much more in line with giving somepony a chance. Not that it really mattered at this point. Besides, it was fun. There was no denying Trixie was immensely eager to make the most of their relationship, and her enthusiasm was infectious. So, in a way, it was a really smart thing to do, right? Dash thought so, at least. And she was looking forward to seeing the clingy blue mare again tonight at Applejack's.

“Huh, actually, I wonder what Trixie will obsess more over tonight, me, or the apple-pies. Gosh those are great. Just thinking about it m-Ouch!”

Gah, it stings to talk!

Dash rubbed her sore cheek. If she’d hit herself any harder, she might have had trouble stuffing her face with apple-pie tonight. What was she even thinking when she accepted that invitation for dinner? It made it obvious that she could make time if she wanted to. So much for avoiding Fluttershy.

Meh, she was probably over thinking this whole dinner thing. It wasn’t as if she was expected to be alone with Fluttershy tonight. Though she probably would have to talk to her. Fluttershy would want to hear all about her new job. As would everypony else for that matter. Dash hoped they were prepared for a long rant. Actually, that was going to be awesome. There was no way the week she was having wasn’t the worst week in history, but that also meant she could use it to outdo Trixie and Applejack in their ‘toughest job’ contest.

Dash felt a grin creep along her lips. It didn’t make up for all the lousy work, but it was a small point of light in the dark that she was going to milk for all it was worth. Trixie and AJ would have to admit defeat and shut up, and Fluttershy would probably try to make her feel better.

Daydreaming was a great past time. Before she knew it, Dash found herself landing in front of the weather management office. Slowly, she set one hoof against the door, taking a deep breath. She was solemnly aware it would be her last gasp before work officially started, then, she pushed the door open.

“Aaaaah!”

A loud, ear piercing scream tore through the tranquil skies.

“That sounds like Twilight!”

Dash took a moment to admire just how much lung capacity an out of shape librarian like Twilight had, as the scream had yet to stop. Then, Dash realized just what this scream meant...

“Oh yeah! Score!” Dash looped into the air, hoof pumping in victory. A scream like that could only mean something was wrong! Sweet! “Oh!” She managed to abort her victory dance half way through the second routine, as a couple of ponies were staring at her from the ground. “Uh, I mean, I better go see what’s wrong!” She launched herself away from the boring paper work, and toward long awaited adventure!

At break neck speeds, Dash crashed through the window and tumbled into the library, taking out a few shelves of books along the way for good measure. Dramatic entrances to help screaming ponies needed things like that, she reasoned. Though, oddly enough, the screaming had stopped. “Guess she must have run out of steam. Twilight! Spike! Hello?” she called out while trotting through the library. Everything seemed to be in order, minus her awesome entrance. She had kind of expected to find some giant hole in the wall, or ominous looking giant crystal in the middle of the room, or something.

Her ears perked up at a faint stumbling sound coming from below. It rapidly got louder until the basement door slammed open, revealing a disheveled Twilight. Right behind her was a wheezing, thoroughly out of breath Spike. If Dash had to guess, he was responsible for getting her to stop screaming.

Before Dash could say anything, Twilight noticed her and yelled, “It’s gone! She took it!”

Tilting her head in confusion, Dash asked, “Uh, took what? Whoa!” In a split second, Twilight was upon her and shook her by the shoulders. This had to be a really big deal if Twilight was this out of whack. Maybe somepony had stolen an ancient artifact, and Twilight was tasked with catching the culprit, who was zooming away a speeds only a pegasus like Dash could catch up to! Maybe she'd lost some awesome, secret amulet that makes a pony faster than ever! Maybe—

Twilight pressed her face uncomfortably up against Dash’s own as she spoke. “The book! There’s no telling what she—Rainbow Dash, you’re okay? Good. Did you see her? We have got to find her right now! Before it’s too late!”

And just like that, Dash practically felt her eyes glaze over with disinterest. “Wait. This is about a late book? Twilight, come on! I thought there was a real problem.” She sighed with crushing disappointment.

“It is a real problem! Do you have any idea what Princess Celestia will do to me if she finds out I let this happen!?” Twilight yelled and pushed herself away from Dash, then ran towards the front door. “Quick! Maybe we can still catch her in time!”

Just great. A real disaster would have been a valid reason to blow off work, but this was just a minor nuisance. One that only made her late for work. Her schedule —Oh Celestia, The Rainbow Dash had a schedule!— was already tight as it was if she wanted to be able to fit in dinner at the Apple’s farm. “Look, Twi, I don’t have time for this. Do you have any idea how many weather forms are waiting for me right now? I swear, they multiply if they’re left alone for five minutes. I gotta get going.”

Screeching to a halt by the library entrance, Twilight flung open the door. “What? No, you don’t understand. It’s—Ah never mind! No time!” Without another word, she raced off faster than Dash had ever seen her run before.

“Huh, that egghead has some moves if it comes to her books. Oh, hey, Spike. You okay there?” She waved at the panting, dragon-shaped rug that lay on the floor. A single reptilian eye moved to look at her, but nothing else. “Yeah, you’re fine. Hey, could you tell Twilight I don’t need those books anymore? Thanks pal, catch you later.”

She briefly considered taking the door, but it only felt right to take the window out again.

It must have been nice to have a cushy librarian job, if Twilight could afford to freak out over a late book. What did Twilight actually do all day? Sleep in the library? That’s what Dash would do anyway. It sounded like a dream job. Literally.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Dash pushed open the door to her office. She nearly tripped over the pile of mail that was heaped on the floor. “Gah! Heh… I guess I can just use that in the story tonight. Future Dash has all the luck.”

She gave one last look out toward the Everfree Forest, hoping she might see something blue and sparkly moving through the trees. Sadly, all of Ponyville was peaceful and quiet. Too bad, she’d really had her heart set on that two day cloud camp out with Trixie. Though, Now that she thought about it, she wasn’t sure how Trixie would actually react to meeting the ursa again. Although Trixie never said anything about them, it was no secret that she still had terrible nightmares. Dash and Fluttershy had agreed not to talk to Trixie about it unless Trixie brought it up first. They had to be about the ursa, right? Going through that had to terrify almost anypony. And no matter how Trixie boasted, she was a lot more sensitive then she liked to let on. How would Trixie react to seeing it again? Dash felt her chest tighten as she tried to picture her ideal napping scenario again, on a cloud above the ursa. Except, this time it featured a mortified Trixie that held on to her for dear life, begging Dash not to drop her.

Biting her lip, Rainbow Dash dragged her gaze away from the Everfree Forest. “You know… Another boring day isn’t so bad.” she muttered while she stepped inside, pulling the door shut behind her.


The first rays of sunshine tried to worm their way through the stalwart cloth that shielded the cozy bedroom from the world outside. Their best efforts formed mere inoffensive pinpricks of light that speckled the dark cloth, and would never have been able to stir even a light sleeper from her slumber, nor offend the eyes of a weakened patient.

In the tranquility two ponies lay curled up against one another. Though only one of them was actually asleep. Trixie peeked at Fluttershy from between her eyelashes, certain the mare would wake soon. If not awoken by time, then by something, or somepony, else.

Sooner or later, Twilight would discover that the book was missing. In fact, Trixie was sure she had heard a faint echo of a scream reverberate just a little while ago.

Honestly, it had been remarkably easy to break into the library. Some of the windows weren’t even closed. That had initially smelled like the most obvious of traps, but in truth, whoever was in charge of the library’s security was merely oblivious. Trixie supposed that would change after last night.

Trixie carefully ran a hoof from Fluttershy’s shoulder down to her elbow, and smiled as she watched Fluttershy mumble in her sleep. Whatever reaction Twilight might have, Trixie didn’t have to deal with it just yet, allowing her time to just appreciate her good fortune.

Oddly, ever since Trixie snuck back into bed, Fluttershy had not attempted to eat her mane again. Granted, Trixie had not slept either, so maybe Fluttershy only attacked when she was asleep? That was weird.

A loud banging on the front door shattered the stillness. Quickly followed by Twilight Sparkle’s voice. “Trixie! I know you’re in there!”

She sounds a little agitated. Trixie closed her eyes and prepared to look groggy when she felt Fluttershy stir. She had to pretend as though she was only just waking up as well after all. Perhaps she ought to feel more nervous, but she'd spent the last four hours perfecting her alibi, and planning out how to reason Twilight away from immediate suspicion. It would be simple.

“Just a little…” Fluttershy mumbled, and nuzzled against Trixie, trying to retreat back into dream land.

Another shout outside shook the windows. “Open this door! Fluttershy! Are you okay?”

It must have gotten through to Fluttershy as she startled awake. “T-Twilight?” There was another brief moment of quiet, then Fluttershy squeaked and rapidly pulled her hooves away from Trixie. “O-oh!”

Trixie knew it was bound to end, but she was still disappointed to feel Fluttershy retreat. Opening one eye, she watched Fluttershy slip out of bed and trot toward the window. “Ugh… it’s too early. What does she want? Trixie does not wish to be disturbed.” Although she said that, she still rolled out of bed and trotted towards the stairs. Loud, angry hoof beats could be heard from downstairs as Twilight continued to yell up for Fluttershy. “Trixie will go save the door.” She faked a yawn, grumbling a little as she made her way to the bedroom's doorway.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy pushed aside the makeshift curtain, and opened the window. “U-uhm, Twilight? Is something wrong?” It was simple for Trixie to detect the tone of fear in Fluttershy’s voice. Twilight showing up at her doorstep at the crack of dawn was probably official Element of Harmony business, or at least some sort of animal related emergency. Either way, it probably would involve something scary.

“Fluttershy! You’re okay! Where is Trixie?”

Pausing at the bedroom doorway, Trixie briefly looked back to Fluttershy when she heard that question.

“T-Trixie? W-Well. Uh, she’s, erm… around.” Fluttershy’s face turned bright red as she stumbled over her words, searching desperately for some answer to the question without having to say they were both in the bedroom.

“Around? That’s not—Look, never mind! Just don’t move from that spot, I’m coming in!”

Trixie wasn’t quite sure what Twilight’s plan was, but it struck her as an excellent idea to hurry up and open the door before it got blasted off its hinges. With a quick sprint to get herself line of sight on the door, and a hint of magic, she unlocked it. Another, quick tug of her magic opened it. When a blast of arcane death didn't immediately shoot through the door, Trixie decided to carefully approach.

Twilight stood a few paces away from the door, looking clearly surprised when it just opened on its own. The glowing of her horn betrayed she had been in the middle of casting something. It was difficult for Trixie to tell from so far away what exact spell, but it looked suitably advanced for ‘Celestia’s Student’. It didn’t look like anything destructive, but perhaps some form of teleportation?

Stepping off the staircase, Trixie gave Twilight a confused look. “Twilight? Trixie’s here. Is some—Whoa!”

With a flash, Twilight was suddenly about half a straw’s breadth away from Trixie’s face. There was a stray twitch in Twilight’s right eye. “Where is it?”

Flinching away, Trixie tried to force her throbbing heart back down out of her throat. Some part of her brain couldn’t help but point out she’d made the right read. Teleportation. Nailed it.

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