Trixie and Maud: Heart of Stone

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Twenty Six: An Apple a Day

HEART OF STONE
Chapter Twenty Six: An Apple a Day
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Trixie marched through the streets feeling her anger towards Twilight increase with every step. The more Trixie considered it, the more she realized that there could be no coincidence here. Even if it was subconscious, Twilight was ruining Trixie’s life. Trixie couldn’t understand why Twilight would be doing these things to her, it wasn’t fair.

“Howdy, Trixie,” Applejack said from right behind Trixie. Trixie was so surprised from the sudden greeting that she nearly tripped.

“What do you want with Trixie, can you not see that she is angry at life right now,” Trixie answered back.

Applejack walked into Trixie’s view and gave her a serious look. “What’s wrong, sugarcube?”

Trixie really needed some way to release her anger and Applejack was willing to listen to her rant. “Trixie has just learned that Twilight Sparkle decided to destroy the most important of buildings here in Ponyville. The Golden Oaks Library is now gone, because Twilight decided that Trixie should not have any happy memories or nice places to visit. Trixie hates Twilight for hurting her so, why does Twilight hate Trixie so much. All Trixie ever wanted to do was help Twilight…that’s all.”

Hot tears were streaming down Trixie’s face by the time she finished, her anger now giving way to pain and sadness. Applejack placed a kind hoof on Trixie’s shoulder and said, “do you really think that Twilight destroyed her home on purpose? Trixie, Twilight has lost every single thing she had ever owned when the Library was destroyed. If anypony could understand just how horrible it feels to have everything taken away from ‘em in a single instant, I figured it would be, you.”

Applejacks words had sunk through to Trixie. It had destroyed Trixie when her wagon home was destroyed, but she barely remembered what happened after that. The more Trixie remembered that event the more she realized just how much of her memory was missing from that time. Trixie…could swear that she had gone to ponyville in an attempt to see a home coming but something was very off about the memory. It was almost blurry to remember, and it hurt her head slightly to try and do so.

Trixie took a few minutes to calm down as she followed Applejack around town until they arrived at a small booth that had apples for sale. Trixie guessed that this was Applejacks booth. Applejack stood behind the booth and relieved her older brother, a giant red stallion, from his position. Trixie made sure to stay out of the stallion’s way, he was big and looked very strong.

After a few seconds Applejack picked up an apple with her hoof and gave it to Trixie saying, “here, you might feel better if you eat.”

Trixie never liked the apples that came into New Slate, or the ones in Canterlot. But right now she was a little hungry. She sat down, and decided to take a bite. Trixie’s eyes widened in shock as the strong flavors of the apple went shooting across her tongue. Trixie swallowed the first bite and looked up at Applejack who was smiling down at Trixie. Trixie then finished the apple before saying, “that was delicious. I’ve never had an apple so good before.”

“Of course not, here in Apple Acers we have the best apples. Ya’ll won’t find another apple like ours in all of Equestria,” Applejack said, almost sounding like a sales pitch.

Trixie gave Applejack a happy grin, even her own troubles couldn’t stand up to the might of a delicious apple. “Thank you, Applejack, for the food and the company. I…was really angry, but I guess I didn’t understand how Twilight might’ve felt. Sometimes I am a little selfish…”

Applejack smiled and said, “hey we all have our bad days, that’s why there’s apples. Ah won’t tell Twilight about this, all you need to do is try and have a good time. And if you ever need anypony to talk to, Ah’m here for you.”

Trixie was glad to have a friend like Applejack, something about Applejack reminded Trixie of her mom…back before she went crazy. There was a motherly sense to Applejack, a sense of maturity that Trixie hadn’t seen in her other friends, save for Maud. Trixie’s heart sank a little at the thought of Maud being so…hard to speak with today.

Trixie leaned her back against the cart as Applejack continued working. The day was moving a little slower than usual and that bothered Trixie. All she could do was think, and that was her worst enemy right now. But maybe Applejack could help her in this regard.

“So…Applejack, do you mind if I talk to you some more right now?” Trixie asked, hoping not to disturb Applejacks work.

“Not at all, sugarcube, Ah already said Ah was here for ya,” Applejack replied in her friendly southern drawl.

Trixie grew a small smile before saying, “you know I used to be friends with Twilight back in school.”

Applejack said, “ya sure bout that, Ah mean she always told us she never had friends before ponyville.”

Trixie didn’t meet Applejacks eyes but explained, “well maybe we never used the word ‘friend’, but we were pretty close. Of course when she introduced me to her nerdy brother I knew she would be an awesome friend right away. Of course I related to Shiny a little more than I did to Twilight…but that might have been the schools fault.”

Trixie noticed Applejack had a costumer and stayed quiet until after the blue stallion left. Applejack said, “alright sugarcube, ya can continue now.”

Trixie let out a sigh feeling a little like she was interrupting, Applejacks business, but Applejack was being so kind about it. Trixie placed her hooves on the ground between her hind legs and leaned forward before saying, “I uh…school was always a little hard for me. Only the best unicorns are allowed into the school period. But the last year was the worst possible year for me, for any of us for that matter.”

Applejack giggled a little and said, “Ah’m sure that all them tests got hard.”

Trixie looked up at Applejack not sure if she honestly didn’t know how hard it was or if she did know and was actually making light of the schools idea of tests. Trixie decided to explain the tests a little more either way. “I’m not sure how much of it Twilight has told you, but in the final year the tests changed drastically. The new tests included actual live practice of our spells. The most common test was to send one of us into a dangerous area and we were not allowed to leave until we either subdued or killed the monster that was there waiting for us. Anything from mutant chickens, to giant spiders awaited us.”

Applejack looked astonished at Trixie’s explanation. Applejack was quiet for a moment before getting distracted by another costumer. After her business was completed she looked back Trixie and asked, “are ya tellin the truth? The school forced ya to fight monsters all by yerself?”

Trixie let out a sigh before saying, “well we had an instructor watching us. They were to pull us out in case there was trouble. That didn’t mean there weren’t accidents but usually it was kinda safe. In order to be the very best we could at magic, we needed to learn and practice combat spells. The very best of us got to serve in a special…class. You see, when parents leave their children at the school they have to sign all kinds of papers. The very best students tend to actually get adopted by the school…essentially by Celestia herself. Although that didn’t mean Celestia got to spend a lot of time with any of us.”

Applejack then asked, “wait, but wasn’t Twilight the best student? Does that mean she was adopted?”

Trixie gave a small chuckle remembering how similar Twilight was to herself. “Yeah. Me, and Twilight and a few others were all adopted. But the parents would usually come to visit their kids quite often…except for me and Twilight. My mom is…insane, so she was in the hospital during my youth. Twilight’s parents however seemed to be scared of her. But I heard she transformed them into inanimate objects when she was a filly so it would only make sense they would be.”

Applejack let out a sigh and said softly, “Ah didn’t know…what about yer pa, if Ah may ask?”

Trixie frowned a little as she explained, “I don’t know where he is. My only chance to find out was destroyed with the Library.”

“Ah’m sorry to hear that. Yer not the only one left alone like that. All of us, Twilight and our other close friends, we don’t have good relations if any with our folks,” Applejack explained.

Trixie looked up at Applejack and asked, “is that why you all bonded so well. You took solace in each other or something?”

Applejack nodded and Trixie smiled before saying, “that’s amazing. I mean it’s one thing to not have parents, but to have them live only a few miles away from you and never visit…because they’re afraid of you. That has to be more painful than anything else. I suspect that’s why Twilight began learning all her combat spells. If her parents thought she was a scary powerful creature, then that was what she was going to be. I on the other hoof just wanted somepony to tell me that I was the greatest thing in their life, that I was worth something.”

Applejack placed a caring hoof onto Trixie’s shoulder and said, “you are the greatest Trixie. and you mean everything to us.”

Trixie looked up at Applejack and upon seeing her smile Trixie found herself grinning back. “Thanks Applejack. That means a lot to me. I don’t remember a whole lot from my past, from when I went unmedicated and stuff. But I do remember enough to know that Twilight was a great pony. In the last year of school we all got put into this special class, the five of us, and Twilight was our leader. Of course that meant that when we were sent on the dangerous…tests, Twilight would try and do all the work by herself.

“We didn’t just get tests to prove our worth, because of our excellent skills we were actually sent on missions for Celestia. Usually it was go here, stop this monster, and come back with our heads held high. Twilight hated the fighting, she really did feel like all the fighting, or showing off, only proved that she was a monster to be feared. The worst part was she never tried to get close to anypony other than me. I guess the others just couldn’t understand how it felt to be unloved, like I could.”

Applejack was quiet for a little bit before saying, “you know, now that Ah know this, it makes sense why Ah have never really met Twilight’s folks. Ah have seen them once or twice at the really big events but other than that, they seem to want nothing to do with her. Ah mean they didn’t even come to her birthday parties.”

Trixie replied, “they never came to her birthday parties. The only presents me and her ever received were from Princess Celestia, or Shiny…did I mention how nice of a guy that big old nerd is.”

Applejack smiled and said, “you know it’s weird to hear you say his nick name. Ah only heard Twilight say it before now.”

Trixie pointed to herself and said proudly, “I will have you know that he formally adopted the great and powerful Trixie as a little sister, it also helped that Trixie was really good at role playing.”

Applejack suddenly looked surprised as she asked, “what did you just say? How old are you?”

Trixie was confused as she explained, “I’m eighteen. And I said that Trixie is a good at role playing with Twilight’s brother. Is something wrong with that?”

Applejack stood up straight and said, “of course there is. You were only what, fifteen and doing weird stuff with Twilight’s big brother. Trixie, Shining Armor is nearly twelve years older then you. It’s wrong to…er…role play with him.”

Trixie felt confused, role playing games were one of her favorite things to do. “But Twilight would join in as well? How is it weird?”

Applejacks eyes shot even wider and her face blushed rapidly as she nearly whispered, “what?”

Trixie then added, “yes it is true. Shiny was a paladin, Twilight a sorcerer, and Trixie was always the fighter. Trixie liked being the fighter.”

Applejack seemed to freeze for a moment as her mind worked out what Trixie had just explained. Then with a sudden outburst Applejack said, “gosh darn it Trixie, you had me nearly scared there. You could’ve said it was one of those weird dice rolling games before making me think it was something worse.”

Trixie didn’t understand what Applejack was saying and so Trixie said, “but we were not doing anything weird. The only pony who brought in costumes was Twilight. We had soda, and chips, and pens and stuff. It is not like Trixie was LARPing, that was Twilight’s thing.”

Applejack covered her eyes with a hoof before saying, “darn egg heads. Ya’ll gotta realize that most ponies would think you meant…er…tussling, when ya say role playing.”

Trixie thought for a moment, they did have a scuffle once or twice but it was never a big deal, it was mostly when Shiny would cheat. Trixie simply didn’t get what Applejack was trying to say. Trixie didn’t get into many hoof fights with other ponies, it was not her strong suit.

Trixie shook her head and said, “okay Trixie will not speak of role playing unless she is clear about the dice, and the board and the soda. Especially the soda.”

Applejack nodded in approval and Trixie decided to continue her little story saying, “well aside from the ponies who Twilight should have considered friends, and from Trixie’s old gaming days. Trixie and Twilight had a lot of fun, until Twilight lead us into one mission where everything went wrong. If Twilight would’ve simply changed her approach or if Trixie would have not argued with Twilight then nothing bad would have happened to Fire Light.”

Applejack asked, “who is Fire Light?”

Dark memories came to Trixie’s mind at the question, but Trixie shook her head and said, “she is…an old friend. Trixie and Twilight screwed up and ruined our friendship over her. Trixie blames herself for having ruined Twilight’s ability to trust others.”

Applejack gave Trixie a worried look before she wrapped her legs around Trixie pulling her into a tight hug. After a moment Applejack said, “it’s okay sugarcube.”

Trixie felt a lot better after the hug. She pulled back and said, “I am fine, it is not like anypony died. It was…an accident.”

Applejack smiled and said, “glad to hear it. Now try and calm down. If ya want to you can help me out here. I could use the help, and it will be worth yer time. Ah might make you an apple pie if you do good.”

Trixie grinned excitedly before saying, “I love apple pie. Alright where do I start?”

After a few hours of working alongside Applejack, Trixie felt some measure of pride inside at working at the simple applecart. The work also helped keep her focused and distracted from anymore dark thoughts. Trixie believed that Applejack had known that the work would do this for her.

At first ponies looked a little awkward when dealing with Applejack and Trixie but pretty soon they seemed to stop caring. The idea that maybe Trixie wouldn’t need to do something big to fix her reputation, but rather a lot of small things was a comforting thought. Trixie really felt that doing this was helping her reputation increase around town.

At some point Trixie was carrying a small sack of apples from the cart nearby to replenish the booth, she couldn’t lift the bigger ones. But she could handle the smaller ones just fine. On Trixie’s approach Applejack looked up at the sky and squinted her eyes. Applejack quickly exclaimed, “TRIXIE WATCH OUT!”

Trixie looked up a little too late to move as she witnessed a black square shaped shadow growing rapidly above her. Suddenly the shadow crashed into Trixie’s head forcing Trixie onto the ground hard. Trixie’s vision began to blur as she saw a wooden box lying next to her, that should have hurt, but Trixie could feel nothing at the moment. She then heard Applejack shouting her name. Trixie tried to find Applejack, but her world was quickly enveloped by darkness.

Comments

[crowscrowcrow]

I on the other hoof just wanted somepony to tell me that I was the greatest thing in their life, that I was worth something.

Oh Celestia, somebody give that filly a hug!

“yes it is true. Shiny was a paladin, Twilight a sorcerer, and Trixie was always the fighter. Trixie liked being the fighter.”

This says quite a bit about Applejack that her mind went to the dirty stuff first.

It is not like Trixie was LARPing, that was Twilight’s thing.

Though this fits great with the topic and all, I have some trouble picturing Twilight doing LARP, isn't that a pretty social activity? (With more then just a few people I mean, unless it was similar to how the CMC crusade, just Twi/Shiny/Trixie running around in costumes and doing 'quests' around town... I think I just gave myself diabetes.)

Trixie’s vision began to blur as she saw a wooden box lying next to her

Damnit, Derpy!
I just don't know what went wrong.

I notice that Trixie was acting a bit unreasonable, I wonder if that is the result of skipping her meds. Though Applejack seems to have a good influence on her, that's good. I could definately see AJ giving a motherly vibe, she's been in that role at home for a while now.

Notes:

“What’s wrong Sugarcube?”

Trixie hate’s Twilight for hurting her so

Applejack placed a kind off on Trixie’s shoulder

“Not at all sugarcube,

“alright sugarcube, ya can continue now.”

Trixie let out a sigh feeling a little like she was interrupting Applejacks business

If her parents thought she was a scary powerful creature, than that was what she was going to be.

The only present’s me and her ever received were from Princess Celestia

Careful with those commas and capitals around names, though I have to commend you for absolutely nailing the saidtags now.