Bad Things Happen to Good Ponies

by Tangerine Blast

Isn't That Just Another Word for Bummed Out

Pinkie did as she had done almost every lunch break for the past week. Alone, she walked to the edge of town.

It was quiet out here. Peaceful, with only the birds chirping to keep her company. It wasn't until she reached the edge of the White Tale Woods and the pony leaning against a thin trees did she stop.

Pinkie had no idea where Trixie had been living since coming to Ponyville and she didn’t dare ask. All she knew was that every lunch break Trixie would be leaning against this tree, watching the clouds roll by, and every lunch break Pinkie would join her.

Today, the blue Unicorn was sipping a bottle of sparkling apple cider.

“Trixie,” Pinkie said slowly, though her tone was more curious than accusatory, “Where did you get that? It’s not cider season yet.”

Trixie waved a hoof dismissively at her. “Oh, relax. I stole it from your orange friend’s cellar.”

Pinkie was only slightly worried that that did make her relax. “You could have just asked, you know.” She said, sitting down on the other side of the tree, though it was small enough that she still brushed shoulders with the other pony. “I’m sure Applejack wouldn’t mind selling a few bottles early.”

“It’s not like I didn’t leave a note,” Trixie defended herself.

When Pinkie raised a brow she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“...blaming you, but in my defense it was just sitting in a cellar doing nothing!”

“I think it’s called fermenting.”

Trixie scoffed and took another drink. “That’s stupid. It’s fine the way it is.”

Pinkie only hummed noncommittally in response. Now that she wasn’t being bombarded with orders and baking and work she found her mind wandering back to her dream that night.

“Alright, what’s wrong?” Trixie asked after a few seconds of silence.

“What?” Pinkie asked, caught off guard as she was wretched from her thoughts. “Why would you think something’s wrong?”

Trixie rolled her eyes and threw her empty bottle in the grass. “Oh please. I may not be the most ‘socially apt’ pony out there but you usually at least try to hold a conversation. What’s taking your thoughts away from more important things? Like me.”

Pinkie tried to chuckle at that but her heart wasn’t in it. Her weak attempt only caused Trixie to raise a brow expectantly.

Giving a defeated sigh, Pinkie turned to stare at her hooves, considering how she wanted to approach this topic. “Trixie… do you ever have nightmares? About...uh…” She winced and her tail curled around her legs subconsciously, “...about Discord?”

Trixie eyed her before shaking her head. “Can’t say I have. I mean, those dreams where an unknown figure is chasing me now has a known figure but none specifically about him.” Her eyes narrowed on Pinkie. “But he wasn’t trying to kill me.”

Pinkie bit her lip. “Is it really that obvious what’s upsetting me?”

Trixie scoffed. “You’ve been a mope all week, and honestly, I would be concerned if being hunted across dimensions by a mad demon-slash-god that you inadvertently summoned wasn’t upsetting.”

Pinkie gave her companion a flat look. “Oh wow, thanks, Trixie. Yeah, yeah that definitely made me feel better.”

“Look, do you want my advice?”

“...unfortunately.”

“I think you should see, like, a therapist or something. If your little friends haven’t been able to pull you out of this funk-”

“I haven’t told them yet,” Pinkie interrupting, her cheeks becoming even pinker as she sheepishly rubbed her forelegs together.

Trixie froze and turned to stare at her incredulously. “What?”

Pinkie gave her a sheepish grin. “I haven’t uh… really told them what happened… with Discord and everything. Or about the dreams. I only told them what they needed to know to stop him. I didn’t want to give them details inca-OW!” Pinkie winced and glared at Trixie, rubbing her newly-aching shoulder. “What did you do that for?”

“‘Cause you’re stupid,” Trixie declared simply, “And somepony has to punch all the stupid ponies in the world.”

Pinkie huffed. “So you think I should go talk to them, then?”

Trixie whapped her on the back of the head.

“Ow! Would you cut that out?”

Trixie wasn’t listening. “Of course that’s what you should do, you dolt. Dumping your problems on them is the entire reason ponies make friends.”

Pinkie rubbed her head and pouted. “You know, Princess Luna was a lot nicer about giving me this advice.”

She ducked the next swing.

“Princess Luna is giving you advice and you’re not even following it?” Trixie groused, standing up and flicking her tail irritably. “You’re dumber than I thought.”

“But think about it, Trixie!” Pinkie insisted, “How can they understand? They don’t know anything about the fourth at all! I’d have to explain so much and I’m worried the more I talk about it the more likely he’s to come back! And and and and-OW!!” She glared, rubbing the same spot on her shoulder. “Stop hitting me!”

Trixie looked down at her, unamused. “Are you done?” She waved a hoof vaguely, “With your little panic attack here?”

“Uhg,” Pinkie groaned and stood up as well, “I should have known you wouldn’t understand. Why do I even-”

“You’re worried that they’ll be mad at you and blame you for this whole fiasco even though none of this is even remotely your fault.” Trixie rolled her eyes as Pinkie gaped at her. “Really, I was just annoyed with you avoiding the topic. You’re off to a stellar start talking about your feelings by the way. Were you always this closed off and defensive or is this a new look you’re trying?”

Pinkie’s shoulders dropped and her mouth clicked shut half way through forming a protest. “You kind of get used to it… keeping a world shattering secret for a decade and all.”

“Well you should probably… wait what?” Trixie turned to regard Pinkie as if seeing her for the first time. “A dec- When did you first learn about the fourth?” She took a suspicious step back. “Or are you just way older than you look?”

Pinkie sighed at Trixie’s antics and started to head back to town, the Unicorn following close behind. “It was the same day I got my cutie mark.”

Trixie stopped dead and Pinkie turned back curiously. “You were a child?”

“Yeah?” Pinkie asked, head tilted in confusion. “Why? When did you gain the knowledge?”

Trixie waved her hoof wildly. “Like, three years ago at most! And that’s only because I was actively seeking new and more powerful kinds of magic. What kind of child were you to be after that sort of stuff?”

Pinkie stared at her in shock. “What? I didn’t go looking for the fourth! It just came to me one day in an explosion of colors. I thought everypony who could use it was just blessed with it.”

Trixie sneered at the implications. “Blessed? By who? Discord?”

Pinkie froze. “No! No of course not! That can’t… that just…” She trailed off, shaking slightly in the warm summer breeze.

Trixie facehoofed. “Oh Celestia, no wonder you feel like the world rests on your shoulders. To feel like the fabric of reality is your responsibility as a kid? I’m surprised you’re not more messed up in the head.”

Pinkie didn’t react to the insult. She just stared into the distance, lost in thought.

Trixie rolled her eyes once again and nudged the other pony, snapping her out of her own head. “You think way too much, do you know that? Go talk to your friends before you have another existential crisis or something.”

Pinkie glanced at her again. “Yeah… yeah I guess I should. Uh, thanks for talking to me Trixie. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, too.”

She trotted off and Trixie watched her go. It wasn’t until Pinkie was about to round a bend did Trixie call out to her.

Pinkie stopped and turned, one brow quirked quizzically as Trixie stared at her with the most serious expression she had ever seen on the Unicorn.

“You… do know none of that was your fault, right? You couldn’t have known Discord would escape and it’s not your job to keep the world ticking, anyway.” Trixie then huffed and turned away, calling over her shoulder. “Besides, that’s giving you way too much credit. You’re not the most important pony in the world, you know.”

Pinkie watched her turn and disappear into the trees.

She didn’t move for a few minutes.

She just thought.

***

“Hey Twilight, can I talk to you about something?”

“Ahg!” Twilight screamed in surprise, the book she had been reading rocketing into the ceiling and stuck there. Twilight groaned grumpily and turned to face the intruder. “Pinkie! How did you get in my house?”

“Twi, are you ever going to realize this is a public library?” Spike asked, leaning on the doorframe to the kitchen next to Pinkie Pie. “Or are you doing this on purpose so you don’t have to help run it?”

“I even knocked and everything?” Pinkie added, bewildered, “Me and Spike talked pretty loudly for a couple minutes. How did you not hear us?”

“Well, I...uh… well,” Twilight fumbled, trying to avoid telling them she’d been in a reading frenzy the whole day. A frenzy that had been to purely distract, not educate. She wasn’t even sure what she had been reading if she was being honest. “That’s… that’s not important. What are you doing here anyway?”

“Oh, uh,” Pinkie’s posture immediately dropped and she scuffed the wooden floor self consciously. “I actually need to talk to you about something.” She glanced at Spike. “Both of you.” Seeming to reconsider, she shook her head. “All of you. Can I invite all the girls over here in a couple hours? Just to… just to talk?”

“Uuuh,” Twilight eloquently responded, completely thrown for a loop, “Sure? I mean, sure! Yeah, of course you can. What… do you want to talk about?”

Pinkie gave her a small smile, head still held low. “I would rather wait until I could tell you all at once if that’s okay.”

Twilight glanced at Spike, but he only gave her a pointed look.

"No… problem?" Twilight continued carefully, "I guess I'll see you then."

"Yeah," Pinkie said, letting out a long breath, "see you then."

The two librarians watched her go in silence until the door closed behind her drooping tail.

"Really Twi?" Spike snapped as soon as they were alone, "Pinkie shuts herself away for a week and the first thing you say when you see her again is 'how did you get in my house'?"

"Wha? Hay, that’s not fair" Twilight reeled from the harsh accusation in her roommate's voice. "She hasn't been shutting herself away."

"Oh yeah?" Spike snarked, “When was the last time you’ve seen her?”

“Well,” Twilight fumbled, thinking hard, “Not since the whole ‘Discord incident’ I guess.”

“And that doesn’t seem weird to you?” Spike insisted rolling his wrist in ‘keep going’ gesture, “She hasn’t even thrown a party!”

“That’s not that weird,” Twilight argued, failing to see his point. After all, it wasn’t like Twilight had seen much of anypony since that day. “She doesn’t throw parties that often.”

Spike threw his hands in the air. “Yeah but the war in the north just ended! Applejack’s little sister’s come home and there hasn’t been a single celebration for anyone. You don’t find that weird at all?”

“I guess?” Twilight rubbed her chin and started pacing, “Now that you mention it, Pinkie has been really quiet lately. I just figured we’ve all been reeling from that whole ‘multiple dimensions' thing but she usually bounces back the quickest from stuff like that…”

Pinkie…

She’d been trying not to think of her for the last couple of days. Tried not to think of anything. If she ignored her problems long enough it stood to reason that eventually they had to go away.

“Exactly!” Spike smiled in satisfaction. “Something’s bugging her so maybe next time don’t be so rude to everyone that walks through the door.”

“Yeah, we need to...wait a second.” Twilight stopped her pacing to glare at her roommate. “Was this all just you trying to guilt me into watching the front desk more?”

His smile became devilish. “Maybe. Honestly, I’m just glad we’re having a conversation. You’ve been real weird since the whole craziness too.”

“What?” Twilight denied quickly. “No I haven’t. I’ve been normal.”

Spike raised an eye ridge. “Uh-huh. Locking yourself in your room to ‘study’ for hours is totally normal. I mean, for you it’s not that weird but it’s been happening every day. What is up with that?”

“Nothing,” Twilight insisted, glancing back at the book she had been pretending to read, “It’s really nothing, Spike.”

The dragon stared at her for a long moment while Twilight avoided eye contact. His gaze seemed to dig into her coat and try to reach her soul. Eventually, he simply shrugged and walked out of the kitchen. “Well, whatever. Maybe when Pinkie tells us what’s wrong, you'll open up too.”

Author's Note:

Next Chapter Release Date: Oct. 30th

Having troubles. New relase date: Dec. 19th

Comments

[GMBlackjack]

“‘Cause you’re stupid,” Trixie declared simply, “And somepony has to punch all the stupid ponies in the world.”

A mare after my own heart.

And in usual Scootertrix fashion, deep emotional moments hidden behind utter absurdity. Good. Gooooood.

-GM, master of fics.

[Everyday We Shufflin]

You had me at Scootertrix!

[TeddyG]

Ooo, so good to read about my favorite world. Nice work with Trixie!

[silvadel]

9858043

Which story of yours had scootertrix? I really like their Pinkie and Luna. Actually what would be cute would be having Mentally Advanced Fluttershy meet Scootertrix Pinkie Pie. I think those two would have an interestingly awkward start to the conversation which would eventually go deep. How deep would the apologies go? I also think Scootertrix Pinkie would be about the only pony potentially able to save Background Pony's Lyra.