Here’s a bit of free advice: never look back at your life and try to write down the names of all the friends you’ve had over the years. You’ll just depress yourself as you realize how many friends you once had, but no longer do, due to moving away from them, or them moving away from you, or just drifting apart…or getting into fights with them, the kinds of fights that end friendships.
Why am I giving that advice? Because I did that recently – started just an hour ago, actually, since I couldn’t really bring myself to work seeing as Pokey is…well, I gave him a few days off, and hopefully he’ll calm down. Anyway, in my life I’ve had more than seventy ponies I’d call ‘friends.’ Seventy!
I currently have five. I had six, but I don’t think Pokey’s really in that category anymore. Seven even, if you want to count Dinky, but she’s just a school foal, while I’m an adult, so I don’t think I can really count her without eyebrows raising.
So…five. Out of seventy. But wait, it gets worse, because you can’t just write down the names on a piece of paper, you have to remember why you’re not friends with them anymore, or at least that’s what you’ll end up remembering. And yeah, I remember that Spring Heart just moved from Neigh Orleans to Trottingham, and Crater Twist and me just kind of stopped hanging out, and then there’s a whole slew of ponies I used to know in Neigh Orleans that I just lost touch with when I moved to Canterlot…
…but then I remember ponies like Chocolate Tail, who got sick of hearing me go on about being Luna’s apprentice, and Ink Blot, who…got sick of hearing me go on about being Luna’s apprentice, and Cloud Dasher – who got sick of hearing me go on about being Luna’s apprentice, and Butter Truffle, who…hey, it’s not because I kept harping on about being Luna’s apprentice! No, I called her fat. I regretted it instantly – well, not instantly, but…
…look, I regret it now, okay? I wish I hadn’t done it, but I did, and now she hates me.
Rain Dancer? Drove her away. Brawny Heart? Drove him away. Daisy Meadow? Drove her away. Dream Treasure? Drove her away. Toodle Roo? Drove him away, though to be fair to me he was really annoying.
Then there’s a whole load of ponies all at once in the end there: Amethyst Star, Bright Prism, Winter Wind, Dapple Flicker, Honey Sprinkles, Roller Crackle…I had a whole ton, but then I brought an ice palace down on top of all our heads. Melted it. Still not entirely clear on what happened, don’t think I ever will be, but it was the after-graduation party for Luna’s magic academy, and I don’t even know why I attended. And to be perfectly honest, none of them were really friends, though I think I was making headway…
…well. There’s more, but it was really just a depressing list – a whole lot of failure. Except for the first five names I wrote down. Still, it doesn’t take a genius to notice a pattern with all the friends I’ve had. Yeah, some I just lost contact with, some moved away, and to be fair to me sometimes I was the one who cut things off. Once or twice. But overwhelmingly? The most common reason why I don’t know all these ponies anymore?
Because I screwed up. Because I said something I shouldn’t have or did something I shouldn’t have done, sometimes one big thing, sometimes too many little things over the course of our friendships…and they all ended, and it was my fault. And the same thing will happen this time, too. It’s not something I want – Luna knows I don’t want it – but, I mean, looking at cold, hard numbers, looking at the list of seventy ponies I’ve known, I know it’s coming one of these days.
Stupid pattern recognition.
---
Trixie stared at the cup full of green liquid that sat on her kitchen counter as the rain continued to pour outside. In her mind’s eye, it stared back at her malevolently. Drink me, it seemed to say. Drink me instead of that swill. The truth will set you free.
“You’re not the truth,” Trixie informed the cup, even as she took a sip from another cup, this one floating in her telekinetic grasp and containing nothing more offensive that coffee with lemon and a pinch of cinnamon. “Truth is a Scourge. The zebras knew what they were doing when they named you. You’re evil.”
I’m not evil. I’m just honest. I just make you say what’s on your mind…whether you want to or not. It’s not my fault that what’s on your mind isn’t the kind of thing that ponies want to hear.
Trixie grimaced. “Evil,” she insisted.
It’s not my fault you think the way you do about Pokey Pierce. I just helped you get your true feeling out into the open.
“Those are not my true feelings. That was stuff I said in panic when I realized just how out-of-control the effect was getting. Then Pokey came in and you made me start blabbering about what I thought about his horn obsession.”
Truth is a Scourge was a potion that Trixie had pulled from a zebra spellbook some months back. She’d held off on brewing up a batch to practice on, though, having had her fill of the bizarre, ritual-based magic of the zebras on her first day of seriously practicing their magic, a long, bizarre day full of a considerable amount of difficulty and exhaustion. She had been meaning to try it sooner, but then a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle had come to Ponyville and…well, that was an eventful, surprisingly bear-filled night, once that Trixie was none too proud of due to how things had ended between her and Twilight, who had only been looking to further her understanding of magic.
Instead, she was now a wanted criminal, and while most of the blame for that lay on Twilight’s shoulders, a not insignificant amount was on Trixie’s own. The only upside to it all had been that Twilight had left behind her wagon full of magical books and tomes, which Trixie had appropriated in order to expand her magical knowledge (as a large part of what had happened with Twilight could have been avoided had Trixie been a better sorceress). Trying to learn those spells had consumed most of the intervening time – when it hadn’t been consumed by her job as Representative of the Night Court to Ponyville, the machinations of her increasing number of Night Court rivals, marauding parasprites, the agents of the Tyrant Sun, the secrets of Andalantis, and, Trixie had to admit, her own desire to generally do as little work as possible.
But, a few days ago, Trixie had found the directions and ingredients for Truth is a Scourge while cleaning out the desk in her office, and decided to at last give it a try. And technically, it was a resounding success. Pokey Pierce had not been amused, however, by the diarrhea of the mouth that Trixie had acquired while under the potion’s effects.
Should he really be working for you if you’re going to think so little of him?
“I don’t think little of him! And I hate you. Evil.” Trixie paused as she considered the cup. “And…and an inanimate object. You’re going down the sink now.” Trixie’s horn glowed brightly as she dumped the contents of the cup into the kitchen sink.
No….!
“Oh yes,” Trixie said, smiling brightly as she listened to the splatter of the truth is a scourge potion pouring down the drain, slowly, without any ability to save its evil self. After several moments, however, Trixie realized that the sound of the splashing sounds reaching her ears were far louder than they were supposed to be. She rolled her eyes as she looked up, pausing in pouring out Truth is a Scourge, expecting to see the rain having picked up – why there was rain today, she didn’t know, the weather schedule had called for a storm next week, and it was something she’d have to bring up next time she attended a town meeting – but, outside, the rain seemed to be coming down with no more intensity than it had been able to work up for the past hour. Nevertheless, she heard splashing, and – hoof-stomps? – outside, in her back yard.
Curiosity getting the better of her, Trixie set down the evil potion – its cup still a little more than half-empty – and wandered over to her back door, opening it up telekinetically and bringing her coffee with her, about to take a sip when she was given something new for her mental list of ‘strangest things she had ever seen:’ Raindrops, Element of Honesty, weather pony with a severe anger problem who was more than a little intimidating to Trixie, stomping around in a six-inch deep puddle of water that had managed to form in Trixie’s backyard. The jasmine pegasus’ eyes were closed as she let herself fall over and wallowed in the water muck and grass, wings flapping and tossing water into the air, head shaking so that her mane would be totally soaked. Then just as suddenly, Raindrops was on her hooves again, bucking like a bronco a few times before simply prancing in place.
“I love rain!” Raindrops called out at length.
“What are you doing?” Trixie asked at nearly the same time, before she could stop herself.
Raindrops froze at the sound of Trixie’s voice, eyes opening as she slowly turned, as though taking her surroundings in for the first time. Trixie stood stock still even as she did, wondering what kind of terror she may have just unleashed as Raindrops, soaking wet, covered in mud and loose grass, locked eyes with Trixie, her own eyes wide and a look of barely-contained anger on her…
…no, wait, that wasn’t barely-contained anger at all. That was slight surprise that eroded into a kind of embarrassed, but happy, chuckle, as Raindrops rubbed a hoof behind her head. “Eh heh heh…” she laughed. “Hi, Trixie.”
Trixie stared.
“I’m, uh…sorry, didn’t know this was your backyard,” Raindrops continued, fluttering her wings slightly. “Um…well, I didn’t notice it was your backyard, is what I meant.”
Trixie stared.
“Um…Trixie?”
Trixie’s eyes narrowed. Images of Raindrops flashed through her mind, the Raindrops she knew, the Raindrops who was her friend, the Raindrops she was terrified of inciting to anger. That Raindrops may have liked the rain, but there was a considerable difference between liking the rain, and splashing like a pig in mud while it was raining. Plus, she was a weather pony, and she hated unexpected changes to the weather routine – Trixie had vivid memories of the Longest Night and her bumbling attempts to either fix or exacerbate the potential weather problems on that night, not caring which she achieved. Raindrops had nearly murdered her.
The real Raindrops wouldn’t be acting like this during an unscheduled storm. No, Trixie was certain that instead, she’d be up in the skies fighting it, or else chewing out or wailing on her boss, Rainbow Dash, in either case her anger elicited at this violation of schedule.
Which meant only one thing.
“Imposter!”
“Wait, what?” The pegasus imposter asked, a look of fairly convincing confusion overcoming her face as Trixie’s coffee mug slipped from her grasp and hit the floor of Trixie’s kitchen, its contents flying everywhere, though thankfully the mug itself didn’t break.
Trixie didn’t let the imposter’s convincing act dissuade her as she wove magic, determined to take out this imposter – Night Court spy? Zizanie or Twilight Sparkle, back for revenge? She wasn’t sure yet – as quickly as possible. First, she wove a glamor over her own eyes that would prevent all light from reaching them – rendering her blind, yes, but also rendering her immune to the spell she cast simultaneously, a painfully bright flash from her horn. She heard the imposter Raindrops cry out in pain as light as bright as a magnesium flare went off only a few feet from her face.
Trixie dropped the glamor over her eyes, and saw the imposter stumbling. Her quarry distracted, she reached out telekinetically, wrapping her aura around the pegasus – if she really was a pegasus – and pulling her inside, keeping her suspended in the air over her kitchen. The imposter was rubbing her eyes with her coronets as she did. “Argh! Trixie! Put me down!”
“No!” Trixie exclaimed, as her horn glowed. She turned herself invisible, and at the same time created an illusory double a few feet away. As an extra precaution, she herself also moved from her original spot, more magic around her hooves to hide the sound of her hoof-steps. “I don’t know who you are,” she said, a fourth spell taking her words and projecting them from the illusory double she had created, “and you’ve admittedly managed a very good disguise – actual shape-shift, I’m guessing? – but you’ve got Raindrops’ personality completely wrong!”
“Trixie – ”
“Amateurish mistake, really,” Trixie pressed on. By now, the imposter’s eyes were open, and she was glaring at the illusion of Trixie, or trying to, though she was still recovering from the flash of light that Trixie had produced. “So! Are you Zizanie?” one of Trixie’s hooves involuntarily went to her horn at that, as she vividly recalled that the spymaster and infiltrator had somehow been able to make Trixie’s horn disappear for several long, agonizing seconds, utterly robbing Trixie of her magic.
“Trixie!”
“Your little horn-disappearing trick won’t work this time, Zizanie!” Trixie continued, as she made her illusion jab a hoof at Raindrops. “You’re not just being held up by telekinesis. You’re in a bubble of anti-magic!”
“I’m not Zizanie!”
“Ha!” Trixie laughed. “A likely story. What have you done with the real Raindrops?”
“I am Raindrops!”
“No, you’re not!” Trixie exclaimed. “The real Raindrops wouldn’t be wallowing in mud during an unscheduled rainstorm! She’d be beating up Rainbow Dash or else flying around and breaking apart the clouds to vent some frustration! She’s a giant ball of anger and hate!”
The imposter paused at that, staring at the illusion of Trixie, unmoving and mouth hanging open for several moments, before a gradual shift overcame her features – nothing changed, per se, but her muscles tensed a little, her neck drooped slightly, her look of worry and concern fell into a more neutral position, albeit one that was obviously held at a neutral position, at great personal effort.
Trixie blinked at the change. “Um, wow,” she said. “Uh…yeah, like I said, good disguise. Body language, counts for a lot. That’s how Raindrops is.”
The imposter closed her eyes. “I am Raindrops,” she said again. Her voice had dropped a few octaves as well, and her words came out somewhat more haltingly, like she was biting back every syllable – once more, just like the real Raindrops, most of the time, when she wasn’t breaking apart cobblestone streets with her bare, unshod hooves. Apparently this imposter was quite good once she got ‘in the zone,’ as it were. “What’s it going to take to prove it?”
Trixie tapped a hoof to her mouth for a moment, then smiled when she spotted the still-half-empty cup of Truth is a Scourge. Slowly, she set the imposter Raindrops on the floor, and had her illusion point at the cup even as she released Raindrops from her grip. “That is a truth potion!” she said. “Once you drink it, all your secrets will – hey, wait!”
The imposter had, without hesitating after hearing the words "truth potion," gone over to the cup and drank the entire concoction in a single swig. She afterwards looked to Trixie. “How long ‘til it kicks in?” she asked.
Trixie blinked. “Um…n-not until I activate it, I modified the spell so that I can ‘switch it on,’” she said, a sinking feeling in her stomach. Was this, after all, the real Raindrops? No! Impossible! It was far more likely that this imposter had taken some kind of precaution against truth potions. Or so she thought. Given how very rare zebra magic was in Equestria, she doubted if a single pony other than Princess Luna had a way to counter Truth is a Scourge.
“So?” The imposter demanded. “Activate it.”
Trixie blinked a few times, then sent a burst of magic – just a tiny flick, really – towards Raindrops.
“I am Raindrops – ”
Trixie flinched.
“ – and it’s raining outside that’s why I was in such a good mood – ”
Trixie supposed that made a degree of sense.
“ – I’m always in a good mood when it rains oh except for when somepony I thought was my friend accuses me of being an imposter and decides to blind me and make me drink this stupid truth potion why can’t I stop talking – ”
“That’s how the potion works,” Trixie said. Raindrops continued without slowing down, glaring at the illusion of Trixie. Trixie grimaced, dispelling the illusion and making herself visible again. Raindrops seemed hardly surprised as she turned to look at the real Trixie, still speaking.
“ – I don’t need this right now Trixie my brother was tormented by Silver Spoon who is a little brat and is so lucky she’s just a filly or else I would tear out her throat with my teeth and – ”
Raindrops’ eyes widened at that, and her hooves shot up to her mouth, which kept working in spite of the action.
“ – I didn't want to say that I'd never do it even though that's how I feel Trixie if I’m stuck like this the way Lyra was stuck as a bear I swear to Luna I will – ”
“No!” Trixie exclaimed, even as she sent a magical flick towards Raindrops again. At once, the pegasus’ words stopped pouring from her mouth.
Trixie stared a few moments at Raindrops, eyes wide, as Raindrops glared at Trixie. The silence between the two stretched…and stretched…and stretched…
Raindrops opened her mouth.
“I’m sorry!” Trixie exclaimed, trying at once to canter backwards and raise her forelegs to ward off the blow she knew was coming, even as she tried to shrink back into herself. The result sent her tumbling head over hooves, and when she righted herself she continued to stumble backwards, and found herself against a wall. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t – I thought – I’m sorry!”
The expected blows didn’t start falling. Slowly, Trixie opened one eye, and saw Raindrops still staring at her, though her expression had changed, becoming a mixture of sadness and resignation, an almost familiar expression, in fact – one Trixie had, herself, worn on far too many occasions in the past. She did have one raised foreleg, but it was hanging almost limp in the air – a pony reaching out to another, not trying to hit one. And – and were those – were those tears? No. Impossible. Raindrops didn’t cry. It was just rain water in the pegasus’ eyes.
“Are…” Raindrops said with surprising softness, lowering her hoof slowly. “Are you afraid of me?”
“N-no!” Trixie answered quickly. Just as quickly, she continued. “Just…just, you’re a little, um, touchy, and – ”
“And a giant ball of anger and hate,” Raindrops interrupted. She stepped backwards in what could only be described as horror. “You’re terrified of me!”
“No! You’re a great friend! R-remember how we dealt with that griffin? Hilda or whatever her name was? Or that ursa minor that Twilight Sparkle brought into town! Ha! That was fun, well not the almost dying part, but we didn’t die so in hindsight it was fun and we had fun together as friends…”
“That’s not exactly friend activity, Trixie,” Raindrops countered, brow furrowing. “That’s…that’s just stuff you get the village strong pony for.” She looked away from Trixie, wings somehow managing to sag lower. “You’re afraid of me. You hate me.”
Trixie had a problem of shifting her weight from one hoof to the next a lot when caught in the act of something; a moment previously she had been doing it so much that she could have served as a decent drink mixer if somepony had balanced a glass on her back. However, at Raindrops’ conclusion of the unicorn’s feelings towards her, however, she froze. “I…I don’t hate you!” she exclaimed.
Raindrops didn’t seem to believe her. “It’s alright, Trixie,” she said, letting out a dull, emotionless laugh. “I’m used to it. Everypony’s afraid of me. Everypony walks on eggshells around me. I know it.” She sighed, hanging her head as she turned around. “I’ll go – ”
“Wait – no – ” Trixie said, wondering how Raindrops had somehow managed to turn into a mirror image of her own insecurities – yes, she had them, she knew she had them. Gathering her courage, her horn glowed, and she telekinetically grabbed a hold of Raindrops’ tail, preventing the pegasus from leaving. She turned around at that, looking to Trixie.
Trixie paused, not sure exactly how to proceed from here. “I do not hate you,” she stated. “I mean…okay. Yes. You’re terrifying when you get mad, and…and I’d just called you an imposter and so I thought that you were about to hit me a whole lot! And you know what? I deserve it! I made a mistake and screwed up and so I want you to hit me ‘cause I deserve it!” She galloped over to Raindrops, flinching a little when she got close, but then holding her ground. “Come on. I deserve it for what I did! Just like during the Eventime!”
Raindrops stared. “Friends don’t hit each other,” she said.
“Sure they do!”
“Not like this, Trixie.” Raindrops sat back on her haunches, staring at the unicorn. “Friends aren’t afraid of each other.” She looked down, and Trixie somehow knew what she was thinking: she was remembering back during the Longest Night, when Trixie had (theoretically) tried to help a bad situation with the weather patrol, and Raindrops had all but threatened to kill her. She was remembering how, when Raindrops had gone to Trixie over what Rainbow Dash and the griffin Gildra (or whatever), Trixie’s first assumption had been that Raindrops was there to hurt her for something. She was remembering how, when Trixie had insulted and goaded Twilight Sparkle into making a fool of herself in front of all of Ponyville for no real reason, Raindrops had socked her in the jaw, hard.
“N-no!” Trixie exclaimed, interrupting Raindrops’ train of thought. “Those were – I deserved the Longest Night and the Eventime, I really did, and let’s face it, I’ve never been a very good friend so I deserved it when you came to my office after what Gilta had done and I thought – ”
Raindrops frowned. “I’d forgotten about that…” she intoned.
Trixie’s eyes widened. “No! I can’t go down to just four!” she exclaimed.
Raindrops looked up at that, puzzled. “What?”
Trixie didn’t see it. She’d rushed past Raindrops, towards her office, where she kept all the magical books she’d taken from Twilight’s abandoned wagons and began scanning the titles, looking for the one with the proper spell. She found it in a few moments, and tore it from the shelf telekinetically, opening the pages and beginning to pour through it, looking for the spell she’d seen, the one she needed to fix everything. Something about memory, and…she was awful at learning spells from books, was far better at watching spells being cast and then duplicating them, but this was an emergency. She wasn’t going to screw up another friendship. Not again.
Raindrops, probably out of morbid curiosity more than anything, had followed Trixie to her office, watching as Trixie refreshed the spell in her mind, how to cast it, what it entailed, the motions, the movements of magic. In her current state, Trixie was taking in all the directions without fully stopping to realize exactly what the spell entailed.
“Trixie?” Raindrops asked. “What are you doing? What do you mean, go down to four?”
Trixie snapped the book shut, staring at Raindrops with wide eyes, horn glowing brightly. “I’ll show you!” she exclaimed, dashing forwards. The jasmine-coated pegasus’ wings flared in surprise, and she began to canter backwards, but by then Trixie had reached her, grabbed her head with her front hooves, leaned in, and –
– and Trixie and Raindrops were in the ruined Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters. It was months ago, when Corona had returned, when she had tried to kill them, when one by one Cheerilee, and Lyra, and Carrot Top and Ditzy Doo and, yes, Raindrops, had claimed their respective Elements of Harmony. Corona was lashing out at them with fire and magic, but it was no use, the Elements protected them. Only Trixie hadn’t claimed hers yet, but she was about to, she was surrounded on all sides by her friends, waiting for her to make the connections, to realize that the sixth, forgotten Element of Magic was powered by the bonds of friendship that they had forged.
Raindrops looked to Trixie. “And…well, your heart was in the right place with the weather-for-hire team,” Raindrops admitted. “So…yeah. Friends?”
“Friends,” the other four ponies agreed.
Trixie’s eyes were wide. “Fr – ”
Raindrops pushed Trixie away from her, eyes wide and sputtering as she ran one hoof across her mouth. “You kissed me!” she exclaimed.
Trixie had stumbled slightly from Raindrops’ push, but she kept her balance easily enough as she stared at the pegasus. “That’s how the spell works!” she exclaimed. “It’s…well, the book kind of goes on a bit about magical connections and forming a conduit and other stuff I don’t really get, but that’s how the spell works!” She paused. “And you interrupted it before the good part!”
Exactly what Trixie had said hit Raindrops first, and Trixie a moment later. Both ponies felt their faces beginning to redden, and looked away from each other awkwardly. “Um,” Trixie said. “That…that came out wrong.”
“Yes,” Raindrops agreed wholeheartedly.
Trixie shifted around a little. “It’s a memory-transfer spell,” Trixie said softly. “It sort of copies the memories in my mind and gives them to you. You still know they aren’t yours, but it lets you see things from my perspective.” She looked to Raindrops. “That was my memory of us against Corona. When I earned the Element of Magic. When we beat an alicorn, because we were friends.”
Raindrops stared at Trixie. “That…that was then,” Raindrops said. “But you’re terrified of me now – ”
“I’m afraid of angry you!” Trixie interrupted. “Who in their right mind wouldn’t be? But I’m the mare who assumed that’s all there was, I’m the mare who saw you happy and assumed that you must have been an imposter. I’m the bad pony here! I’m the horrible friend!”
Raindrops blinked. “You’re not a horrible friend.”
“Yes I am!” Trixie exclaimed, stamping her fore hooves a few times. “If I was a good friend then I wouldn’t have only five!”
“How many do you need?”
“I don’t know! I’ve had seventy – ”
“You kept score?”
“No! …sort of!” Trixie continued to shift and move in place, looking at the ground. “I…I went back and counted recently, all the friends I’ve ever had, and there’s been seventy. Some of them, we just drifted apart, some of them were friends back in Neigh Orleans but then I moved away and we stopped talking…but most of them, most of them I drove away. Because I’m a horrible friend. I’m a horrible pony.”
Raindrops and Trixie looked to each other, and silence stretched between the two again. At length, Raindrops broke it. “That memory spell,” Raindrops said. “Does it go both ways? Could you use it to see things from my perspective?”
Trixie blinked a few times as she thought. “Um…yes?” she said. “You’d just have to focus on the memories you’d want me to see…”
At that, Raindrops closed the distance between the two of them. “Okay,” she said, leaning forward, closing her eyes. “Do that.”
Trixie blinked. “Just…kiss you?” she asked, leaning away a little.
Raindrops opened one eye. “You were fine with it before.”
Trixie supposed she had a point. It wasn’t much different than actors on a stage, really. Sighing slightly, horn glowing, she leaned in –
The ruined palace in the Everfree again, Corona railing and lashing out again, but this time Trixie was looking at herself, seeing things through the eyes of a pegasus who had shards of glowing orange rocks – the former vessel for the Element of Honesty – orbiting her neck. More than just looking – she was feeling everything that Raindrops felt.
Raindrops was afraid, of course. Corona was the Tyrant Sun, and surely even the Elements of Harmony would eventually give way to her raw power, her destructive rage. Raindrops was angry, too, angry at the situation, angry at Zecora the zebra for betraying them to Corona. And she was determined – despite her fear, despite her anger, she was going to stand up for Equestria, stand up to the Tyrant Sun, and send the mad alicorn back into the heart of the sun, where she belonged.
But those emotions gave way when Raindrops realized that Trixie hadn’t claimed her Element yet. Raindrops, herself, had chosen Honesty – been chosen by Honesty – both, neither, at the same time. She was Honesty, in some metaphysical sense that she couldn’t explain. But Trixie was having trouble, not claiming her Element, but in even believing that she should have one in the first place.
Didn’t the filly have basic pattern recognition? Going beyond everything the six of them had fought and suffered through on the way to the Elements – the sirens, the poison joke, the dragon attack – what made her think that she didn’t deserve to stand beside them, that she wasn’t supposed to be there?
“You’re not my friends,” she pointed out to them. “You all hate me.”
Cheerilee laughed. “Trixie, we don’t hate you. So you can be a jerk. So what? So can everypony. But we wouldn’t even be here without you.”
“You made my muffin smile,” Dinky Doo pointed out. “That makes you a friend in my book.”
“You also walked through poison joke for me,” Lyra pointed out.
“You helped my farm,” Carrot Top added.
“And…well, your heart was in the right place with the weather-for-hire team,” Raindrops admitted. She had been hard on Trixie, she knew, harder than she should have been. Angry over what really amounted to nothing. And if there was any time to extend an olive branch, it was now. “So…yeah. Friends?”
“Friends,” the other four ponies agreed.
Trixie’s eyes were wide. “Friends,” she echoed softly.
Raindrops pulled away from Trixie again, shoving her away once more when she felt something in her mouth that was emphatically not supposed to be there. “Tongue?” She demanded. “Tongue? Why was there tongue?”
“That’s what the spell says,” Trixie objected.
“That’s a lie! There wasn’t tongue the first time!”
“That’s because you interrupted it before we could reach the good part!” Trixie’s horn glowed as she levitated the spellbook over to Raindrops, holding it up. Raindrops blushed. This particular page outlined – in the most scientific, arcane way possible – not only the way the kiss that began the spell was supposed to be performed, but even exactly when during the spell’s course to turn the kiss into a Prench one, and exactly how much tongue was required.
It also came with a helpful illustration.
“What are you doing?”
Raindrops and Trixie both jumped at the voice, from behind Raindrops, who instinctively dove forward, wings spreading in panic, even as Trixie’s own unicorn instincts took over and she instead planted herself firmly on the ground, horn glowing. The result was Raindrops crashing into Trixie, and the two ponies landed on the ground in a pile of legs and wings. The two began untangling themselves from each other, but froze – in a somewhat compromising position – when they saw the source of the voice.
Cheerilee stared at Trixie and Raindrops.
Raindrops and Trixie stared at Cheerilee.
All three sets of eyes turned to the fallen book, on the floor of Trixie’s office, which had helpfully elected to remain open to the intricately detailed picture of two ponies in the middle of a complex act of arcane power that just happened to involve a kiss. With tongue.
“Um,” Trixie said.
---
Okay. The good news? Raindrops, I’m pretty sure, doesn’t hate me. And, I’ve learned that she’s not all anger. In hindsight, I should have known that, and it was wrong of me to think of her as just some one-note pony. I still have all five of my friends. I’m not going to lose them, like I’ve lost all the others. Screw the pattern. Forget the cold, hard facts. I’m not losing any of them.
The bad news? I’m going to have an interesting time explaining to Cheerilee what she just walked in on. Hopefully she’s reasonable.
Believe it or not, there's some foreshadowing for "Crisis on Two Equestrias" in this chapter.
.........oh my god, Trixie, that is so....sad............
...and why does Trixie making out with Raindrops so.......I mean, it makes sense.....I think.......
...
i ship it
This story... it is made of so many feels... I just can hold them all.
I can empathize with Trixie a bit; back when I was young I drove away more friends than I'd care to count. Never because I was a jerk; my problems were more a matter of being Pinkie Pie doesn't work in real life. That's why starting in junior high I began to consciously bottle that up and hide it behind a wall of cautious reservation. It made it a lot harder to make new friends, but at least it was less painful than losing them. That more wild side of me is still there; I just don't let it out often, and every time it manages to slip out more than intended, no matter how close what few friend I've managed to make are, well, on some level I'm terrified I might drive them away too. Now here I am spouting all this out on a fanfics comment thread, and I don't even quite know why. You'd think that maybe I'd drunk some of the Scourge of Truth potion.
Anyways, this story was delightfully awkward, from Trixie's accusations to her painful realization of that mistake. Then there is Raindrops having to deal with her own demons as she is forced to confront the idea that even her closest friends fear her. The fact that both of them feel like the terrible friend in this scene is just marvelously played. And all of that is before we get to the "good part". I mean seriously a memory spell built around a kiss? With tongue? Madness! And of course that's when Cheerilee manages to walk in.
...
Oh, and I loved how Trixie can't remember Gilda's name, or even get it wrong the same way twice.
1178011>>1178191>>1178240
profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/261118_412657408774970_1403955942_q.jpg "It's a somatic component of the spell!"
profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/158038_386586691406260_1780744221_q.jpg "It doesn't mean anything!"
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lg7g43xeY11qb6oyt.jpg "Let the shipping begin!"
profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/158038_386586691406260_1780744221_q.jpg profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/261118_412657408774970_1403955942_q.jpg "Quiet, you!"
I figured it was about time we threw some meaningful fuel onto the potential shipping fire.
1178242
Speaking of shipping.....I might write a crack fic stemming from that scene at the end.
1178251
Go ahead! I love crack fics. Just remember that Trixie would be far more interested in a Platonic relationship than a sexual one. Doing anything sexual would be a major hurdle for her to get over. Although...if she was willing to, for Raindrops...so cute!
1178275
......is it just me, or do you seem eager to see a crack fic for this universe?
....Raindrops is good at molding clouds.......hmmmm..............
"There. Finally done." Raindrops panted, backing away from her work. She stared at the could, formed into the shape of a pony wearing a familiar hat and caped. A blush formed on Raindrops face as she thought about what she wanted to do. "Here goes nothing....." she slowly leaned forward before planting a kiss on the cloudponies. Lips. She quickly broke it off. "..It's just not the same....."
D'aaaw. Heartwarming.
And that is a hilarious spell.
1178315
I kind of am. Crack fics are an excuse to just have fun with the characters without needing to fit the fics into continuity nicely. Don't get me wrong, I love our continuity, but sometimes you just kinda' want to go wild, y'know?
1178328
I get it. Honestly, the only crack fic I've come up with on my own is the Grimdark alternate ending of Scootalong (which I won't write. someone else can do it once I finish the story)
But yeah, something about the idea of Raindrops like that kiss alot and.....hmmmm......ideas......
Bzuh?
Did you mean "she"?
And I refuse to ship Trixie with anyone not name Twilight Sparkle. Although Trixiedrops IS awful cute.....but Twixie!...but look how cute...dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Trixie_lolface_1.png
I AM AWARE OF HOW SAD THAT IS! I REGRET NOTHING!
...and Shipping makes it all complete!
The truth is overrated.
The beginning and ending of this chapter were great. Trixie's realization about how many friends she's lost over the years, her confrontation with the "imposter" Raindrops, the following breakdown over possibly losing another friend, and the concluding scene with Cherilee appearing at exactly the wrong time worked great.
The middle was where I was a bit leery. On a technical level, the memory spell requiring the two to kiss each other was funny the first time, but you have to wonder why that spell would ever be invented in the first place. (Unless, of course, this was Twilight's idea of porn.) While the touching memory was heartwarming and such, the rest of the gag didn't quite work. I just...didn't find it terribly funny, sorry.
And on a personal level, thanks for digging up LNLD again. Still hate that one, BTW.
Wonder what fresh spore of madness Cherliee shall deliver.
1178661
The memory spell is the Lunaverse's version of what Twilight did in "The Return of Harmony" to fix her friends from Discord's magic. I'm establishing it here because it's going to be used in "Crisis," and I don't want to have it just pop up out of nowhere: it's for the same reason that I established Truth is a Scourge early (and am expanding on it here) as well as did the non sequitor scenes in "Family Matters" that were a glimpse into "Helping...Hands?": I've decided that as long as I have all this stuff floating around in my head, I might as well make as much use of foreshadowing as possible.
Also, I just find it innately funny, personally. L!Twilight probably just has the spell for the sake of completion, I doubt she invented it but once she came across the spell she added it to her collection as a matter of course (the fact that it requires kissing probably didn't enter her mind, she wanted it because it was a spell she didn't have already).
I also may have been inspired by this page of the webcomic Looking for Group (which I don't otherwise like, but I found the idea of mages sequestered away learning magic at the expense of a sex life and this having an impact on the ritae of their spells to be funny)
...ship it. ship it NOW!!! please?
Best somatic component ever.
All of my hearts for poor Trixe and Raindrops their interaction in this chapter was top notch, and the display of their combined insecurities was excellent and, and Still so well done, Trixie's reaction in assuming Raindrops was a spy actually made allot of sense, for her anyway.
I felt Trixie's introspection and desperation to not lose any more friends was very well done you could really feel her just scrambling to try and fix things before the damage became permanent.
Poor Raindrops I really feel for her when she realises one of her friends is actually scared of her, her reaction a depressed and pained resignation was very well portrayed. and if anything what i liked about this was it didn't dip into to much wangst or over doing the drama while still making it hurt you in the "feels".
As fun as it was i do sort of agree with "Insert Author Here" about the spell up until i saw what inspired you,with that i actually can imagine lonely study holic mages invented a spell like that solely for their amusement to be quite possible.
9Order of the stick had something like that with a bag that summoned random animals, the one's who invented it where drunk frat mages.
Oh and you have made me want to ship Raindrops and Trixie again so you know good work
Oh and Hooray for foreshadowing! (Pinkie Parade!)
Oh and of course now i wonder if Cheerilee is going to try and give trixie the talk or not I've been looking forward to that for ages
Oh again there was something i wanted to mention in the last chapter that i didn't namely a great demonstration of Raindrops honestly element style "self honesty" namely when that other pegasus pointed out she would like it to rain all the time she wanted to get angry because she knew it was an implied criticism but didn't because hey it's true, just something i wanted to note.
I have to agree with Emeral i really identify with Trixe and Raindrops and their mutual fear of losing those they care about because they've already done it so many times.
1177870 Trixie and M!Twilight are going to kiss aren't they?
Poor Raindrops :( and poor Trixie too. Though I know Pokey, he's way too perseverant to just GIVE UP on Trixie just because she said one mean thing to him. He's not that kind of pony. Plus he's kinda annoying in his own way so he'd be hard pressed to find another job
First off: LOLROLFOWGLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL I DEMAND CRACK FICS!!!!!!!
There now that I got that out of my system I can get to the serious parts.
Once again you don't disappoint sir, your ability to mix so many different and changing emotions into the chapter and have the characters believably flow from one to the other is admirable, hats off to you. Personally I like how well you manage to get right down to the nitty and gritty parts of what makes our heroes tick and then yank us back with parts that manage to genuinely be both heart warming and hilarious at the same time. There is little more in the way of review/praise that I can offer that hasn't already be stated above.
Your idea for the Lunaverse memory spell my not seem as out of nowhere as every one thinks; if I remember correctly M!Twilight said the spell originally used a kiss in the episode.
Also I'm going to hedge my nonexistent bets on 2 possible ways foreshadowing of the Lunaverse version of the memory spell may pay off:
1: When M!Twilight ends up in the Lunaverse or L!Trixie ends up in the Mainverse the question of whether the character is telling the truth about who they are, so M!Twilight suggests the memory spell (which she uses horn to head touch for), L!Trixie is naturally kind of uncomfortable at the prospect (why she was uncomfortable is misunderstood by all present Mainverse charterers) but ends up initiating it, epic lols fallow.
2: L!Twilight/M!Trixie is defeated and has an emotional breakdown then L!Trixie/M!Twilight does the spell on them to either provide prove a point or to give them a her perspective on some event between them.
................................. I just realized both my predictions involve Trixie and Twilight making out and the second holds a possibility that Trixie and/or Twilight may make out with themselves, what does that say about me?
You used that phrase in two different characters 'voices'. Seems a little weird that they'd both think with that specific terms but yeah that's minor.
Other then that this was very nicely written. The characters and issues you tackling are very nicely deep and you're taking a quite sophisticated look at them and they are very solid stories. However, that said are they all going to have some really large downer element to their characters? I get that bad things happen but this much misery in the first two Ponies you featured just seems oddly out of tone with what's come before for these characters.
Trixie looking back on her mistakes part of this chapter I did really like... But rather then depression and hopelessness I would've preferred a commitment to be either the most stereotypical best friend ever or a resolution to continually ratchet down those parts of her personality that are abrasive. She just seems so much more confident in your other stories then she did here. Of course she's going to have her issues but writing them in the lens of that confidence and rather strongly cocky foundation would've been better.
Another minor quibble... Isn't Luna kind of her friend and mentor? In some small way?
Overall very well written story. Lovely work on setting and great emotional journey with some nice elements and a very interesting plot devices, super truth potion and kiss memory transfer spell, that I hope we see used again. Characterization wise I was as previously stated a bit bewildered though.
1179479
She kind of starts the whole thing in a bad mood to begin with due to the whole Pokey experience, plus writing down how many friends she's had and realizing how many friends she's lost, so her emotional state isn't the best right now.
Luna probably considers herself Trixie's friend, but it's probably telling about thier relationship, or at least how Trixie views it, that she doesn't mark her as a "friend." Which isn't to say that she doesn't care about Luna, it's just that she may feel that "friend" isn't precisely the right term, in the same way that she feels that Dinky Doo isn't exactly a "friend." She may just be overthinking the issue, though - note she forgot Bon Bon as well.
Most of the stories won't be downers. Cheerilee's, in point of fact, will hopefully be pure comedy gold.
1179213
Pokey will be showing up later in this fic.
Why did I think of the Tamaranien skill of language-transfer?
images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111216174715/teentitans/images/thumb/7/75/04687.jpg/320px-04687.jpg
Curse you internet! You have tainted my innocent mind.
Read this someplace I couldn't laugh. Barely made it.
Cheerilee's response is going to be interesting
I'm going to have to go dig out some XKCD aren't I?
1177870
Lemme guess, it's the bit where Trixie admits that Twilight isn't a bad pony and the Ursa Incident was partly her own fault, setting things up so she can collaborate with M!Twilight without freaking out. I am pleased at this development.
Also, on an unrelated note, I was expecting the memory spell to involve a headbutt, a la Doctor Who.
1178661.
I imagine that the inventor of the spell was a bit of a pervo, and there's a tiny footnote admitting that okay, technically a lock of hair would work, but kissing is totally the best way to do this spell, it really is. Trust me. *waggles eyebrows*
1178708
If you're not familiar with the Discworld series, wizards having to choose between nookie and magic is a running gag there.
Makes me wonder what she said to Pokey, and anything else that might have come out while under the influence of Scourge.
1180403
Think you should define that relationship a bit more at some point. It's one of the more intriguing background differences between the M-verse and the L-verse (though I'm probably the only one to think so). What little we've seen of them interacting really seems to be a much more complex relationship then Twilight and Celestia's. Twilight seems to of course respect and idolize Celestia but there does seem to be an undercurrent of fear. Trixie doesn't seem to be that fearful of Luna. Yes, she's pretty concerned about disappointing her and being punished, however that isn't fear really. They seem to have a much more level-headed and close relationship then Twilight and Celestia simply as evidenced from Trixie seemingly being far more casual with her on the few occasions where we have seen them interact. It'd be interesting to see perhaps more of Trixie's foalhood then only the brief glimpse we had.
That is very nice to hear. Thought this was going to be more of a 'just a normal day' set of stories rather then these character studies and baring of the souls of the cast.
1179479
I'd actually assumed that was deliberate, both characters using the same principle to arrive at different conclusions. Raindrops' use read like a callback to Trixie's.
Who is Zizanie?
1183858
A character from File Under 'I' for 'Impossible,' the 5th episode of the Lunaverse (for reference, "Tales of Ponyville" is episode 16).
1181555
Which XKCD in particular?
1181853
For a moment I did consider a Doctor Who-style mind-meld, but a unicorn headbutting somepony could potentially put out an eye.
1182131
Well, the DDDDDuology is always at the forefront of my mind, so I was probably subconsciously referencing it, at least.
I read your RPG.net post. I like the idea! But I'm sad because it could never work in the Lunaverse...Raindrops specifically mentioned in LNLD that her family moved from Cloudsdale because of Snails' birth, so that sort of precludes having a unicorn older brother.
On your version of Snails - I do like that, as well (especially if he's giving advice to Dinky so that she can deal with being around Pipsqueak - so cute!). In truth, though, I actually do think that Snails is slow. I briefly considered, when writing this, bringing up the idea that his mind just rushes ahead of his mouth or other reactions, but in all honesty, while I understand that there are numerous real mental conditions like that, and that they are a trouble to deal with, it still comes across as, in a way, "not really a disability." (Again, I know it emphatically is). So I decided to keep it vague. Various other Lunaverse authors can go any way they like with it, and eventually we'll probably reach a consensus, but for now, at least in my head, Snails is in fact as slow-minded as he seems. But that doesn't make him dumb, and he still feels normal emotions just like anypony else, and Silver Spoon is therefore still a bitch.
Well, she was a bitch, but I'm given to understand that Emeral Bookwise got a hold of her and, um...
socialprofiles.zenfs.com/images/3b36b4ba265d45f7b1927c360f0d7d96_96.jpg "Good news everyone! We won't be short on cupcakes for a few days!"
Yes, this was the idea.
1182183
We'll get to see more during the Gala episode.
Trixie and Twilight both seem to approach their respective teachers as almost surrogate parents. The big difference seems to be that Twilight is the perfect little adolescent daughter who wants to please mommy and is irrationally afriad of being punished, while Trixie is a bit more like a flippant mid-to-late teenager who still honestly loves her mom but is starting to feel seriously smothered by her.
Wow, that was unexpectedly awkward...
I only hope, for their sake, that they can explain themselves in time
Amethyst Star, listed as a pony Trixie drove away, and a former friend. Isn't that Sparkler, though? Dinky's half-sister?
1186069
Yes. Trixie must still feel that she's on bad terms with her, or at least that she's not in the "friend" category.
Wait, what happened with Pokey? What'd I miss?
And I'm still of the opinion that Twilight was a lot more in the wrong than Trixie. A whole metric ton more.
But damn for both Trixie and Raindrops. I feel for both of them, here. Got me right in the feels, this one did.
1187863
We don't know quite yet. Judging by the cover art, it'll probably be shown during Ditzy's story.
1187948 can't wait to see.
1184451
On my head-vision of Snails, yeah, I seem him being mentally slow and learning disabled in some way, but that's not the same thing as dumb. (I have an idea of him exploiting his talent and knowledge of "creepy-crawlies" to exact spectacular revenge during the cicada swarming season. ) But under normal circumstances, his mouth works even more slowly. I was partly inspired to go that direction by the fic "A-Camping We Will Go", which has some POV bits with Snails and his internal train of thought. A few problems arise from his inability to full express everything he was thinking, and others misinterpreting the part that he managed to get out.
There's also the fact that I have a speech impediment myself; "thinking faster than I can talk" is a real thing for me, as my stutter tends to kick in when I don't pace myself verbally. But I spend years in speech therapy, and all the techniques I learned there have become second nature (stopping and slowing down when I lock up, phrasing things to avoid starting with hard consonants, etc.) So I have personal experience to draw from there. (Actually, the stutter is a key part of the story behind using CLAVDIVS CAESAR (or just CLAVDIVS) as my online handle.)
As for Silver Spoon, the fic I mention above has a very good portrayal of her, and a very authentic-feeling redemption (or the beginnings of one).
Whoever created that spell must have been a pervert to end all perverts.
...Why would Trixie try Truth is a scourge on herself?
1282464
After the Lyra incident, she doesn't want to try spells on other ponies anymore?
Holy cow. Ho-lee-cow.
From the somber, reflective opening, to the hilarious imposter issue, to the absolutely heart-wrenching fear issue, to the heartwarming yet also hilariously awkward end.
I seriously love this chapter. This story as a whole, in fact; definitely top five.
Also, I wholeheartedly agree with 1178011>>1178191>>1178653>>1178750
1179475 Why need they be crack fics?
and containing nothing more offensive that coffee with lemon and a pinch of cinnamon
1. Than.
Good to see where the source of the crack fic ship came from. More please.
"You made my muffin smile" said Ditzy Doo
You wrote Dinky Doo.
EIgther way, this makes a very interesting crack pairing.
*hugs Trixie* I understand, you little mare you. I understand so much.
I think I might end it there.
It takes another 2 pages of surgery (with illustrations) before it gets to the subject of 'cranial orifices' .
what hapenned with pokey ? Did i miss something ? Can someone give me a link or the name of the story where this happened ? I can't find anything in the precedent story...
8221564
Chapter 6 of this story. Keep reading...
This version of Trixie is my absoulute favourite in the entire fandom.
The way she always eats food abominations and enjoys them, the way she loves children and wants to see them happy, the way she cares for her friends and is learning to be a better friend because of them. I find her to be incredibly funny to watch react to things and I find it so satisfying when she outsmarts someone or succeeds with a plan, and I love stories like this where she's not cute or funny and she makes a mistake and she has to learn something and try and fix her mistake. I just love this trixie so much and need to see more stories with her.
I'm not the best at describing my feelings (or analyzing characters and shit).
I really love stories that have characters sharing their thoughts and memories.
it's just so good in every story i've read it in. the way it makes the characters connect and learn it just excites me every time.
The Hero of Oaton was a special fanfic for me because it introduced me to this universe and these characters. I knew before I was finished that I needed much much more from them.