“Well, here’s the room Twilight designated for you, Trixie.” Spike opened the door.
I jumped to the side to avoid getting hit by various brooms that fell in the hallway. “This room looks to be taken.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll relocate my cleaning equipment.”
“You don’t have to move the stuff on my account. I can adjust.”
“Half of the rooms in this castle are completely empty, anyway.”
“Can I at least help you out?”
“Wow, you’re really taking this new role of yours seriously, aren’t you?” He lifted an eyebrow. “Here, you take the brooms, and I’ll grab the buckets.”
I picked up one in my mouth and tried to grab the rest with a foreleg.
“What’s this now? Did The Great and Powerful Trixie forget how to use magic?”
I puckered my forehead and focused on the horn, but nothing happened. The broom fell down when I opened my mouth to speak, “Apparently, I did. Along with everything else...”
“That spell you, supposedly, used in the morning must have really done a number on your mind.” He picked up a broom in his free claw and dragged it on the floor along with the buckets.
“Stop the ruckus!” A voice came from Twilight’s room. “Some of us are trying to gloat here!”
“Maybe I should take the buckets.” I leaned down and grabbed the handle of the bottom one to lift all of them.
He grabbed the brooms with both claws. “I don’t know what’s with Twilight. Do you think your spell might have affected her, as well?”
My mouth was full of bucket handle, so I just shrugged my shoulders.
Spike dragged the brooms on the floor behind him. “I’ve seen her in her crazy state, but this is a whole new level. It’s like she isn’t even herself anymore.” Across the corridor, he opened the door to a small, empty cabinet. “Just throw them anywhere. Twilight never looks at these rooms. They are the only safe havens from her Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.”
I put the buckets down and slid them in the corner with a hoof then shuffled the items so that the round handles would face the entrance for easy access.
“I guess that ends today...” Spike commented.
“Hm?” I turned to him.
“I didn’t take you for the orderly type, Trixie.”
“I just want to make things right, that’s all.”
Spike threw the brooms in the middle of the room. “Let’s go get the rest.” He turned around.
I was already done with the buckets, so there was no reason to delay. Still, the placement of brooms seemed wrong. They were just asking for somepony to trip over them. The vacant perpendicular layers remained unused and the horizontal component unviable for trafficking because it was hindered by material clogs. I quickly grabbed them and placed them vertically beside the buckets. That way they would take very little space while being readily available for anypony in a hurry to clean. When I turned around I noticed that Spike watched me from behind my plot. “What?”
“That’s OCD if I ever saw it,” he said.
I bowed my head and shuffled a hoof on the floor.
He put a claw on my shoulder. “Don’t worry. If anything, Twilight will appreciate you more for it.”
“I really hope she comes around in time. She forbade me from going to the library, but maybe she’ll let me borrow some books if I pick up my act and become more friendly. I want to read as much on the subject of memory loss as possible and get to the bottom of my induced amnesia.”
Spike whispered to himself, “And you also love books… Trixie, what happened to you? You seem even more Twilightish than Twilight today.” He snickered.
“Um, Spike...” I whispered as I slung my useless hat on the top shelf. I wasn’t sure why I even wore it. It looked silly and served no function.
“Yeah?”
“If Twilight really throws her things away, and if there are some left that you won’t want to take... Well, um, could I, perhaps, take the rest?” I bit my lip.
“Why do you care about Twilight’s stuff? I knew you were obsessed with her, but I had no idea you were an actual stalker.”
“No, no!” I shook my head. “It’s not like that! I just… I don’t want the things to get thrown away for no reason. It’s not right. Maybe in the future, she’ll regret throwing them out, and I’ll be able to return the items back to her. From then on, she might take good care of them. I don’t know who the ponies in the pictures are, but they look really happy together. What they represent is special. Friendships shouldn’t be taken for granted, and the items she has are a reminder of that.”
“Tell that to the Princess of Friendship. It’s as if she forgot her own calling.”
“I’m not sure she’d listen to me.”
“Don’t worry, Trixie. I’ll take whatever she decides to throw away. She still asks me now and then if I found her Smarty Pants toy doll she had since her childhood.” He walked along the hallway.
I followed behind him. “He-he, Smarty Pants...” Hearing that name made me giggle.
“She gave it away once, and she’ll regret that for the rest of her life. I won’t let the same happen with the other things in her possession.”
“That’s a funny name, Smarty Pants. I love it.”
He stopped in his tracks and turned around. “Trixie, do you remember when I followed the migrating dragons?” His eyebrows rose as he looked up at me.
I shook my head. “Was I there?”
He sighed and bowed his head. “Well, no, you weren’t...”
“How could I remember it then?” I leaned my head to the side.
“Yes, you’re right…” He awkwardly rose a claw behind his head. “Never mind! Forget I asked.” He walked on.
“I would very much like to hear about it, Spike. It sounds like an eventful adventure. Also... I really like talking to you, in general. Just being around you makes me feel less alone. Can you tell me about your journey?”
He sighed. “Maybe later... Let’s get the rest of the cleaning equipment moved from your ‘room’” Spike said.
A moment later, my ears shot up as something shattered. I wiggled them around and pinpointed the sound to Twilight’s room. We looked at each other.
“Or better yet”—Spike pointed a claw in the direction of the kerfuffle—“let’s take away Twilight’s stuff before she breaks it all.”
I nodded and we both ran toward her room.
Comment section minigames for the Settling in chapter of this story (anypony can play them in this comment section).
Does this story remind you of a song that you know? If yes, post it in the comments in the following format:
- Chapter of the story that this song is relevant to.
- A link or embedded Youtube video of it.
- Percentage of correlation (0% being an unrelated song, 100% being a song written exactly for this story).
- The reason why this song reminded you of this story or the excerpt of the lyrics.
This premise seems familiar. Is this based off of another story?
10059024 I did retitle this story. It used to be called Interrogation Charm. Maybe that's where the confusion stems from.
Ever hear of the story "Princes Trixie Sparkle?" The plot is extremely similar, with two main differences. One, Princess Twilight does not lose her memories, and two, the body-switching occurs to more than just Twilight/Trixie. Also, there are more songs in the youtube version.
If you say no to the question of if you have seen it, you might want to check it out. Maybe you should wait until this story is finished, though. I don't know. In a weird way, it might feel like spoilers or give you too many ideas? Quality starts out good and only gets better as it goes.
10059278 This is the first time I hear about it. And you're right. I'll probably finish up this story before I go hunting for my competition. Perhaps I could get some idea on how to improve the story, but that would make it even more similar. So yeah, best to wait.
Trixie trashes everything. This is not good.
I went to the surgeon today. I had X-Rays. The bones in my legs, although not totally healed, are are adequate for walking. I am slow and wobbly.
My left arm is sufficiently healed for removal of the cast (on the X-Rays, in addition to all of the metal, I still have gaps in my bones (the surgeon had to remove boneshards)). It will take 6 months to fully heal.
After being shattered, operated, and then immobilized for 2 month, it is weak and immobile, but now that it is out of the cast, I can work on regaining function. As of now, it does pretty much nothing.
Because I cannot carry anything in my left arm, and I must hold a cane in my right hand, or I will keel over, the only way I can carry things is to get back into the wheelchair and carry things in my lap.
I can finally get out of my home (the house has steps, so I could not get out the wheelchair) . I shall leave the house everyday.
10059527 I'm glad you're arranging your body back together.
Why can't you carry your things in a backpack?
Well, at least your mind is still intact, unlike with somepony in this story.
¡Exactly right!
10073987 You remind me of Spike. He had half of the picture. He even tested it, but the test failed, so he was left confused.
I'm glad you had an epiphany. Too bad Spike didn't have one.
10074004
Yes, Spike suspected a complete mind-swap, but the artifact put all of the memories of Trixie into Twilight while swapping personalities. Twilight now has both her memories and those of Trixie and the personality of Trixie. Trixie now has no memories and the personality of Twilight. Spike tested his hypothesis of a complete mind-swap and the hypothesis failed. He knows that both Trixie and Twilight are off, but has not quite figured it out yet.
10074022 Indeed, you figured it out fully. If Spike had come that far, he could help Twi-xie, but as it is, she's on her own.