Salicing

by MintyFreshColgate

A New Word

Starlight Glimmer sat in the guidance counselor's office at the School of Friendship, going over student files, when her hopes of getting any work done today were shattered by the sound of her office door suddenly bursting open. Starlight looked up from her files, surprised to see her friend Trixie barging in rather than anyone who was actually supposed to be on school grounds. "Trixie! What are you doing here?" she asked, dreading what Trixie would say as it would inevitably drag her into some nonsense that would somehow get her in trouble.

Trixie crossed the room and hopped onto the couch in front of Starlight's desk, sinking into the plush cushions specifically chosen to foster a calming environment for troubled students. "Oh, Starlight, you would not believe what Trixie has been forced to deal with today." Trixie sighed dramatically, salicing on the couch. Whatever she said next, Starlight missed it, as she was too focused on the unfamiliar term that had barged into her head unannounced, much like a certain magician had done to her office a moment ago.

Trixie grew annoyed as Starlight stared off into space, clearly not paying any attention to her captivating story. Giving up on telling her tale of woe, she crossed her forelegs with a huff. "Starlight, what is it that's so important, you aren't paying the Great and Powerful Trixie the attention she deserves?"

Starlight blushed, embarrassed to have been caught zoning out. "Sorry, Trixie. I just had the strangest thought pop into my head. Have you ever heard the word 'salicing' before?"

Trixie could only sigh at the absolutely moronic reason Starlight had for ignoring her. "Yes, Trixie has heard of 'slicing'. Are you going somewhere with this, or are you ready to listen to Trixie?"

Starlight shook her head. "No, not 'slicing'. 'Salicing'."

"Oh." Trixie tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Trixie can't say she has. Why, what does it mean?"

"That's just it, I have no idea!" Starlight exclaimed. "The word just appeared in my mind out of nowhere while you were talking. I've never heard it before, but somehow it felt like the perfect way to describe how you were lounging on my couch."

"Hmm, strange indeed," Trixie mused. She straightened up from her relaxed pose, putting a hoof to her chest theatrically. "Well, Trixie is great and powerful! Of course they would need a new word to describe how she lounges!"

Starlight chuckled at her friend's bravado. "Well, you could probably popularize it. Maybe 'salicing' will become the next big thing!"

"Hmm," Trixie hummed, the cogs turning in her mind. "Perhaps you're right. Trixie will share her amazing new word with the populace! 'Salicing' will take Equestria by storm, and they will have Trixie to thank for it!"

Starlight decided to ignore the fact that, if anyone created the word "salicing", it was her, not Trixie, because she was a good friend who valued her best friend's happiness over petty things like who invented what nonsense word.

Trixie continued outlining her perfect plan. "Everypony will be using it! And then, AND THEN, Trixie will begin charging ponies every time they say it! Trixie will be rich! She will build an opulent castle, right next to Twilight's, but it will be precisely one inch taller! Twilight will be so jealous of Trixie that she will cry!" At some point during her proclamation, she had climbed up on her hind legs, digging her hooves into Starlight's couch cushions.

Starlight resisted the urge to chastise Trixie for disrespecting her office furniture (though technically, the school had paid for it), focusing instead on Trixie's ridiculous scheme. "Let me stop you right there, Trix. Disregarding your concerning obsession with one-upping Twilight, you can't charge ponies for saying a word you made up."

Trixie slowly lowered her gaze from the ceiling of Starlight's office to the mare herself, her dreams of striking it rich crashing down around her. "What!? Why not? Why, just the other day, Trixie witnessed Applejack getting in trouble for saying Zecora's special word without her permission!"

Starlight chuckled. "I'm pretty sure Applejack got in trouble for using inappropriate language. Using a word that has deep cultural meaning without permission is very different from trying to trademark a made-up word."

"But... but..." With a frown, Trixie came down from her literal and metaphorical high, salicing once again on Starlight's once-pristine couch. "If Trixie can’t profit from it, then what was the point of all this?"

Starlight gave her friend a reassuring smile. "Trixie, the fun is in the journey, not the destination! Who cares if you can't get rich off a silly made-up word? We had fun imagining the possibilities, didn't we?"

"Hmph!" Trixie slid off Starlight's couch, finally freeing it of her tyranny. Starlight frowned at the hoofprints left in the cushion as the culprit sauntered off toward the exit. "Well, the fun is over now, so Trixie supposes she will return to her wagon and eat her usual gourmet meal of ramen noodles."

Starlight frowned and swiftly teleported in front of the door, blocking Trixie's exit. "Oh no you don't! I won't have you leaving my office feeling all dejected over some silly word." She smiled, adding a sweetness to her voice. "How about we go grab a bite at the café? My treat."

Trixie processed her offer, then broke into a grin. "Free food, you say? The Great and Powerful Trixie always wins in the end!"

Starlight laughed. "Of course you do." She opened the door with her magic, ushering Trixie outside and away from her poor, abused furniture. "Come on, let's go!"

The two friends left Starlight's office in high spirits, their laughter echoing down the hallway. The origins of the word "salicing" would forever be a mystery, but their friendship remained as strong as ever.

Meanwhile, in the headmare's office, Twilight Sparkle's eye twitched, sensing that somewhere, someone had carelessly violated the English language like it was nothing more than a couch cushion in the counselor's office.

Comments

[Themaskedferret]

Here's to inspiration striking in the oddest ways. Very cute story. And Starlight's poor couch. n_n

[Starlight Nova]

Written because I somehow horribly butchered the word "reclining".

How did that inspire you to write this story?

[Zoura3025]

I do relate to the most unusual of inspirations. Quite the little story here! Very nice.

[Kai]

"Salicing" seems kind of like "Salix", the latin name for willow trees... The obvious thing to do is quietly add the word as fake dictionary entries online, with etymology explaining that it means to lie limply, like the branches of a willow. until nobody remembers where the word actually came from. It's seamless.

[TheAncientPolitzanian]

11738375
I can't believe there's actually a somewhat reasonable etymological rationalization of this non-verb. Between this and Elementary, My Dear Starlight, Trixie's inadvertent brilliance continues to astound me. :P

[MintyFreshColgate]

11738005
I made the typo in very similar context to how it first appears in this story, in an AI roleplay with Starlight and Trixie. The typo was so funny to me, I had to screencap it and post it on Discord. A friend said something about accidentally creating new words and that got me thinking: What if a completely new word just appeared in the middle of a story and the characters got so distracted by it that it derailed the whole thing? So basically I dropped what I was doing and started writing that idea.

It ended up being pretty short since Starlight shutting down Trixie's impossible money-making scheme was the realistic way to go and I didn't plan on it being anything more than a shitpost I wrote in a couple hours, but I have a bigger sequel in mind I want to write where Trixie spreads her word around anyway just for clout and it sets off some kind of chain reaction that ends up driving Twilight mad. That's basically all I have in mind for it right now though, so we'll see.

[Stahlseele]

of course you can make people pay for using a word you made up.
that is the whole stupid point of trademarking.
you think something up, you trademark it, now everybody else has
to pay if they want to use it.
wether or not you can enforce it, that is someting else entirely . .
but just look at what kind of asshole shit all of the major corpos
have done with WORDS THEY CONSIDER TO BELONG TO THEM!
Disney is going so far that you can not draw 3 circles in a specific
manner without them claiming it is infringing on their trademark
of mickey mouse!
apple sued kitchen gadget makers because they used the iSomething.
Games Workshop tried to sue somebody for using the Term
SPACE MARINE in a Novel they wrote!