Trixie is Pregnant and It's Twilight's Problem

by TheCrimsonDM

First published 16th of November, 2020

What happens when a pregnant Trixie shows up at the Golden Oaks Library during a storm? Twilight ending up as an unwilling caretaker of the showmare and her unborn child is what. What happens after that is all chaos.

What happens when a pregnant Trixie shows up at the Golden Oaks Library during a storm? Twilight ending up as an unwilling caretaker of the showmare and her unborn child is what. What happens after that is all chaos.

Chapter one: Of Pregnant Trixie and Stuffy Librarians

Trixie was the great and powerful yet she somehow found herself in the kind of situation that she never wanted to be in. After the recent events of the alicorn amulet the last thing she wanted to do was come back to Ponyville. Still when she thought back to where the safest places in Equestria were, all of them paled in comparison to Ponyville. Even with her devastated reputation this was about the only place she could think of that would be safe, and there was one pony in question she realized might be, just might be willing to help her.

She let out a sigh as she dragged herself forward. Hidden in a gray cloak as the skies turned stormy above. She had come at the worst possible timing too. A rainstorm was not exactly what one would call safe. Still she had to do something. The rock farm she had been before was far too distant from her and even if she went there and begged for them to forgive the way she left so hastily, they’d put her to work and right then she couldn’t risk the heavy labor. She had something more important to do, something to protect.

Pride… pride was something Trixie was filled with and it was one thing she would absolutely defend until she died. In the face of this new challenge though she couldn’t risk her own demise so foolishly anymore. Flirting with destruction was a favored pastime but those gambles might have been the exact problem that put her here to begin with.

Each step into the town made her body scream with paranoia. The sky rumbled with thunder. Any signs of the sun were gone from the sky now. She shivered as a cold wind blew through. The first droplets of rain came down and were freezing; they quickly became a downpour causing her to move quickly. She had to find it, the Golden Oaks Library.

After a minute or two of galloping she could feel her body protesting the motion but she saw it, the library was just ahead of her. Its lights were all dimmed but it was there. Trixie slid through the mud and stopped at the door. Lightning flashed in the sky above her and struck the mud some distance away causing a large splash and tingles to go through the air. The roar of its thunder was far more dangerous than she’d planned.

Trixie knocked on the door several times as loudly as she could. No response came. This was a public library was it not? Could she not just enter the lobby and wait? She tried pushing the door open and found it locked. A small sign said that the place was closed. This was not what she needed.

Trixie was nothing if not persistent. With a bit of telekinesis Trixie was able to move the gears in the lock and with a click her efforts were rewarded. The door opened and trailing mud behind her she ventured inside and shut the door behind her. It was dark in here. Too dark for anypony to be home. She called out, “Hello?”

There came no reply. Trixie let out a sigh and found a place nearby the door to lay down. At least it was dry in here and she could take her cloak off. The thing was covered in mud and soaking wet. Most of her fur was soaked through as well. She was freezing but could at least warm up in here.

“Safe, Trixie is safe.” She stroked her barrel for a moment. “Safe.”

She lay there shivering from the cold for what felt like ages. Eventually she began to wonder if she had the right place. Did Twilight Sparkle have her own house someplace else and only worked here? If that was the case chances were she’d be here all night by herself and frozen to death by the morning… that metaphor was a bit too dark to think of at the moment.

For awhile she lay there listening to the pitter patter of the rain and the occasional lightning bolt causing an applause of thunder. It was a fierce storm outside, the kind of which was dangerous for normal ponies to be out in. With her condition she was even more vulnerable.

The alicorn amulet had caused some serious problems in her life. It had caused her to do some vile disgusting things. It had ruined her already damaged reputation. It had even cost her a good job and place to stay. But it did do one good thing for her, just one. She rubbed at her barrel once more at the thought.

Luckily she heard some voices eventually. They were muffled through the sound of the constant downpour but she felt she could make out a female and a young colt. The door handle began to turn and then there was a pause. Oh no, Trixie had forgotten to lock the door. Would that be a problem? What would Twilight think if she was coming in here… what if it wasn’t Twilight?

The door opened a crack and Trixie saw the tip of a horn poke through. A red light began to surround the horn and Trixie cried out. “Wait, it’s just Trixie, please!”

The aura didn’t vanish but the door did open all the way. Twilight stood there with narrowed eyes and the small dragon on her back had much the same expression of discontent as they looked at Trixie. Twilight walked in, looked around at the mud and growled. “So, you break and enter into my home and you have the audacity to leave mud everywhere.”

Trixie swallowed. “Trixie does not break and enter, you should feel lucky that she choose to come to you instead of anypony else.”

Twilight shot the glare right at her, their eyes met and that aura grew a little stronger. “I don’t really care, your leaving. Now!”

Trixie felt her body growing light and the red aura was surrounding her. She was being lifted into the air. “NO WAIT PLEASE!”

Twilight glared at her. “You were just here a weeks ago and tormented the entire town, why should I ‘wait’ when you’re obviously planning something else.”

“Trixie is not!”

Twilight met her eyes, for a moment the anger held but it began to soften. “So what are you here for?”

“Please, set Trixie down, this can’t be safe. Trixie needs safe, not scary or painful.”

Trixie began to fall. “NO!”

Much to Trixie’s surprise she realized she didn’t fall, Twilight had set her down safely. Twilight was staring at her with wide eyes. “Were you… scared? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you scared. At least without a giant monster on your tail.”

Trixie was shivering, now more from fear than cold. She sat up and began inspecting her belly. “Shhh, it’s okay. It’s okay.” She shivered. “Trixie is not scared. She is in need of help, and there is nopony in Equestria who could offer her safety. She knows you hate her, and for good reason, but Trixie asks for safety from you none the less, not for her sake, but for the sake of her unborn daughter.”

Twilight blinked. “You’re what?”

Trixie met Twilight’s eyes and felt she shaking more. “Trixie is pregnant.”

Chapter Two: Of Bubbles and Baths

Twilight stared down at Trixie, her heart was racing and her mind blank. Did Trixie just say she was pregnant? As in with child? As in her oven of life was full? If that was true… oh she almost did something horrible. She was going to… not exactly hurt Trixie but a pregnant pony needed extra care.

Twilight looked down at the wet, shivering form of Trixie who had gone back to lying in her puddle. Her eyes couldn’t even meet Twilight’s, instead choosing to stay planted firmly on the floor. There were a lot of questions Twilight had but for now she settled on action. She summoned forth a towel and dropped it over Trixie’s back. The poor mare flinched as it touched her. She was terrified.

“Trixie,” Twilight said as gently as she could. “Why did you come to me?”

Trixie spoke but her voice had a steel tone to it. “Trixie needed assistance.”

“What about your parents?”

“Trixie has none.”

That felt like a barbed thorn being lodged into Twilight’s heart. “Um… friends?”

Trixie blinked. “Those are what ponies have when they know somepony for a while and speak to them yes? Then Trixie has you.”

Twilight sat down. “You consider me a friend?”

“Trixie has never had need of friends before so she doesn’t know if you count, but you seem to be close to what Trixie expects a friend is like.”

That was a mouth full that really only amounted to ‘she has never had a friend and doesn’t understand friendship’ which meant Twilight now had two reasons to think about Trixie’s presence here. One Trixie was clearly in distress and needed help. Having a child with no one around to help you or explain how it worked was difficult. Looking back over at Spike who was busy mopping up the mud the three of them had left behind only solidified Twilight’s knowledge in how hard that could be. Two: Trixie had friendship problems, and Twilight wanted to kick herself for not having thought about it sooner. Of course Trixie had friendship problems and twice now she’d just let Trixie go out on her own and not fixed them… they’d even fixed Discord, well they began to do so, so why did Twilight leave Trixie alone?

Twilight let out a sigh, she already knew where this was going and really didn’t like it. Still, she was the element of magic, the leader of the elements of harmony and this might just prove to be an amazing friendship lesson to give Celestia. To think about the praise she could get for helping a pregnant pony find friendship, well Twilight could easily enjoy some adoration from her favorite princess.

“So,” Twilight began, “Why exactly come to me? What are you expecting?”

“A baby filly.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I meant what are you expecting of me?”

“Trixie… isn’t’ sure.” There was sincere doubt in her tone. “Trixie knows you are a good pony, the second best in Equestria one might argue, next to Trixie of course. So she thought you might know what to do? Trixie just needs to be safe until her baby is here and then she can be a proper mommy and raise the best filly in all of Equestria.”

“Okay, I think I know what to do, but when did you get pregnant?”

“Trixie was not under the best influence when she was using the Alicorn Amulet, she was in fact in heat and made some fun but tactical errors thinking they would not come to last after the incident was over.”

Twilight nodded. “The Amulet does have a way of lowering inhibitions to the point of doing some… let’s not get into this.”

“Agreed.”

Twilight offered a smile. “I’ll help you. If anypony can understand how scary it is to have a kid and have absolutely no help, or no idea on what to do it would be me. So if there is anything I can help with I will. I will ask of you a single condition though.”

Trixie looked up at her. Her main had fallen over half her face only letting one purple eye stay visible. “F-fine, just be gentle.”

Twilight choked. “I… what? What, what do you think I’m going to ask?”

“The same things everypony does. Either I work, or I give them my… just… what do you want?”

Twilight felt head was starting to split. “I just want you to learn about friendship. That’s all.”

Trixie stared at her. “Is that really all? No hard physical labor, no favors, just learning?”

“Of course. I mean, friends do favors for each other sometimes but that’s for you to learn later.”

“Trixie will… she’ll do as you ask, if you keep her safe so her baby can be born.”

Twilight stood up and reached out with a hoof. Trixie stared at it for a long moment. Twilight finally said, “Take my hoof, your soaking wet, shivering and covered in mud. We’re getting you cleaned up, warmed up, and full of food before this night is over.”

Trixie took Twilight’s hoof and with a little effort Trixie stood up. Twilight was surprised to find herself happy with this situation. Sure she was angry at first and concerned with Trixie’s sudden appearance, but after hearing what it was that Trixie wanted, and how lost she really was, she was positive that this was the right course of action to take. It also couldn’t be understated how powerful of a friendship lesson this would make, the letter for this one was going to be amazing.

Well at least she wasn’t cold anymore. In fact Trixie might be able to say she was quite comfortable. The hot, bubbly water splashed around her as she relaxed. Twilight was sitting off to the side and had been talking to her almost nonstop since they got up here. It was honestly a bit concerning considering how little they’d ever conversed in the past. Still it wasn’t bad to have a fan, friend, pony who could keep the silence away.

Twilight finally said something that was actually interesting though causing Trixie to actually respond. “Did you just say Trixie is sleeping in the bed?”

Twilight nodded. “Of course, I’d never ask a pregnant mare to sleep on anything less.”

“Will you be sleeping on the floor? Or is there a couch hidden in here that Trixie has somehow missed?”

Twilight blinked. “No, I’m sleeping in bed too silly.”

Trixie sat up straight. She knew better than to expect Twilight was really innocent. She’d prepared for this, but she was not pleased. Still if it kept her child safe, she could stomach it, and besides, she might be able to use such activities to manipulate the foolish unicorn. Ponies who were pleased were easily swayed after all.

Spike called out from behind them. He was reading a comic book near the fire place. “Twilight, she thinks you’re going to be sharing a bed.”

Twilight’s face paled. “Oh no, I um, I have two beds. I’m letting you use my guest bed.”

Trixie felt a lot easier about that revelation. She didn’t want to think about getting nearly that cozy with the crazy mare, at least not too soon. It felt like she was trying to take shelter under a dragon. Safe from any threat in the world but only so long as the dragon didn’t notice her.

Twilight then asked, “So how far along are you anyway?”

Trixie paused. “One and a half months.”

Twilight frowned. “That early huh? That’s a good ten and a half months before you give birth. And your right in the middle of the scary part, we won’t know if you’re really safe until 9 weeks have passed. We’ll need to sort out a diet plan for you shortly… and your sure your having a filly?”

Trixie smiled. “Trixie knows she will have a beautiful baby filly and it will be named Trixie Two!”

Spike added. “Electric boogaloo.”

Trixie replied. “The sequel will be better than the first.”

Twilight was smiling again. Not the kind of smile that showed patience toward Trixie but an earnest one that showed pleasure. She’d seen this kind of smile several times but only when watching ponies from afar or the few ponies that had enjoyed her show before it was so thoroughly ruined. “Why are you smiling?”

Twilight shook her head as if it was the silliest question she’d ever heard. “Because I’m happy for you. You seem really excited to have a foal, most mares in your position are normally upset.”

Trixie beamed and waved a hoof through the air. “And why should Trixie be at all upset? Sure her own parents were awful, but that’s why she is here to show she will be the Greatest and Best mommy in the whole world.”

Twilight smiled. “So do you know who the stallion is?”

Trixie shrugged. “Handsome, strong, and big. In all the best ways.”

Twilight blinked. “Like… his muscles or something?”

Did she really not understand or was this some kind of play at innocence. If it was the former this might become an annoying ‘friendship’ really quickly, but if the later, Trixie could exploit it. “Well he did have a fair few of those too. But mostly he was large, and hot. Yet somehow only as rough as Trixie needed.”

Twilight stared at her, her eyes narrowed and lip being bit with this look of concentration like the gears in her head were turning as hard as they could. Several seconds went by before she finally asked, “Did you want him to be rough? Or do you mean like he had a rough and rugged appearance?”

Before she could get to it, Spike had palm slapped his forehead. “Twilight, how is it that I am the kid here and I understand more about sex talk than you do.”

Twilight glared back at him. “She did not mention any breading, Spike. Honestly, you’re getting so weird now that you’re getting older. It’s probably puberty.”

Trixie had to ask, “Have you ever had sex?”

Twilight’s cheeks turned a little pink. “I have too had the sex! And it was with a handsome stallion. It was good.”

Spike called back. “She’s lying.”

Twilight glared at him. “You haven’t had it either.”

Spike was in the middle of drinking from a cup of hot chocolate. He coughed a few times before choking out, “Y-yeah, sure I havne’t. Nope, never had sex. Don’t know what it’s like at all.”

Twilight smiled. “So… um… no. No I have not. I’ve never really had the reason too. I have my books and my studies to tend too.”

Well at least this made Trixie feel more secure about staying here. Twilight was not going to take advantage of Trixie’s body. Still it meant that Twilight truly was innocent, and as funny as that could be it also meant she might be annoying as well. If only there was a peaceful, non sexual way to destroy that innocence so that Twilight could speak on her level. Oh well, that would have to wait she was going to have a whole ten months to plan that out.

Oh, by Celestia’s thick and hot rump, ten months. This was going to be a nightmare wasn’t it? She rubbed her belly again. The small life inside of her was only just beginning to take form and experience things. She could bare ten months of this, so long as it kept her and her baby safe.

That was all that mattered.

Chapter Three: of Biscuits and Coffee

It was late into the night and Trixie found herself lying awake in the bed Twilight had offered. It was smaller than the enormous thing Twilight slept in. Honestly Twilight’s bed was so large it was actually bigger than Trixie’s old wagon. Still it wasn’t uncomfortable so she was happy with it. The bed Trixie occupied was on the top level of the tree house sitting on the opposite side of the floor as Twilights. Spike had taken the dog bed making her question a lot of things about how Twilight viewed him.

Was this a mistake? Coming here and asking for assistance from Twilight had worked out so far. Tartarus she hadn’t even needed to do much besides ask for the help and promise to learn about friendship. This was still one of the few places in Equestria that Trixie wanted to be but when she had weighed her options from Canterlot to Manehatten no place was safe for a mare like her. If only her reputation hadn’t been absolutely crushed, she’d have been able to do some stage magic, save some money, and then eke out a living in some inn at a no nothing town or something.

Even with that said what was she going to do now?

It was late at night and the gears in her mind were spinning. She could stay here, be somewhere safe, and then once she had her child she would take the baby and leave. Where to, she had no idea, but Twilight was already kind enough to let her stay this long. Relying on that kindness to last that long was a gamble, to hope it extended any further was impossible. No, she knew that despite whatever kind words came from Twilight’s lips, she’d be thrown out once the kid arrived.

That was okay though, in a year’s time maybe her reputation would have healed some. If not she could always pretend to use another stage name for awhile. The thought of that tasted sour… that wouldn’t work. The Great and Powerful Trixie could lie about anything, except about who she was.

Trixie rolled over. The sound of rain had eased up a little and what was left was somehow relaxing. Reminiscent of the rogue rainclouds sometimes found on the road. Her eyelids felt as heavy as her heart as she continued listening into the pitter patter against the window.

One question still bothered her. What did Twilight get out of this act of charity? Nopony did things free of charge, so there had to be something. Trixie feared it could be something more than she bargained for, but really hoped that the way Twilight portrayed herself was accurate to who she really was. An innocent, good natured, fool.

Twilight woke with a start. There was an unfamiliar noise in her room. Like a chainsaw going off. She looked around quickly only to see a bed on the opposite side of her room. In it lay a slumbering Trixie, mouth open and snoring as loudly as Rainbow Dash. For a moment she stared unsure of how it was Trixie got there but as her brain began to wake up with her she remembered the events of yesterday.

The great and pregnant Trixie was staying with her. Oh… that might have been more than she bargained for. Thinking back to it, she had felt so sorry for Trixie’s predicament she hadn’t considered the long run. Ten and a half months, plus however long it would take Trixie to heal from after birth. This was going to be a long year. The thought of the friendship letters she could write to Celestia were starting to feel less important now.

Twilight shook her head. She had already made her promise, and furthermore Trixie had agreed to learn about friendship. Surely things would be just fine, maybe even better than fine as things went on. Twilight rolled herself out of bed and managed to drag herself downstairs. Once on the first floor the scent of freshly brewed coffee made Twilight’s hooves curl. Following the scent she found Spike in the kitchen drinking a cup for himself with a plate of biscuits sitting in the middle of the table. There were a fair few more biscuits than usual.

Once cup of coffee and three biscuits later Twilight was ready to socialize again. “Good morning, Spike.”

Spike replied. “Morning, Twilight. You wake up to the sound of a bear roaring too?”

Twilight laughed. “I wasn’t expecting it, but yes. I managed to get some good sleep despite it though.”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Well she’s not the only one who snores at night.”

Twilight didn’t care much for his insinuation but choose better than to react to it. Instead she had a concern of her own t address. “How in the world do we explain this to the girls?”

Spike took a sip of coffee. “Easy. ‘Hey everypony, Trixie got knocked up and we’re taking pity on her. Try to be nice to her okay.’”

Twilight glared at him. “That is not exactly tactful.”

“Does it really need to be?”

“Considering the situation I’d say yes. Explaining how and why I’m taking on this role is going to be rough.”

Spike looked up at her. “Why exactly are you doing this again?”

“Because she needs somepony and… I can actually relate to what she’s going through. At least a little bit. I know you can’t remember what it was like when I first had you, but if I ever had any criticism with Celestia, and I don’t, it would be that she kind of, sort of, dropped a child on my lap with no help or explanation of how to raise one.” Twilight let out a sigh. “Honestly, I’m grateful for the experience because it taught me that I can do anything, but I don’t want anypony else to feel that way so if I can help prepare Trixie for motherhood, even a little, I want to.”

Spike’s claws tightened around his cup of coffee. “Y-yeah… must have been hard.”

Even Twilight could tell that his demeanor had changed. It always did when the subject of his hatching and raising came up. “Spike, I’m so very happy to have had you. Honestly, I’m the luckiest mare in the whole world because I got you.”

He smiled. “Thanks… but why did Celestia have a dragon egg anyway? Like what happened to the dragons that laid me?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve even tried to research it but from what I have heard, you weren’t really supposed to be a dragon egg. You were supposed to be a rock somepony painted to look like one. The fact you were an egg and that I hatched you is a miracle and I don’t need to know how it happened, I’m just glad it did.”

Spike looked up. “Do you think Trixie feels the same way?”

Twilight smiled. “Judging from how she smiles when she talks about her baby, I do.”

Spike stood up. “Okay, you can count me in. I don’t know what I can really do to help but I’m all for it.”

Twilight nodded. “That’s the spirit. Now how do we get the others to feel the same way?”

Once Trixie had finally awoken she managed to drag herself out of bed. At first she was confused by her surroundings but as she recalled the night before she remembered she would be staying with Twilight for some time. However, all of that paled in comparison to the scent of coffee wafting up from downstairs.

Trixie walked downstairs still half asleep and as she approached the kitchen she heard Twilight mention, “Now how do we get the others to feel the same way?”

Trixie looked at her. “Others feel what way?”

Twilight offered her a warm smile. “To want to help you out and be friends with you of course.”

Trixie looked at the coffee. “Trixie… does not want them to know everything.”

Twilight seemed to noticed Trixie’s stare. “Go ahead and have some. There’s a cup and plenty of biscuits on the table.”

Trixie did not hesitate to grab herself a cup of coffee and then three, four, or five biscuits, before sitting down. She was starving but then again it wasn’t just her who was hungry. She ate greedily as Twilight continued to smile at her. Normally Trixie loved a captive audience but she did not like the smile, it felt odd, too warm for her.

Twilight asked, “So what did you not want me to tell the others?”

Trixie swallowed the last bite of her biscuit. “That Trixie is with child.”

Twilight blinked. “But… but isn’t that the most amazing part?”

“Sure, if most ponies were understanding. Yet most ponies expect certain things like, Trixie to be married, or at least have a significant other. Trixie is very much single and they might look down upon that fact.”

Twilight looked down at her cup of half finished coffee. “I didn’t think of it that way. I was just happy for you. I guess you’re right though, I’m sure Fluttershy would love to get close to you if she knew but I’m not so certain about the others.”

“And prey tell why would this Fluttershy want to be close to Trixie?”

Spike answered. “She’s baby hungry.”

Twilight replied. “Fluttershy does not want to consume children, Spike. I think she just wants to have one.”

Spike face palmed. Trixie followed the motion. Twilight looked at both of them. “What?”

Spike explained. “It’s a phrase, Twilight. Why, why do I know more about these things than you do?”

Twilight’s ears folded back. “I just read a lot of books, I don’t always know every current phrase that ponies have to say.”

Trixie could see it in Twilight’s features. She was at least mildly upset about not knowing what the term ‘baby hungry’ meant. In fact that could be a general discomfort with being out of touch with phrases or socializing in general. She wasn’t sure but that might come in useful later, if nothing else it was oddly cute.

Twilight shook her head. “Alright, so I won’t tell them about your pregnancy. I still need to explain why you’ll be living with me.”

Trixie raised a hoof. “OH, you could tell them we are a couple now. That would explain why I sleep in the same house as you.”

Twilight’s eyes became pinpricks and nearly budged from her skull. “A c-c-couple!”

“Yes, and to truly fool them we could share the same bed or even kiss in their presence. That would silence any doubts before they arise.”

Twilight scooted back in her chair. “K-kiss!”

Trixie leaned forward and pouted. “Is this not a great idea?”

Twilight stammered for a good moment. She was positively frazzled and Trixie had to admit it was equal parts adorable and hilarious. This stay could actually be a lot of fun. Twilight finally managed to say, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Trixie let a cruel smile grow across her lips. “Trixie was only joking. The lie would be a difficult one to keep up with.”

Twilight out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness. I don’t want my first kiss to be a lie.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “Have you not even kissed? Have you never had an interest in somepony before?”

Twilight looked from side to side a few times as if expecting eavesdropping ears. “I have… had thoughts before. B-but never acted on them.”

Spike replied. “That’s because she keeps rejecting you.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes at him and growled. “She does not reject me, Spike. She simply doesn’t realize how I feel.”

“Sure, nopony else knows about your super not obvious crush.”

Twilight glared. “The same could be said for you.”

Spike swallowed. “Oh uh…”

Twilight swiftly turned that glare into a friendly smile, with such speed Trixie was sure she was used to changing her emotional appearance in a moment flat. “It’s okay, Spike. We can just keep our secrets secret for now.”

Spike nodded.

Trixie had the distinct feeling that they were trying to keep certain facts hidden in front of her but it was fun to know that both of these two had crushes. Of course she was sure they’d both never act on them… scratch that, the dragon boy seemed to have had some knowledge or dare she wonder, experience with certain things that Twilight had not yet. He might act on his.

Twilight shook her head. “Okay, I think I have it. I’m going to tell them the truth, but not the whole truth. You needed help and wanted to learn about friendship so I’m taking you in as my pupil to learn about the magic of friendship as well as helping you get back on your hooves. How does that sound?”

Trixie looked at her. “This is acceptable. That way you do not have to attempt lying, which you are far from skilled in, and Trixie can keep her baby a secret until she is ready to trust these ponies.”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “You know, if your one and a half months along we should get you to a doctor. See if we can find out if you have a baby girl or boy.”

Trixie huffed. “Trixie does not need to have a doctor tell her the gender. She already knows. Besides, does it not ruin the fun to know such things?”

Twilight smiled. “Maybe it does, I wouldn’t know… but you know, mares do have a tendency to um… slip. So I want to make sure we go to a doctor for you and your baby’s safety.”

“Trixie and Trixie Two-“

Spike cut in. “The Trixiening.”

“-would appreciate that, but um… we don’t have any money for one.”

Twilight grinned. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of it. I’ll take a few days to research who the very best doctor is nearby. Just promise that when I introduce you to my friends you’ll do your best to try and become friends with them too.”

The ones Trixie had thoroughly trounced in the past, tormented, or otherwise humiliated… that seemed unlikely but if they were anything Like Twilight maybe it was possible. She still wasn’t’ sure about this whole ‘friend’ thing but if it was Twilight’s only stipulation than she’d have to take it. Trixie offered her favorite practiced smile, “Sure thing.”

Chapter Four: Of Friends and Cookies

The gathering of Twilight’s friends was about as easy as ever and within the hour she had summoned all of them to her treehouse. They all sat downstairs around the table with cups of tea and a bowl of cookies in the middle. Twilight was happy to see them all here but it was still weighing on the back of her mind that she was going to be omitting some information that they might need to fully understand the situation, but it was a promise she’d made and she was going to keep it.

She really hoped they’d believe her based on the secondary reason Trixie was staying. With a jittery heart Twilight announced, “Good news everypony. I have an announcement to make.”

Pinkie Pie exclaimed, “Did you finally tell Celestia you have the hots for her?”

Twilight balked. “W-what?”

Pinkie feigned a frown and replied, “Oh phooey, I was hoping that would be today’s meeting. Guess that’s next week.”

Twilight blinked several times trying to comprehend anything that Pinkie had just said. There was zero chance in Tartarus that Twilight was ever going to tell Celestia anything even remotely close to that. Although maybe she wanted to? She wasn’t sure, but she was sure that her head was now filled with odd thoughts she needed to suppress. Shove them into the mind closet with all the other thoughts that bothered her and she would be just fine. No need to open that closet, not ever.

Rarity gently prodded Twilight. “Darling, what did you bring us here for?”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Yes, um, that. I have a new guest staying with me for some time. She’s going to be learning about the Magic of Friendship from me and has become my pupil.”

Pinkie Pie gasped. “Ooooohhh, that was this week. Okay. I got my timeline straight now.”

Twilight chose, very wisely, to ignore Pinkie. “She’s been through a lot and was in a very bad situation but I am helping her get back on her hooves and doing what I probably should have done last year. I’m helping her learn about something she doesn’t know anything about, friendship.”

Rarity smiled. “That’s wonderful, darling. You do always love to show ponies how friendship works.”

Rainbow Dash added. “It’s kinda your whole deal. I’d be surprised if you didn’t do something like this eventually.”

Applejack nodded. “Agreed, Ah figured that you’d be helping some poor lost soul like that.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Reminds me of when I adopt a new furry friend.”

Rainbow Dash snickered at that. The others smiled as if trying not to laugh at the comparison. Was it really like taking in a wounded animal? Well maybe it kinda was, but ponies were not animals so it couldn’t be considered too much. Still they were happy with the news so far, hopefully this would continue to go well.

Rarity chimed in with a question that made Twilight’s heart skip a beat. “So, who is this mystery mare you invited into your home?”

Twilight swallowed, her throat was dry. She took a sip of tea. Still dry. “B-before I get to the who, let’s cover a few rules first. I really want… no I really need this first meeting to go well. So please, even if it’s challenging keep an open mind, and be willing to give her a chance. She has never had a friend before me so she doesn’t understand a lot of things. Think of me when I first got here to Ponyville only… in a worse position.”

Most of them were starting to frown. They could already sense this was going to be a problem. Only Pinkie Pie was still smiling. In fact Pinkie was the only one to respond, “Of course we will play nice, silly. Any friend of Twilight’s is a friend of mine. I honestly think it’s amazing you took her in. Proud of ya.”

Twilight stared at her. “Do you know who it is?”

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes. “She’s only stuck her head down the stairs three times since I’ve been here to look at us. She looks so silly being nervous.”

Twilight spun around to only to see a trail of white and cobalt hair flying upstairs. She really hoped nopony else had seen her. At the very least this meant that Pinkie was okay with her presence. Maybe… maybe she could trust her friends after all.

Twilight swallowed. “Will you all give her a chance?”

Everypony looked at each other as if unsure. After the recent introduction of Discord into their lives it was understandable that another force of mystery and chaos was not exactly welcomed but after a moment every pony gave a nod and a verbal agreement. They would give her a chance and that was all that mattered.

Twilight stood up and walked over to the staircase. “You can come down now.”

Trixie’s voice called back. “How are you so sure?”

Twilight offered a smile towards the staircase as if hoping Trixie could see it. “Because they are my friends and I trust them. One of the first lessons of friendship is trust.”

Trixie replied. “Trust is what foolish ponies believe in before being betrayed and intelligent ponies use against you to betray you.”

“Come on, I promise you, I’m here and you trust me right?”

There was silence for a moment before Trixie finally replied. “F-fine. Only because a promise was made…”

Twilight watched with eager eyes as Trixie walked down the steps. Her head hung low and avoiding eyesight. The gasps from behind Twilight set off warning bells making her body tense up but she was prepared. Every possible encounter from them really liking Trixie to getting violent had been prepared for and Twilight was not going to let anything happen to her ward. Not when it was two lives on the line.

Trixie finally reached the last step and spoke. “The Great and Reluctant Trixie is finally here to- ‘sniff sniff’ to- ‘sniff’ are those peanut butter cookies?” Trixie raised her head and all the anxiety she imagined was gone as her eyes scanned for the nearest bowl of cookies. Seemingly having forgotten her fear she trotted to the table and dragged the bowl over to her to start pulling cookies out and eating them.

Everypony was watching Trixie with a mix of mistrust and confusion. Twilight sighed but at least this was not the worst case scenario. Twilight took a seat next to Trixie and explained, “Yes, it is Trixie Lulamoon that will be staying with me.”

Trixie replied between bites of her third cookie. “The Great and Powerful.”

Twilight offered a smile. “Yes, The Great and Powerful Trixie Lulamoon.”

“Close enough.”

Rainbow Dash was the first to speak. “Wait… but… why her?”

She was going to need patience for Rainbow Dash, too bad that wasn’t an element of harmony. “Because she needs help and wants to learn about friendship, do I need any more reason to take her on as a pupil?”

Rarity swallowed and said, “Well… darling, it is your life and your choices, but yes, yes you do.”

Twilight glared at her. “If it’s my life and my choices I believe I can make them with any sort of reasons. If it helps, I am taking a play out of Fluttershy’s book here.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “I-I-I um…”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Because it worked so well with Discord?”

“Exactly. Discord was a force of mean chaos but he’s learning friendship and becoming a much better person for it. At least Trixie won’t be flooding any pony’s farm.”

Trixie had eaten six cookies so far. She finally looked up to see every eye on her. There was a brief moment where Twilight saw the reflex. Eyes widening, breathing stopped, lip quiver. It lasted only a fraction of a second, enough for an observant Twilight to see the fear in Trixie’s body. It quickly turned into a scowl and Trixie spoke, “Trixie is fine with all the attention but you all should be thanking her, honestly, Twilight is lucky to have Trixie as a pupil.”

The tension in the air tightened. This was not going as well…

Pinkie Pie replied. “Of course she is. Anypony would be lucky to get to know you.”

Trixie smiled but it seemed less than genuine, more practiced than anything else. “Of course, Trixie is glad you understand Pink Pony.”

Pinkie Pie grinned. “After all, you’ve spent so much time distancing yourself from everypony that letting anypony in even a little is a miracle. We thought you’d be prickly forevah.”

Trixie choked. “Prickly!”

Damage control Twilight, how to do damage control with Pinkie around. “Like a coconut!”

Everypony looked at Twilight with confusion. Especially Trixie. Twilight found herself standing on the tip of a knife, what was she saying. “Prickly like a coconut. Y-you know with the sweat tender inside but you need to be patient with it to find out how good it really is?” At this point she didn’t even believe herself.

Trixie took a bite of another cookie. “Trixie is not prickly… but she might be a coconut, so long as it’s mixed in with peanut butter. Speaking of which, something is wrong with your bowl.”

Twilight glanced at her. “O-oh?”

Trixie set it down. Empty. “It would seem that the cookies have all vanished from it and Trixie requires more.”

Rainbow Dash whistled. “Wow… didn’t think anypony other than Pinkie could eat like that. Trying to beat Pinkie at some kind of sweets contest?”

Trixie glared at her. “Trixie has no idea what you mean, she only ate one… or two… or three.”

Twilight groaned. This was certainly going to be a mess. What if they asked more about why Trixie was eating so much?

Rarity studied Trixie for a moment. “When did you get here, darling?”

Trixie replied. “Yesterday night, Trixie arrived much like a true hero would in the middle of a rain storm.”

Rarity nodded. “Did you eat much since then?”

Trixie put a hoof to her chin. “Not as much as Trixie would like.”

Rarity asked, “And how long was it since you had a proper meal before that.”

Trixie’s ears twitched and folded back a little. “Trixie eats properly every night, she has never gone hungry and never will. What do you think she is some kind of poor pony? Trixie will have you know she eats like a queen and always has.”

Rarity nodded. “Of course, I’m sorry for any ill implication.”

“Trixie forgives you, not all of you could be as astute as her.”

Rarity eyed Twilight as if trying to say something in her eyes. The words she spoke were, “So have you fed Trixie like a queen since she’s been here?”

Twilight raised a hoof and then lowered it. What did they eat for dinner last night? Some nachos maybe… oh… oh no, had Trixie really not eaten enough since she arrived? Twilight stood up swiftly. “SPIKE, can you go prepare a meal… a big one.”

Trixie glanced up at her. “What are you planning?”

Twilight smiled. “You deserve to eat well, don’t you?”

Trixie eyed her suspiciously for a moment but then relaxed. “Assuming you did not poison it, then yes.”

Twilight attempted to smile at her. “I wouldn’t do that.”

Trixie let out a sigh. “Trixie knows…”

Spike and Trixie quickly left to go feed her in the kitchen. Once she was gone everypony was staring at Rarity. Rarity smiled and explained. “So, Twilight, how long ago was it that Trixie actually ate a real meal?”

Chapter Five: Of Mac and of Cheese

Fluttershy had stared at Trixie as she got up and left the table. There was something about Trixie that she couldn’t quite place her hoof on. She looked a little warmer, a little brighter. Was it the effect of having Twilight as a friend? No, there was something else going on. Even watching her eat all the cookies, Fluttershy had felt mesmerized by Trixie.

Once Trixie had left she felt the desire to follow her. Getting up from the table Fluttershy excused herself quietly which was fine as nopony seemed to even notice her leaving. Rarity and Twilight were going into a conversation about Trixie. Fluttershy entered the kitchen and saw Trixie sitting there staring up at all of cupboards and poking her head through the pantry.

Spike asked, “So, uh… what do you want?”

“The great and decisive Trixie will tell you when she decides.” She looked around almost wide eyed. “How does one pony and her dragon child have this much food? It is like you cleared out an entire grocery store.”

Spike shrugged. “Seems like a normal amount to me.”

Fluttershy looked around and didn’t see much more food than she owned at her home. Just enough to last the month and then some. Fluttershy felt her tiny voice crack a little as she asked, “I-is it really that m-much?”

Trixie replied. “If Trixie had attempted to put this much food into her wagon she’d have nowhere to sleep. That is if Trixie still had a wagon.”

The last sentence held a bit of venom. Fluttershy had remembered the cute little wagon that Trixie had come to town in originally. If memory served her right she recalled hearing it was destroyed by the Ursa Minor. Honestly for as scary as that sounded Fluttershy wished she wouldn’t have remained hidden that day because the Ursa Minor sounded sooo cute. She lamented not having gotten a chance to pet the Ursa Minor.

Trixie paused to look up at one of the cupboards. A lavender aura grappled with a box of mac’n’cheese bringing it down. She set it on the table and stared at it. “Hmm… Trixie feels she is missing something but will figure that out later. She wants this.”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Okay, suit yourself. It’ll take like, ten minutes.”

While Spike got to work turning on the gas for the stove he used a small spit of flames to light it and then began the process of boiling water. Trixie meanwhile took a seat at the table and waited. Fluttershy seeing this as a good opportunity took a seat across from her. For a moment she stared into Trixie’s eyes watching them change from interest, to confusion, to concern.

“What do you want with Trixie, yellow pony?”

Fluttershy offered a small smile. “M-my name is Fluttershy.”

Trixie stared at her. “Trixie feels she should know you…”

Fluttershy shook her head. “You p-probably don’t. B-but um…” she needed to figure out what was up with Trixie and why she seemed to look so amazing for lack of a better term.

Trixie stared at her; the look was turning from concern to one with narrowed eyes and sharp eyebrows. “What do you want?”

Fluttershy swallowed. “I-I just want to g-get to know you. Um, if that’s okay.”

Trixie offered a smile but it didn’t quite touch her eyes. “Oh, a fan, Trixie appreciates her fans, if you so choose to spend your time worshiping Trixie she will accept.”

Fluttershy felt her wings twitching. What was wrong with her? “W-well… I-I did like your show. I-I went to everyone you had h-here b-b-before-“

Trixie stood up from her chair with such speed Fluttershy felt her heart stop for a moment. “That is where Trixie knows you from! You were one of the ponies that actually enjoyed Trixie’s show… er that is to say, one of the few Ponyville ponies to have such great tastes as to recognize her natural born talent.”

Fluttershy was lost for words. Trixie was leaning halfway over the table and was a lot closer to her than she expected. Wings were starting to move on their own and heart racing, Fluttershy couldn’t tell what was going on inside her but she wanted to stay around Trixie, to look at her more to figure out why she looked so colorful and warm.

Rainbow Dash appeared at the doorway leading to the kitchen. “Hey, Fluttershy, what’s up?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “N-nothing.”

Rainbow Dash stared at Trixie for a long moment. “Yeah… right. Anyway, your missing the conversation. Let’s go hang with the others.”

It was a bit weird for Rainbow Dash to be checking on her like this, the mare usually was pretty good at giving Fluttershy some space when she needed it. Still, Fluttershy wasn’t exactly about to say no to Rainbow Dash either. For as bright as Trixie was right then, Rainbow Dash was always so colorful and she’d follow that rainbow trail anywhere. Even to places that Rainbow Dash might feel a bit embarrassed by.

Fluttershy gave one final smile at Trixie. “T-talk to you later.”

She left to go meet with the rest of the group. Oddly enough Rainbow Dash didn’t take her eyes off Trixie for one second. Was she really that concerned?

Trixie finally emerged from the kitchen with a huge bowl full of mac’n’cheese and a jar of peanut butter both being lifted in her telekinetic aura. The looks everypony gave her were making her feel like she was a circus. She took a seat by Twilight and dug a spoon into the jar of peanut butter taking a massive bite before swallowing and saying, “The great and fed Trixie will now socialize.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and whispered. “The weird food started already.”

Pinkie Pie was staring at Trixie with a wide eyed grin. Somehow her smile stretched from ear to ear and was almost terrifyingly huge. “Looks tasty. I’ve never tried that combination before, but I have tried hot dogs, eggs, ketchup, and well you name it in man’n’cheese before.”

Trixie stared at her. “Trixie is not sure what this ‘hot dog’ is, but it sounds… surprisingly tasty. Trixie thinks her taste buds might be broken.”

Applejack nodded. “Ah don’t think that’s the only thing broken bout you.”

Trixie glared at her. “And what is that supposed to mean, hayseed?”

Applejack shot the glare right back.

Twilight rose up. “Um, um, um girls. Please.”

Applejack seemed to realize she bit off more than she could chew and looked away. “Sorry.”

Twilight looked at Trixie and offered a patient smile. Trixie simply stared at her for what felt like the longest moment. Was she expecting something from Trixie? What could she be expecting? Trixie was completely clueless but maybe she was hoping she’d offer some mercy to the earth pony. “Trixie forgives the orange one.”

Twilight’s smile faltered for a half second. That must have been the wrong answer. Judging by the looks from everypony else she realized this must have been some kind of test. Trixie did not feel up for any such things but in order to keep her safe place to live she needed to pass it. Unfortunately she had no idea what she was supposed to do or say. She glanced over looking at each of them feeling their eyes on hers. The only one who seemed helpful was Fluttershy who was mouthing something. Trixie attempted to read those lips, part of her skills as a magician included being acceptable at that.

“Trixie is, is… apple… Apollo… geeze. Geese. Trixie is-“ Trixie finally got it. “Trixie wants to apologize… wait, she does?” ponies were now looking from her to Fluttershy, the extra attention seemed to have made the mare turn bright pink in her cheeks and lower her head so they couldn’t see her eyes.

Trixie looked at Twilight. “Is that what Trixie is supposed to do? But why?”

Twilight let out a sigh. “Because you were rude to her.”

“But she started it by saying Trixie was broken.”

“Yes and she apologized. So you should only say sorry back.”

Trixie blinked dumbfounded. “This makes zero sense. Is this like some kind of greeting, like when one pony says hello, you must say hello back?”

Twilight looked around. “See, she needs friendship lessons. This is why she’s staying with me.”

Rainbow Dash cut in making a mock motion of punching her hoof into her other hoof. “More like she needs to be taught a lesson alright.”

The hint was easily picked up by Trixie and she felt a cold shiver run down her spine. No, that rainbow colored mare was not going to get the chance, not when Trixie was in such a fragile state. She felt herself inching toward Twilight. Lucky for her Twilight actually seemed to catch on as well and was placing herself just in front of Trixie even if only a few inches.

Twilight spoke in a tone that brokered no arguments. “Rainbow Dash! Leave.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “What?”

Twilight met her eyes and Trixie had never seen such steel in them. At least not when it wasn’t aimed at her. Twilight added. “You are grounded from the library until you apologize.”

Rainbow Dash stood up straight. “I just said what everypony was thinking!”

Twilight glared at her. “Even I’m not stupid enough to not catch the threat you just made. Against my pupil and guest. Please leave.”

Rainbow Dash growled. “You know what, FINE! I don’t want to be friends with a monster of a pony anyway. Fluttershy, come on.”

Fluttershy looked up. “Um, um, b-but, I-“

Rainbow Dash was already halfway to the door. “Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy lowered her head and stood up. “I’m sorry, Trixie.”

The pair of them left and Trixie realized that even if Twilight had done the right thing, and kept her safe as she had promised, it only caused further problems. Rainbow Dash looked like she could have destroyed the entire library, now that she was angry and her anger aimed at Trixie how could she feel safe anywhere? Trixie looked up as the door closed gently behind Fluttershy. Twilight’s face was a steel mask not betraying any emotion. At least until the mask cracked and a look of hurt covered it. Trixie lowered her head. She was getting on Twilight’s bad side too.

Trixie pawed at the wooden floor. “Is… is this why Trixie is supposed to say sorry?”

Twilight patted Trixie’s back gently with a hoof. “It’s okay, Rainbow Dash went too far. She’ll realize her mistake in a few hours and probably apologize by the end of the day. This time you didn’t do anything wrong.”

Trixie felt so confused. How was she supposed to understand these rules? When she defended herself against Applejack’s insult she was in the wrong but when Twilight kicks Rainbow Dash out for threats of violence it was okay? This was not as easy to grasp as Trixie first thought. Lucky for her if she really wanted to understand more she was already in a library and could read up on it later.

Unfortunately this had the negative effect of causing the whole meeting to feel sour. Trixie managed to barely learn everyone’s name before the conversations got too awkward and she excused herself to go upstairs and rest a bit. Nopony really argued with her or even asked why, maybe they assumed that even the greatest of unicorns sometimes needed a stress break. Worse than anything else, why was there this pinching feeling in her chest that made her want to cry, not that she would, but she wanted too.

Chapter Six: Of Clouds and Closets

It wasn’t until later that day Trixie found Twilight coming up the stairs. Twilight looked a little tired and promptly plop herself in front of the fireplace. Trixie watched Twilight for a good couple of minutes before she levitated a book from one of her shelves. There seemed to be a bookmark in place and she skimmed through it.

Twilight asked, “Is it possible that six ponies might be considered crowded?”

Trixie shrugged. “Trixie is used to large crowds. Is there a reason you ask?”

“It says in my book that pregnant mares don’t do well in large crowds as instinct kicks in and they try to keep their unborn foal safe by staying in small groups of trusted individuals.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “And what makes you think Trixie trusts anypony?”

Twilight opened her mouth then closed. “I uh… I trust them.”

“And that applies to Trixie how?”

“I thought trusted individuals meant ponies that were trustworthy…”

“And why would Trixie consider those mares trustworthy when they have previously been hostile to Trixie?”

Twilight looked conflicted. “I… I’m not sure. Now that you say it that way I feel really stupid. I just wanted everypony to be friends really quickly.”

Trixie found a series of pillows she could use as a comfortable place to lie down on. “Trixie may not know about friendship but she thinks maybe it takes longer than a few minutes.”

Twilight blinked. “Pinkie pulls off the whole friends in a few minutes thing… usually.”

Trixie shook her head. “Trixie does not even know the first thing about friendship, so this was very poorly planned on your part. Do you really know what you are doing?”

The room fell silent for a little while. Eventually Trixie gave up on hearing a response so she resorted to skimming through a few books herself. There was one in particular about how to ‘break the ice’ with new ponies. Generally Trixie did this by showing off her amazing magical skills but she was not willing to risk too much excitement. Trixie did not exactly enjoy that part of the pregnancy, but anything to keep Trixie Two safe.

Twilight eventually spoke breaking Trixie from her reading, not that the book was really helping much. “I don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t know what I’m doing.”

Trixie looked up from her book. Honesty was not what she expected to be taking place here. “Oh?”

Twilight let out a sigh. “Sure I raised Spike but I’ve never been pregnant and although I’ve done a lot of research I’ve always been distant from pregnant mares. So I really don’t know what I’m doing but I still want to help. It even seems you’re trying to understand friendship but I’m not doing my part very well.”

Trixie stared at Twilight for a moment. She let out a sigh. “You are doing better than Trixie. She has not been as forthcoming with you as she’d like.”

Twilight stared at her, but the looking n her eyes still seemed distant. “What do you mean?”

Trixie looked over at the wall of books. “Trixie actually bedded a stallion while she was here. She suspects he is the father. Well… he would have to be after all Trixie usually prefers herself a pretty mare. This stallion was just so handsome, strong, and gentle. Perhaps too gentle.”

Twilight stared at her. “Are you looking for him?”

“Trixie’s father was never part of her life and she figured maybe she could try and have the father of her own child be part of its life. She is not keen on the idea of continuing a relationship with him though, if that makes sense.”

Twilight frowned. “Not… really, but then again romance is not my specialty. That’s Rarity’s thing.”

Things quieted down for a little bit longer. Looking up at the ceiling she realized just how curved this place was. The walls were rounded, the ceiling had designs and twists in it from the wood. There were a few balconies that led out to show different views of the town this place was amazing to look at. How had Twilight manage to get such a stunning home she couldn’t tell. It only needed a few paintings or posters of Trixie about and it would be a perfect home.

Trixie let out a sigh and lowered her head. She was going to have to deal with the rightfully angry Rainbow Dash now. It wasn’t like the mare had known Trixie was pregnant, if she had maybe it would explain why Twilight got so defensive. Even Trixie didn’t expect that of Twilight. In fact it only made certain things more fearful in her mind. Trixie found herself thinking aloud, “Do you think Rainbow Dash might hurt Trixie?”

Twilight snapped to attention. “Of course not. I won’t let her.”

Trixie looked at Twilight. “So you think she might try?”

Twilight bit her lower lip. “She is the most aggressive of us, I’ve seen her get into hoof fights before but I think she’ll respect my wishes on this. Even if she doesn’t I won’t let her get close to you.”

“Why are you doing this?”

Twilight smiled. “Because I honestly think that you need help and I want to do everything I can.”

“You have to be getting something out of this.”

Twilight shook her head. “Not anything I can think of. Other than maybe knowing I did the right thing in helping a friend.”

“We have properly known each other for twenty four hours. Are we really friends?”

Twilight beamed. “All the ponies you met downstairs, I became friends with them in less time.”

All of them? Now that was a strange thing. Maybe Twilight got her kicks off on this whole friendship thing. That was far from the worst motivation. Still Trixie was sure there was something else, something Twilight didn’t tell her about. This was still the safest place for her, but that was only just above the idea of starving in a gutter somewhere… no, she couldn’t think about that. Her child was too important. Deal with the crazy pony being crazy and if things actually did take a turn for the worst she could scamper out of there, Trixie was after all, a master of disappearing acts.

Rainbow Dash kicked another cloud with enough force to pop it. Her muscles were beginning to ache and her hooves hurt but she still had anger to burn out of her system. The look Twilight gave her, she’d never seen that before, and for what a little threat that she wasn’t going to make good on? Why would that bother Twilight so bad? It was just Trixie, not like it was somepony important even!

She kicked another cloud and watched it pop into nothingness. If she kept this up she was going to hurt herself and she knew it. She didn’t care though she kept kicking and trying to get the anger to go away. It burned and stabbed at her heart. Why did it hurt? It was just anger.

Rainbow Dash kicked another cloud and this time felt the pain in her hoof. She clutched it to her chest and whimpered. Moving it a little she felt the pain grow worse. “Yep… sprained.”

The fact that her hoof was now sprained all because Trixie had to appear only made her anger worse. This was all Trixie’s fault. If she wasn’t there she wouldn’t have gotten into a fight with one of her best friends. She wouldn’t be so angry she was in pain, and she wouldn’t have a sprained hoof. Great, what was she going to do with her job now… well she did sleep a lot so it didn’t exactly change anything but that didn’t change the insult turned to injury.

She’d been up here kicking the crap out of clouds for a good while now but it was finally time to give up. She didn’t want to hurt herself further. Instead she knew of one pony who might be able to help with the physical pain but sadly not the emotional.

Rainbow Dash swooped down over Ponyville. She spied Twilight’s house in her path and took a wide detour around it. That was the last place she wanted to be just then. Instead she flew straight to a little cottage that was far out of town. Landing on the little hill the cottage sat on she felt the pain explode in her right foreleg. A cry of pain escaped her lips.

The door opened immediately and Fluttershy stood there, her face half covered with the long pink mane. She eyed Rainbow Dash for a moment and then her eyes drifted to the leg Rainbow was favoring. Her eye showed that concerned and fearful expression. “Rainbow, you didn’t…”

Rainbow Dash grunted. “Punch clouds until I hurt myself, no, I wouldn’t do that. I just uh… did exactly that.”

Fluttershy ushered her inside and shut the door behind her. With a motion of her wing Rainbow was led to the couch where she crawled on it and laid down. Fluttershy was busy looking around through a nearby closet where a large assortment of oils, herbs, and ointments sat on various shelves. She pulled out one that had a white colored goop inside which made Rainbow Dash feel a little awkward to stare at. Fluttershy came back to the couch and sat down. “Show me.”

Rainbow Dash reluctantly showed her the hoof and with careful gentle hooves Fluttershy began applying the ointment to the affected area. It was freezing cold at first. The more Fluttershy massaged the hotter it grew. Until it felt like Fluttershy was drawing burning lines across Rainbow Dash’s hoof and leg. At some point Fluttershy was just massaging the wound and all the pain was gone. Just a hot tingly feeling that Rainbow couldn’t say was bad.

Rainbow Dash stared at Fluttershy as she worked her magic hooves into her leg. Eventually she pulled away and the leg became cold again. This wouldn’t do, Rainbow Dash hadn’t enjoyed that nearly long enough. “O-ow. Fluttershy, it still hurts.”

Fluttershy’s lip quivered. “O-oh no, let me, um let try.” She returned to massaging the leg. “Is that b-better?”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Yeah, just keep doing that, for like, awhile.”

Fluttershy’s lip curled up at the corner. If she caught on to what Rainbow Dash was doing she wasn’t arguing. So long as she had the opportunity she was going to milk a free Fluttershy massage for all it was worth. Of course there were other parts of her that she felt Fluttershy would be better off massaging but the idea of asking for that gave her the image of a terrified Fluttershy running away and not talking to her ever again. No, she’d keep those ideas firmly to herself. Fluttershy was a friend, just a friend…

Chapter Seven: Of Drinks and Dragons

Rarity sat at a booth in Sugarcube Corner with a fluffy whipped cream and oat smoothie sitting front of her. Applejack was on the other side with a cinnamon apple smoothie. Pinkie was on the opposite side with some kind of frozen drink that was pure pink with blue sprinkles in it. None of these were going to be exactly flattering for their figures but Rarity figured after a strange day a treat or two didn’t exactly hurt.

“So,” Rarity started. “What do you all think about this new decision of Twilight’s?”

Applejack didn’t look away from her drink. “Ah’m not too keen on it. After all Trixie did just barely use dark magic to take over the whole darn town.”

Pinkie Pie added. “Yep, just like Discord did. Remember that?”

Rarity glanced at her. “Don’t you find it strange that Twilight would react so strongly? Something is wrong here.”

Applejack added. “When Rainbow Dash made that threat did you notice how Trixie reacted? It was like she was trying to hide behind Twilight.”

Pinkie Pie frowned. “I don’t think it was very fun for Rainbow Dash to do that…”

Rarity jumped in. “Neither do I, darling. But I feel Twilight might have gone a bit overboard herself. I do hope Rainbow Dash is okay after that, I’m sure her feelings were hurt.”

Applejack took a sip of her smoothie before speaking. “Ah reckon she’ll be fine. Soon she’ll probably even apologize to Twilight but Ah am not so certain about Trixie. This situation is strange. If it had been Fluttershy Ah could see it, but Twilight?”

Pinkie Pie added. “I wonder what kind of cupcakes Trixie likes. She seems to be a fan of peanut butter.”

Rarity chose to ignore Pinkie’s contribution to the conversation. “That’s my concern as well, what if Trixie has done something to Twilight?”

Applejack frowned. “Ah really hope not but if’n she did we can stop her.”

Pinkie Pie added. “Oh just like how Discord messed with all of our heads? That was funny.”

Rarity stared at her. “Why on earth do you keep bringing up Discord?”

Pinkie Pie gave her a puzzled look. “Well, this just feels a lot like what happened with Discord you know? Like he used to be a bad guy and he did stuff far worse than anything Trixie ever did. Golly, even when we took him out of his stone prison he did bad stuff and just pretended to be doing it by accident. Fluttershy was able to make him change his ways though.”

Rarity was the one frowning now. Maybe Pinkie had a point. What if Trixie really was trying to do better? If someone as evil as Discord could start to change his ways, why couldn’t Trixie? Still Trixie seemed completely clueless about everything almost as if she wasn’t exactly doing this by choice. Her mind still wondered about how she had been before coming to Twilight’s. She did seem a bit weak, and the food she was eating although strange was a lot. Maybe after some good food and when things calm down a bit on Rainbow Dash’s side Trixie would show more of who she really was instead of that persona she always kept up.

Pinkie Pie added. “Besides it doesn’t help that Trixie pretty much says the opposite of what’s true all the time you know?”

Rarity and Applejack gave her a look as if to ask her to explain further. Pinkie smiled and explained further. “Didn’t you notice it? It was like whenever she would say ‘Trixie has eaten all the time’ she was actually really hungry. Or ‘Trixie is not scared’ she was terrified. Its kinda silly how she can only say the opposite of what she means.”

Rarity smiled. “Thank you, Pinkie. I think you might have just discovered the rosetta stone of Trixie.”

Pinkie Pie grinned from ear to ear. “Thank you! I’m not sure what kind of rock that is but I’m sure my sister Maud would know!”

Rarity smiled patiently. Pinkie was highly intelligent but it seemed to be by complete accident. She shook her head slowly and went back to her smoothie. Oh yes, sugar, lots and lots of sugar. She was going to regret this later.

Trixie found herself moseying about the place looking for books to read. Despite being a library filled to the brim with books on practically every subject she couldn’t find just one to read. Meanwhile Twilight had busied herself research and Spike was doing chores about the place. Trixie’s legs felt restless and she felt almost trapped in here. There was a large part of her that just wanted to go out and be free but so many ponies posed problems. Not to mention the thought of Rainbow Dash coming back to confront her.

Even if the little upstart did come back Trixie would defend herself next time. Even in her pregnant state never let it be said that her magic was not the best in Equestria. Even Twilight’s natural born talent came second to Trixie’s assuming Trixie ever wanted to show off her real power that was.

With finding nothing else to do Trixie decided to turn to the one thing she always enjoyed in times like these. She made her way to Twilight who sat near the fireplace reading quietly to herself. “Twilight, Trixie is in demand of playing cards.”

Twilight glanced up at her. “Oh, I think we have a few packs of those somewhere. Spike, where did you put them?”

Spike stood up from his spot on the floor where he was scrubbing at a hoofmark, stretched his arms above his head and motioned for Trixie to follow. “Come on, I’ll show you where we keep the party supplies.”

“Party supplies?”

Spike shrugged. “Twilight assumes any gathering of more than two ponies becomes a party really quickly… and uh, knowing Pinkie Pie I can understand why. So we have a closet filled with games and other stuff for that.”

Going down stairs they reached the lobby of the library. Off to one side was a closet and Spike opened the door to reveal a horde of different boxes. One shelf was lined with board games of all sorts. Spike skimmed through them. He laughed as he passed over a boxed version of ‘Twenty Questions’. “Twilight loves this one. She can’t help but to love a good riddle.”

Trixie smiled. That would be good knowledge for the future. For now she helped him look with her eyes. Up near the top she spied exactly what she wanted. A set of cards. She pulled it down and Spike looked up at her. “So… what do you want with those? Looking to play Solitaire? I’ll play with you.”

Trixie stared at him. “Isn’t Solitaire a single pony game?”

“Not the way me and Twilight play it.”

Trixie thought about that for a moment and decided against it. No she had different ideas in mind for the cards. In fact if he was so curious maybe she could show him just how great she really was. Trixie smiled. “The great and Powerful Trixie will show you what she has in mind. Follow her.”

Trixie walked over to the table in the center of the lobby and sat down. She motioned for spike to sit across from her. He had to drag a stool over before he could be anywhere near eye level. He stared at her. “So… what game are we playing?”

Trixie laughed. “Oh, Spike, this is not merely a game. I am going to show you real magic. Impressive and mind boggling tricks that nopony has known the secrets too for ages.”

She pulled the cards out and shuffled them with her telekinesis. Once done she spread them face down for him. “Go ahead, pick a card, any card.” Spike gave her a caution look. She goaded him forward. “Do not fret, they won’t bite.” He picked a card and held it so he could see it. Trixie added, “Now don’t tell Trixie what it is.” With a flicker of extra magic she made sure that the card would stand out to her and only to her. “Now keep that card in mind and put it back face down.” He did so and she began shuffling the deck once more. She then stopped, spread the cards wide and found the one she was looking for. She pulled it out and set it aside. “No, no, no, it couldn’t be that one, too simple.” She pulled out a fake card. “Is this the card that was yours?”’

He shook his head. “No.”

Trixie pulled another fake card. “Oh, then would it happen to be this one?”

Spike shook his head again. “Not even close.”

She set the deck down and frowned. Going back to the card she pulled aside. “Well it certainly couldn’t be this one could it?” She lifted the first card she pulled out up and showed it to him.

His eyes widened slightly. “That’s it… but wait, you pulled that one out first.”

Trixie smiled. “Of course she did. She just didn’t want you to think she had you so early in the game.”

Spike smiled. “Nice trick. I was trying to learn that one awhile back but never got the hang of it.”

Trixie’s heart skipped a beat. “You were trying to become a magician?”

“Well… it sounded fun.”

Trixie squeed. “An aspiring dragon magician after her own heart. Trixie approves. If you would like some assistance in practicing the trick, you have only the best mentor here to help.”

Spike scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, I tried to ask Twilight for help but she just couldn’t figure it out.”

Trixie wasn’t sure whether to be upset that he considered Twilight a better tutor before her, or amazed that Twilight couldn’t figure out the most basic of magic tricks. Maybe illusions and trickery were just not the mares thing… actually that would make a lot of sense. Twilight did seem to be the honest sort as well as a bit more on the simple side. She sincerely doubted there was much hidden beneath Twilight’s surface. Something, but not much.

Trixie instead chose to focus on a different aspect. The dragon boy was trying to learn her craft and clearly needed a helping hoof from someone who was the best unicorn in Equestria. She smiled down at him and said, “Twilight may not be able to understand the art of magic but Trixie, she is the most qualified pony in town to help out. Neigh, the most qualified pony in Equestria!”

Spike wore a bit of a grin. “Well if you can help me learn this trick, maybe it will impress somepony.”

“Oh when Trixie is done, you’ll impress everypony.”

So they spent the next ten minutes or so practicing with Trixie showing him how you’re supposed to use a mark to show which card is the actual one. Normally a magician doesn’t reveal their secrets but this card trick had been exposed for so long it didn’t really count. Spike was getting the hang of it too, a lot faster than she expected. His eyes were truly astute to finding small details once he was told to look for them. So after only a short time he was reliably finding the right card that Trixie had picked and even caught it the second time Trixie cheated by using a little magic to obscure her card before he found it again. He could prove to be a perfect assistant if she should choose to run a show here.

The front door swung open with the force of a hurricane making Trixie jump back with enough fright to actually fall on her side. She stared at the open door seeing the outline of a pegasus. Her heart was racing. No, it couldn’t be. Why would she be here so soon? Was she still that angry?

The figure walked in and Trixie found herself staring at the one, the only, Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash glared at her. “Trixie, I have something to say to you.”

Trixie’s mind went blank. Her heart racing. Just four more weeks, that’s all she needed to be safe. Trixie didn’t even think about it as she cried out. “TWILIGHT!”

Chapter Eight: Of Rainbows and Crushes

With Rainbow Dash laying on the couch and having a back massage from her buttery fluttery friend she found her mind was still racing. The anger had faded a fair bit now but something still felt off. The way Twilight was so protective over Trixie was strange. “Why? Why did Twilight get so mad at me?”

Fluttershy replied with a voice that oozed honey. “Mmm, I think she just wants to keep her pupil safe. Twilight’s never had a student before. Maybe she’s over protective?”

Rainbow Dash buried her head into the pillow. At least having Fluttershy on her back caressing her with those soft warm hooves felt godly. It was like her entire body had become warm jelly. If Fluttershy wasn’t the best at this, then she didn’t know who would be? Not that Rainbow Dash would ever let anypony else try this kind of thing, or even let anypony know that she let Fluttershy do this kind of thing. It was very much their secret.

Rainbow Dash felt a particularly pleasant spot being caressed and had to stifle an embarrassing noise coming from her mouth. “So… she’s mad at me. Like really mad.”

Fluttershy hummed as she moved her hooves a bit lower onto Rainbow’s back. “W-well, maybe. B-but if I know Twilight she’ll forgive you if you apologize.”

Rainbow Dash groaned. “But I’m too awesome to apologize for something so stupid. All I did was make a threat… it’s not like I was ever going to make good on it, she should just know that.”

Fluttershy replied. “Do you think Trixie knows that?”

Rainbow Dash was quiet for a moment. “Probably not.”

Fluttershy’s hooves moved progressively lower and her beginning to get to some personal space territory. Not that Rainbow Dash minded, but she uh, she had to put up some kind of fight. For appearances sake. She didn’t want Fluttershy to think anything weird about her… even if the reverse wasn’t exactly true. Those warm, gentle hooves were a godsend on her lower back. So long as they stayed there Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have to force herself to say anything.

Fluttershy seemed to pick up on her resistance even before Rainbow said anything as the hooves moved up on her back just a little. Just enough to show that Fluttershy was not meaning to go so low on purpose. It was almost painful to think Fluttershy didn’t to go any lower but Rainbow Dash had come to accept that by now. Fluttershy might have been her best friend but she wasn’t ever going to be anything more than that. Heck, Fluttershy had even dated other ponies once or twice so any interest that could have been there was clearly gone… great now she was angry and sad.

Fluttershy spoke quietly. “You know what you need to do now, d-don’t you?”

Rainbow Dash grunted. “Yeah… but I’m going to hate it. I just don’t understand why… and that is what bugs me the most.”

Fluttershy paused for a moment before saying something that drove a spike through Rainbow Dash’s heart. “How would you react if somepony threatened me?”

Rainbow Dash jumped up from the couch and into the air knocking Fluttershy down onto the couch. “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe how stupid I freaking am. Your right! If somepony had said that to you I’d have killed them. What if… what if Twilight feels the same way about Trixie!”

Fluttershy stared up. “Feels um… what?”

Rainbow Dash hurried to the door threw it open and flew off faster than before. The massage oil quickly drying from the wind rushing around her. She had to make this right, and right now. She was such a dunce. Twilight was her friend and if she wanted to keep Trixie around and protect her then she could do just that and it was Rainbow’s job to help her not cause any problems. Stupid, stupid, stupid. What was the point of being the element of loyalty if she was going to throw that away just because she didn’t like Trixie… Oh by Celestia’s shining massive butt…

Rainbow Dash felt like had become Gilda.

Twilight heard first the thud from downstairs as something heavy fell. She stood up intending on running down to see what happened. Surly Spike had dropped something from the closet again, in fact opening that closet was kind of a hazard in and of itself.

It was the blood curdling scream that sent shivers running through her body. Twilight didn’t even need to think as she teleported downstairs in a flash of pink light. She stood there witnessing a scene of horror. Rainbow Dash stood in the door way staring down at Trixie who was some feet away and lying on the floor. Spike was trying to help Trixie out but the look in Trixie’s eyes. The pinpricked pupils, the bulging eyes the grimace of pure terror. It set something off in Twilight and she swiftly made her way between the two facing Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash blinked a few times and attempted to speak. “I uh, look I have um,”

Twilight cut her off. “Rainbow Dash! How dare you! How very dare you, burst back into my home, and and and,” Oh by Celestia, she didn’t’. “YOU!” She jammed a hoof at Rainbow Dash. “Did you push her?”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “What no, no I didn’t do anything yet.”

Twilight took a step forward. “YET?”

Rainbow Dash lowered her head looking from Twilight to Trixie with obvious guilt on her face. “I just wanted to say-“

“SAY WHAT?” Twilight felt her body as tense as a string pulled taught, so taught it was about to snap. “What on earth did you want to say? Another threat?”

“N-no, I’m sorry!”

Twilight glared at her. “Oh, so now you’re sorry?”

Rainbow Dash lowered her head further as she back up to the door way. “I am. I realized I did something bad and I’m sorry. I’m sorry to you and I’m sorry to her too.”

Twilight watched Rainbow Dash for a moment. Her body language showed obvious signs of guilt. So maybe she really did feel sorry but the point is she had still put Trixie into a state of panic. Oh… oh no, panic was bad. Stress was bad.

Twilight spun around and galloped to Trixie’s side. Trixie still looked a nervous wreck. Her breathing was rapid. She had to fix this and now. Twilight’s horn lit up and she cast a calming spell over Trixie. In seconds Trixie’s eyes returned to a normal state, her breathing slowed and her grimace relaxed into a frown. Twilight laid down and was already examining Trixie for any signs of danger or an immediate need for a hospital visit.

Trixie stared at her. “Um… Twilight, why are you staring at that?”

Twilight looked up to meet Trixie’s eyes. “Are you okay? How are you feeling? Any pain, any, anything?”

Trixie shook her head. “Trixie is fine. She was just startled. She’s not even sure why now…” She looked over at Rainbow Dash who was standing in the door way looking a little lost. “Trixie forgives you.”

Rainbow Dash let out a sigh of relief. “Good, I was afraid that maybe I might have crossed another line.”

Twilight’s head snapped back and glared at Rainbow Dash. “You did! At least with me. I’m glad you’re apologizing but I’m trying to keep this home as calm and safe as possible and you bursting in like that does not help.”

Rainbow Dash lowered her head and stared at the floor. She pawed at it a few times. “I… listen, this whole thing is weird for us but I’m okay with it. I… I want to trust your judgment Twilight. If you want Trixie around then I’ll want Trixie around.”

Twilight felt herself beginning to calm a little Rainbow Dash really was repentant after her actions this morning. She also couldn’t blame her too much for acting rash and fast like she always did. After all this was the pony that continuously broke through her windows for weeks just to say hi… actually she still did that on occasion, greatest flier in Equestria her hind quarters, how does one fly through the closed window like some kind of blind crow?

Still they were friends and Twilight didn’t want that relationship to end just because of any current mission. “I’ll forgive you, but just do your best to help me keep a calm and relaxed atmosphere okay?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Y-yeah… Sorry again. I didn’t realize how close you were to Trixie. Seeing you like this now… I kinda get it.”

Twilight felt a little strange by the way Rainbow Dash said that. Had she really caught on to what was happening? “What do you mean?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t meet her gaze but she replied, “Well… you want to keep her safe right?”

“Yes.”

“And you like her?”

“Well… I do.” That was an honest statement much to Twilight’s surprise.

Rainbow Dash smiled. “I guess I should have figured you’d not only have to find a magical pony to date but you’d also be gay. I mean… it was kind of obvious.”

What Rainbow Dash said wasn’t untrue but it felt awkward as if Twilight was missing something. “Well… thank you?”

Trixie sat up and wrapped a hoof around Twilight’s neck bringing her into a hug. “Rainbow Dash, you approve?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Sure, I mean, I’m not one to criticize.”

Trixie smiled but it didn’t touch her eyes. “Oh, thank you. But please, keep this a secret, we aren’t ready to share it yet if you understand.”

Rainbow Dash smiled. “Fair ‘nuff. I’ll just leave you too alone now… um… am I still grounded?”

Twilight was not at all sure of what was going on but she offered a weak smile. “No, you’re not. Just remember, it’s a library, calm and quiet.”

Rainbow Dash flexed her wings and backed out the door. “Yep and boring too, see you girls later.”

Twilight closed the door after her and relaxed. Trixie was still holding her. Not that Twilight minded that much, she was a fan of hugs from warm ponies but she felt like something had just happened. Something that went way over her head. She looked at Trixie whose face turned pink and she let go instantly. Twilight smiled at her. “Well that was exciting. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Trixie nodded. “Yes… but um, how good is she at keeping secrets?”

“When she means it, she’s the best.”

Trixie let out a sigh. “Good because Trixie doesn’t want all of your friends to think we are dating.”

Twilight blinked. “D-d-dating?”

Oh… by the heat of Celestia’s sun… This just got a lot more complicated.

Chapter Nine: Of Lessons and Love

Trixie found herself sitting on bed upstairs and attempting to read some cobbled together journal Twilight had about friendship. In all honesty all it was were copied collections of every letter Twilight had sent to Princess Celestia. Once a week… for just over a year. Trixie quickly finished them but they felt more like lectures and folk tales then actual sense.

Trixie found herself asking yet another question as she studied them. “How exactly does realizing Pinkie Pie is psychic, relate to anything other than being terrified of her?”

Twilight offered a patient smile. She’d been sitting in front of the bed answering such questions for fifteen minutes now. “It’s not about how she’s psychic it’s about how I reacted poorly to a new experience and failed to believe in my friend.”

“Even Trixie doesn’t believe this and she has witnessed the pink pony’s strangeness first hoof.”

Twilight was still offering that smile. The longer Trixie stared at it the more she felt like it was less friendly and more smug. As if Twilight was saying, ‘I’m smarter than you if you can’t understand this.’ It was really starting to grate on Trixie’s nerves.

“And, how, pray tell did you learn about anything from Rarity being selfish, stuck up, and taking over Rainbow Dash’s contest like the mare she is?”

Twilight frowned. A much better look for the mare, or at least one Trixie was more comfortable with. “Rarity isn’t… well she used to be a little more um… self interested. She has changed a lot since then. She’s learned that by taking care of others first she takes care of herself too.”

Trixie felt herself frowning. “So she’s just a pushover who doesn’t care about herself now? How is that any better than being stuck on herself and acting like all unicorns have to be stuck up, rich, and elegant.”

Twilight didn’t’ look like she quite knew how to answer Trixie’s question. “Um… I don’t…” Twilight bit her lower lip. “Well there have been times where Rarity has made certain comments towards Applejack, and me and… um… she is better now?”

Trixie smiled. “Oh, maybe that will help Trixie understand better. What has Rarity said?”

Twilight sat down. “I shouldn’t really say it out loud.”

“Please, Trixie feels she might understand how Rarity grew into a better pony if she knew.”

Twilight bit her lower lip, her eyes darted from side to side and then she nearly whispered. “I heard Rarity call Applejack a um… dirty pony once. L-like the derogative term… It was a long, long time ago but I think… maybe she was um…”

Trixie’s smile grew even more. The poor unicorn in front of her had no idea there was a difference between dirt pony and dirty pony, this was getting fun. “So let Trixie get this straight. She used to say some very hurtful things about ponies she felt were under her, but it’s okay now because she has stopped?”

Twilight nodded. “Well it’s not that simple but… mostly.”

Trixie beamed. “Then Trixie will just have to stop saying hurtful things and she will be friends with everypony right?”

Twilight looked concerned but replied. “I think that’s only the first step…”

Trixie was finally getting it. Pretend to be a different pony. A ‘better’ pony. If she did that more ponies would frolic to her greatness and she could bathe in their warm loving glow. How had she not figured this out sooner? If she wanted to be important she had to give ponies a reason to love her, other than simply existing and being both the greatest, and best magician ever. She could do that, for those oh so needy ponies she could offer them some kindness in return. Or was it generosity. Oh did it matter?

Twilight seemed displeased with her profound realization. “Trixie, I think this might take more work.”

Trixie put a hoof to her chest. “Preposterous. You yourself are teaching Trixie of friendship, and you are the best equipped for such a task are you not. Trixie shall get the hang of this in her very next conversation.”

Twilight’s cheeks turned a shade of pink. “B-best?”

Trixie reached out and flicked the floof on Twilight’s chest with her hoof. “Oh, yes, yes you are.”

Twilight took a step back her cheeks turning a deeper shade. “Oh, um, okay. So we’ll keep trying until you get it. I’ll invite somepony over soon and you can spend some time with them. Um… anypony you like so far?”

Trixie felt satisfied with making Twilight feel awkward her victory, though small, was a fun one. “Fluttershy wasn’t so bad. She seemed friendly enough but that big doof Rainbow Dash dragged her away against her will.”

Twilight looked away and at the bookshelf. “That was unfortunate. Of all my friends I felt her and Pinkie would be the best ones to start with but after realizing you don’t need so much excitement I don’t think Pinkie’s a great idea. At least not unsupervised.”

Trixie offered a sly grin. “Oh you trust Trixie to be left unsupervised with your friends?”

Twilight nodded. “Of course, you’re an adult you know.”

Trixie blinked. “Oh… well Trixie supposes she is, isn’t she.”

Twilight frowned again. “What does that mean?”

“Trixie is hardly 18 years old, you know.”

Twilight blinked. “Oh, so we’re pretty close in age then.”

“Trixie supposes so.” Trixie hopped off the bed and walked over to Twilight’s bed.

Twilight’s voice came out a bit broken. “Um.. everything okay?”

Trixie looked under the bed and with a pull of her telekinetic aura she dragged out a few magazines of ill repute. “Trixie is just fine, but could she get some of that unsupervised time now? Or are you going to make her use the bathroom like a teenager.”

Twilight’s face was a deep shade of red. “H-hey! Those are mine!”

“Trixie knows, this is a library after all isn’t’ it?”

“B-but those aren’t part of the library, they’re private!”

Trixie opened one up to see the most delightful, terrible things. “Oh, yes, yes they are.”

Trixie actually climbed onto Twilight’s bed laying on her belly as she flipped through the pages. “Not many stallions in these books eh?”

Twilight’s face was so red it lost all traces of lavender it once had. “T-T-Trixie!”

“Yes?”

“Stop looking at those!”

Trixie glanced up at her. “Oh, Twilight, do not worry, it’s nothing new for me. I’ve already done most of these-“ she flipped a page and her heart stopped. “-never mind.” She closed the magazine and set it down. “I will certainly look at these later but Trixie had no idea you had such diverse interests.”

Twilight marched over and her aura surrounded the magazine lifting them up and away from Trixie. “No. Bad Trixie.”

She placed them under the bed again. “Not for you.”

Trixie giggled. “Oh you are delightfully innocent aren’t you?”

Twilight stomped a hoof. “Twilight is not innocent!”

Trixie blinked. “Did you just?”

Twilight turned around. “Nothing in the past five minutes has ever happened.” Her horn lit up and she disappeared in a flash of bright pink light. Somehow torturing Twilight as her ‘friend’ was actually more fun than tormenting her as an enemy ever could be. It was like playing with a cat’s ears. She could do this all day, and better yet, Twilight wasn’t’ actually a cat so there was no chance of her being scratched for her efforts to amuse herself… speaking of which.

Trixie slipped those magazines back out seeing as how Twilight wasn’t going to be up here bothering her for at least a few good minutes. Spike seemed to have vanished at some point as well. Well idle hooves are Lord Tirek’s playthings as they say.

Twilight sat downstairs sipping at a cup of tea while Spike was in the kitchen cleaning the mess from the meal this morning. She laid her head down and let out an exasperated sigh. That mare, she was more of a hooful than Twilight thought she’d be. It seemed the more comfortable she was here the more challenging she was becoming. This was frustrating to say the least and she was almost certain that Trixie was misunderstanding the friendship lessons on purpose.

Not to mention the way Trixie kept touching her. It was weird… and felt good. Twilight shook her head. It was not the time to be thinking weird thoughts.

Spike spoke up. “You fed up yet?”

She couldn’t let him know how she felt. “No, I’m just tired.”

“Okay.” Spike was using a butter knife to scrape some of the gunk out of the stove top. Something she found a little grating to listen too but knew needed done.

What was she going to do? Introducing Trixie to her friends hadn’t gone according to plan, at least Trixie and Rainbow Dash made up even if it meant that Rainbow Dash now had the wrong idea of what was going on. Was it even worth arguing that idea? It’s not like she could convince Rainbow otherwise. When she got something stuck in her noggin she was worse than Pinkie… not that Pinkie was bad, or annoying, or anything negative.

She was just… a lot to handle sometimes.

They all were.

Twilight was very bad at this whole friendship thing. She was far better at magic. How come Trixie couldn’t be here to learn magic instead? Twilight had no idea how to teach friendship, she hardly understood it herself. Was this friendship letter she wanted really worth it?

The answer was yes. Yes it was. Any extra attention from Celestia was worth practically dying for. She’d even gone right up to a mean old dragon for Celestia’s love-er affection. This was not even close to a dragon.

Spike intruded upon her thoughts. “You know Trixie was really quiet and scared when she first arrived.”

Twilight replied. “Yes, quiet… I like quiet.”

Spike laughed. “But she’s talking a lot more now. She’s even playful now.”

Twilight glared at him. “Playful?”

Spike looked at her. “Haven’t you noticed? She’s teasing you.”

“Teasing?”

“Yes, you know like something Rainbow Dash would do.”

Twilight frowned. “Rainbow Dash doesn’t tease me like that.”

“No she just puts whoopee cousins under your seat, give you magically disappearing ink in the middle of a serious study and moves your books to random places in the library and watches you until you figure it out and freak out.”

Twilight stared at him. “So… what are you saying? Trixie and Rainbow Dash have something in common?”

Spike let out a sigh. “Seriously? You can’t see it?”

“See what? I’m failing to understand what everypony’s obsession with picking on me is.”

Spike set his butter knife down, stood straight up on the counter and put his clawed hands on his hips. “What they have in common is they both like you enough to tease you. If they didn’t feel comfortable around you they wouldn’t tease you. Trixie would just be quiet and give you sharp mean comments, not try to goad you into your weirdly cute responses.”

Twilight stared at him. “So… I… I’m succeeding?”

Spike smiled. “At least you can say your Trixie’s friend.”

Twilight stood straight up. “Spike, I need a letter and a pen. I have a letter to send, the first of many.”

Chapter Ten: Of Tricks and Tact

It had taken only a little bit of time but Fluttershy was here now and Trixie wasn’t sure what to make of it. Trixie hadn’t really left the tree house since she arrived and although she felt the need to stretch her legs, maybe graze a little, she didn’t exactly want to go outside, especially not alone. Twilight’s fix for the issue, drag one of her friends into the library and then leave them alone in the second floor.

At least the mare was quiet, but the issue was that Fluttershy kept staring at Trixie as if there was something stuck on Trixie’s face. Eventually even Trixie couldn’t pretend the silent stares weren’t a thing. She met the mare’s eyes and asked, “Why are you so insistent on staring at Trixie?”

Fluttershy swallowed. “I um, I um, I… don’t know.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know? You mean to tell Trixie you are staring at her like she is some kind of abstract piece of art and you have no idea why?”

Fluttershy’s lip quivered. “You’re so colorful.”

Trixie blinked. “Colorful?”

Fluttershy looked Trixie up and down. “Like really warm looking.”

Warm, colorful, was this mare on some kind of fungi? The only time Trixie had ever experienced something like that was a case where she learned to not eat random mushrooms she found growing in the forest. Great so Trixie’s new companion was a hippie on some kind of substance. Trixie… could do worse for company.

“Trixie will accept that you just like staring at her, but please, look at something else for five minutes. Even the Great and Powerful Trixie struggles with such attention for so long.”

Fluttershy pulled her eyes away and looked down at the floor. “S-sorry.”

Trixie let out a sigh. “Trixie is… sorry too.”

Fluttershy was frowning. It was like the moment Fluttershy looked away the energy inside her began to drain. Was Trixie really so good to stare at? Well yes, yes she was, and the mare had already admitted to liking her magic show. Maybe this mare was not actually on some kind of substance but was an adoring fan met with the possibility of talking to and befriending her favorite magician. Who wouldn’t be stuck staring in such a position?

Trixie got up and walked over closer to the mare. She plopped herself down right in front of Fluttershy, only a foot way. Fluttershy looked up again and locked eyes on Fluttershy. “O-oh, um, um, um.”

Trixie offered a smile. “The Great and Powerful Trixie realizes you must be a true fan to stare at her so much. Tell Trixie, did you want something from her?”

Fluttershy’s lip quivered and her eyes widened. Those cheeks grew a shade a pink and she was trembling a little. Somehow all of these signs only told Trixie that the mare was positively adorable. Something she’d missed earlier, probably thanks to Rainbow Dash’s mouth. Still she wasn’t displeased to have a cute mare so close.

Fluttershy swallowed. “I um, I d-don’t know.”

Trixie realized a fan wanting some fan service when she saw it. “Trixie loves all of her fans, especially those which such cute expressions. Please, if you have any desires of Trixie let her know. She’d more than love to accommodate them.” She attempted to bridge the gap by gently placing a hoof over Fluttershy’s.

Fluttershy’s face went a shade of red and those wings shot out as if they had a mind of their own. Fluttershy closed her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Trixie laughed. “There is no need to apologize. Trixie finds your antics to be entertaining. She herself is the entertainer though, so if you want an autograph or to see Trixie perform feats of wonder just let her know.”

Fluttershy cracked open an eye. “O-oh… is that… is that what you meant?”

Trixie pulled her hoof back. “Of course it is what Trixie meant. What else could she be talking about?”

Fluttershy’s wings relaxed a little. “Um… o-okay. I like magic tricks… c-could you do any?”

Trixie giggled. “Of course Trixie can. Now where did Trixie put the material she scavenged from Twilight’s abode?” Trixie stood up and turned around. She trotted away from Fluttershy looking at a saddle back near the wall. It wasn’t until she had opened it up and pulled out a deck of cards that she was aware something was a little off. She glanced back to see Fluttershy’s eye wandering over Trixie’s cutie mark. “Oh, are you curious how Trixie received her cutie mark?”

The mare’s face went deep red and she covered her eyes with her wings. “I wasn’t staring.”

Trixie blinked. This mare was certainly strange. Was it so bad to look at another’s cutie mark… oh… she wasn’t looking at the cutie mark was she? Even Trixie wasn’t that dense. She turned around and walked over to where Fluttershy was and laid down. “Fluttershy was it?”

Fluttershy squeaked out a noise that Trixie assumed to be a yes.

“Trixie would love to show you some of the tricks she knows now.”

Fluttershy spread the end feathers of her wings apart just enough to see Trixie. With a patient smile Trixie was shuffling those cards. “Trixie can perform all sorts of feats of wonder using magic. If you’d like, Trixie would be willing to spend the day teaching you all the ‘tricks’ she knows.”

Fluttershy swallowed. Seeing as how Trixie didn’t reject her upon the realization of what was going on, she seemed to relax a little. The game was ahoof and Trixie wasn’t going to be the first one to make a move. Oh no, she was going to make this mare force her hoof and reveal her cards first. Once she did, Trixie might just enjoy herself some pegasus for dinner… assuming Twilight continued to politely bugger off for long enough.

Now the real game had began. To get Fluttershy to make the first move.

Twilight was busy with the water hose giving the flower garden a much needed bathing. Using Fluttershy to start Trixie’s friendship lessons was a great idea. The mare had single hoofedly tamed Discord, so she’d be able to do anything.

Of course Spike who was busy pulling weeds on the other side of the garden was busy trying to contradict her. “You sure this was a good idea?”

“Spike, Spike, Spike, Fluttershy is the most quiet, sensitive pony out there. If there is any one of my friends that I trust to help Trixie out of her shell and to become more gentle it is her.”

Spike grumbled. “Yeah, so long as Fluttershy doesn’t find out Trixie is pregnant. If that happens you’re going to have a mess to clean.”

Twilight glanced at him. “What do you mean? Wait, are you still on the whole Fluttershy devours unborn children thing? How many times do I have to tell you she doesn’t do that.”

Spike rolled his eyes. “You know what, if you find any weird stains or puddles upstairs, you get to clean them. Not me.”

What on earth was he on about? Whatever if it made him feel better. “Alright, that’s acceptable.”

It was at that point Twilight recognized the snow-white pristine form of Rarity walking down the road towards them. Not deterred from her task of washing the flowers she continued to do so until Rarity appeared. Rarity’s first response was not the one she expected.

“Darling, are you trying to waterboard your daisies?”

Twilight took the hose off of them. They looked fine to her. They were so happy with being watered they were drooping from being sleepy. Spike took the first chance to look at the flowers. “See, this is why I’m in charge of taking care of the garden. I think you just killed them all.”

Twilight frowned. “But the book said plenty of water. This doesn’t seem like too much for me.”

Rarity giggled. “Oh, twilight, it’s plenty of water for a flower, not for a pony.”

Twilight frowned. The only book she’d been able to read in time to help out today was more of pamphlet talking about flowers in such a way to teach kids how they worked. Even she had to prioritize her reading time especially with a pregnant mare in the house.

Rarity rolled her eyes. “I’ll ask Applejack if she can help save them later. She’s surprisingly good with flower gardens I’ll have you know.”

Spike agreed. “She helped e when we had those magical beetles come in.”

Twilight felt out of place in this conversation. Could they return to talking about magical theory, or history of Equestria, or even just Princess Celestia, she knew a lot about those things. Still she was done watering the garden, by now Fluttershy and Trixie had surely had enough time to become friends. Of course Rarity was here now… why was she here again?

Twilight looked over at Rarity. “Did you need anything?”

Rarity only offered a small smile. “I want to get to know Trixie better.”

“Oh Fluttershy’s doing that right now. I’m hoping they get to know each other really well and get really close.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “You left Fluttershy alone with Trixie?”

“We left her alone with Discord, didn’t we?”

Rarity bit her lower lip. “I still feel bad about that. What if he had hurt her?”

“Discord is about chaos not evil, he wouldn’t directly hurt somepony. Historically all the battle’s he’s won have been by circumstance not him attacking anything.”

Rarity was still frowning. “Even so I don’t like the idea of putting her in harm’s way.”

“Trixie is not going to hurt anypony. She really wants to change for the better. Today she even felt comfortable enough to be playful with me.”

Rarity gave Twilight an odd stare. “Define playful.”

“Teasing, jokes, being a little silly… you know, like Rainbow Dash does.”

Rarity put a hoof to her chin as if in thought. “Well she does somewhat remind me of Rainbow Dash. I suppose as we get to know her more we might see more similarities.”

Twilight grinned. “See, even you have to admit it’s not all bad.”

“I never said it was all bad, just that there was bad there in the first place.” Rarity shook her head. “What I mean is, there is a chance this could go wrong and I’d like to avoid that if at all possible.”

Twilight nodded. “I agree, that’s why it’s Fluttershy up there instead of anypony else. She’s the best equipped to be Trixie’s second friend.”

“Second?”

Twilight smiled. “I’m her first!”

Rarity looked down at the ground and furrowed her brow. “I… see. So she really didn’t have any friends before you. What made her consider you as somepony to help her learn then?”

Twilight felt her body freeze. That was not a question she was prepared for. What was she going to say, that Trixie showed up in the middle of the night, soaking wet, homeless and desperate for help? If she did Rarity was going to press for further questions, besides that it might hurt Trixie’s ego, which wouldn’t be bad except for the fact that she really didn’t need the extra stress. If she just left Rarity alone though wouldn’t she start pestering Trixie about it? What could she do?

Spike answered. “She came here in the middle of a storm soaking wet and homeless.”

Rarity stared at him. “I see. Poor thing must really have had nowhere else to turn. At least she seems to have gotten to the right pony at the right time. Don’t worry, I won’t repeat anything you said. Discretion is a lady’s best friend.”

Well… that was actually a lot simpler than Twilight gave it credit for. Now it was just time to check up on Trixie and Fluttershy. It ad been a good half hour now right? What could those two possibly get up to in that amount of time?

Chapter Eleven: Of Magic Tricks and Honey Lips

Twilight came walking in upstairs much to nopony’s surprise she found Trixie sitting on the floor with a red face doing card tricks with Fluttershy. Fluttershy’s face was just about as red but neither of them said much. For a moment Twilight watched in silence as Fluttershy played the trick picking a card to which Trixie shuffled her deck and easily found it. It was a simple trick but one that made the two of them giggle. It was a little strange the way they looked at each other and what Trixie said afterwards only made it more awkward. .

“Trixie is great at all sorts of tricks, is there any in particular that you might want to see?”

Fluttershy swallowed and moved an inch closer. “Um, w-w-well, I um, c-c-can think of um,” her eyes drifted to Twilight and she slid herself away from Trixie. “Oh, T-Twilight!”

Trixie groaned and glanced back at Twilight. “Hello, oh great disruptive one.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Hello to you too. It seems like you two are having fun at least.”

Trixie let out a low growl. “Trixie was about to have more fun, she is sure.”

Twilight walked over, plopped herself down near them and smiled. “You know you can have fun with more than one friend at a time.”

Trixie’s eyes bulged out of her skull, same with Fluttershy. This time it was Trixie who was stuttering. “T-T-Twilight, you c-cannot mean what T-Trixie thinks you do.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “That you perform tricks for both of us. Sure why not?”

Trixie swallowed. “T-Twilight, you said you were not interested in that.”

Had Twilight really said she didn’t like magic tricks? Twilight wasn’t positive, though she might have said it once or twice. It wasn’t exactly a true statement she just preferred real magic but these little tricks were a nice distraction sometimes. “I haven’t experienced any in awhile, not since Spike tried.”

Trixie stood up. “The little dragon boy! Twilight Sparkle, he is a child!”

Fluttershy closed her eyes. “O-oh… you m-mean magic tricks, d-don’t you?”

Twilight looked from Fluttershy to Trixie back to Fluttershy. “Well… yeah, isn’t that exactly what you two were doing up here?”

Trixie stammered for a half second before finally saying, “Of course it was, but Trixie wasn’t sure if the dragon boy was ready to perform in front of crowds his skills are not as great nor powerful as Trixie’s were.”

Twilight smiled. “Isn’t that why you’re helping him learn magic tricks?”

Trixie jerked a nod. “Of course… um, Trixie feels a little fatigued though so maybe magic will have to wait. Just this once.”

Twilight hadn’t even heard the hoofsteps up the stairs but she did hear it when Rarity spoke with a tone that was on the edge of caution. “Oh, really now, a few card tricks and Trixie is already tired? Darling, are you feeling well?”

Trixie offered a first class grin. “Of course she is well, there are no changes to Trixie’s medical condition. Why would you suggest such a thing?”

Rarity seemed quiet for a moment and then added. “If there was, would that help explain why you’re here at Twilight’s?”

Trixie narrowed her eyes. “Of course not, Trixie is here for friendship, not because of any more pressing or stressful concerns. Especially not if Twilight is the only pony that could help Trixie with such things. You are asking strange questions, Rarity.”

Rarity nodded. “And what kind of medical conditions would you happen to not have?”

It was at that moment that Twilight picked up on what Rarity was doing. Trixie began to reply, “Trixie would certainly not be p-“

Twilight interrupted her. “Patient, Trixie is certainly not very patient sometimes. But we still like our friends even when they’re impatient.” Twilight tried to make as friendly a face as she could to prove to Rarity that she was being earnest. It wasn’t a lie but it stopped the truth from being dragged out by accident.

Rarity stared at her. “Uh-huh… I suppose that is true but Trixie was saying something about what she wasn’t-“

Twilight cut in again. “I think Trixie has had enough excitement for one day, she’s really tired after all the fun she had with Fluttershy. I think it’s time you two left.”

Rarity stared at Twilight. “Really now, darling, Trixie seems just fine. A little warm in the face but just fine.”

Twilight couldn’t help but notice that Trixie was still casting nervous glances at Fluttershy with those red cheeks of hers. Fluttershy had stood up now but didn’t look much better. Hopefully they weren’t really sick and just having too much fun. Twilight still couldn’t risk Rarity manipulating the answer out of Trixie like that. “Rarity, I think we need to talk downstairs.”

Rarity met her eyes. “Oh?”

“Yep,” Twilight walked ahead and mostly gently pulled Rarity along with her using a bit of magic. Rarity followed not that she had much of a choice. Twilight left those two upstairs to do whatever it was they were doing. Once all the way downstairs and hopefully out of the earshot of Trixie and Fluttershy Twilight spun around to face Rairty. “Rarity… please don’t.”

Rarity offered a confused look. “Whatever do you mean?”

“I know what you are doing, and it’s not what friends do. Exploiting a weakness in Trixie like that, it’s not appropriate.”

Rarity gasped and put a hoof to her mouth as if she had no idea what she was doing. “Oh my, Twilight, how could you think I would exploit one of our new friends?”

Twilight met her eyes. “Rarity, I don’t know how you figured out how to trick Trixie into saying the things she doesn’t want too but I beg of you, don’t force her to say anything. I promise you, if there is anything else going on here, I know about it and I have made the decision to not share it with you girls yet so that Trixie can have the chance to learn to trust you all enough to do so herself.”

Rarity stared at her in silence for a long moment. Seconds crawled by until Twilight was sure actual minutes had passed. Rarity did finally speak and her tone was gentle. “Are you sure she will trust us?”

“No, but I think that it’s important to try. I need you to give me a chance, to give her a chance. I’m begging you, Rarity.”

Rarity shook her head. “You shouldn’t have to beg me to give you a chance. If you trust Trixie that much than I will… I will try. I know there is something more going on, I think we all do, but we will wait until either things blow up in our faces or Trixie tells us herself. Should they blow up though, we will take whatever means necessary to keep you safe.”

Twilight nodded. “I understand. This time though, I really believe Trixie is here for good reasons and that there is something amazing on the horizon for her. Hopefully for all of us.”

Trixie had watched as Twilight pretty much forcefully dragged the nosey Rarity back down the stairs by her tail. It was a pretty funny site as Rarity tried to dig her hooves into the floor boards and even gave a few useless bucks to meet only thin air. It was good too because until Twilight interrupted her she had no idea what Rarity was doing but it dawned on her that she was about to reveal a powerful secret with a idiotic lie. Twilight might be trustworthy after all… a strange thing to say considering her history with trusting others.

Trixie attempted to walk forward to go down the steps but she felt a wave of exhaustion and dizziness hit her. She wobbled in place a little. Was she really this tired from just standing up too long? A soft and warm feathery blanket wrapped around her back pulling her close to Fluttershy’s side. This not only helped stabilize Trixie but was warm as could be. The wing over her back had almost enveloped her entire body.

“Thank you, Trixie is tired.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “You’ve had an exciting couple of days. Let’s get you somewhere comfortable.”

With Fluttershy’s help Trixie was brought up the stairs and aided into bed where Trixie was then covered up by a blanket. She was surprisingly much more tired than she thought she could be. Maybe she did need some extra rest now.

Fluttershy laid her head down on the bed facing Trixie’s. “I um… I think I know what you were going to say to Rarity…”

Trixie swallowed. “W-what was it?”

Fluttershy offered a gentle smile. “I want you to be the one to say it… but um… I don’t mind.”

“You don’t mind?”

Fluttershy’s wing drew small circles into the bed sheet. “Um, m-maybe I kinda um… like it?”

Trixie blinked a few times. So now she was being open with her. Only after her secret was almost spilled to rarity. What was wrong with this mare? “Why would you like it? Trixie is the one who should like it.”

Fluttershy smiled. “I’m glad you do, not every mare likes it when that happens… um… d-d-do you mind if I ask you a q-question?”

Trixie shrugged. “Sure?”

“Is it a colt or a filly?”

Trixie closed her eyes tightly. Yep, she figured it out. At least she liked it, for whatever that was worth or even meant in this context. Trixie felt something soft and warm stroke her cheek prompting her to open an eye. Fluttershy’s head was closer to her face now, much closer, those wide blue eyes were staring right into hers. The feathery tip of her wing was stroking her cheek. Trixie felt her breathing growing shallow. “If Trixie tells you, will you keep it a secret?”

“Fluttershy grinned. “Of course.”

“Trixie is having a filly.”

Fluttershy’s grin widened but those eyes were half closed giving Trixie a look that she’d only seen from mares right before the kind of events that usually led to Trixie’s circumstance. Why was this mare suddenly so interested in her now that she knew Trixie was pregnant? Or was she always interested and just uncomfortable to let her know until now. She did mention liking Trixie’s colors…

Fluttershy inched her face ever closer. Hot breath could be felt over Trixie’s muzzle. “I um… I like pregnant mares… like… m-more than normal ponies do. I think my f-friends think I want to have a b-baby myself? M-maybe I do?”

Trixie smiled trying to ignore that honey scented breath. “That’s okay, Trixie is fine with all sorts of kinks. You may even say Trixie has some herself.”

“L-like?”

“Trixie might tell you later.”

In a near whisper Fluttershy asked, “C-could I still ask you f-for a certain magic t-trick?”

Trixie swallowed. She wasn’t sure how long Twilight was going to be busy downstairs this time. Chances were she’d be right back up in no time but what would she do if she was caught in the middle of performing some kind of private magical act. She had no idea but her mind and body were being numbed by that look in Fluttershy’s eyes. The kind of look that promised Trixie could do anything she wanted and the mare would only love her for it more.

“T-Trixie thinks… yes.”

Fluttershy closed her eyes. “C-can you make um… my lips… warm?”

Trixie’s lips were only an inch away. Instinct seemed to kick in and her head moved forward of its own accord. Their lips met. Warm, soft, and the taste of honey on Fluttershy’s lips were amazing. Fluttershy was very responsive and pressed the kiss back. Her lips parting just enough for Trixie to feel a tongue brush against her own. Heat flashed across Trixie’s body making her body squirm with need. Screw it, Twilight could come up right now for all she cared, but she needed more of this. Trixie needed all of Fluttershy.

Trixie pressed forward but only found Fluttershy pulled away just as the sound of hoofsteps appeared on the edge of the staircase far below them. Fluttershy smiled warmly at Trixie and Trixie felt herself smiling back. A warm wing wiped any excess fluids from Trixie’s lips and Fluttershy used a hoof to clean her own.

Fluttershy whispered. “I’ll come back for more m-magic tricks later.”

Trixie looked up at her. “This show was too short, she would love for you to experience an encore later.”

Fluttershy took a few steps back before flapping her wings and going downstairs just in time to meet Twilight. She flew past Twilight while saying, “I have to go, but Trixie is in bed. She looked really tired after such a big day.”

Twilight replied. “Thank you, Fluttershy. I knew you were the right pony to help her out. If I can trust anypony to help teach Trixie about friendship, it’s you.”

Well Fluttershy certainly knew how to teach Trixie something, but she wasn’t sure it was friendship.

Chapter Twelve: Of Lonely Clouds and Feeling Proud

Rainbow Dash was flying around town in circles her mind moving as fast as she was. The idea of Twilight in a relationship was hilarious and growing more so by the second. The idea of her trying to hide said relationship was funnier still. However, the funniest thing about this was that she was dating Trixie.

Sure even Rainbow Dash could understand that when it came to magical gay mares Twilight’s options were a bit limited. Her obvious crush on Princess Celestia was completely one sided from what Rainbow Dash could see and Twilight’s other choices were with mixed results or in the case of Lyra, the mare was already taken by a mare who ran a candy store. At least Twilight seemed happy with this but it meant that Rainbow Dash was going to have to be more careful around Trixie. She didn’t want to step on Twilight’s hooves again.

It was a little challenging because Trixie was also super annoying. She acted like she was the coolest, hottest thing in town, when obviously it was Rainbow Dash who deserved that title. No respect for the greats, right? Oh well, at least Rainbow Dash could get all the adoration she ever wanted from Fluttershy. Speaking of which she spied the yellow buttercup on her way home from Twilight’s. She figured Fluttershy’s play date with Trixie probably went well.

Rainbow Dash felt herself cringe when thinking of the word ‘date’ in the same sentence as Fluttershy and Trixie. Hang out, that seemed better. Fluttershy’s hanging out with Trixie probably went well.

Rainbow Dash swooped down behind the unsuspecting yellow mare. Taking just a brief moment to enjoy the view from behind her. Rainbow Dash crept up slowly and silently until she was mere inches above her. Rainbow Dash put both hooves to her mouth, sucked in a huge breath and-

“Oh hello, Rainbow.”

Fluttershy didn’t even turn to great her yet she knew Rainbow Dash was there. She froze for a moment. “Um… hi.”

Fluttershy looked back at her. Those eyes were practically sparkling and that smile was content as could be. It was like some kind of magical happiness potion had been consumed by the mare. Their eyes met and Rainbow’s heart skipped a beat. She felt herself inching forward, eyeing those soft, subtle lips as if they were a precious treasure she wanted to steal. It took effort but she pulled herself away and put a few feet of distance between the two with a few powerful flaps of her wings.

Fluttershy continued walking and looked away from her. “How was your day?”

Rainbow Dash felt her heart crumpling. Well it was going better. “It’s alright, you?”

Fluttershy had a sing song tone in her voice as she replied. “It’s been both great, and powerful.” She finished that with a giggle.

Those two must have really hit it off. It wasn’t unthinkable, after all Fluttershy was the kind of mare who could find a way to befriend almost any animal. Besides that Trixie seemed to be girly enough that Fluttershy could probably find some ways to relate, makeovers, dresses, all that gross stuff.

Fluttershy hummed as she continued walking almost oblivious to Rainbow’s presence. This would not do, not in her town. Rainbow Dash flew around and then put herself in front of Fluttershy flying backwards so that Fluttershy would be forced to pay attention. “So, you figure it out yet?”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened for a moment and then relaxed. “W-what do you m-mean?”

Rainbow Dash grinned. Of course she did. “The real reason Twilight’s keeping Trixie around like a pet.”

Fluttershy’s eyes grew conflicted as if she wanted to say something but wasn’t supposed too. “I’m… I’m not sure.”

Yeah right, but if Fluttershy wanted to pretend to not know that was cool with her. Rainbow Dash just stretched her forelegs out and put them behind her head as she relaxed in her backwards flight. “Uh-huh. Well I know the secret, and let me tell you. It’s pretty freaking funny.”

Fluttershy bit her lip. “It’s not funny. It’s… um… alluring.”

Right, girly girls, any romance was a good one or something like that. Rainbow Dash figured Rarity knew the sayings better than her. Oh wait, what if Rarity found out, that would be the best. Of course Rainbow Dash was forbidden from telling anypony but the laughs she could have at Twilight’s expense… this was going to be hard.

Fluttershy met Rainbow’s eyes. “D-do you still hate Trixie?”

Rainbow Dash let out a sigh. “I have to like, let that go right? I mean she did some awful stuff but I kinda figured she’s with a mare who has also done some awful stuff with magic.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Who better than Twilight to help Trixie on the right path?”

“Yeah, especially after that whole Want it Need it thing. I guess Twilight really is in the right place to help her but it’s still weird. Funny as tartarus but still weird.”

Fluttershy smiled. “You can find it funny if you want.”

The way she said it almost made it sound like Rainbow Dash shouldn’t be having so much fun at their expense. If this ended up becoming another friendship lesson she was going to scream. When was Twilight going to stop sending those letters to Celestia? Like, never?

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Well at least they’re happy together-“

With a crash Rainbow Dash hit something and felt herself rolling backwards. There was something boney and warm and soft entangled around her. Opening her eyes she found only a white fluffy abyss and tasted marshmallow fur. There was an image of a diamond mixed into that fluffy abyss. Next to the other side of her head a purple tail swished.

Rarity sat up, her plump bottom shoving Rainbow’s head down. “Oh my, what was that? Fluttershy, what happened? I think I-“

One bite form Rainbow later and there was an ear piercing screech as Rarity jumped off of Rainbow dash and landed some feet away. “RAINBOW DASH!”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Serves you right for sitting on my face.”

Rarity’s eyes drilled into Rainbow’s. “I know you’re starved for affection and sexually frustrated but if you’re going to be biting my rump, at least ask permission first. Also we should do that indoors away from prying eyes.”

Rainbow Dash stared at her for a long moment. She then sat straight up and jabbed a hoof at Rarity. “I was not doing that because of some weird idea.”

“Of course not, darling.” Rarity said as she looked over at the newly formed bite mark on her left flank. “Oh my… you really are hungry if you bit so deep.”

Rainbow Dash jumped into the air. “I am not. I have a perfectly normal and functional sex life.”

Rarity met her eyes. “Darling, I appreciate the bravado but do not try to lie to me. There is no need. If all you want is some special attention you just need to ask.”

Rainbow Dash grabbed at her mane and pulled. “Gaah! What’s wrong with you, we’re friends. You can’t just do that with friends!”

Rarity smiled. “Oh? But Fluttershy does.”

Rainbow Dash looked from Rarity to Fluttershy and back to Rarity. Oh god, oh no. She knew that Fluttershy had been with other mares before, dated once or twice, and even had this weird obsession with pregnant ponies but this… not this. She felt something stab her heart. Her eyes were stinging.

Rarity’s eyes widened. “Darling, I’m joking. It’s a joke. Please don’t take it seriously. Fluttershy and me have never done such things. I was only trying to-“

Rainbow Dash glared at her. “One more word and I might just… just freak out okay! So shut it.” She flapped her wings once, twice and thrice to propel herself skyward. How dare Rarity tease her like that. Doesn’t she realize that some jokes go too far? She was going to have to… well she was going to go home and cry now. The worst part of it all was the fact that Rarity was right, even when compared to Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash’s romantic life was as exciting as a rock. Sure she was cool, but clearly not cool enough.

Rarity bit her lower lip watching Rainbow Dash fly away. “Oh my, I didn’t mean to do that. I thought she’d laugh… I’ll have to apologize now.”

Fluttershy watched as well. “She gets really sensitive about her um… love life.”

Rarity glanced at her. Did Fluttershy not pick up on what it was that really triggered Rainbow Dash? Or was she choosing to ignore it because the joke had involved her and an imaginary but not unwanted encounter with herself and Rarity. Either way Rarity still had to make this up to Rainbow Dash. Perhaps she should actually enact plan Flutterdash and get these two in bed somehow. If she was going to do that she’d need the help of the one pony in town who could pull of the impossible: Pinkie Pie.

Of course she felt like she was forgetting something important in the moment. What was she doing before Rainbow Dash collided into her and then Rarity proceeded to make a donkey of herself? Oh right she was on her way to Fluttershy’s. Luckily for her the mare in question was right there in front of her and as clueless and innocent as ever.

Rarity saddled up next to Fluttershy. “Darling, I was just on my way to your place. I just have to know how your day with Trixie went.”

As they walked Fluttershy was looking down at the ground. “Um… it was fun…”

Rarity could practically feel the hesitation coming from Fluttershy. “I’m glad to hear it, what did you two do?”

Fluttershy’s lips curled up ever so slightly. “Magic tricks.”

Well of course they would, Trixie was a one trick pony after all it’s not like she would do anything else. “How do you feel about her?”

“Oh, um, f-feel? Like um… feel feel?”

Rarity had absolutely no idea what Fluttershy was trying to ask but the pink shade in her cheeks were a telling sign she’d seen a couple times now. No, just… no. not with Trixie. She could go find some other random mare but not Trixie. “Darling, you do realize this is the same pony that summoned an Ursa Minor to destroy the town and enslaved the entire town. You do realize this right?”

Fluttershy nodded, and then quickly shook her head. “She d-didn’t summon the Ursa Minor. Snips and Snails did that.”

“And why do you think they did that? Because of Trixie that’s why.”

“Actually it was Spikes fault.”

Rarity stopped. “Excuse me?”

Fluttershy glanced back at her. “It was Spikes f-fault. He goaded them into proving Trixie’s stories were r-real. Obviously they were j-just stories. P-part of the p-performance but um… they d-didn’t know?”

Rarity smiled. “Of course darling… but Spike didn’t do that.”

“H-he didn’t? I’m p-pretty sure he t-told me he d-did.”

Rarity laughed. “My precious Spikey Wikey would never do something so horrid to our entire town and then allow the blame to be put on Trixie without shouldering any of it himself for well over a year.”

Fluttershy frowned. “Um… I-I think he t-tried to take the b-blame but Twilight was insistent on n-not blaming him.”

“And she was right to do so because he is faultless. Now please, let’s let these fantastic stories of yours rest. I have one very important question for you,” Rarity met Fluttershy’s eyes with a cold sharp stare. “What is she hiding from us?”

Chapter Thirteen: Of Cupcakes and Silly Sauce

Rainbow Dash lay on Pinkie’s bed, a cupcake in one hoof and a pillow in the other. Today had been too much. She was universally very good at handling bad days, it was kind of her thing. This time though it was too much. Rarity might have been joking about having been with Fluttershy herself but the fact of the matter stood, Fluttershy had had more sexual encounters than Rainbow Dash, and not a single one of them were aimed at her.

Rainbow Dash kept her eyes closed for fear that if she opened them her eyes might bleed wet tears that were clearly from eating too much sugar and not at all from the stabbing wounds in her heart. “Pinkie, I thought you said these were the special cupcakes, why does this still suck.”

Pinkie Pie shrugged. “I know that I made the special ones peanut butter flavor. So I have no idea how come their not working on you, I used a whole lot of Pinkie’s Silly Sauce this time. Maybe you’re just too sad.”

“I’m not sad.”

“Sure you are silly, you only ask for those if your sad, or hurt, or bored, or in one of the more saucy moods. Not that you ever take me up on my offers for a one on one mare kind of party.”

Rainbow dash swallowed. “Maybe I should.”

Pinkie gasped. “REALLY?”

“Well…” it wasn’t like she was ever going to get any from another pony. Heck Rainbow hated to admit it, in fact refused to admit it and the older she got the more scared she became of somepony finding out, but she was just as much a virgin as Twilight ‘freaking obsessed with her teacher’ Sparkle.

Pinkie Pie’s nose nudged Rainbow’s cheek. “Do you really mean it? Can we really?”

Rainbow Dash rolled away from her. “Maybe… later. Okay?”

Pinkie Pie’s tone deflated. “Okay… at least your considering it now. Can’t wait for it to happen, if it does, that would be amazing, you’re like, really hot you know.”

“Of course I am, I’m the most awesome pony in town.” She finished her cupcake in one bite. It was peanut butter flavored but it wasn’t very filling and it was far from having the effect it was supposed to. These special ones were supposed to give her the ultimate chill right? Maybe let her nap her trouble away? “You know Rarity offered the same deal.”

Pinkie Pie giggled. “Really? Maybe we should invite her too then. Oh then it will be like a party, no wait we need at least two more ponies. A twosome, threesome or foursome isn’t a real party. Could we just invite everypony?”

Rainbow Dash groaned. “Oh Celestia, Pinkie stop it with that idea already. I’m not even close to being in the mood.”

Pinkie’s head nuzzled into the back of Rainbow Dash’s. “Oh come on, you sure?”

Rainbow Dash complained. “Pinkie, you’re trying to take advantage of me.”

“Well duh silly, after I’m through with you, you’ll be nothing but satisfied.”

Rainbow Dash sat up and looked right at her. “PINKIE!”

Pinkie grinned. “Made you look. Now turn that frown upside down, I’m not gonna do anything to you when you’re all mopey. I want you all happy first. Then I’ll work my pink magic all over you.”

Rainbow Dash could feel her throat dry up. “Please tell me that isn’t what you named your-“

“Yeppers, that’s what I named it.”

“I… why do I come here to feel better whenever I’m sad?”

“Because you secretly have a crush on Fluttershy or you’d go to her but since your hurt over her you come here instead and Rarity likely caused it because she is sick and tired of you two not doing anything about it and she’s probably going to help me come up with an idea to hitch you two together in marriage later tonight and-“

Rainbow Dash had to shove the pillow down Pinkie’s throat to get her to shut up. Instead she just got a bunch of muffled talking. Still better than the rambling but accurate nonsense Pinkie was dribbling. If those cupcakes weren’t going to work she could probably fly home, normally she didn’t fly under the influence but there was clearly no influence to be had right then.

Rainbow Dash sat up, spread her wings and hopped into the air. “Listen, Pinkie, I’m going to go home and like, watch a movie or something stupid. Thanks for the help but uh… have a nice night I guess.”

Rainbow Dash flew off while Pinkie continued talking with her mouth full at the open air as if she had an entire scheme already in the works that might take years to finish. At least Rainbow dash didn’t have to hear it all.

Rarity walked into the Sugarcube Corner and had a chance encounter with Twilight who already had a package and was about to leave. Rarity gasped. “Twilight!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Rarity.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Buying a peanut butter muffin for myself and Trixie… oh and Spike. You?”

“Um, I’m doing the same thing.”

Twilight shrugged. “Okay, they smell a little weird but I was promised it’s the new formula Pinkie came up with and they should taste better than ever. See you later.”

Twilight left out the door behind her and Rarity let out a sigh of relief. Okay, it was time to do what she was here for. Looking around she noticed quite a few ponies had peanut butter muffins. A lot of them were laughing talking to each other and had slightly glazed looks in their eyes. Pinkie’s new formula must really taste great, Rarity made a mental note to try it out herself later.

She greeted Mr. and Misses Cake who were minding the counter as she went up the stairs. They knew exactly where she was going but not aware of her fantastic plans. Not yet. Once up the three flights of stairs she was at Pinkie’s door. She opened the door and burst in only to remember the last time she’d done this she had found Pinkie trapped in a very compromising position and need of some help… and a lot of lube.

Thank Celestia that Pinkie was actually just sitting on the bed and staring at her cupcakes with the strangest look in her eyes and mumbling to herself. “What went wrong?”

Rarity closed the door behind her. “Is something the matter darling?”

Pinkie shrugged. “I guess not, just can’t figure out why these aren’t special. Oh!” her eyes lit up and she jumped off the bed, the treats bouncing into the air above her. She was quick to catch each cupcake in her mouth and swallow them whole, wrapper and all. Rarity could only imagine that either Pinkie had the digestive acid of a basilisk or she was going to have a very uncomfortable time when those wrappers came back out.

Pinkie grinned from ear to ear as she stared at Rarity. “Is it finally time for plan Flutterdash?”

Rarity grinned madly in return. “Why yes, it is time to finally ship those two and get them both to stop being so awkward and hurting each other’s feelings by mistake once and for all.”

Pinkie bounced up and down. “I can’t wait! Oh I have so many ideas. From a surprise date, to breaking Rainbow Dash’s wing and forcing her to live with Fluttershy to simply locking them in a room until their done bucking each other’s brains out.”

Rarity heard each plan, considered them for a moment but had to decline all of them. Even the last one only meant a shallow and awkward experience. No, this had to be the granddaddy stallion of all plans. The kind even Big Mac wouldn’t be big enough for and if anypony were to ask he was pretty big.

In fact, perhaps Big Mac could help in some way.

The sky was cast in its pink and purple hues as the loving light of the sun was closing for the night and the cold stare of the moon could be glimpsed upon the horizon. Twilight was satisfied that she had finally gotten home and even more so when she found Spike and Trixie playing solitaire together on the kitchen table.

She set her basket of muffins down and listened in to the two talking.

“Trixie does not understand how two player solitaire works. If you keep disagreeing with Trixie’s ideas we will never finish this game.”

Spike grunted a reply. “Listen, I’ve played this game with one of the most intelligent and stuffy ponies in Equestria all of my life. I’m telling you if we put the two of hearts there we will never finish.”

Trixie laughed. “Did you just refer to Twilight as stuffy? Trixie never would have suspected such a thing.”

“Well she’s not much better to play with you know, only in her case I know she’s right and just want to feel like I’m actually participating.”

There was silence for a moment before Trixie replied. “And pray tell where would you put the two of hearts?”

Spike moved the card to a location, from where Twilight was she could see his move. It was decent but she could see a better one. She was tempted to interrupt but then she remembered being called stuffy. Let him discover his mistake fifteen turns from now himself.

Trixie smirked. Lifted the card up and moved it around a little. “Trixie thinks she knows a better place to put it.” She then set it down exactly where Spike had. “There, perfect, just like Trixie.”

Spike gave her a stare that said he was not amused.

Trixie laughed again. “Trixie is only playing, she thanks you for your contribution. Now onto the next argument.”

Spike stared at her for a moment a mixture of emotions on his face. Even Twilight wasn’t sure what he was thinking but if his earlier suggestion was anything to go off of, Trixie was teasing him in a playful way. Her way of connecting to ponies seemed to be to tease, anything else had been a hard fought victory. Spike sniffed the air a few times. “Hold up, do you smell muffins, muffins and… Pinkie’s room when I’m not allowed to bother her?”

Trixie gave him a strange stare. “What on Equestria does that smell like?”

Twilight walked in. “Probably like this.” She levitated the basket over to the counter and set them down. “Pinkie’s trying a new formula.”

Spike stared at the basket for a moment, sniffed the air a few times, and then began laughing. “Oh my gosh. Did your really? I know what these are and always wanted to try them.”

“What are they?” Twilight asked.

“Oh just something special Pinkie uses to calm down.”

Twilight beamed. “Great! Calming down is just what everypony needs after so much excitement today.”

She levitated out three muffins and sat one down in front of each pony. “I was going to get more but they were so popular the store had run out.”

Trixie sniffed at hers. “Why does this smell strange?”

Twilight explained, “Don’t worry I’ve been told they are the best muffins ever produced by Pinkie’s very capable hooves. I’ve also tested them for poison.”

Trixie stared up at her. “You did?”

“Of course, I’ve tested all of your food so far for poison. Anything from pesticides on the flowers you eat to alcohol in your drink to more nefarious concoctions."

Trixie blinked. “Isn’t that a bit… excessive?”

Spike rolled his eyes and took a bite of the muffin. “Does, Twilight, look like a pony who does things in moderation?”

Trixie chuckled to herself and lifted the muffin to her lips. “No, she seems like a very obsessive pony. Trixie wonders how Celestia dealt with her all these years. Pawning her off on Ponyville was probably the biggest break she’d ever had.”

Twilight watched Trixie take a bit of the muffin and stared down at hers. It was true she was a bit excessive sometimes but Celestia wouldn’t just… dump her here. No she had only let Twilight stay because she had asked to… right? She really loved Celestia, heck she had even gotten Celestia to promise to marry her once… somehow. Only when Twilight was old enough and fully ready for, but still.

Twilight took a bite of that muffin and noticed that besides peanut butter there was a really sweet and tingly taste. What in Equestria did Pinkie add to this? It was good. Good and… really calming. The small wound in her heart caused by Trixie’s accidentally mean words was quickly melted away and replaced by a warm sensation.

Trixie had finished her muffin as well as Spike and was the first one to speak. “Trixie is sorry. She didn’t mean to say something that caused you pain.”

Twilight looked up at her and saw genuine concern in her eyes and a warm smile that told her she spoke only the truth. “It’s alright. You were joking. It’s okay.”

Trixie shook her head. “I’m kind of rude sometimes. I think it’s because it’s easier to do that than to let anypony close to me… but I want to learn about friendship, to get close to ponies…”

Twilight smiled and felt her entire body melting with warmth. “That’s why you’re here, for me to help you learn. With you and me I’m sure we’ll do great.”

Spike stared up at Trixie. “Did you just speak in the first person?”

Now everypony was staring at Trixie, even Trixie was trying to stare at Trixie.

“Voila!” Rarity declared as she finished adding a mark to the end of the planning white board with her marker. “The plan is complete.”

The series of marker lines, words, and sticky notes swam around like a confused mess but all ended in one point. Rainbow Dash finally getting with Fluttershy in a way that would lock them together. It was a perfect plan and nothing could go wrong.

Pinkie Pie looked happy about it too. “Plans, parties, puns, call me Pinkie Pie!”

Rarity smiled at her. “It was wonderful work too, even with those cupcakes you made. Though I must admit they had more of a vanilla flavor to them than peanut butter.”

Pinkie Pie stared at her. Eyes starting to widen and her grin twitching. “Vanilla… as in… the vanilla and peanut cupcakes I was making for the cupcake sale today…”

“Well yes, but wait, weren’t those peanut butter muffins downstairs the sale for today? The ones that had a strange but alluring smell to them?”

Pinkie Pie swallowed and that grin faltered for half a second. “Oh… the Cakes are not going to find this one as silly as everypony else in town.”

Realization dawned on rarity faster than Rainbow dash flying into a window. “So you mean to say those muffins downstairs are your special formula? Pinkie’s Silly Sauce, made from Celestia knows what and magical ingredients that are probably not as healthy as they are calming.”

She jerked a nod, her eye twitched.

“Oh… I see… well at least the Cakes didn’t seem to notice… but…” Rarity rubbed her hooves together. “Neither did Twilight Sparkle, whom is feeding one of those cupcakes to Trixie as we speak.” She cackled. “If we were to spy on her, in this now more clear and enlightening state, she might just reveal her deep dark secrets!”

Pinkie Pie shook her head so fast that a few pink curls went flying out, once she stopped her grin was back to normal. “Okie Dokie Lokie, I’ll just never tell the Cakes and everything will be just fine.”

Rarity stood up. “Pinkie, we have bigger plans.”

“Oh? What are we going to do tonight, Rarity?”

“What we do every night, Pinkie. Try to take over the world! And I require your most fashionable sleuthing suit, immediately.”

Pinkie jumped up. “I haven’t gotten to use those since King Sombra!”

While Pinkie Pie literally jumped into her closet Rarity got to her work on her new plan. Those secrets were coming to her, and she was going to find out what Trixie was really doing here. She was sure of it.

Chapter Fourteen: Of Family and Dreams

Trixie lay on her back upstairs staring up at the ceiling. Her entire body was warm and her heart even more so. Lying in reverse next to her was Twilight. Their heads were close to one another and Trixie could almost feel Twilight’s energy next to her. A warm, gooy, but organized presence.

Twilight was speaking. “And that’s why I’ve always loved Celestia.”

Trixie had hardly caught most of the story but that was okay, hearing pony noises made her feel like she wasn’t alone. “I, er, Trixie is happy about that.”

Twilight laughed. “I don’t think I’ve told anypony that before. Or even how Celestia offered to marry me when I cried and begged her for three weeks straight.”

Trixie blinked. She had missed that part didn’t she? “D-do you suppose she meant it then? Or do you think she just said it to make you stop crying?”

Twilight frowned. “I… try not to think about that. I kind of locked myself in my room and sobbed after she refused my first proposal. By the time she was able to break in by taking down my magical shield she found me half starved and severely depressed. She explained to me that she only said no because I was only fourteen years old and that even though she was a princess and could do whatever she wanted, it was still highly inappropriate to have any romantic interests in a foal. She then promised to marry me after I turned twenty one and only if I was fully ready for it. She even said how doing so to keep me sane wouldn’t be the worst reason she got married to somepony.”

Trixie’s frown deepened. “Trixie thinks… maybe you missed something.”

Twilight shook her head. “Nope, she said she would marry me because she loved me so much that she wanted to see me happy and never be sad again. Of course she keeps trying to encourage me to date other ponies first. Get some experience as she says, but uh… I’m not that into Luna and I think Luna doesn’t like me that way either, she has other interests. Speaking of love, do you love anypony?”

Trixie had to think about it. “Trixie isn’t sure. She likes ponies and is attracted to a fair few of them, yourself included, but Trixie doesn’t know if she loves any of them. It’s strange… Trixie has had her fair share of experiences but never really felt connected to somepony.”

Twilight laughed again. “That’s sad. I’m not sure why I laughed. I’m sorry. I guess I understand. I’ve always loved Celestia but I’ve never had any experiences. I haven't even had my first kiss yet.”

Trixie rolled her head over and realized Twilight was staring at her. “What have you done all these years to quell the sexual beast inside your soul?”

Twilight giggled. “I’m not sure I’d call it that, but I have had certain urges… usually those magazines work. When they don’t I turn to writing.”

Trixie blinked. “You write stories?”

“Uh-huh. They’re all really badly written though so I hide them in my secret chest. I don’t ever want anypony seeing them.”

Trixie felt sorry for Twilight. She was so stuck on the goddess of the sun that she never tried to even kiss anypony. Instead she was more sheltered, innocent, and distant from life than even Trixie could fathom. At first Trixie was afraid Twilight would want to use her body, but now she could see it, feel it, the thought had never once crossed the mare’s mind.

Trixie leaned forward. “Trixie thinks some damage repair is in order.”

Twilight swallowed and leaned a little closer herself. The air between them changed and Trixie was about to press forward, giving the poor mare a kiss when Twilight shot forward and kissed her instead. Their lips met, and then seperated as quickly as it began it was gone and Trixie was left clueless. She stared at Twilight who was giggling like mad now.

“Trixie demands to know why you did that!”

Twilight kept giggling. “You said you were attracted to me, so I thought you’d be good practice. That was fun!”

Trixie rolled her head up to look at the ceiling again. She started laughing herself. Why was it so funny? Shouldn’t the fact they just kissed mean more or was it just some silly thing that friends did sometimes. Maybe it did mean more?

Twilight admitted. “I tried to get my friends to kiss me once. I heard in sleepovers that when you play truth or dare you’re supposed to dare each other to do naughty things.”

Trixie had never been one for sleepovers. “That was a game Trixie had played in her youth at the home.”

“The home?”

“Trixie was adopted at birth, along with a few other fillies and colts. Our mother was loving but we all knew we weren’t related from early on so some exploration was very much expected.”

Twilight laughed. “I tried to kiss my brother once but Cadance stopped me from using my love potion.”

Trixie burst out laughing. “Now that’s funny. Wait… you mentioned you had a sleepover. You of all ponies?”

“Yeah it was with Rarity and Applejack. But instead of wanting to have any of that kind of fun they just argued all night. By the time we did get to have some peace my mood was pretty much ruined so I didn’t try it again… well until now.”

Trixie scooted forward and rest her head against Twilight’s, feeling the soft warm fur of her friend. “At least Trixie could be your first kiss, this makes you very lucky.”

Twilight nearly whispered. “Very lucky indeed.”

Rarity’s lips worked in silence as she and Pinkie stared through the cracked open window at where Trixie and Twilight were laying. Spike had actually fallen asleep in his bed ages ago but these two were wide awake, had kissed, and were now talking about the time Twilight apparently tried and failed to take advantage of Rarity… this was probably the worst idea she’d had in ages. At least Pinkie seemed excited about this.

Twilight finally moved pushing herself up. “Are you hungry? I’m hungry.”

Trixie rolled over and lay in a lump on the floor. “Trixie is hungry, she is hungry for two you know. So feed her and her baby.”

Twilight laughed. “I have some secret snacks in here somewhere. Let me get them. I hope the baby likes candy.”

Trixie replied. “My baby loves candy!”

Rarity swallowed and whispered. “Baby?”

Pinkie Pie was whispering too but her excitement was barely contained. “Oh my gosh, she’s pregnant. I knew it. We should throw her a baby shower. But wait… how do we shower the baby?”

Rarity ignored that comment. “Darling, I think I may have discovered Trixie’s secret and I may have also learned a good deal more than I bargained for. We should probably climb down before we watch those two going at it.”

Pinkie nodded. “I agree, as fun as that would be to watch, I think it might be awkward to watch it together. I mean, unless your into that kind of thing.”

Choosing once again to ignore Pinkie’s comment, they climbed down the grappling hook and once on the ground Pinkie retracted the tool and slid it into its holster. Rarity was starting to fully understand the situation and did really not like the connotations here. She’d screwed up and she knew it. Twilight was just trying to help a pregnant pony and Rarity and Rainbow Dash combined both were causing the kinds of problems that could be seen as destructive to their friendship. Maybe Trixie could actually stand to learn something, to grow and become friendly, just watching her with Twilight for a few minutes confirmed that she was at least very close to twilight… too close for comfort.

Rarity then had another thought. “Pinkie, is your Special Formula safe for pregnant mares?”

Pinkie giggled. “It’s no worse than eating grass. Just filled with magical ingredients, you know the smoke from a wisp, the weed of a dryad, just a hint of Fuzzies, you know the ones you touch and get dizzy from, just those kinds of things.”

Rarity shook her head. “I… am going to hope that means it’s safe.”

Pinkie shrugged. “Misses Cake demanded Pinkie’s Silly Sauce throughout her entire pregnancy. Helped with the mood swings.”

Rarity smiled. “Well the twins turned out just fine so I’m sure it’s safe then.”

Pinkie Pie then had to ask the question that sent shivers down Rarity’s spine. “So, how did Twilight knock up Trixie?”

It was late into the night before Trixie found herself in bed and exhausted beyond belief. Twilight seemed to be just as tired as she was in her own bed. Staring up at the ceiling the warm feeling emanating throughout her entire being was starting to fade a little but she was still happy. This was the first time she felt like she had really connected with somepony in years. Explaining her foalhood was an odd one but Twilight seemed to be perfectly accepting of it.

With spike already asleep and her own eyelids growing heavier by the second Trixie was already starting to envision the most magical of things. She heard Twilight speaking and it brought her back from the edge asleep enough. “Are you scared of me?”

Trixie yawned. “No.”

“Some ponies are… most ponies are.”

Trixie pushed herself up. Ponies afraid of Twilight, preposterous. If anything they were afraid of Trixie after all the schemes she’d done and succeeded at. “Why on earth would anypony be scared of you?”

Twilight replied, her voice cracked a little. “I’m powerful.”

Was she boasting? Trixie did not feel like it was an appropriate time to boast about such things. “Trixie fails to see how your meager amount of talent would scare anypony.”

Twilight rolled over in her bed. Hiding her face from Trixie’s. “Do you know the amount of damage I caused by mistake as a foal? There were so many times I had destroyed walls, or doors. So many accidental explosions or transformations. I think I turned my own brother into a frog once. Him, Cadance, even my own parents always looked at me like I was some kind of monster. Only Celestia ever really looked at me like a person. If it wasn’t for her, I might have become some kind of villain…”

Trixie was too tired to say anything meaningful and wasn’t really sure what to say anyway. If she was being truly honest with herself she was a little intimidated by that amount of power Twilight had but she would never admit to it. She was certain even Twilight’s friends were aware of the danger.

Twilight added. “I even scared the entire town when I nearly destroyed it. Twice.”

Having everypony fear you… Trixie could say she related to that. She accepted that fear gave her power over other ponies but it still wounded her heart when she thought about how much better it was to have somepony actually like her, talk to her, kiss her…

Trixie got up and out of bed. She didn’t have any plans on what to do to fix Twilight yet. Whatever strange magic had opened up the doorway to make the mare confide in her, it was working. Trixie walked over to Twilight’s bed climbed into it and slipped under the covers. She heard a gasp as Trixie wrapped a hoof around Twilight’s barrel and nuzzled into her neck. “Trixie thinks you should go to sleep. You are not scary, you are merely great, and dare Trixie suggest, powerful. Not as much as Trixie, but enough to be worthy of Trixie’s attention. Count yourself lucky as Trixie will mercifully help you sleep tonight.”

Twilight was silent for a moment before letting out a small whimper. “Thank you.”

Trixie was already falling fast asleep again. “You’re welcome.”

Trixie found herself in the most magical of dreams. Lying in Twilight’s bed with Twilight in front of her, hot lips meeting with hers. Fluttershy’s hooves and wings came from behind Trixie to caress every part of her body not currently dominated by Twilight’s. Only when Trixie pulled away for breath did she stop kissing Twilight only to watch Twilight and Fluttershy begin kissing one another. This was a moment she could live in for eternity.

Down at the foot of the bed stood a tall, dark and beautiful alicorn. Her dark blue fur and sparkling midnight mane captured her attention. The mare was giving a sly smile as she watched the scene on the bed. Trixie motioned for the mare to join them.

The mare shook her head. “I would love to, but I fear it would be impolite of me to join.”

Trixie shot back. “But it’s not impolite to watch?”

“Watching is part of the job description. At least this is one of the better times.”

Trixie frowned. “Better times? Job? Oh who cares, Trixie wants to return to her lovers-“

She turned to see two skeletons in bed with her. A unicorn skull landed on her chest and a boney wing landed on her flank. Oh Celestia no, where, what?

The mare’s voice came out calm as could be. “My apologies, I may have interrupted your event.” A dark blue aura surrounded the skeletons and they vanished leaving Trixie alone in the bed very confused.

Then came the pain. A sudden sharp pain from her stomach. She looked down at herself and saw something bulging from her belly. It was an odd shape, and a green baleful glow came from her stomach. Trixie rubbed at her stomach trying to figure out what it was. It was hard, and sharp and felt much like an amulet that had been taken away ages ago.

The mare’s horn lit up and surrounded Trixie. The pain ceased and her stomach returned to normal. Trixie was shaking, her mind unable to process what was happening and her body aching. The mare spoke in a gentle tone. “its okay, Trixie Lulamoon. You will be fine, this is but a nightmare. Though you may have to apologize when you awaken.”

Trixie looked up at her. “Why would Trixie apologize when she... Wait is Trixie-“

“-asleep?” Trixie’s eyes shot open and she was staring at a dimly lit ceiling. The soft pink light from a new dawn was coming through the window. She was cold, cold and wet. That must truly have been a horrible nightmare. At least she was okay… and in the same bed as a sleeping Twilight who was lying next to her, rump firmly pressed against Trixie’s flank.

Why was she so cold and wet though. Lifting up the blanket Trixie discovered the cause from a puddle formed around her and Twilight and cursed herself. “Great, Trixie wet herself. Finally get in bed with a cute mare and wet yourself. Good Job oh Great and Disgusting Trixie.”

Chapter Fifteen: Of Babies and Revelations

“Its okay, Trixie. I used to do that all the time. One time I was even taking a nap next to Celestia when it happened.” Twilight pleaded.

Trixie was shoving the sheets, blanket, pillow cases and anything else that reminded her of the incident into the wash as hard as she could. She glanced at Twilight. If she continued to Remind Trixie of it, she was going into the washing machine as well.

Twilight took a step back. “Um… okay. Well we both washed up so I’m um… I’ll leave you to it.”

Twilight left Trixie to finish this task. Nopony said repenting was going to be easy but if they had dared, even for a moment hint at this being part of the process, she would have gladly chose to live in the sewers beneath Canterlot sneaking up like a molepony to steal pieces of food from the castle and growing an extra set of legs from the radioactive waste that surely existed down there.

Once she had turned the washer on and trotted her way into the lobby of the library she was less than pleased to find six ponies where there should only be one. Twilight looked sheepish as she glanced at Trixie. “Oh, hey, everypony decided to come pay us a visit, isn’t that nice?”

Trixie glared at most of them, except for Fluttershy. Fluttershy was still on the usable list so she could be left alone, but the others, they had earned Trixie’s pregnant ire for interrupting on this most horrid of mornings. They seemed to pick up on it pretty easily. Pinkie Pie was the only one still smiling.

In fact Pinkie Pie was nearly giggling. Trixie shot her a dirty look. “What?”

Pinkie Pie managed to say. “First time last night? Yeah, it hit my bladder hard too.”

It took less than a second for a book to be grabbed in a purple telekinetic aura and flung forward with enough force to cause a concussion. It was stopped by a red aura and gently lowered. Twilight shook her head and spoke in a tone that bordered on motherly. “Now now, Trixie. You don’t throw books at friends. Lasers yes, books no.”

Trixie glared at her. “Trixie can’t fire lasers, so she uses books against nosy ponies who should not mention a word about bladders again should they value the mouth Trixie so graciously put back on their face.”

Twilight gave her a dirty look before looking back at her friends. “So what brings you all here?”

Pinkie Pie spoke. “Rarity told everypony.”

Rarity’s eyes widened. “T-told them that Trixie had something important to tell us, isn’t that right?”

Trixie glared at her. “What, do, you, mean?

Rarity laughed nervously. “Well… you have a secret don’t you? One that we’d all be okay with if we found out and even support you and your mood swings.”

Rainbow Dash snickered. “Yeah, that’s the first of two secrets.”

Rarity glared at her. “Rainbow Dash, I think you may have gotten the wrong impression.”

Pinkie Pie giggled. “After what we saw last night, I could see it.”

Twilights’ face turned bright red. “Oh no… you two, you didn’t spy on me again, did you?”

Trixie shot a look at Twilight demanding an explanation. To which Twilight let out a sigh. “It’s a… tradition. We sometimes spy on one another. It’s only for our own well being but I think maybe… they saw something… from last night…”

Trixie growled. “They saw nothing of any sort. Trixie is perfect, pure, and in complete control of all her bodily functions.”

Twilight slapped a hoof across her own face. “I meant the kiss.”

Trixie swallowed. “Oh… grape jelly.”

Rainbow Dash whistled. “Grape huh, I always figured she’d taste like a lavender.”

Pinkie added. “I thought of taffy.”

Twilight’s entire face was a bright shade of red. “Listen, no matter what happened last night, it was um, a friendship thing. Right, Trixie?”

Trixie shrugged. “It is what it is.”

“You are not helping.”

“Trixie does not need to help, these ponies of yours are snoops and spies. Why should she be involved in this mess?”

Twilight pulled at her own mane. “Me and Trixie are just friends. I don’t know what happened last night, we were all kind of weird.”

Spike came down the steps rubbing at his eyes. “Can you two keep it down, those special muffins hit a lot harder than I thought?”

Twilight glared at him. “What are you talking about?”

His eyes widened. “Oh… didn’t you figure it out? Isn’t that why you bought them from Pinkie in the first place?”

Pinkie Pie laughed. “Of course silly, Twilight needed to calm down and so she bought some normal, not at all special or drug laced muffins. Nope, perfectly normal.”

Twilight glared between the two of them. “I am not thinking about anything either of you said, ever again. I am also not buying peanut butter muffins again for as long as I live.”

Things grew quiet for a moment just long enough for Applejack to cut in seeming a little impatient with the ramblings. “Consarn it, we came here for a real reason. Rarity told us all that Trixie is pregnant and that Twilight might be the dad… somehow. Anyway, we just wanted to say we’re here to support ya.”

Trixie blinked. “Oh…” She thought about this morning. Between shaming herself and most of Twilight’s entire bed, and Twilight’s tail, and Twilight’s everything. Finding out those muffins were likely filled with a substance that although good, might not be the best one to use around others, and hearing that everypony knew her secret and were actually okay with it. Trixie felt like her morning had broke.

Trixie turned around and began walking to the kitchen. “Trixie knows what’s wrong. She’s still asleep and that the tall dark alicorn who had refused her advances must still be around here somewhere.”

Lucky for them, nopony even dared to question that sentence. Unfortunately Trixie wasn’t sure how to wake up from a constant dream but she did know one thing. She needed coffee. About as much coffee as her tiny frame could handle. A cup of hot coffee later she was satisfied at the kitchen table watching the other ponies file in filling up her space.

Rarity was the first one to speak. “I’m sorry, darling. I should have guessed sooner what you were really here for.”

Applejack added. “Ah know some ponies might be against such things, but Ah recognize there isn’t always a chance fer things to be done properly. So long as you love yer kids, love yer family that’s what matters.”

Rainbow dash lifted up Twilight’s tail. “Huh… how did you knock up, Trixie?”

Twilight slapped her hoof away. “Rainbow, unless you want to be missing some teeth I suggest keeping away from there.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Well whatever, I bet you two are going have a cute kid, just don’t ruin them with your weird everything.”

Pinkie Pie added. “We have so many parties to plan for this!”

Fluttershy glanced from Trixie to Twilight and back to Trixie. “I um… am happy for you.”

Trixie laid her head down. “You all are very kind and accepting, but you might be missing a very important factor here.”

Everypony looked at her giving her a chance to explain. “Twilight is about as much as a virgin as they come.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Of course she is. She’s waiting for your marriage to do the fun stuff right?”

Trixie glared at her. “Then how in Equestria did she get Trixie pregnant?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “She obviously turned herself into a stallion with her spooky powerful magic, did her thing in a cup, used a turkey baster and filled up your belly with baby making juice.”

Everypony nodded in agreement with Rainbow Dash except for Twilight who was staring mouth agape at the group. Trixie took a nice long drink of her coffee. Nope still asleep. “So, let Trixie get this straight. She is the only pony who is completely sane still left in Ponyville?”

Twilight walked over to her side. “I think your right, or I’m asleep.” She lifted up the coffee pot, put it to her lips and drank greedily from it. “Nope, still asleep.”

Pinkie Pie laughed. “Your both awake silly, how else would you have remembered Luna from your dream last night?”

Trixie closed her eyes. “Trixie really wants this to be a dream.”

Twilight joined her side. “Me too.”

Fluttershy was somehow on the opposite side of Trixie already. “I um… I think I agree.”

Oh by Celestia’s massive molars what did she do to deserve this? All she did was boast and rave, embarrass half of the elements of harmony in front of an entire town, work on a rock farm using the money to buy a dark magic artifact and then use the artifact to enslave the town torment ponies, and get pregnant by a handsome red stallion she’d hope she could see again. He made an excellent consort and at that point she might even consider keeping him around to help her forget the reality of where she was.

This day really couldn’t get any worse now could it?

The back door came bursting open and the big, handsome stallion in red came in. His eyes wide and pupils pinpricks. “Sis! They got loose!”

She looked at him. “What in tarnation got loose now?”

Trixie stood up and pointed a hoof at him. “YOU!”

He stared at her. “You!”

For a moment they stared at one another in silence before he shook his head and then looked at his sister, applejack. Oh… oh no they were related. “The beebats are loose and stinging everypony something fierce.”

Applejack nodded, tilted her hat and led the way as the two left. Trixie sat there stunned. Defeated, and realizing that she was going steadily mad in this place. Twilight leaned over and whispered. “Do you know Big Mac?”

Trixie swallowed and whispered back. “That’s THE stallion.”

Twilight’s eyes widened slowly from the realization. She sat back down, and then with a voice a little too loud. “Your all right, I got Trixie Pregnant but we aren’t dating yet! Now thank you for your approval of my plans to sire a god like wizard successor but please leave. I have plans for my baby’s mama and they are very private!”

Everypony looked a bit awkward about that revelation, unable to really argue with it they left. Fluttershy was the last one to leave, before passing out the door she looked back at Twilight. “Um… so um… you two aren’t dating?”

Trixie nodded. “No.”

Twilight nodded. “No. now please, Fluttershy. The door exists. It does still exist right? That too hasn’t changed massively along with my little world?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “The d-doors still here. I’ll um, I’ll go.”

She left and once the door was finally shut and the duo were completely alone Twilight looked at Trixie. “Do you have any idea how much chaos is about to happen once they stop being completely insane and dial the crazy back down to eleven?”

Trixie swallowed. “Applejack is not going to approve anymore is she.”

“Not with her niece or nephew in your belly, no.”

Trixie laid her head down. “Why does Trixie do these things?”

“Because you were as crazy as the rest of them. Welcome to the sanity club, we’re a whole number of two and half and will probably lose our sanity by the week’s end. At least we have coffee.”

Trixie stared at her coffee. “At least we have coffee.”

Chapter Sixteen: Of Apples and Morning Sickness

Trixie had had enough for one day. Of course the day had hardly even started and she was already stressed out enough to be feeling sick. No more special cupcakes for her, furthermore no more sleeping in the same bed as anypony, ever again. There was actually a growing list of things she was never going to do again, and she was only, just a smidgen less neurotic than Twilight or else she’d have written out the list in explicit detail.

Instead Trixie focused on busing herself with something, anything to do. Now that everypony already knew her secret and was surprisingly accepting of her she might be able to venture outside without fear of random Rainbow attacks. Of course she wasn’t comfortable doing so alone as everypony else in town surly didn’t know yet.

Trixie ground her teeth as she paced back and forth waiting for Twilight to be finished. What was Twilight doing? Showering, and while in the shower she was pretty much screaming. Not screaming obscenities, or even coherent words for that matter just noise. It was the kind of noise a mare makes when their entire world is turned not only upside down but inside out and they have to come to terms with just how insane all the ponies in their social circle really are. It usually was preceded by and followed by hyperventilating, dilated pupils, and the kind of pacing that burned holes in the floor.

Speaking of which Trixie was carving a very nice trench in the floor herself. Yes, today was an awful one to be sure. Now she had to pretend as though Twilight somehow, using obscure transmutation magic, knocked her up. At least until Twilight figured out how they were going to work around the whole ‘Applejack will freak out when she finds out her brother got you pregnant’ thing. Honestly Trixie didn’t know Applejack nearly well enough to make any sort of judgment here but she did feel that Big Mac needed to know, eventually, in the safest way possible.

For now, it was time to leave. As soon as Twilight was done with her mental break down. Seeing the bathroom door open and Twilight, looking relatively calm, it was time to leave. Twilight grabbed a saddle bag threw it over her back and walked to the door. “We’re leaving Spike here.”

Trixie followed her outside only to be met by the warm rays of the sun and hardly a cloud in sight. At least the weather was nice. Twilight hooked a sharp left and Trixie followed her hoping they were going somewhere nice.

Twilight glanced at Trixie. “So… all of Ponyville is likely aware of the situation that my friends invented. Don’t be surprised if we get questions about how we did it, or congratulations on the new-“

A white mare with a pink and red mane came trotting up. There was a rose on her cutie mark and she gave Trixie and Twilight a smile as she said, “Congratulations on having a baby!”

Twilight sighed.

Trixie stared at her. “How did you find out?”

She blinked a few times as if the question was too obvious to warrant a proper response. “Well, Pinkie Pie did come by asking about flower arrangements for a baby shower.”

“It’s been hardly a few hours since she found out!” Trixie exclaimed.

The mare smiled. “Of course, isn’t she wonderful to care so much? By the way, are you two also getting married or is this more of a casual partnership?”

Twilight groaned. “I hate this town.”

The mare replied. “Oh don’t be like that. True love is wonderful. But if this is just you two decided to co-parent without any relationship that’s fine too. Why my cousin in Talltale lives with a stallion who got her pregnant but he’s as gay as they come.”

Trixie also hated this town. If everypony in the town already knew they were going to be all over her in a matter of seconds… wait, if they all knew they’d be all over her. Trixie grinned as she hooked a leg around Twilight drawing her close. “Well we don’t want to spoil anything yet. Trixie is just so happy that Twilight is such a kind mare, also one with impeccable tastes in unicorns.” Trixie gave a wink.

Twilight glared up at her. “Trixie, what are you doing?”

“Why, I’m just placating our lovely follower here. She’s interested in us, isn’t that right miss…”

“Roseluck.”

“Miss Roseluck.”

Roseluck smiled. “Of course I’m excited for you two. Me and the others are already planning the flower arrangements. We’ve already had our fainting spree and are now fully ready to help out.”

Trixie blinked. “Fainting… spree?”

Twilight’s horn lit up. “And we’re done here.” The world vanished in a flash of bright pink light and they found themselves somewhere on the edge of town. Trixie’s steps felt a little uneasy and the nausea came back with double strength. She looked over at Twilight who was staring out over the hill they were on which showed how large Ponyville really was. It wasn’t just some homes stuffed together in a small area, it was lots of houses all spread far apart with only a small cluster of them near the center.

Twilight looked pleased with herself. “Well we’re finally away from most of the crazies.”

Trixie could taste bile in her mouth. “Do you know anything about morning sickness?”

Twilight looked over. “No, why-“

Almost as if by command, the torrent of vomit had begun. Well… at least it wasn’t the most humiliating thing Trixie covered Twilight in today.

Applejack swung the net down on the strange and hideous hybrid of bat and bumble bee. With the thing in the net she tossed it into the cage with the others. These things were at least as big as a rat and could fly making them three times more nasty. At least they could make good honey but needed an extra careful eye placed on them.

She looked to Big Mac who had just finished his round. “Big Mac, did y’all get them all on yer side?”

Big Mac nodded. “Ayep.”

“Good with everypony safe now, you can answer a question fer me.”

He eyed her.

“How exactly do ya know Trixie? And how does she know you?”

He shrugged.

“Listen here, Ah ain’t gonna take that shrug. It’s plenty obvious you two know each other somehow. That mare’s so stuck on herself she couldn’t even remember most our names till two days ago. So how did she remember you?”

Big Mac stayed quiet but there was a squint in his eyes telling her he was hiding something alright. “Did she hurt you?”

He shook his head.

“Did you hurt her?”

Another shake.

“Then what in Tarnation did y’all get up to?”

He opened his mouth as if to answer her when Applebloom jumped into the conversation. “She took over the entire town, Applejack. Big Mac kind of stands out in a crowd and so hed be easy to remember.”

Applejack shot her glare as if to tell her to not interrupt again should she value having a butt that wasn’t red and stinging. “Big Mac.”

Big Mac smiled. “Remember how Twilight turned you into a stallion?”

Applejack blinked. “Oh… yeah, Ah do remember that. Why did you act all surprised to see her then?”

“Ah didn’t know she was in town after that amulet thing.”

Applejack frowned. Something about this mess felt off. She was clearly missing something but his argument made a lot of sense. She hadn’t exactly told him that she was back in town, nor that she was supposed to be her friend now. Though to be fair without having ever spent time with her friendship was not a thing she could easily say was taking place. Applejack would give Trixie a chance, maybe she was wrong here, it wouldn’t be the first time. However, if things kept being weird she’d have to say something. This wasn’t like how she caught Luna spying on Big Mac in his sleep… numerous times. This was something new and she could actually handle this one.

Though she’d be careful. Trixie was carrying Twilight’s baby after all, didn’t want to risk anything weird happening there.

Big Mac’s next words struck her as odd but sensible giving the circumstance. “Is she really having Twilight’s child?”

Applejack nodded. “Ayep, as weird as it sounds. Rainbow Dash found out first, and then Rarity put the pieces together. Now we all know. A bit surprised but Ah reckon if Twilight wants good magical genes Trixie ain’t too bad a choice.”

Applebloom stuck her head up in front of Applejack nearly knocking her back. “How is Trixie having Twilight’s baby? From what Ah’ve seen you have to have a boy and girl to do that and Ah’m pretty sure Twilight’s a girl.”

Applejack felt her face starting to burn. “Um… well, you see…” she looked for help from Big Mac but he had ditched leaving her with the hard part. “Remember when we had the apples and the oranges talk?”

“Ayep, and Ah remember how it applies to the pigs and sheep and cows and the ponies and the-“

“Alright, alright. Well Twilight’s an all powerful wizard pony. She can turn herself into a stallion if she needs too… or in this case just wants too.”

Applebloom made a sour face as if the idea was physically impossible for her to imagine for a moment. Then her face lit up. “OH! Just like those weird comics Scootaloo keeps under her bed in her room. So Twilight got Trixie pregnant. Are they going to get married now? Are you going to be the flower girl or the bridesmaid, and is Rarity going to make the wedding dre-“

Applejack shoved a hoof over Applebloom’s lips as swiftly as possible. “Shhh, don’t say those the M word out loud. She will hear you and then our day is gonna be filled with nonsense.”

There was a mad cackle from the woods nearby. “Oh no…” She scooped Applebloom up in her leg threw her on her back and checked to make sure the cages of batbees were secure. Then she ran. If she could make it home before the cackling mad marriage focused mare caught up, she’d be safe. Darn Applebloom for making her run from a hopefully imaginary Rarity.

Speaking of which… Trixie was about to enter a world of annoyances and measurements.

Twilight was still busy using a magical cloth to clean her fur. Trixie honestly felt bad about this one and was apologizing for the third time. Twilight shook her head. “A little vomiting is fine and perfectly normal. I’d much rather have you throwing up on me than my original fear of my friends finding out after Rainbow’s misunderstanding.”

Trixie stared at her. “What were you so afraid of, Trixie thinks they were nice, absolutely out of their pumpkins, but nice.”

Twilight frowned. “I was afraid that Rarity was going to start wanting to make wedding dresses for us. I know we’re not planning to get married but she might get carried away with the idea and then we’d be spending days modeling for them.”

Trixie frowned. “She’d have to be able to adjust for Trixie’s size, you know Trixie will only get larger.”

Twilight glared at her. “She won’t have to do any of that because we are not getting married.”

Trixie smiled. “Don’t say that, Twilight. If it makes your friends happy, shouldn’t you do anything to please them?”

Twilight opened her mouth to say something but closed it tight. She stared past Trixie as her eyes widened. There was a sudden sharp snap of something being drawn tight behind Trixie’s ears. She looked over behind her and saw Rarity standing there, a cloth measuring tape in her telekinetic aura drawn tight and straight as could be. “Did somepony say ‘wedding dresses’?”

Chapter Seventeen: Of Letters and Love

Several hours later Twilight was sitting, or forcefully being sat down in Rarity’s shop as she and Trixie both were being measured and fitted for dresses neither of them needed. Honestly, the only reason Twilight hadn’t corrected Rarity about who the parent was so far is because she was still trying to work out the damage control because saying ‘hey Trixie screwed your brother, now she’s pregnant and he’s going to be a dad, have fun,’ just didn’t have the right ring to it.

As for Trixie she enjoyed the extra attention. Twilight was fairly confident that at this point it really couldn’t get any worse than this. No, really, pretending to be the parent to Trixie’s child was surely as low as it could get.

Spike came in there with arms full of scrolls proving her wrong. “Twilight, you ‘hiccup’“ another scroll appeared. “Messages. From. Everypony.”

Twilight tried to stand and was forced back down. Rarity replied. “Read with your horn dear, not with your hooves.”

She grabbed the first one she could and opened it up. It was from Princess Celestia, and had a red ribbon on it. This meant an emergency.

“My Dear Faithful Student.

How much did you drink? I know you’ve had a problem with drinking once or twice in the past, but I fear maybe you may need some help. With that said please allow your new lover, consort, partner to read this next part.

How much was she drinking when she impregnated you? Or how much was he drinking I should ask? Was it a lot. Should we throw an intervention? As her/his closest loved one, surly you would know if there was a problem. If there is tell Spike to send me a letter saying the word BANANAS.”

Twilight growled. She opened another one.

“Dear Twily

It’s your bro here, living in the Crystal Kingdom is pretty fun but things sure are changing. Heard you had a sex change into a stallion and now your got a mare pregnant. Nice. How was it? Having a penis that is? Pretty nice right? Just be careful of getting random erections in public, you can’t really hide it and your wife might get pretty mad at you, even if it was her fault in the first place for nearly tripping in front of you and bumping her butt into your muzzle.

Anyway, if you need any advice on how to please a mare. Let me know, I’m kind of a professional at this. Love Shiny.”

Twilight’s growl increased.

Rarity used a bit of magic to lift Twilight’s butt. “Stand please. Thank you, darling.”

Twilight grabbed another.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle.

As your foal sitter, sister in law, and old friend I must say that I am… impressed. Honestly making such a big life choice to change gender is impressive. Going the extra step to get a mare pregnant was even more impressive. Though I have to wonder if maybe this was a little too fast, even for you. Also what ever happened to your crush on Princess Celestia, I know it was weird to think you liked the person that is your stepmother, but I learned to accept one day you and her would end up together. Now I suppose that might not be the case?

Oh, unless you’re looking to expand your relationship. If you are, fair warning, Celestia is a bit hungry and might eat both of you at the same time, if you know what I’m saying. Anyway, best of luck, Princess Cadance.”

Twilight’s growl was a small scream, an unending, never breathing scream.

“Dear my sister’s student.

You do realize that transmutation laws prohibit complete transformation into the other gender. I am certain you are aware of this so I can only picture a beautiful innocent looking Twilight carrying a massive scepter between her/his/its legs as well as the receptacle to receive one. Once you figure out more of what you are intending to be let me know so I can address you with the correct pronoun and then mock you accordingly. My sister seems to be a bit upset with this information though, and I can see why. If rumors are to be told truthfully, you are attempting to create the perfect wizard pony through genetic breeding. A very intelligent but dangerous game to be playing. I wish both you and your lover the best of luck.

Also I am sorry she wet the bed on you, her dreams had devolved into nightmares before I could aid her. I shall continue studying her dreams when I am not studying another subject in Ponyville. Though… you may wish to sleep in different beds as I am uncertain I’ll be able to help her too much considering her relation to my other subject.

Princess of the Night, Luna.”

Twilight’s scream had gone up in decimals. She could barely hear Trixie’s voice over the sound. “Is she going to be okay?”

Rarity laughed mockingly. “She is just having pre wedding jitters. I’m sure you know.”

“Trixie understand. Also she needs a trashcan, immediately.”

Without warning one appeared in front of her and while Trixie was busy attempting to hurl in a volume that was less than Twilight’s scream was loud, Twilight read the last letter.

“To our loving daughter.

Um…. What? We expected this of Shining Armor but he at least had the decency to get married before trying to get Cadance Pregnant even if that was by pure coincidence rather than any attempt at avoiding the acts leading to such a thing. You on the other hoof, we expected you to be waiting until marriage to have children and were certainly not expecting you to be the one impregnating your wife.

We aren’t mad at you, just disappointed.

Love Night Light and Twilight Velvet.”

Twilight’s throat suddenly died out. She was still trying to scream. Her lungs just gave up on actually emitting any sound. It was after that everything went dark and she fell forward unconscious only to take the first breath in her sleep that she had taken in the past five minutes. She was wrong, so very wrong. It could always get worse.

Trixie sat there after the measurements were all finished. “Are you certain she is alright?”

Rarity had laid Twilight down on a sofa that seemed to appear from nowhere at all. Twilight was twitching in her sleep. At the very least she was covered by a blanket. “Oh she will be just fine, darling. I’m more concerned with you, how are you fairing?”

Trixie put a hoof to her chest. “Trixie has never been better. Perhaps less hungry, but never better.”

Rarity eyed her. “You’re still hungry, even after the morning sickness.”

“Trixie is feeding two now you know.”

Rarity nodded. “Of course. If you don’t tell Twilight, I do have some ice cream for you.”

Trixie licked her lips. Big mistake when her mouth still tasted sour. “Why should she not tell Twilight?”

“The poor dear is already stressed out and paranoid about everything. The last thing I want her to think is I’m purposely feeding you unhealthy foods.”

Trixie smiled. “She is going to get bigger regardless of her diet. So let Trixie be fat and fed she says.”

Rarity laughed. “You’re taking this in high spirits. Come this way.”

Trixie followed her into the kitchen where she was greeted with a kitchen table to sit down at and awaited the ice cream. “Why should Trixie not be in the highest of spirits? She is going to have the most amazing child in all of Equestria, a pony to surpass her in every way.”

Rarity pulled out a tub of ice cream and began scooping out some into a bowl. It was vanilla, the generic but still good flavor. “To hear you say somepony is better than you is certainly refreshing.”

Trixie chose to ignore the snark in the comment. “Of course, it is a child Trixie produces after all, and so it must be the best child in the whole of Equestria.”

Rarity smiled as she set the bowl in front of Trixie along with a spoon. Trixie wasted no time in filling her now empty stomach full of delicious ice cream. She could feel it inside her, she wasn’t the only one enjoying the ice cream. Rarity took a seat across from her and stared with a happy look in her eyes. “So is that how Twilight convinced you to let her do this?”

“Trixie needed not convincing. One mention of a child and a safe place to have it, and Trixie was sold. Everything else is a bonus.”

Rarity giggled. “Sounds like somepony might like Twilight more than she lets on.”

Trixie swallowed the most delicious bite of food she’d had all day and gave Rarity as fierce a glare as she could. “Not that Twilight is bad, by any stretch of the imagination. But what are you implying?”

“Oh, I’m sorry dear. I just so happened to accidently catch the first kiss you two shared last night. Honestly seeing Twilight do such a thing with somepony was… magical.”

“Well Twilight certainly picked the best pony to share her first kiss with. Better than her brother at least.”

Rarity coughed a few times. “I’m sorry, she what?”

Trixie waived a hoof dismissively. “It matters not, for Twilight has a better pony to kiss. Trixie has no plans to stop her.”

Rarity nodded. “So you like her back?”

Trixie stopped eating to look at her ice cream for a long moment in silence. “Trixie… is unsure. There is another pony with whom Trixie would also like to kiss. Maybe two? Trixie feels out of all her possible lovers, Twilight is by far the best choice.”

Rarity frowned. “Darling, I think Twilight really likes you. Even if she can’t admit it. You even heard her, she said that she wasn’t dating you ‘yet’.”

Trixie felt a cold chill run down her spine. Had something changed so dramatically in the past two days that Twilight was sincerely considering the idea of them dating. Clearly not marriage but Trixie was none too pleased with the idea of a marriage past the initial wedding and the attention of all ponies eyes. No, she had not truly considered any idea of a ‘relationship’ with Twilight. It was just a kiss, just a snuggle and a few sweeter moments shared between the two right?

Still her mind could not be entirely convinced of this reasoning now. What if Twilight had begun to grow attached to her, and what if Trixie felt the same for Twilight. She’d never really been in love before so she wasn’t sure what that would feel like. Fooling around, sure, it was fun, entertaining and could last a couple of weeks if one was careful to manipulate the situation just right, but something about this felt different. For the first time Trixie considered the idea of using Twilight, taking her innocence and then leaving her behind… and the thought made Trixie want to vomit once more out of disgust with herself, she could never do that to Twilight.

Rarity reached out and gently patted the back of Trixie’s hoof. “This is new to you as well, am I right?”

Trixie swallowed. “What if Trixie doesn’t want to hurt Twilight, does that mean she likes Twilight?”

Rarity gave a knowing smile and Trixie realized they both might know the answer. Still there was another problem, two of them. Well… Trixie realized if she was really going to climb down this rabbit hole she needed to make sure there wasn’t going to be any complications down the road for her and Twilight.

Trixie pushed herself away from the table. “Could you do Trixie a favor? She requires a conversation with two other ponies post haste.”

Rarity smiled. “Oh and who would those ponies be?”

“Fluttershy and Big Mac.”

Chapter Eighteen: Of Weddings and Bells

Applejack was busy bucking apples off the tree. It had been an awkward and hard day’s work. An honest day’s work leaving her feeling strong and confident about her place here. The apple farm was a crazy place to live sometimes. For the most part there was plenty of job security here, ponies needed to eat after all, and they even had quite a few different types of sub-farms. From carrots to potatoes. The apple family was in charge of most of it.

Still some days she did long for a more simple and quiet time. Or at the very least a day off. Working a farm was a full time job if ever there was one. Twenty Four hours a day seven days a week. Still she was proud her farm, her family and everything they’d accomplished together. Nothing, and she meant it, nothing was as important as family.

It probably was why Big Mac was scared of mares. After all she was afraid of dating stallions because whatever stallion she got hitched too was going to become part of the family and needed to be a proper part of it. Unless she decided to invest more in mares. The idea of settling down with a particular mare had crossed her mind a few times, but she needed foals to keep up the farm work.

In fact, choosing a mare might be better in that regard. In her few moments of free time she’d figured it out. If she married a stallion it would only mean one new child a year, assuming nothing went wrong. Workable but not good enough. If it was two mares, that could be her getting pregnant form a stallion with strong genes and her lover getting pregnant likely from Big Mac’s genes. Two children a year, for a few years, meant lots of ponies to keep the farm alive and well after Applejack’s passing many, many years from now.

She had felt very secure about her plan. Only problem was when could she find free time for that kind of fooling around? She had as much time for that as Celestia had moles on her butt, which was to say none at all. She’d considered enlisting Rarity to help but that had only rewarded her with pleasurable, but awkward events. If Rarity even sniffed the idea of marriage brewing in Applejack’s mind she’d probably try to marry Applejack herself.

Actually that thought didn’t sound too bad. Rarity was rather pleasant to look at and had proven herself willing to get dirty if she really needed to. Sure she complained the whole while but she’d still do it. Furthermore Rarity was family oriented, something Applejack appreciated a lot. Last but not least, Rarity wasn’t half bad at getting dirty in much more private ways.

Applejack had to shake her head once she saw Rarity and Fluttershy talking to Big Mac some ways away. Something felt off about that, so ignoring any pleasant imaginings she had she went into stealth mode and hid behind a tree as she watched the trio.

Rarity was sounding confident as ever as she spoke. “I know this is so sudden, darling, but Trixie really does seem to need your help with something.”

Big Mac gave her a nervous look. “Ayep?”

Rarity made a high pitched excited noise. “YES! I’m so glad you’re willing to come with us. Fluttershy here is requested as well. I’m willing to bet she requires help for planning her wedding with Twilight.”

Fluttershy swallowed. “Um, are they… r-really getting m-married? B-but I just…”

Rarity shook her head. “Well, Twilight hasn’t agreed to anything yet, but some conversation in which I did not manipulate her thinking at all with ice cream, and she seemed to realize just how much she and Twilight have grown close. She then got really weird though and asked you two to come. I’m sure she has some wonderful plans.”

Fluttershy looked a little disappointed by those thoughts. Big Mac on the other hoof looked as nervous as could be, yet somehow sad. This was a strange situation, well okay the past few days have been strange but these ponies were certainly up to something and Applejack had made it clear. If there was anything more weird going on with her brother and Trixie she was investigating.

Tipping her hat forward, she knew it was investigating time.

She stalked the ponies out of the farm, all the way to town and through the streets, careful to stay quiet and behind them at all times. If she was caught whatever plans they had were likely to be cut short. She couldn’t risk that and not finding out the truth. Lucky for her, these ponies were about as able to catch on to what she was doing as pigs were able to fly.

Up in the sky she caught a glimpse of Pinkie Pie. Wearing her Piggy Pie costume and riding a rocket through the air as Rainbow Dash was chasing after her screaming, “It was an accident!”

Pinkie didn’t seem to be upset or in any danger. In fact she seemed to be enjoying the ride. So on it went as Applejack stalked her prey through the busy streets of Ponyville. Every now and then hearing gossip of Trixie and Twilight’s baby, a few ponies even just shortened it to Twixie. Strange name but she figured it fit well enough. Once she was at the shop she was careful to sneak up to the front door and listen in. Just in case she ever needed it, she had her emergency lasso tucked under her hat.

Trixie marched back in forth in the little boutique. Its lavish curtains feeling a bit more imposing now that she was staring at the two ponies she had questions about. The two ponies with which she requested an audience sat there in front of her looking at her with confused and worried expressions on their faces. Rarity had been gracious enough to give them some privacy as she worked on the dress ideas in her room and Twilight was still unconsciously twitching on the couch behind her.

Trixie met both of their eyes for a moment before saying, “Do either of you know why it is Trixie has called you here today?”

They both shook their heads.

Trixie grinned. “Trixie has clearly realized there is some interest from both of you going in Trixie’s direction and she would like to know how serious those interests are.”

They both looked at each other a bit confused. Fluttershy was the first one to speak. “Um, I um… well… d-do you mean if we um… like you?”

“Trixie knows that you like her, she wishes to know if you love her.”

Fluttershy’s eyes bulged. “I um… I d-don’t know.”

Trixie looked at Big Mac who was just as uneasy. “What about you, big sexy you.”

He swallowed. “N-now hold up. Ah only, with you, the one time.”

Trixie shook her head. “Trixie thinks you are both about as confused as she is. This is not good.” She paced back and forth a few times. “Trixie feels she needs to make a decision and stick with it, or make a few decisions and stick with all of them. How are you two for harems?”

Both of them looked at each other than at Trixie.

Trixie laughed. “Of course not with each other, with Trixie. Do you think Trixie would share either of you? No, she demands all of you for herself and herself only.”

Fluttershy’s entire face was so red that Trixie was sure she might explode. Big Mac was already red but he did look a touch pale. This was an interesting response to say the least. Trixie stamped a hoof. “Alright, Trixie thinks this will work.”

Big Mac swallowed. “Nope.”

Trixie stared at him. “No? So you two are the jealous kind… I’m sorry Big Mac but you might be good at what you do, but Trixie does tend to favor mares. So if Fluttershy and Twilight agree to this than she will have to cut her losses for you.”

Big Mac jerked a nod. “Ayep.”

Trixie smiled. “Fluttershy, would you be interested in such a- Fluttershy? Are you okay?”

Fluttershy seemed to be doing her best impression of Twilight. Unconscious on the floor and twitching. Seems she lost her. Oh well there was always later. Trixie let out a sigh. “Well at least we are alone for me to tell you the real reason I brought you here.”

Trixie grew the kind of smile only a mare knowing that one of these ponies would pass out from such talks of depravity would have. “Big Mac, about the child of mine.”

Big Mac met her eyes. There was a gentle hope in those eyes. One she didn’t expect to see. If anything she expected to see anger, confusion, or fear, not… excitement. Did he already know or suspect the parent? If so Trixie couldn’t’ very well keep her captive audience waiting the reveal.

“It is not Twilight’s as you may have been informed, as well as half of Equestria as it turns out.” Trixie shook her head. “It is yours.”

The smile that grew on Big Mac’s lips. It was unbelievable how comforting said smile really could be. “Ah… Ah didn’t think… Ah hoped… but Ah didn’t-“

Trixie shushed him. “Now, Trixie might not be able to be your lover, or marry you, or whatever your Ponyville traditions are, but she does want you to help raise the baby. Trixie Two The Revenge of Trixie should be able to have both of her parents around.”

“A g-g-girl!” he gasped. He took a step forward. “Ah… Ah have a baby girl?”

Trixie smiled up at him. “We do. Now apparently Twilight seems to be under the impression we should keep quiet about this because if it were to get out, your sister might have some sort of thoughts? Trixie doesn’t understand Twilight’s concern.”

The door opened up and Applejack stood there with a lasso in her mouth swirling above her head. “Ah think Ah can make you understand, hussie!”

With Trixie walking besides her, Applejack walked with one end of the lasso in her mouth and the other around Big Mac’s neck. Trixie was pretty complacent about following her for no reason whatsoever, or at least once Applejack offered apple pie she was. Applejack knew it got them every time.

Trixie was almost excited as she asked, “So why foalnap your brother and ask Trixie to grace you with her presence?”

Applejack grimaced. This was what she was going to have to deal with for the rest of her life now wasn’t it? “Good choice, Big Mac.”

He was deftly silent. He knew the rules and exactly what was about to happen. No way he was getting away this time. Not that he’d ever gotten a mare pregnant before, but there was a scare once in his youth involving a certain teacher they all knew and loved. Unfortunately that turned out to be a misunderstanding, but if it hadn’t then Big Mac would have had plenty of foals by now.

Applejack noticed the set of eyes on her from Trixie. “You haven’t answered Trixie’s question yet.”

Applejack was busy holding a lasso in her mouth. “Ah’m doing the right thing, probably.”

Trixie smiled. “Finally making it up to Trixie for bullying her on stage are you? So nice of you to finally do so. Trixie shall allow you this then.”

Behind them Rarity was holding aloft in her blue telekinetic aura both a wonderfully fancy white dress and a nice black suit. “Oh I do hope your size hasn’t changed since I last measured you, Big Mac. Of course, I’d have loved to have that sort of time with you again.”

Applejack growled. “Rarity, if you so much as look at him suggestively, Ah am not inviting you.”

Rarity shrieked. “Please, Applejack. I must be invited. It’s not every day I get to enjoy such events.”

Applejack was already having second thoughts about this. Maybe, just maybe this was a bad idea. Lucky for her Twilight wasn’t there or she’d stop them.

Twilight woke up in a cold chill. The front door to the Carousel Boutique was ajar and Spike was sitting down and staring at the door with a smug expression on his face. Fluttershy was also nearby, unconscious and twitching. Such an odd thing for a pony to do, maybe she should call a doctor.

Spike saw her and laughed. “You have no idea, do you?”

Twilight looked at him. “No, I just woke up… and uh… wait, where is Trixie?”

Spike laughed even harder. “Applejack found out who Trixie’s baby’s daddy was. Came in here, grabbed Trixie, and Rarity and the three of them went off to go marry the would be lovers.”

Twilight stared at the door. “By Celestia’s… no, By Luna and Celestia’s incestuous secret romance, this is exactly why I told Trixie not to tell anypony yet. How the tartarus do I stop a wedding?”

Spike looked at her. “Isn’t’ there a part where they ask if anypony objects?”

Twilight swallowed. “Oh… no. Spike, I figured it out, we are trapped inside one of my trashy stories I write when I’m lonely.”

He shook his head. “Already checked, this is reality.”

“Then in that case, this is even worse. I can’t let somepony take Trixie away from me.”

Chapter Nineteen: Of Shotguns and Weddings

Trixie wasn’t complaining having a beautiful mare help her into a wedding gown. What she was complaining about was this absurd scenario she found herself thrust in. “Are you positive this is a just a practice wedding?”

Rarity fastened the straps on Trixie’s back. “Of course, Darling.”

Trixie still felt uneasy about this. “Then why, pray tell, is Twilight not partaking and instead we are using Big Mac?”

“Because Twilight is a little preoccupied with her sudden nap.”

Trixie wasn’t sure if she was willing to believe all of this but she did know one thing. She was being fawned upon and that was more than enough reason for her to believe in Rarity and Applejack’s absurd need to practice a wedding. Trixie was far from certain she would actually partake in one but the attention never hurt.

Using Applejack’s room being used for the dressing room was probably not the best choice because it was a bit small and smelled far too much of sweat. Rarity seemed to have completely lost any sense of smell the moment wedding was mentioned. That or the fact that the bed, after a good sniff, turned out to smell faintly of Rarity, implied the sweat was partially hers to begin with. Now, what would cause those two to sweat all over the bed? Trixie could only wonder.

Of course Applejack had dragged Big Mac off to his room, one she recognized from sight alone even if it had been rather dark the last time she was inside it. She wondered if after this practice wedding here might be a practice honeymoon as well. She would enjoy that sort of practice very much.

It wouldn’t be long now before she was brought out in full glory to whoever they’d managed to grab for this practice wedding. Her audience awaited her stunning beauty and brilliance. Oh how clever Rarity and Applejack must be to do a practice wedding… at least assuming they were to be believed. These ponies were not exactly the most sane.

Once the preparations were complete a small knock at the door, coming from a tiny foal with bright red hair, was the signal they needed to began. Trixie was walked side by side with Rarity as they made their way through the simple yet warming home, down the stairs and then led to the backdoor where she saw much to her surprise several pews already set up, with an alter set up on the gazebo. Oh, this place made for a wonderful wedding. Not too many ponies though.

Big Mac was there, dressed up in a fine tuxedo that seemed to complement his muscular and large form rather well. Oh, he did look fine in that suit. Practice was a good idea after all. Applebloom walked ahead of them tossing flowers this way and that. For their audience they had another small filly, this one looking a lot more like Rarity, it was probably Rarity’s child from some unknown teenage lover.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were there as well sitting in the pews next to one another. Pinkie was just behind them grinning like this was the best day of her life. A pretty decently sized audience for her current performance.

Once Trixie was led up the aisle, all eyes rightfully on her she found herself on the alter standing in front of Big Mac. She smiled. “Trixie supposed practice extends to the honeymoon portion as well?” she gave him a wink.

He swallowed and his eyes darted wildly from an old green mare who looked less like an apple and more like a pickle, to Applejack. Applejack shot him a dirty look then a kinder one to the old mare. “Granny Smith, would you like to start. We’re on a bit of a deadline here so let’s do the quick version.”

Granny Smith let out a sigh. “Ah’d wished we had a proper wedding this time around. Guess we can always do another one later.”

Applejack hurried her on. “Yes yes, now quickly before Twilight shows up.”

Trixie looked at her. “We are just practicing are we not?”

Applejack made a sour expression. “Um… no. This is a real wedding.”

As the shock, and soon to follow horror hit Trixie, Granny Smith began. “We’re here to lawfully wed these two ponies. Big Macintosh, do you, take Trixie, to be yer lawfully wedded wife until death due you part?”

Big Mac shook his head. “Nope.”

Applejack growled. “Too bad, you don’t get a choice.”

Granny Smith looked at Trixie. “Trixie, do you, take Big Macintosh, to be yer lawfully wedded husband until death due you part?”

Trixie looked at Applejack. “No?”

Applejack shook her head. “Wrong answer.”

Granny Smith closed the book. “Unless any other ponies have any objections, Ah now pronounce you two-“

Spike was holding on for dear life to Twilight’s mane as Twilight teleported as fast as she possibly could toward Applejack’s house but the stress was making her magic a bit less sturdy than normal. So she could only teleport a mile or so at a time. This not only made it challenging to hold on, but he was getting a little teleport sick from it too.

Spike was shouting between teleports. “Do, you, even, have, a, plan?”

Twilight shouted back. “NO! I do not have a plan, but I know they are taking Trixie away!”

“Away from who?”

“From me!”

Spike was quiet a moment. They were finally out of Ponyville Proper and in the woods. Applejack’s place couldn’t be much further now but Twilight’s horn was sparking. The last attempt at a teleport fizzled at the tip of her horn. Spike gently patted the back of her head. “Twilight, they can’t take her away from you if you don’t like her.”

Twilight shot a look back. “I think I do! We kissed last night, and she listened to me talk about my feelings and didn’t judge me and when I was scared about how ponies are afraid of me she came up next to me and cuddled me.”

“And then wet the bed if I remember correctly.”

“She’s pregnant, she can get away with that.”

Spike rolled his eyes. “I didn’t know bladder control was an issue with pregnant mares.”

“It can be, it’s part of silent heat. I don’t know if Trixie has it, I haven’t checked. I might have to later, presuming I get there fast enough to still have a chance to look!”

Twilight took off in a gallop considering her horn had failed to work for her. She was galloping as fast as she could and Spike also noticed that she was moving quite a bit faster than he’d ever seen her run. She must have been serious about this but why was she trying so hard to stop this? It wasn’t like she had never tried to date somepony before-

Spike stood on top of her back. “Hurry Twilight, they’re going to marry her to Big Mac if we don’t stop them!”

“You’re on my side now?”

“Let’s be honest, you and Celestia was never going to happen, no matter how cute it was. This is the first time you’ve shown any interest in the idea of dating. If it gets you to stop being such a loner, and stop writing those creepy stories about your mentor, your friends, and your brother, than we should get there as soon as equinely possible.” In fact he had an idea on how to make Twilight run faster.

He walked over to her rump looked at her tail and spat a small ball of fire. The end of Twilight’s tail caught flame and the look Twilight gave him was one of utter horror before she gave a yelp and began running faster still. It seemed she just barely had enough air in her lungs to yell, “Despite being a smart idea, I’m going to kill you for this once I rescue Trixie!”

They ran.

At one point Twilight even went off road to take a short cut. After all the time the two had spent working on these trees and helping Applejack with farming duty they knew this place in and out. This was a sure fire way straight to the Sweet Apple Acers that cut a couple miles off the road.

Twilight was moving at a fast gallop for nearly two minutes before breaking free. There was the wedding. Everypony was there. Twilight noticed everypony stop and stare at her as she came running in. She knew what she looked like. Eyes panicked, tail on fire, horn sparking and fizzling. Twilight was clearly ready to cause bodily harm if needed to get what she wanted.

She slid to a stop in front of the alter. Misplaced her speed and ran headfirst into the gazebo. Luckily doing no damage to it but her horn was stuck for a moment. She pulled it out and left a sizable hole in the wood as a result. “I OBJECT!”

Applejack shot back. “You can’t do that.”

“Yes I can, and I am!”

“On what grounds?”

Twilight stood up and felt Spike nearly fall off as he had to grab onto Twilight’s mane to stay up. “On the grounds that I LOVE HER!”

Several gasps filled the area and Applejack stared right into Twilight’s eyes. “Are… are you sure?”

Twilight glared at her. Then looked over at Trixie who looked absolutely beautiful in that dress. The mare was staring down at her with wide lavender eyes. “I’m sure.”

Trixie sat down. “Oh… oh, Twilight. I uh… this is awkward.”

Twilight blinked. “You… were you wanting to marry Big Mac?”

Trixie shook her head. “No, I just hadn’t gotten around to asking you myself if you loved me or not. I asked Fluttershy and Big Mac if they did but they said no. You said you do love Trixie so… Trixie chooses you.”

Twilight stared at her. “Choose me for what?”

Trixie smiled. “Trixie chooses you, to have Trixie love you.”

“I… what?”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “You are quite simple sometimes. Trixie just said, Trixie loves you, Twilight.”

Twilight sat down. “Oh, good. I don’t really know what I would have done if you rejected me. I might have blown us all up honestly.”

Trixie swallowed. “R-really?”

Spike replied. “She nearly killed herself getting here to stop this.”

Trixie jumped up and squeed. A motion Twilight was not used to seeing form the mare. “Oh my gosh, you must really love Trixie to do such a wonderful, horrible thing. Trixie promises that so long as you love her like that, she will stay by your side.”

Trixie looked over to Big Mac. “Trixie is sorry, maybe if you are still interested in sharing she might-“

Twilight shot a look at her that made it clear that whatever Trixie was about to say needed to stop. She was already frantic from a few days of absolute and uncontrolled chaos. There was no way in tartarus she was sharing Trixie with anyone else. Well… maybe Celestia… probably.

Trixie stepped down from the gazebo and wrapped her forelegs around Twilight. “Thank you for rescuing your princess in distress.”

Twilight wrapped a leg around Trixie’s waist drawing her closer. “If I am the hero here, what do I get for it?”

Trixie met Twilight’s eyes. “A gift for my beautiful hero?” She leaned forward and gently pressed her lips against Twilight’s. “How is that?”

Twilight swallowed. “I’ll take that for now.”

Granny Smith gave Applejack and Big Mac both the stink eye. “So, which one of you should be the one in trouble over this?”

Applejack covered her face with her hat. “Ah… probably should. Ah reckon Ah knew Twilight might like her but thought if’n we were fast enough we could beat her to the punch and have some new foals on the farm.”

Trixie looked over at Applejack. “Well, as crazy as you may be, Trixie does still intend to let the father be the father. She has no intentions on stealing away a child from him. Who would be so cruel?”

Applejack mouthed wordlessly. “Seriously?”

Trixie smiled. “Trixie truly is generous isn’t she?”

Twilight gave Trixie a small squeeze. “Come on, even you know that was rude.”

“She did just try to trick and then force Trixie into a marriage. She feels some rudness is well accounted for.”

Rarity stood off to the side holding a bouquet. “Well… there goes the big plan…”

Like a bolt of pink lightning. Pinkie disappeared from her seat behind Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Ran up to Rarity and kicked the bouquet into the air. It flew high, high into the air. A good thirty or so feet. It was almost like she had practiced the move for ages as she turned around and eyed Rainbow Dash. “Betcha ain’t fast enough to catch that.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Oh really?”

Rainbow Dash flew into the air snatched the bouquet and then landed back next to Fluttershy. “Oh, look at that! Owned!”

Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash and then at Fluttershy. “Well now, Rainbow Dash. I didn’t know you wanted to be married so much. I wonder if there is a shy, yellow pegasus who might want to marry you?”

Rainbow Dash’s face contorted as if she was trying to process something and it was taking a lot more work than it really should have. The expression almost looked painful before it relaxed and then fell. Rainbow Dash’s face grew pale. “The bouquet… I caught it.” She looked over at Fluttershy. “Does that mean I have to get married now?”

Fluttershy looked up at her. “Oh… um… I… I think so.”

“But… but who’s going to marry me? I don’t think I know anypony.” She was grabbing at her mane with her free hoof. “Ahhh, why did Pinkie do this?”

Fluttershy reached out and gently put a hoof over Rainbow Dash’s lips to shush her. “I um… I-I know you d-don’t know anypony but um… I-I would… if um.. if you want… and you don’t find anypony you want to marry before… um..”

Rainbow Dash wrapped her forelegs around Fluttershy dragging her into an embrace. “You just made a promise and I am not letting you break it.”

Fluttershy was frozen for a moment but embraced her back. “Okay.”

Rarity sat down. “Well… that was-“

“Exactly according to plan!” Pinkie finished for her. “Yeppers. Of course they’re gonna be really awkward once they realize that married couples have sex.”

Sweetie Belle stood up and asked. “What’s sex?”

The level of power behind the smack that went into the back of Pinkie’s head was enough to force the mare to go into the dirt face first and leave her legs sticking up at awkward angles. Pinkie Pie replied. “Oh, sorry, forgot she was here.”

Rarity’s hoof was actually smoking from the force of the blow. She blew on it. “I still won’t forgive you for this. Now I get to have that talk with my sister. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash must have heard as well because the way their faces were turning bright red as they attempted to look at each other but were looking away every few seconds made them look both entirely too innocent. Twilight was content with this situation. Now she could at least look at her new marefriend. Wait, were they dating now? A confession of love didn’t have to necessarily mean that did it? Oh… this was going to be weird. She needed to set up some charts and graphs immediately and figure out where they stood now and how it was going to work.

For now, she mostly just laid into Trixie’s embrace and closed her eyes. “Twilight is tired.”

Trixie rubbed at Twilight’s shoulder and replied. “Well Trixie is the best at being a pillow as well, so go ahead and rest, Trixie will watch you.”

“That’s creepy… thank you.”

“And Trixie promises not to vomit on you this time.”

Twilight opened an eye. “I assumed that alrea-“

The green look on Trixie’s face made it all to clear this was a promise that was not going to last. Well… things were more or less what Twilight was coming to expect from her new life so that was something…

Somewhere far far away from the new couples, sat a Draconequus in a throne made from rocks, glass, gold, and the skin of a very much still alive giant bat. The throne was actually strapped to its back as it flew through a dimension filled with floating islands, destroyed castles, ruins that time had forgotten and eldritch beasts of time immortal.

Next to him sat an alicorn princess of the sun who was busy sipping at her tea and watching the television screen showing the events of said loving mares after a failed wedding. “Interesting, but why are you showing me all of this?”

Discord sipped at his tea, drinking the glass instead of the liquid. “I thought you might find the events of these past few days entertaining. Even though I cut out some of the more interesting bits.”

“You say that but you left the part where Trixie had pleasured herself on my student’s bed.”

“I said interesting, not whatever that was.”

“If you say so… but after my misunderstanding of the situation you decided to show me this. Why?”

Discord looked at her. “Well, I thought you might have some ideas. If your student is to be wed, wouldn’t you want to know ahead of time. Especially since she’s marrying a mare who is already with child.”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “I’m just confused, out of anypony, she had to choose her to love… wait did you have anything to do with this?”

Discord laughed. “Who me? Couldn’t be. At least I didn’t do anything bad this time. Let’s not forget, romance is probably the most chaotic force in the universe, and I am no strange to chaos my dear Celestia. No stranger at all.”

Celestia closed her eyes. “This is going to be a fine mess isn’t it?”

“If it wasn’t could you call it a love story?”