Chapter 13: Bedding Arrangement

Force it into my head, now’s the only time. Hiding behind a lie, all I know. I cast the fire! Inside this hour is all alone, for I am in denial. Though never again will I direct my shields against another, but turn it on myself.

“So, what are you going to do, Bass?” Twilight asked.

He shook his head. “I’ll have to put an ad out or something. Band members wanted and all that crap.” He was feeling a little down.

He probably should have tried a different game, Twilight thought. “Well, I’ll help you with that. It’s the least I could do since you were trying to help Trixie.”

“Oh yeah, that is what he was trying to do,” Rarity said under her breath. She and the others glared at Rainbow.

“What?” Rainbow asked.

“Why should he suffer for trying to help somepony?” Rarity asked.

“Hey, a bet is a bet, okay! It’s not my fault he lost. Poker is luck!”

“Still, you really shouldn’t hold him to such a daunting task. At least change what he has to do so he might be able to actually do it.”

“That’s alright, Rarity. I’ll do it. Even if I have to borderline kill myself, I’ll do it!” Bass exclaimed in a very determined way.”

Twilight chuckled softly. “Well, we would like you to stay alive, Bass.” She looked around and found her clock on the wall. “Oh my goodness, is it really past nine already?”

“Oh, so it is,” Rarity said. “I hadn’t realized it had gotten so late. I suppose I should be off. Sweetie Belle should be home by now. If not, she’ll get the punishment of a lifetime.”

“I, um, should be going too,” Fluttershy said softly.

“Well, Twilight, Ah suppose Ah’ll be seein’ y’all around. Good night,” Applejack said.

Pinkie gave some long winded goodbye that Twilight didn’t really catch as she ran out the door, and Rainbow looked at Bass to say, “Hey, sorry you lost, okay, but you still gotta do the battle of the bands!”

“Yes, sir~!” Bass saluted.

“Sir? Why you little…”

“It was a joke. Just go home,” Bass said. Rainbow glared at him for a quick second before smiling and leaving. The only ponies left were Trixie, Twilight, and Bass.

Twilight looked at Trixie. “Where are you staying, Trixie?”

“I, uh, hadn’t thought of that yet. You and Bass kept me so busy today that I forgot to get some lodging,” she replied.

“Oh dear,” Twilight said. “I only have one guest room. The bed is big enough to share though, if you don’t mind sharing with Bass.”

“I’d rather she didn’t,” Bass chimed in.

“Well she can’t sleep on the floor, and I’d hate to force her on the couch.”

“Dibs on the couch,” Bass replied smoothly. “She can have the bed.”

Twilight turned to Trixie, then back to Bass. “I’d hate to put either of you on the couch. Are you sure you can’t share the bed? Or maybe one of you share mine with me?”

“Twilight, how much do you know about men, er, stallions?” Bass asked.

Twilight was confused. What kind of question is that? She thought. “About as much as anypony else. Why?”

“Then you may or may not know that the early morning is kind of awkward for a stallion.”

“What the hay do you mean?”

Trixie went wide eyed and put a hoof on Twilight’s mouth. “Oh, you know, Twilight, I think Bass is right. Neither me or you should share a bed with him,” she said hastily.

“Why? I don’t get it,” Twilight said.

Trixie brought her voice down to a whisper. “What do stallions have that mares don’t?”

Twilight was about to answer when she realized what the answer actually was and blushed. “Oh. OH! Oh, yeah, that is a problem, isn’t it?”

“Glad to see you’ve figured it out,” Bass said. He put a hoof on her head and patted her gently. “Our little Twilight’s finally grown up.”

Still blushing, Twilight retorted with, “Aren’t I older than you, mister Twenty-Years-Old!”

“Oh, you’re twenty? I’m older than you,” Trixie said. “By a year, though.”

“Fascinating,” Bass replied. “Now, off to the bed, Trixie. I’ll keep the couch company.”

Bass slept better that night than he had the last couple of nights before, but there was still room for improvement. One such field of improvement was one that he actually had before last night; a comfortable place to sleep. Were it not for the ponies and their inherit nature to be naked ninety percent of the time he would have gladly shared the bed with Trixie. As such, when he awoke the next morning and stood up every bone in his spine popped loudly. He usually enjoyed the feeling of popping one’s back, but this wasn’t the popping that he felt when he wanted to do it; this was the ‘oh God my back is in agony and exploding and is crying out for help’ kind of experience that he just went through. He moaned and groaned in pain for a short few seconds before his back felt normal again, and then he looked around to see if anypony else was up.

Trixie stood in the entry way to the kitchen with her jaw dropped. “That sounded magnificent!” she exclaimed.

“It felt awful!” Bass retorted. “What are you doing up?” he asked, stifling a yawn.

“I thought I’d cook some breakfast for the ponies who agreed to help me, is all. Also, its part of my self help list; be kind to your hosts and do something for them.” As she spoke she began to make eggs and waffles.

“Why do you have a self help list?”

“Well,” she said. “About a month ago is when everything that was going on in my life hit rock bottom. After deep consideration, I went to a counselor who gave me some advice. I’m here acting on that advice. One such piece of advice was to change the way I talk.”

“You talked differently?” Bass asked.

“I spoke in the third person. It’s a habit I formed as a filly. Old habits die hard, as they say. It still slips out. I also decided, of my own accord I might add, to drop my title. How can I be ‘Great and Powerful’ if I can’t be great and powerful on the stage?”

“There are other ways to be great and powerful, you know.” Bass watched Trixie as she paused in her food preparation to look at him.

“Why do you say such meaningful things constantly? It’s like wisdom just pours out of your mouth.”

Bass chuckled. “I wouldn’t call it ‘wisdom’ per se. I prefer to call it being well read.”

Trixie stuck her tongue out in disgust. “You don’t read as much as Twilight, do you?”

“Thankfully, no; I have other hobbies. But, I digress. That’s not the point. The point is that you can do other things to be ‘great and powerful’. You don’t have to dazzle a crowd with your magic. You could simply do volunteer work for a good cause, listen to somepony when they have a problem, or even just be there. You don’t always have to say or do anything, so long as the other person knows you’re there for them. Just be yourself. Take me for example; I love to write stories. Just a hobby, mind you, but the whole reason behind it is because my sister would write when I was younger and read the stories to me. I loved those stories, and I wanted to make my own. Eventually, I wanted to do the same thing to someone else that my sister did to me; I want to inspire future authors. I don’t want to be famous, or rich, or a best seller; I just want one person to read a book I wrote, bring it to me, and tell me that they were inspired to write their own story because of it.” Bass smiled. “I don’t know if I’ve succeeded, as only a select few have read my work, but I can hope at least.”

“Do you write these speeches beforehoof, or is it all improvised on the spot?”

Bass shrugged. “You may never find out. Now, how about that breakfast, oh Okay and Average Trixie?” Bass stopped and put a hoof on his chin. “That nickname worked better in my head.”
Trixie sighed. Bass really was a hooffull, but he did have a point. She just needed to be herself, which will greatly benefit her future friend making experiences if she can be true to herself. “It should be ready shortly. Should we wake Twilight?”

“Already up,” Twilight said as she walked down the stairs. “Trixie, you shouldn’t be cooking! You’re my guest!”

“Wait!” Bass said. “Don’t argue against it; if someone volunteers to cook, even just once, always let them!”

Twilight stared at Bass. “Why so energetic about it?”

“Because it makes it easier on me,” he said with a smile. Trixie and Twilight glared at him.
“Goodness, girls, take a joke. She said she wanted to thank us, so I say let her.”

Twilight smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Trixie, but you really didn’t have to.”

“Think nothing of it, Twilight,” she replied. “Now here, eat up.” She smiled as she entered with three plates held in her levitation magic. “There’s a fourth one in there if Spike comes down.”

The three ponies at breakfast happily, and Bass felt that he could really get used to living here in Equestria. Still, he wanted to go home, and that was understandable. Twilight cleared her throat to get Bass’s attention, as he had zoned out. “Hm, you say something?”

Twilight smiled. “Would you and Trixie go to the morning market and pick of some groceries? I have a lot of work to do, and I should probably send Princess Celestia a letter updating her about my progress in learning about your world.”

“Which really isn’t a whole lot,” Bass noted. “I’ve been kind of caught up in the affairs of everything, so I guess I forgot to teach you some more.”

“Not at all. The night before Trixie showed up was very educational,” Twilight said happily.

Bass and Trixie stared at her. Trixie turned to Bass, smiling slyly. “You’ve been for a hoofful of days, and you’ve already…”

“Say one more word and I will deck you so hard that you won’t be able to see straight for a week,” Bass said.

“What are you two talking about?” Twilight asked.

“Twilight, word your sentences more carefully, or unintentional innuendos will leak out.”

“Innuendos? What are you talking about? I didn’t…say…oh dear, I did say it like that didn’t I?”

Trixie laughed. “Yes, Twilight. Yes you did.”

Bass only nodded in response as he finished his food. “I think I’ll go for a stroll to help settle my stomach, and go buy your stuff.”

“Remember to take Trixie with you,” Twilight reminded.

Trixie looked somewhat disappointed. “I don’t mean to complain, but couldn’t I just sit here and learn about friendship with you, Twilight?”

Twilight shook her head. “It’ll be good for you and Bass to not only grow as friends yourselves, but also to meet and speak with the other ponies of Ponyville. Besides, its organization day at the library, so as soon as Spike eats and sends a letter to the princess this whole library will be torn to shreds and reorganized.”

Bass nodded. “As I say, the only way to clean is to make a mess. Let’s go, Trix.” He paused. “Perhaps that nickname doesn’t work either. Makes you sound like a bowl of fruity breakfast cereal.”

“How about you just call me Trixie?” Trixie asked as she began to follow Bass.

“Sure, I guess,” he shrugged. The two set out to the morning market, which was at the center of town, after Twilight gave them a bag of bits to make the required purchases. She was actually very careful to calculate the prices for all of the food on the shopping list, and gave Bass and Trixie the exact amount of bits they would need. Whether she didn’t want any unexpected purchases, or if she always did this, Bass didn’t really want to know. He roamed the market looking for the first item on the list; apples.

The very mentioning of the glorious red fruit made his mouth water. He remembered that in his younger days he had braces. The dentist gave him a very strict list of things that he couldn’t have; whole apples was on the list. Now, ordinarily you could say, “Well, just peel the damn things and slice them up,” but Bass didn’t believe in “peeling” apples. There was something satisfying about the crunch you hear when you bite straight into an apple. You either bit into the skin, or you just didn’t eat the apple. While he proved he could eat the other things on the list to a degree, he discovered that it was actually impossible to bite into the apple with braces. So, he lived five long, painful years without that sweet, crunchy fruit. The day he got the braces was glorious. He left school midway through the day to have them removed. Ordinarily he would have returned to school, but when his father picked him up from the dentist he told him, “I’m not going back to school. You’re taking me to the grocery store, buying me a bag of apples, and taking me home.” Amazingly, his father agreed. It was a good day.

And it’s with that same level of love for apples that Bass still carried that he was excited to find the stall that sold that delicious fruit. Wasn’t hard to find, and to his surprise it was the only fruit that the vendor sold. Standing behind the booth was a large red stallion with a green apple for his cutie mark. Bass approached the sizable stallion. “Hello,” he said. He looked at the sign with the price and saw that it was different than what was on his list. “Uh oh. Hey, Trixie, I don’t think we’ll have enough bits for everything. Twilight didn’t give any room for fluctuating prices.”

The stallion arched an eyebrow. “Twilight sent y’all?” he asked in a thick, southern accent.

“Yes,” Bass replied. She wrote down that the price was eight bits per bushel instead of ten.”

“Eeyup,” the stallion said. “Eight bits.”

“Wait,” Trixie said. “You’re giving us the lower price?”

“Eeyup.”

“Might I ask why?”

“She’s Applejack’s friend. Any friend of mah sister’s will get a discount.”

“Applejack’s your sister?” Bass asked. He extended a hoof. “Bass Chord.”

The stallion accepted it and shook. “Big Macintosh. Y’all can call me Big Mac. Applejack says she gave ya a bottle of cider as a thank you for helping Apple Bloom. Ah thank ya for that.”

Bass handed over the eight bits with a slight smile. “Well, I don’t really like it when people get bullied. I know what that’s like, you know? I never liked it.”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac replied as he accepted the bits and exchanged them for apples. “Speaking of which, you might want to look out.” He pointed behind them.

Before them was a pair of mares; one of them was glaring at Trixie. “What the buck is she doing back?” The bright blue one said. She looked somewhat minty and her cutie mark was a lyre; the same mare who didn’t care about Bass’s original species.

“Language, miss. We’re in a public market,” Big Mac chided.

Ignoring Big Mac, she merely continued. “Seriously, didn’t you do enough damage the last time you were here? Enslaving everypony isn’t exactly the thing you want to be known for, and returning to the town of said ponies is dumb.”

The other mare was light brown with a blue and pink mane. Her cutie mark appeared to be three candies. “Lyra, stop. That isn’t very nice.”

“Bon-Bon, she enslaved Ponyville! She exiled Twilight Sparkle, forced everypony to do ridiculous jobs, and locked Mayor Mare in a cage. That isn’t very nice.”

Bass looked at Trixie. She was so dejected that she couldn’t even respond. Bass had a feeling that if she were her old self, she would have taken such insults in stride and dealt with the issue at hand; but that was a completely different Trixie in those days. This one was trying to make things right, and didn’t understand why ponies didn’t want her too. Truthfully, Bass didn’t understand why they fought against her redemption. He returned his gaze, with curiosity, to the minty mare, whose name was apparently Lyra.

“You’re cruel, you don’t care if you hurt somepony, and you only love your own success! Why are you even here!” Lyra exclaimed, now earning the attention of half the market.

Big Mac was about to step in, and Bass saw this. Bass raised a hoof to stop Big Mac and only shook his head. He turned back to Lyra. The best way to retaliate against insults is with better, more meaningful insults. That’s how he felt, at least. “You know, Lyra, you’re absolutely right. I mean, what kind of cruel, enslaving, town destroying monster would even think about returning to the town she once terrorized so she could seek redemption? Who knows, it may be all just a ruse. All the depression, nightmares, and god only knows what other negative, unhappy things that she may or may not be experiencing could all be, in fact, false! Thank you for opening the eyes of myself and the other townsfolk with your bigoted, hateful, and unforgiving viewpoint. You have enlightened me to such extremes, that I may just star claiming that anyone who does something wrong is pure evil. Hell, I may just try to have Big Mac here locked up for treating one person better than another on the grounds of being a mutual acquaintance.” He said all of this with a chipper smile.

“Watch it, freak. You’re not even from here, so it has nothing to do with you.”

“Hello kettle. Name’s pot. Have we met?” She gave him a confused look. “So, you’ve finally come to terms with my origin, have you?” He looked around. “Look to me, everypony. Do I not look like one of you?” Everypony nodded. “For those of you who are not in the know, I am not like any of you. I’m not originally a pony, nor am I from this world.”

Lyra scoffed. “Most of us know. Besides, what even are you? Human?” she asked mockingly.

The name of his species shocked Bass, but he hid it well. “As a matter of fact, yes. I am originally human. And believe me Lyra, the world I come from is much colder, and much darker than this one. And you know what? People have done far worse than what Trixie has done, I’m sure. And most of them have never sought to fix what they have done wrong. For example; has Trixie murdered millions of people simply because she didn’t agree with their religious belief?” Lyra gaped in awe, and shook her head. “What about refused to tip a waiter or waitress because they were of a different ethnicity than she?” Another shake. “How about invade and take over half of a continent simply because she could?” Once more, she shook her head.

Bass smiled. “See, those aren’t just random things I’ve pulled out of a hat. All of those actually happened on my world. Some of the men responsible have been called monsters, and others have been called heroes, but they have all done great evil. Trixie made one mistake, and she is trying to fix it. Won’t you at least let her?”

Lyra just stared in confusion at Bass for a moment. Before she could respond, the dozens of ponies who had all gathered to watch all began to stomp with applause.

Bon-Bon looked at Bass. “I’m sorry for Lyra,” she said.

“Think nothing of it,” Bass said. “We all make mistakes and we all deserve another chance. I won’t deny Lyra the chance to apologize.”

“Are-“ Lyra began. “Are you really human?”

Bass nodded. “I don’t know how you know about my original body, but yes. I was human. I want to return to being human.”

Lyra hang her head. “I-I’m sorry, Trixie.” Bass could see tears running down Lyra’s face. He felt he may have been too strong in his words, but what’s done is done, and it may have been unavoidable.

Trixie walked up and sat down next to Lyra, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “I’ve heard worse. You’re not the first person to say such things, and I’m sure you won’t be the last. But, even with your apology, its not something to cry about.” Trixie’s eyes began to water. “After all, I’m the one that’s been crying. I don’t want anypony else to cry.” Lyra looked up and smiled at Trixie, who returned the smile. “What was your name again?”

“Lyra,” she replied. “Lyra Heartstrings.”

“Lyra, perhaps we could be friends?” Trixie asked.

“You know, for once, I think I’d like that.”

Bass smiled a smile he hadn’t smiled since he learned his sister was having a baby. Pure joy emanated from Bass. “Now then,” he said to himself. “Let’s finish shopping.”

Author's Note

Oh. My. God! I'm finally done with this chapter! I would have finished AGES ago, but as I'm sure I've stated earlier, I put my original stories first. See, a week ago I tried to finish this, only to finally figure out how get a character in my fantasy to get pissed and lose his shit. Then, a few days ago, I tried again, only to figure out a f**king origin story to my fantasy (how the universe came to be and all that jazz) and have been organizing my thoughts on that subject for a while. Then, earlier today, I tried again, only to come up with an idea for my Dungeons and Dragons campaign (which i'm building for my friend in the army who's coming home for Christmas.)

So, yeah, it's finally done. And for those of you who have never worn braces, the part about the apple is completely true. For those of you who do or have worn braces...I HAVE FELT YOUR PAIN! (Going on 2 years since my braces were taken off.)

I would love to write some more to this, but I actually have no immediate ideas. I have some long term ideas, like the battle of the bands, but so far this going day by day, and the music festival is a month away. I'd like to come up with some stuff before Christmas, but I am also open to suggestions. Till next time!