Chapters The rain pit pattered on the ground forming puddles in the streets and back alleys of Ponyville. An Owl hooted from his perch on a roof. A puddle splashed and rippled as a bedraggled blue unicorn trudged through the town. She stopped at the next puddle, staring back at her reflection, wistfully thinking about what her life had been. Before this, she had been The Great and Powerful Trixie, a showpony who was just out for a few bits. But it had fallen apart when she arrived in Ponyville, when she had met that Violet Unicorn Twilight, trolled her friends and lied about her abilities. When those imbeciles Snips and Snails had brought an Ursa MINOR into Ponyville for her to prove that, it had fallen apart when she was caught out by Twilight.
Trixie then remembered what had happened in the months afterwards. She'd moved from place to place until she'd got a job on a rock farm for minimum wage. When she was fired, she went to a dealer and found the Alicorn Amulet, the most powerful magic aid in all of Equestria. Then, she went to get revenge. With the Amulet she had been unstoppable, until yet again, she met that puny unicorn and lost- AGAIN!!! How could she, The Great and Powerful Trixie, armed with that Amulet have lost to her?
And now- she was nothing more than a useless showpony with cancer who only had a year to live and that nopony gave two fucks about.
She carried on walking- it didn't matter where anymore providing it was somewhere warm and away from all the suffering her life and thrown her way and how life had not given her a single rest bite. Her foster parents were dead- and so were her genealogical parents. Life hated her through and through and that was that. She didn't really care anymore, her life was worthless and it would free of pain and suffering VERY soon. Now all that was left was to pick up the pieces and start afresh- if only.
Suddenly, a house appeared on the horizon, an Oak tree with a red door with a candle painted on. Trixie made a bolt for the house and scrambled up onto the step. She laid down on the step, pulling her cloak over to keep out the worst of the cold and rain. She been crying a lot recently, so she cried some more. She ended up crying herself to sleep in the cold and dark on some raindom doorstep.
Meanwhile, inside, Twilight was sound asleep blatantly unaware of the unicorn on her doorstep. It was strange though, in her dreams, she kept seeing something, something that shook her to the core. In her dreams, a single blue pony was lying on her doorstep crying her eyes out. twilight ignored all her dreams and just nodded off back into her deep deep slumber.
By morning, the rain had stopped and the puddles from the previous night were drying up. Twilight lept out of bed and ran straight into the shower before walking downstairs.
"HMM... you know what? I fancy breakfast over at Sugarcube Corner today." (NO I DON'T KNOW WHY EITHER!!!) Twilight thought. "It would make a nice change." She thought as she grabbed a scarf and trotted over to the door. Using her magic grip, the door swung open. Twilight stopped and gasped at the sight before her. Lying on the step wearing nothing more than a starry cloak, her former adversary lay looking up at her, dripping wet through and through.
"Hey...Twilight..." Trixie managed to say weakly before falling back asleep again.
"Looks like breakfast will have to wait..." Twilight muttered as she dragged Trixie in through the door.
"Life is full of surprises. They occur everyday, its just that we prefer to ignore them. They never fail to sadden us, make us feel alive or shock us. Either way, they are always there and we get them everyday, its just that we prefer to ignore them. Remember that and you won't go far wrong..." Twilight mulled over that thought. She remembered her brother telling her that when she just before she left for Ponyville. She had always cherished those words of wisdom, and today was one of those days- a day when she had found a surprise. I mean, its not every day that you find your former adversary on your doorstep who only has a year to live.
After eventually finding a spare bed somewhere in the tree, Twilight had managed to gently lay Trixie down on the bed and get a proper look at her nemesis sinvce they had last met.
The first thing that Twilight had noticed about Trixie was her eyes. The normally bright and energetic violet eyes had lost their life and remained as blank as the flank of a filly without a Cutie Mark. Then, she noticed her body. Her once full and healthy torso was now skinny and bare to the point were the ribs were showing while her face looked different. It had lost its brash, outlasting nature and had become more blank and desolate while a pair of black rings had formed under her eyes from the lack of sleep. Twilight couldn't help but think back about her eyes again. They almost seemed to have the expression of someone who had seen the worst the world had on offer.
Twilight left the room and continued down the corridor towards the window. By it stood a solid oak table with some quills and paper on. Owlowiscious, suddenly interested, flew down from his perch with a soft,
"Hoo?" and landed on the corner of the desk, his eyes never wavering from his mistress.
"It fine Owlowiscious. Just a late night letter to the princess. Nothing more, nothing less." Twilight replied as she stared out the windows at the stars. From here she could see all the constellations. Orion, Aquila, Scorpio, Leo, Draco, Crux, Hydrus and Cancer. She mulled over the last one, Cancer. She considered the situation she was in and now how she could see it in the sky and began to wonder whether it was some kind of sign, a sign of the weeks ahead. But then she came back to reality and focused on the task in hand.
"Dear Princess Celestia.
I guess its not every day that you find your former nemesis on your doorstep who only has a year to live. I guess these things have a way of going full circle. HMM... I should stop rambling on. Anyway, the point is, I don't know what to do. Its not like I was expecting this or anything and I'm still trying to process whats happened. All I want to know is, what do I do? I've already taken her in and I guess I can use the magic of friendship to help get our relationship back on track. I mean, she is my cousin after all, and things haven't exactly been going according to plan in terms of family love have they?"
She stopped writing for a moment and paused to think about the time they had had together. Twilight had managed to land herself with Celestia while Trixie had ended up down and out with no money and no hope. "If only it hadn't gone so badly wrong..." she wondered before going back to the letter.
"... I don't want to say this to her face but... I missed her so much. I mean, we were so close as filly's and then the gulf between us got bigger and bigger until we became rivals. I never wanted any of this. I didn't ask for it either... but thats life isn't it? It has a tendency to throw surprises at you when you least expect them.
Anway, I hope this reaches you in dear time.
Your Faithful student
Twilight Sparkle"
"Is it?" Trixie asked with fear rising in her voice.
"Yes..." the doctor in a white labjacket replied, "...I'm so sorry." he continued. He then proceeded to go into detail over extensive chemotherapy treatment.
"Cut out the crap. How long have I got left?" Trixie asked holding back her tears.
"HMM... considering the spread of the cancer along with its strength, I'd say a year tops. However, extensive chemotherapy would extend that to a year and a half." he replied.
"Thanks doctor..." the blue unicorn managed to reply with as she bolted out the door.
"Why do I have to be the bringer of bad news?" The doctor wondered as he waited for his next patient.
Trixie waited until she was out of sight before she went to the place. A place dear to her. She sat down at the rivers bend, wistfully staring into the distance. A Kingfisher took off from her perch and flew upstream while an otter crossed ahead. Finally, Trixie really let go. Sobbing uncontrollably, she thought back to what the doctor had said,
"Year tops...extensive chemotherapy...no cure... so sorry...".
All these thoughts were flying through her mind as she sobbed away her sorrows. A year to live- what to do in that time? So much, so little time. But why her? Why not anyone else? Trixie got up and walked away, the mornful sound of hooves clipping and clopping away rang throughout the valley.
She walked on up the hill until she saw the place- the place where she could talk to those she loved the most.
"Ponyville Cemetry." the sign read as Trixie walked through the gates and towards the back of the cemetry.
She continued walking to the back of until she saw what she was looking for, a single headstone stood there.
"Here lies Thunder Lulamoon 1974-2001 and his loving wife Lara 1975-2001. May they both be seated at Luna's right hand." read the gravestone. trixie mulled over those words in her head. Another wave of tears was coming to the surface as she remembered what had happened to them. Her mother Lara had died in foalbirth and her father Thunder had committed suicide shortly after.
"Mum, dad..." she began holding back the tears while she remembered their tragic demise. , "...If your listening, I'll be joining you soon but in the mean time, I need to know, theres so many things I need to do, but theres so little time. So, Mum,Dad, if your listening, what do I do? I'll join you soon but I just need to know this before I pass." Trixie continued. She began sobbing again as she left the cemetry, trying to work out what to do. There was just 365 days to go- and thousands of things to do
Twilight dragged Trixie through the door with her telekinetic grip and laid her down on a sofa while she went off to find what she need.
"Hmm... Parasprite...Element of Harmony... video recording of awkward moment when I began being seductive towards Doctor Whooves- WAIT...WHAT(?!?)...AHA!!!" Twilight clapped her hooves together triumphantly as she found what she was looking for, two enamel cups, each beautifully and intricately decorated with swirling patterns. Twilight grabbed them both and walked off.
Trixie was still asleep when Twilight walked in. Twilight could sense something was up but decided not to say anything. After all, she had only just found Trixie on her doorstep and it would be better not to intrude.
It took some time before Trixie woke back up. And when she did, Twilight was standing over her like a doctor deciding cause of death.
"What are you doing?" Trixie asked.
"Seeing whats wrong." Twilight replied as the glow around her horn stopped. "So, Trixie Lulamoon- what are you doing here? And by the way, don't say that you want a change of scenery because I know thats not the reason."
How was Trixie going to bluff out of this one?,"Oh...buck it! Its worth a try..." Trixie thought and so began the game of... lets-see-how-long-I-can-bluff-for-before-I-get-caught. Needless to say, it wasn't that long.
"Aww...FINE!!! Trixie will tell you!!!" Trixie finally gave in. "I...I.." It was hard to get the words out as she choked back tears. Finally, she just let go, "Trixie only has a year to live- YOU HAPPY NOW?!?" came the reply between sobs from Trixie. And so, Trixie poured out her sad story. It took a long time before she got to the end. She looked over at Twilight. Twilights mouth was on the floor. Twilight got down and walked over. What happened next was the last thing that Trixie expected.
Twilight grabbed Trixie and pulled her in for a close embrace, holding her gently in her arms like she was comforting a filly.
"Trixie, I'm sorry. I know that doesn't make up for anything... but I'm here okay? I always will be... in fact- you can stay with me."
Trixie looked up then. ,"You mean that?" Trixie asked.
"Why wouldn't I?" Came the reply.
And so our tale continues...
