Hearth's Warming on the Rock Farm, with Trixie Lulamoon

Chapters

Chapter One: On the Road Again
Chapter Two: TLC
Chapter Three: Old Friends
Chapter Four: Apples and Pies
Chapter Five: Exhaustion
Chapter Six: Hearth's Warming Day

Chapter One: On the Road Again

Hearth's Warming on the Rock Farm, With Trixie Lulamoon

Chapter One: On the Road Again

Written by TheCrimsonDm

I stood inside yet another small office; the stallion sitting behind the desk was a plump little guy with a giant hat on top of his head. There was no way for to relax while he stared at me with judgmental eyes. I’d done this song and dance before, so many times, and I already knew how this was going to play out. That didn’t stop me from hoping though.

“I’m sorry miss, Lulamoon. It’s just that I’ve heard about your… past performances, and I cannot allow my stage to fall to such antics. So I’m going to have to turn your application down,,” He said in a calm and steady voice.

Inside I was screaming, rage and pain all swirling about from yet another rejection. What I wanted to say was, you don’t deserve a magician such as myself.

What I actually said was, “Okay.”

“You can leave now. I hope you have a nice Hearth's Warming,” He said, although I seriously doubt he cared.

“You too,” I replied as I left the small office.

The walk out of the building, even if it was only a few yards away from the door, was a long one. By the time I had reached the door, the hot anger running through me was already losing foul only to be replaced by an empty pain. I didn’t know what I expected to happen in there, I guess I had hoped that somepony would take… pity on me, considering the time of year. As it stood it was already looking like another lonely Hearth's Warming for me.

Without anything else to do, I decided to go back to the hotel.

I couldn’t help but to be thankful for the fact that the hotel was only a few blocks away. So I walked up to my room and pulled out my key with a little magic. I floated it up the lock and tried it. The lock didn’t turn. Anger flashed through me as I fiddled with the key and lock for a few seconds before giving up.

I marched downstairs and into the lobby where the manager sat behind the desk. She was kinda cute with green fur and orange freckles, but she barely even looked at me from behind her newspaper. Clearly she did not care for me.

“Why is the door locked?” I asked. “My key isn’t working.”

“I changed the locks this morning while you were gone. You’re money only paid for twenty eight days,” She said.

“You said that I would have this room for a full month! I have two more days left,” Trixie demanded.

“I said that I only rent by the week, and that four weeks was almost a month,” She said.

I stomped my hoof. “This isn’t fair!”

“Life isn’t fair. You didn’t even get that job did you?” She asked.

I looked away. “What business is that of yours?”

“That’s what I thought. Look I can’t have deadbeats lying around the place,” She said.

“But… it’s almost Hearth's Warming; you can’t kick me out yet. Have some holiday spirit,” I pleaded.

“It’s really simple. You either pay up, or get out,” She said coldly.

This continued for a few minutes until she threatened to call the cops. I didn’t want that on my plate too, so I just turned and left. It was cold out here.

I had a little bit of change left, but it wasn’t nearly enough for even a single night at the hotel. Chances were if I started looking now I could find a warm enough alley to sleep in, but that wasn’t going to help me in the long run. That’s when I remembered the letter I had sent out just in case this avenue failed me too. My last ditch effort to keep myself from going back on the streets.

All I needed to do was to check my mail, and if I was extremely lucky. Everything would go well. Though working the farm a second time was… not ideal. In fact I hadn’t even tried to talk to them after the crap I pulled in Ponyville. It had been a long couple of years, drifting from town to town, and with many unpleasant jobs.

I could only hope that this would work out. The Great and Powerful Trixie couldn’t become a vagabond, I couldn’t become that.

My personal mailbox was located at the post office considering the fact that I hadn’t had an actual home or apartment in quite some time. So that’s where I walked too, trying to not to slip and fall on the ice and doing my best to avoid the thick piles of snow. With the cold winter all around me, I was more thankful than ever for my pink sweater. At least somepony had been kind enough to give this to me, though I’d rather have a stable income.

The post office stood as a quiet landmark, only a few ponies were actually inside and only one mare was working the front desk. I had to admit she was somehow skinnier than me, and sort of lanky, but she smelled like dandelions, so apparently she was doing well off. Perfume was a luxury I missed.

“Excuse me,” I said as politely as I could.

“What can I do to help you today,” She said in a flat tone. I couldn’t help but to notice the bags underneath her eyes.

“I’d like to know if any mail came in for me,” I said as I slid the key out from my sweater pocket and set it down on the table for her. She gave me a tired look and took the key. “It’s box number 32.”

The mare turned around and walked to the lock boxes in the back. I looked around. At first I had been a bit confused by the way they kept all the mailboxes in the back and out of public reach. Then I heard about how many times ponies had broken into the lockers and boxes in the past, so it only made sense.

The mare came back with only a single letter. I took both the letter and the key back. After thanking her I found myself a seat on one of the benches and took a closer inspection at the letter. It was gray, of course it was gray, and the writing was in black print, very neat looking. I opened it.

“Dear Trixie Lulamoon.

I am agrived to hear that ye have suffered so. if thou dost wish to return and join us for the Hearth’s Warming, we would be exceedingly glad to have you! We may further discuss these matters upon your arrival; however know that thou art always welcome among us. For thou were not hired merely to render aid upon our far, but because thou hast a good heart, and thine few errors are easily overlooked and forgiven. Please return to us.

Sincerely Cloudy Quartz.”

Cloudy had always been very nice to me, nicer than I really deserved. Sadly I knew what I did to one of their children, and even worse I knew that they knew it. It was a little surprising to think that they might not hate me for what happened.

I let out a sigh. “Well, guess I’m going back to the rock farm…” I caught myself smiling a little. It couldn’t be so bad. I mean they were very understanding in the past after all.

That was it. I stood up, put the letter into my pocket and was about to make my way to the train station when I realized that I was broke. This was a problem. There was one way I could get some money, but I was a little hesitant. Surely I was past this, I had done so much to improve myself, I didn’t need to do this anymore…

***

The street I stood on was busy enough, but at the same time it wasn’t too busy to worry about getting in trouble. With a cardboard box, three white paper cups and a single rock, all scavenged from the trash, I opened up shop. It didn’t take long before I began pulling in the curious, the greedy, and the stupid.

“Do you have what it takes? The perception and the skill to challenge my game of cups,” I said enthusiastically. A mare with a red fur coat and dark blue mane walked up, a challenging look in her eyes. I pointed a hoof at her. “Are you going to be the first challenger my fine lady?”

“I’ll play your game,” She said.

“That’ll be five bits,” I said.

She slid the money over without any trouble.

I slipped the rock underneath one of the cups, and using my magic, I grabbed slid the cups around in my telekinesis. The mare watched carefully, but her focus was going to be her downfall. When I stopped I gave her a friendly look. “You get one chance. So pick wisely my dear.”

She chose the middle one, and I lifted up the cup. There was nothing beneath it. “Oh I’m so sorry, it looks like you lost. Don’t fret though, you can always try again.”

“Hmm,” She said. “Alright.”

The second time I let her win, the crowd all looked more hopeful after that. On went the game, with me losing every third or fourth time on purpose as to make the crowd all assume that the game was indeed fair. After a half hour of this I had nearly fifty bits in my wallet. That was enough for a train ticket. Not enough for food though.

“I’ll give it a shot,” Said a yellow pegasus with a bright orange mane. Her mane was styled after an open flame, it was hard not to be impressed by it.

“Alright, miss,” I said.

The cups went around, but she wasn’t staring at the cups, she was staring at me. When they finally stopped, she pointed at the middle one. Her eyes didn’t leave me, even for a second. I didn’t like this. I lifted up the cup, and as luck would have it, it was empty.

I opened my mouth ready to speak, but she quickly picked up the other two cups. The small crowd gasped as they saw the empty and bare table. No rock in sight. Fear ran the length of my spine and the mare simply smiled.

“I’ve been watching this for awhile now. I’ve had plenty of time to see the trick behind your game. Sliding the rock off the table while it you shuffled the cups around. I’m surprised that ponies still fall for these kinds of games,” She said. “Before I take you in, allow me to ask you one question, do you have any idea who I am?”

I shook my head.

“I’m Spitfire, the leader of the Wonderbolts,” She said pridefully.

With my magician’s hat on, Spitfire had no way of knowing that my horn had a soft purple aura around it, worse yet, that the snow on the rooftops above was all moving toward the edge. I took a few steps back into the alley, and the mare took a few steps forward.

“Spitfire?” I asked nervously. “What did I do so wrong? I let the ponies here win a few games. Isn’t that good enough?”

“You were cheating illegally. That’s wrong and you-“ she began saying.

I didn’t let her finish as a ton of snow fell off of the rooftop, and all piled down upon her. Without any hesitation I turned and fled. It would take a few moments for the pegasus to unbury herself from the snow and if I was lucky her wings would be too cold to properly work. Thankfully, I managed to get out into a crowd where I slipped off my hat and held it low to the ground.

Somehow I managed to escape that one, I guess the fates were still looking out for me. I wouldn’t be wasting any more time here though. I made my way to the train station, to freedom.

Once I arrived at the train station, I paid for my ticket and had saved just enough to buy some food for the trip. It was going to take a while, but at least I could safely say that I was on my way. I laid down on the nearly empty cabin and since there were no pillows in here I improvised with my sweater. Only after I became comfortable did the train begin to move.

“It’s going to get better, Trixie. It’s going to get better,” I promised myself. I didn’t believe myself for a second.

Chapter Two: TLC

Trixie’s Hearth Warming Story

Chapter Two: TLC

Written by TheCrimsonDM

The stars remained stationary in their fixed position in the dark sky as the landscape rolled by. I couldn’t help but to watch the scenery pass outside. I had tried to sleep, but found it simply impossible. the other three ponies sitting in the car with me were sleeping quite soundly. I envied them.

I can’t believe that I’m going back there now. After what I did to Pinkie Pie while I was wearing the Alicorn Amulet, I should never even bother this family again. What kind of horrible pony must I be to continue asking for help from them?

I couldn’t stop thinking. I wanted too, I swear, but sleep just wouldn’t come to me. It was like I was being tortured for my past sins, for my failures, and maybe for my very existence. Once upon a time I could remember the smiles that ponies would have during my shows. The fact that I could make so many ponies so happy was… wonderful. That was the past though, because while I rode that train, all I could think of was all the sorrow I had brought to the world and all the problems caused by me. If only I had been a better pony…

When I finally got to sleep, I didn’t dream. There was nothing but bitter cold blackness surrounding me. Even if I had been able to dream it would certainly have been a nightmare, or even worse a memory of something good.

Sometime around noon the next day, the train stopped and I got out onto a small loading platform. I was the only one getting off at this stop, and as I took a look at the shabby village and flat barren landscape. I could understand why nopony would want to come here. In fact the only reason that I was even here was because of how desperate I was.

I refused to spend another Hearth’s Warming on the streets.

The small village was not my destination. There was actually a rather large rock farm just a couple of miles out where the Pie family did their work. Hard and physically exhausting as it may be, it was still work none the less. That was my destination.

Through thick snow covered roads I made my way towards the farm. On several occasions I nearly tripped over rocks hidden underneath the snow. Finally I reached the two story house that served as one of the only buildings on the entire farm. Just outside stood a large egg shaped rock. Holder’s Boulder it was called, and if I remembered one thing about it, I remembered never to touch it.

I avoided the rock and went straight to the door. I lifted her hoof, and stopped. It occurred to me that I could turn around and leave. I could run away, and never have to face the family I had hurt. It would’ve been so much easier.

I’m not sure how long I stood there with my hoof frozen in the air, staring at the door. Despite the cold, I was sweating. There was no way that I could push myself to knock on the door. This place was happy, it was loving and warm. It was something that I didn’t deserve. Since I was unable to actually knock on the door, I lowered my hoof and my head.

“Trixie!” a rough voice called out from behind me. I spun around to face it and found three ponies staring at me. Limestone, the one who had said my name, stood in between her parents, Cloudy Quartz and Igneous Rock.

I gulped. Guess there’s no running away now.

“Trixie, could thou lend us a helping hoof?” Cloudy Quartz asked in a kind voice.

They were each carrying saddlebags packed with various foods and a few other items. I wasted no time in lifting some of the bags off of their backs with my telekinesis. Cloudy smiled at me and nodded for me to follow her inside. I did just that.

“Why were you just standing there? Did Marble not answer the door?” Limestone asked.

“I, um,” I replied.

“Actually shouldn’t Maud have answered instead?” Limestone asked. “She didn’t leave Marble all alone did she? I am going to be so pissed if she left!”

That was a bit surprising to hear, but I should have expected it. “Maud’s here?”

“Yeah, it’s almost Hearth’s Warming. You missed out on the last couple of celebrations. Las year was psychotic. We went to our cousin’s farm, and did things their way. It was weird. Their coming back this year too,” Limestone said. “At least you’re here this time, what did you just forget that we exist?”

“I… did you actually want me here?” I asked, a little taken back by the implication in her words.

“Well duh! You lived on our farm for a year, you’re practically family,” Limestone said. She looked thoughtful for a moment, and then smiled. “Scratch that. From here on out; your family. No arguing you got that, Trix?”

I nodded. I knew better than to argue with Limestone over anything. I couldn’t help but to smile.

Just inside I followed Cloudy into the kitchen, there was no sign of either Maud or Marble. Limestone dropped her saddlebags inside the kitchen and trotted out saying, “I’m going to find Maud and make sure that she didn’t ditch.”

Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz both began putting food away, while I set the bags down carefully next to the others. It felt awkward being back here, and without anypony mentioning what happened right away either. I felt so out of place.

“Doth thou plan to stay long?” Igneous asked his tone flat and impossible to decipher his emotions from.

“Didn’t Cloudy tell you what I was here for?” I asked.

Cloudy Quartz looked back at me. “I thought it might be best if thou were to ask in person.”

I didn’t like that, I just wanted everything to be done and said already. Having to admit my failures myself… I really didn’t like the idea. I sucked it up and tried to relax. “I would like to return to working on the farm… if you would have me.”

“What happened to thou,” He asked. “Where is thy old accent?”

I hate to admit it, but it took me a moment longer than it should have to understand what he was talking about. Last time I was here, I was still talking in third person, but that was long ago back when I was still… me. Honestly I didn’t know what to tell him, or even how. If Cloudy didn’t relate my letter to him at all, than that means he didn’t know what I had been through. How much could I actually say, when it took me so long to simply write it down.

“I’ve been through… a lot. The old accent is gone now, it doesn’t really have a place in my life anymore…” I explained.

“Last time thou worked for me, thou ran off without warning,” he said.

“I didn’t mean too. I was planning on coming ho- I mean I was planning on coming back here. It’s just that…” I tried to think of how to explain it, how to talk about what happened to me, about what I did without breaking down. Just talking about it was like hammering at a brick wall with my bare hooves.

“It’s okay, Trixie. Take thy time, we art patient,” Cloudy said kindly.

I nodded and sniffed. My eyes were beginning to burn but I refused to cry. “I saved up a lot of money while working here, and…” I knew that I couldn’t lie to them; I would have to tell them the truth, tell them just how much of a failure I really was. “I just wanted to be special. I bought something that should have made me good at magic, and with it I was going to come back here and be able to actually help out on the farm. I know how weak I am, but I wanted to get stronger so I could help you.”

I sniffled. “It’s not fair. I just put it on and suddenly it was like, like I changed. My goals changed, and I got lost. Whenever I try to remember everything that happened it’s all covered in a fog, I can’t remember it very well. All I really remember is how I went to Ponyville, and how I…” I closed my eyes, and felt the wet drops run down the sides of my face. “I did something really bad. I’m so sorry.”

“Doth thou remember what it was?” Cloudy asked.

“Bits and pieces,” I said. I sniffed. “I hurt ponies. I know that, and I… I hurt Pinkie Pie. I know that I’ll never be forgiven for that, I know. I’ve tried to stay away from you for so long, because I know how horrible of a pony I am. I’m sorry that I have to come here and bother you like this, I… I’m so sorry.”

Two warm legs wrapped around my neck and pulled my head forward into a soft and warm embrace. Cloudy held me tightly. “Shhh, it is alright. Pinkie Pie has already explained the event to us. We know how that terrible old amulet was evil, and how it had corrupted you. We forgave you a long time ago, Trixie. I just wish thou would have come home sooner.”

Maybe it was because she was holding me and treating me kindly when I knew that I didn’t deserve it, or maybe it was because I my emotional walls had finally taken enough, but either way I broke down.

I opened up the flood gates, and I sobbed into her chest as she held me. I broke down so completely that I wasn’t sure there was even anything left when I was done. She took it though, Cloudy Quartz took all the pain, all the suffering and injustices done to me, and she gave me something in return.

She gave me love.

Chapter Three: Old Friends

Hearth’s Warming on the Rock Farm, with Trixie Lulamoon

Chapter Three: Old Friends

Written by TheCrimsonDM

After the tears had been wiped away, and I was left feeling a lot better, Igneous told me that I could stay and after the holiday was over that I could get back to work. Until then he just wanted me to enjoy my time here and readjust to the house. Sitting in the living room I waited patiently for Marble and Maud to show up. It hadn’t really occurred to me just how much you could get to know somepony, or someplace in a year’s time. Almost nothing had changed here.

As luck would have it, Limestone walked in with both Maud and Marble in tow. Limestone was looking as grumpy as ever.

“I can’t believe you two. Trixie was standing out here in the cold for who knows how long,” She stopped looked over at me, and pointed a hoof. “Just look at her, she only has that pink sweater to keep herself warm, no shoes, no socks. I bet she was freezing out there. She didn’t even have any bags or personal belongings.”

“I have my hat,” I added.

“And that keeps you warm how?” She replied.

I looked away, defeated.

“She that! Did you see it? She can’t even retort now. You two are going to have to step up to the plate and take care of her, and if I see any slacking off from either of you two I will personally punish you,” Limestone demanded.

I wasn’t feeling up for any confrontation after my break down. I guessed that Limestone had seen how weak I was, and felt bad for me. Even with that said, I was not some foal in need of coddling.

“Limestone, I can take care of myself,” I said.

She ignored me. “We have our cousins coming over as well, and Pinkie Pie. Make sure that there are no problems. Got it?”

The two nodded.

“Limestone!” I said a little louder. She looked at me. “I know that I… had a moment back in the kitchen. I also know it’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, but I’m an adult, I don’t need to be protected or taken care of. It’s nice that you care, but can’t we just… I don’t know. Treat each other more equally or something?”

“Equal?” Limestone asked, her tone confused. “Trixie, just… be quiet and let us take care of you. We’re equal enough already, but don’t you dare try and get out of this.”

“I’m not getting out of anything. I just don’t want to be treated like a foal,” I defended.

Limestone narrowed her eyes for a moment, and then she began to smile. “You, you’re arguing back. Okay, fine have it your way. If you can defend yourself then you’re obviously well enough to not need us. Maud, Marble, just make sure nothing bad happens, it looks like she doesn’t need us to take care of her.”

They both nodded.

I went back to staring at the fireplace. The orange flames flickered and the warmth coming off of it was a nice change of pace from the cold outside. Though Limestone’s words left me feeling a little worse off. I hit me, the fact that I had honestly come here with everything that I own; a pink sweater and my magician’s hat. I even lost my cape somewhere. I really was at the bottom of the barrel again.

“The fire’s warm,” Maud said as she sat by me. Marble joined on the other side and offered a kind but nervous smile.

“Hi,” I replied lamely. “So, um, how’s the farm been?”

“Quiet, lonely,” Maud said.

Marble nodded. “Mmhmm.”

“It was always quiet, I’m sorry to hear that it’s been lonely though,” I said.

“It’s not quiet when you’re here, or when Pinkie’s here,” Maud said.

“I guess that’s true… I never got to meet Pinkie on friendly terms,” I told her.

“She makes things fun,” Maud said.

“That’s nice.”

“You were better at it though,” Maud stated.

I looked at her, I honestly didn’t know how she could look at me and still say things like that. “That’s not true.”

“S-s-stories,” Marble said in whisper.

I looked at her, my eyes slowly widened. She only spoke when things were really important, and even then she almost never finished the word she was trying to say. To hear her saying that made me seriously consider what they were saying. Could it be that they really liked my stories?

“And magic tricks,” Maud said.

Now it was her turn to get an odd stare from me. These two couldn’t be telling the truth, my stories were nothing more than blatant lies and my magic was pitiful at best. They had to be lying to me in an attempt to make me happy, but I knew them. I knew they weren’t lying.

“You really mean it don’t you? You actually liked my horrible stories and my worthless magic tricks?” I asked.

“You’re stories are full of fun and adventure. We know that they aren’t real, but that’s why they’re called stories,” Maud explained. “And your magic tricks made me happy.”

“That… that was a mouthful,” I said. “Thanks, Maud. I’m glad you liked them so much, though I can’t see myself doing either of those things again.”

“Why?” Maud asked.

I looked into the fire. Why can’t I do it? I know that I’ll never be allowed on stage again, but why couldn’t I just tell stories to these two. Is there really any harm in that?

“Did I ever tell you about the time I defeated the serpent of Horseshoe Bay?” I asked, I couldn’t help the shaky tone in my voice. I was terrified they would suddenly reject me.

“Can you do the voice?” Maud asked.

I stared at her for a long moment. She was really pushing me to tell a good old fashioned type of story wasn’t she? Well… after what I had done to them, who was I to refuse their request.

“Once upon a time, Trixie was out on sea. She was a captain of a very powerful ship called the S.S.Starswirl. Rumors had spread far and wide about an evil serpent rising from the sea and dragging unsuspecting ponies down below. This was going to end if Trixie had anything to say about it,” I began. Much to my surprise the two were paying attention, Marble was wearing a small smile, and Maud was staring at me with a completely flat expression. I never did learn how to properly gauge whether she was happy or not, but I hoped that she was as I continued my tale.

By the time that I was finished regaling them with my story, Limestone had joined us with four cups of hot cocoa. I drank slowly from mine, still marveling at the rocks floating in it. The first time I saw how they used rocks in both cooking and drinks, I was disgusted and confused, but after awhile they sort of grew on me. Well except for the rock in rock soup, the soup was fine, the rock… ew.

“That was a nice story, I especially like the part with the harpoon,” Limestone said. She took a drink from her cup. “What did you think, Maud, Marble?”

“There were rocks on the bay,” Maud said. “And Trixie didn’t crash into them.”

I couldn’t help but to giggle a little at her response. Maud was always so predictable, and I could tell that just hearing the mention of treacherous rocks had her excited.

Marble made some kind of noise, one that Limestone interpreted with a roll of her eyes and by saying, “Of course you liked the happy ending. You always like it when the ponies get saved.”

“Hey, Trixie,” Limestone said. “Where do you want to sleep tonight?”

“Wherever you guys can fit me is fine,” I said.

“That’s not good enough. Tell you what; Pinkie Pie isn’t going to be here until tomorrow anyway. You can sleep in our room on the Pinkie’s bunk. Tomorrow we’ll figure out what to do, since our cousins are going to take over that room,” Limestone said.

I was feeling distracted at the mention of Pinkie Pie. It was hard to pretend like I never did anything bad to her, in fact I don’t even recall apologizing to her, or even trying to. I let out a sigh.

“Hey! Stop that,” Limestone demanded. “No depressed or sad ponies allowed. You are going to cheer up right now!”

I looked away. “Alright.”

“Darn it!” Limestone cursed to herself. “That didn’t work. Why doesn’t yelling at sad ponies ever work? Fine we’ll try mom’s method. What’s wrong?”

I looked at her, and then at Maud, and Marble. I settled on looking at the floor. “You three know what I did to Pinkie Pie right?”

“Yeah,” Limestone said, her voice trailed off a little.

Marble nodded.

“Yes,” Maud said flatly.

“How come you three are still talking to me? How come you don’t… I mean… do you hate me?” I asked, my hooves were trembling, and my heart was pounding. I really didn’t want to hear their answer, but I needed to know why they were still here.

“Uh, because you’re our friend. I mean seriously, you lived with us for a year, told all these amazing stories, and even did some magic tricks. You can’t expect us to not like you anymore just because some dumb old amulet made you into an evil psychopath. We know who you really are, and that amulet was not you, you’re actually kinda weak and sad, but you know what, we’re here for you. So you don’t have to weak and sad all by yourself, we’ll join you,” Limestone explained.

Maud gave her older sister a frown. “She was not a psychopath.”

“Oh yes she was, but that wasn’t her fault. I mean I can understand why she did some of those things. Ponies just don’t listen unless you start yelling and failing that, start breaking things. They’ll listen after that,” Limestone said.

I was emotionally exhausted, and hearing Limestone call me a psychopath was not helping. It was sweet that Maud stood up for me, but Limestone was correct. I had been a psychopath. I stood up and walked toward the stairs. “Pinkie’s old bed right?”

Limestone looked up at me, but I didn’t meet her eyes. “Yeah, just like the old days.”

“Good,” I replied as I made my way to the bedroom.

“Is she going to sleep?” Maud asked.

“We need to do something to help her,” Limestone said.

Just at the top of the stairs, and almost out of earshot I heard Marble say, “C-can’t we hug it b-better?”

“That’s not going to work. If you two read that letter she sent to mom, you’d know that she needs a lot more than just a hug or two,” Limestone said. “Pinkie will know what to do. She’s better at this emotional crud than I am. She could befriend a dragon.”

“His name is Spike,” Maud added.

I had to stifle a small laugh. Anyone could make friends with Spike, you just need to tell him he’s smart and brave. He’ll fall all over you.

The bedroom was dark, cold and silent. I found Pinkie’s old bed easily enough, climbed in and closed my eyes. It really didn’t take long before I began drifting off to sleep. Of course I still didn’t feel very good. Limestone’s remark about me being a psychopath hurt.

As I lay on the very edge of sleep, the world whisking away from beneath me. I felt like I was in my mom’s house. The door opened with an old creak, and somepony walked in, their hooves lightly tapping against the old wooden floor. They stopped just behind me. The blanket was tucked in around me.

“Welcome home, Trixie. Sweet dreams my little pony.”

Chapter Four: Apples and Pies

Trixie’s Hearth Warming Story

Chapter Four: Apples and Pies

Written by TheCrimsonDM

The morning had gone by quietly. After breakfast I tried to find something to do, there really wasn’t much in the way of entertainment though. I had read their old dusty books multiple times before. I thought about bothering Cloudy with my presence, but she was busy preparing things for Hearths Warming. Outside both Limestone and Igneous were decorating the farmstead in glowing crystals, they were really quite pretty.

Maud walked down the stairs carrying a large box on her back. I tried not to stare at her too hard as she approached me and set the box down beside me. My name was written along the top.

“Here’s your stuff,” Maud said.

I gave her an odd look. Had they really kept all of my old stuff?

I opened the box and looked inside. Several old romance novels sat on the top, under that were a few books about magic. Aside from this I saw a picture of my mom, she looked a lot like me despite being an earth pony. She took me in from the orphanage when I was incredibly young. To me she was always just mom.

I also saw a set of focusing crystals, they were guaranteed to make your magic more powerful but that was shame. The picture of those twin unicorn brothers on the front only reminded me of how I fell for their scam. Besides that there was an old piece of fabric, wrapped around a rectangular shape. My heart stopped when I saw it. This thing should not be here.

“Is something wrong?” Maud asked.

I pulled the thing out of my box and unwrapped it. A book with a dark black cover, wrapped not in the traditional synthetic leather, but actual animal hide. A dark red alicorn shape was on the cover.

“Why is this still here?” I asked.

“It was yours,” Maud said.

“No,” I snapped. I didn’t want the vile thing anywhere near me. “Maud, take this book and if you can’t destroy it, bury it somewhere far, far away. Don’t you dare tell anypony where you buried it either, this thing… it’s evil.”

“It’s a book,” Maud said flatly.

“It’s the book!” I explained. “The one that showed me where to find the Alicorn Amulet in the first place.” I opened it up, and turned to the page I had last marked, and showed it to her. “See!” I said.

“That’s a forest,” Maud said.

My heart skipped a beat. I looked down, and she was right, it was indeed a picture of the forest. A dark dank forest, and a bare patch of earth where all life had simply refused to grow. This was not in here last time.

“Why are you showing me a picture of the forest?” Maud asked.

It suddenly hit me. “Twilight told the zebra to bury the amulet. To bury it somewhere so far away that nopony would ever find it… that daft zebra buried it there!”

“Why?” Maud asked.

“Because it’s supposed to be safely hidden away,” I said.

“It doesn’t look hidden,” Maud said.

“Yeah, well they tried their best. I bet if somepony used this book they could find it again, easily,” I said.

“Probably,” Maud corrected.

“Whatever, that doesn’t matter… Maud, you… you need to take the book and hide it. Please don’t let me keep this, I don’t want the temptation,” I begged her.

She took the book from my hooves and closed it. “Okay. I don’t want you to lose you again.”

I smiled at her. “Thank you so much… wait, lose me again?”

Maud stood up and walked toward the door. “We all lost you when you ran away. It hurt. I’ll take Boulder and go hide the book, after all Boulder’s really good at Camouflage.”

I laughed a little at the idea of a pet rock being good at anything, but knowing that Maud was going to take care of this made me relax quite a bit. However I wasn’t okay with knowing that I had hurt them. They cared enough about me to feel my absence, and it took me all this time to return. That left a sinking feeling in my gut.

Only after Maud left did Limestone come walking in. “I spotted Pinkie on the horizon; time to get the family together. Trixie, go put on some of my spare boots upstairs, than come out with the rest of the family. We need to introduce you to our cousins properly.”

I nodded. She was being nice enough to allow me to use her boots, how could I argue with that.

It took a few minutes to find them, and then a minute to put all four of them on and to tie the laces. By the time I was done, I was sure that everypony was already outside greeting the cousins. For a brief moment I debated putting on my old hat, but decided against it. The hat could stay inside, I didn’t need them on the farm.

The outside air nipped at me a little, but my hooves stayed nice and warm as I walked up besides Limestone and Maud. My attention was focused on Maud, and I needed to know if she had gotten the job done. The rest of the Pie family stood next to Limestone.

“Did you get it done?” I asked in a whisper.

“Yes,” Maud said without lowering her voice. “Boulder hid it.”

It was like a giant weight had been removed from my shoulders and I slumped over. One landmine was successfully avoided. It wasn’t just that I was scared of the possibility of wearing the amulet again that had me bothered, it was the fact that I was now feeling the urge to put it back on. Some little part of my brain was telling me that I could handle it this time, that I could use the power to become a famous magician. I pushed those thoughts away.

“Trixie?” A mare asked in a southern drawl. I recognized the voice, and just hearing it again made me cringe.

Applejack stood in front of us. Next to her was a giant red stallion, on the other side a little filly with a red mane and peach fur. Over by Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz stood an old green mare with a white mane. It was an entire family of apples.

I was left speechless. The bully had come back for me, and she had brought her family with her. What kind of torment were they planning? Why were they here? Where were the Pie family’s cousins?

Oh…

“Wait, why is Trixie here?” Applejack asked.

I shrunk back and lowered my head. My ears folded back, and I felt myself beginning to tremble again. I was nowhere near okay enough to deal with this. The worst news was I couldn’t very well defend myself this time, these were relatives to the Pie’s. I didn’t want to risk loosing what little trust they still had in me. Running away sounded like an even better option now than it had when I first arrived.

Applejack took a few steps forward, her eyes narrowed on me. “What are you doing here, Trixie? This is mah family yer messen’ with. If y’all came here to cause trouble you best get packing cause I ain’t gonna let anything bad happen, ya hear?”

I stepped back. I didn’t want to say anything knowing my luck I’d only make things worse. If she wanted me to leave so badly, than I’d better get walking. I didn’t even need my stuff I could just walk away and nopony would start trouble.

“Darn it!” Limestone exclaimed. She walked in front of me, and pawed the earth with a hoof. “Applejack, Trixie’s family. She used to work here on the farm and she’s planning on doing so again. So if you have a problem with her, than you have a problem with me! But I’m not as nice as Trixie, I’m not going to stop at hog tying you.”

Applejack stared her down. For a brief moment, I feared that I was about to be the cause of a fight between the two. Much to my surprise and relief Applejack backed off.

“Sorry, Ah… didn’t know. Ah’ll keep mahself in check,” Applejack said.

“Good, because unlike you, Trixie has never hurt Holder’s Boulder,” Limestone said.

Limestone went back to my side. That’s when Limestone looked around, confused. “Where’s Pinkie Pie?”

“RIGHT HERE!” A high pitched shirking voice shouted from behind us.

It gave me such a start that the only thing stopping me from taking off in a full gallop was Maud’s out stretched leg holding me back. Maud didn’t even budge an inch from my attempt at running.

When I looked back I saw the pink pony standing behind us with a giant beaming smile on her face. Two bright blue eyes stared right at me, and my mind assaulted me with the memory of the pony trying to desperately eat food without a mouth. I shook my head to try and lose the memories, it didn’t work.

“So let me introduce you,” Limestone said to me. “You’ve already met both Pinkie Pie and Applejack, but not the others.” With one leg wrapped around my neck, Limestone spun me around and pointed me toward the new ponies. She pointed at the old mare. “That’s Granny Smith, she’s old and awesome.” She pointed at the stallion. “That’s Big Mac, he’s as quiet as Marble and only half as interesting.” Finally she pointed at the filly. “That’s Applebloom. Don’t let her tiny and cute appearance fool you. She’s more crafty than you are.”

I had to admit, if that last one was true, then that would be one heck of an accomplishment. I used to be quite crafty, and when the time called for it, still am.

After the introductions were over though, I really just wanted to go and rest. Applejack’s explosion had made me feel tired, and hollow. I just wanted to make things better, but being bullied twice by her was too much to handle. Thankfully I managed to tell Limestone that I was going to use the little fillies room, that was enough for her to let me go back inside in peace.

Once I was back inside, I found a chair in the kitchen and laid my head down on the table. My mind just wouldn’t let me forget about what I had done to Pinkie Pie, but even worse it wouldn’t stop thinking about how bad this was going to end up. A fight with Applejack just felt natural. It would be a fight too, because despite how much I might have hated myself, I still did not tolerate bullies, and if I had to fight fire with fire then so be it. I refused to be pushed around by her.

When I heard a pair of hooves enter the room I thought about looking up and pretending to be okay, but I just couldn’t find the strength to move. With them being related to Applejack they were surely going to kick me out sooner or later, if I was lucky, mopping around would let me stay a little longer.

“You look down,” Pinkie Pie said.

I jolted upright and looked at her. It was just me and her in here. I could scarcely hear the voices of the others outside. “Yeah… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I’ll just have to cheer you up,” Pinkie said.

“Not about that. I’m… I’m sorry that I hurt you,” I said. “If I could go back in time and change it, I would.”

“Hmm, well Twilight says that we shouldn’t do that. Although that makes her a hypocrite,” Pinkie Pie said. “Oh and I forgive you.”

I stared up at her, my eyes started to burn a little as I fought to keep my tears from spilling. “You forgive me? You really forgive me for what I did to you?”

“I forgive you for everything,” Pinkie Pie said with a smile. “But can I ask you one teensy bitsy little favor?”

“Anything,” I said.

In a very quiet whisper Pinkie asked, “Can you forgive Applejack?”

“If I tell her that she’s going to get aunry,” I said.

“You don’t have to tell her, but I think it would actually do some good if you did. Telling her is your call, I just ask that you, you know,” Pinkie Pie said.

I nodded. “If I keep it all in, I’ll explode. I’ll forgive her… for now.”

“Great!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Now I just have one very important question. Are you going to sleep with me and all my sisters tonight, or are you going to bunk with applejack? I’ll just warn you now, you’ll get cuddled if you sleep with us.”

“I… what?” I asked.

“Pinkie Pie,” Limestone said from the doorway. “I stop watching you for five seconds and you’re already doing things without permission. What are you two doing in here?”

“She was just apologizing to me. I forgave her and now were the best of friends,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Wait, we are?” I asked. I didn’t remember anything about becoming friends.

“Well duh. My name is Pinkie Pie, and I’m everyponies best friend. You can tell me your secrets, rely on me to do favors, and even expect me to plan awesome surprise parties when you least expect it,” Pinkie Pie said.

I simply stared at her. She really did seem like the kind of pony that everypony should know. Maybe with Pinkie Pie here, things would actually be okay. For some reason I really trusted Pinkie Pie to keep things more or less together. Limestone might have been good at keeping ponies in line while she was yelling at them, but with Pinkie it was more like she had a good natured energy that invigorated me.

I just hoped that Applejack felt the same way.

Chapter Five: Exhaustion

Trixie’s Hearth Warming Story

Chapter Five: Exhaustion

Written by TheCrimsonDm

It took a while before everypony decided to get out of the snow and come inside. The only pony who didn’t show up was Marble, but knowing her she was probably in one of her many hiding spots. The fireplace was the warmest thing in the house so naturally I had wondered over next to it. I wasn’t the only one, the filly walked up to fire as well.

“My sister says I shouldn’t talk to you,” Applebloom said.

I sighed. “Does she really think so poorly of me?”

“Yeah, Ah mean Ah know that she didn’t like you, and that you were being controlled by an evil necklace or something once. Ah don’t really know what else she could be upset about. Did something happen between you two?” She asked me.

I decided against telling the filly about just how much her sister hated my show. “I guess she just doesn’t like me.”

“Hmm, okay. Well Maud seems to like you and so does Pinkie Pie. So you can’t be all that bad,” She said. “I’m Applebloom by the way.”

I smiled. “Oh so you’re Applebloom?”

“Ayep, who’d you think was Applebloom?”

I looked back at Big Mac. The filly followed my gaze. It only took a few seconds before the filly burst out into a fit of high pitched laughter.

“Well I’m going to check up on Maud, she promised to show me her rare rock collection,” Applebloom said.

“It’s an interesting one alright. My favorite’s the pink one,” I said.

I watched as she trotted away, and just as she passed by Big Mac she said, “How ya doing’ Applebloom.” After which she took off running and giggling, leaving the poor stallion to stand there looking very confused.

I really should have expected what came after that, I really should’ve, but it still caught me off guard. Applejack walked in from the kitchen, her eyes focused squarely on me. I looked away as she made her to me and stopped only a couple of feet away. This was looking bad.

“What did y’all say to my sister?” Applejack said.

“I just told her that I thought your brother’s name was Applebloom, she thought that was funny for some reason,” I told Applejack.

For a moment Applejack simply stared at me with a hard expression. “Well don’t go talking to her again. I don’t want your influence on her.”

“Oh what am I going to do? Inspire her to be better than me?” I said sarcastically.

“No but you might teach her to lie and cheat and to put ponies down,” She said.

I stood up. “At least I wouldn’t teach her to interrupt someponies performance by heckling them on stage!”

“You were being arrogant and rude. You deserved it!”

“I was defending myself from bullies!” I snapped.

“Bullies my butt, you were just being an egotistic… nincompoop,” She replied loudly.

I had enough. I spun around and went for the door and stopped just long enough to look back and say, “Leave me alone.”

With that said I went outside.

It was a bit cold out here, even with my sweater. Originally I had planned to go and chill out somewhere but it occurred to me that I might not have to be alone. There was probably a pony out here that I could talk to, one that would listen to my troubles and if I was lucky help me feel better. The best news was, I had a good idea of where she might be.

Around the side of the house stood two large mine carts side by side with only a small space open between them. On my approach I heard a tiny gasp and knew that my suspicions were correct.

“Marble, it’s me,” I said, as I slowed my approach. I looked in between the carts and saw Marble squeezed into the back, lying down and staring up at me with big round eyes. “May I join you?”

She looked left and right. “Hmm.”

“I didn’t mean literally. Is it okay if I sit out here and talk to you for a bit?” I explained.

She nodded. “Mmhmm.”

I sat down on the snow covered earth and looked out across the open expanse of snow and rocks. Only a few trees stood here and there, but for the most part it was nothing more than a barren landscape. The real money the farm had came from the mines but that was many years ago. Now they just hope to find gemstones on the surface.

“Do you like the Apple family?” I asked.

“Mmhmm.”

“Isn’t it hard to deal with Applejack though? I mean… isn’t she mean to any of you?”

“Mm-mmm,” She replied.

I hung my head. “That’s not fair. Why can’t she be nice to me too?”

Marble didn’t reply. I looked at her and she stared at me with a little worry in her eyes. I forgot that outside of yes and no, she doesn’t reply much.

“Well at least the others seem nice. I haven’t talked to Big Mac yet, is he nice?” I asked her.

“Mmhmm,” She replied.

“That’s good. So I take it you like him,” I said.

“Mmhmm.”

“He’s a good looking stallion, but I could never really get into them. You know what I mean?”

“Mm-mmm,” She said.

I guess I had never really talked to her before about those kinds of things. Might was well try and explain it now. “Well you see, most mares like stallions, most mares like other mares too. I never really… liked stallions. Maybe I just never really talked to them? Maybe I’m just weird. But Stallions never had the same effect on me as they did other mares.”

Marble’s face was beginning to turn a shade of pink.

“Are you okay?”

“Mm-mmm.”

“Am I embarrassing you?”

“Mmmm!”

Oops, I might have pushed it a bit too far. “Okay, let’s change the subject then. I didn’t mean to upset you. I, uh… I just wanted somepony to talk too.”

Marble gave me a small smile, but her face was still pink.

“So… Pinkie Pie is pretty neat isn’t she? She’s really nice,” I said.

“Mmhmm.”

“She said she’s going to try and make sure that me and Applejack become friends or something. Do you think she can do that?”

“Mmhmm.”

“That’s good to hear. Can… can I ask you a kinda personal question? I don’t want to push you if you’re not up for it and you don’t have to answer,” I said.

“Mmhmm.”

“Okay… here goes nothing. Do… do I belong here? Like do I fit in? Because sometimes, most of the time, it feels like I’m invading and I don’t want to do that,” I said.

For a moment Marble was quiet, and then she finally answered. “T-T-Trixie, you’re my f-friend. I l-like you.”

I couldn’t help it; a big silly grin grew over my face as I looked down at her. A warm feeling spread through my chest and all I wanted to do was hug her, but I knew how much she hated physical contact. So instead I reached out my hoof put in next to hers.

“Thank you, you don’t know how much it means to me to hear you say that. I… thank you,” I said.

To my surprise Marble put her hoof over mine and smiled. She quickly pulled it away and looked away. I looked back to the house.

“What can I do to make friends with them?” I asked.

“B-big Mac?” Marble suggested.

“I should start with Big Mac?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Then move onto Granny Smith and Applebloom. If they all like me, maybe Applejack will too?” I asked.

“Mmhmm.”

I stood up and shook the snow out of my tail. Now armed with a plan, I was confident that this could all work out. All I needed was to start making friends. My old job as an entertainer gave me plenty of time to practice friend making, and I had gotten pretty good at it before my career ended. I could do this. It didn’t hurt to know that Marble believed in me and that Pinkie would probably help out too.

Once I got back inside I made my way to the kitchen where I found both Granny Smith and Big Mac working on making apple pie. For a moment I wasn’t sure that I wanted to interfere with them, but this might have been my best chance to get close to them without Applejack around. I figured I might as well try.

It took me a moment to work up the courage, but I finally managed to say, “Hello everypony.”

Granny Smith looked over at me. “Y’all gonna help er what?”

“Sure, what do I do?” I asked as I walked next to her.

“Put that thur pie fillin’ inside the pan,” She told me.

There were at least a dozen different pans here, all lined with crust, and enough bowls of pie filling to feed an army. Big Mac was busy lining the empty pans with crust, and topping the ones that were filled. Granny Smith was staring at the oven behind me. So I did my part and filled the pans with pie filling.

“You know I didn’t realize that your two families were related. It shocked me a little,” I said.

“Well that’s ‘cus we didn’t rightly know until recently,” Granny Smith said.

“I can see it though. You seem to go together pretty well. Like… apples and pies,” I joked.

That brought a small laugh from Granny Smith. “Yer right thur, we sure do go together like apple pie.”

I smiled. “So when did you learn you were related?”

“Oh bout three years ago?” Granny Smith said.

“Makes sense, I haven’t been back in… awhile,” I said. “It’s no wonder I never knew.”

“What were you doin’ that was so darn important that you’d leave ‘em? The Pie’s really care about you,” Granny Smith said.

For a moment I stayed quiet. I really didn’t want to rehash what I’d been through, but if I wanted to make friends I knew that I had to be at least a little open. “I didn’t want to bother them. I did some pretty terrible things after all, and I guess I just felt like I would be a burden.”

“So where did you go?” She asked.

“Different places, all looking for work. I got a few paying gigs, and… other jobs,” I said lamely. I finished scooping out apple filling into the second pie. I must have been moving slow because Big Mac was already helping me to fill pies.

“Didn’t you have anypony to take care of you?” She asked.

“No, I didn’t. I really should have just come straight here and apologized right away. Running around and avoiding them… I was being an idiot,” I said.

“Well you have ponies here who want to treat you nice. Don’t furget that,” Granny Smith said.

I looked back at her and met her eyes. I nodded. “I won’t forget it this time.”

We finished the pies up and I helped Granny Smith put them into the oven. Honestly I was a bit surprised that it looked like we were going to have apple pie for dinner, considering everything I knew about the Pie family, I expected rock soup. Things had changed since I was last here.

***

The bottom of the quarry was flat and full of rocks. The entrance to the mineshaft stood wide open. I had remembered having ventured into the mineshaft a few times, the last time I nearly got lost. After that I decided against going back in. All of us stood down here each of us with our pick axe, even little Applebloom had one. It was time to start making our Hearth’s Warming dolls after all.

I had my chunk of rock sitting in front of me, and remembered doing this one year. It was not traditional, but what did I actually expect from ponies living on a rock farm. I mean these are the ponies that actually eat rocks! Of course their dolls would be made out of them too.

My pickaxe floated gently in my telekinetic grip. It swung down with a force and cracked the stone. I had to repeat the process six or seven times before I finally had a rock small enough to start doing work on. Thankfully the Pies did have some specialized tools set aside for detail work. I crafted little legs, and a head with a horn. Sure it didn’t look even remotely like me, but it kinda, sort of, maybe looked like a unicorn, if I stood far away and squinted really hard.

The Apple family were doing much better, save for Applejack who had a rock. It didn’t look like a pony at all, it was just a sort of oblong rock. I remembered my first time making a rock doll. It was hard work.

“Do you need any help?” I asked her.

She glared at me. “No, Ah can do this without usin’ magic.”

“I didn’t use magic, I used tools,” I said.

“Well you lifted the tools with yer magic,” She replied.

“Yeah well some of us aren’t muscle covered monsters,” I snapped.

I suddenly felt the eyes of everypony staring at me. Great, just my luck. I’m surrounded by muscular ponies, and probably just offended each and every one of them.

Without any way to fix what I said, I turned my head and went back to my rock. I couldn’t help but to overhear Applejack’s final remark. “Ah don’t think you have the right to call me a monster.”

I frowned at my rock doll. The head had fallen off and now laid at its hooves. It was going to take some super glue to fix this.

***

A few hours later and we all sat around the dinner table. I couldn’t help but to notice the more than awkward feeling in the air as rock soup was joined by sweet bread rolls and apple pie. The others couldn’t help but to stare down at their plates awkwardly. Maybe things hadn’t changed quite so much as I had thought.

This lasted for only a minute or two before I gave up. I was hungry, and this promised to be my first good meal in a very long time. Of course to honor the house I was in, I took a few spoonfuls of soup before eating anything else. As usual the soup was okay, a bit modest on flavor, but it was okay. I next tried out the pie, it was so full of juicy delicate flavor that I had nearly finished my piece entirely before I noticed everypony was staring at me.

With a nervous smile I pulled away from the pie. It was almost like they were judging me for eating, though I couldn’t figure out why. Finally I tried dipping one of the rolls in the soup, and was surprised. The plain flavor of the soup actually complemented the roll very nicely. I think I might have gone through a few more rolls than I should have before I realized that there was no more soup to dip them in.

At least by that point in time I wasn’t the only one eating. It looked like everypony had fallen in love with the pie, and a few were even trying out the rolls in the soup. All in all, this was actually feeling like a Hearth’s Warming feast. Thankfully after everypony started eating, it didn’t stay quiet for too long as conversations started around me.

“So, Maud how has your graduation?” Applebloom asked.

“It went well,” Maud said.

“She got honors!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

It was nice to hear about something nice happening. It was even better not being the center of everyponies attention. Of course that never lasted too long.

“Did you graduate, Trixie?” Pinkie Pie asked.

I smiled. “Not only did I graduate, I did so early. Celestia actually praised my ability to learn quickly during the ceremony.”

“Ooh that’s amazing,” Pinkie Pie said. I couldn’t help but to smile proudly. Then Pinkie had to add, “I bet your folks were proud of you.”

I knew that Pinkie Pie didn’t mean anything by it, and I somehow kept smiling even though I felt the corner of my lip twitch a little. “I bet they were.”

Pinkie Pie smiled, looked confused, and then raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean you be-“

“Pinkie,” Limestone said. “Were you planning on going to college?”

A sudden look of nervous fear came over Pinkie’s face. “Oh, haha, yeah. I mean, cooking school and stuff… yep, that’s me.”

With the attention focused back on Pinkie Pie, as she failed miserably at dodging Limestone’s questions about schooling, I was finally able to relax and try to forget that Pinkie Pie had ever asked me that. My only concern now was the strange look I was getting from Applejack. I didn’t like it.

When dinner had finished and all was said and done, we each moved on to different spots in the house. Marble Pie went upstairs to get some sleep, while Limestone and Pinkie carried on a conversation with Big Mac and Applebloom. Maud had vanished upstairs as well, though I didn’t think she was going to sleep yet. Granny Smith was talking to Igneous and Cloudy. This left me all alone by the fireplace, basking in its warm glow.

Applejack however came in and joined me at the hearth. The entire time she sat there she had kept her eyes on me, but she wasn’t looking at me with anger anymore. I didn’t like the way she was looking at me, it just felt… off.

When I had finally had enough of it, I looked her straight in the eyes and demanded, “Why are you staring at me?”

“Trixie, what happened after Ponyville?” Applejack asked.

“Do you mean when I came here for work, or after the amulet?” I asked.

“Either,” She replied.

I let out another sigh. “Lots of things, I’d rather not talk about them.”

“Why did you leave the farm in the first place?” She asked.

“I just wanted to be… helpful. That amulet was supposed to make me strong enough to help out at the farm,” I told her.

“You didn’t want it to show up Twilight?”

I was quiet for a moment. “Maybe a little… It’s not like I went out looking for the amulet just to have a magic duel with Twilight Sparkle. Honestly, I could have taken her without it.”

That got me a sour look from the apple pony.

“Ok, so maybe it would have been a little harder than that. It’s just that I… I wanted to be good at magic. The amulet promised to make me strong, useful, and… good. Maybe I was holding a grudge against Twilight for showing up me, for doing what I failed to do. But that doesn’t mean that I wanted to go to Ponyville and hurt anypony… I never wanted to go back there after what happened,” I told her.

“Then why did you go back?”

“After putting the amulet on, I realized just how powerful I was. Not even Princess Celestia could stop me, or at least that’s how I felt. I… I thought that I could go back and prove to everypony that I was good enough for their love and respect. If I could defeat Twilight Sparkle in a magic duel, nopony would put me down, make fun of me, or attack my character ever again… look at how well that turned out,” I finished lamely.

For a moment things were quiet as I considered how much I had screwed up. I watched the ponies in the kitchen talking away and enjoying themselves. It looked like I had missed so much during myself made exile.

“You don’t know how lucky you are,” I said quietly.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“You have a family. A little sister, a big brother, and even Granny Smith to take care you. You have something special,” I told her. I made a mental note of how her parents weren’t here for this family gathering.

“Ah know how lucky Ah am t’ have them,” Applejack said.

“Do you really? Applejack, have you ever faced the cold and harsh world all alone, only to realize that no matter how far you fall, nopony will ever be there to catch you?”

She slowly shook her head. “No, because Ah’ve always had mah family.”

“That’s just it though. You have a family. Heck you have two of them if you count the Pies and three if you count your friends. I don’t think you will ever need to worry about being alone, truly alone,” I told her.

Again an empty and bitter silence followed my words. This time it was Applejack who broke them. “Are you really alone?”

I looked away from her, and stared back into the crackling fire. “If I had anypony, do you think I’d honestly be here again?”

“What’s wrong with here?” Applejack asked.

“I’m broke, have no job, can’t get hired anywhere because of my past, and I’m spending the holiday with ponies that I’ve hurt, that’s what’s wrong with here. I shouldn’t be here,” I told her.

“Where would you rather be?” Applejack asked.

“At home, or on stage, or anywhere really. I used to have it all going so good, I had fans, friends, money, and then you three decided to totally ruin one of my shows. After that you three went around telling everypony that I brought the ursa major to town, and completely ruined my reputation,” I told her.

“No we didn’t, all we did was speak our minds about your attitude and the way you were acting. You were bein’ a stuck up, no good, showboating pony. Somepony had to teach you some manners,” Applejack said, her voice rising.

I stood up. “Acting! I was just acting. I was playing a character you ignorant little hayseed! The Great and Powerful Trixie, and Trixie Lulamoon are two different ponies! Furthermore if you didn’t like my show you could have left! Why did you have to verbally attack me on stage, and then openly challenge me? What is wrong with you?”

The ponies in the kitchen were staring in at me now, but I didn’t care, I had had enough of Applejack’s personality. “That’s it, you self righteous meanie, I’m going to bed. You finally did it, you ruined my night. Good for you. I hope you’re proud.”

I stomped off up the stairs. Marble had the right idea going to bed early, I just hoped that I wouldn’t wake her. I heard Applejack attempting to continue talking to me, but by that point I had completely blocked her off. I was sick and tired of dealing with this.

I was tired, so tired.

Chapter Six: Hearth's Warming Day

Trixie’s Hearth Warming Story

Chapter Six: Finally Hearth’s Warming Day

Written by TheCrimsonDM

I awoke to the sound of snoring, and warm fur brushing against my face. My eye opened a crack and all I could see was gray fur. A leg wrapped a little tighter around my back pulling me closer to her. I couldn’t complain. If Maud wanted to cuddle, well it meant more warmth for me.

“IT’S HEARTH WARMING! IT’S HEARTH WARMING!” Pinkie Pie shrieked into my ear.

The bed bounced and I went along for the ride as Pinkie jumped off and landed on her hooves. I got up, and was about to tell her off for screaming so early in the morning, but I lost my balance and fell out and onto the floor. Pinkie Pie continued bouncing around the room screaming until everypony was bleary eyed and awake. I refused to move an inch until Pinkie Pie bounced her way downstairs still screaming.

“Why is she so excited?” I asked nopony in particular.

“Because it’s Pinkie Pie,” Limestone mumbled.

It took more effort than I had thought to push myself up off of the floor. I needed coffee, because whatever energy had possessed Pinkie Pie was clearly not working on me. Out of everypony waking up, I was the first one out the door after Pinkie, which just so happened to put me in just the right place to trip over the string that was tied on either end of the door.

A bright pink and white polka dotted box came swinging down from the ceiling. It was too early for me to properly react, so my fumbled efforts to dodge only made things worse. The box slammed right into my muzzle!

It had taken every ounce of my feeble self control to not unleash a series of curses as I rubbed at my pain ridden nose. Thankfully it wasn’t broken, nor was there any blood. When I looked once more at the box, I realized that it was actually a present, a hearth’s warming present.

There was a little tag on it. I read it.

“To: Inkie

From: Pinkie”

I looked back at Marble and using a bit of magic I levitated the box over to her. “I think this was supposed to be yours.”

Marble took the present and blinked. She looked up at her parents, then at her sisters, finally back at the present and blinked once more. “F-for m-me?”

“It looks like this might actually be a good year for presents,” Limestone said.

I shook my head. “Don’t you guys hide all the presents?”

“Yeah, but we’re supposed to hide them in places that ponies will actually find them,” Limestone said, she gave Maud a quick glare. “That’s why Pinkie’s in charge of hiding them this year.”

“Pinkie always hides at least one,” Maud said.

“That’s because she’s… Let’s just get some breakfast,” Limestone said bitterly.

Marble opened her present with great care and pulled out a brown hooded jacket. She smiled and quickly put it on. At least somepony was having a good morning. We all made our way downstairs after that, and after a quick breakfast it looked like Pinkie Pie was still excitedly bouncing around.

I did my best to ignore Applejack completely, and she did the same to me. It was better that way, at least we wouldn’t get into any more fights if we avoided each other. With Pinkie Pie around it was pretty easy to ignore something that I didn’t like.

I did have a question that was bothering me about the presents.

“Hey, Pinkie Pie,” I said. She looked at me. “Why did you hide a present upstairs as a trap this morning?”

“Oh because Marble has good reflexes, and she would easily catch it,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Uh huh… and did you know that I don’t have very good reflexes that early in the morning?” I said.

Pinkie Pie gave me an awkward almost confused stare. “Well duh, that’s why it’s Marble’s present. Don’t worry, your present is hidden right where you’ll never expect, but inevitably find.”

I really disliked the sound of that. So I changed the subject. “Where is your present?”

“I don’t know!” Pinkie Pie said. “Maud hid it for me!”

I shuddered to think about what patch of earth Pinkie’s present was probably buried under. If I knew Maud, then I knew that she could hide pretty much anything, pretty much anywhere. Pinkie was going to have a hard time finding her present.

“Did you hide Maud’s present last year?” I asked.

“Yep, and I hid one for Applejack as well. My Pinkie Sense told me that I needed to hide one on the train, so I did!” Pinkie Pie said excitedly.

“YOU HIDE THEM ON THE TRAIN!” I exclaimed, a lot louder than I had meant too.

“Only when it’s necessary. Don’t worry, you’ll find yours. If you don’t I’ll help you look for it,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Great,” I replied sarcastically. It wasn’t surprising that I had no faith in finding one now. Though I wasn’t expecting one in the first place, so this didn’t really change anything.

At least our rocks were looking nice. The superglue had held on my doll so at least my doll had kept its head, even if it was completely obvious that it had been broken in the first place. Somehow I felt like the doll had become a metaphor for my life.

“Who’s raising the flag this year?” I asked.

“This year we’re trying the apple family tradition and having both Marble and Applebloom raise it. Isn’t that sweet?” Pinkie Pie said.

“That sounds nice, and it explains why there wasn’t a contest,” I said.

“Are you going to go look for your present?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“I don’t know about that,” I said.

“Oh how come?”

I felt a little hollow inside. I stood up. “Thanks for caring and all, but today isn’t… I’m glad to not be alone and all but… never mind.”

Pinkie frowned at me as I walked outside. I wasn’t going to look for presents but I did want to get out for a bit. It was too… happy inside. I didn’t need to be part of it, it wasn’t mine to share. At least outside I wouldn’t have to ruin their fun.

The air was a bit nippy but it wasn’t too bad today. I made my way out into the field looking at the snow covered farm. It began to occur to me that there wasn’t going to be any real work done here any time soon. With the snow, and ice, rock farming was practically out of the question, furthermore unless the mines were made safe, that was out the window as well.

They told me to come back, but why would they do that if there wasn’t any work to be had?

I didn’t get the chance to think more on that before I tripped over something hidden under the snow. Somehow I managed to catch myself, but that didn’t stop me from cursing at whatever made me trip. I figured it was another stupid rock, but as I looked at the black leather bound book lying on the ground, I knew my day had only begun to go wrong.

Gently I levitated it up to my face and opened it. It was the same book I had given to Maud, the same book that I had wanted to dearly to get rid of. Maybe she didn’t have time to properly hide it, or she actually let Boulder hide it… surely she had just forgotten about it. The idea of her actually expecting a pet rock to hide something was a bit too crazy to think about.

“Howdy,” Applejack said from nearby.

I jumped out of my skin. The last thing I had expected or even wanted was to talk to Applejack right then, I had that foul book, and it needed discarded of.

“What do you want?” I asked sharply.

“Yer in a bad mood huh? Is it mah fault?” She asked. I could almost mistake her tone for being kind.

“Of course I’m in a bad mood,” I retorted. I spun around sharply and began trotting away from the house. This book needed to be gone… or I could just hide for later. Maybe it knew how to get rid of pesky bullies.

“Where are you going?” Applejack asked.

“None of your business,” I replied.

Applejack caught up with me. “Now hold on one darn tootin’ minute. Ah wanted to apologize for the way Ah have been acting.”

“Well that’s a first.”

“Ah really mean it. The way Ah treated you here, and back when in Ponyville was wrong,” She said.

I stopped dead in my tracks. As I looked back at her, I saw the sad look in her eyes. She actually meant it. “I… why? Why are you apologizing now? You never felt bad about it before.”

“Ah met one of mah old friends, she’s a singer. One day we were talking about… well you. When Ah told her what Ah had done, she looked at me like Ah was a monster and tried to tell me how scary it was to be called out on stage like that. Ah didn’t care at the time cus Ah thought that since it was mah belief… Ah was in the right. But then you called me a bully,” Applejack said.

“Well that’s what ponies like you are. Attacking somepony who just wants to make other ponies smile… it was a free show even! You attacked a volunteer performance,” I told her. “I never thought that there were ponies that could do that…”

“Ah know, and Ah’m sorry. What Ah did was wrong, and if you give me a second chance, Ah swear Ah will make it up to you,” Applejack said.

I’m not sure what it was about the offer that offended me so. Maybe I was just upset that she would dare tell me that she could fix it after everything that had happened to me, or maybe I was just upset that she dared to try and fix it in the first place. Either way, I got angry.

“You?” I snapped back at her. “Can you fix my reputation? Can you get me a job where my cutie mark doesn’t become wasted space on my flank? Can you actually do anything to make up for what you did?”

She looked away. “Ah don’t know, but Ah want to try.”

She would have been better off staying quiet. I threw my book at her! Of course it would be just my luck that she would dodge the book and I’d have to watch it sail straight into the snow behind her. Good riddance, that book was evil anyway.

“What the hay!” Applejack exclaimed she looked at the open book and her eyes slowly widened. “Is that the Alicorn Amulet?”

My anger instantly vanished only to be replaced by a deep seated fear. If this mare was willing to attack me on stage because she just didn’t like me, what would she do if she thought that I was trying to find that forsaken amulet a second time?

I had to explain myself. “I’m trying to get rid of that book!”

She looked back at me, and placed herself between the book and me. “Oh really?”

I took a step forward, fighting my inner fear as best I could. “Yes, you see that book is evil. I need to get rid of it.”

“Why don’t you let somepony else do that?” She asked, in a low and steady voice.

“Maud already tried and failed, it has to be me,” I tried to explain.

“No. You don’t get that book, Trixie. Ah am not going to let you take it,” Applejack said.

My heart sunk as I stared into her determined eyes. There was no way that Applejack could know just how evil the book really was, and the dangers it possessed. I trusted Maud to get rid of it, because she was one of the most determined and un-swayable ponies I had ever met, beaten only by Limestone. I had no way of knowing if Applejack was capable of fighting off its dark influence, but I suspected that she could not.

I couldn’t let her have the book.

“You’re right,” I lied. “You should probably take it instead.”

“Well at least you’re reasonable about it,” She replied.

My horn began glowing. “Yeah, because you know, I don’t want to get mixed up with that kind of stuff a second time.”

“What are you doing?” She asked in a low tone. She lowered her head and padded at the ground with a foreleg.

I stepped back. “What do you mean?”

She looked back finally; only to see the book surrounded by a purple aura, fly past her and next to me. I didn’t wait for her to respond. I took off in the opposite direction as fast as my hooves would carry me. I flew across the snow, leapt over a few rocks and made my way toward the end of the farmstead. A large cluster of rocks stood waiting for me.

Applejack was right on my tail, and catching up faster than I thought possible. I wasn’t going to make it to the rocks like this. I needed to come up with something and fast.

My answer was all around me; snow. I could easily use the snow to do something with. A second layer of light covered my horn as I pushed all of my skill and magic into a spell. There was no telling what would actually happen, or if it would even work, but I had to try.

The snow exploded all around me, blinding my pursuer’s line of sight. That’s when I activated the second half of the spell and became invisible. I didn’t stop running though. I continued forward, dashing through the snow and into the cluster of rocks where I ducked behind them and hid.

Applejack had stopped, and was looking around for wherever I had gone. Invisibility was truly a wonderful spell. Too bad its life span was so short. My spell died just as I set the book down next to me. At least I was already hidden.

“Where did she go?” Applejack asked herself.

There was a moment of silence, where the only thing I could hear was my own heavy breathing. I didn’t want to get caught. I didn’t want to give up the book to her. I was going to get rid of it, me! Nopony else could.

“Sweet Celestia,” she said to herself.

For a second I had hoped that meant she was done chasing me. She began walking though, her hooves crunching the snow beneath them and got louder on her approach. It wasn’t long before she poked her head over my cover and looked down at me with a stern expression.

“H-how?” I asked.

“You left a trail in the snow,” Applejack explained flatly. She held out a hoof.

I grabbed onto the book tightly with my forelegs and curled up around it. “No! You can’t be the one to get rid of it! It has to be me!”

“Why?”

“Because it’s evil and it will trick you into keeping it and using it. What if this got back to your friend Princess Twilight? What if she was corrupted? Could anyone of us actually do a darned thing against that kind of power?” I explained.

At first Applejack didn’t reply. She simply stood there with her hoof held out for my book. She raised one of her eyebrows. “Then why did you start running away with it? Ain’t that just the book trying to control you?”

I looked up at her, and met her eyes. I wasn’t sure if she was right or not, and that scared me. It had to be destroyed, but I couldn’t just let her have it. I knew it would be bad, I just knew it.

“I can’t give you the book,” I told her.

“Is that really it? You think Ah’d let some book tell me what to do?” she asked.

“I-I have to make up for what I did somehow,” I told her. “I… I was supposed to become a great magician and show the world that Trixie Lulamoon does matter. What I ended up doing was running away from the only ponies that loved me, enacted some half cocked revenge scheme and hurt a lot of innocent ponies… I have to be the one to destroy the book.”

“Fine, but can Ah at least help you?” Applejack asked.

I looked at her hoof again, and it suddenly dawned on me that she wasn’t trying to steal the book from me. She was holding her hoof out for me. I took her hoof in my own, but made sure to keep my book close to me. She helped me up, and together we left the cover of the rocks.

The walk back to the house was too quiet.

Once we entered the quiet house, the first thing I did when we got back was walk up to the fireplace. Applejack stayed by me, probably to watch me. I set a log in the fireplace and began poking at the cinders on the bottom. A faint red glow was still there. I accidently bumped the side of the fireplace wall with the stick and a square box fell down into the cinders.

I quickly grabbed the box and dusted it off. I had someponies present. Just as I was about to set the box aside, Applejack tapped me on the shoulder. I flinched at her touch, but I followed her gaze to the top of the gift box.

“To: Trixie

From: The Family”

I dropped the fire poker. “It’s for me?”

“Looks like it,” Applejack said.

I hesitated. Not only was I surprised to actually find a present left just for me, but the fact that it was from the whole family gave the gift a surprising weight. I was actually a little scared to open it.

I sucked up my fear and slowly undid the wrapping and opened the box. I wasn’t sure what I expected to find, but it certainly wasn’t a brand new cape. The cape was purple, with gold stars adorning it, only along the edges there were several unique symbols. Each one of the cutie marks belonging to the Pies was on here, along with my own cutie mark.

My body went ridged as I stared down at this unbelievable piece of fabric. It was something so very simple, and yet it was so important to me. A warm feeling filled my chest, and my hooves began shaking so badly that I was forced to give the cape to Applejack to hold so that I didn’t accidently dirty it.

“This is a very nice gift,” Applejack said. “It looks hoof made.”

“Of course its hoof made, magicians only wear hoof sewn fabrics,” I told her. My eyes stung as I looked back into the fireplace. The book by my side no longer seemed so important. I was going to destroy it, but it was like I no longer cared if I was the one who burned it. With a weak toss, the book went into the fireplace. I used my magic to light up the fireplace. The book burned, and I couldn’t stop smiling.

My hooves were still too shaky to do anything with, but my magic seemed more or less under control. I took the cape from Applejack and donned it. For the first time in years I actually felt like… myself again.

“Trixie, yer crying,” Applejack said softly.

I hadn’t noticed it, but she was right. Tears were streaming down my face, but I couldn’t decide if they were sad or happy tears. I sniffled and wiped my eyes on my foreleg. “You know I lost my mom a long time ago. After that I didn’t have any family, none. No aunt’s no grannies, no brothers or sisters. I was just alone.”

“Ah’m sorry,” Applejack said.

“But… I don’t want to be alone anymore,” I looked down at my new cape. I barely even registered the door opening. “What do you think this cape means?”

“It means you’re part of our family,” Limestone said. “You really are dense sometimes.”

I looked up and watched the pie family, and rest of the apple family walk into the living room. I couldn’t help but to sniffle as the tears ran down the sides of my face. These were happy tears.

“You really mean it?” I asked.

“Thou hath been a member of our family since ye first came to the farm. We do not hire ponies, we adopt them,” Cloudy Quartz said.

Igneous nodded in agreement.

Maud looked at the fire, then back at me. “You stayed. Thank you.”

Even Marble Pie joined in. “W-we c-care about you, T-Trixie.”

Pinkie pie joined me by the fireplace. “You see, Trixie. I told you that everything would work out. Maybe one day we can even get you back on the stage.”

I looked at my cape. “That would be really nice. I got my cutie mark for being a stage magician after all. It’s supposed to be my destiny to be a famous magician.”

“Well then I’ll just have to see what kinds of strings I can pull. Trust me, I can make anything happen,” Pinkie Pie said.

I smiled at her.

She gave me a wink. “It’s almost like I’m a magician too!”

Sitting by the hearth with my… family; this was more than I could have ever hoped for. More than I deserved. It might have started out rocky, but this had become the best Hearth’s Warming ever.

The End