Trixie Secretary Extraordinaire: A Wonderful Life

Later that night, everypony was in the Pie household enjoying a most delicious dinner. The long table held all present comfortably. Igneous sat at the head of the table with his family, with the exception of Maud, to his right and to his left was Trixie, Platinum, and Maud, with Mary at the other end of the table facing Igneous. In the center of the table was the food, rock stew and some of Maud's Fire Heart Carrot soup.

Trixie smiled taking a huge sniff of air to absorb the delectable aroma of the carrot and stone soups. The food smelled great but was overshadowed by the tense feeling in the atmosphere of the table.

Trixie sat between Maud and Platinum looking happily over at Marble, and waved to her. The shy mare hid behind her mane, waving back with a blush. Limestone gave her the stink eye, while Cloudy Quartz simply stared at Trixie hatefully.

It was very clear, to everypony present, that Trixie was not welcome here. Despite her cheery demeanor Mary and her herdmates could tell Trixie was forcing her smiles on top of a few nervous ticks that made it obvious she was nervous. Occasionally Trixie was caught slipping into her third pony persona, which was the strongest indicator.

Mary could tell she was scared, mostly of Limestone. From what little interactions she had with the mare and how she acted around the unicorn, it was easy to tell she hated Trixie. Trixie's very presence seemed to put the grey earth pony on edge. Talking made her scorn murderously at her, and talking to Marble or Igneous made Limestone look like she would outright murder Trixie. Thankfully the look of murderous intent was just that, a look and nothing more. It made Mary and even Platinum uneasy. So much so, that they sat close to Trixie to protect her if anything happened. This was not the family Mary heard about from Maud and Trixie.

Maud kept her usual stoic expression, but occasionally her tail would flick around. A clear indicator she was paying attention to something. It made the small herd feel better just knowing she was watching out for them.

While this was happening, Igneous distributed the food in equal shares to each, starting with his guests then his family and left himself for last. Once he finished distributing food everypony took a moment to pray in silence. Platinum sat there imitating them, not wanting to offend them. She didn't want to leave a bad first impression on the family and by extension Maud, due to bad mannerism.

She knew Trixie and the Pie family had a bad history, everyone there knew, so she did her best to be well behaved. Her parents taught her even if you don't believe in others ways it is proper of a lady to show respect to other ponies ways within reason. Prayer at the dinning table was one such thing. Once prayers were done, everypony dug in. The stone soup was tasty to Mary, if a bit plain. Maud and Trixie seemed to love it, while Platinum struggled to keep it down tuning green after her first bite, literally.

Igneous saw this and with a hearty chuckle saying, "Do not be discouraged fair lady. Tis hard on the stomach at first for most visitors."

Cloudy Quartz nodded in agreement, not taking her glaring eyes off Trixie, but occasionally her gaze wandered to her husband. Platinum looked embarrassed by her conduct.

"I'm sorry." she said fiddling with her bowl. "I didn't mean to be rude."

"Father wasn't implying anything Platinum." Maud interjected. "He simply meant it was fine if you didn't like the soup."

Mary nodded in agreement. "It is an acquired taste."

Igneous chuckled. "Tis not what you said when thou first tried our food, Mary." he said.

Cloudy Quartz tried hard not to snicker, but found it impossible to do so. Covering her mouth she huddled over her bowl while Mary scoffed in annoyance. Shortly after Igneous joined in making Mary give a shocked expression, which confused all the younger ponies present.

"You shut it, Igneous!" Mary threatened him, which only made him and his wife laugh harder.

Blushing Mary turned away from them sticking her nose up with a 'harrumph'. All the younger ponies watched the older ponies with confused looks. Mary hid under her mane finishing her soup. When she finished she stormed off to the kitchen with Cloudy Quartz following her with her own bowl in her mouth, Igneous followed close behind.

Mary and cloudy Quartz returned moments later to gather up all the dirty dishes leaving everypony else at the table. Trixie scooted closer to Platinum and wrapped her tail around hers. The silver pony happily accepted the gesture kissing her cheek. Maud felt left out and scooted closer sandwiching the silver pony between them.

Marble blushed looking away from the loving scene, hiding behind her mane, but gave the slightest peek to see. It was a loving tender sight.  Limestone however was looking rather livid. She slowly began breathing herd and faster as though she were hyperventilating. She then punched the table before jumping from her seat and stormed off leaving everypony else dumbstruck.

Trixie looked over at Marble, who shrugged shaking her head. She then turned to Maud asking, "What was that about?"

"You honestly don't know?" Maud replied bluntly.

"Noooo. Why? Should I?"

"Trixie, do you know why she and mother are angry with you in the first place?" Platinum asked wondering what was going on.

"I think I might, but this was hardly Trixie's fault! That paper-"

"That paper changed our family in ways you'll never understand Trixie." A light voice said from across the table.

Looking at the source revealed it to be from Marble, who had come out from hiding behind her mane, but only slightly. The shy pony go tout of her seat and walked over to them taking a seat next to them so they could hear.

"That day when mom and my sister found you with father in the barn, changed how we see each other." she said sadly.

Her older sister let go of her mates, and hugged her. Marble's eyes teared up and she rubbed her nose against she soft grey fur. She rested her head on her sisters shoulder and continued her explanation. "When that happened, mom and dad began fighting. After you left, father confronted mother and said she had been unreasonable towards you after that whole thing."

She sniffed hard wiping her tears away. "Mother was so furious she threatened to divorce father."

"What?! Why?!" Trixie bellowed.

The news shook Trixie to her core. Never did she think such a thing possible. Igneous and Cloudy Quartz were practically joined at the hip. How could she threaten to divorce him over something so stupid as a paper? It burned her to hear such a thing. Before she could voice her thoughts, Maud continued where Marble left off.

"Trixie, it was hard after you left. Your sudden departure only solidified mother, and Limestones, belief that you and father had an affair going on and after you were caught jumped ship." Maud said with Marble nodding.

"Its as she said, mother was furious at dad. It was the worst weeks of my life." the timid pony said. "Limestone and Maud fought too."

"That was Limestone's fault not yours." Maud said.

"But-"

"No Marble." the older earth pony said patting her sisters head gently. "She's always had a temper and you know it. She just hid it well."

"But we got along so well..." The blue unicorn choked. "It wasn't his fault, perhaps... it was my fault?"

"It wasn't your fault Trixie." Marble said turning to hug her. "It was a tough transition but we pulled through. Just give it time."

"Time is something we don't have Marble, the Annual Gem harvest Festival is around the corner and if mother and father are fighting there's no telling what will happen to us." Maud said, with her ears folded down.

But then Marble gave her and odd look. "I guess you didn't know then?"

"Know what?" Maud asked.

"Did something happen?" Trixie asked looking concerned. "Cloudy and Igneous didn't divorce while she was away did they?"

"Oh, no Trixie. It's nothing like that." Marble replied. "Limestone bought out the farm from dad."

Trixie looked stunned by what she had heard. Never had she thought Limestone would buy out her fathers farm from him. Never. She shook her head and flexed her ears leaning closer to Maud, as if she were hard of hearing.

"So, your father is not the owner anymore?" Trixie asked Maud.

The grey earth pony shook her head back and forth gently swaying her mane. "No. Shortly after you left Limestone went to talk to father and he practically gave it to her." Marble explained. "She was upset-"

"Big surprise there." Trixie commented, but that made Marble harden her expression.

"Trixie, Limestone is not always mad and you know very well it's not her fault." Maud interjected to Trixie's comment in an angered tone.

Both Trixie and Platinum seemed taken aback by her sudden anger, while Marble seemed unfazed. However slight it was, seeing Maud angry weighed heavily on their hearts. Maud sighed getting off her seat and walked behind them hugging them both. She wrapped her arms around their necks and pulled them close, her eyes tearing up as she did. Both unicorns looked concerned at one another before awkwardly returning the hug.

Platinum nuzzle the arm as did Trixie. They always felt safe around Maud no matter what happened. Meanwhile Mary watched from the kitchen listening in on their conversation. She joined up with igneous and Cloudy who were busy cleaning the dishes.

"You let Limestone have the farm? How come?" she asked turning to sit back at the table with her old friends.

Igneous looked concerned while his wife look away. "Ye know, she hath a knack for the land here. Doth thou know'th that she is the best worker and leader we ever had?"

"Well, yes but, I always thought Maud would get the farm." Mary inquired. "But why did you give it to Limestone?"

Both Igneous and Cloudy Quartz looked uncomfortably at her question. Rubbing his neck, the mustard colored earth pony grabbed his wife's hoof and looked almost pleadingly to her. She shook her head indicating to him that whatever he wanted to say was not to be said. He turned to his friend saying, "Tis a private matter, Mary. I apologize."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you had your reasons." Mary replied looking out at her herd mates. She wanted so badly to join them in the lovely show of affection, but fear of her friends backlash kept her in place. Fear that Maud would suffer backlash as well. She didn't want to put the Pie family through anymore than they were going through already. It was only for a short while, she kept reminding herself. Just until the election is over that's all. She thought

That thought did little to calm her nerves as she watched her mates kiss. She almost leapt forward but instead tried to pass it as a cough leaning forward into her hoof and coughed into it. Suddenly Trixie's ears perked up and she jumped off her seat saying, "Hey Maud. Let's go see Holders Boulder! I wanna show it to Platinum and tell her all about it!"

Maud seemed to smile while Platinum looked at the two ponies with a most curious look.

"Come on!" Trixie said grabbing both of them and herding them out of the house.

Mary, Igneous, and Cloudy all smiled watching the young ponies leave to go see Holders Bolder which was just outside of the house. Trixie seemed to be telling them a fascinating tale of sorts, for she was standing on her hind legs making broad gestures as if telling the tale of fantasy and wonder. No doubt a very fabricated tale, but a fun one none the less. Mary thought.

But all the while Mary felt her heart aching and longing to be out there with them, but how could she after everything that happened between her Igneous and Cloudy? Or to be more specific what happened between her and Cloudy years ago.

"How I miss the simplicity of those days." she said in a melancholic tone heading towards the living room to watch the younger herd members from the warm couch.

Igneous and Cloudy watched with concern as Mary walked slowly  sitting herself on the couch. She glanced out seeing the three ponies walk over to the massive stone outside at the edge of a large ravine. It's bottom partially buried under the dirt about a foot or so.