Will of Fire

Chapter 14 - Memories

By: TheXIIILightning

I was lying down on the cloud, admiring the amazing night Luna made for us.

I still couldn't believe what they told me about Trixie, how bad they spoke her. The pony they were insulting couldn't possibly be her, but in my heart I knew it was. Nopony knew her better than I did, but she couldn't change that much in a few years... Could she? No, Sunshine talked to her, she would have told me if something was wrong. I guess I just have to wait.

After a while, I heard a door opening behind me, and I couldn't care less. I didn't feel like talking with anypony right now.

"I'm scared..." It wasn't the pony on the balcony talking, it was me. Why did I say that?

"I'm scared that the Trixie I knew, isn't the same anymore..." Why do I keep talking?

"I'm scared that I just lost the best friends I had in years..." Stop talking!

Whoever was behind me didn't say a word, and I couldn't possibly thank her enough. I stood there in silence for a few more minutes, the wind on the trees and my own breath were the only things I could hear. Eventually I turned around. Twilight was sitting there, she had sadness in her eyes but wore an assuring smile. I jumped from the cloud to meet her and she hugged me. I hugged her back without thinking, with a small lump in my throat.

"They are really sorry..." She said.

"I know, but I needed some time to think." I said, letting go of the hug.

"I understand. Do you want to talk about it? She asked, her concern was sincere.

"In a second I will." I turned towards the door. "How's Spike?" I hope I hadn't woken the little guy up.

"He's still asleep. He sleeps like a stone when he's feeling under the weather." Twilight reassured me. I gave her a small nod and opened the door for her.

I follow her downstairs, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity still don't look me in the eye. Fluttershy is sobbing while Pinkie is trying to cheer her up. It broke my heart to see Fluttershy like that, but right now I had some friendships to save. I took my place in front of the trio, the letter was on the floor beside the broken board. I winced slightly at the way I acted earlier, but kept my posture as I addressed those three ponies.

"First of all, I'd like you to know that how much it hurt me to tell you all that, I'm not sorry for a single word I said." They glanced up at me, surprised. "But I still want to be your friend, if you'll have me that is, so the least I can do is tell you the reason I said it. But for that I'll tell you a bit about my youth, I don't expect you to understand, but I hope you listen to every word I say." I kept my voice cold and neutral, I want them to know that I mean business. After all, I only told two other ponies about my past.

"I met Trixie when I was just a little foal, I think I was just six or seven years old. She was the first friend I ever had."

"You could say that I was born in Canterlot, in Lower Canterlot to be precise." Oh right, they might not know the slang. "That's the name the locals give to the poorer part of the city, the area where the workers live. Canterlot is the name we give to the area where the upper-class ponies live. And the city itself of course." I'll have to tell them either way, there's no point in trying to smooth the situation...

"Either way, I'm an..." I took a deep breath. "Trixie, Sunshine and I were orphans." I hear them gasp.

"I was left in an orphanage there when I was just a little foal, I never knew my parents or even cared to. For me, my family were the foals and staff of orphanage. The problem was that nopony really cared about me. I was the only pegasus there and since I couldn't fly yet, the other foals would tease me and call me an sorry excuse for a pony. I was different, the rest of them were all unicorns and they refused to be my friends, no matter how much I tried. Until one day, I simply stopped trying. I hated them but they... Were my only family."

I took another deep breath. No matter how many times I remembered, it still hurt.

"Then one day I met Trixie. I don't remember how she lost her parents, but it had affected her badly. She could only speak in the third person so the other ponies teased her about it. I didn't really care, for me she was nothing but another unicorn, one that would one day treat me like the rest." I sighed, I'm still ashamed of how I acted back then.

"But then one day, I found her crying in a corner and I felt... Happy." I hear them gasp again but payed no mind. "I felt happy to find somepony else like me, somepony else that I could help and rely on. That day I talked to her for the first time, it was the first time that I was happy to talk to somepony else, and the first time that I saw Trixie smile."

"After just a couple of days we were inseparable, we ate together, we played together, we slept together. We were an item. The other ponies would still tease us, but we found solace in one another." I smiled. A genuine smile, those were some of the fondest memories I had of Trixie.

"Then two years later, we met Sunshine."

"Oatmeal again!? Are they crazy?"

Trixie and I were both sitting on a table in the cafeteria. Trixie had finished eating her oats and was now reading a small book I... 'Borrowed', for her earlier. 'Magic 101: The essentials every colt and filly should know', she had already read it ten times, but we couldn't be picky, we had to use whatever we had. We also had to eat whatever we had, although oatmeal wasn't so bad, eating it for two weeks straight starts to mess with your stomach.

"Hey Trixie, do you know a spell to turn oats into chocolate?" She chuckled a bit.

"Trixie is but a magician, not a miracle worker." She closed her book with a sigh. "Trixie wishes that she had another book, she already knows all of these spells..."

"I'll see what I can do Trixie, I heard Starky has a shapeshifting book under his bed. Maybe he'd like to trade or something."

"Really?" She lifted an eyebrow. "Trixie is surprised that he can even read." We both laughed a bit.

"Yeah, I know he's a brute sometimes so maybe I can use that to our advantage. If I say our book is better I'm sure he'd love to 'trade' it with us." I gave her a grin.

"Thanks Light. As much as Trixie loves reading, she can only do so much with such petty books. Trixie has already mastered levitation, so she'd love to advance to another area as soon as possible." She slumped her head on top of her hooves.

I felt sorry for her, she's the most talented unicorn in this entire house, but the education we get is mostly basic. Sometimes at night I search under the other foals beds in search of books we could use. I'd give any magic related book I could find to Trixie, and keep the rest for myself.

I have a secret stash near the attic, being a pegasus has it's advantages. I grab a nearby chair, jump on top of it and flutter my way to the top of the support bean. I hid several books there, like Harry Trotter and Daring Do comics.

One day when we went to the market, I stole a book about elemental magic for Trixie, she was so happy to have something more challenging to learn. But then some bullies found it and destroyed it in front of her, she cried for a week. From that day forward, I hid all the good books I could find. Only trading some used books for newer ones.

"Hey guys! Look at what the storm brought home!"

Trixie perked her ears and looked towards the noise, if I wasn't so busy poking my oatmeal I would have noticed the three bullies of the orphanage, Butch, Starky and Snowball messing with somepony.

"Yeah butch." Starky laughed. "Just look at this tiny pony. She's even smaller then that freak, Lighty!"

This time I perked up and looked at them, I could see somepony pushed against a wall, and for the sound of it whoever it was was crying. I glanced at Trixie and she looked me in the eye, with the same frown I had.

"Yeah!" Snowball yelled. "She's even more useless too! Who would want a boring earth pony anyway. I bet her parents left her here on purpose!" They all laughed, and I could feel myself getting angrier by the second. Nopony deserves to hear that!

"Oooooh guys, we made her cry." Butch poked her. "Why don't you go cry home to Mommy and Daddy? Oh that's right, you don't have any!" They all laughed at Butch's cruel joke. As I made my way towards them I spotted a small white coated pony curling up into a ball and cry, loudly. "L-Leave me alone..." She pleaded.

"Yeah! Leave her alone!" I yelled, jumping in front of them.

"Oh, what are you gonna do 'bout it? Beat us?" Snowball said, moving towards me as I put on my best poker-face.

"I could do that." The three of them moved closer. "Or I could tell Ms. Sweetheart about the window you guys broke, two days ago."

"Hey! You said you'd take the blame if I gave you my Daring Do comic!" Starky glared at me, jabbing my chest with his hoof.

"I say a lot of things." I gave him a smug smile. Butch just grinned while his horn glowed.

"Whatever dweeb." He slammed my bowl of oats on my head. "You're nothing but a useless pegasus, the same goes for that freak friend of yours. Smell ya later!" Gladly he just walked away after that, I didn't want to get in a fight.

"Are you ok?" Trixie asked me, using her magic to levitate the chunks of oats out of my mane.

"Yeah I'm fine, thanks for not getting involved. Or else it could have been worse." I gave her an reassuring smile.

"No problem, Trixie knew you could handle them." She smiled in victory, getting the last drop of oats out of my mane. I turned towards the cowering earth pony.

"Hello, what's you name? She sniffed and looked at me.

"I'm S-Sunshine..." She spoke softly, still curled up a bit. I lied down next to her, and so did Trixie.

"Hello Sunshine, I'm Lightning, but you can call me Light. This here is my friend Trixie." I motioned towards her with my head.

"Hello." Trixie spoke softly. Sunshine lowered her head a bit and sniffed. Trixie nuzzled her mane, trying to cheer her up. "Hey hey, don't cry... Everything is fine now." She rested her head on Sunshine's mane.

"I- I miss my Mommy and Daddy..." I felt sorry for her so I nuzzled the other side of her mane, but let Trixie talk.

"Trixie knows... She misses her Mommy and Daddy too..."

We stayed like that for a while, just the three of us. The cafeteria was empty now, the foals were either in the backyard or in their rooms.

"Thank you..." Sunshine spoke after a few minutes.

"It's alright, that's what friends do right?" I gave her a smile.

"So... You guys are my friends now?" She asked, a bit more happy and cheerful.

"Of course! Trixie would like to be your friend." Trixie spoke, nuzzling her again.

"I-I don't know what to say." She gave me a small grin. "Thank you!" She hugged me, and I hugged her back. It looks like I have somepony else to protect, but I only need to know one more thing.

"Hey, do you like Daring Do?" She game me a nod and a smile. Looks like my secret stash will be safe with her too.

"Trixie, Sunshine and I were the best of friends during the next two years. But then the worst possible thing happened. The three of us were ten at the time, so we were still really young, but I guess nopony understood how much it hurt for us."

"Trixie had just gotten her cutie mark, her special talent was magic. She got it after Sunshine and I secretly organized a magic show for her birthday. She would perform of course, she was a proud pony, always trying to show of her magic, so we figured that was the perfect present for her. The show was a success, everypony enjoyed the show, even the staff and some ponies they invited to watch. Trixie even got her cutie mark! So the day couldn't have been any better." I frowned a bit.

"After the show Ms. Sweetheart told us some rich couple wanted to adopt Trixie. We were happy for her of course, but when we realized that they didn't want anything to do with us, that we would probably never see her again. We..." I let a small tear leave my eyes, but carried on with the story.

"We spent another week with Trixie, it was one of the saddest and yet the most precious week in my entire life. After Trixie left, I promised to Sunshine that I would never leave her. But faith doesn't always work in your favor. Two years had passed and Ms. Sweetheart told us that I was going to be sent to an orphanage in Cloudsdale, that since they couldn't find a family for me in Canterlot, they would send me there to try my luck, so to speak."

"Sunshine lost her parents in a freak air-cab accident, she lost Trixie two years ago, and sure as hay she wasn't going to loose me!"

"One day before my transfer, I ran away from the orphanage with Sunshine, we both lived on the streets for a while and made a living by doing anything that showed up."

"We lived like that for only a few months though, one day I made a friend that took us in his home. But that's a story for another day, this is about Trixie." I took a deep breath, collecting my thoughts.

"Only four years after being adopted, I learned that Trixie ran away from home." I hear them gasp, yet again I payed them no mind. "Her so called 'family' was only using her for her talent, they would take her to dances, shows and stuff, basically just show her to other ponies like she was some painting and such! From what I've heard, Trixie used their bits to learn everything she could about magic and then ran away."

"I only heard some rumors of what happened next, but I heard that she followed her dream of becoming a performer. So Sunshine and I just let her be."

"If Trixie was happy, we were happy."

End of Chapter 14

So, did I make you cry?

No? You heartless [BUY SOME APPLES!]

Well, did you at least like this version of Trixie's past?

Leave a small comment, I like those.

Now for the Hype. *Ahem*

Lightning explained his reasons.

Now let's hear what the Mane 6 have to say.

I promise you will "Daww" like you never have before!

Find out in the next chapter of...

Will of Fire!