Lamentable Loneliness
Chapter 1
The dank rain pelted heavily against the blue pony’s pelt as she wondered through the Everfree Forest. She was tired, so, so tired and sore but she simply let her hooves lead the way through the clustered trees and broken bushes. This pony was quite obviously Trixie and she was suffering in the exile that both other ponies put on her, and she put on herself. In all honesty, Trixie felt completely and utterly stupid and it would help if she had some pony to confide in, but she didn’t. The unicorn mare had no one and that was the way things would be for her now.
Oh, Trixie wished she wasn’t such a show off, and oh did she wish that she didn’t have to try and be the best at everything and lash out at ponies who could have become her friends. And above all, oh did she wish that instead of trying to stay tough after Twilight tricked her with the amulet, that she explained the to the lavender pony that she had nowhere to go, and that she wanted help after the other (and more likeable) unicorn accepted her apology. A few bitter, salty tears rolled down her soaked cheeks and mixed with the cold rain water that currently stained her fur.
Trixie didn’t have the hat and cape she cherished above all else, some rogue ponies stole them from her to sell for a few quick bits. She’d lost her cart too, ponies in Trottingham had kicked it to pieces when she arrived and drove her out, which was surprising for the type of ponies living there. Now, what was she? Homeless, sore, tired, sick and heartbroken. What did she want? For ponies to actually like her and want her, and to care about her positively, even just for a day. She wanted a home and some food; a roof above her head. And most of all, she wanted some pony there for her, to look after her and care for her, even if it was all just simply platonic love and cuddling.
But of course, she was almost certain that would never happen.
“What is Trixie? She’s just a lie... A fraud... A faker...” The pony’s words were choked sobs and sounded barely louder than a whisper, “They were right... Trixie would never be ‘Great’ and ‘Powerful’ only ‘Low’ and ‘Sorrowful’... I’m useless.”
She slumped down and more sobs were choked out as she shook from the cold, the wet and the current wave of tears that cascaded from her eyes. She was in agony; almost every inch of her body hurt. Her hooves were pained from the almost constant walking and her back hurt for the same reason, that and the strenuous bawling. Her head pounded from the constant storm of her thoughts clashing in her head and the effect of the rain chilling her.
She was getting dizzy and a wound on her stomach began to hurt again. Only a few nights ago, Trixie was attacked by timber wolves which had managed to slice her stomach and cut across both her cutie marks in an attempt to grip her; this added to her sadness. The pride she had in herself, the mark of her ‘talent’ had been mutilated by a group of angry, hungry hounds who she’d only just managed to outrun. Even thinking about that night made the wound ache but she wanted to carry on in her trek through the congealed forest until she found somewhere secluded and dry to curl up and maybe sleep. Though, in her condition, she might not hold on through the night and not just because of how damaged she was.
Despite her hardest attempts, Trixie couldn’t get the blood off her fur; this would attract more beasts. While the rain dampened the scent she seemed to have the upper hand, and whatever magic she could muster the strength to use also came in handy, but it wasn’t enough. Now she was losing all hope, strength and whatever willpower she had to carry on but she kept going anyway. If she was lucky, maybe she’d get dry.
Most ponies would call her pathetic, getting so upset over being kicked out of Ponyville but that wasn’t just it. Trixie never did have a good life at all and when she managed to get herself on stage she felt special, important, like ponies cared about her but it all took one mistake to damage her reputation and bring her down faster than the rain that tumbled down around her.
What made her life so bad? Well it started when she was a foal and she was abandoned. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t remember her parents or why she was abandoned, she didn’t know if they didn’t want her or died or anything, just that she didn’t have any family. Naturally, when she managed to get herself into a magic school (after endless hours of rigorous practicing however) she was bullied. She was bullied for being small, being an orphan, being a blank flank and of course being poor, but she still tried her hardest to succeed. The blue furred filly would just push on and on until she reached her goal, even with other ponies beating her and trying to drag her down; she just wanted to succeed.
Those days came flooding back to her and she was suddenly overwhelmed with a sudden realization.
Some of the ponies from her childhood would have seen her downfall and maybe it was them who were the ones to kick down her cart, but it’s not like that really mattered, she couldn’t change what had happened. Trixie sighed softly even though breathing heavily in any sense was almost pure agony. She missed those days in some sense, because in those days, even with all those ponies hurting her and beating her and dragging her down, she still managed to keep her head up, smile and carry on. That’s not the way she’d become now; every pony’s opinion meant too much.
She was slipping now, not in a literal sense but on the inside. Her head was pounding worse and worse and the wounds she’d gained were close to reopening and that could be the end of her and even through everything, she wasn’t really sure she wanted to die. She’d been through so much and fought her way to survival and she wasn’t about to just give up, but she had nothing left. Noticing a small grove in some bushes, she curled up there and waited for the unforgiving rain to pass by.
But as she fell into a deep sleep, the dull crunch of hooves on twigs, no matter how drowned it was by the rainfall, filled her ears but she couldn’t muster the strength to open her eyes. The last thing she heard was the stranger coming closer as she fell into a deep slumber.
A Scented Savior
Lamentable Loneliness
Chapter 2
She was moving. No, that couldn’t be right, she was just asleep a few moments ago and she clearly wasn’t sleep-walking. If Trixie had the energy she would have kicked up a fuss and tried to get down but instead just lay there and sighed. At this moment, it felt like twenty bulls were ramming their horns violently against her skull and like someone had set fire to her flanks. A familiar scent filled her nostrils, and it certainly wasn’t the repulsing, stagnant odour of blood and rain that seemed to stain her fur now. No, it was the scent of... apples?
That couldn’t be right. There was no way.
When she’d passed out, she caught a dull and fading glimpse of orange and she’d heard a voice but couldn’t react until now; it was a western and friendly tone. In Trixie’s mind, there was no way the pony saving her could be who it was. She believed said pony hated her but as she turned her head after tightly clenching shut her eyes from the pain, her suspicions were proved true.
It was, in fact, Applejack.
Fighting back the intense pain and now sudden urge to vomit she grunted, hitting the pony lightly with a hoof, “What are you doing? Trixie doesn’t need help from a farm pony...”
Her voice was weak and pained, but it still held some feigned dignity. The blue pelted magician didn’t want to be seen as a push over, and certainly didn’t want to seem like a worthless excuse of a pony in front of someone as noble as Applejack.
“For some reason, Ah disagree...” The apple scented mare carried on ahead, “And Ah didn’t plan to leave y’all to be eaten by some Timberwolves or somethin’ “
Trixie sighed and swallowed back, “Can you at least let Trixie walk on her own? She’s fine to do that... And where are you taking Trixie? No one in Ponyville wants her...”
There was a strange bitterness in the way she said her name, but she seemed to cheer up a little when the ginger pelted pony let her walk (or more like limp) on her own, “Thank you.”
“Ah’m taking you to Sweet Apple Acres with me, and as much as Ah don’t want ya around either, Ah’m not going to be cruel.” She grimaced slightly, “Ya can sleep in the barn, and when you’re better, you can help around on the farm.”
With an agitated snort she looked to the ground. While she didn’t want taken in, and especially not into a barn, this was better than dying from being hunted, the cold, starvation or infection.
“Trixie supposes that’s fine by her...” She paused before carrying on, “Thank you Applejack...”
Tugging at her lips there was a proud kind of smile on the farmer’s face as she adjusted her hat in the silver moonlight, “its fine Trixie. We need to hurry home, it’s late.”
She picked up the pace and the unfortunate and wounded mare struggled to keep up with the agony running through her flanks, stomach and lungs.
After a while they arrived and Applejack took her into the barn and scattered some hay on the ground, before telling her to wait. Slumping down and ignoring her pained and now bleeding flanks she did as she was told and waited for the other mare to return. Her amethyst eyes examined her new ‘home’ with caution. Besides the occasional squeak and rustle from a mouse’s movement, she knew by sound that she was alone again and the near silence of the room made her head begin to spin and she felt woozy. By the time Applejack returned she’d passed out again.
Cantering over and bucking the door shut the ginger furred pony pulled a blanket she’d brought over Trixie and nudged her cheek with some genuine care. This situation was one she hoped to avoid, since she couldn’t just leave the collapsed pony on her own in case something was to happen to her, but it meant she couldn’t go to sleep. Begrudgingly she settled down beside Trixie and rested her head on her hooves and sat quietly, sighing.
This could be a rough time for both of them.
