"Cady, please…I'm sorry for what happened," Shining Armor said for the umpteenth time to his wife, who just ignored him and pretended like he wasn't there. Shining Armor was starting to feel his like he shouldn't have told her but when they got married, she said there would be no more secrets since a couple always told everything to one another. Shining Armor just watched her go and decided to give up…for now. He knew that his wife wouldn't be able to stay mad at him forever. She would have to come around sometime.
As Shining Armor looked out the window of the turquoise colored barrier and saw it flicker, which meant he knew that once it had dissipated King Sombra would be able to reclaim what was his…and Shining Armor wouldn't be able to stop him. He wished he didn't charge in front of him during their run towards the Empire; he knew he wasn't strong enough to try and stop him, so why did he do it in the first place?
I was being an idiot, he thought to himself.
As he continued to stare out the window and wonder what would happen to the Crystal Empire, it was still on the subject of his sister. She was probably still upset over the Changeling Invasion and decided to take her aggression out on Spike, something that he didn't think she would ever do since the two had been together since she was a little filly. What kind of brother was he?
"She deserves better than me," he said and turned to walk out of the throne room.
The pink train pulled into the station of Ponyville as the friends all got off and immediately went to Twilight's tree house library. As they went up to it, they were thrown back as electrical magic surged through their body. Hurt from the electrical surge, they looked through at the force-field and saw the dark electricity-like magic surge through the protective dome. "Looks like Twilight doesn't want us to see her," Rarity said.
"I don't care if I'm a walking magnet!" Rainbow Dash said. "I'm going to get her to talk to us!"
The stubborn prismatic mare flew up into the air and back a few feet away from the large dome before propelling herself forward as fast she could and slammed her body into it as the magic shocked her body, but she tried to tolerate the pain to try and break through the barrier. Her friends just watched with shock and awe at her attempts. Rainbow Dash's closed eyes leaked tears as her wings burned with exhaustion but she fought against that just like the pain going in her. Minutes had passed and it looked as though she was going to break through…but she was thrown back, slamming into the ground as her friends rushed to her.
"Rainbow!" Applejack went over to check on her. "You alright?"
The cyan mare's body twitched as sparks of black magical energy was visible; she groaned as she cleared her vision. "Damn egghead," she said, "I knew she was strong but not that strong."
"Maybe she's learning some new spells," Fluttershy said.
"That's some strong magic. I doubt anything in her books could teach her something like that," said Rarity.
"So what do we do?" Pinkie Pie said, "We need to get in there somehow."
Applejack looked at the barrier and thought about trying to buck through it but she knew that she would end up like Rainbow Dash and didn't do it. As they all sat there thinking, the door opened and the lavender unicorn walked outside to see her friends. All of them had looks to surprise, shock, anger, and sadness mixed together. She looked and saw her loyal assistant among the group, seeing how he was healed up from her attack and on his feet, Twilight smiled and it made Spike nervous and scared. Twilight's horn glowed and she levitated the small lizard to the barrier, and he passed through it easily while her friends all shouted at her as she closed the door behind her with Spike in tow.
Inside the library, Twilight set down Spike and looked at him while he, too, looked at her, scared of what she was going to do to him. Maybe she was going to hurt him again like she did back in the Crystal Empire. Or maybe she was going to do worse such as tear his limbs off piece by piece. Whatever he was thinking she was going to do to him, he froze up when she smiled at him, but she said, "Don't be afraid, Spike."
He stopped tearing up as his nerves started to slowly relax. "Why? All you're going to do is hurt me."
At the mention of that Twilight felt tears come out of her eyes as she remembered what she did, and said, "I know what I did, Spike. I wasn't thinking straight; you are the most important to me and I would never want to hurt you."
"No, you wanted to do it! You hated me ever since!" yelled the baby dragon.
Twilight froze. Just like her dream. No, she wasn't going to let that happen, she cared too much for him and wanted him to be with her forever. The dream she had the last night was too much for her and she was only able to sleep a few hours. Now that he was here with her she was determined to make amends between them… and she knew the perfect way to do it. The spell she was working on was almost done.
"Spike, is there any way you can forgive me?" she asked, hopeful.
Spike was quiet for a moment. He looked at his arm and saw the scars her magic has caused to it as well to his torso—he didn't know what to say since moving his body still hurt to make him wince in pain. "I can't think right now Twilight, I still don't feel well."
"Here, let me carry you to bed, then."
"No!" he yelled out, recoiling away from her frightfully that hurt Twilight even more than it already did.
"Spike, please…"
"Don't touch me!" he yelled again, slowly going up the stairs, even though he was limping, and went straight to his bed, got under his covers, and slept. It took him a few seconds to fall asleep because of the words she said were echoing in his head about how she wouldn't hurt him again. His bed was probably the only safe place for him for the time being, and if her abuse escalated even further…well, then he knew that Rarity would always welcome him to her place with open hooves.
I bet you would just love to be pampered and have your boo-boos kissed by that prissy little unicorn!
He heard those words again as he slept. If Twilight's abuse did somehow get out of hand and he found sanctuary at Rarity's, he could only stay there for a short while because he knew that even she would get tired of him, and if Sweetiebelle was going to be there sometimes—sure, it would be fun, but that would soon get tiring—it would be a mix of joy and chaos.
He turned himself over and the voice in his head faded as he went to sleep.
Back downstairs, Twilight was finished reading through one of her books. The spell she was using was almost done, she had been running practice sessions to see how well she could do it and as she delved deeper into the book she found out more and more. After she had read what she wanted, she went back how to do a perfect materialization. She remembered how she would do materialization spells but would only last for a short time; these ones would last a lot longer and would permanent. There was only one thing she wanted to materialize, and that would be something she knew Spike wouldn't be able to say no to.
Minutes had passed as she worked through with the spell and the bright glow flashed before taking the shape of the object she wanted. She watched with fascination as they appeared on the ground. She went to it. She picked them up with her magic then slowly traced her hoof around their smooth texture. Spike is going to love this, she thought to herself as she hid the present in her desk.
Seeing as how Twilight's protective barrier wasn't penetrable, each of them went their separate ways home. Applejack walked through her farm and to her apple trees and saw the empty buckets near them. Maybe some hard work would help her forget about the Crystal Empire event, as well as her best friend going into a dark depression and hurting her beloved number one assistant. She went up to the apple trees and looked at them for a second. A flash of Twilight's face berating and beating Spike appeared. Something inside her suddenly surfaced—a deep rooted anger towards her best friend. Rearing back her hind legs she bucked at the tree not caring that the apples were falling—she didn't bother with them and didn't care—and continued to buck at the tree, harder and harder. Each time she hit at the tree with more force it would hurt, but she didn't care. All she cared about was making that filly suffer at her hooves.
"Darn you, Twi," she said to herself, continuing to buck and ignoring the pain. "I bet you're practically enjoyin' beatin' poor Spike like a bag of beans. A sadist like you deserves to be put to death for what you're doing." More and more, she pounded harder at the tree until exhaustion set in as she gave a loud cry and gave it one last hard buck before collapsing to the grass in a tired heap. Teeth ground together she looked back at the still-uprooted tree. "If you were tied to that tree, Twilight…I'd enjoy giving you that good bucking I just gave to my tree, and then after that I would tie a rock to your bucking hooves and buck you into a river and enjoy watching you drown!"
She picked herself up for a moment to spit on the ground, and then went back down, still panting.
"Sis?" a voice called to her, low and frightened.
Applejack looked up and saw her sister. "Applebloom, what are you doing out here, sugarcube?"
"I heard you yellin' and thought you were in trouble."
"I'm alright, sis…" she looked at the tree, "just releasing some aggression."
"Did something happen?"
Applejack paused, not sure how to respond that—and unsure if it would be right to talk about with her little sister—and just said, "It's something I don't feel like talking about, Applebloom."
"You sure?" she asked.
Applejack only nodded while Applebloom told her that she was going to meet Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle for more crusading. The farm pony laughed at this and told her to be careful and not do anything reckless. As she watched her sibling go to the tree house on the part of the farm, she, too, went inside the house to hopefully have some peace and quiet. Going into the kitchen she decided that some cider would be able to help her. She just had to make sure she didn't overdo it and get herself drunk. "Ah buck it," she says to herself as she heads over to one of the barrels and pours herself a mug-full of the booze.
She didn't care about getting plastered; in fact, she was looking forward to it.
A few hours had passed when Applebloom came back home with no success in getting her cutie mark like her two friends. They had crazy ways of trying to see what their special talents were, but all they got was nothing. When she got home, she found her big sister laid out on the couch, snoring loudly while Big Macintosh tried to wake her up. "What happened?" she asked.
"I don't know. I found her like this and she smells like she's been in the cider," said the big red stallion.
Big Macintosh looked at his sister, snoring, and sleeping peacefully. He brought a hoof up to her and gently nudged her awake. Applejack groaned a little, rubbed her eyes, and looked up at her brother. "You okay, AJ?" he asked.
"Piss off and let me get drunk," she said, going back to the kitchen for a refill.
"Applejack, stop it. You're going to kill yourself."
"I don't care about that. I can do what I darn well want to."
"Applejack, please…stop," Applebloom's voice called out to her meekly while she just looked at her and scoffed before going to the kitchen, grabbed some more cider, and went out the door and to the apple orchard to drink in peace. Through the window, both siblings watched her go and couldn't help but wonder. Big Macintosh looked at her for a while before he decided to go after her and ask her what was wrong. At one of the trees she sat next to, drinking her cider while he just looked at her. "AJ, why the hay are you doing this to yourself?" he asked.
"I don't feel like talking about it, Big Mac."
"After seeing you drink so much cider, I have to right to know why my little sister is trying to kill herself."
Applejack didn't say anything; her hat obscured her eyes from her brother's sight. "Please, Applejack. I just want to know."
"Forget it, I ain't telling you. So just buck off and leave me alone, will ya?" she said, irritated that she wasn't able to get some time alone, so she went inside the barn and shut and locked the doors. She took another drink of her cider and sat down against a support beam of the structure. "Darn you Twilight…" she said to herself once more before continuing her binge.
The effects of booze were starting to take effect in her, both with her vision and her stomach—she went straight to one of the barrels and dipped her head into it and emptied out the contents of her stomach. She didn't have much of anything in her stomach except for the alcohol, but she knew she would be hungry soon, and starving herself was only making it worse… but she didn't care. She would starve herself if she had to, and she didn't care about what her family thought of her.
She was in her own hell, and she didn't want to come out of it.
Even though she was killing herself, she couldn't imagine the depression the others were going through since Twilight took Spike back. All they could hear were his sorrowful cries and pleas for her to stop, but she just gave a sadistic glee and continued on.
"Damn you Twilight. I didn't know you had a sadistic side," she said, continuing to drink her cider.
As night came on to Equestria, a pony walked through Canterlot and went straight to Donut Joe's shop. Donut Joe was open late at night; sometimes there would be someone there to help him work the late shift. It didn't bother him that he got customers with a sweet tooth during the middle of the night—he enjoyed talking with the customers. His donut shop was like a bar without the alcohol. Tonight was not that much of a busy night. He was working late again and cleaning up some of the tables until he heard the door jingle: a customer. "Be right with you," he said, cleaning up the last table and going to the counter. He saw who it was and was shocked.
"I didn't expect you to be back," he said.
"I just thought I stop by for a visit."
"Why?
"I figured to stop by for something before heading home."
"You know, from what I heard, you already had a home but you left."
The pony sighed as Donut Joe placed two donuts and a drink in front of her. She looked at it before thanking him and eating her snack. Donut Joe looked at her and asked, "So you still do your magic tricks? Still boasting?"
She laughed a good hearty laugh. "No. Trixie…" she trailed off before correcting herself. "I don't do that anymore. I've finally been through enough humility to give up magic and tend to others—namely sick fillies and colts at the local hospital. It brings so much joy to me to see their faces and knowing I can make them happy with simple tricks instead of the ones I used to do."
Donut Joe smiled at this. "I'm glad, Trixie. I guess Twilight taught you a good lesson in twice in a row, huh?"
The blue mare was silent. She looked down at her half-eaten donut and then looked back up. "Twilight Sparkle taught me a lot when I went back to Ponyville for a rematch, and now because of that I'm not the same pony I used to be, and love how much I have changed. Now everypony sees the changes in me and are proud that I've turned myself around. Speaking of which, how is Twilight doing?"
"It's hard to say. Last I heard, her and her friends were going to the Crystal Empire north of Equestria to save it and Twilight was the only one who came back."
"Did something go wrong?" She took a sip of her coffee.
"Not that I know of, but now I'm hearing that she's been acting strange and she's acting the way she used to be—a recluse."
Trixie finished her first donut and started on the second. "You think she would change if I went to visit? I know we've had our tough times, but I want to show her how much I've changed."
Donut Joe sighed at this, unsure of how to respond to that. From what he heard from the grapevine was that Twilight built a protective barrier around her home, and refuses to come out or let anypony else in. And now she's kept her loyal assistant Spike prisoner after hurting him badly. When he found out that part, he wanted to catch the next train to Ponyville and know why she did…even if he was going to attract attention of the whole town.
He looked at her, "Trixie, I know you're good with magic, but seeing as how Twilight is stronger than you, I don't think you would be able to break through her barrier."
"How strong is it?"
"Very strong," he said, taking the plate and setting it in the empty sink along with the milk-stained glass.
"I've known for her to be strong with magic before, but from what you told me, something must've happened for her to become even more powerful than she already is."
"I'm just saying, kid, be careful and don't do anything stupid. No offense."
"None taken," she said, "like I said I've learned from my mistakes."
"Oh, I forgot to ask…where are you staying?"
She looked back at him just as she was about to head out the door. "I'm staying with a close friend of mine here in Canterlot. I don't ask much for him in return and he lets me stay for as long as I need to."
"That's good. I thought maybe you were back out in the street like you were before, or living in a cardboard box."
"Well, I have been fortunate that my change in attitude has made me some friends I can love and trust."
"Sure, and consider me another. Take it easy, kid."
"You too, Donut Joe. See you again."
Just like that, Trixie walked out while Donut Joe watched her leave, smiling. He was happy for the blue unicorn and hoped that this good fortune would last forever. He still doted on her since she was a regular customer. "Take it easy, kid. And remember what I said about Twilight. I don't want you to end up like Spike."
With her gone, he cleaned up the two dirty dishes and began to close up the shop before locking it up and heading home.
There's another chapter for you. I know some of you are thinking why I haven't been updating. Well, it's because with my allergies I get constant headaches and can't write because of the pain, so I have to take some time off. But I won't let any of you down with this story since I know you love it, and I will continue to give you what you want.