Product of Friendship (My Little Pony)

13 Hivemind (2/3)

Trixie began her session with Wist minutes ago. It was quiet. It was tense.

Trixie was silent and anxious. Not because of Wist, of course. Trixie had survived a whole week with this lunatic. That was enough time for Trixie to adjust to her presence. However, Trixie may need months or years for the little beast coddled on her student.

"You're such a baby," Wist chuckled at the miniature Ursa Minor. It sprawled on Trixie's couch, resting its head between Wist's hind legs.

Wist groomed the Ursa's neck as it shot licks on her belly. His owner did not seem to mind.

If not for the Ursa's presence, Trixie would have been taken with awe at the genuine smile on Wist. Trixie could tell the difference between a fake and a real one.

Well, ponies say a dog is a pony's best friend. Guess that now applied to Ursa. Minors.

"Um," Trixie started. "Trixie understands that you have grown an affinity for the beast, but we have a session to hold."

Wist batted an eye at her. Trixie saw the wicked grin forming on the changeling. "Whatever you can say to me, you can say in front of my cutie Snowflake," Wist said.

Trixie arched an eyebrow. "Cutie Snowflake?"

"You sound confused. Do you not agree that he's a cutie?" Wist rubbed on Snowflake's chin. The Ursa let out moans and repetitively kicked its hind leg in the air.

"That's not why we are here today, Wist. We are here to discuss your time in school."

"How selfless of you," Wist commented. "Choosing to ground your own pain for my sake. But don't you think it's unhealthy to burrow down those negative emotions? You'd stand to hurt yourself down the line."

Trixie gave Wist a dirty look, anxious of a scheme sprucing in Wist's head. Trixie readied her hooves on her desk. "Wist, don't do anything funny."

Wist shushed Trixie calmly. "It's okay. Just trust me. You'll thank me later for this." Wist glimpsed into the eyes of Snowflake and lit an emerald glow in her eyes. "Snowflake, assure my poor counselor that there's nothing to—"

"Okay!" Trixie shouted, putting a pause on Wist. "Yes, Trixie is afraid of Ursa Minors. I've had an unpleasant experience with their kind and it's never left me."

"Well," Wist started, resuming her brush on Snowflake. "That was surprisingly honest. I figured you would have too much pride to admit."

"Trixie has learned to humble herself over the years," Trixie sighed. "It was Trixie's first time at Ponyville when an Ursa Minor led to a falling Trixie's career. It spiraled me to a dark place Trixie never thought she would come out from."

"A dark place? What skeletons do you have in your closet?"

"You're not the only one who's challenged Twilight. Trixie fancied herself as a magician unmatched to all except the alicorns."

"Then why challenge Twilight? You know she has a horn and wings, right?"

"Twilight was once a unicorn like Trixie. And when Trixie met her at Ponyville, she showed me up when she stopped the attack of Ursa Minor when Trixie could not."

Wist had stopped brushing against Snowflake's coat. Her emerald eyes fixated on her glum counselor.

"Her perfection riled a darkness in Trixie she never thought existed," Trixie continued. "Never had Trixie thirsted for vengeance so much that she devoted to evil items just to even the odds. Looking back now, that had only exasperated Trixie's insecurities."

"Oh, wow," Wist said with a flat gaze. "I didn't think Snowflake could make you give up something like that."

"You tend to push boundaries when you don't have your way," Trixie said. "But maybe that's for the best between us. Trixie wants you to know that you can trust her. So, since Trixie has shared a bone from her closet, it's only fair that you do the same."

Wist blinked at Trixie and then sighed. "Way to reverse it on me."

Wist resumed again on stroking Snowflake's coat, sending the Ursa into gleeful moans and rewarding her with licks.

"Okay," Wist breathed. "... So, I don't think I've talked about my mother, have I?"

"You refer to her as your home, right?"

Wist confirmed with a slow nod. "She wasn't one to show love for others. In fact, she could be mean and demeaning. But, even as harsh as she appeared to be, I could always find love in her."

"When you say harsh, do you mean it in the physical sense?"

"Well, I have earned a few of her mighty chops on the head before," Wist chuckled. "Though to be fair, I was probably the most troublesome brat any creature had ever seen."

"Trixie can believe that. You've already spread so much chaos in one week to earn Discord's respect."

Wist gawked at Trixie. "I thought the point of a counselor is to make me feel good about myself?"

"We both know it wouldn't be genuine."

"Whatever." Wist rolled her eyes. "But no, I'd never think she ever abused me. In fact, she gave me all the comfort and protection I could ever ask for."

"Trixie sees. And whatever happened to your mother?"

"I... I don't know. One day, she sent me to forage the forest and when I came back that night, she had disappeared. She and our home were gone."

Trixie held an intense gaze. "You mean she left you?"

Wist shook her head. "That couldn't be it. I've spent so many years with her and knew her love for me was genuine. I had figured she blew up our house, which wasn't as rare as she would like to admit. I thought she would come back with wood for us to make a new one, but she never returned."

"You mean to tell Trixie that you waited at that destroyed home? It's not safe for a young bug to be on her lonesome for such a long time."

"Oh, don't worry. I knew how to take care of myself. Mom may be sure of that."

"Even so, Wist, no child should be alone defending themselves."

"I don't believe she left me on purpose," Wist argued. "I never saw her as the type to do that to me. So, when I inevitably left, I knew in my heart that something bad must have happened to her. I had to find and rescue from whatever that bad thing was."

"And when you wandered off, you ended up in Abyssinia," Trixie presumed.

"Well... yes. How'd you know that?"

"You say it pretty often," Trixie answered. "How could anyone not make that link? So, did you find anything in Abyssinia?"

Wist grimaced. "I don't want to talk about it. Maybe some other time."