Day 16
Dear Journal,
It's been a bad week.
I used to talk with Starlight Glimmer about everything. Friends, especially Besties, should be able to talk to each other about anything and everything, and so we did. I remember talking to her about the Ursa incident, and she would roll her eyes and laugh with me about it. I'd talk about that time I went power-mad with the Alicorn Amulet and took over Ponyville, and she'd chuckle and compare notes.
But whenever she talked about the things she'd done, I could tell it was different. I was just embarrassed at how foalish I'd acted. Not Great or Powerful. Not Great or Powerful at all. Most of what I did could have happened in a silly fairy-tale show, put on by those puppets Felt Hoof ran back in Hyneighria.
An angry child. That's what I was. A child looking for attention.
Starlight didn't laugh off her sins. I can tell, living with her at the Palace, that she still thinks about it. That world of dust and death. I hear her, sometimes, crying in her sleep.
I get it, now. I truly, truly get it.
I knew about Our Town. Most ponies have heard rumors, at least, about Starlight's cult. I kinda wish I hadn't gotten curious about that world of dust and death, as Trixie calls it. I couldn't sleep, the night I asked Starlight herself about it. For what it's worth, I think she's in a good place these days, your old student. But, to come back from that?
I got the gist of what happened between you two. I don't know if I could have lived with myself after that. Good on you, for whatever you did to help her through it. I'd ask Trixie how she held up, once you've read this. She might need the same sort of support.
I know you're not a real creature, journal. But, hopefully, one day, somepony will be reading this. Somepony like Twilight or Starlight, and it's really to that being I'm talking to now.
Trixie is sorry. So, so sorry. Please, don't hate her for what's happened, once you know what she's done.
Trixie actually got an early start that first morning. She was up with the rooster, to a grey dawn and an early breakfast. Admirably, the Mayor's staff were already up at that un-Celestial hour of seven, so Trixie was not alone. Sparkleshine and Swirly joined me at breakfast, apparently having taken a walk even earlier.
I am starting to wonder if I'm not as early a riser as I suspect. In either case, they both showed off some of the magical abilities Trixie had taught them over the last few days. Swirly conjured up a whole book, right there in front of me! He'd been paying attention, it seemed. Granted, he still needed work. The book he'd made was pretty moldy, since he'd used wet bark and didn't dry it first, and the binding fell out since he didn't remember how to convert some of the wood to glue.
Still, an amazing first try.
Sparkleshine teleported a bit around the room. It was okay, I guess. If you like that sort of thing.
After breakfast was done, Trixie went to pack her things and make ready. I had a lot of traveling, and a lot of showplanning, to do. Couldn't slack off just because I was a Great and Powerful Wizard these days. And I couldn't guarantee there would be the same firework-materials in the next town, so I had to prepare.
While I was doing this, I noticed Swirly come down from his room near the top of the library. I tried, I truly, truly tried to not laugh. I Pinkie Promise, I did!
But he was so adorable!
"M-Miss Trixie?" he nervously called out to me from the doorway. I had my back turned, and pretended to be checking out the straps and buckles holding the wagon together outside of Sparkleshine's house. Looking away, and the motions I was making to sell the effect, were instrumental in preventing me from collapsing in a fit of laughter and awww'ing.
He tried again. "Miss Trixie? I... I wished to speak with you about something important."
I couldn't drag it out any longer, it seemed. So, I was forced to turn around, and face the little colt with dignity befitting a showpony such as myself.
Starswirl the Bearded, this kid was not. Besides the obvious height issue, and the lack of a beard, he was wearing what appeared to be a bright red cape dotted with gold stars. It looked hoof-stitched, and just as well as Ribbon's work on my own cape. The stars, however, were clearly stuck on with pins. The whole thing had that wonderful look of earnest amateur that we in the showbiz can't help but fall in love with.
"Miss Trixie? What's wrong with your face?"
"Nothing, nothing at all," Trixie said, betraying nothing of the raging storm of D'awww in my heart, "Now, pray tell, what's the matter?"
He shuffled his hooves a bit, nervous about whatever it was he was going to ask. And it was obvious he wanted to ask something.
I'd hate turning him down. I knew that right away. I hadn't known the kid for very long, but I could tell he was something special. He was quick, like Trixie, if a little stuffy like Twilight. And he had some funny ideas about pony tribes living together despite being friends, ostensibly, with pegasi and earth ponies. Heck, his dad was one!
Ostensibly was the last Word of the Day Sunburst shared with me. Also the first. I told him to cram it, after that one. But, Trixie supposes she shouldn't be too hard on the nerd. He made Starlight very happy. Insane, according to what she told me of her foalhood and the whole Our Town thing, but happy.
Very happy.
*Trixie has added a 'winky' face here*
How is Luster Dawn doing? I heard she and Trixie got involved in one of my other little girl's adventures? I think it was covered in Indeedy Do and the Alicorn Amulet. Don't worry, Indy was appropriately punished for messing about with ancient, cursed artifacts.
I'm not a hypocrite. I'm a mother.
Swirly seemed to finally swallow some courage, and I was actually impressed how he held himself. Met my eyes and everything, instead of my flank (yes, I noticed).
"O Great and Powerful Trixie. I, the lowly and humble Starswirl of Hyneighria, would be honored if you would take me on as your apprentice!"
I promise, I had no idea he was going to ask that. Not in a million years. Not that I wouldn't normally be thrilled to be the Great and Powerful Teacher of none other than Starswirl the Bearded (sans beard) himself! While I'd always wanted to pass my knowledge and skills onto a younger generation, a protégé, a student of my own, this was not how it would go.
For one thing, Starswirl was definitely in an older generation. So, there. And, besides that, I was still thinking about the night before, and how I already came this close to snuffing out probably half of Sparkle's library, or maybe Equestria itself!
But, Trixie knows her way around stallions and their silly pride. She knew she had to let him down, gently.
Can confirm. I sometimes let Caballeron open the pickle jar, just so he doesn't get all whiny.
"Listen," I said, lightly tousling the kid's mane a bit with my magic, "I have no doubt that you will grow up to become the greatest Wizard of all time."
His eyes sparkled, for a moment, but I could see he saw where this was heading. "But... you won't...?"
I shook my head, and ran an appreciable hoof along his cape's edge, "No. Trixie is going to be traveling. I can't..."
"But that means you'll need an assistant!" Swirly hopped a little bit in his excitement, "Somepony to help you out! To learn from you! To carry on your legacy once you're gone."
Rude.
"First off, the Great and Powerful Trixie ain't going nowhere!" I might have led a bit strongly with that one, but who just comes out and talks about dying like that!?
Either way, Trixie could see how Swirly'd stepped back from that one, so I toned it down. "Second... Starswirl, it's dangerous out there. And you've got so much more of your foalhood to enjoy here, with your friends."
"I don't really have friends," he said, glumly. "But if I went with you, I could be your apprentice. Your protégé!"
My heart ached, just a little bit. I love my Bestie, Starlight, but how cool would it have been to tell Princess Twilight that while she had Starlight as her first pupil, I had Starswirl the Bearded?
Still. It was for his own good. I couldn't risk him getting hurt. He was too important.
"Firefly, Ribbon, Sparkle," I started listing off ponies, "Seems like you've got plenty of friends."
"Grownups," Swirly grumbled. Then, he turned his little, puppy-dog eyes on me one more time. "Please, Master Trixie, I will do anything to be your student!"
I sized Swirly up again. Mostly for show, but I needed a moment to think. The kid was bound and determined to be my student. He knew Greatness and Powerfullness when he saw it. And, at least before I'd been shot back into the ancient past, he would eventually become a legend.
Maybe this was what he needed to become that?
"Tell you what," Trixie hid her grin masterfully, not wanting Swirly to realize I'd come up with a brilliant plan, "I'll come back around Hyneighria in... oh, let's say a couple months. A year or so at the outside. And the next time we meet, I promise, I will make you my Great and Powerful Apprentice."
"R-really?" there was that eye-sparkle again.
"Cross my heart, and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," I said, even doing the hoof-motions.
Trixie
I was caught completely off-guard when he hugged me. As his forelegs wrapped around my neck, and his face sank into my shoulder, I tried to remember the last time I'd hugged somepony so close and tight. Maybe Trixie's fifth birthday, when Dad came home
I didn't stop to think about it until later on. He was a unicorn in an earth pony town with exactly two other unicorns as into magic as he was. And the first pony to show up in his life that shared his interests had to be the Great and Powerful Trixie, of all possible ponies. It was no wonder Swirly had followed me around for three days. He was infatuated!
Trixie gave the kid a pat on the withers, and we parted as friends. He might have been crying, just a little. But, I have that effect on ponies. I'd hoped, at that moment, that if Starlight didn't come and rescue me, that I'd like nothing more than to come back and make good on my promise.
Funny how things turn out.
The town was in good spirits when I left. Sparkleshine and Swirly waved me off from her manor, and it seemed like everypony I passed on the road to the main gates was smiling at me. Ribbon passed me a little parcel with warm-weather clothes packed in it, and asked me to drop her name as casually as possible when (not if) other ponies asked me who did my wardrobe. I was truly amazed at the stitch-work! If Ribbon had a different mane and face and age and
She wasn't a Rarity clone. Not sure when she'll show up, but I'm ready for it now.
But, in any case, Bowtie also wished me well, as did a giddy Peachy and her newly-public husband, Mal. They actually had some jarred peach and apple jam to give me on my way out. Not peach and apple. Peach and apple. Both, in the same jar. I've tried it since. Very sweet. Like, I can feel my teeth rot in my head when I smell the stuff.
Didn't see Bray anywhere, though. And nopony had seen him since he'd been run back into town. Oh well, I thought, some guys hold weird grudges.
Lastly, as I was getting on the road out of town and heading towards the forest, I took one last look around. Hyneighria sat behind me, warm smoke rising from its chimneys, and for a moment I wondered if I was doing the right thing. For a moment, I wondered if I could see myself settling down here, like I kinda did back in Ponyville. It wasn't a crazy idea, after all.
But, Trixie knew she couldn't. It might be a foal scout thing to teach kids to stay put when they're lost, but Trixie has learned at the hoof of those who know better.
If you're lost, keep moving until you're not.
How has she not been eaten yet?
Plus, there was no telling what could happen if I stuck around and messed with established events some more. Best to take a bow now and shuffle off-stage before I wound up in that stupid Hearth's Warming play.
Then again.
No, nevermind.
Trixie was snapped from her perfectly sane and not-time-destroying daydreaming by the sound of a wet sack burying itself in a mountain of stale crackers. And by that, I mean that Firefly crashed neatly into a crumpled pile at my hooves.
Once Trixie had stopped screaming reacting as would a tiger and making ready to pounce, I noted it was just the newly-rainbow-headed mare.
"Are...?" I asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yup," she said, pulling herself out of the little hole she'd made by the side of the road, missing my cart by about an inch, mind you, "Just getting used to the new do."
I was probably giving her a funny look at that remark, as Firefly chuckled, and said, "I, uh, I go a lot faster since that happened. Not sure what you did, or I did... but I just feel... faster, ya know?"
"Ah, yes. I see."
I had no idea. Magic? Magic was a safe bet.
"Aaanyway," she said, dragging out the word in a way I was starting to suspect was genetic by how much it reminded me of Dash, "I just wanted to give you a heads up. We spotted some storm clouds ahead, and I wanted to warn you before you got caught up in them. I'd say you got... like, four days before they hit if you're heading straight east."
"Straight east?" I tried reaching back into the wagon with my magic, looking for the map Sparkleshine had lent me, "But I thought I was supposed to swing north past the..."
Firefly made a disgusting sound with her mouth, and waved down my concern. "Nah! You don't need that stuff. Lemme tell ya, from my traveling experience, Gallopoli is a straight shot from here. Just keep heading east. Oh, and I asked Ribbon to give you some warmer clothes. Did ya get them?"
I nodded, which made Firefly smile. "Good. I'm thinkin' the weather's about to get... twenty-percent cooler than predicted. Just so you know."
I really didn't know how to answer any of that, but Firefly made it easier by just giving me a warm, pegasus hug and wishing me well.
It was a nice way to leave the town.
Trixie just wishes things had gone better from there.
Two days later (day 11, I guess), and I was lost. So, thanks a lot, Firefly. Turns out, it's a bad idea to take directions from a pegasus, since they don't use roads. I don't think she even realized you can't take a cart or wagon in a straight line ANYWHERE in a forest.
Trixie may be a great and powerful magician, survivalist, acrobat, author, alchemist, pioneer, illusionist
I'm getting off track. I may have the skills to survive in the woods, but navigating them is something else entirely. Back in modern Equestria, wanderers and traveling ponies used signs and markers to find our way. I'm not about to compromise them here (Grey Prancer had me take the Oath for a reason), but they were super useful to know whenever you were alone and too far away from an inn or someplace dry to sleep (wagons are also super useful for this purpose).
Actually, since Trixie's adventure, the Nomad Marks, as they were sometimes known, have been published. They were also very popular for adventurers, archaeologists, and tomb robbers alike, so Caballeron and I know them like the back of our hooves. They basically look like more basic, pictographic Cutie Marks. A few mundane ones, useful in lots of situations, might be symbols for "Don't sleep here", "Snakes", and "Cave in". Trixie's list, according to my research, would also include more esoteric issues. Such as, "Do not make eye contact", "Magical anomalies", and "Avoid darkness".
There's also a few freaky ones out there that'd make for some spooky reading. "You are being watched" is especially unfun to find while on a dig. As is "Get out fast", "Vanished friend", and "Does not stay dead". And Celestia help you if you're halfway through a creepy tomb or lost city, and you catch a glimpse of "Signs have been compromised".
Point is, I was lost. And quickly. Stupid rainbow pony.
Now, it wasn't all a horrendous waste of time that I would certainly seek vengeance for one day. No, no, no. I had a couple days to practice my act and get some ideas rolling. For instance, I used a little charm to steal the 'red' off of some berries, and magically fused the color into my hat and cape. Sure, it took a few dozen hundred berries to get the right shade of purple, but it was worth it!
While Trixie is technically a CSGU drop-out, she's actually rated as one of the top Spell-Crafters in Equestria. She really has a good head for taking apart better or more traditional spells, and re-purposes parts of them for her own ends.
And, as has been noted, her skill in such magic seems to be oddly proportional to how difficult the spell should be. I chalk it up to her being too thick-skulled to realize how difficult mane magic and illusions ought to be for most mages. The fact that her basic defense magic, telekinesis, and light spells are so... mundane, should almost be proof of that.
The storm was looking to catch up to me by this point, which was approaching true twilight, and it was only by chance that I noticed a wide, open clearing somewhere up ahead. Finally! I'd been dragging that wagon over rocks and tree-roots for ages looking for a nice bit of flat ground to settle on. It was like a dream come true for my aching hooves!
The clearing was only just big enough to hide the wagon in. From what I could tell, the only reason I'd seen the place was because a bit of wind had brushed some of the thick brambles and undergrowth aside as I approached. Trixie tossed a quick illusion over the entrance, to make sure nopony got the bright idea to sneak up on me later. My wagon had made the entrance a bit more obvious by flattening down the grass, so all I had to do was prop that up and make it look like it was a touch thicker. I don't like sharing. Not with bears and wolves and whatever else was in this Everfree knockoff.
Trixie knew, of course, that this was the actual Everfree. She was just testing you, reader
I had plenty of food, but foraging was still a good idea, so Trixie tagged her wagon with a locator spell and began walking into the nearby treeline. She planned to go about a hundred yards, no more, and just pick up whatever she could that was edible.
No rabbits, thank Luna. Trixie also wasn't that desperate this time. She did find some remarkable yellow berries. They appeared to be a type called Aliantha berries. For those in the know, these things were almost currency in some wanderer circles, and I found a whole bush of them. They're tasty, numb head and hoof aches, and if you mix them with a little bit of chocolate they'll stop you needing to stop too often on the road!
I really didn't need to know about itinerant ponies' Antidiarrheals. That wasn't in the job description for being your personal researcher.
They did turn out to be Aliantha, so Trixie didn't poison herself this time. And, as a bonus, she found another bunch of those wonderful mushrooms from before!
I didn't eat those, of course. Not yet. Those were for later. Like, a weekend with friends. And pizza. And some good cider.
That was what I found only a few feet into the woods. There was no telling what I'd find after a couple more.
Except then, I found Hyneighria.
"Oh, come ON!" I remember kicking at a tree stump, only managing to hurt my hoof in the process. Yes, I had somehow swung completely around, and was now looking at the eastern side of the town. Of all the stupid
I swore if I ever caught that red
SON OF A B
Right. Calm. Still a little peeved off.
But, I wasn't for long, then. I stomped about and swore. I kicked at things I thought I could kick. I promised myself that I'd do some truly despicable things to Firefly's house, like leave a flaming bag of something on her porch.
But I didn't.
Because at that moment, I finally noticed something. There had been an odd look to the stormclouds coming in. They hadn't dropped rain yet. Not too strange, Trixie will grant you. The real trouble came from the fact that the clouds suddenly dipped down to the ground. Right into the center of Hyneighria's town square, in fact.
If the outer walls hadn't collapsed at that moment from some titanic blow, I'd probably have kept snarling about getting petty, foalish revenge. Instead, I was witness to Hyneighria's holocaust.
As the walls fell, I could see the whole town ablaze. How I could not have heard the sounds? Smelled the fire and burning? Was the forest's musk so pungent? Could I have just been in denial?
I don't know. Trixie will never know. From her vantage point, she could never forget the things she saw. There were pigs, rampaging through the streets, a torch on one tusk and a sword on the other. For a moment, Trixie's familiarity with fireworks and flammables came back in a flash, and I wondered how screwed up must their nightvision be to have fire so close to their eyes?
I stopped thinking about that after a few seconds, when I saw Felt Hoof running from two pursuing Troggles. I don't know if it was just my imagination, seeing as how I was too far away to really tell if it was him, but I would swear even now that I saw his puppets burning on his forelegs even as he ran.
He didn't get far. Troggles, now that I thought about it, were so much faster. Trixie looked away from that butchery, but she couldn't unsee it, nor what else was going on. Fire consumed everything, and Troggles slew everything and everypony else. I didn't see any of my friends, but that didn't mean anything. The worst thing I was prepared to deal with was unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies not getting along.
I didn't know this
Sparkleshine's house was ablaze. The library too. I don't remember if I cried. All I remember is that I didn't try to help.
Trixie was rooted in place. My whole body seized up as I took in the slaughter. I could hear them screaming, too. But nothing happened. My legs wouldn't go. My body and my mind had decided to hold still. Maybe they wouldn't see me? Was that what went through my head just then?
Minutes passed before I could so much as blink. But, eventually, I had to turn around and run. There was nothing else to do. I wasn't a hero. I wasn't an Element of Harmony. I wasn't an Alicorn Princess.
I wasn't a Wizard. I wasn't Great or Powerful. Trixie is just a showmare, an illusionist. I entertain ponies and distract them from their everyday woes, I don't fight monsters! And the one time I did, I got captured anyway.
The Troggles didn't look like they were taking prisoners.
I don't think I would have handled that any differently than Trixie. Casual violence just isn't a thing among ponies in this day and age. Seeing it on that scale?
Now, I know you told me once that you saw how the whole Nightmare Moon event played out, but whatever that was, it wasn't the whole story. If that vision you had was all there was, then why is there so much archaeological evidence and eye-witness testimony about a war between Luna and Celestia?
According to Luna herself, the final battle between her and Celestia took place after a protracted siege and a months-long campaign waged between Batpony and the precursor military forces to the EUP. Apparently, that was the last large-scale war fought on Equestrian soil, partly due to Celestia withdrawing from foreign entanglements during Luna's Abeyance. So, outside of a few battles here and there, and mostly just policing duties, we ponies haven't seen a real war in over a millennium.
And yet, Trixie saw something like this up close. She watched ponies she cared for getting slaughtered. Gives you a new perspective on some things.
Back at my little camp, I tossed everything together as quick as I could. Trixie was getting the hay out of there, and nothing was going to stop her. Except for a frustratingly loose hinge on the straps that, in her panic concern panic, she couldn't quite get under control with her hooves, having somewhat forgotten how to magic at the moment.
Also, except for the sound of hooves. And claws. I heard the hooves first, a small set of them, rushing past my little hiding spot. I held my breath as they approached, but as I glimpsed who it was, my heart nearly exploded out of my chest.
Swirly! Swirly was alive!
And being chased by a manticore, a satyr, and a centaur. Each one was armed, and snarling with wicked laughter. Trixie felt like she swallowed her tongue as she saw them. It was like
I remember Tirek. That was such a horrifying experience the first time around. I couldn't do it again. Being left a husk on the side of the road, without a shred of my magic left to me. I didn't know if all centaurs could do that, and I didn't want to find out.
Tirek, as it happens, is quite unique among his people. I know the Centaur and Gargoyle Kingdom is very secluded and isolationist, but I've had to take more than a few pitstops there during my own travels. Tirek is regarded as a true monster back home.
According to a medical report filed in the wake of Tirek's rampage, it seems that Trixie was found by some forest rangers in the Smokey Woods a few days after your fight with the centaur. She was transferred to Mareland General Hospital to treat severe malnutrition and several lacerations all across her body. Apparently, after Tirek absorbed her magic and left her in the woods, she managed to drag herself back to civilization, though it took a toll on Trixie. I'm not sure if she ever had a chance to process that experience, since she broke herself out of the hospital before they could contact a therapist.
But Swirly was alive.
And I didn't move a muscle. Again, the sight thought of danger had rooted me to the ground. I could see the fire, and the smoke when I closed my eyes. I could hear the screams. I could see Felt Hoof, running for his life.
The monsters' laughter faded into the distance. All I could hear was the wind, and the rustle of the trees around me. The world was still. As still as a body. As quiet as the grave. But just at the edge of my senses, there was one sound. A single, terrified cry that spoke up and over the rustling of the trees, and the whipping of the wind.
It was Swirly. I could hear him. And he was scared.
That, my dear journal, is when something in me snapped. I became Trixie Lulamoon, the Great and Powerful. For a moment, I was a mare possessed, grabbing up rope and smoke pellets, and even some of Ribbon's straight-jackets she'd made for me. Trixie just stopped thinking about it as 'monsters attacking a foal'. She started thinking about 'how great a show she was about to put on'!
Tracking the brutes wouldn't be a problem, I knew. They weren't being careful. Trixie had hunted before, being a forager since she could travel. Now, I could put those skills to real use.
Swiftly, I raced after the monsters. Their claws had left deep gouges in the earth I could have tracked blindfolded, had it been bright daylight. As it happened, it was now definitely night. And so, as I ran, I let loose a special tracking spell. Most would need a magical signature, or a predictive matrix built into a heat-detection spell. That's what Princess Sparkle would have done.
Trixie is not Princess Sparkle. And so, all she did was run a leveled light spell out ahead of her, allowing it to trace the ground. Every bump and inconsistency flared to pink life as my magic touched it. Those three couldn't lose me even if they knew I was on their trail!
I raced along the forest floor, following the fiends' florescent footprints
I raced after them, my hooves pounding the earth as my heart pounded in my ears. But Swirly's pursuers had followed him out of the mud and over some harder ground. Tree-roots bubbled up here suddenly, leaving me to guess bedrock wasn't far below. But that meant the tracks were shallower and shallower. My spell worked like a height map, and when the ground leveled out too much, I would lose them!
But, just ahead of me was a tall, tall tree. From up atop its branches, I was sure to spot them, so I charged! I cast a spell as I ran, one usually meant to allow non-pegasi to walk on clouds. Now, this spell is usually pretty simple, and fairly cost-effective. But I was in a hurry, and I only needed one part of the spell right then.
I only cast one part of the spell, the bit that helped change a unicorn's weight so that a cloud could hold you up longer. Normally, this was a waste of a spell for most unicorns. But that was because most unicorns were lazy, and liked books more than a good jog.
All I needed right then was to be light enough when I reached the tree that my momentum would get me most of the way once I'd ran into it, my hooves sticking to the bark through sheer inertia. I ran up that tree, and sailed up into the night sky! Trixie had done it again!
I cast an eye about, and spotted my adversaries in no time! They had stopped mere yards away, in a small clearing, with a cowering Swirly at the monsters' mercy. Trixie came back down, hardly disturbing the tree branch she landed on. And with all the grace and skill I'd developed as a showmare, I leaped from tree to tree, from branch to branch.
All I had to do was get there.
Trixie readied her smoke pellets, holding them up in my magic as I leaped to the last branch.
Below me, the three monsters loomed over Swirly's prone body. The colt had tripped, and lay sprawled and insens unconc pretty well banged up. I almost cried out to him, but years of showmareship had taught me a few things about timing. And my cue was coming up.
But that was when I saw the three monsters up close. The centaur wasn't anything special, just some thug with too big a head and gut for his own good. Sharp swords, mind. I hadn't seen a manticore that could talk, or hold a spear with his tail, but then there's always something new out there.
The satyr, however. That gave Trixie pause. He wasn't the same as Tirek. No, not nearly the right number of hooves. But he was painted black and red. A bit edgy, if you ask me, but somecreatures like being wrong.
If you'll recall Dash and AJ's wedding, Rarity spent about an hour going over how black and red is the all-time worst color combination in existence. You had managed to ditch us (traitor), but she really opened up about her spa dates with Starlight and Trixie. I guess some of her fashion sense rubbed off. Or, Trixie actually has taste, but let's not go crazy!
Still, for a moment, Trixie's knees felt weak.
Then, he spoke. "Are we taking this one alive?" he asked his companions, all of whom were laughing at Swirly's vain attempt to conjure even a basic self-defense charm. He was tired. He was probably concussed by how he wobbled on his hooves.
Something boiled inside Trixie at those words. Something I still don't know what, but it angered me in a way that nopony ever had, Sparkle included!
"You're not taking him at all!" I shouted, suddenly not too terribly concerned if they spotted me. Trixie bit down on her tongue.
The monsters looked about as they heard me. The tree canopy had muffled my words a bit, I was sure, and it probably sounded like I was all around them. That was good, I thought. Very good.
"Who's there?" the manticore snarled, "Who stands against the will of Grogar?"
Well. In for a penny.
"Who am I?" I tossed the smoke pellets up into the air, and flared my horn's magic, "What a foalish question!"
The pellets exploded, showering the small glade in a hazy fog. Trixie quickly cast another spell of her own devising, allowing her eyes to filter out the smoke. She learned that one when she tried to join the Canterlot Fire Brigade. Long story, don't ask, it was a phase.
She thought she was going to work with the "hunky calendar stallions", and quit after two days when she discovered otherwise. I believe this was one of the odd-jobs she took to buy that stupid Alicorn Amulet, in addition to working the Pie Rock Farm. Speaking of which, isn't she Maud Pie's kid's Crystaler? Or, whatever Ponyville's equivalent is?
"I am the terror that canters in the night!"
Trixie had absolutely no idea what she was saying, journal. I was basically running on pure adrenaline and terror by this point
The beasts were startled, like mere foals before my rousing performance! I prepared another smoke pellet in my magic, when disaster struck.
As it turns out, I'd forgotten that my weight-lightener spell had a rather severe time-limit. The branch under me cracked, and I lost control of the pellet! It plummeted below me, and Trixie fell right after it, but I managed to wrap my hooves around the branch and held on for dear life.
And, naturally, the branch did not hold back. The whole stinking thing snapped off, and I went tumbling down with it. I could see my life flash before my eyes as I fell. Admittedly, Trixie's life is a stunning cavalcade of adventure and intrigue, so she was thoroughly entertained during her freefall.
Less entertaining was the realization that my saddlebag, full of smoke pellets, rope, and even a few of my props (I was in a hurry, don't judge, Journal), had gone flying when I snagged hold of the branch.
The pellet hit first, I knew from the sound of it bursting below me. I hit the ground a moment later, no clue where my other equipment had gone. There was an awful cracking sound as I landed, and it took a moment to realize I hadn't broken my spine. Through a fog of pain radiating from my flank, I looked up into the face of a manticore.
A manticore that had, up until that moment, been planning on attacking whoever it found in my accidental smoke cloud. Now? Well. That was a heavy branch, and that manticore clearly didn't have a thick enough skull. The branch lay atop his stupid, bulging-eyed face, some sort of muscle-reflex being the only thing now holding the unconscious manticore up on his paws.
Realizing what was up, I rolled back onto my hooves, though I knew I'd be feeling that one in the morning. No amount of padding or magic would help me with that. I glanced through the smoke, and realized the satyr and centaur were staring in my direction, but that my Hazy Eye would let me see them, while all they could do was not see me
I had the magic eye thing, okay?
Trixie knew she didn't have long. Before the smoke cleared, she needed cover. The manticore wouldn't cut it, and while Trixie is indeed a Great and Powerful magician, she will admit that she couldn't quite replicate Starlight's invisibility spell on demand. Not without a mana battery the size of her wagon, anyway.
Seriously, Starlight? If you ever read this, try coming up with spells that don't have to blunt-force their way to working through stupid amounts of energy? There's a reason only you and Twilight can cast half of what you've come up with!
Yet another instance of Trixie's callous disregard for her friends' feelings on display. I understand that you, when you were a unicorn, and Starlight both suffer from Record's Syndrome, which causes mana-channels to be stuck perpetually open in unicorns. Can lead to enormous magical reserves, but also uncontrollable magic surges post-foalhood and some lingering pain and nerve-damage in old age.
So, yeah. Trixie's still kind of a jerk.
So, Trixie threw up a much simpler illusion. She became nothing more than a regular bush. Just a jumble of palm fronds and berries, perfectly undetectable in the Everfree. And as the smoke cleared, the satyr and centaur could only look in horror at the crumpled form of their companion, slumped down beneath the broken tree branch.
“I am the sticky floor of justice, that makes you self-conscious about being noisy in a theater!”
Seriously, I have no idea where I was coming up with this stuff, but from the concerned looks on the remaining two monsters' faces, it was worth it!
And then, my bag of smoke pellets reappeared. I guess they'd been flung pretty high up during my fall, because they all came down at once, right on top of the satyr's head. In a blast of alchemical ingenuity, the bag flooded the clearing instantly, completely enveloping the monsters.
Trixie knew this was her chance! I dropped the disguise, and made a sprint for Swirly. Only, there were two problems with that. In the first place, there were still two monsters standing in my way.
And in the second? I hadn't just been carrying smoke pellets, recall. And at that moment, the rest of the supplies I'd grabbed before rained down. Only, instead of landing on the confused and panicking satyr and centaur, Trixie suddenly found a coil of rope, two straight-jackets stitched by Ribbon Wishes herself, and a couple of iron hoofcuffs the local farrier had whipped up for her crashing into my face!
Trixie's "accent" or "word tick" or "mental illness" grates on me, as a writer. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to listen to her all day, every day. Starlight and Starswirl must have the patience of saints.
I panicked. I might have even whinnied, though Swirly heard none of that. I tripped, and went tumbling, head over hooves, straight into the mass of smoke! From what I could tell, I definitely crashed into one or both of the monsters, and I absolutely went bounding up into the air from the impact.
Turns out, ponies bounce. Who knew?
But, Trixie wasn't completely done for! As she descended back down, I cast the lighten-me-up spell (yeah, I still need a name). It wouldn't let me walk along the top of my smoke cloud like a real pegasus, but it would slow me down enough so that I could at least not break my legs.
It also bought me a few seconds to note what was happening below me. All of my stuff had been thrown off of me, and had now entangled both the satyr and the centaur. They flailed and shrieked as they tried to disentangle themselves, only managing to get more stuck as I watched, utterly flabergasted!
I'd never had something like that work out in my favor before. The two monsters began slapping each other around in their effort to fight free, and Trixie was allowed to watch them bludgeon each other senseless by the time she'd I had drifted through the smoke down to the ground again.
Trixie is, after all, a showmare, and so could you really blame me for hopping atop the tangled and beaten monsters? Nopony worth their magic hat and Guild Membership would dream of missing out on what was about to happen.
As the smoke cleared, Swirly beheld my radiance! I stood atop a pile of unconscious monsters, apparently unharmed.
“I am,” Trixie cried, standing on her hind legs, hoof-stitched purple cape dancing in the wind, “The Great and POWERFUL…!”
"TRIXIE!?"
Swirly's cry snapped me out of whatever fever-dream I'd stumbled into. It also caused Trixie to lose her balance and tumble down to the forest floor. He was lucky I didn't crack my horn, the way I fell.
But all that was just a quick flash of stupid, stupid Trixie thinking. Because in the next instant, my whole body flooded with relief. I couldn't believe I'd just done that. I couldn't believe Swirly was alright!
And then, then it was all too real again, as a tiny colt wrapped his forelegs around me in an ironclad hug, and his tears flowed like rivers. Gone was the brave little stallion I'd seen in him back at his village. There was just a sobbing child, weeping into my coat.
What else could I do? I hugged him back.
There wasn't anything else I could do for him.
"Trixie," he gasped between sobs, "They... they killed everypony..."
"I know. I know."
"My..." he swallowed, hard. It took him another minute, all crying, before he could work some words together again. "My family... my brothers... Mom and Dad... He killed them!"
"Who?" I asked. I squeezed him tighter, wishing, wishing, wishing this had all just been a nightmare.
Swirly looked up at me. He was a complete mess. His cape had been shredded by thorns, and lightly burned in places. His eyes were red and tears streaked his face. Snot poured out his nose, and I could tell his whole face just wanted to keep screaming, keep howling in pain.
What had been done to him
What I had done to him would echo forever, I knew.
"Bray," he finally uttered, taking another deep breath, "It was Bray. He led the Troggles in. He... when Mom wouldn't tell them where you were..."
I won't repeat what he said. Some details are best left forgotten. All that was important, all that would ever be important, was that Trixie Lulamoon had doomed a village. And Starswirl's mother, Page Turner, a unicorn mare from Roam, who liked reading books about far-off places she would never see, and who spoke six languages, and who taught the fillies and colts of her village for free, and who laughed at jokes you weren't sure she understood but just wanted to laugh for its own sake, who was a blessed light to those around her, was dead.
And I killed her. I killed her husband. I killed two of her sons. Bray held the sword. But Trixie made him swing.
Trixie couldn't cry. She couldn't ever cry again. She had no right. But she accepted Swirly's crying. I held him close, and I swore then, I would never let go.
This is hard to read. As an archaeologist and historian, I'm used to a lot of the bloodier, nastier parts of Equestria that doesn't get a lot of time or space in the plays and stories we tell ourselves. But, those dusty old tomes happened to ponies long dead. Ponies I'll never meet.
But, I know Trixie, at least a little. I can't imagine what she went through seeing all that. I can't imagine what Starswirl went through.
Your student, Celeste, came by while I was going over my notes on this part. I think she might have caught a glimpse. I don't know if I would show her it. But, that's really not my call. Maybe it's not your call, pardon the insubordination. I spent a long, long night holding my kids after this. They thought I was just being sentimental after the whole Grogar-cult thing. I don't know why I'm telling you that, but here we are.
I brought Swirly back to my campsite, and made sure that nocreature could follow us. There's a lot of spells unicorns use to control the weather when there's not enough pegasi living nearby, so I just re-purposed one to create a little, focused breeze to clear up our hoofprints in the dirt, and I reapplied the illusion spells to keep our camp a secret.
Really had no choice about it. There'd be Troggles about tonight, but by morning they'd have moved on, chasing after their companions' fears of a magical mare who'd made off with their prey.
I got Swirly tucked in as soon as I could. Trixie can't blame the kid for crying as much as he did, and so she let him. He eventually ran out of energy. Even hiccuping stopped after a while. He needed sleep, as much as I knew he didn't want to. He hardly spoke to me all night.
Of course not. Grogar was looking for a Wizard. Bray had sold out Hyneighria to help his master capture a Wizard. Because it was a Wizard, a Great and Powerful practitioner of the mystic arts, who was prophesied to defeat him. That's the most I got out of Swirly from before, and there wasn't a whole lot of reasons to think that had changed.
So, Bray had told Grogar about Trixie. And because Trixie had to show off, Hyneighria burned.
Deciding it would be easier to hear a patrol coming by if we were outside, I set up a little tent and blankets next to the wagon. After Swirly had gone to bed, I sat besides him, and spent a long, long night thinking. There was a lot to think about.
But, eventually, the nightmares wouldn't let him be. Swirly woke up a few times during the night.
I heard him, one time, whisper, "Mom," as he did so. In the silence that followed, I could hear him crying into his pillow.
He didn't deserve any of this. I bet Starswirl was supposed to live a long, happy life in his tree-library. I bet his mom would have lived to see her little colt grow into the best Wizard who ever lived.
There was nothing I could do for him, except be there. Trixie scooted as close as she could to him. I wrapped him in another hug, and as my mind raced for something, anything to give him even a little peace, I remembered a song my mother sang to me, whenever I was sick, or whenever I wasn't feeling as Great and Powerful as I thought I could be.
I sang my mother's song to Swirly. It was strange, being the one singing to another. I hoped my voice wouldn't crack, and luckily it didn't. Trixie knows she doesn't have the same voice as her mother, but I hope it was enough. He fell asleep by the last verse, but I kept singing, right to the end.
Like Mom did. I'll leave the lyrics here, just in case somepony wants to sing it themselves one day. Or, maybe you just want to know it, Journal.
Along I trot this moonlit path,
And think, I ought, to say to you,
Beware the home, the love of hearth,
And live as a wander’r may do.It’s not hard to be a wander’r,
It’s not hard to be a wander’r,
To walk the roads, to ebb and flow,
Then on the road, you’re always home.The path before you is yours, my dear,
As a king or queen may claim it,
But as king or queen grows old, I fear,
You must learn you have to leave it.It’s not hard to be a wander’r,
It’s not hard to be a wander’r,
To walk the roads, to ebb and flow,
Then on the road, you’re always home.When you take the wheel of life, my love,
And let the north star be your guide,
A traveler needs no masters above,
But the mem’ry of those loved, abide.It’s not hard to be a wander’r,
It’s not hard to be a wander’r,
To walk the roads, to ebb and flow,
Then on the road, you’re always home.So, if, when life in chaos,
And you wish to bid it adieu,
Take your cloak and your hat,
Swear you’ll never come back,
Yet my love shall still travel with you.It’s not hard to be a wander’r,
It’s not hard to be a wander’r,
To walk the roads, to ebb and flow,
Then on the road, you’re always home.
Then on the road, you’re always home.
But the wander’r wanders alone.
That's The Wanderer. Holy buck, that's The Wanderer. Trixie Lulamoon, through yet another hoofstrap paradox, introduced the most famous piece of Pre-Classical Equestrian folk music to the world! And, in Trixie fashion, at least a century before historians suspected its creation.
I had to go to Vinyl Scratch and Octavia to research this. That song's older than anything. There just aren't older songs out there. Turns out, Miss Scratch teaches Music History in her off-season, so I got a full lecture on how important that dang song is. It's older than Greenhooves, for Celestia's sake!
Also worth noting, this is now the most complete version of the lyrics in existence. Octavia looked like she was going to sock me if I didn't let her read it.
Swirly and I didn't really talk for the next two days. We'd heard a few patrols go by in the night, so by morning I knew it was time to get out of that wood. I hitched the wagon up to myself, and Swirly followed alongside me. We ate a quick, cold breakfast in silence as we walked.
Normally, Trixie enjoys singing a few wanderer songs as she travels. This day, she didn't feel much like it, and she doubted Swirly would (or could) sing along.
It didn't help that neither I nor Swirly were very familiar with this part of the forest. I managed to scrounge up a whole bunch of yummy acorns, though Swirly didn't seem interested. Well, more for Trixie. Funny, I can remember talking to Human Trixie once about stuff from the human world past Twilight's mirror, and she seemed to think acorns were poisonous to ponies. Proof that not all Trixies were made equal.
Oh, sweet merciful Luna, there's more than one Trixie!?
Trixie remembers something once said to her. Somepony once said that, even when things were at their darkest, you could always laugh, and things would turn around. You'd think I heard that from Pinkie Pie, but you'd be wrong.
I miss Ribbon.
I'm getting maudlin. And I'm dragging. And this was only day 12, so I need to get a move on.
Swirly didn't sleep well that night, and neither did Trixie, despite us being in the relatively more comfortable wagon. I kept having the same dream, over and over. Every time I'd get to the end of it, it'd either start over on its own, or I'd wake up and find myself covered in sweat and falling out of my hammock.
It was a strange dream, though I didn't realize yet what was going on (that's what we in showbiz call foreshadowing, Journal). Trixie was trapped in Hyneighria as it burned, but besides the flames burning everything around me, there was no screaming, no sounds of battle, or nothing like that. It was eerily quiet.
Except for the Princess, of course. Which Princess? Couldn't tell you. It sounded like Twilight. You know, a little naggy and uppity? But she was tall, and graceful, like Celestia. But she was also magical, like Luna. Don't ask me what the difference is, but I've always liked Luna a bit more than the other Princesses.
Would it be weird to say Luna's my spirit animal? It would be weird. Yes.
Anyway, she kept calling out to me, but I couldn't find her, whichever Her that was supposed to be. The fire made it very unclear, and I tended to either catch on it, or the air was always too smoky for me to get a good look at her. But, definitely a Princess. Definitely an Alicorn.
But, I digress. Day 13 wasn't much better. The forest began to slope up, which meant hauling the wagon uphill more often than not. There really wasn't a road, so that was also working against us. To his credit, Swirly tried to drag the wagon himself for a bit.
And by a bit, I mean a whole five minutes. He was a lot like Twilight or Starlight in that way. A bit flabby from sitting around reading when he could have been out roughing it like Trixie did when she was younger. Then again, I didn't really have a choice at his age.
That was another issue. As slow as I was going with the wagon strapped to me, Swirly was almost as bad, and I could tell he was tired after only a short while. Trixie has nothing against scholars, really. They perform an important function, I think, for us Great and Powerfuls. But, in this case, Swirly's unfamiliarity with hiking was going to cost us time.
Well. Learn by doing, I always say.
I don't, actually. But it's a good saying. Glad I wrote it down.
Finally, just an hour or two before sunset (it's still so weird knowing nopony is controlling that), we reached the top of the hill. I was pulling the wagon again, and, for all the pain and misery it took to get there, it was really worth it. The hilltop was bald, and rose up above the treeline, giving us a commanding view of the Everfree.
It stretched to the horizon! I'd never seen a forest so big before. There probably wasn't a forest this big in all of modern Equestria! And the sun was at that perfect level where it just bathed the world in a warm, richly orange hue. Trixie's favorite color is blue, naturally. But blue works so well with orange sometimes. And the whole sky was like that! Blue and orange!
A moment of beauty I'd almost forgotten about.
"Good!" Swirly collapsed beside me, "Time to camp."
"Not yet, we're not," I shook my head and pointed with my horn down to the other side, "Can't see a road yet, so we're still heading east. And I'm not about to stop at the top of a hill."
"Why not?" he whined at my hooves, not bothering to move his, clearly, exhausted legs. "We can see for miles around us!"
I nodded, "And everycreature here will see us for miles. So, we're heading down the hill. It'll be quick! Don't worry."
Not sure if he grumbled or agreed. Either way, I started down the hill, and I could tell he was following me soon after. We reentered the treeline soon enough, where I was tempted to stop early. Heading downhill was still slow-going, almost dangerously so, as long as I wanted the wagon to stay in control during the descent. And with evening approaching, it'd get worse.
But, I noted something up atop that hill. A little depression in the tree canopy that I hoped would be a little grove to hide the wagon in. And I was right on the money! Just after sundown, Trixie found it, and we prepared the camp. The trees were really overgrown there, so much so that the canopy overhead had entwined the tree branches as tight as a regular ceiling. It was for that reason alone I figured it would be safe to cook over a fire tonight.
After boiling the acorns and making a mash, I managed to scrounge up some dandelions and hibiscus, and made a little sauce out of them. It took a bit of my cheese supply, but you gotta keep your strength up, hoofing it like we were. Even Swirly seemed to come around to the smell.
I whipped some of this up myself, just to see how it tastes. Not bad. I'd add cinnamon, but Trixie was working on something of a budget at the time. Most of Trixie's "recipes" are classic wanderer fare, and I've found a few similar references here and there.
Pinkie Pie showed up in a huff while I was annotating this. She gave me a gift basket of flour, sugar, and yeast, and told me to get my crap together. I have no words.
We sat together in silence, like the night before. Just me, and the future Starswirl, eating burnt acorn mash with cheese sauce. A Trixie special.
But then, I heard something break the silence. A little voice at Trixie's side, quiet, and just a bit hollow.
"Thank you," it said.
"Sorry?" I said. Then, "Oh. Right. Well, the sauce is good, but I always ruin the acorns..."
"No," Swirly chuckled, just a little bit, "I mean, thank you. For saving me."
I tried talking around a mouthful of mash, "Oh, well. You shouldn't have to thank somepony for something like that."
"You could have walked away, I'm sure," he stirred his mash with the wooden spoon I'd given him, "I mean, they were after you. You're the Great and Powerful Wizard Grogar fears, aren't you?"
Trixie's internal 'Starlight' voice started warning me about what to say. It does that, from time to time. I'm told other ponies call it a conscience.
I rarely listen.
"Of course! You doubted me?"
The colt blushed. "A little... um. Trixie?"
I nodded thoughtfully, before taking another deep slurp of my mush.
"What will you do with me now?"
Ah. Yes. That question. The one I'd been pondering for two days and nights by this point. Trixie knew Swirly had family. Technically. Very technically. I didn't know where Roam was, but I knew from talking with Page Turner that any family she had there wouldn't want anything to do with the little guy.
Swirly's dad, Clean Slate, hadn't told me much about his family, probably since he was an earth pony who didn't get out much. I think he had a brother living in Hoofburg, but the way they talked about him, it sounded like he wasn't around anymore.
Confirmation that Starswirl's father was an earth pony, and that his name was Clean Slate.
Unfortunately, that's all we get. Clean Slate, according to what info I could glean out of Starswirl before he tried to mind-wipe me again, was an architect from Hoofburg. He met Page Turner while studying in Roam, and from what I could tell, they hit it off right away. Unfortunately, there lay the scandal that saw Miss Turner's exile from the city. They moved to Hyneighria in order to raise their first son, Starmane.
And I'd put good money on them not being married until after getting there.
Which left one of two options. And Trixie would never abandon a foal on their own, no matter how bad things got. So, I only had the one option, really.
I could practically hear Pinkie Pie's 'For-eh-ver' echoing in the back of my mind as I looked down at Swirly.
"Well," I sighed, and swallowed another mouthful of mush, "Trixie did promise..."
"You... you mean...?" Have I ever told you, Journal, how adorable Swirly gets when his eyes do that 'sparkly' thing? Because they were doing that 'sparkly' thing. And he was adorable!
I nodded, "Crossed my heart and everything, right?"
While I had his undivided attention, Trixie reached out with her magic and took hold of her hat and cape. I'd set them in the wagon, and so I made sure to pull them out of the window facing away from me and Swirly.
"Swirly," I started talking, making sure to keep my hat and cape drifting in the air at the edge of the firelight, "You are a colt of remarkable ability and wisdom beyond your age. And, seeing as how you are Trixie's current Number One Fan, you've proven that you have excellent taste."
Trixie ignored his little snort. I was on a roll.
"But, you wish to learn from Trixie? To study her magical know-how and mystical arts? Do you wish to be..."
Pause for dramatic effect.
"Great and Powerful!?"
He wiped his eyes and nose quickly, then nodded. As he did so, I laid my hat and cape upon him. No matter how ordinary a job hiring this kinda was, I'd never forgive myself for not treating this with the theatrics my profession demanded.
"Then, by the power invested in me, by the Guild of Equestrian Magicians, I, Trixie Lulamoon, do hereby make you, Starswirl, my apprentice in magic!"
I then swatted him across the face with my hoof. Might have swung too hard, considering how hard he crumpled.
"Trixie!?" he screamed, and scowled at me through the tears, "What the buck was that about!?"
Trixie intoned, solemnly, "May that be the last strike you accept without retaliation!"
You may think Trixie just got ahead of herself, but I checked. This is actually how they induct new members into the Guild.
How the heck did Celeste ever get born?
Despite the hard hit, Swirly managed to stand up under his own power, and smiled once more.
"I won't let you down, Master Trixie."
Oh, how I love to hear that!
Don't worry. I know what I'm doing, Journal. And it's not like I could do anything else. I owed the kid more than I could ever repay.
He reached out, and gave me another hug, and this was a lot nicer than the last one. He'd be moody again tomorrow, Trixie knew. It took a long time to move past what had happened. But, if nothing else, I could make sure that Starswirl's foalhood from this point on was one of laughter, and magic.
But, as Trixie was holding her apprentice in a warm embrace, I glanced up and across the flames of our little campfire.
And just for a moment, though at the time I thought I was just seeing smoke and light, I could almost see a shape watching us through the trees...
Twilight twitched, irritably. While she was warmly embedded in her sheets, and her mug of tea was fully drained, and she was fully drawn into the tale before her... her own internal clock was screaming. She attended to that clock, and felt out with her magic.
Almost six in the morning. The sun was supposed to come up. Now, in fact.
So, with a huff and a sigh, the Princess of Friendship allowed herself to be dragged away from her reading in order to raise the sun and prevent the entirety of Equestrian civilization from suddenly plunging into anarchy and panicked destruction.
It was the right thing to do, she begrudgingly supposed.
But, she still had a few minutes before her Royal Duties would prevent her from partaking in her most cherished of activities, and so she decided to flip the page she was on, and take a little sneak peak at what she would find come this evening. She was only halfway through this section of the journal, after all. What better place to pause for a break?
Even Trixie couldn't ruin it with a cliffhanger, right?
And then... the Princess became most confused.
"The Return of... what...?"