Chapter 10
******
The Everfree Forest was an anomaly. Equestria was notorious outside it's borders for for it's iron-shod hold over everything within, which extended to the forces of nature themselves. Ancient Equestrian treaties even cited ownership of the Sun and the Moon for the fact that they affected Equestria. Aside from that, there were few enough creatures that could reasonably expect to control them anyway.
But this forest was different. Everfree was unequivocally Equestrian territory, and also unequivocally not under equine control. Theories abound both within and without the nation, but few knew with any real certainty why. Maybe the princesses wanted to keep certain dark secrets hidden. Foul magic could be at play, keeping the forest wild. Perhaps it was simply too risky; there were certainly enough monstrous creatures residing within: a fact that Trixie was trying to ignore as she made her way through the twisted trees.
The forest was dark even in the middle of the day, but there was enough light to see fairly easily. Any dangerous creatures would be hard-pressed to catch her unawares. Thankfully, she was also no longer being rained upon: Ponyville's weather pegasi were reluctant to let storms find their way in or out of the forest. A rustling noise caused Trixie to freeze. When nothing happened for several seconds, she continued her trek in the direction of the mysterious explosion, albeit more nervously than before. She decided to think about Twilight to distract herself from her fear.
'Stupid unicorn, I probably shouldn't have told her my parents were dead. Scratch that, I probably shouldn't have gotten drunk. Oh well, I'll inform her I lied, she can pretend to be shocked, and I'll refuse to elaborate, and she can get annoyed at me. Win-win.' She ducked under a low branch, scanning menacing bushes and rocks that could be hiding cockatrices or worse. The sooner she was out of this forest, the better. 'I wonder why she pretends to care about my family anyway? Oh, right, she wanted an excuse to not host me.' She frowned slightly. 'Wait, why am I feeling bad? That was the goal: make sure she leaves me alone once I'm done here. I shouldn't want her to want to have anything to do with me. Why should I care about her opinion beyond that?'
She stepped through some foliage and felt her breath catch in her throat. Before her, in a charred clearing, stood a large metal structure, twisted at an odd angle. A large gash in the earth trailed behind it, splintered trees resting to either side. 'This must be the source of that noise. It must be some sort of vessel, but I've never heard of a metal airship before...' Smoke no longer trailed from the clearing. It was eerily silent. Trixie saw what appeared to be an entryway near ground level.
She cautiously approached it and stuck her head inside. It was nearly pitch dark, and the air smelled static and old. Trixie sat back on her haunches and contemplated the situation. 'This is what I wanted, wasn't it? Adventure? Mystery?' She looked around the clearing and saw that it was still empty. 'There doesn't appear to be any danger...' She quickly summoned a magic sword in her favorite style: an oddly curved blade with a single wave and a hook near the end.
She remembered being impressed by one of Rapier Wit's sabres from Stalliongrad. She had taken the style, inverted and increased the curve, and inverted the curve once again on only the middle half to create the wave effect. She had added the hook after reading about eastern hooked blades. The shape, when combined with a few extra details to make it look more ornate, reminded her vaguely of a dragon.
Obviously, she was nowhere near skilled enough to actually fight effectively with such an exotic blade. If she ever needed to actually fight something, she preferred using an estoc-style blade when she couldn't just get the job done with clever telekinesis or weather manipulation. No, the reason she summoned a blade at all was to provide light within the dark vessel. She could just use a light spell, but she wanted to have a semblance of protection.
Taking a breath and gathering her courage, Trixie jumped into the entryway. Looking around, she appeared to be in a vestibule or some sort with only one other doorway. Moving on, she found herself in a hallway with several more doorways. She decided to be methodical, and entered the one furthest on the right first. Casting her sword around, she saw several panels fills with strange controls and several large screens outputting incomprehensible red text. This was obviously not Equestrian technology. In fact, it didn't look like anything that belonged to any nation she knew of.
"Do you value your life?"
Trixie froze. The cool, metallic voice had come from the doorway behind her, but hadn't sounded threatening. She slowly turned around and failed to scream as she beheld a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. It took her several seconds to realize there was a head attached to this mouth. It was vaguely triangular, and dominated by a large, oval depression lined with... spines? Teeth? Spikes? She saw no eyes, but it felt like the creature was staring at her.
"Is that a no?" Once again, the voice did not sound threatening, merely curious.
Trixie shuddered and took a breath before responding. "Obviously Trixie values her life: She only keeps things of value."
The strange creature chuckled. Or at least, Trixie assumed that was what that rumbling cough was. "An interesting answer. I shall avoid taking it while that remains true. Theft of valuable property is very unethical, after all."
Trixie wasn't quite sure what the creature was trying to hint at, but it made her feel uneasy. She then realized that she wasn't very terrified for some reason, which unsettled her. "What do you wa-"
"To overlook your trespass, if possible. I'm not very hungry at the moment, so I've thought of another use for you. I could use a native to teach me about this planet. You may take what time you wish to consider this and prepare: I am in no hurry, relatively speaking. I would recommend eight nights, or near. If you accept, you need not guard your life for some time to come. If you threaten my plans, however, I will defend them with force. I suggest you leave, now."
"But what-"
"If you seek information, I will trade with you when you return."
Trixie bit her lip, hesitating. 'I have a free pass to leave unhurt. I can think later!' She bolted down the hall and out the entryway, running as fast as she could towards Ponyville. The terror she had expected to feel earlier suddenly gripped her, driving out all other thoughts and emotions. It wasn't until she was leaning against the library, panting for breath, that her thoughts caught up with her. She realized the storm had ended recently.
'Probably shouldn't tell Twilight. I don't need that unicorn messing things up, not yet. I should- ugh! By Luna's Moon, I forgot about the ingredients!' Trixie heaved a sigh and pushed open the library door. 'Might as well get this over with.'
Twilight was engrossed in some tome or other. She looked up when she heard the door open.
"Ah! There youAUGGH!" Twilight jumped nearly a foot into the air before landing on her rear and scrambling backwards, her eyes wide. Trixie just stared uncomprehendingly.
"What?"
"Y-you... why do you have a huge curved knife?"
Trixie looked to her left and saw that she was still sustaining her blade. She blushed. 'Oops.' With a forced cough and a flick of her head, she dismissed the cerulean sword. A scrap of cloth, which had evidently gotten caught on the hook, floated to the ground. 'Huh.' Still embarrassed, Trixie returned her attention to the other unicorn. "H-Honestly, Twilight. I would hope you could recognize the difference between a sword and a knife, even, no, especially one as unique as mine!" Twilight was still breathing heavily, but managed a glare.
"Are you sure your special talent isn't avoiding questions?"
Trixie laughed. "Why, jealous? It is a good skill to have, after all."
"It would be wonderful if you could avoid flaunting that particular skill at the moment, and try storytelling instead. What was with the sword?" Twilight looked Trixie over. "And where are the plants I sent you to collect?" Twilight did a double-take. "Is that... Trixie! How did you hurt yourself like that?!"
Trixie looked herself over. She had a collection of minor scrapes and a few bruises on her legs. 'Huh, I didn't notice getting those. Still, why would a few cuts freak-' "AH!" Trixie suddenly felt liquid trailing down her face, stinging her left eye. She suddenly became aware of acute pain on her forehead. "W-What-"
"D-Don't panic, Trixie! I'll help you! SPIKE!!!"
******
"Twilight, if you don't stop fussing over me I'll start swearing again!" Twilight blanched. She had quickly become familiar with Trixie's... creativity while tending to her wounds, and didn't want a repeat of that particular performance. She was still trying to get those images of Celestia out of her mind. She wisely decided to back off and let Trixie be for the moment. She could start interrogating her instead.
"Fine. Now, mind telling me what happened? I'm assuming you got into a fight of some sort." It certainly looked that way. At the moment, the bottom half of Trixie's legs were covered in small bandages while the base of her horn was tightly wrapped with cloth, a red stain slowly spreading from the center. An ice pack had been taped to her horn.
Trixie turned her nose up and looked away. She didn't want to admit that all her injuries were inflicted by sprinting through the forest like a coward. 'I don't need this unicorn dragging down my reputation more than she already has.'
Twilight rolled her eyes. "I could always get the guards involved. Assault is no laughing matter, Trixie."
Trixie sighed dramatically. "Fiiiiiiiine. Trixie had just entered the forest when she heard a loud noise. Naturally, she decided to investigate. She came across a large monster unlike anything she had seen before!" Trixie was very animate by this point. Telling stories dramatically, fact or fiction, was a hard habit for her to break. "It's mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth, and in place of eyes it had what looked to be even more teeth! As it lunged for Trixie, She quickly summoned my blade. I won't go into the details yet: I plan on making a show out of this, and you can pay to see the battle in full then." Twilight just rolled her eyes again. "A couple short but intense minutes later, and Trixie stood victorious, the beast slain by her hoof! And, uh, that's when I came back here." Trixie finished rather lamely.
"And... your wounds?"
"Oh, right. I honestly don't know how I got those. It must have been during the fight. As skilled as Trixie is, she wasn't flawless." Trixie lowered her head bashfully. "It's embarrassing to admit that it landed any hits on me."
"I wonder why I find it hard to believe you."
Trixie bristled. "It's not like I'm claiming to have beaten an Ursa Major, here!" (If only she knew the irony of this statement, Trixie might have chosen another creature for an example.) "Maybe I'm not as powerful as I claimed to be last time, but I'm not helpless! I can take care of a random Everfree monster! It wasn't even that big!"
"Alright, I'm sorry. You do have talent, I admit it. Still, can you blame me, considering your previous claims?"
"Yes, I can and will!"
Twilight rubbed her forehead in frustration. "Okay, you said you heard a noise. When was this?"
"Noon." Trixie clapped a hoof over her mouth. Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"You left just after nine. How did it take you three hours to reach the forest."
"Er..." 'To stone with her, why does she have to be so clever! Think Trixie! Okay, I can tell the truth and that will make her less likely to doubt me! I'll just use my other lie' "Alright, you caught me! I was in the park, crying like a foal for a couple hours. I somewhat lied when I told you my parents were dead, but I was drunk and I wanted you off my back. That doesn't mean my family situation isn't tragic, so I'd appreciate just leaving it at that! I have a reputation to maintain! Er, rebuild... so don't spread this around, okay? Can you do even that one thing for me?" Trixie didn't have to fake the emotion in her voice entirely, she just had to stop holding it back.
Twilight's expression softened. She ignored the implication that she hadn't done anything for Trixie yet. "Alright Trixie. I won't press the issue, and I won't tell anypony else. Thanks for coming clean about your parents, by the way. I had planned on confronting you about it, but maybe I shouldn't have anyway. I also want to apologize." Trixie cocked her head at this. Twilight looked a bit embarrassed. This was unexpected. "I'm under no obligation to be even half as nice to you as I have been, but I still feel a bit guilty for being less hospitable than I could be. Given your situation, I could probably stand to cut you more slack. Also, sending you to collect poisonous plants while its raining without explicitly warning you about either beforehand probably won't help the situation."
Trixie was stunned. 'I... I guess she's not as vengeful as I thought. Well, if she's going to get off my back, who am I to complain? Wait...' Trixie's eyes widened "P-Poisonous? You were trying to poison Trixie?!"
Twilight jumped. "What? No! Well, technically! No, listen, it wasn't a dangerous poison!" She took a deep breath. "I wrote a warning on the list, but hoped you'd be too arrogant to actually read it. One of the items was poison joke, which isn't that harmful and is easily cured. It basically just plays a prank on anyone that touches it."
Trixie started to calm down. 'Well... at least she told me about it. I guess I can be gracious and forgive her for it.' "Al-Alright. Trixie will forgive you this once, Sparkle. But you better not betray my trust again! I'm watching you!"
Twilight rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh. "Trixie, I'm trying to avoid confrontations with you! I don't want to have to pull all the weight here, so can you please try to act the least bit agreeable?" Trixie blushed at her tone, feeling a bit like a foal being scolded.
"Bluh, alright, I'm sorry Twilight. I'll try not to let your antics get to me so much."
Twilight smirked. "I guess that's close enough for now. As long as your willing to try."
Trixie forced a smile. 'Great, that's Twilight out of the way.' She suppressed a shudder as her thoughts returned to the creature that was decidedly not slain. 'Ugh, what am I going to do about that?!'