//------------------------------// // 8: Escaping old places // Story: To Die Twice // by Quite Quiet //------------------------------// ”This isn’t good, not good at all. The dream was true and now they’re looking for me. I haven’t had time to prepare anything. I need a distraction, anything so I can escape.” Eyeing the window she currently looked out through a plan began to form in her head. “This window looks like it’s easy to open. I just need something to get the guard away from the door, preferably inside so I can jump out.” “What is the royal guard doing all the way out here?” The voice from Soarin’ briefly interrupted her thoughts as he gave voice to a question she already knew the answer to. Keeping her mouth shut Trixie kept on studying the guard for anything that would help in her escape. “Wait here kid, while I go find out what this all is about.” All Trixie could do to contain her glee was a quiet nod. The distraction she needed came by itself, she didn’t even need to think about it. She watched as Soarin’ made his way out of the room and carefully listened as the sound of his hooves moved further and further away from her and towards the door. Looking back through the window she saw as the door opened, but instead of Soarin’ showing up on the other side Winter Heart greeted the guard. From her vantage point and with the distance their voices were barely more than a whisper, and only fractions of the conversation registered. “…Looking for Lulamoon...” “…Did she do now?” What little she could her confirmed what she already thought, however. They were looking for her. Celestia and the royal guard tried to find her, and the dream was true. She kept her gaze steady on the duo at the door as Winter motioned for the guard to come inside, most likely so she could bring her to him. The moment the guard got his head through the door Trixie slammed the window open as quietly as possible with her hooves. She couldn’t risk using magic at the moment and the window wasn’t outside of her strength anyway. With less grace than a stone she crawled through the open window and firmly planted her hooves on the soft grass below. With no way to close the window she opted to simply leave it open even if it would alert the adults inside to her location as soon as they entered the room. With a final glance back up at the window Trixie whispered a single word before turning around. “Goodbye.” And then she was gone. She ran towards the large forest in the distance, away from Hoofing ton and the orphanage. The first shouts of her name reached her ears as she passed the top of the hills surrounding the area and down on the other side. Panting she forced herself to run as fast as possible so she could get to the forest before they caught wind of her location. A blue filly running across green fields aren’t the most invisible things from the air after all. As the first shadows from the forest reached her legs she stole a glance backwards, looking for any sign of their progress. Seeing nothing more than Soarin’ circling around the orphanage a fair bit away from her she smiled. Weaving between the trees her pace slowed down significantly but she still kept an acceptable pace. Blindly running through the forest her ears found no sign of her hunters at all. With no sense of direction left she kept going forward, putting as much distance behind her as possible. And with no apparent danger of being caught left she allowed herself to slow down to catch her breath. For the better part of an hour this patter continued. Trixie would make her way through the forest, jumping over fallen trees as they came and crawled under the ones she couldn’t get over. The lack of smaller plants made the journey as painless as possible and relatively pleasant. Eventually she came across a dirt road stretching straight ahead in both directions. Taking directions with the sun she opted to move east, away from Canterlot and the princess. “The further away the better,” she reasoned and set off down the path. With no trees to avoid her overall speed increased and she put more and more distance behind her. Hooves falling down on the gravel made more noise than she wanted, but she saw no way to fix this without slowing down. Eventually the dirt path opened up into a clearing in the forest. Panting loudly she took several deep breaths, before deciding a five minute break wouldn’t hurt. The clearing was by no means large, but much to Trixie’s surprise it was already occupied. Standing in the small clearing was a large wagon much in the same fashion her Trixie had. Made out of wood and painted in bright colours, the entire thing screamed traveler. Seemingly empty at the moment she carefully moved closer. The closer she came the higher the wagon got and by the time she had moved up next to it she noticed there was enough space underneath for her to comfortably lay down if she wanted to. “Can I help you, child?” a voice behind her suddenly asked. Twisting her head around she came face to face with a most unusual sight. Looking back down at her was the face of grey earth pony, who had her prime come and go. Her eyes spoke of immense knowledge and mystery, which both were currently locked in on Trixie. “I was just looking. I came down the path and needed a break, and your wagon caught my eye.” She pointed with one hoof towards the way she just came from as a clarification. The silence that stretched after her reply stretched out much longer than she liked. Shifting her weight around on her legs she waited for whatever would come next. After what seemed like forever the mare in front of her finally relented, a small smile creeping up on her. “So you say, child.” The tone of her voice could almost be mistaken for sarcastic, if you couldn’t see her face. “You’re resting you say. Would you humor an old lady to join me for a cup of tea?” “I… um… I should get going soon. I need to get somewhere soon, how long will it take?” Laughter followed the question and Trixie looked up on the unknown mare in confusion. “Always on the move, child? I can assure you no time will be lost, the tea is ready and the cups are clean. All you need to do is come in and you can soon be on your way.” Trixie thought for another moment before giving a short nod as a reply, agreeing to the offer of tea. When the old mare turned around she gave Trixie a perfect view of the crystal ball on her flank, before she too made her way towards the only door of the wagon. Stepping through the door put her in an entirely different world. Across every imaginable surface were items of all kinds. Flasks of water placed on a shelf, souvenirs and trinkets spread across every open surface and wherever she turned her head there was something that didn’t quite match up with the items around it. Navigating her way through the inside, carefully checking every step she took to avoid any stray items on the floor. She soon came up to the only table in the room and with absolute care she sat down in an unoccupied space next to it. Not long after a steaming cup of tea came into view in front of her. Sniffing some of the steam a pleasant minty smell took over and after a moment she took the cup and took a small sip of the drink. “Enjoying yourself, child?” The questions snaps Trixie’s attention back to the mare now sitting in front of her and she gives a small nod in response. “The tea is very good, miss...?” “Mystery, child. From my mother, you see? Now, what is a filly like you doing all the way out here?” Hesitating for a moment, Trixie goes over exactly what happened and what information that could be harmful to say. Everything about her past goes straight out of the window, so she ponders how much of the orphanage she can talk about. “Well, here goes nothing.” “Trixie, and I was out…” but before she could come any further a loud knock stopped her cold. Without thinking she quickly looked around in search of a place to hide, and found the side of the counter to work out perfectly. Slipping away from the table with her tea cup in magic she positioned herself behind the counter, out of sight from anyone by the door where she placed the cup on the floor and cut off her magic. “Hide me, please. I can’t let them find me.” She looked back up at Mystery, who had until now sat quietly and watched her move. Without uttering a word she rose from her seat and moved with practiced ease through the piles on the floor, calling out to whoever was on the other side. Trixie could only listen as Mystery unlocked and opened the door. To her surprise the newcomers voice wasn’t that of the royal guard as she expected. “Hello ma’am, I’m sorry to bother you but I’m looking for a filly who should be somewhere around here.” The unmistakable sound of Soarin’ came from the door to where she hid. Unwilling to look out from her cover she could only guess his expression. “A filly you say? It’s not safe for a child to be running around out here all on their own is there?” A sigh of relief washed over Trixie as the notion the old lady would cover for her at the moment. And while she technically hadn’t answered Soarin’s question yet at least there was a chance to get out of the situation unharmed. “My point exactly ma’am. So can you tell me anything?” “Would I hide her if I did? Most likely not, but I wonder did you check around her home? Fillies love their homes and family.” “Yes we did. I’m sorry to have taken a moment of your time ma’am, I will leave you to your day then.” A court reply before what sounded like wings unfurling and flapping came to her ears, before the door slammed shut again. Peeking out from her cover she watched as Mystery walked back towards the table and sat down once again. Motioning for her to come out Trixie took the cup in her magic and sat down on the opposite side of the table. Shifting in her place the silence stretched out endlessly with the same curious stare from before. A stray lock of Mystery’s black mane fell in her eyes that she blew away was a puff. “You’re a strange one child, you know that? Running? Hiding? Things never worked out the way you wanted them to did they?” How she managed to sound so caring without being condescending Trixie didn’t know, but it helped her clam down at least a little. “I’m sorry. This past week has been horrible for me, and I needed to get away. I should just leave you to your own, I don’t need to inconvenience you any longer. Thank you for the tea too.” Trixie made an attempt to get up that was hurriedly motioned away with a hoof from the elder in front of her. “Now, now, did I say you had to leave child? But if you would like to humor an old soul like me, could you answer a question?” “What question?” Trixie asked confused. Didn’t this lady speak in questions already? What could she possibly want to know about her? “Tell me little child, why are you here?”