Cold droplets of condensation dripped down from the cave ceiling onto Twilight’s nose. The first caused a reflex sniff. Then came a slightly louder sniff. A hoof rub. Face scrunch. Finally, she rolled over to escape the annoyance that refused to let her sleep, only to see another face through blurry eyes. Had she been more alert, she would have jumped up in panic upon seeing Trixie’s face that close to her own. But the cloak was surprisingly comfortable, despite its age, and the creepy owner. Again, she opened her eyes to see a sleeping Trixie. It was very odd to see a pony dressed entirely in clothing, only her neck and head were uncovered in fact. With the cloak, she could easily narrow that down to her face. It also raised the question of whether she wore clothing for warmth, being undead seemed to entail a cold body.
It was early morning. Sunrise was close. Twilight changed her mind about sleeping after several moments of blinking failed to remove Trixie from her vision. The fire had gone out some hours before, carefully reignited by a spark of her magic. “Hey, you’ve been asleep for who knows how long. No offence, but I’d rather get you back home quickly, since I do have a mentor to find.” Trixie’s eyes flicked open instantly. It caused Twilight to shuffle back ever so slightly. Was she actually asleep? That’s creepy... “I also haven’t eaten in a while, and I don’t know if anything in this forest is safe. I’m sorry if I come across as self-absorbed, but I hope you understand that this whole situation is not what I trained for at all.”
Trixie blinked again. Her crimson eyes contracted as the pre-dawn light met her face. There was a very clear expression of expectation. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen the sun rise, well before I went to sleep. The sky was always red then, you couldn’t see much at all.” Twilight shuddered at the mental image it brought. Her studies of Equestria’s history often described how desolate the land had become at one point. One word in particular had been used to describe the time at which it was under Sombra’s rule. “Coldharbour, they called it. That was what Molag Bal called the Crystal City... He really liked that title. Doesn’t come close to truly describing what Equestria was like though.” Twilight shuddered again. The way that she could continue her silent thoughts was very unnerving. Either she can read minds, or I’m being paranoid.
More droplets of water fell from the ceiling to land on Twilight’s nose. “Okay, enough history for one morning. There’s a path up the mountain, hopefully you’ll be able to work out which direction ‘home’ is in. Because I haven’t got the faintest idea about where it could be.” She passed the cloak back to Trixie after standing up. The deftness with which the unicorn pulled it back over her body was truly impressive. “I guess I’m glad to see that you’ve still got talent.” It wasn’t so much of a compliment, as a sign of gratitude that she wouldn’t have to carry Trixie every step of the way. Especially up the mountain. Why did I even mention going up there? It probably would be easier to go back down and head south until we run into some sort of undead crypt. There was no point in trying to suggest otherwise at that point, since Trixie had begun on the upper path out of the cave. “Hey, hold up for a minute okay?” Twilight lifted her helmet back into place with one hoof, while using her magic to buckle on her weapons. As a precaution, she put the safety lock back on the crossbow. Don’t make me regret doing that, Trixie.
It was pretty easy to see the awe on her face as they continued the ascent. While trying to make a conscious effort to avoid looking at the land, Trixie caught glances every so often. Each time she got a brief look at the lush, green landscape seemed to bring another moment of euphoria. Of course, all Twilight could see was just another perspective of the view she always had for her entire life. She’s genuinely saving the view for when she gets to the top. Equestria must have been genuinely that bad. The sun was still hiding behind the northern mountains at that point, close to rising. It felt a little too convenient that they would probably reach the peak at just the right time to see the sunrise. Yeah, I’m definitely becoming paranoid. Neither pony spoke for the entire climb. Rocks and gravel fell on occasion, struggling shrubs and flowers dotted the side of the path. But there was little, if any idle chatter. There wasn’t much that Twilight felt like saying of course, but her attention still remained focused on Trixie. For a pony isolated from any contact whatsoever for thousands of years, she was very quiet.
The hike only took a half hour at most. Neither pony stopped for more than a minute to rest, and nothing more than a tiny rockslide happened to delay the ascent. The end result was well worth it, as both ponies took the chance to rest on a flat just below the peak. Sunrays peeked out across the northern mountains, casting the side of Canterlot facing them in a grey-blue shadow. Above, brilliant red and orange streaked across the waning night sky as the stars faded away. Below, the very land itself seemed to glow in the warming light. Twilight couldn’t help but glance at Trixie when she gasped audibly. Her skin had become much paler in reaction to the sun, but it didn’t stop her from continuing to watch the wonder unfold.
“I forgot how beautiful Equestria was. Celestia really did a miraculous job of helping to bring it back to what it should be. I just wish...” She settled her gaze on the stones beneath for a moment, and then turned her head to Twilight. “Do you think... she will still remember me? We weren’t exactly friends, but I still supported her in my own way. Maybe my family has changed since I was last awake.” Twilight found herself conflicted, between turning her head away, and outright embracing Trixie. There was too much genuine emotion to ignore, despite her doubts from the night before. Undead or otherwise, the mare sitting next to her was a living soul. One that could feel things, one that had real hopes and wishes. A stressful day had probably been the cause of her rigid distrust, and the reason she hadn’t seen such emotion before.
In the midst of it all, Twilight found herself lost for words. She had only met the Princess once, there was very little to go on about her personality. “I think... she’ll give you a fair chance. She always does. Same with Luna, she always treats ponies with kindness and respect. As for your, ‘family’...” She bit down on her tongue in careful consideration of her next words. Was everypony in her family undead? Did they send the ones she had killed? What if they already knew, would they take revenge on her? “A few thousand years is a long time, even if they did sleep through most of it.” The fact that she had to ask about her family changing brought up a very crucial and sensitive question. “Look, Trixie... Should I know why you’re so concerned about your family changing? Should I be worried if they haven’t? Because I would much rather go back to Canterlot first, or at least Ponyville.”
Trixie’s eyes looked back down at the ground at that moment. Twilight didn’t need more than a second to work out what she wasn’t saying out loud. “Well, I do feel a bit better knowing what’s ahead at least. And I understand wanting to go home first, that’s essentially what I wanted to do as well. I’ll still take you home, if you can promise me that I’m going to return to Canterlot safely afterwards.” At the very least, she could summon the chariot once they had arrived at wherever home was, allowing her to avoid any confrontation with the ‘family’. I really need to stop using air quotes while thinking to myself; it’s pretty stupid. By then, the sun had risen above the peak of Canterlot Mountain. “Alright, I think it’s about time we work out where we’re walking to.”
She moved further up to a solid position on the peak. Trixie followed behind a little while after. Just looking southward opened up an entirely new view of Equestria. “I don’t recognize any landmarks unfortunately, but perhaps you might know of where some used to be.” Twilight took her time to study the landscape, as she had from Celestia’s personal balcony. It was one thing to recall the names and locations of towns, but quite another to line up past with present. Especially thousands of years in the past. “There wasn’t a city above where I went to rest for one thing, if that helps at all. Admittedly it’s a bit unsettling, considering that city has been in ruins for a very long time.” The purple eyes closed as a method of recalling previous studies, and politely tuning out any interference. Trixie settled back into silence after that.
It was some time before Twilight opened her eyes again. “Okay, I think if we head further south, we’ll hit the original Tartarus gate to the Shivering Isles, Discord’s home. Beyond that is Baltimare to the southeast, Hayseed Swamp is south of that. Does that help?” She watched as Trixie closed her eyes in turn, assumedly using a similar method to compare memories with reality. After a few moments, she opened her eyes again and glanced at Twilight. She had inadvertently gotten closer to Trixie in the process. “Right, I’ll wait over there. Just tell me if anything comes to mind.” She carefully stepped back down the path and found a reasonably comfortable spot to rest on. A small, mischievous part of her had hoped to test if Trixie could in fact read minds. The ancient mare herself seemed to be meditating on the peak. With the cloak fully drawn over her head, only a tiny portion of her snout peeked out from the shade. It was oddly a lot like depictions of Luna.
A good half hour passed. At one point, Twilight had snuck back over to see if Trixie had fallen asleep. It resulted in a somewhat menacing glare that made Twilight crawl back to her waiting spot. Geez, you’d think after that really emotional moment with the sunrise, she’d have at least some sense of humour. Somewhere in the middle of polishing the scruffs from her boots, Trixie called Twilight back at long last. She pointed past the Hayseed Swamps to another mountain range. The border between Equestria and the Badlands, formed at the end of the First Era. “There wasn’t a mountain range when I went to sleep, but I suspect my home is beyond it now. I doubt my family is to blame for such a barrier to be formed, but it does present an unexpected obstacle.”
Twilight couldn’t spare much thought as to how they would get across the mountains. Her mind was focused entirely on all the reasons she had been told as to why the Badlands were cut off from Equestria. Many were rumours about all sorts of horrible monsters, seas of fire that even the long gone dragons could not stand for long. It certainly wasn’t painting a pretty picture of Trixie’s home. “Maybe they moved to the mountain range after it formed. Undead, like the dark after all, right?” She definitely didn’t want to offend Trixie in any way, especially at such a chilling moment of revelation. The mere thought of setting hoof on the unprotected side made her skin itch wildly. And Celestia definitely wouldn’t approve of any sort of mission into the Badlands, even if it were just a quick trip in and out.
Their eyes locked again. This time, Twilight saw doubt and concern reflected back at her. Trixie was actually having second thoughts about her, presumably, as to whether she needed to go or not. “I didn’t anticipate this, Twilight Sparkle. And I don’t expect you to follow me all the way, if they are indeed on the other side. But, I would definitely be very grateful if you chose to accompany me anyway.” This time, Twilight didn’t hold back on reaching her hoof out to touch Trixie’s shoulder. It was quite touching to know that she really appreciated her side of the situation after all. Almost all of her previous apprehensions faded away at that point. This is certainly going to be a lot easier if we trust each other. It isn’t that far anyway, if we cut through the swamp... Something about the swamp itself brought another shiver. Without paying much attention, she shrugged it off.
“I’ll go with you, if you’ll teach me some of the things you know. I’m somewhat of a history nut in addition to being a Dawnguard. And, I guess I’ve forgotten just how lucky I am to meet somepony from the very distant past, let alone have plenty of time to talk with them.” Trixie’s smile reminded Twilight of just whom she was travelling with. The fact that she had admitted to feeding on other ponies for food had slipped her mind until then. “Oh, and promise me you’ll ask before... feeding on anypony. Things might not go well if others find out what you are, for now at least.”