The Elements of Lunar Harmony
Part Sixteen: The Road to Canterlot.
Trixie was furious, in fact in all her life she’d never felt so angry even at the death of her parents…
It was only minutes since she’d been returned to her body after a pretty up close near death experience, a mite closer than most since having had an actual conversation with Death…
As she struggled to get up from the ground she saw again the prone form of her friend laid out next to her and as she unsteadily crouched down to check on her she found she was barely breathing.
The anger came from the fact that as she desperately looked around at the devastation caused by her burst of borrowed magic, she had no idea what to do to save her.
Trixie sat back and laid a hoof on her friend gently as she began to cry, it wasn’t fair…
Trixie knew her friend was safe for the moment but that didn’t mean she would be that way for long unless she got help, her deal with Death still fresh in her mind.
So wrapped up in thought and also feeling the effects of coming back from being nearly dead and the spell and its power that almost killed her, Trixie failed to hear the soft sound of hooves meeting the ground behind her…
“Trixie…?”
Trixie looked up at the speaker who made her way to her side and then to Spitfire who she checked over as she awaited a response.
“Take her…”
Princess Luna looked up from Spitfire to Trixie as the blue mare continued…
“Take her… To a hospital…”
“W-What about you…?”
“I-I’ll be fine just hurry up and take her…”
Luna paused for a second and then mind made up she nodded and as she levitated the fallen Wonderbolt onto her back and took off she called back to Trixie.
“I’ll take her to Ponyville… Find the others… Meet me there!!!”
And with that the Princess of the night flew away at a pace that would have made a certain mare with a rainbow mane quit calling herself the fastest flyer in Equestria…
Trixie slumped back down to the ground and as she lay there for the first time for ages in her short life her mind was completely geared towards the well being of a pony who wasn’t her.
As she lay there for what seemed like hours in a daze and feeling rotten she was brought out of this by the sound of scuttling nearby.
Before she could even look up a large familiar looking spider appeared next to her its fangs clicking loudly as it moved to the highest spot it could find and began waving its legs at something in the distance.
Trixie squinted into the distance her vision blurry and hard to focus…
Then she saw them…
The other four members of her ‘group’ were fast approaching and from the looks of it they hadn’t fared much better since they were covered in ash along with scrapes and cuts as they made their way towards her.
Trixie felt the surge of relief and the emotion at seeing the four but as they got to her she mustered all the traditional arrogance and bluster she could and angrily called out to them…
“Well you certainly took your sweet time…”
Apple Cobbler was the first to speak after catching her breath.
“Ah didn’t run here for you witch… Where’s Spitfire… You didn’t roast her along with the woods did you…?”
“She’s alive but hurt… I’m fine though, thanks for asking…”
It was Roseluck’s turn to ask a question as she finished congratulating the spider on a job well done.
“Well… Where is she..?”
Trixie feeling sleep overtaking all other considerations as the last of her willpower and strength wore out and in a yawning reply as she began to pass out she said…
“Luna… Took her… Ponyville… Got to meet her there…”
As Roseluck and Apple Cobbler exchanged confused looks as Berry Punch and Fleur both watched Trixie lay down and lapse into unconsciousness.
Roseluck feeling buoyed by the relative safety of her friends began motivating the others into action, that and because the other three despite the situation were still nervously eyeing the spider that was now sat obediently beside her, Roseluck stepped up to the challenge and in a strong voice made her decision.
“Apple Cobbler will carry Trixie back to the cart, Fleur you and I will help Berry…”
As the farm pony began to argue she was cut off mid sentence by the spider moving towards her, as soon as she’d stopped complaining the spider stopped.
Roseluck suppressed a smile as Apple Cobbler reluctantly bent down as Berry and Fleur gently laid Trixie across her back, raising up and shifting the magician to a more comfortable position Apple Cobbler stared daggers at the spider and wordlessly began walking.
Fleur helped the worse for wear Berry to also start the long walk back to the cart as Roseluck offered a ride on her back to the spider that was more than happy to jump on as the strange procession moved off through the heaps of burned wood and piles of ash.
…Far Away In Canterlot…
Celestia had become depressed, so much so that as she stared forlornly out of the window at the top of the western tower she began flicking through Luna’s record collection as she broke her diet with a mountain of cakes stolen from the kitchens…
Down below the mood among the remaining Royal Guards was becoming desperate as lack of sleep and concern over the increasingly organized and now well armed mob that kept marching about in plain view outside.
Vinyl sat staring at the walls of Canterlot as she and Octavia took a well earned rest from the party and assessed their strengths.
Octavia however was less than thrilled and like many involved in the longest most destructive party in Equestrian history she was beginning to lag a bit.
Vinyl had already arranged the music so that during the day they all could rest a bit with chill out music then as the night would fall whack it back up to eleven and re-energize the crowd/mob.
As both sides made preparations no pony realized what would occur in the next few days was going to be the most talked about event for the next thousand years or at least until a certain wedding involving a pink princess who at the moment was nowhere to be seen…
Luna was touching down outside Ponyville, she’d come here instead of Manehatten which had been closer because she knew ponies here.
Her problem lay in the fact that she still didn’t have a clue where the doctor’s office was so she speedily set off towards the town library to ask her sisters student.
Back down the road, halfway between Ponyville and Manehatten…
Apple Cobblers cart was more than a little battered and wonky as she unsteadily made her way to Ponyville the others were sat in the back of the cart but apart from Trixie who’d passed out they had all fallen asleep…
Tiredness plagued the young farm pony as she slowly trudged back down the road towards her home and hopefully her own bed, a bath could wait…
It was only about ten minutes into the journey when she fell asleep her hoofs carrying her along as she snored her head hanging down as the scenery passed her by.
A very, very long nap later Apple Cobbler was awoken by the feeling of falling, as her eyes snapped open she found herself suspended in mid air held only by the harness of the cart which was right up to the edge of the large ditch Apple Cobbler had walked into.
Apple Cobbler checked to see if any of the others were awake and breathed a sigh of relief as they remained asleep.
Quickly she stretched her rear hooves to the edge of the ditch and with her powerful earth pony strength she gradually managed to manoeuvre the cart back as she got her hooves back on solid ground.
Checking her bearing she saw that she’d covered over half of the distance to Ponyville and as she pulled the cart back on the road she once again set off as she yawned deeply.
Unbeknownst to the sleeping ponies or the overly tired farm pony, Berry punch who was snoring gently in the back began to twitch as her wine/booze to blood ratio started to reach the lowest level in years…