Gettting derailed
Trixie grumbled as she made her way to the castle, her bad mood undoubtedly caused by her unexpected visitor.
“So why exactly are you here and why exactly do I need to hide you for the next few days?”
“It’s better you don’t know,” Bantu answered.
“Better for who exactly?” Trixie shot back. “Look, if you’re in some kind of trouble, I can go the Princess and we can get you protection.”
“No!” Bantu exclaimed, causing Trixie to jump in surprise. “Look Trixie, I don’t like doing this but I’m desperate. I am asking you as a friend, just help me out and don’t ask any questions.”
Trixie was still skeptical, but looking at the pleading expression on his face soon broke her resolve.
“Fine,” she replied. “But you owe me.”
So now Trixie had a temporary roommate. If she was honest she wasn’t overly upset. It was good to see Bantu after all this time and and it was sort of nice to have some company. Not that she’d admit that to Bantu. Last thing she needs is him thinking that dropping in when ponies were trying to sleep was an okay thing to do.
She was about to enter the castle when a couple of guards blocked her path.
“Pass please.”
“Oh come on,” Trixie said in dismay. “I enter the castle every day.”
“Sorry ma’am, just following protocol,” The guard explained. “A train robber is at large in the city so we are tightening security.”
Trixie huffed but after some searching, (and some not-so-nice words from the ponies waiting behind her) she managed to find her pass and show it to the guard.
“Have a nice day ma’am,” the guard said as he let her past.
“Unlikely.”
What a day. Six whole hours spent learning how to set up the bureaucracy of a new territorial province. Her brain ached as much as her empty stomach as she finally sat down in one of the castle’s cafeterias. As Trixie was sitting there eating her sandwich she listened to a unicorn and a pegasus gossiping at a nearby table out of sheer boredom.
“It’s terrible what happened to that relief train. So much medicine destroyed and all those guards in the hospital.”
“I hear some of the guards affected are claiming that the assailant was brown zebra in a bowler hat.”
That caught Trixie’s attention.
“A brown zebra?” The unicorn asked, “That’s absurd.”
“Not as absurd as you think.” The pegasus replied. “My cousin says that he saw a whole bunch of different coloured zebras when he went on vacation in Neigh Orleans.”
“You mean the cousin that got so drunk he ended up marrying a minotaur?” The unicorn asked skeptically.
“Hey that marriage has lasted two years and is still going strong. Hey Trixie!”
Trixie almost dropped her sandwich, “Er yes?”
“You’re from Neigh Orleans. Are there or are there not multicoloured zebra in Neigh Orleans?”
Trixie gaped at the two before stuttering, “I-I just remembered I need to go run an errand.”
She then ran off, not even realising she had left her sandwich behind. The unicorn gave it a sniff.
“Pickles...mayonnaise...bananas?!”
After chatting up some off-duty guards about the recent gossip, Trixie paced in an empty hallway.
“Come on Trixie, don’t jump to conclusions. Just because some guards claimed to have seen a brown Zebra in a bowler hat doesn’t mean it was Bantu. Coincidences happen. And besides, Bantu is your friend...who turned up in the middle of the night, avoided giving any answers and asked you to help him no questions asked…merde.”
Trixie arrived back at her apartment. As she entered she saw Bantu camped in the living room. His clothes were scattered across the floor as he was now wearing her bathrobe. He sat on the couch reading one of Trixie’s books while surrounded by various food scraps of what appeared to have been the entire contents of Trixie’s fridge.
She slammed the door behind her to get his attention.
“Welcome back, hope you don’t mind but I needed to get the taste of rust breath out of my mouth so I borrowed your toothbrush. Also, are you going grocery shopping anytime soon?” He looked up from the book, “because you're running low on…” He trailed off when he saw the way Trixie was glaring at him. “What?”
“Did you attack the relief train?” Trixie cut to the point.
Bantu weighed his options. Trixie was the only creature he had never been able to beat at poker so there was a really good chance she would see through a lie.
“It wasn’t an attack, things just got out of hoof.”
“What exactly were you doing on the relief train when things got ‘Out of hoof’?”
“I was just trying to acquire some hard-to get ingredients.” He explained. “It was supposed to be a victimless crime.”
“What part of ‘rob a relief train’ do you consider victimless?” Trixie demanded, dismay clearly evident in her voice.
“Look, what’s done is done. All that matters now is laying low for a few days until it’s safe for me to grab a train back to Neigh Orleans.”
“Bantu, you’ve turned me into an accessory to your crimes. I could get expelled for this.”
“And I could go to jail,” he shot back. “I thought you were my friend.”
“I am your friend.”
“Then you will help me lie low. In a few days I will be back in Neigh Orleans and we’ll go on as if this never happened. Deal?”
Bantu held out his hoof, Trixie continued to glare at him.
“I’m begging you,” he pleaded. “Help me.”
Trixie’s glare softened until finally she lowered her head.
“Fine.”
“Thank you,” he said before returning to the book.
She went into the kitchen, she took in a deep breath as she tried to calm her nerves.
Was she really going to do this?
Deciding to make a herself a cup of tea while she deliberated, she went to the cupboard. She took her tea but when she went for her favourite mug, it was missing. She scanned the room but then saw it on the ground, smashed. The pieces lay there, no attempt made to clean it up. It had just been left where it had fallen and broken.
Knowing she hadn’t broken it, there was only one culprit. He had broken it and not even apologised or tried to clean it up. She could have a stepped on it and gotten hurt. It was such a blatant disregard for her possessions or even her safety.
As she cleaned up the broken mug, she got a moment of clarity about what she had to do. Once done she stepped out of the kitchen.
“I need to go food shopping,” she said .”I don’t think we have enough for the both of us.” She started to head for the door. “ “Stay here and make sure none of the neighbours see ya.”
“Trixie!” Bantu called out, stopping her. He grinned. “You’re a good friend.”
She nodded but as she stepped out she muttered to herself, “I try to be.”
Trixie stepped into Luna’s study and found the princess in conversation with the captain of the guard.
“Sorry Trixie, now is not the best time.” Luna told her student. “Could you come back later?”
Despite her desperately wanting to use the excuse to turn tail, Trixie swallowed as she steeled her nerves.
“I... I know who attacked the train.”
Bantu let out a content sigh as he lounged on Trixie’s couch and took a well-deserved nap. So maybe this whole fiasco didn’t go as planned but looking at the glass as half full, at least he’d tried. Now all that mattered was lying low for a few days before heading home, then he was sure he’d laugh about this someday.
He may not be rich but at least he had his health and his freedom.
“Ahem.”
Bantu opened his eyes, almost falling off the couch in shock. While he had been napping the room had filled with guards.
“Mr. Bantu, you will be coming with us.” The lead guard said. “I recommend you come peacefully.”
On instinct Bantu tried to reach for something in his jacket only to have his hooves encased in magic and restrained. Now he had a glowing horn and a pair of spears pointed at him.
“That was not a request.”
The freshly-shackled Zebrony was dragged out by the guards.
“This is all some big misunderstanding,” Bantu started. “I’m in town visiting a good friend. Her name is Trixie Lulamoon and she is a personal student to the Princess. Go asked her and she’ll…”
Bantu trailed off when he saw a Trixie standing just outside the door. As he saw her expression, it became clear to him how the guards had found him.
He was utterly speechless as the guards placed him in the caged wagon.
The lead guard approached Trixie.
“Thank you for your assistance.” He said as he gave Trixie back her keys.
“Just promise me he’ll get a fair trial.” Trixie replied.
“I promise,” the guard replied. “Actions aside, your friend is still entitled to all his rights as an Equestrian citizen.”
She gave the guard a look of disbelief. “Do you honestly think after all this he’s still my friend?”
“It’s probably for the best,” the guard shrugged. “Who would want some crooked Zebra for a friend, anyway.”
“He’s a Zebrony!” She snapped at the guard. She left before the guard had a chance to respond.
With no more statements to give and the guards having cleared out, Trixie returned to her now empty apartment.
It was in the silence that the full weight of her actions came crashing down on her. Doubt crept into her thoughts.
This had been the right thing to do, hadn’t it?
Of course it had been. If she had been caught aiding a criminal, everything she had worked for would be ruined. Her place in the school, her tutelage under Luna, her dream of creating the House of Lulamoon. All of it would be gone. And even if she hadn’t been caught, could she really have been able to live with herself if she let someone get away with attacking a relief aid train?
But still.
How was she going to face him again?
How could she face his family again?
The thoughts of what his family might think or do hit her the hardest. She had accepted losing Bantu’s friendship when she went to Luna but this was also going to cost her Galeb and Zelime as well. Finally, she went to her desk and took out a quill and parchment. She going to write a letter to Bantu’s family to explain her actions and hope that they would be understanding.
After an hour she had only managed to write two words.
I’m sorry.
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Good story but there one thing that doesn't make much sense in the Lunaverse. Because Luna is nocturnal so should Trixie be at this time because she's being taught by her. So that Bantu barges in the middle night at Trixie door shouldn't really upset her.
I would have been better if it was during the Day time when he barges in that would have made Trixie all grumpy.
8435698
That is a good point. I've changed it so that it says Bantu disturb her while she was trying to sleep rather than saying it was the middle of the night.
You know somepony else would like to have listened to that lecture.
8435698
Luna isn't *purely* nocturnal. She goes to sleep after raising the Sun (at around 5-6 AM, depending on the time of year), then sleeps until around 1-2 PM (again depending on the time of year). So Luna (and by extension, Canterlot) is awake in the afternoon and through to the evening.
Bantu, behold all the fucks I give about you getting arrested!
What a rather large amount there is, you bastard.
Good story. Is it done?
8548494
One more chapter.
8549840
Excellent. Looking forward to it. :D
Hey, you've posted 4 times in the last year. By Lunaverse standards, that's excellent speed