Darkness was descending over the land of Equestria, and a cold wind was stirring the nocturnal predators out of their slumber. It was getting late, and it was not a good time for little ponies like Twilight Sparkle or Trixie Lulamoon to be out and about. Unfortunately, they were.

“Okay, so maybe we should have rested at the previous town like you suggested,” Twilight admitted as a chill down her spine made her shiver. “But on the plus side, we’ll be back on schedule come tomorrow morning.”

“We could have got back on schedule just fine had we procured a wagon in the previous town,” Trixie said.

“That money was entrusted to us by the princess for food, water and shelter. We can’t just go wasting it on transport and luxury rooms at inns.” Twilight stopped to check her map. “We’re almost there, anyway. We’re turning left at the next fork.”

“Trixie still cannot believe that she agreed to this. She could save Equestria all on her own, why should she let you share the any of the glory.”

Twilight frowned as she began moving again, catching up to Trixie’s side. “You know it’s not safe for anypony to be travelling on their own right now. Tirek’s forces could show up at any time, we have to-”

“Hold it.” Trixie held out her foreleg and both mares stopped. “Up ahead.”

Twilight peered down the road to find an elderly mare walking slowly down the road. “We should help her,” Twilight decided as she took a step forward, only to be stopped by Trixie.

“Trixie’s barrier will only keep us hidden so long as we don’t draw attention to ourselves,” Trixie reminded. “If we talk to that pony, the illusion will fall and we’ll be visible targets for Tirek’s soldiers.”

“But she’s just an old mare,” Twilight said. “She might not make it to the next town before she freezes! Besides, we’re almost there anyway.”

“Trixie’s sixth sense is telling her that helping that mare will bring us nothing but trouble.”

“Well my common sense is telling me to help a pony in need.” Twilight moved Trixie’s hoof out of the way and pressed onwards.

“Twilight, the fate of all of Equestria rests in our hooves,” Trixie said, halting Twilight for a moment.

“Yes, but I would never be able to forgive myself if I just ignored somepony in trouble when I could do something to help them. Besides, haven’t you ever heard that ‘what goes around comes around’?”

Trixie sighed as she followed after Twilight, the two mares stopping at the old mare’s side moments later. Twilight moved in to do the talking whilst Trixie kept an eye on the old mare.

“Excuse me,” Twilight asked, seemingly startling the mare as she jumped on the spot and turned to her. “Are you okay? It’s getting dark out here. If you’d like, we could help you reach the town.”

“Oh my, that would be ever so nice of you,” the mare said as a smile crossed her wrinkly face. “Though you shouldn’t jump out on ponies like that. You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry,” Twilight laughed nervously. She turned around and kneeled. “Climb on. I’ll carry you to the town.”

“Thank you, dear.” The mare climbed slowly onto Twilight’s back. “It’s so rare to see such kindness these days. How can I ever repay you?”

“A few bits would be nice,” Trixie said as she began to follow Twilight, strengthening her barrier around them.

“You don’t have to repay us,” Twilight said. “Helping others is its own reward.”

“By the way,” Trixie started, “Where were you coming from?”

“I was visiting my nephew in Baltimare,” the old mare replied, “But I must have dropped my purse and I didn’t want to be a bother, so I decided to walk instead of taking the train.”

“You walked that far by yourself?” Twilight asked in amazement.

“In order to get here from Baltimare so quickly, you must have passed through the Galloping Meadows,” Trixie said. “Quite a beautiful route, wouldn’t you agree? Especially with the butterfly migration going on.”

“Oh yes,” the old mare agreed. “I almost considered stopping for a moment to catch my breath, but it’s not been safe lately to travel at night.”

Ten minutes later, the three mares reached the town of Detrot. “Thank you again, dears.” The old mare climbed off of Twilight’s back. “My house isn’t far from here. If you are in need of a place to sleep, I would be happy to accommodate you as thanks for your help.”

“That would be-”

“We already have a place to stay,” Trixie cut in, placing her hoof over Twilight’s mouth.

The old mare frowned. “Oh. Is that so?”

“It is. Sorry, but we had best be going now.” Trixie grabbed Twilight’s hoof with her magic and pulled her away.

“H-Hey! Trixie, what’re you-”

“Keep your guard up,” Trixie said. “I don’t trust that old mare.”

Twilight groaned. “Again? I knew you were being suspicious of her the whole way here, but now you’re just being ridiculous.”

“She life about seeing the butterfly migration,” Trixie said. “At this time of year, the butterflies’ migration path is in an entirely different location.”

“Maybe she just remembered wrong, then? She is pretty old.”

“… Twilight, your friends’ lives are on the line here,” Trixie said, stopping with Twilight just outside of the town’s inn. “For once, just stop being so trusty and treat everypony you meet with some level of scrutiny.” She entered the inn, Twilight following after her with a sigh.

“Trixie, I’m glad you agreed to come along with me… Without your illusions hiding us Tirek would have caught us by now. But you have to put a little more faith in me, and in others. You’re acting like everypony you meet is a potential enemy.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie has travelled a lot more than you, Twilight. She knows how to survive on the road.”

“Just leave the talking to me whenever we meet somepony,” Twilight said as the two stopped at the inn’s counter. Trixie simply shrugged and motioned for Twilight to go ahead. Twilight approached the pony at the counter and said, “Hello, my good sir! My friend and I are looking for a room tonight, and-”

“Fifty bits,” the gruff stallion on the other side of the counter said.

Twilight’s ear drooped. “F-Fifty? That’s a little high…”

“That’s too bad. All we got left are luxury rooms, an’ they’re fifty bits.”

“Please, sir, we don’t have that much to spend on one night’s stay.”

“If ya can’t pay, ya can always work for me.”

Twilight shook her head. “We can’t! We have to leave first thing tomorrow morning! We’ve been entrusted by the princess to save Equestria from Tirek and every second is vital!”

“Oh, so you really need this room, huh?” A grin crossed the stallion’s face. “Well in that case, a hundred bits.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “W-What?!”

“If the princess sent you, then you must have the money to pay for it, right?”

“But we need that for the long quest ahead of us!”

Trixie pushed Twilight aside with a hoof as she approached the counter. “Leave this to me.” Trixie glared at the stallion across the counter, who glared back with equal furiousity. “What kind of scam are you trying to pull here? Trixie has been here before, and there are no luxury rooms! Furthermore, the innkeeper before you only charged ten bits a night!”

“That was him, an’ this is me. Fifty bits!”

Trixie’s horn flared and the room began to shimmer. “Perhaps you might want to reconsider the price for V.I.P guests? If you didn’t know, that is the princess’ pupil right there, and I am a Captain of the Guard.” The stallion began to sweat as he took a step back. “Princess Celestia has given me full authority to arrest anypony who gives Miss Sparkle any trouble, at my own discretion.”

“Y-You think I’m really gonna buy a story like that?!”

Trixie fired a beam of magic past the stallion that struck the wall behind him. As he turned his head he found the royal insignia burned into his wall. “You want to take that chance?”

“Y-You’re gonna pay for that!” the stallion demanded, turning back to the two mares and gasping he saw two purple wings sprouting from Twilight’s sides. “W-Where did those come from?!”

“They were hidden until now with magic,” Trixie said. “Now perhaps you understand that this is no joke. You are standing in the presence of Princess Twilight Sparkle, and you are treading on very thin ice. Now, this is your last chance. What will it be?”

The stallion stammered backwards until he hit his chair behind him. “L-Let me just grab your key!”

Trixie gave a victorious grin, whilst behind her Twilight gave a disapproving frown.

“You know I don’t like using my title like that,” Twilight said as soon as she and Trixie entered their room. “Unlike you, I don’t enjoy being the centre of attention all the time.”

“At times like this, it is necessary to utilise all of your assets,” Trixie rebutted. “Besides, it wasn’t you waving your title around.”

“No. It was you, and you told a big lie about being a Captain of the Guard.”

“So what? We got a discounted room, didn’t we?”

“That’s not the-” Twilight stopped herself and took a deep breath. “… Just please tone it down next time, okay? Don’t make a habit of using my status to scare ponies into giving us what we want. I don’t want to be known as a tyrant or anything.”

“You worry too much. If we had played things your way we would have had to either sleep outside, or heavily ration our remaining finances for the rest of our journey. Besides, you made the mistake telling him of our situation.”

“What do you mean? I figured if he understood our situation-”

“Not everypony is as kind as you,” Trixie said. “A stallion like that would extort every last bit out of your purse if he knows how desperate you are. At that point, scaring him into helping us was really our only option.”

Twilight gave the floor a dejected look as Trixie approached one of the beds in the room. “But I just-”

“AAAAHHHHH!”

Twilight and Trixie jumped to attention at the screaming coming from outside. “What was that?!” Twilight asked as she ran towards the window. “Fire!”

“It’s Tirek!” Trixie said as she ran towards the door. “They must have found us heading this way and planned an attack!”

“But how? You strengthened your barrier after we picked up that passerby!”

“Think! Obviously she was an agent of Tirek!”

Twilight shook her head. “No! That can’t be!”

“We have to leave town!” Trixie opened the door and ran outside.

“We have to help everypony evacuate first!” Twilight argued as she followed after Trixie.

The two ran through the inn and left through the front door. “Twilight, I know you like to help ponies, but Trixie really thinks that-”

“HELLLLP!”

Twilight and Trixie gasped as they turned their attentions down the street. A young colt was on the ground, an armoured pony towering above him. The pony was soon knocked backwards by a blast of purple magic, and the colt took the chance to flee quickly.

“Twilight, the ponies here will simply be imprisoned,” Trixie said. “It’s you they want, and if they catch you, then you will have no chance of rescuing your friends.”

“I know that, but if the ponies here are captured because of us-”

“Then we can save them another time! We can’t keep stopping and endangering ourselves every single time a pony is in trouble! That’s why this town is being attacked in the first place, in case you hadn’t noticed!”

Twilight gasped and gave Trixie a horrified look. “I-I… I didn’t mean for this to…” Twilight’s eyes widened suddenly. “BEHIND YOU!”

Trixie turned around quickly to find an armoured pony raising a tonfa into the air. A sudden clang sounded through the air, and the pony fell forwards, landing face-first onto the ground. Behind where the armoured pony stood, Trixie found an old mare, armed with a frying pan, standing over the downed pony.

“It’s you!” Trixie shouted with a glare.

“There isn’t much time,” the old mare said. “I’ve prepared a wagon for the two of you to flee in.”

“What?” Trixie asked, her voice full of surprise.

“You mean you’re not working with Tirek?” Twilight asked.

The mare shook her head. “Of course not. I am simply an old, retired mare, hoping to live a life of peace in this nice little town.”

“Then how did Tirek know we were here?” Trixie questioned.

“Actually, I don’t think they did,” Twilight said. “If they knew we were here, they would have came in more quietly, not just charged in and raised this big alarm for us.”

“In any case, this old mare is still suspicious! She lied about seeing the butterfly migration, meaning she didn’t take that route at all!”

“Oh, young one,” the old mare said with a smile. “You are forgetting something, aren’t you? While it’s true that the butterflies’ migration path shouldn’t have taken them near to the Galloping Meadows at this time of the year, Tirek’s darkness has caused a terrible change in climate that forced their migration change.”

Trixie flinched. “W-Well what about the wagon? Why would you have prepared that for us?”

“To repay the kindness you both spared to help me reach my home.” The mare grinned. “And also, the two of you are on a quest to stop Tirek, aren’t you? I could tell from the barrier you were using, and that the mare behind you resembles the description I’ve heard about Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

“So you knew?” Twilight asked with a gasp. “It seems hiding my wings isn’t enough…”

“In any case, you must flee, now.” The old mare turned around and motioned with her head for the two to follow her. “This way. Hurry.”

“But we can’t leave the town-”

“We have to!” Trixie shouted as she grabbed Twilight’s hoof with her magic, pulling her along as she ran after the old mare.

“Trixie, stop! We have to help everypony!”

“Twilight, we can’t help everypony!” Trixie said. “Trixie has told you this many times. Sometimes, the only thing you can do is save yourself.”

Twilight cancelled Trixie’s magic with her own and stopped, forcing Trixie to do the same. “No! I can’t accept that way of thinking! And I know you can’t, either! After all, you saved that colt just now without any prompt to!”

“That was…” Trixie hesitated before continuing. “If we try to save everypony, then the only result will be getting ourselves captured. Is that what you want?!”

“If I can save even one life, I’ll be happy with that!”

“For once in your life, Twilight, think about yourself!”

“That’s enough, both of you!” The two turned to see the old mare standing beside them. “Bickering at a time like this! Trixie, Twilight is right in that you shouldn’t ignore a pony in trouble when you can do something. But at the same time, Trixie is right in that, right now, you can’t do something. Sacrificing yourselves here would be meaningless.”

Twilight turned to the ground and kicked a hoof. “… Okay,” she said in a solemn tone. “I’ll… I’ll flee for now. But I’ll definitely do all that I can to save the ponies of this town when the time comes.”

The old mare smiled and nodded. “There’s food and water on the wagon. The woods around the town are a maze, but here’s a map to navigate your way through them. They should provide good cover.”

“Let’s go,” Trixie said as she walked towards the waiting wagon.

Twilight nodded and followed. As she climbed onto the wagon, she started a spell to move its wheels beneath them, whilst Trixie conjured up her own spell to mask their presence. “… I was right,” she whispered.

“Hm?” Trixie asked.

“What goes around comes around.” Twilight turned to Trixie with a smile. “If we had ignored the old mare on the road, we never would have been able to get out of here.”

“… A coincidence, that’s all,” Trixie said, waving her hoof dismissively.

Twilight frowned at that. “Trixie, why do you always distance yourself from others so much?”

“Trixie refuses to answer.”

“You hate interacting with others more than necessary, and you treat everypony you meet with high levels of suspicion. Even your shows, before all this went down, had a less friendly air to them than the first one I saw.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie needs not explain herself to you.”

“And that’s another thing,” Twilight continued. “We’ve been travelling for a week now, and I still don’t really know anything about you other than your name. Why don’t you reach out to me a little more?”

Trixie grunted and turned away from Twilight. “The real mystery is how you are able to trust ponies so easily! Trixie has been on the road long enough to know that the best way to get around is to remain on your constant guard. Give nopony a chance to take any advantage of you, like you di with that innkeeper.”

“I’ll admit I’m a little too trusting at times,” Twilight said, “But you just shut everypony out without even giving them a chance to prove themselves.”

“It’s what works for Trixie.”

“… I guess if that’s how you feel, then I’ll just have to accept it,” Twilight said as their wagon neared the forest. “And Trixie? Thanks.”

Trixie turned to Twilight with a raised eyebrow. “For what?”

“If I had been on my own, I wouldn’t have made it this far,” Twilight said. “You’re right. Sometimes, you need to be tough with ponies so that they don’t bully you into giving them everything you have. And there were those times where your suspicions saved us from Tirek’s traps.”

“… Well, Trixie will admit there were some times where being ‘friendly’ to passerbys helped us out, even saved our lives.”

Darkness overshadowed the two mares as they entered the forest. “We’ll find a spot deep in here that seems safe and camp out for the night.”

Trixie nodded in agreement. “… In the morning, we’ll move on the next town and warn them that Tirek is randomly attacking places.”

“We’ll deliver the warning and be out of there quickly,” Twilight said, turning to Trixie with a smile. “That’s good enough, right?”

“Trixie would not be opposed to simply delivering a warning,” Trixie agreed with a smile of her own.

The two found a spot deep within the woods and combined their magic energies to create a strong, long-lasting barrier that would protect them during the night. They would need their strength, for tomorrow, they would be fighting once more for Equestria.