August 25th, 1000 Domina Solaria
“Ugh,” Trixie moans as she takes one step after another, the wheels of one of the Apple family wagons rolling behind her. “Trixie cannot help but wonder why you needed her great and powerful abilities to drag a wagon to the middle of nowhere.” Despite her words her hooves carry her swiftly along, the dozen large crates clunking back and forth along the bumpy path.
“Easy!” says Twilight Sparkle as she walks south along the train tracks. To her left is the dark gloom of the Everfree Forest, even during the middle of the day, and the three of them are giving it as wide a berth as possible. The forest to their right isn’t all that more comforting, still a mass of shadows that play and dance in the light wind. “We needed somepony to haul around all of the gems that Spike is going to dig up.”
Spike flexes his claws, “Yup! Gonna pay Gostir back myself. Well, Twilight will help, since she knows the gem finding spell, but I’ll be the one doing the real work.” He admires his claws, holding them out for everypony to gaze at. Better than hooves at digging, certainly, but perhaps he should have brought a shovel.
Twilight stops searching the woods ahead of them to spare a glance over her shoulder at Trixie, “And, seeing as you don’t currently have a job or anything important to do, then you were the logical choice of who to bring along.” Twilight shrugs, nonchalantly saying, “Everypony else was too busy. Meringue and Owlowiscious can hold down the figurative book fort at the library.”
A quick huff of air is soon accompanied by, “Trixie has a job! And a very important one, at that. And that book fort isn’t figurative.”
“Waking up next to Doug does not qualify as a job,” Twilight says, rolling her eyes. It quickly turns to a smile, “It’s a perk!”
“Then it is the perk of a job, which by definition means that Trixie is employed.” Trixie sticks her nose up in the air, flicking her mane at the wagon behind her. “You know as well as Trixie that Trixie works at Sweet Apple Acres.”
Twilight smirks, “And you haul wagons around there, so this should be no different! It’s like you’ve been training your whole life for this task. I don’t see why you’re whining so much about this.”
“This is not whining! Trixie can show you whining, but she does not think you would care for her language around Spike.”
Twilight chuckles nervously as she glances at Spike, the dragon looking far too eager to expand his vocabulary. “Because Rarity isn’t finding gems to pay back what she ate. She uses those gems in her work. And apparently she has a big commission coming up, so she’s hard at work designing those dresses, and I was happy to come along and help Spike out. Besides, I’ve been trying to get more exercise after that romp through the woods, and what a perfect way to learn more about what the area around Ponyville is like!”
Trixie grumbles to herself for a little bit, “And Rarity came by here last week. Why couldn’t she have gotten enough gems then?”
“Because Rarity wants to keep her customer base intact, I’m sure. Sweetie Belle had to stop you from running several customers out of her store for merely inquiring when she would be returning!”
“It is not Trixie’s fault they did not recognize her great and powerful abilities as a seamstress. Besides, the subtractions to their outfits looked far better than whatever some Canterlot snob deemed ‘fashionable’ last week.”
Twilight rolls her eyes as they arrive at their destination: a wide, rock strewn clearing filled with dirt instead of grass. “Well, this looks like the spot.” Her horn flares, her muzzle turning to a frown as she doesn’t turn up anything. “At least, I think it’s the spot. Rarity’s instructions were kind of vague.” She looks around, trying to estimate how far they have gone, and if this is a clearing or more of a glade.
“Then Trixie thinks you need to spend more time traveling. We’ve walked about a mile from Ponyville, and there don’t seem to be many other large open spaces around here.” Trixie unstraps the flatbed wagon, “And I can’t believe Rarity had me bring so many crates! We only need to fill two of them for Spike. And that’s if we don’t find any of those valuable ones.” She walks up to one of the larger rocks, plopping down and basking in the sun.
“Excuse me?” Twilight says as she walks up to Trixie, her eyes narrowing. “What do you think you’re doing? What happened to your ‘we’?”
Trixie opens one eye to return Twilight’s glare, “Trixie fulfilled her role in this venture.” She grandiosely motions with a hoof, “There is your wagon. And when it is full, she will dutifully drag it back to Ponyville. Now begone! Trixie has important business to attend to.” Trixie beats her hoof against the rock before rolling over, an exaggerated yawn as she flops down.
Twilight grumbles to herself as she walks back to Spike and the tiny red cart he borrowed from the Crusaders. “Important business my flank! She could at least help move the gems we dig up from the wagon to those crates.”
Spike drags his cart halfway, looking around at the bare clearing. “So, the gems are just scattered around here or something?” He scratches at the dirt with one claw, a frown when he only uncovers rocks. Not at all the rivers of rubies, or gardens of garnets, or fields of fire emeralds he was imagining. Just dirt, and rocks, and bigger rocks.
Twilight nods, nervously glancing from side to side. “I’m pretty sure. Let me check.” Her horn lights, though she frowns at nothing appearing. “Hmm, might need to boost the spell.” Twilight begins channeling more magic into Rarity’s gem finding spell, grinning as a bit of the rush returns. “Oh! Found one!” Twilight walks several paces to the side, Spike eagerly dashing over.
Spike licks his lips at the gems buried a foot underground. Bits of dirt and rock fly to the sides as he delves down. A long, contented sigh escapes the foot deep hole as Spike admires one of the topazes, about to pop it into his mouth until he notices Twilight’s glare. “Aww,” he groans, dejectedly dropping the five gems into the cart. “But these all look delicious!”
“Yes, well, the more gems you eat, the more we’ll have to dig up. And I don’t want to be traipsing around here all day just for you to fill up your tummy.” Twilight walks around the clearing in a grid pattern, her horn continuing to shine. She scratches in the dirt, though inspects her hoof afterwards for any chips.
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Spike grabs one of the gems from the cart, popping it into his mouth. “I didn’t eat that many of Gostir’s gems though. So it won’t be that long, right?”
“Well,” Twilight says, keeping her faster pace and focusing on her spell, “Some of the gems you ate were pretty valuable. So we need to find more to compensate.” She motions back to the cart, “That’s why we have the crates. Rarity said that we fill up two of those, and that will definitely be enough. And she might even be able to sort out and keep a few of the gems that you like so much!”
“Yeah, I wish.” Spike kicks at the dirt before digging up the next patch. An extra large sapphire catches his eye, quickly popping it into his mouth before Twilight can say anything. The rest go into the wagon. The two methodically make their way around the clearing, and after about ten piles and as many minutes later his cart is full.
Twilight remarks, “Wow, Rarity was not foaling around when she said this area might have already been picked clean. We’ve gotten about a fifth of the gems we need, and I don’t see any more in easy reach. I guess I can scan as we get closer to the Ghastly Gorge, but it’s pretty tiring keeping the spell going for a long duration.”
“Already?” Spike asks incredulously as he tries to lift the gem filled cart above his head and dump it into one of the crates. He gets the cart about halfway up before he stumbles, the cart swaying back and forth. One foot steps in the way of the other, sending Spike and the gems spilling to the ground in an unceremonious heap. Spike groans as he tries to push himself up, the gems offering no purchase to his scrabbling claws. He flops back down, grabbing one gem and idly sucking on it as he spreads his arms, staring at the sky.
“Come on, Spike,” Twilight says cheerily. Her horn lights, lifting the gems and dragon into the air. “This is no time to be laying around!”
“Tell that to Trixie,” Spike huffs back, crossing his arms as Twilight rights him, dropping him to the side and the gems in the crate. He blindly motions to the rock Trixie is laying at, his eyes turning to glare at the azure mare basking in the sun. “She doesn’t-”
Actually, the rock is bare. No unicorn basking in the sun, or laying around, or not doing much of anything. Nothing. The area around the rock is similarly empty, just the same dirt as everywhere else.
“Trixie?” Spike hesitantly calls, Twilight turning her worried gaze to the rock. Both of them quickly make their way over, looking for any sign of the missing mare. “Trixie!”
“Hey, look at this,” Twilight says, pointing a hoof at a recently upturned pile of dirt on the opposite side of the rock. Large enough for a pony to have fit through. “What could have done this?”
“Did something bury her?” Spike yells, frantically digging through the dirt. The loosely packed material gives way quickly, but yields nothing besides more rock and earth. Spike glares as bits of dirt begin rolling into the hole as he digs further, a loud yell as the walls of the tunnel collapse onto him.
Twilight’s horn lights, pulling Spike and a good deal of dirt from the hole. Twilight’s voice is tinged with worry, “I don’t know who or what did this, Spike.” She cowers down just a little, eyes ranging all over the clearing as the shallow tunnel collapses into itself. “I don’t know.”
Trixie grumbles as she is jostled around during her nap. She awakens to pitch black around her. Opening her eyes doesn’t help, either, and she has to double check that she did just to be sure it isn’t some dream brought on from falling asleep in the sun. Neither does waving her hoof in front of her face. A light whine escapes her throat as claws scratch into the warm earth around her. She could light her horn, but that would immediately tell whatever is lurking out there where she is. And that she is a potential threat.
The scratching echoes as it gets louder, her breath quickening. Some sort of tunnel? Trixie slowly arches her back, about to roll to her hooves, until she realizes that the warm earth she is laying on is, in fact, some sort of living, breathing creature. And it is currently breathing right into her mane!
A deep voice rumbles from underneath her. “Does pretty pony smell good? Hard to tell. Yes, very hard to tell.” Trixie gulps as two paws roughly push her forward. They grip her flanks, one claw scratching against her and sweeping her tail to the side. “Does pretty pony taste good?”
Trixie shudders as two large, muscular arms pin her down. Humid breath comes in hot spurts mere inches away from her plot. “Please,” she struggles out, her legs trapped against the ground. Fine droplets sprinkle her backside, accompanied by a loud panting.