Sleeping under the stars together had seemed like a good idea at the time.
There was no reason to worry about Trixie’s wagon. Nopony in Equestria wanted for much of anything; the idea of thieves never even crossed their minds. More pressing was the weather, but it was the middle of the night and still perfectly cozy. Surely it would only get warmer as the sun rose, right?
That proved to be a faulty assumption a few hours later, when the couple woke to find their fur damp and their vision marred by a blinding light. They were lucky enough to have had time to sleep, but waking up in a field covered by a thin dusting of fluffy snow isn’t the most pleasant way to start a day.
Starlight woke up first. She yawned and subconsciously pulled herself closer to Trixie to ward off the cold as she cleared her mind. Once she could think, and she realized that winter had decided to strike out early, she shook Trixie lightly and kissed her cheek.
“Trixie, get up,” she said softly. “We need to get back to the wagon.”
“Mmnn,” Trixie mumbled back. She smiled at the kiss, but didn’t actually seem close to waking.
“Trixie,” Starlight said, louder this time. “Come on, get up.”
“Mm-hm,” Trixie mumbled, before she rolled over and hugged her tail close to get warm.
Starlight sighed and got up. She walked over to the edge of the pond and tested the water, finding that it was just as frigid as she had hoped. Then she used her magic to scoop up a tiny bubble of water, carried it over to Trixie, and dropped it on the sleeping pony.
“Gah!” Trixie shot to her hooves and looked around frantically. Her mane and tail were hopelessly frazzled, and now she was dripping with icy water, too.
Starlight covered her mouth to hide a chuckle. It took Trixie a bit to piece everything together, but once she did, she glared at Starlight. “I’ll have you know I was in the middle of a very good dream,” she grouched.
“I’m sure it’ll come back,” Starlight said. “If I left you there to sleep, you were liable to become an icicle.”
“Hmph!” Trixie stuck her nose in the air and walked towards the woods. When she got next to Starlight, she shook herself dry, splattering the freezing water all over her. Trixie laughed haughtily when Starlight flinched at the cold. “Serves you right.”
“Yeah, okay. Are we even?” Starlight asked, joining Trixie as they began the trek back to the wagon.
“I suppose I can let you off the hook,” Trixie said, “even though that was such a wonderful dream. Your heart was in the right place, after all. Or, well, near the right place, at least.”
“Hey, I’m surprised it even woke you up,” Starlight said. “Usually you can sleep through a stampede.”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, I’m not that bad.”
“Trixie, I have seen you sleep through a stampede,” Starlight told her.
“Details.” Trixie waved the idea away. “The point is, we’re even.”
“Good,” Starlight said. “As much as I enjoy bickering with you, I do like when we’re actually nice to each other, too.”
“Have we done that before?” Trixie asked, and they both laughed.
Soon enough, they had broken through the trees and were back on the road. Trixie elected to pull the wagon again, saying she felt more comfortable with it, and they set off.
The snow crunched softly underneath them as they traveled. The snow itself wasn’t enough to slow them down, but it stuck to the ground, and that meant that they had to be careful. There’s no telling where a cover of snow may be hiding a patch of ice or an unseen pothole. The increased concentration also stopped them from talking much, but it was so early in the morning that neither minded the quiet.
The forest seemed like a whole new place now. The huge pine trees were tinted white with snow, and the underbrush had all but disappeared. Only the sturdiest flowers and weeds still fought against the coming cold. The snow on the path ahead made it seem flatter and clearer than ever before, and every so often they would find the pawprints of a rabbit or the hoofprints of a deer. Occasionally they thought they could spot one of the animals scurrying through the trees, but they were too good at hiding to ever be sure.
The road started to slope upwards long before the forest showed any intention of ending. Turns started to come more frequently, and outcroppings of snow-capped rocks began to replace the ferns and bushes. The trees were the last vestige of the forest to give in, and even when they were undeniably out of the woods and on the steep mountain path, trees still dotted the landscape around them.
There was no simple way past the mountains that hid the village away from the world. Peaks connected far before anypony would call the dip a valley, and the points that did go lower than the path were so full of boulders and cliffs that they were untouchable to all but the most adept ponies.
So they had to go up before they could go down. The path got much more difficult from this point. Roads like this were made on the routes ponies already traveled, and up here, those routes weaved up and down to find natural outcroppings allowing ponies to move forward. Trixie’s wagon was a lot bigger and more unwieldy than a pony, though. Both ponies had to concentrate on keeping it on the road.
They quickly got into a rhythm with it. Starlight would run ahead a bit, maybe climb the mountain off the path to get a better view, and point out obstacles to Trixie as she trudged steadily on. Then the wagon would pass Starlight, and Trixie would take a break as Starlight ran ahead again. Being still and watching the wagon as it moved also let Starlight catch it as quickly as possible if it ever started to slip or fall, but for the most part, Trixie’s experience made the trip go relatively smoothly.
Eventually they reached the point where the road dipped downwards again, and they decided to take a break. From up here, they could see for miles all around. The range of mountains, stretching in a ring around the wide valley. The vast forest behind them, and past that, the mountain that held Canterlot. They couldn’t quite see Ponyville, since Canterlot was in the way, but they could pinpoint where it was. And ahead of them, they could see the meager rows of homes that made up Starlight’s village.
Starlight and Trixie sat on top of the wagon, pressed up against each other, and looked down at the village. They could just barely make out the shapes of the ponies, wandering about going about their lives as usual. Shopping, working, talking, all of them as happy as could be.
Starlight sighed. “Thanks for dragging me out here, Trixie,” she said. “It’s nice to see it again.”
“But of course,” Trixie said. “The Kind and Empathetic Trixie knew exactly what it was you needed.”
Starlight rolled her eyes. “Mm-hm.”
There was a beat of silence. “I am glad,” Trixie said after a bit. “I don’t like seeing you unhappy.”
Starlight sighed and nuzzled Trixie. “I’m never unhappy when I’m with you.”
“Well that’s not true at all,” Trixie said. “You’re constantly annoyed with me.”
“Just let the moment be.”
There was some more silence. Longer, this time. Idly, they wrapped their tails around each other, tangling them together. They were like statues, sitting together in silence, looking like they may never move or speak again.
Eventually, Trixie did speak again. “You don’t have to not be with me, you know.”
Starlight sighed. “Trixie, this has been wonderful, but do you really think we could handle being on the road together long-term?”
“I don’t know,” Trixie said, “but I think we could try. We’re a lot closer than we were last time.”
“I don’t know…”
“We’ll be honest this time,” Trixie said. “We know it went bad before, so neither of us will feel like we have to hide it if it gets to us again. That’ll just mean we tried and it didn’t work.”
“It just feels like a big thing to do,” Starlight said. “I mean, if we try again and it still doesn’t work, what does that say about us? About our relationship?”
“I don’t know,” Trixie replied, “but whatever it might say would be true whether we tried or not.”
“You really think we should try again?”
“I really do.”
Starlight thought for a bit. “But what about Ponyville? I mean, how long would I be gone?”
“What, do you have plans?” Trixie asked. “You’re not doing anything in Ponyville. It’s not like you can’t go back sometimes. I mean, you don’t live here anymore, and that didn’t stop you from having friends here, right?”
“I guess…”
“I’ll even let you pick where we go first,” Trixie offered.
“Anywhere?” Starlight asked.
“Anywhere at all.”
“I’ve always wanted to go to the dragonlands.”
“Do dragons like magic?”
“Only one way to find out.”
“Dragonlands it is, then.”
Trixie moved to kiss Starlight on the cheek, but Starlight caught her and kissed back before she could.
“Think we should actually go into town now?” Trixie asked.
“Sure.”
The trip down was a lot faster than the trip up. The road got a lot less treacherous from that point, and also a lot more straightforward. As soon as the slope became gentle enough, which was much higher up on the side facing the village, the road curved and set on a route straight into town.
The rickety wagon announced their arrival long before they did, and as soon as Starlight was spotted, there was nothing she could do to stop the entire village from coming to greet her. Having the wagon in the way was the only thing that stopped her from being surrounded completely.
Sugar Belle was the pony who first spotted them, and so she wound up leading the conversation. “Oh, Starlight, it’s been far too long,” she said cheerily as she forced a muffin upon both Starlight and Trixie.
Trixie wasted no time in eating hers. “Wow,” she said before she had even swallowed the first bite, “this is really good.”
“Aw, thank you!” Sugar Belle smiled brightly. “I know apples aren’t normally used in muffins, but I figured I would, you know, experiment a bit.”
“It’s really wonderful to see you all,” Starlight said. “I’m sorry it’s been so long.”
“Oh, pssh,” Sugar Belle said. “You think we’d be living way out here if we wanted ponies to visit us often? We’re thrilled to see you no matter how long it is between visits.”
“That’s very kind of you,” Starlight said. “So, how have things been around here since last time?”
“Oh, it’s been great! We’ve really been picking up on trading with other towns.”
“You have stuff to sell?” Trixie asked.
“Ehh, not really,” Sugar Belle told her. “We’ll get there, though.”
Party Favor spoke up from the crowd. “So, what brings you into town?”
“I just needed to get out of the castle for a bit,” Starlight explained.
“Well, you’re welcome to stay as long as you want,” Sugar Belle told her. “Your house is still just how you left it!”
Starlight sighed. “Seriously, guys, do something else with the building. I don’t even live here! Why should I have the biggest house in town?”
“Well, you are the founder,” Sugar Belle said, “and we still don’t have a new mayor.”
“You don’t need a mayor,” Starlight said. “There’s, like, fifteen of you. Turn it into a library or, I don’t know, an orphanage or something. Anything that doesn’t keep the town tied to me.”
“We don’t want to just forget about what you’ve done, though,” Sugar Belle said. “You did a lot of good, even though you did it for bad reasons. In the end, we all found a new home.”
“If you want to relive painful memories, why don’t you just go to the cave?” Starlight asked. “I’m sure the storage wall is still there.”
The townsponies looked at each other in confusion. “Uh, we can’t get into the cave,” Double Diamond said. “We figured it was you who locked it up.”
Starlight raised her eyebrows in shock. “What? No, I didn’t do that. It’s locked up?”
“Maybe we should go check it out,” Trixie said.
“Yeah,” Starlight agreed.
They stayed and talked for a bit longer, but soon enough Starlight and Trixie found themselves on yet another mountain. This time, at least, they didn’t have to pull a wagon along, so it was a relatively easy climb, but with all the walking they’d already done, they were still exhausted when they finally made it to the cave.
Sure enough, there was a bubble of green magic blocking the entrance to the cave. “Who would be interested in locking this place up?” Starlight pondered.
“I mean,” Trixie said, “it is a place capable of holding cutie marks captive.”
“Fair enough,” Starlight said. “Oh well, let’s see if we can get in. I want to find out if they changed anything.”
Starlight leaned forward, preparing to struggle, and started to shoot her magic at the barrier. The moment it struck it, though, the bubble popped and vanished without a trace.
“Oh,” Starlight said quietly. “That was… Easy.”
“The village unicorns couldn’t break that?” Trixie asked.
Starlight shrugged. “Let’s just go in.”
For the most part, the cave was how she had left it. Empty cubicles in the massive stone wall, broken glass on the ground, dim torches covering the room in flickering shadows. None of that was out of the ordinary.
What was different, though, was the strange new pedestal in the center of the room. It was made of stone, sprouting from the cave floor as though it had always been there, despite clearly being sculpted. Above it, floating in midair, was the “staff” that Starlight had used to remove the town’s cutie marks.
“Well this seems like a cruel joke,” Starlight said. She walked up to the pedestal and looked it over, with Trixie following close behind.
On the pedestal sat a note. Starlight picked it up and read it out loud. “Starlight, assuming I did the spell right, only you should have been able to make it in here. I came up here on a whim after visiting the village. Their side of the story was certainly distinct from yours! I found it very interesting, to say the least.”
“Anyway,” the letter continued, “I found your staff. That part of the account was the same. Just a stick you found. I found it just as funny from them as I did from you. Do you know what staves are, Starlight? They’re sticks. All of them, they’re just sticks we found and changed to suit our needs. So, yes, I found your staff.”
“As I said, I had a whim. I’ve seen for myself how powerful you are, and any sorcerer of your magnitude deserves a proper staff. So, I made you one. I could have used any old branch, of course, but I thought that this one would help you to never forget where you came from.”
“Your old friend…” Starlight paused. “Oh.”
“What?” Trixie asked.
“It’s from Star Swirl.”
“Seriously? Geez, some ponies have all the luck. I wish I could get a staff from Star Swirl.”
Starlight laughed. “I’ll put in a good word for you.”
Without a second thought, she used her magic to grab the staff out of the air. She was amazed at how much more natural it felt than when she had swung it around before. With ease, she spun it in intricate circles around herself, then hit the cave floor with the base of the staff, sending out a thundering boom.
She stood there for a moment, smiling proudly. Trixie stared at her with wide eyes.
“Hot,” Trixie said, breaking the silence.
Starlight lost her composure and cracked up. “Yeah, okay,” she said. “I guess if nothing else, there’s that.”
“Hey, I don’t see why you need any more than that,” Trixie said.
“Of course you don’t,” Starlight said. “Come on, let’s go back to town. I want to practice with this thing.”
And so they left the cave, Starlight with a new sense of purpose, Trixie with a new level of attraction towards her girlfriend, and walked boldly into whatever might come next for them.