//------------------------------//
// The Ride Back 
// Story: Navigate 
// by Sleestack 
//------------------------------//

“So, you can’t talk to us at all?” Trip asked the two guards sitting between him and Rose, dangling his hoof-hands outside of the edge of the carriage. “You guys are like, the embodiment of hospitality.” He sunk back into his seat. He looked at the guards, still staring straight ahead of them, stern looks on their faces. Trip looked to the sky beside him. He really should have been freaking out at the fact that he was in a pegasi-drawn carriage, but really, it wasn’t even the strangest thing he had seen that day. But he was sure Stickler knew what to do about Jacques and Ivory. What happened to them probably wasn’t any worse than what they had already experienced.
He looked at the guards again.“What if I tried jumping out of the carriage? You know, stood up, stretched my arms out, and just let myself fall back? I don’t have wings. I could fall to my... demise. Would you try and talk me out of it?” He looked at the guard next to him hopefully. He was still looking forward, diligent as ever. “What about your boys driving the cart? They’re transport, not guards, right?” No response. “Rose, you got them to talk before, how’d you do that?”
Trip couldn’t see her directly from where he was sitting, but he could tell she wasn’t happy. 
“C’mon, don’t tell me you’re not talking to me, too!” Trip whined. “This ride is going to be boring if nobody other than me is talking. Or, nopony, or something.”
“Okay, fine.” Rose said defiantly. “Then please, discuss with me why The Princess is requesting us to arrive at the Royal Castle?” She leaned so he wasn’t being blocked by the two guards. “I trust that it isn’t because of a crime you committed, because you told me in confidence that you’d never hurt a fly.”
“Actually,” he responded flatly. “When we were in the forest, I swatted at a fly. I think I got its wing. Celestia probably felt a disturbance in the force.”
“Or maybe it had something to do with Sweetheart.” she said, realizing. “What did he do to them that made you run away?”
“Nothing,” Trip lied. “It seems more likely that it had to do with Jacques. You heard his accent, right? They’re all criminals, you know.”
Rose laughed a little, uncomfortably. “There’s no need to be jealous, Trip. Besides, you had nothing to worry about. He was too much of a prettypony for me.”
Trip laughed. “I’m not jealous! He was just a creep!” The two of them laughed together for a while. “You know, this would be a good moment to look back on and laugh about later, if it weren’t for the fact we’re being arrested, basically.”
“Yeah, you’ll have plenty of great stories for when you go back to Maryland.”
Trip stopped laughing. He didn’t even realize, but he couldn’t remember if this was the first time he had laughed since he had been cursed. Cursed? Yeah, cursed. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to be happy as long as he was here. He wanted out. But he didn’t have to be miserable, did he? Laughter was an okay thing.
“Trip, are you okay?”
“I think. I think I’m okay for now. I just... I know it’s weird, but I forgot about Maryland for a second. When you said it, I just, you know, wave of memories.” He motioned around his head, as if a wave of air was passing by him.
Rose tilted her head. “Memories of what?”
“Um, nothing.” Trip said as he sat back into his seat.
No one spoke for a while, but Rose finally asked. “Was it something about your mom?” 
An awful feeling welled up in Trip’s gut and he could feel his face going numb. His eyes weren’t crying, but they were definitely moistening. Thankfully, he was good at stopping himself from crying. But still, the question hit him like an unexpected splash of water to the face. He was suddenly aware of all of his nerve endings and couldn’t find a comfortable position to sit in.
He hadn’t gotten like that in a long time. Normally, when people had asked about his mom, he was able to keep a level head. But something about the situation, the laughing, or the way Rose asked, it just penetrated him in some wound that hadn’t healed. He had thought he had covered all of them, too.
After he didn’t respond, Rose said sheepishly “I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s... it’s fine. It wasn’t about my mom. It was... my sister.”
“Oh.” She paused. “Was... was it a good memory?”
“Yeah, kinda, I guess. She just always talked about how she wanted to come here. Well, not always. Once or twice. She said she’d like to talk to some people- err, ponies that live here. The purple one. Her. She always said she was the most like her, that she was her favorite. And I was just thinking, now I get to tell her that I met her, and that she wasn’t exactly nice to me. That’ll probably really, like, shock her, you know?”
“Do they know who the Elements of Harmony are, where you come from?”
“Well, some do. We listen, well, not me, well, sort of me, my sister makes me listen, to the things they do. You know, the ‘important stuff’. Some of them really go crazy about it to, draw pictures, or make up their own terrible stories, called fan fiction. My sister also makes me read those all the time.”
“They’re terrible?”
“Oh yeah. I’ve never read one I liked. But I think it’s mostly the subject matter, not the writing.”
“Do you not like your sister?”
“What? No! I just don’t like how she has this ability to make me indulge in the things she likes and I don’t. I love my sister. If you knew me a while ago, you’d know.”
“Well, isn’t it important to share experiences with your siblings?”
“Rose, you don’t have parents. How do you know this?”
“I thought it was something everypony knew!”
“Okay, well, it’s not like I don’t. I mean, I could very easily just not watch any of the things she wants me to watch, or do any of that. But I made a promise to. So I can’t just, like, go back on that.”
“Oh. Okay, I think I get it.” Another pause. “You haven’t said anything about your dad, how is he?”
“My dad? An idiot. He never really grew up. I’m the only adult in my house. But he pays the bills, so it’s good to keep him around.”
“What do you mean he never grew up?”
“Oh, he still does childish things. Well, actually, no, I lied. He’s kind of grown up recently. He’s been a kid as long as I can remember before, though.”
“Oh. Well, sometimes it is hard for some-”
“Would you two like to sit together?”
It was the guard Trip was sitting next to. He had his head straightforward.
“Excuse me, sir?” said Rose.
“If you would like to sit next to each other for the remainder of the trip, we would be willing to allow that to happen.”
“Oh, so now you can talk to us?” Trip asked.
“Princess Celestia gave us orders to make sure that your journey to the Royal Castle was comfortable. If you two wish to hold this conversation while sitting next to each other, you can do so, if you feel this will make your journey more comfortable.” said the guard, still looking forward.
“Orders? For comfort? For us being arrested?” Trip said, confused.
The guard turned his head and looked Trip dead in the eye. “If you were being arrested, do you think we would have let you sit in the same carriage as us?”
A look of realization came over Trip’s face. “Oh. Yeah. Wow. I didn’t even... Um, yeah. Rose, do you want to sit together?”
“I don’t see why not.” She responded. The guards got out of their seat and Rose slid herself over to Trip. The guards sat back down in the spots that had just been made available.
“If there is anything else, within reason,” the one guard said, looking directly at Trip. “that will help this journey be more comfortable for either of you, please, ask.”
“Well, I have a question,” Trip said, trying not to ruffle their feathers anymore than he already was. “If we aren’t being arrested, what does the princess want with us? And why does she care about our comfort?”
“Trip, the Princess is known for her kindness and her hospitality. Even you should know that.” said Rose.
“Yes.” the guard agreed. “And as for why you were being summoned, Her Royal
Highness didn’t inform us as to a reason why, so we know just as much as you do about that.”
“Great. I’m betting beheaded. She just wants to do it herself.” Trip joked. The guards didn’t find it funny, and the glares on their faces made it apparent as they leaned towards him. “I’m kidding, okay? I’m sure your lovely princess wants us with our heads on our shoulders.”
The guards still seemed agitated. “Trip,” Rose said “Ponies around here don’t like it when you make fun of the Princess, especially not her royal guards.”
Trip looked at the extremely offended ponies, trying to seem unintimidated. He wasn’t sure if it worked. “Alright, alright. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult the princess.” he said, trying to sound half sincere, half nonchalant.
The guards let up and sat back in their seats, but still looking agitated. “Yes,” one of them muttered. “It is a wonder that Princess Celestia would be treating you with such kindness. She must have never met you.”
“Oh no, me and the princess? We go way back!” Trip joked. “She lent me a five bucks one time so I could buy a hat that I really wanted.” He became sarcastically worried. “Oh! That must be why she wants to see me! She wants her money back! Thaaaaaaaaaaat’s it!”
Rose gave him the most perplexed look. “She gave you five what?”
“Five dollars.” Trip said, confused that that was the part she was questioning. "Err, wait, no bits. They're called bits here."
“No, you said five bucks. How did that give you a hat?”
“Yes,” said one of the guards. “Please inform us of how the Princess kicking you five times allowed you to purchase a hat.”
“What? No, I meant, like, five-” Trip stopped himself. He brought his hoof-hoof hand up to his forehead, and found that he had used entirely too much force to do so. He smacked himself in the face and yelped “Ow!”
Rose’s front legs jumped to grab him. “Are you-” she stopped herself, and started to laugh. “What was that?” she asked.
“I tried facepalming, and it turns out that hooves are really hard.” He said, rubbing his face.
“You tried what?” Rose asked, laughing even harder now.
“Face... nothing. It’s a cultural thing. You wouldn’t get it.” Trip said, smiling slightly.
“You say that about a lot of things. Maryland must be a very strange place.”
“To some, it is.” Trip looked out to the sky again, and then down to the ground, seeing the tops of the darkly shaded trees of the forest they had just exited. In some spaces where the trees weren’t as densely packed, he could see movement, probably animals. Something black and furry, something else red and feathery, and something else yellow and scaley. 
	How come we didn’t run into any of those? Trip thought. He looked into the distance of the sky, and saw a rip forming between some clouds. Should I be worried about that?
The guards flying the carriage had to be at least somewhat skilled at their job, he reasoned. They could probably maneuver their way around the tears if it had to come to that, and besides, they were a far distance away from each other.
He leaned and asked one of the guards. “How much longer til we get there?”
The guards looked at each other and exchanged some hushed words. “About twenty minutes.” One of them said.
Trip looked at Rose. “Where have I heard that before?”