Trixie grew worried as the sunlight reached over the orchard in the distance, she gasped in fear.
“Oh no!” She shouted knowing she didn’t even make it halfway to Manehattern before the sun rose, she looked up in the sky and let out a small scream. The blob had gotten larger, it also had dark purple and dark red lightning strikes moving within it. Trixie gulped, she bowed her head in sadness. Yes, she was exhausted from running all night but she wasn’t going to have a break yet, she started walking until she heard a cry.
”Help!”.
Trixie perked her head and looked around wondering who called for help, it sounded to be nearby. The unicorn was a little nervous but she decided to listen to where it was coming from.
“Anyone help me!”.
The voice called again, it was really close, Trixie followed it.
“H-hello!?” Trixie called out to the voice.
The mysterious voice sounded a bit more happy, but it also sounded like they were in pain.
“Over here!” The voice shouted, “Please!” It also begged.
Trixie hurried over to a ditch, she looked in side and saw an injured griffin all tied up in chains. They looked at Trixie with a begging face, the unicorn felt bad, she wanted to leave them but didn’t have the heart.
“Hey you, caped unicorn!” It called, “Please help”.
The griffin had a light pink crest on top of her head, pink head and chest, dark pink body. Her legs and grey wings were both tangled up in chains, a lock hung tight connecting it all together. The chains dig into the poor creature’s body leaving scars, one of her wings were badly damaged too.
“Please!” The griffin begged.
Trixie nodded, she rushed down after removing her wagon. The griffin was only able to weakly lift her claw hand and point to a key.
“Please release me, I dropped the key and can’t reach!” She begged.
“Is this a trick?” Trixie thought.
Trixie sighed as she picked the key up in her magic, the griffin smiled. It actually looked happy but the unicorn wasn’t sure about this, she gave a sigh.
“This better not be a trick...” She thought to herself.
Trixie put the key through the lock and the chains all loosened and fell, the Grinnfin pulled herself out. Her crest lifted happily and she put her hand out for a handshake.
“Thank so much! I though I was going to die alone, my name’s Gumdrop, you can call me Gummy if you wish, what’s yours?” She offered.
Trixie proudly flipped her cape and boasted, “The Grrreat and Powwrful Trrixie!”.
Gummy smiled, “Thank you so much! I was so worried you wouldn’t help me!”.
Trixie noticed her busted wing and all the scars from the chain on her body. She felt a little bad but felt it wasn’t her business at the moment.
“Great! Now go home, I have important things to do...” Trixie muttered as she put her wagon’s strap back on herself.
The griffin followed Trixie and sighed a little as she spoke softly.
“I was actually hoping... I could go with you...” Gummy added a smile.
Trixie started to walk slowly with her wagon, she noticed the griffin follow her. She wanted to say no but this griffin, she seemed pretty lost and hurt. Gummy gave her cute faces as she waited for an answer
“Fine!” Trixie agreed out of empathy.
Gummy smiled, “I was sure you’d say no, I’m a pessimistic you see... not something I want to talk about”.
She sighed sadly, when Trixie increased her speed she did too. Gummy looked into the distance with curiousity
”So... where you headin’?” She asked Trixie.
”Manehattern” Trixie replied.
Trixie increased her speed to a trot, the griffin still followed next to her. She kept talking.
“Oh, what’s that? Sounds like fun!”.
Trixie replied with slight annoyance, “It’s the big city...”.
”Oh cool! A big city! Oh, wait, that’s actually not cool, kinda scary!”.
The blue unicorn increased her speed to a canter as Gummy listed a bunch of things that could go wrong in a big city.
“A giant dragon could attack, you may fall into a sewer, you could get lost, a bird could poop on your head” Gummy listed.
Then the griffin decided to comment of Trixie’s increased speed.
“Oh, you’re in a hurry? We’ll wait for me, since there’s nowhere else I can go” She said sadly.
Trixie commented with sarcasm “Yay... another travel buddy”.
Then Trixie went into a gallop, Gummy ran right after her.
”What are you in a hurry for, is it important, are we in a danger!?”.
Trixie replied “In danger not in a danger and yes! I have to collect the six diamonds before it’s too late!”.
Gummy took a long look at Trixie and commented on a few things.
“You look exhausted, you might get sick and... or you might faint!”.
Trixie replied, “Uh... there’s more important things to worry about!”.
They arrived in Appleloosa but Trixie did not stop, She galloped straight through. Gummy called out.
“Sorry, we are in a hurry!”.
Gummy ran next to Trixie and looked at her with concern.
”More important than your health?”.
Trixie was shocked to hear that, she pretended she didn’t hear it. She knew there would be no more her or her friends if she failed to collect the diamonds in time.
“Can you say something... perhaps positive?” Trixie whinnied.
Gummy looked ahead, it took her a while to say anything.
”Uh... you have a pretty... cape?” She tried.
Trixie smiled a bit, “Thanks...”.
The unicorn did slow down a little when they exited Appleloosa.
✨⭐️✨
“If I’m joining you on this journey you’ll need to fill me in...” Gummy explained.
”Well” Trixie started to summarise, “I was the chosen one and Stardust came to this world... but she faded away now I’m on my own to collect the diamonds... but I’m clearly running out of time because of a nightmare and that black blobby thing in the sky, Equestria’s fate is in my hooves”.
Trixie let out a proud chuckle and a smile.
”I’ll be so popular too, but the stress to getting to me” She added.
Gummy nodded and sighed, Trixie looked at her a bit worried, Gumball looked really despressed.
“You... okay?” Trixie asked.
Gummy nodded, “Yeah it’s just...”
She started to explain. “Me and my younger brother went to the lake, but there was a crocodile that neither of us knew was there! We splashed around in the water and”.
Trixie watched the griffin wipe away her tears.
“We had a race... I let him have a head start, the crocodile cornered him and I wasn’t fast enough!... I witnessed the crocodile pull him under and the next thing I saw was blood!...”.
Gummy stayed silent for a few minutes, “If I was just fast enough...” She sighed, “And I was treated like a fugitive by every other griffin, they decided that I had to be left alone in the desert... I sneaked the key in my claw but dropped it... then you came along a few minutes after”.
No one said a word, Trixie was speechless and Gumdrop was sad. A few minutes of silence went by and the duo were far out of of Appleloosa, Infact, the ground started to have more grass, in the distance there were mountains and trees. Trixie sighed, her stomach grumbled so she quickly grabbed some food from her wagon to share with Gummy. The unicorn kept up her pace to the point she was trotting again, Gummy simply rode on top of her wagon.
✨⭐️✨
An hour went by and Gummy calmly looked into the distance as she sat on the roof of Trixie’s wagon, after a while to sky went a bit cloudy, Gummy grew a bad feeling what laid ahead. Trixie crossed a bridge with her wagon easily, she looked at the sky and saw that the black blob got a little bigger. The griffin was more worried about the clouds.
”I-I’m going inside” She informed Trixie with a worried voice, Trixie opened the door with her magic to allow the griffin inside.
”Don’t mess anything up!” The unicorn warned.
Right after she heard that she heard some things be moved around, she sighed as it was obvious Gummy didn’t listen to her. After a few minutes she heard her ask.
”What are these banadana’s for?” She peeked out the door’s windows showing up the bandana scarves.
Trixie looked back and gasped, she forgot that Stardust got those, the unicorn started to think, her walking pace slowed a little bit.
”Well... my friend made them for the team... until she disspeared” Trixie sighed but kept moving.
Gummy looked at one that was white with a pink star, “The team?” She asked.
”Well... yeah...” Trixie explained, “We were going to be called the... umm... Star Squad... I think, and each member was going to wear one....”.
Gumdrop put the white one round her nexk, “Well.., I’m a member of the team!”.
Trixie looked back at her and sighed, “But Stardust isn’t here anymore, and that means-“.
”You’re the leader” Gummy explained, “It just makes sense! You wear the most stars and you founded it, well... since Stardust isn’t here anymore it means you can continue the team”.
Trixie smiles, “And we had this... little theme where we touched hooves-“.
Gummy jumped out and stood in front of Trixie when she stopped, the griffin held up her claw. Trixie sighed happily and put her hoof in her claw and they started.
”Trixie and Gumdrop, Squad of star.” They rose their hooves happily “We’ll save Equestria, ‘Cause that’s who we are!”.
”See, now... we are a team!” Gummy explained.
Trixie nodded in agreement, she started walking again and Gummy got back inside the wagon. The Star Squad was back, but Trixie grew worried, she didn’t want to lose Gummy, her pace picked up to a trot.
✨⭐️✨
A single drop of water fell from the sky and hit the window Gummy was looking out from. The griffin gasped in fright and fell from her hammock, she rushed to the door and opened the window.
”Trixie!” Gummy shouted in panick, “It’s starting to rain, get inside!”.
Trixie could hear the fear in the griffin’s voice, she simply replied with a chuckle and some determination.
“Some rain won’t stop the Great and Powerful Trixie!”.
Gummy quickly shut the window when some more drops hit both her and Trixie. The griffin sat in the middle of the wagon, Trixie sped up but she was really worried about her. Her friend was out there, alone, in the rain that was getting heavier and heavier. Rain pelted down on the windows and roof.
Like anytime it rains, Gummy grew worried for anyone who would get all wet. But this times she knew someone, Trixie, she was getting soaked! She didn’t even seem to care. Gummy took a peek at her friend and saw that she was already drenched through. Questions started to come to the teen griffin, why wouldn’t Trixie come inside? Why didn’t she at least take her cape off, surely that was getting all soaked.
She sat in the middle, back facing the door. Rain continued to fall, she thought about the poor critters and ponies that would be let down from a rainy day. Gummy wouldn’t bare to even imagine Trixie being all soaked outside.
Trixie trotted quickly through the rain, her mane was all flat and pressing against her face, she refused to take a break as she didn’t want to be too late to save the world. Her fur and clothes were soaked through and pressing against her, she couldn’t see very far as it was all misty and rainy. She felt cold, the rain chilled her, she picked her pace up to a gallop. Strands of her mane struck to her face as she galloped, lowering her field of vision.
The only thing she cared about was getting to the next diamond in time, she didn’t care that it was raining, even if it was any heavier she would still go through it. Rain rushed down her body to her hooves, she splashed though puddles ignoring the splashes. Light wind hit Trixie chilling her but she still pulled through it.
Gummy took another nervous look at Trixie, her fur and outfit had gotten a darker colour due to being wet. The griffin went back into her hammock and tried to focus on other things but a question did come to her mind, why does fabric get a darker colour when it gets wet? Is it a type of magic? Or is it some sort of indicator wether something was wet or not? Whatever the reason was she was sure to ask Trixie, she should know, right?
The griffin laid in her hammock, She noticed Trixie open the door with her magic and grab an apple from the bag, Gummy grabbed one too. As she munched on the apple she started to plan what to say to her new friend.
✨⭐️✨
Trixie was exhausted, she was shivering from the cold, but kept her speed to a fast gallop. She did stop for a second when she almost slipped on the wet grass, she also had to catch her breath, she poked out her tongue and let sone drops land on it. Before starting again she wiped some of her mane from her face.
Her hooves were a bit dirty from all the running she did in the rain but as she stood in one place the rain washed away the dirt. Water dropped down her muzzle slightly tickling it, water dripped from her mane and ears as she stood there looking into the distance. The cold chilling wind directed the rain towards the soggy blue pony, she shivered in response.
“It may be very cold and wet but we don’t have any time to lose” She thought to herself.
Trixie went straight to a gallop ignoring the rain beating down on top of her, she knew she had to get to the next diamond quickly. She galloped through the plains as fast as she could, she ignored the risk of tripping over something. Mud splattered onto her as she accidentally ran though some mud, but she didn’t care, the rain washed the mud away from her body anyway.
Gummy noticed the unicorn lowered her pace as the rain seemed to slow down. Clouds started to move away, presumably by the wind or some pegasi. when the rain stopped so did she. The clouds were gone and Trixie could see some mountains in the far distance, Gummy jumped out from the wagon and onto the damp grass, the first thing she did was walk up to Trixie.
The unicorn was a bit confused on the the griffin was going to do or say, she stood there watching Gummy take a few deep breaths, she picked up a part of her cape and inspected it in her claw, it felt cold and wet, water dripped from it as she held it.
”Your cape got wet...” Gummy explained, “And it changed colour”.
Trixie looked at her cape that was all dripping wet and pressing against her soaked fur, she wondered what Gummy meant by it changed colour, it was still purple.
“It still looks purple to Trixie” She replied.
“No... it’s a darker purple now...” The griffin replied.
Trixie was a bit confused, the reason why should be obvious.
”That’s beacause... it’s wet...” Trixie explained, “It’ll lighten back to it’s normal colour when it dries”.
Gummy dropped the part she was holding and started to think, she put a claw to her beak in a thinking position.
“But why.... why does material go a darker colour when it gets wet?” She asked.
”That’s just... what happens”.
”But what’s the explanation behind it?”.
Trxiie rolled her eyes, “I may be the Great and Powerful Trixie but... I don’t know small... useless details on why fabric gets darker and heavier when it gets wet”.
Gummy was dissapointed in the answer, “I have one more question...”.
Before Trixie could say a thing the griffin shouted at her while pointing her claw at her face.
”Why!?” She shouted annoyed, “Why would you go through the rain while...” She complained as she pointed at Trixie, the unicorn didn’t know what to reply with.
Gummy looked at her friend’s confused expression, “This!” She shouted.
Trixie nticied Gumball pointing at her soaking wet clothes, she grabbed a part of it and proudly flipped it into the air.
”This!? You’re worried about my cape being soaked?” Trixie asked like it was a joke, “You can’t be serious”.
The griffin nodded in agreement.
“How can you stand it? Your beautiful cape pressing against your fur like that, doesn’t it feel uncomfortable? And won’t it ruin it?”.
Trixie looked up into the sky, ignoring the fact that the darkness was a tiny bit bigger. She knew it was water that fell from the sky.
”Great and Powerful Trixie is pretty sure it was just water that came from the sky”.
Gumball looked up, she went up to Trixie and cuddled her tight, “I was so worried...”.
Trixie grew more confused, “Worried? For what?”.
”Well... you got all soaked... so did your cape...” Gumball explained, “Its just... why would you do that? Now it’s all soggy”.
Trixie looked at Gumball very unimpressed.
”We have so much more important things to worry about, getting wet isn’t as important as that!” Trixie scolded, “Besides, getting doesn’t bother me as much as it bothers you... and pretty sure you didn’t get wet” She added, slightly annoyed.
She looked up at the sky quickly and stepped back with worry and a shocked expression, Gummy looked up, the darkness was starting to get bigger and the bolts racing through it were easier to see.
“What’s that?” Gumball asked innocently.
Trixie gulped, “Our doom”.