The two walked for a few hours, after lunch they were finally at the bottom of the mountain crossing the fields between there and Manehattan, the bags under Trixie’s eyes were darker, her eyes barely stayed open. As they walked through the open field, Trixie yawned, she ignored Gumdrop’s cries to get inside and take a break.
”Trixie doesn’t need a break...” She mumbled as she walked through some tall grass.
Gumdrop watched Trixie slowly walk, she had some type of idea, so she jumped out the wagon and stopped her
”Trixie!”, Gumdrop called out as she stood in front of her, “What if I pull the wagon while you rest inside?”
Trixie yawned, “No... Trixie is able to do it...”
She didn’t notice Gumdrop undo the wagon’s strap and put it around herself and start walking, Trixie gasped in shock when she noticed, she trotted next to Gumdrop. Trixie slowed to a walk as her neck lowered, her eyes could barely stay open.
”Give Trixie... her...” She said during a yawn, “Wagon...baaa-”
Trixie walked forwards a few more steps and fainted. Gumball gasped in shock, time seemed to slow and her heart stopped as Trixie’s seemingly lifeless body rolled like a rag doll down the grassy hill and into long grass at the bottom. From where she was standing Gumdrop could see a hole in the deep grass where Trixie landed, she rushed down to her fearing the worse.
”Trixie! Are you okay!?” She screamed, hoping for any indication that she was still alive.
She ran to where her friend was, at first she wasn’t moving, Gumdrop started to have tears flow belong her friend was dead.
“No... it can’t be! You can’t be dead... please!” She begged.
Soon enough, Gumdrop had a sigh of relief when she saw her cuddling some grass and snoring slightly. She was a bit upset at her.
”You wore yourself out... let me do some walking”
Trixie was placed in her hammock in the wagon, she snuggled cutely as she was tucked in by Gumdrop. Trixie was laid on her side facing the wall, her forelegs were tucked in front of her, the ends and corners of the blanket were tucked under her body. Gumdrop felt it was cute, but it also felt weird how Trixie was five years older than her, yet she was tucking her in like a child.
When she got outside and buckled the wagon to herself she walked for a few hours and before taking a break, she drank some water and snacked on a carrot, she didn’t really like carrots, but they were good, and she needed to stay healthy. When the sun went down she stopped on a hill, Manehattan could be seen clearly from where they were, but it was still a long walk. The wagon rested on some flat grassy ground, Gumdrop started a campfire and watched the sunset, she noticed Trixie wasn’t awake, it was really worrisome.
She ate some sandwiches that were now a bit stale, but she didn’t mind, she sat next to the campfire as she watched the stars, she let out a small yawn.
”Time for bed I guess”
She smothered the fire with a bucket of water and a bunch of sand, she went back into the wagon and went into her hammock. Trixie laid peacefully in her own red hammock wrapped in her blanket, her cape was neatly folded on the table behind her hammock.
“Sweet dreams, Trix” Gumball sighed.
✨⭐️✨
When the sun rose over the horizon, ponies and animals all through Equestria got up for the day. Sunlight beamed through the window and into Gumdrop’s face who woke up with a stretch and a yawn.
”Good morning Tricks-” Gumdrop noticed Trixie was still asleep, “-Eee... I guess you really wore yourself down...”, she was disappointed.
Gumdrop grabbed a few carrots, she sat in her hammock and ate them, she watched Trixie snore, she was still in the same position that Gumdrop put her in. After finishing the carrots she heard a falcon’s screech, she walked outside and looked around wondering if it was Bolt who made that noise, she looked into the clear blue sky and saw the figure of a falcon dive.
Bolt landed on the roof of the wagon, she had a scroll in her pack, she took it out with her beak and offered it to Gumdrop. Gumdrop flew to the roof, she smiled and thanked the falcon as she jumped down with the scroll, she unrolled it and started to read what it was.
✨⭐️✨
’Dear Trixie and Gumdrop
I have contacted Princess Luna about this, and she indeed did confirm that this was a misunderstanding. That nightmare was not of Princess Luna’s doing, in fact, she tried to stop it, but Dark Matter was stopping her from using her magic, all she could do was watch Trixie’s nightmare. Princess Luna also tried every night after that, hoping she could reach Trixie in her dreams but never could find her dream.
In fact, if it weren’t for you, Trixie could have been badly hurt, it’s our guess that Dark Matter was planning this nightmare for Trixie. We bet that the dream was supposed to make her really scared and wear herself out and not care for herself like you said, and this may be a stretch, but we also presume that Trixie could have fainted in a very dangerous situation.
Please tell Trixie it’s okay to take breaks, in fact it’s important to take breaks! Saving the world is important but so is taking care of yourself. The darkness in the sky is currently no threat yet, yes it’s expanding slowly, but Sunlight can still reach Equestria. We actually did a test, we had Rainbow Dash carefully take a sample down to us.
Our Elements of Harmony have no effect against Dark Matter and would be useless against... it? But our elements can slow it down, we can stall the spread if we need to, Trixie, don’t worry, you and your team got this!
Your health is critical, remember that.
- Princess Twilight Sparkle’
✨⭐️✨
Gumdrop smiled, she went into the wagon and gently placed the letter on top of Trixie, so she would see it when she woke up, if she was going to wake up.
“Please wake up soon, don’t leave me worrying...” Sighed Gumdrop as she gently touched her friend’s mane.
Trixie didn’t even make a peep, Gumdrop wanted to be sure she was okay, she watched her sides go up and down slowly, indicating she was breathing. It was quiet as Gumball watched Trixie, she was glad she was okay, but she was asleep for a very long time and that was worrisome, she went out the wagon then started pulling it again.
Gumdrop only walked, this was her first time pulling a wagon, and it wasn’t really made for griffins, so she didn’t want to damage it, When lunch came around she stopped on top of a hill, at the bottom of the hill was a railway that went over a bridge that crossed the sea and went into the big city, Manehattan.
“So... that’s Manehattan” Gumdrop said in awe as she opened the wagon door.
She grabbed the last sandwich and an apple for lunch, she crunched on the food as she peacefully at on the hill. All she could here were birds and an incoming train that raced aver the bridge and into the big city full of towering buildings, of course she decided to wait for Trixie, it meant she had to stay on that hill for an extra hour. Bolt had left and flew somewhere else, possibly back home or just decided to fly around the area.
✨⭐️✨
An hour went by and Gumdrop heard Trixie scream in fright and fall off her hammock- wait, what? Trixie opened the wagon door and jumped out with her eyes flowing with tears. She looked up at the sky and screamed in fear, the darkness covered roughly a quarter or a bit more of the sky, Gumdrop looked at her friend.
”Trixie?”
Trixie looked at her with tears pouring from her eyes, she ran to Gumdrop and gave her a huge hug and cried into her chest. She was now standing on her hind legs, she stepped back in shock, this was not what she was expecting, she soon hugged her back and patted her on the back.
”There there... it’s gonna be okay, what happened?”
Soon Trixie lifted her head and looked up at Gumdrop with wide blood-shot eyes pouring with tears, a little snot came through her nose. Gumdrop cringed a bit in disgust but was mostly surprised at her face, Trixie‘s cheeks were soaked in tears.
“T-Trixie“ Trixie stuttered.
Gumdrop wiped the tears from Trixie’s eyes, ”Had another nightmare?”
Trixie’s ears went down, “I experienced doom and watched everyone die... there was b-“
”Shhh” Gumdrop hushed as she gently cradled Trixie the best she could, “I have something to show you”
”That letter?” Trixie asked as she levitated the scroll out of the wagon.
”Go ahead... read it!” Gumdrop said with a smile.
Trixie started to read it, Gumdrop started to feel bad. She was sick of pretending to be optimistic, she was as scared as Trixie but had to stay strong for her, they both had to stay strong for each other. Soon enough Trixie’s smile lit up, she smiled even more when she saw Manehattan was just a few steps away, she even made an excited squeal.
The duo walked across the bridge together, Trixie was wearing her cape happily as she pulled the wagon, Gumdrop walked beside her. The bridge was long, so they did walk quickly, Gumdrop watched with awe as the towering buildings got bigger and bigger by the second, she never knew buildings could reach that high.
“Wow, Trixie! Look at it! It’s so big!”
”Trixie knows” She responded with a smile.
”But? What if we got lost?” Gumdrop sighed sadly.
Trixie chuckled, “It’s get lost, and we won’t get lost, Trixie knows, she’s been here a bunch of times and never got lost!”
Gumdrop put on a fake smile, the tall buildings started to feel foreboding for some reason. The two walked through the city, Gumdrop looked at all the dressed up ponies, tall buildings and even ponies pulling carriages full of other ponies. She felt overwhelmed, she didn’t know if to feel amazed or scared.
“I-it’s huge” She managed to say.
Soon enough they stopped in front of the train station and looked around, Trixie started to think about where to start looking for the next diamond.
“W-wait... h-how do we? Where d-do we start l-looking?” Gumdrop asked.
”You okay?” Asked Trixie.
”Y-yeah, just n-nerv... terrified!”
”You’ll get used to it” Trixie shrugged, “Manehattan is massive... maybe it’s best we split”
”What!?”
”Don’t panic, Trixie always has a plan” Trixie started to think, “Don’t worry about getting lost, I think most stores give out a free city map if you ask...”
Gumdrop nodded in agreement, “Alright... you think they’ll accept me? I’m a griffin and I don’t see any others...”
”I’m sure you’ll be fine” Trixie explained, “We will meet back here in... four hours”
Gumdrop sighed and nodded in agreement, she watched Trixie trot away, pulling her wagon behind her. She sighed as she sat there and watched her friend trot away, she walked in the opposite direction to look for the diamond.
”it’s not a good idea to split, I just told you I’m terrified” Gumdrop said in her mind pretending Trixie was still there, “Why? Do you not care how I feel in this new, confusing place?”
Gumdrop growled, “Nothing good will come out of this, trust me! This will not end good, I’m terrified, I hope you’re happy”
She felt betrayed that Trixie just brushed off her fear like it was nothing and left her alone.
”Maybe I shouldn’t have trusted you, you dumped me in the big city”, Gumdrop continued to walk, “I healed your wounds and tended to your fears of that nightmare and this is how you repay me? How’d you like it if I took you into a new area, and you told me you were terrified, but I left you all alone?”
Tears started to drip from Gumdrop’s eyes, and she walked, she stood still and shook in fear slightly, ponies ignored her as she walked past. Whenever a pony walked past her heart would race, she was in a place she has never been in before and full of strangers! Trixie is the only pony she ever interacted with, how would she know what to do or what to say? What if she did or said something wrong.
”Are you okay ma’am?” A voice asked.
Gumdrop looked around and saw in front of her a grey pegasus mare with a yellow mane and tail, her yellow eyes seemed to not focus very well. Her cutiemark was a bunch of bubbles.
”My name’s Derpy, I saw you crying, what’s wrong?” She asked.
Gumdrop stepped back and sighed.
”My friend left me alone to search for... a pink diamond, and I’m scared, I’ve never meet anyone here and never been here before”
Even through her eyes weren’t aligned with each other, it was still clear that Derpy felt concerned.
”I can help” Derpy offered.
Gumdrop gasped, “Really?”
Derpy nodded happily, Gumdrop happily walked with her new friend. She really felt safe with Derpy, there was just something deep inside telling her Derpy would make a great friend, and possible team member.