The jostling of the carriage and the sound of wheels rolling over the landscape greeted Dusty as he groggily opened his eyes and found himself in Trixie’s wagon. He was lying on her bed of hay. As the grogginess slowly wore off, he looked around in shock. What happened? How did he get here? Did she drug him? He sat up and tried to move about, but the carriage hit a bump and dumped him back onto the bed. He laid there for a while, staring at the ceiling, at the pictures of faraway places and of other unicorns that resembled Trixie. Were they her parents maybe? The pictures were plastered all over the ceiling of the wagon. He found himself wondering what sorts of adventures she may have had when he felt the wagon come to a halt.
Dusty blinked and stood, taking a moment to ensure his legs would hold him up. He opened the door to the wagon and peered outside. Trixie stood there, looking tired; obviously she had been pulling the wagon and had stopped to take a much needed break. “Good, you’re awake. You can assist Trixie in preparing some lunch. You slept through breakfast.” Dusty blinked, a confused look on his face. But Trixie gave him no time to ponder the situation before nudging past him and handing him materials to start a small campfire. Dusty staggered attempting to carry it all, but managed to stumble to the site she indicated with a hoof and set the materials down. “Now then, we will have daisy stew for lunch; it is great for the mane and coat you know.” Dusty just nodded dumbly as Trixie proceeded to fix the fire and food. Dusty did his best to help, but found himself to be far more of a hindrance. Yet even as Trixie scolded him, he could see the pity in her eyes. After a short time they both sat and watched the stew heat up. Trixie set about repairing a torn piece of cloth with a needle and thread as dusty watched, somewhat fascinated.
“I could not let you just sleep out in some alleyway, but do not think you can just freeload off of the Great and Powerful Trixie. Expect to be put to work. I do the astonishing magic and you can cook the meals and pull the wagon from now on.” Dusty blinked, and mulled it over, “But,” he thought to himself, “I am out of Canterlot, and Trixie has been kind so far...it seems only fair...” Dusty nodded in agreement to her words and Trixie returned his nod curtly. “Good, that is what Trixie thought, now then.” Trixie frowned and looked the stallion over. He was a far worse sight in the light of day, but still looked better now that he had eaten and rested.
“No self-respecting powerful magician such as Trixie could be seen with such a sorry excuse for a stallion, we need to get you cleaned up.”
Trixie headed to the wagon and fetched a bucket, along with some sponges and soap. “Go over to that stream and fill this up. Then bring it back to the fire for me.” She said in a no nonsense manner. Dusty diligently obeyed, fetched a full bucket of the clear stream water and bringing to the fire, Trixie promptly set the water near the fire to heat up before resting on her haunches and gazing into the flickering flames. “We are going to head to Hoofington first, then Manehattan...” Trixie spoke absently as she let her thoughts drift while she gazed at the fire. Dusty looked up at her at the mention of his hometown. He wondered if his family was still there, with their bookstore, and whether or not they would even know who he was if they saw him.
“I wanted to hit Ponyville first, but apparently some ponies stopped Nightmare Moon and rescued Celestia and they are having a big parade or something. I do not want some lame unicorn upstaging The Great and Powerful Trixie!” At that statement Dusty’s eyes went wide. Celestia was rescued? She was in Ponyville with Twilight Sparkle? Maybe she did not know he was gone yet. But when she did he had no doubt there would be pegasi everywhere searching for him, he made a mental note to stay especially low if any pegasi were around. Trixie seemed to notice him and looked at him with a frown. “What has you looking like a startled filly dusty? Surprised to hear that Celestia was rescued? You should not be it is daylight out, though for a while there even Trixie had her doubts.” Dusty looked away and sighed, he was actually beginning to like this boisterous unicorn, but he could not tell her, even if he wanted too, too risky, and he did not understand it enough himself, and after what happened last time…Trixie interrupted his thoughts, “Water is ready.” She said standing and gazing at it before staring back at him. “Look, Trixie is not your mother, so you take this water and soap. Clean yourself up over behind the wagon while I keep an eye on the food.” Dusty blinked in confusion for a moment, but then nodded and headed behind the wagon. He never thought a good sponge bath with soap and water would feel so good. It took a lot of ache out of his sore muscles and, he had to admit, the smell was far better.
Trixie blinked when she say the freshly washed Dusty canter towards her, he looked like a changed stallion. At the very least he was a rather handsome and clean one. He was still too thin and the eyes were hard to look into for more than a moment, but still. “Much better, now come over here because it is obvious to Trixie that you have no idea what a mane and tail are supposed to look like.” Dusty blinked, but sauntered over, and sat on his haunches while Trixie brought out a brush, and began fussing over his mane and tail, it seemed kind of pointless to dusty, but he enjoyed the attention. He heard her talking to herself, tsking, wondering if he had ever bothered to brush it -- that it certainly seemed like he had not.
When Trixie had finished, she looked over Dusty with a careful eye, “Well, it is not much of an improvement, but it will have to do. No one can look as good as the Great and Powerful Trixie, after all. And the food is ready.” Dusty blinked his head blissfully empty of thought for once as the unicorn was brushing him. He nodded, cantered off to get some bowls, and dished each of them some stew. They ate in silence, which Dusty sensed was rare for the unicorn. It was nice to feel the wind on his face and listen to the birds chirping, the flapping of wings. Dusty blinked and looked around in panic, wings!? The looked like black dots on the horizon, but they were approaching very fast. There was no mistaking them for anything other than pegasi! Dusty leapt up, knocking his stew over, causing Trixie to stammer out rudely. Then she, too, saw what was coming and bolted for her wagon.
Dusty knew he could not go with her, she would just be put in grave danger and so he bolted across the open grass and hills away from Trixie. She called out for him, but he just kept galloping. Hot tears streamed down his cheeks. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone? Dusty knew he could not outrun them and heard them fast approaching. He spied a dense stand of trees off in the distance, but there was no way he could reach it in time. He slid to a stop and turned to face the pegasi, who checked themselves in midair for a moment before regrouping. Dusty gave them what he hoped was a fearsome look and they glanced nervously at each other, their golden armor glinting bright in the sun. Dusty watched them for a moment and then braced his hind legs and took a deep breath, opening his mouth.
The pegasi reacted immediately, scattering to the wind. Dusty bolted again. They had been warned and that was more than he could have hoped for as it gave him the time to dash into the woods. Tree limbs tore at his hide as he heedlessly trampled onward. The forest grew darker and thicker, hopefully thick enough for him to escape. When he finally collapsed in a small clearing he lay there panting, listening, straining to hear any sound of pursuit. But all was muffled and quiet in the dense woods and once again he was alone.