Grand Illusions

by tli

Harmony, or Sticking the Landing

As the cracked, sun-baked Badlands gave way to the fertile fields encircling the Haysead swamplands, the new duo made camp for the night.  After making certain nopony was around, Dazzle briefly traded his horn for a set of wings and took to the sky to find a dry patch of ground.  Trixie had been adamant about keeping the cart from bogging down in the soft earth while they slept.

Though Trixie gave him a laundry list of things to do, Dazzle noted that her demeanor wasn't especially frosty - it seemed her unreasonable distress over his botched disguise had passed, for which the changeling was grateful. Dazzle found some suitable tree branches to use as chocks for the wagon while Trixie erected and tested her perimeter spell and fed the wolf some dried fruit and springy twigs.  Preparations complete, the duo retired for the night.  

As she prepared for bed, Trixie removed her star-spangled hat and cloak.  It was the first time Dazzle had seen her without them, and he found the transformation rendered her striking in an entirely different way.  The outfit spoke of garish theatrics, but removing it allowed Trixie's color palette and slim figure to shine on their own.  

They ate an austere meal of hay from a bale which they'd sporadically been using as a hoofrest.  Trixie avoided Dazzle's eyes as she ate.  He wondered how long it had been since she'd shared a meal with somepony who wasn't a captive timber wolf.

When the time came to sleep, Trixie lay at the head of the wagon and Dazzle spread himself out at the rear.  They were nearly hoof-to-hoof.  The wagon could only hold so much.

For the longest time, the two just stared at the starry sky.  An odd haze from the swamp acted as a sort of filter, skewing the color of the stars to a warm yellow.  Dazzle enjoyed the spectacle in silence.  In the Badlands, the dust in the air could sometimes block the stars entirely.  Just when he was ready to fall asleep, Trixie spoke.

"Do... do changelings poop?"

Dazzle sat up.  "You just watched me eat!  It's gotta go somewhere." He huffed. "I'm not just a black hole." He muttered, rolling his eyes.

"You are black, and you're full of holes." Trixie said pointedly, observing his indignation with quiet amusement.

"Of course.  I'm a series of black holes." He flopped backward.  "How could I forget?" He asked sarcastically.

"You should use all that excess gravity to catch mares." Trixie giggled.

Dazzle couldn't help but smile at that.  Trixie seemed a little more laid-back in the stillness of the night.  Maybe it was the absence of the hat.  "I'll keep that in mind."

They'd risen with the sun and made good progress toward Appleoosa.  The timber wolf was the only one not enjoying himself as they trundled along over the verdant hills between the swamp and the frontier town.  They were probably only about an hour away now, and Trixie seemed to be in a celebratory mood as their goal loomed closer.  She was humming to herself and rooting through the contents of her trunk again, looking for something.  "Ah, here we go." She levitated an ornate box onto the wagon and tapped it with her hoof.  By some feat of magic, the box became a full-sized gramophone.  Trixie removed a record from a well-worn sleeve and carefully seated it on the turntable, holding the needle aloft with her magic.

"Did you pick a nice singing voice to go with that yellow mug of yours?" Trixie asked.  She didn't wait for an answer.  She lowered the needle and began to sing.  It was clear that, though her cutie mark bestowed her with no extraordinary vocal talent, she felt that this song was sacred.  The performance she gave was nothing less than her best.

"My idea of fun is watching you come undone.
Watching all of your armies begin to ruu-u-un.
The flash bulbs begin to pop,
as I gallop my way to the top."
She climbed to her hooves and began to prance around the wagon.
"And you've no idea what's hitting you,
until it's nearly done."
Trixie closed her eyes and began to sway to the subdued chorus.
"Game over." She paused as the lead singer slurred something almost too low to hear. "Game oh-ver-er-er-er." Trixie tapped her hooves on the rough wood of the wagon as the song's bridge washed over her.  When the words picked up again, one of her hooves shot out to point at her new companion.
"My idea of a good time is you losing your mind.
Watching all of the threads in your tapestries unwi-i-i-ind." She smiled at Dazzle through the words.

"Did you commission somepony to write you a theme song?" Dazzle laughed.

Trixie just smiled wider and kept singing.

When the song ended, Trixie lifted the needle and started it over again. This time, Dazzle joined in. As he settled into a harmony with her, he finally felt what he'd been hoping for ever since they'd left the nest - his hunger was starting to fade.

"Whoa there, Stinkface!" Trixie cried, pulling back on the draft wolf's reins.  Dazzle looked at her inquisitively.  "What?  I had to call him something."

"Why are we stopping here?" They'd reached a hill that overlooked Appleoosa.

"We need to prepare our grand entrance!" Trixie declared with a dramatic gesture toward the sleepy frontier town below.  "In a town this small, it's possible - nay, essential - to make sure the entire population knows about the show long before it starts."

"And we do that by making a grand entrance?" Dazzle asked doubtfully.  "How grand can two ponies and a cart be?"

"Two ponies, a captive timber wolf, and a cart." Trixie corrected.  "And if you're asking that, you've clearly never seen the magic somepony can work with a unique means of conveyance."  Dazzle cast an unenthusiastic look at their very basic plank of wood with wheels.  The blue showmare rolled her eyes in exasperation.  "I'm not saying this cart is any good.  I admit, it's a bit of a handicap.  But I think the wolf offsets it nicely." She said matter-of-factly.  "Rough-and-tumble isn't the image I usually try to convey, but I think maybe we can work the 'strange outsiders with strange ways' angle instead." She trotted around the cart, giving the tethered wolf a wide berth.

"Hmm...  Where do they come from, these ponies who tame great beasts to haul their loads?  These well-bred unicorns with unknowable power over one of ponykind's most fearsome predators..." She mused aloud.  Dazzle smiled to himself as Trixie made another lap of the cart, oblivious to all but her own thoughts.  "The truth about the timber wolf is pretty impressive by itself - just need to jazz it up a bit."  The blue mage rubbed her chin, her expression suggesting sly creativity.  

"The Great and Powerful Trixie!" She suddenly shouted, leaping back onto the cart and performing for an audience of one.  "Who, mere days ago, heard tales of a vicious timber wolf terrorizing the frontier community of Dodge City and took action!" She cried dramatically.  "Stalking the beast through the neighboring swamp in the dead of night, she subdued it with powerful magic." She suddenly broke character and looked to Dazzle as if he'd spoken in opposition.  "I did!  It wasn't easy getting this idiot into a harness from a distance." She insisted, pointing accusingly at the wolf.

"It's probably easier than doing it up close." Dazzle pointed out.

"True." Trixie agreed.

"So that's all great, I guess, but is that part of our entrance?  Are we doing drive-by biographies?  And what's mine?" He inquired.

"The biographies are for the stage tomorrow night, but we'll need to work them out before we arrive." Trixie muttered distractedly, her eyes resting unfocused on a point somewhere over his shoulder.  Snapping out of her reverie, she seemed to have had an idea.  "You've had an interesting life.  I mean, you've certainly borrowed a few." She smirked.  "So what can you use from actual experience?"  

Dazzle tried to conjure a suitably impressive moment from his past.  It was mostly a haze.  He saw bedrooms - so many bedrooms - a stadium, and more than one glimpse of Canterlot.  He frowned.  He didn't want to be from Canterlot.  "Can't you just make something up for me?"

"I could, but kernels of truth are always better.  You'll sell the story better if you remember some of it actually happening." Trixie assured him.  She really had this down to a science, it seemed.

"I fought a dragon once." He admitted rather blandly.

"Seriously?" Trixie asked with wide eyes.

"Yup.  Got my flank handed to me though.  The whole squad did." He smiled wryly at the memory.  None of his fellows had gotten seriously hurt, and, in a singular moment of wisdom, the queen hadn't taken her anger out on any of them for their failure, perhaps realizing that her idiotic plan was probably at fault.

"Not as impressive as the summary, hm?" Trixie concluded.  "That's too bad."  She jumped down from the cart and approached the crest of the hill, gazing down at their future audience in the distance.  Dazzle trotted up next to her.  The two sat for a while, casting no shadows in the noon sun as they tried to invent a life for a pony who hadn't existed until yesterday.

"You know... Hmm.  Give me your best roguish wink." Trixie commanded.  Dazzle complied, and Trixie lifted a hoof to her chest as if she'd been struck.  "Celestia, that was good!  Did you even have to try?"

"Not really.  I've been roguish before." He shrugged.

"Well, that's good news.  I don't think you'll need a detailed backstory.  If you just let me do most of the talking, we'll be fine.  That wink should get you pretty far." She laughed.  "The ideal stallion is about sixty percent crowd-pleasing charm and the remainder is just magic to back it up." She said flirtatiously.

"If you say so." Dazzle chuckled.  He had no trouble believing that Trixie would do the talking.  He also found himself deeply amused but not entirely surprised by her idea of a perfect stallion.

"Now, we just need to get your outfit sorted out and plot the route for our entrance."

"I'm super-worried that we'll crash, get arrested, or explode, but I have to admit..." Dazzle began.  Trixie smacked the wolf's hindquarters and the cart shot off down the hill.  "This is the COOLEST thing I've ever done!" He yelped, holding onto his brand new star-and-moon top hat as they picked up a disturbing amount of speed.  

Trixie tried to peel Dazzle's new cape away from her face, but the wind and the sheer effort required to hold onto the cart made it a challenge.  "Remember, act like you can actually control the wolf!  You're supposed to be driving, and I'm taking care of the rest."

"Got it!" Dazzle yelled over the wind and the worrying chatter of the rickety cart.

They were rapidly approaching the low point of the hill from which they'd launched.  Trixie had just found solid hoofing out of range of Dazzle's flapping cloak and was about to begin the pyrotechnics phase of the operation when she noticed that just ahead was yet another hill that, given its positioning and their speed, may as well have been a cliff.  

"Crap." Trixie hissed as they went airborne.  

The first thing she did was levitate the wolf.  The wolf was very surprised, yelping and flailing about as the whole party sailed through the air and toward the unforgiving ground.  Trixie gritted her teeth in concentration, reaching out with her magic to grab the wagon beneath her as well.  She applied sticking charms to her hooves and Dazzle's hindquarters to keep them all attached, then redoubled her efforts to keep the cart aloft.

"My butt feels weird!" Dazzle heard himself complain.  He found it incredibly strange that, given the circumstances, that was what he'd chosen to bring up.

"Working as intended." Trixie ground out, panting with exertion.  The town loomed ahead of them.  She could hardly see anything around Dazzle's billowing cape.  "Find the main street and steer the wolf that way!" She commanded.

"You heard the lady!" Dazzle yelled at the wolf.  There was some very undignified yelping as the ground drew nearer.  "He looks worried!" Dazzle reported.

"That's adorable." Trixie snarled.  "I'm sure he's having such a hard time not bending the laws of physics, since I'm doing that for him." She snapped.  "The least you two could do is steer!"

"Hya!  Mush, Stinkface!" Dazzle cried.  The street before him seemed pretty long and wide, and though it was possible that it wasn't the main thoroughfare, their rapid loss of altitude convinced him that it was close enough. Trixie ducked just in time to avoid losing her hat on the Welcome to Appleoosa sign.  The wolf hit the ground running, the cart smashing to the earth only a split-second later.  And she sticks the landing.  Trixie breathed a ragged sigh of relief and began setting off fireworks to call as much attention to herself as possible.  

"Come one, come all!" She called out, her voice amplified by magic.  Birds left their perches as the sound crashed into them, echoing through the whole town.  "Tomorrow night and tomorrow night only, witness feats of magic hitherto unseen by pony eyes!"  She paused and swallowed, canceling the amplification spell.  "Hat down low, remember!" She reminded her partner, who pulled the brim of his hat low over his eyes.  According to Trixie, a good entertainer projected an air of mystery.  He hunched low over the driver's bench and held the reins like he was doing something.  It was probably for the best that he wasn't actually steering, since, due to the hat, his field of vision stopped at the wolf's flank.

Unknown to Dazzle, his aura of mystery was already doing its job.  As they raced past a communal garden, several mares watering and pruning various vegetable crops gaped in awe at the unknown stallion being pulled along by - was that a timber wolf?  Yes, a timber wolf.  Trixie smirked, having glimpsed the gawkers as they tore past.  They certainly won't be missing the show.  With a little extra effort, her next volley of fireworks rained roses instead of floating away as smoke.  She wanted to leave them a token of their impending time together, even if the conjuration was temporary.  

The hopefully awe-inspiring duo soon found themselves approaching the other end of the small town.  Various ponies stopped and stared as they passed, some rolling their eyes and chalking the behavior up to decadent city life, others quaking in fear of the timberwolf that had passed so frighteningly close.  A cadre of foals had run out of the local schoolhouse and were chasing the wagon out of town, having glimpsed it through the window.  "Foals!" Trixie clopped her hooves together gleefully.  "Can't have a good show without some adorable foals!"  

As they passed under another sign bearing the town's name, Dazzle pulled up on the reins, trying to bring the wolf to a halt.  "Woah, there.  Give it a rest, Stinkface." He called soothingly.  The wolf collapsed, wheezing and hacking up sawdust.

Trixie jumped off the cart, squinting into the distance, noting with satisfaction that the foals were still approaching as fast as their little legs could carry them.  While she waited for them to arrive, she conducted a cursory examination of the cart.  "Ha!  Look at that.  We cracked a wheel." Dazzle followed her gaze to find that the wheel in question wasn't entirely circular and was missing about a quarter of its spokes.  "I can't believe we survived the landing." She said bluntly.

Dazzle sat in the dirt, closed his eyes, and took a moment to truly appreciate being alive.  He'd been in trains before, but while trains were fast, they were considerably more predictable than wolf-drawn skycarts with three and a half wheels.  He wondered if every day he spent with Trixie would be like this.  He wasn't sure he'd mind, but he also didn't know if he'd survive.

"Look!  See, I told you it's a timber wolf!" A young colt called out in triumph.  The foals had arrived.  They were both earth ponies of an earthy color, and Trixie was surprised to see there were only two.

"Is not!" The filly next to him insisted.  The colt ran up to the wagon, but the filly didn't venture beyond the sign.  "It's gotta be fake.  It's probably just somepony covered in sticks."

"I assure you, my cynical little ponies, my timber wolf is one hundred percent real." Trixie boasted, gesturing toward the exhausted wolf.

"Woooow." The colt's grin threatened to split his face.  "Can I pet him?"

"That's an awful idea." Dazzle declared emphatically.

"I'm afraid not.  I'm still taming him.  There's plenty more wonder to be witnessed tomorrow, though." Trixie consoled him.

"Really?" The colt was riveted.  

"Of course!  Dazzle and I will be performing in this very town tomorrow night!" She cried with a dramatic stomp of her hoof and a short volley of fireworks.

"Awesome!" The colt pumped one of his forelegs in excitement.

"Ivy!  Kudzu!  Back to school this instant!" Their teacher, having herded the slower children back to the schoolhouse, finally caught up with the two who'd led the stampede.

"Yes, miss May." The filly replied meekly, galloping back into town.

"Aw, fine." The colt grumbled, taking his time in returning.  Trixie and Dazzle watched as he and his teacher walked side-by-side into the distance, his movements becoming more animated as he excitedly explained what he'd seen.

"Well!" Trixie exhaled.  "We've got them talking."  The showmare levitated her saddlebags onto her back and began a leisurely trot into town.  

Dazzle quickly caught up.  "It's a shame the foals didn't see us fly in."

"Yeah, it's a real waste." Trixie lamented.

"So... I wasn't really looking at the ground until just before we landed.  I didn't see anypony watching.  Did you..?"

"I was busy." She said flatly.

"I kind of wonder..." He began doubtfully.

"If nopony saw us fly in, we should probably just kill ourselves." She said doggedly.

"Yeah." He laughed in agreement.

Trixie decided that the front of the local general store would be the best location for their show, and after consulting with its owner, she began creating a flyer to advertise the event.  

Dazzle was surprised at how long it took her to copy each flyer from the original.  He figured the Great and Powerful Trixie would know a batch copy spell, but apparently they were a little more involved than making a wagon fly.  Her spell granted her one copy per cast, and by the time they'd plastered the town with ads, the sun was setting.

The duo then sought out a place to spend the night.  They soon identified the local watering hole and approached the grizzled proprietor about finding a room for the night.

"We don't get too many travelers way out here, and when we do, most stay with family." He cast a silent glance at their horns, likely concluding that they had no family here.  "Just got the two rooms, and one's fulla bean counters from Canterlot here to check up on our little experiment." He gestured widely, indicating the town.  "So Ah hope y'all are cozy." His eyes shifted between the duo.  Dazzle was blushing, but Trixie just smirked.

"Not only are we cozy, we're incredibly cheap." She rooted through her saddlebag for a sack of bits.  "How much for the night?"

"It'll be twelve bits, but before you go handin' 'em over, y'all will need to have a word with the sheriff."

Trixie's ears twitched nervously and her eyes narrowed, but Dazzle spoke up before she had a chance.  "Why's that?" He inquired.

"New policy, on account'a the changelings bein' so close." He said grimly.

"What, we need to be told to watch out for suspicious activity?" Trixie rolled her eyes.

"Missy, you're from out of town, ain't kin to nopony here, and if Ah heard correctly, you made it rain roses.  You are the suspicious activity." He drawled.  Dazzle scowled on Trixie's behalf while Trixie gave the innkeeper a withering look.  "The sheriff's just come in.  He won't bite 'less you bite him first." The settler pointed to the doorway where a light brown earth stallion with a magnificent handlebar mustache was considerately wiping the dust from his hooves.

Trixie trotted toward the sheriff, muttering something about "getting this over with."  Knowing Trixie's diplomacy skills to be questionable, Dazzle cringed and rushed to her aid.  

Thankfully, the sheriff got the first word.  Having noticed the two new faces, he greeted Trixie with a tip of his hat.  "Howdy, Ma'am.  Ah don't believe Ah've seen you 'round here before.  Silverstar, sheriff of Appleoosa." He extended a hoof which Trixie shook mechanically.  "What can Ah do for ya?"

"I'm the Great and Powerful Trixie, and this is the Magnificent Dazzle." She gestured vaguely toward Dazzle, who hadn't been aware of his ascension to magnificence until that moment.  "I'm told that my partner and I need to see you before we book a room for the night.  Is that true?" Her tone implied a long-suffering boredom with the idea.

"Ah reckon so.  Brave new world, with critters who can steal a pony's face.  We're just bein' careful." He explained.

"Right, well, we've checked in with the law, so are we free to settle in now?  We'll need to be up early to prepare."  She tossed her mane as if to emphasize the fact that beauty needed its rest.

"And just what are y'all preparin' for?" The sheriff asked.

"The Greatest show in Equestria." Trixie replied as though it were obvious.

"Well, seein' as I wasn't aware of a show until now, I assume y'all will be puttin' one on?" Silverstar guessed.

"A magic show." Dazzle supplied.

"A feast for the senses.  Arcane feats beyond imagination.  That sort of thing." Trixie clarified, looking at Dazzle with silent reproach for selling them short.  

"Ah suppose that explains the roses." The sheriff mumbled to himself.

"Will we be needing a permit?" Trixie inquired, attempting to win favor with the small-town lawcolt.  

"No, we ain't too fond'a paperwork.  Long as y'all ain't causing trouble or keepin' ponies up at night, you got my blessing." Silverstar smiled kindly.  "That just leaves the matter of the room for the night." He scratched his neck nervously as though he still wasn't accustomed to his new task.  "Since y'all are from out of town and Ah ain't seen ya before..." He looked to the innkeeper, who shook his head. "And you ain't got anypony here who can rightly say they know ya-"

"You're assuming we're changelings." Trixie deadpanned.

"Well, you'll have to excuse our paranoia, ma'am, but Ah'm sure you can understand our position, can'tcha?" The sheriff's eyes begged sympathy.  "The Badlands are where those nasty critters came from - right on our doorstep, nearly - and here you come trottin' through, fly-by-night, and ain't nopony here who can vouch for you." He seemed genuinely apologetic.

"Is this how you treat all out-of-towners, or just unicorns?" Trixie asked archly.

"Now Ah never said magic had a thing to do with it, did Ah?" The sheriff asked.  His voice took on an edge of anger.  Other ponies in the saloon had begun to take notice of the exchange.

"Listen, arguing won't get us anywhere.  If you can't trust somepony who hasn't done anything wrong, I can't convince you to change your mind.  Come on, Trixie." Dazzle said firmly, turning to leave.  He hadn't seen any unicorns in town so far, but he still couldn't afford to risk discovery.

"Now hold on just a second, mister.  We don't have to leave things like this.  If y'all would kindly submit to a little test, we could skip right to bein' good friends." The sheriff offered with curt gentility.

"Thanks, but it's not worth the ordeal." Dazzle said firmly and continued his journey to the door.

"Ain't no need to fetch a unicorn fer my test, mister.  I imagine you're used to the disguise breaker spell?" Dazzle stopped walking.  "I got somethin' a little different.  Quick, no magic, and no side-effects.  How 'bout it?"

"No side-effects?" Dazzle asked, walking back toward the sheriff.  Internally, he was much more heartened by the claim of 'no magic.'  "You're not going to probe me, are you?" He smirked. Somepony let out a quick snort of laughter.

"Well, there's one vote'a confidence." The sheriff said, raising his voice so that the whole bar would hear.  "Ah imagine a changeling might like a little probin'." The tension that had hung thick in the saloon as the argument played out was cut in half as the whole establishment laughed at the sheriff's joke.  Silverstar took the opportunity to lean toward the magical duo for a private word.  "Anyway, y'all can ask the mares in town, and they'll tell you Ah ain't that kind of stallion." He asserted, matching Dazzle's smirk with one of his own.

Dazzle smiled competitively at the earth pony while Trixie looked on with concern.  He's actually considering it.  As another second ticked by, it occurred to her to mask her concern with anger - perhaps at Dazzle's willingness to bend to authority.  Yes, that'll do.  "You don't have to, Dazzle.  We could sleep in the wagon, or get an early start on the road to Baltimare.  We could drive in shifts." She offered, casting a distrustful glance at the sheriff.

"No, I think if it's just a little test, we can save ourselves the fatigue, get a good night's rest, and give Appleoosa a great show. Sheriff, I'm at your mercy." Dazzle genuflected to Silverstar and waited for the test.  Trixie cast a furtive glance at the door.  They'd need a clear path out if Dazzle's plan failed.  She assumed he had a plan, anyway.

"Alright then." Silverstar herded the magical duo toward the bar and asked them to wait while he had a word with a yellow stallion in a dark brown vest who'd been watching events unfold from a table on the edge of the room.  

The yellow stallion got up and leaned against the wall, nodding politely at Trixie and Dazzle but otherwise remaining still.  The sheriff returned to the bar and approached the disguised changeling.  "Mister, if you'll just keep your eyes on mine, and Ma'am, if you'll keep yours on Wet Whistle here -" He gestured toward the innkeeper, who put down the glass he'd been inexpertly cleaning. "Everypony please find a seat - this'll only take a second."  They heard a few chairs being moved, but silence soon followed. Silverstar faced Dazzle with a smile, though his stare remained hard and unyielding.  "Braeburn, you know what to do."  There was the squeak of a valve being turned and the saloon was plunged into darkness.

Nopony could see it, but Dazzle wore a smile of triumph in the dark.  As soon as the lights went out, he knew what the test was.  Clever earth ponies.  Pity they don't know who they're dealing with. 

"What are you doing?" Trixie demanded.  She reached out to feel the air beside her, expecting somepony to be there.  

"Eyes forward, missy." The innkeeper cautioned.

"If this is your idea of an ambush-" Trixie began, but before she could go any further, the lights came back on.

Dazzle squinted at the brightness at first, though he quickly returned Silverstar's stare, taking care to show him exactly what he wanted to see.

"She's alright." Wet Whistle announced.

"I'm real sorry to trouble you, Mister." The sheriff's demeanor was much more friendly now.  "We'll be happy to have y'all here for the night."

A few minutes later, a surprised Trixie found herself re-entering the inn with her secret changeling and her overnight bag in tow.  As they climbed the stairs from the saloon to the guest rooms, her curiosity got the best of her.

"I don't understand.  What was the test?" She demanded in a whisper as she unlocked the door and hurried inside, immediately casting a sound-dampening spell on the wall adjacent to the second guest room. "When they turned off the lights, I thought we were going to have to fight our way out!"  The showmare was struck by an awful thought.  "Wait, we did pass the test, right?  Both of us?  Or are they down there right now sharpening their pitchforks while we think we're home-free?"

"Calm down, we passed.  Changelings don't have visible pupils.  Ponies do.  When you go from darkness to bright light, your pupils shrink.  If you look closely, you can see it happen.  I guess they're relying on the fact that most changelings don't realize how pony eyes work and wouldn't know to mimic that little detail." He mused.

"Most, but not this one, hm?" Trixie levitated her bags onto a nightstand.

"No, not this one." Dazzle allowed himself a smile of pride.  His time among ponies was longer and more storied than one might expect of a changeling, and he had that to thank for his knowledge of mundane pony anatomy.  The wherewithal to use that knowledge had come from the nest, though.  There was a saying he'd been taught as a juvenile.  In Equestrian, it would be "don't forget to bleed."  

"I'm impressed.  You fooled the law.  We might just survive." She joked.

"Yeah, so far so good." Dazzle smiled. "You know, it's easy to see why the sheriff does so well with the mares." He mused as he shrugged off his hastily-made cloak.  Trixie looked at him questioningly.  "He's got gorgeous eyes." He clarified.

"And that mustache!  That is a law-enforcing mustache!" Trixie insisted.

"It probably patrols the town by itself at night, hunting criminals and talking like John Mane." Dazzle imagined.

"The sheriff's mustache probably gets more tail than the sheriff." Trixie theorized.  At that, the gold faux-stallion truly lost it, stamping the floor and leaning on the bed for support.

After their slightly fatigued giggles ran out, Trixie's mind caught on something Dazzle had said.  "How do you even know who John Mane is?" She wondered aloud, climbing onto the bed.  "For a changeling, you sure know your Equestrian pop culture."

"I do." He agreed.  "I've spent months at a time among ponies." He admitted.  Trixie assumed that he'd look on such memories fondly - they must have been nice meals - but his face suggested otherwise.  He looked as though he remembered something he'd rather have forgotten.  He didn't dwell on it long, though.  

Instead he rose to his hooves and opened the closet, which was bare apart from the items he was looking for.  He levitated the spare set of blankets and an extra pillow from the top shelf and began to spread the blankets on the floor next to the bed.  Trixie nearly asked what he was doing, but instead made a rare decision to hold her tongue.  He was sleeping on the floor.  Why?  A part of her asked.  Why not?  It was a fair counterpoint.  Why do we care?  Now that was probably the most important question.  She decided to think on it some more.

She was still considering it when Dazzle said goodnight and disappeared beyond the edge of the bed that he'd conceded without discussion.  Trixie turned out the light.  

Soon, the showmare realized why she cared.  I don't want to sleep alone.  She brought a hoof to her forehead in the dark and berated herself for such an uncharacteristic moment of weakness.  She'd gone how many years sleeping alone, and now, when the alternative was an option, she couldn't stand it anymore?  On one hoof she was rolling her eyes at her own ridiculous desires, but on the other hoof she saw an opportunity to use her companion's diet to her advantage.

"Are you..." Trixie's voice started out confident, but she faltered, surprised at her own bravado.  When she continued, she was much quieter. "Are you hungry?" She asked into the darkness.  She couldn't see the gold colt she knew was on the floor somewhere.  There was barely enough moonlight coming in to tell one shadow from the next.

"I'm OK." Dazzle answered somewhat defensively.  Shadows in his vicinity shifted and bedsheets rustled as he moved.

"What does 'OK' mean?" Trixie asked cajolingly.

"What does 'are you hungry' mean?" Dazzle countered playfully, smiling in the dark.

Trixie turned the oil lamp back on at a fraction of its full power.  Its faint glow revealed Dazzle looking back at her with amused curiosity.  Not for the first time, the showmare abandoned tact.  "Do you -" She cleared her throat, finding that it didn't want to cooperate.  "Do you want to sleep with me?" She grimaced the moment the words left her mouth.  Dazzle's lips twitched and folded in on themselves as he bit back laughter or some kind of joke at her expense - Trixie didn't care which.  "You get one joke." She cautioned.  "And in exchange, you have to answer honestly."

"Hmm." Dazzle considered the challenge a serious one.  To choose a single jab at Trixie's ego was difficult enough - he had three solid options in mind already - but to give Trixie an honest answer?  He wasn't sure if either of them could handle that.

Trixie watched with carefully cultivated boredom as Dazzle plotted his verbal finishing move. He wore an insufferably anticipatory smile.  Privately, she was so interested in the joke that she was only a little worried about the answer that would follow it.

Finally, Dazzle's train of thought hit the end of the line and his smile went from one of pleasant speculation to pure, predatory joy.  Trixie cringed, hoping he wouldn't reduce her ego to ash.  He licked his lips and prepared to speak, but when he made eye contact with Trixie, the words died on the tip of his tongue.  

Where a pony would only see the flickering light of the lamp reflected in her violet eyes, Dazzle saw more.  He saw the two of them, side by side, content in peaceful slumber.  One of his forelegs was draped over Trixie's neck, and his muzzle was buried in her silvery mane.  That was what Trixie was imagining, and it seemed the very picture of bliss.

Suddenly the joke didn't seem so appropriate anymore.  In fact, he'd forgotten what it was.

He had his answer, though.

"I do want to sleep with you." Dazzle admitted with a faint nod and a smile that was almost, but not quite, shy.

"No joke?" Trixie asked, her eyebrows disappearing under her mane.  "If that was the joke, it was pretty weak." She smiled to hide her anxiety.

"No joke." Dazzle replied.  

He abandoned his shoddy floor bunk and climbed in alongside the powder blue mare, who was - for once - quiet.  She scooted over to give him room.  He debated putting a leg around her.  It wasn't necessary - the bed was large enough for the two of them to sleep comfortably without touching - but he knew it was what she wanted, deep down.  The deciding factor was his hard-won knowledge that it was important to let ponies be honest with themselves in their own time. He kept his hooves to himself. "Night." He murmured.

"Goodnight." Trixie quietly replied.  

After a few minutes, the silver-maned mare shivered.  The air had started to cool in the sun's absence, though Dazzle hadn't noticed it himself.  He decided to meet Trixie halfway.  With a moment of concentration, he grew two extra-downy pegasus wings.  He carefully wrapped one around Trixie, who snuggled into his feathery embrace.

Fake shiver; preserve dignity. Trixie smiled into her pillow as Dazzle settled himself against her. Genius.