The morning sun darted between the clouds; its glare was bright that Trixie had been forced to squint at the times it was out in the open sky. The Unicorn looked around for something to shade her eyes, but instead she met the gaze of an angry cattle farmer sitting upon a fence. The Earth pony farmer glared at Trixie as he pushed a flap in his vest aside to show he was carrying a small pouch of spherical iron bullets on him.
“Friendly folks you have here,” Trixie whispered sarcastically to Ellie, having nodded in the farmer’s direction.
The Pegasus smiled at the Unicorn and didn't pick up on the cynical tone. “Sure do! Living in a small town like Saddlestone means you get to know everyone.”
“I was being sarcastic,” Trixie corrected. “That farmer back there gave me the stink eye.”
“Ah, don’t fret none about him,” Ellie assured. “Farmer Brahman isn’t a bad pony. He just doesn’t know you yet. Brahman had some cows stolen recently, so don’t blame him for being a bit suspicious of strangers. I’m sure he’ll come around once he gets to know you better.”
“I’m not sure if I want anyone to,” Trixie muttered to herself.
As the two continued to walk toward the north edge of town Trixie slowed her pace by a miniscule amount and glanced at Ellie’s backside. Indeed, where the young Pegasus should have a left wing there was instead a fleshy stump lacking any feathers at all. Trixie wondered how she missed such a detail earlier. Her own selfish thoughts seemed to block out others at times and when those Diamond Dogs gave chase it certainly had Trixie thinking solely about self-preservation above all else.
Then again, this Pegasus did cause Trixie a big heap of trouble today.
“Say, Ellie,” Trixie began to inquire, “Why did you write that fictitious article about me?”
Ellie’s smile seemed to fade slightly as the Pegasus thought for a moment before she answered. “Well, the town has been plagued with bandits and Diamond Dogs for a while now. Roxy and her posse are pretty much the source of the troubles in my opinion, but there isn’t anyone around with the gumption to stand up to them.”
“Deputy Valiant stood up to them,” Trixie stated with a puzzled look.
“Yeah, but…” Ellie faltered, “I mean, he’s a right brave pony, but he couldn’t take them dogs on in a serious fight. Roxy knows that so she just likes to toy with him for fun. I figured if I could spread a rumor that a powerful Unicorn was coming to challenge them, they would back off a bit and leave us alone.”
“Why did you choose me though?” Trixie asked emphatically. “I now admit some flattery with your choice, but why did you not say Canterlot was sending the Royal Guard? For that matter, why not write that one of the princesses would be coming?”
“Well, I didn’t want to get in trouble for writing a lie about them,” Ellie confessed.
Trixie’s expression went deadpan. “Really? That’s the best excuse you have?”
Ellie blushed a bit and looked at the ground. “Well, I mean every pony knows where the princesses are and what they’re doing all the time. I figured since there was no news about you for some time that I could get away with my idea without someone seeing a conflict about your location.”
Trixie slowly shook her head in disbelief. “Why do I feel like I have just been insulted?”
“I’m sorry,” Ellie sadly apologized as she met Trixie’s gaze. “I’m sorry I got you into a heap of trouble out here. I’ll understand if you’re all beer and skittles with me and just want to go home.”
Trixie saw sincerity in Ellie’s eyes, even if she wasn’t sure what beer and skittles had to do with anything. The Unicorn shrugged and looked up into the clouds as she responded. “I suppose being mad isn’t going to change things. Look, I’ll stay the night at your place and come tomorrow morning I’ll write Canterlot a proper letter of appeal to help your town before I leave. No more using my name in your feather-brained ideas, okay?”
Ellie started to smile again. “Okay, you have a deal.”
~ ~ ~
Ellie and Trixie reached the edge of town. They stopped in front of a lone two-story cabin separated from the nearest neighbor by a modest distance. The building’s windows were all completely boarded up while the front door appeared to have been kicked in before and hastily repaired with a couple nailed strips of iron. The front porch awning sagged so heavily that it was braced up with random planks of wood. Trixie’s definition of safe did not seem to match this building’s appearance.
Death Trap sprung to mind.
“Quaint little place you have here,” Trixie remarked, going for a polite lie.
Ellie nodded proudly as she walked up the porch and towards the door. “It isn’t so bad, though a bit dark since we haven’t gotten around to replacing the windows yet.”
Trixie shrugged. “I have a light spell,” she stated. Trixie wondered if the inside was just as run-down looking. After all, the Pegasus had a distinct aroma of grease about her and the Cutie Mark of a hammer and screwdriver would put Trixie’s guess that Ellie was some variation of a mechanic in this town.
Ellie opened the door slowly and shouted “Ma, I’m home!” before she stepped inside. Trixie followed her inside and took a look around. The interior was a fairly clean and orderly home. There were several notable piles of clutter, composed mostly of tools and mechanical parts like springs, gears, and levers. However, the piles were at least organized into out-of-the-way corners and somewhat stacked neatly. The Unicorn let out a mute sigh of relief over the acceptable condition these ponies lived in.
In fact, Trixie admitted to herself that the volume of mechanical stuff around the place was impressive.
Ellie showed Trixie over to the kitchen, where a much older Earth pony sat alone. She bore a sagging light-brown coat with a very grayed mane that hung unkempt. Trixie’s eyes moved from her lasso Cutie Mark to the dark gray blindfold she wore. The old pony reached out into the air for Ellie.
“Dear me, Ellie,” the old mare began, “I was feeling a bit peckish and came in here looking for something to eat, but I think I knocked something off the counter.” She pointed to the empty floor. Nothing indicated an object was knocked over.
Ellie held her mother’s hoof and led her to the living room. “It’s alright ma, I’ll fix you something to eat. Why don’t you sit in your favorite rocking chair?” As Ellie assisted her mother in sitting down, she glanced over to Trixie. The Unicorn stood out in the dark room much like a lit coal stood out in a shadow.
“Oh, ma, I have a guest with me.” Ellie happily gestured to Trixie. “Ma, this is The Great and Powerful Trixie. Trixie, this is my mamma, Lisa Sprocket.”
Trixie bowed out of courtesy and cleared her throat. “How do you do?”
Lisa smiled and slowly waved to the space before her. “Ah, forgive this mess of a house,” she stated. “I haven’t gotten around to sweeping the floors today.” She rocked slowly in her chair and Ellie excused herself to return to the kitchen.
Trixie sat on the adjacent padded loveseat, the only other sitting space in the room. The old wood creaked slightly under her weight. She didn’t know what to say and simply remained quiet, looking at the room’s décor. Trixie noticed there were a few family portraits that hung on one wall which illustrated younger versions of Lisa, Ellie, and a Pegasus stallion that Trixie assumed to be Ellie’s father.
Trixie wondered about the story that arose to such a union—a Pegasus and an Earth pony.
“So what is it you do for a living?” Lisa asked, breaking the silence gently.
Trixie snapped out of her trance. “Excuse me?” she responded with confusion.
“Your talent, my dear,” Lisa repeated. “Your name sounds a bit familiar to these old ears, but I cannot place it. Ellie said you are a great and powerful pony?”
“I am,” Trixie answered. “Well, was at one point. I’m no longer using that moniker.”
“Why not?” Lisa prodded. “With a title like yours, you must have quite a talent. It breaks my heart when a pony doesn’t use the gifts given to them.”
Trixie frowned a bit. She felt like she was being reviewed under a critical eye, from a blind pony no less! “I’m trying to fix my reputation,” Trixie explained. “I’ve… lied about some of my exploits and done a few things I’m not proud of. I don’t know if I’ll ever be acknowledged as anything but a fraud though.”
“But you’re not going to give up, are you?” Lisa questioned.
“I don’t know,” responded a crestfallen Trixie.
Lisa took a deep breath. “You sound a bit like my daughter,” the blind pony sadly admitted. “Ellie has quite a creative head on her shoulders, mind you. My husband Elliot always encouraged her to create. Those two used to come up with the most fantastical contraptions.”
“Ellie is an inventor?” Trixie asked in an attempt to move the conversation away from her own life.
“I’d say she is,” Lisa responded proudly, “Although Ellie may say differently now. She hasn’t succeeded in anything practical, but just the same she learned quite a few things about how things don’t work. I reckon that’s just as important as knowing how things do.” Lisa leaned back in her rocking chair and lost herself in thought.
“Sadly, she hasn’t been herself, not since her father passed away.” Lisa gestured to the portraits.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Trixie said softly.
Lisa gave a sad smile. “It was tragic what happened. An accident a couple years back with something they were commissioned to build for the local mining company. Left them both pretty smashed up. Ellie managed to recover, but…” Lisa paused and cleared a lump in her throat. “I think she blames herself for what happened.”
Trixie turned to the piles of parts and tools strewn about the house. Ellie loved to tinker, much as Trixie loved to perform, but they both haven’t had success in recent times. Perhaps it was something they indeed had in common, if only vaguely.
Trixie wanted to ask about something else, but Ellie walked in with a tray of alfalfa sandwiches for everyone. Hunger for a meal interrupted the conversation from Trixie's standpoint. After Ellie served her mother, the Pegasus sat down next to Trixie on the loveseat. Ellie quietly chewed her meal, occasionally asking her mother if she needed anything else.
Trixie stared at floor between bites. She wanted to ask Lisa a bit more about the story, but felt it would embarrass Ellie. Trixie decided not to press the issue right now. She didn’t like it when others brought up her past so it was only fair not to bring up Ellie’s past as well, right? Silence would have to do for the evening meal's entertainment.
~ ~ ~
Lisa had fallen asleep after dinner, so Ellie took this time to show Trixie around the house. There wasn’t much to it, just a quick walkabout to familiarize Trixie to the important aspects; where the bathroom was, the guest room Trixie would be staying the night, and where the snacks were stored in the pantry in case Trixie had a hankering in the middle of the night. As Ellie finished up the tour, Trixie noticed a large shed out back, highlighted by setting sun. Sheds were nothing unusual to Trixie, except this one bore a wreath of wilted white flowers.
A memorial.
“Is that your little workshop?” Trixie asked innocently as she pointed out the shed. “Are you building any interesting contraptions in there?”
“No,” Ellie stated flatly. She waved Trixie to follow her away from the kitchen.
Trixie filed a note to herself not to touch that nerve without caution. Ellie showed the Unicorn where her own room was. Here the little Pegasus was storing the majority of her tools and various unfinished knick-knack contraptions. Trixie was somewhat impressed with the work. She even thought of how a few of the gadgets here could make for an interesting new magic act in Trixie’s repertoire.
Ellie pointed out some of her favorite tools. “I get by fixing things for some of the townsfolk. When you came into the saloon, I had just finished repairs to Barley’s stove. That pony never takes care of his kitchen.”
“I wager everything he cooks tastes like grease?” Trixie joked as she looked over several technical drawings that hung on the walls.
“Especially the beer,” Ellie warned with a smile.
The two chuckled a bit at their fun and Trixie continued to survey Ellie’s collection of things. That’s when Trixie saw it. She saw an unfinished invention in the closet that sat under a pile of springs and was covered by an old frayed blanket. It looked like a bird’s wing made of metal slats, screws, and leather straps. She wondered if Ellie had meant to fly again with this.
“Say, this looks interesting. I suppose you-”
“Don’t!” Ellie commanded as she pounced upon the device and snatched it angrily before Trixie could touch it. The Unicorn took a step back from the Pegasus and raised a hoof up in defense.
“I didn’t mean any harm,” Trixie apologized. “I think your work is admirable.”
“Sorry, it’s just… I’m feeling a bit tired,” Ellie stated plainly. “I reckon it’s a bit late so we outta go to bed. I’ll help you write that letter in the morning before you leave.”
Trixie simply nodded and left the room without a word. She heard Ellie close the door slowly, but there was nothing further than that. Trixie half-expected to hear a sob emanate from the room. The Unicorn decided to think nothing else about it and so she walked into the guest room given to her.
The room was furnished with a spare bed made mostly of hay within a wooden frame and a night stand with an empty wash bowl. Two piles of random parts sat beside an empty closet, with a small sewing kit that sat on top of the larger pile. She could use it to fix her cape, but Trixie’s mind was too far away to focus on the task.
The blue Unicorn sat down on the bed and looked out between the slats of wood on the window. Lisa’s words echoed in Trixie’s head, “She blames herself for what happened.”
Trixie couldn’t explain it, but those words had brought on the weight of her own failures. If Valiant came through with his promise, then Trixie would be going home tomorrow… but to what? The ridicule and distrust of her very name was widely known wherever she went. Trixie wondered how much longer it would be until she completely faded from every pony’s memory. Would she cease to exist if it did?
Trixie wiped a tear that welled in her eye. She saw the distant bonfires in the hills outside the window, the flames danced and faintly flickered under the clear night. Likely that was the camp the miners slept at. Trixie began to remember how, as a filly, she was always mesmerized by the dance of a fire.
“Can’t sleep?”
Lisa’s voice caused Trixie to jump off the bed. “Oh! Well, no I couldn’t,” Trixie hastily responded. “I’m just watching the mining camp bonfires outside, admiring the flames.”
“Strange,” Lisa pondered, “Maybe I’m becoming forgetful, but I swore this window faced east.”
“Well, it does,” Trixie assured. “Why?”
Lisa shook her head, “By my recollection, East of here would be the train yard and the warehouses. They store valuables out in those buildings, but no one camps outside them. No pony is allowed out to be out there at this late of an hour.”
“So then a fire out there isn’t a good thing, is it?” Trixie asked.
“Not at all child,” Lisa stated, “I reckon it would be arson. Maybe even a robbery. Well, don’t fret your pretty head about it. There isn't anything any pony can do about it, right? We’re just simple pony folk who want nothing to do with heroics. Get some sleep now because the trains come early tomorrow.” Lisa slowly left the room as silently as she entered. The blind mare followed the contour of the hallway back to her own bedroom.
Trixie looked back outside at the bonfire. The flames didn’t look right against the dark shadows out there. They almost seemed to beckon for help. However, it was not that no pony could do anything about the fire; it was that no pony would do anything about it. Valiant was the only deputy in town and Trixie wouldn't be surprised if Saddlestone did not have a fire brigade.
There came a time in every pony’s life that they did something incredibly brave. They did something that they knew better against the risks, but they did so anyway because they felt that it was not only the right thing to do, but because no one else would pony up to the challenge. This was not one of those times for Trixie.
She was going to do something much, much more foolish.