Chapter Ten
“Make sure all the rocks from this year are all harvested by sundown. Clean them off first, then crack them open and sort the gems by type. Be careful, though--we’ve had some issues with diamond dogs recently. At least, I think it’s them. I can also hear the cries of some mare or other from down their burrows, but maybe it’s just me and my old ears.”
The two continued in silence for several seconds. Toru pushed open a gate seemingly by feel and led Trixie through it. He stopped shortly after.
“Well, I serve breakfast at seven, lunch at one, and dinner at six. I’ll make you extra portions, but don’t come in and snack when I’m not looking. You’ll have to find a way to pay for that yourself.”
“Thanks, Mister Pie,” Trixie mumbled as the old farmer went back to the farmhouse. She immediately tripped over a sizeable rock.
“Oof!”
She ignited her horn and cast a simple light spell. The ground around her illuminated, and Trixie could see that she was in the midst of a large dirt plain, with boulders of all shapes and sizes arranged in neat rows, all perfectly spaced. Many were caked with earthy moss.
“Let’s get to work, then, I suppose,” Trixie announced to the boulders. In a nearby toolshed, Trixie found a large washing tub, a coiled hose, and various other implements, among them a scrubbing brush, shovel, and pickax. A small metal water spigot poked out of the ground nearby.
Trixie hauled the tub into the middle of the field, then ran back to secure the hose. She fastened it tightly to the spigot, turned on the tap, and scampered back over to the tub, hose in hoof. Just as the water began to spurt out its nozzle, Trixie dropped it into the tub and it began to fill with a bath of icy water.
Next, using the shovel to help, Trixie extracted the closest boulder from the ground, carefully dropped it into the tub to avoid splashing water all over the place, and began to furiously swab at the boulder’s surface, removing the layer of foliage that had formed on it.
After she had decided the boulder would polish no more, Trixie deftly took the pickax up and slammed it onto the large rock as hard as she could. When only a small crack appeared on its surface, she tried again. Still no more than a few chips of rock broke off and settled on the ground.
“Oh, ponyfeathers!” Trixie exclaimed as she swung the pickax again, faster and faster.
At last the stubborn stone broke open to reveal a cluster of shining gems.
“Ooh! Shiny!” came a squeal from behind her.
Trixie had broken open about six boulders by the time the bell for breakfast rang at seven. In that time, she had to ward off three diamond dogs, but in the end only lost a few gems. The others she had placed securely in the farm’s silo.
“Trixie! Grub’s up!” Toru called from the farmhouse’s broad porch.
“Coming!”
Trixie galloped inside, famished, to find a mouth-watering spread before her. Piping hot buttery waffles doused in maple syrup, spicy hay hash, and crunchy toast with jam all lay on the simple wooden breakfast table, inviting ponies to sit down and indulge their stomach. Trixie took a seat in one of the equally simple wooden chairs, and Toru slid down across from her.
“I didn’t realize you were this good a cook,” Trixie commented through a mouthful of the spicy hash.
“I wanted to be a chef when I was a little younger than you. But my father, he didn’t want one bit of fancypantsness in his life. Threatened to kick me out of the family if I didn’t stay on this here rock farm and hold down the family business.”
“Wow. Tough story.”
“Tell me about it. Life’s always tough out here in the fields. ‘Specially when you’re the only one out in them.”
“I’m the only other pony here?”
Yep. My wife of thirty seven left me just this past year. Our foals are all grown up and moved out, too. I hear my youngest found herself some work in a bakery in Ponyville or somewhere...I told her a long time ago about my culinary ambitions. I guess she didn’t want to disappoint me.”
Toru stood, having finished his breakfast.
“Now don’t you think you ought to be getting back out there?” he chuckled, beginning to clear the plates from the table.
And so the cycle continued. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Months soon dragged out into years. Every day was the same. Wake up, work, eat, work, eat, work, eat,work, go to bed. Toru would sometimes go off into Dodge Junction to get supplies or sell the harvest, but Trixie always stayed behind. He was nice enough, and the life was comfortable enough, but Trixie was restless. She had never been one to stay in once place for too long.
“I can’t take it anymore!” Trixie screamed at the top of her lungs one day. She had been on the farm for a little over two years, and it felt like she was living the same day over and over and overandoverandoverandover again.
In the predawn light, Trixie fished under her bed and fished out the satchel of bits Celestia had given her so many years ago. Over the years, she had added about five thousand bits to it--the burlap sack was practically bursting at the seams.
Packing her bits and donning a black cloak, she quietly exited the farmhouse and trotted down the road towards Dodge Junction. It was an overcast day, and the gutter she walked in was muddy and filled with wet leaves.
Arriving in the modest settlement, Trixie made her way to the train station. Being relatively out of the way, Dodge Junction was served by only one train from Canterlot per day in each direction, so she had about six hours to wait.
Entering a small saloon called “The Prancing Pony,” Trixie sat at the bar and ordered a mug of salted sassafras. One mug became two very quickly, and Trixie found herself in a bit of a drunken stupor. She left a few bits on the counter--she could afford to, being rich now--and asked the barkeep if she could rent a room upstairs for a few hours.
“Sure. For a price, of course,” he replied while polishing mugs with an oilcloth.
“How much do you want?” she managed to slur.
“Hundred bits.”
Trixie snorted, but gave the bits over and slowly ascended the stairs, entered one of the empty boarding rooms, and flopped on the rough mattress.
The whistle of the train arriving in the station nearby woke Trixie from her short nap. She plopped down the stairs, still only partly sober, and trotted over to the platform. She left a few more bits in the conductor’s hooves before boarding the train and taking a seat.
A few minutes later they were off. The train was only about a quarter full as it rolled northwards and skirted the boundary of the Everfree Forest. Trixie again decided to sleep for the rest of the journey to try and kick the short-acting hangover she had.
‘That salted sassafras sure was strong.’
The rain was rolling down in sheets as the train slid into Canterlot.
‘Back at the scene of the crime, aren’t we? I could go pay ‘Tia a visit, hay.’
Trixie pulled up the hood on her cloak and dashed through the back alleys of the city as thunder rolled in the background. She had read about something called the “alicorn amulet,” a magical necklace that would grant untold powers to its wearer. Something Trixie desperately needed if she was to prove her worth to Twilight. Its location was unknown--it had been stolen from the palace vaults ages ago. Trixie had a hunch that somepony might have pawned it.
Picking a pawn shop at random, Trixie walked in and began to scan the piles of junk on the floor and shelves.
‘Whoa!’ Trixie exclaimed mentally as she came across an amulet in a case that looked very much like the one in the book. ‘The alicorn amulet...who would have thought it would be the first place I looked?’
A light clicked on, and somepony who Trixie assumed to be the shop’s proprietor stepped out from the shadows behind the counter.
“May I help you, traveler?”
He began to pace. “Hmm...something drew you to my shop...something powerful.”
Trixie pointed a hoof at the amulet, but the shopkeeper shook his head.
“Ah, you have a keen eye. The alicorn amulet is one of the most mysterious and powerful of all the known magical charms. Uh, ah- I'm afraid this is...far too dangerous to be put in the wrong hooves.”
Trixie rolled her eyes and dropped her still large bag of bits on the counter. There was the distinct sound of the coins inside clinking as some spilled out on the surface.
The shopkeeper looked up brightly and smiled.
“Would you like that gift-wrapped?”
“What’s going on here?” Twilight cried, rushing into Ponyville’s town square, Spike in tow.
“Well, well, well...if it isn’t Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie smirked, lowering her hood. She had been casting spells on the rest of the townsfolk for a few minutes now, waiting for Twilight to show up.
The other mare gasped. “Trixie!”
“What’s she doing here?” Spike asked conceitedly.
Trixie responded by enlarging a blue pegasus mare’s wing so she began to fly lopsidedly. She looked oddly familiar, though--was it Raindash Bow? Rainbow Dash? Yes, that was it.
She also noticed the two dolts who had brought the Ursa to town the last time she had been there. She fused their horns together in response to their genuflection.
“Stop picking on my friends, Trixie!”
“You and I have some unfinished business. My magic’s gotten better. And I’m going to prove it! Me and you. A magic duel. Winner stays, loser leaves Ponyville forever!” Trixie announced dramatically.
“Forget it! I’d never make a deal like that!”
“Hmph. Your choice,” Trixie idly replied, lifting Spike into a ball shape and bouncing him up and down repeatedly.
“Trixie, put him down. Why are you doing this?”
“Why?” Trixie was appalled.
‘Is she really that ignorant?’
“You humiliated me! After you showed me up with that Ursa Minor, I became a laughingstock. Everywhere I went I was laughed at and ostracized. I even had to take a job on a rock farm just to earn a living. A rock farm!”
“Hey! You’re lucky a rock farm would take the likes of you!” a pink earth pony pouted.
‘Is that the daughter Toru mentioned? Eh, whatever.’
Trixie removed the vivacious mare’s mouth.
“Now I want revenge!” Trixie continued. “And I’ll just keep casting spells ‘til you agree. Well? What do you say?”
To sweeten the pot, Trixie lifted the tree library upside down and began to shake it so that the books began to fall out of the windows, which were flying open and shut erratically.
Twilight sighed. “Fine.”
“You can forgive me, can’t you?” Trixie asked as her lip quivered.
Twilight gave an edgy smile. “Fine.”
“Thanks for everything, Twi. I mean it. That lesson on friendship and all--I kinda needed that.”
“You’re welcome, Trixie,” Twilight replied. “We really should see each other more. Under a different pretext.”
“Don’t you think The Great and Apologetic Trixie is the most magnificent humble pony you’ve ever seen?” Trixie laughed and boasted as she turned and made her exit.
Over her shoulder, she could see Twilight roll her eyes and slowly shake her head. Turning back to the front as she rounded the last curve out of town, Trixie smiled a genuine smile for the first time in a long three years.