“Behold, as Trixie the Great will make this apple disappear!”
The little azure filly waved her fore-hooves over the silky red skirt that covered an apple. With an awkward flourish she pulled the skirt back and the green apple rolled off the stool and onto the floor. Trixie was less than impressed by the apple’s refusal to disobey the laws of nature for her.
“Apple, why didn’t you disappear?” the crestfallen child whined.
“Trixie, have you seen my red skirt?” asked a motherly voice from outside the tent.
“I’m using it for my show, mom!” Trixie responded.
An alluring earth pony with a cobalt blue coat and silver hair stepped into the tent. She walked over to the stage her daughter created with a mishmash of clothes and kitchen cookware. The other gypsies loved to encourage Trixie’s imagination, but Jessenia wished her daughter didn’t use the purple curtains for the stage. Those were her favorite curtains.
“Practicing your magic?” Jessenia asked.
The little unicorn sat down by her mother. “Trying,” she replied in a defeated tone. “I can’t get this apple to disappear. I wish I could do real magic like all the grown up unicorns.”
“Trixie, real magic isn’t about using flashy spells and stage tricks,” Jessenia said as she lifted the apple and covered it with her red skirt. “It’s about moving in harmony with your surroundings.” She removed the skirt and showed her daughter an empty hoof.
Trixie’s eyes went wide with awe.
Jessenia chuckled and removed the green apple hidden under her violet peasant blouse. “I know you idolize the unicorn magicians like Hoofdini, but you must always remember that magic resides within all ponies. It comes from the heart and when you share that heart with others, you will find your true power.” Jessenia held her daughter’s hoof close to her own heart.
She handed Trixie back the green apple before she took back her skirt. “Why don’t you clean up your stage? We’re going to the park today and you can play with the other fillies there. I heard the jugglers will be there in the afternoon for a show.”
Trixie’s smile lit up wide as she took down her makeshift stage. Jessenia reclaimed a few other articles of clothing and her favorite curtains. After Trixie had put away the pots and pans, she stopped in front of a tall dressing mirror to daydream.
“Mom,” Trixie asked as she looked at her own reflection. “Do you think I’ll be as good as Hoofdini?” She turned slightly to look at her blank flank and imagined what a magical cutie mark would look like there.
Jessenia sat behind her daughter and placed the purple curtains around Trixie like a grand cloak. “No, I believe you can be even greater. I’ve never seen a filly with passion for magic such as you, and I know one day every pony in Manehattan will flock to come see The Great Trixie perform the amazing magic that comes from her heart.”
Jessenia gave her daughter a big hug and Trixie reciprocated. Trixie shut her eyes and imagined a full theatre of ponies all cheering for her, loving her for being the greatest unicorn magician ever.
~ ~ ~
Trixie slowly awoke from her dream. The bright noonday glare of the sun burned upon her face. She gently rubbed a couple of tears from her eyes before she sat up. The scent of her mother’s perfume lingered not in Trixie’s nostrils, but in her mind. Sand was what probably lingered in her nostrils.
Trixie looked around wearily. She was still among the sand dunes of the desert. Torn tent canvases gently waved in the light breeze among the protruding remains of the encampment. A few stones littered where the ruins were, now reclaimed by the desert.
Trixie stood up and shook the sand out of her mane. Her body ached from the tomb fight and she knew that she needed to reach a town soon or the desert would claim her. She gathered her belongings, adjusted her hat, and began to scrounge for any food or water that might have survived the strange storm that tore through the dig site.
Lady Luck took pity on the unicorn, for Trixie found two canteens of water, three apples, and a pair of iridescent wings under a crumpled tarp. The unicorn lifted the tarp and underneath she saw that the wings were still attached to the black carapace body of a changeling.
Luck was never without a little humor.
Trixie magically levitated a long piece of a tent pole and poked the insect-like creature in the back. The changeling stirred and coughed out a small spray of sandy spit. Trixie looked into the pair of large, arctic blue orbs that made up the changeling’s eyes.
“Get up, hayseed,” Trixie said softly. “I’d like to know if we could call a truce.”
The changeling came to her senses and hissed angrily at Trixie. The unicorn nonchalantly kicked a little sand in the changeling’s face. It caused a nasty coughing fit to befall the black creature. The changeling vigorously wiped her eyes with two forelegs that had small, naturally growing holes all the way through them.
“Yuck! What was that for?” the changeling asked angrily.
“You hissed at me,” Trixie calmly explained. “Therefore, I’m going to kick sand in your face.”
“Ugh, it’s in my mouth!”
Trixie shrugged. “We’re in a desert. Sand is everywhere, so get used to it.” She watched the changeling bare teeth at her, but Trixie only motioned her hoof casually to the little pile of sand ready to be kicked.
“Alright, alright!” the changeling finally shouted. “Truce! Just please stop with the sand!” The pony-like insect stood up and wiped the sand off her face. She flapped her iridescent wings, but the left wing was painfully weak and slightly bent. It would heal, but the changeling growled that she could not fly for the time being.
“Do you have a name?” Trixie asked as she checked one last barrel. “I mean, like an actual name? I assume ‘Daring Do’ was just a nom de plume you used.”
Trixie pulled out two edible potatoes from the barrel.
“Zeeps,” the changeling stated as she flicked a tiny, blue iridescent tail.
“Well then, Zeeps,” Trixie said as she packed the food into a small sack, “Welcome aboard Team Trixie!”
“Team what?” Zeeps asked with a confused look. “Hold on, you think I’m going to join up with a pony that I tried to kill twice and almost framed for murder?”
“True, you are quite an industrious little bug,” Trixie said.
“So what makes you think I’d follow you?” Zeeps interrogated. “For all I know, you’d just bash my head in with a rock during the night for revenge. I bet it wouldn’t even have to be a big rock.”
“First of all, that’s not my thing,” Trixie began. “I’ve almost killed twice in my lifetime and I don’t like it. Second, look around you. Everything that lives out here is made of fangs, claws, or needles. We’d have a better chance of survival working together. Third, I’m willing to bet both water canteens that you were used just as much as I was by the Horizon Walkers. Even if you make it to civilization on your own, what are you going to do? Go back to the Walkers like their obedient little puppy?”
Zeeps snorted at the thought. “Alright, you have a point there, but why would you even trust me? That’s like wiping with a cactus, or playing with fire, or wiping with a playful cactus that’s on fire.”
Trixie tried not to think too hard on Zeeps’ very unusual comparison. Instead, she magically levitated a canteen to the changeling.
“I was once given the same bum deal as you,” Trixie said, “But despite my faults someone trusted me with a second chance and that turned my life around. Maybe you can turn around yours if I give you the same courtesy.”
Zeeps gave Trixie a long hard stare before she snatched the water canteen. “Fine, I’ll tag along, but remember that I’m a changeling first and foremost. Don’t expect me to buy into your dumb pony ideals about how the elements of magic are friendships or such nonsense.”
“Elements of the what now?” Trixie asked.
Zeeps threw a dismissive wave at Trixie. “Never mind,” the changeling said.
The unicorn dug Zeeps’ pith helmet out of the sand. “Anyway, we should get going,” Trixie stated. She gently tossed the hat to the changeling.
“You may want to put on something a little brighter, though. Black is going to kill you in this heat.”
Zeeps concentrated her magic through the bent horn on top of her head. The familiar flash of green light covered her body for a moment and then she was once again disguised as Daring Do, complete with a buttoned olive shirt. She put on the pith helmet and followed Trixie on a northeasterly path.
“Holding this disguise all day is going to be tiring,” Zeeps remarked gloomily.
“Really?” Trixie said with a curious pitch. “So is it like magical concentration or physical muscle exertion? Oh, and do you eat food?”
Zeeps was lost by the sudden barrage of questions. “Huh?”
“Food,” Trixie restated. “Do you eat food? I know you changelings feed off positive emotions like love, but all we have to eat are three apples and a couple of potatoes.”
Zeeps flicked the little ear-like flippers on the sides of her head. “I guess I could,” she responded hesitantly. “It probably won’t be very palatable. Roc let me feed off a random saloon drunk once in a while when I was serving the Walkers. Drunks are a bit foul, sure, but I took what I can get.”
“Sounds delightful,” Trixie commented dryly. “I guess I’ll have to think about getting around that.”
“Like what, starve? I can’t help who I am,” Zeeps argued.
“No, I suppose you can’t,” Trixie mused aloud. She thought about all the information she read on changelings, but that amounted to two legends on their origins and their ability to feed off emotional energy. It occurred to Trixie that pony-kind knew nothing about them otherwise. Did changelings even have concepts like gender, art, or parenting? This was an opportunity to know one better and Trixie resolved to take it by the horn, so to speak.
It certainly had story potential for her next novel at least.
“What’s transforming like?” Trixie asked out of the blue. “Is it like holding a pose?”
Zeeps wasn’t sure how to explain something that was second nature to her. “Uh, it’s like magic, but on a physical level I guess? Like, it does take thought and energy to keep up so we have to rest and eat regularly or we lose our ability to change.”
Trixie nodded with an excited smile. She had the potential to be the most knowledgeable pony on changelings by week’s end. That idea just screamed ‘bestselling novel’ to her.
“So, are you a stallion or a mare?” Trixie asked pointedly.
Zeeps gave her a sharp look of annoyance. Trixie backed away from the changeling.
“It’s only a question,” Trixie added defensively. “I’m just curious to know you better.”
The changeling sighed. “It’s a rather pointless question when you can physically become either gender,” Zeeps explained, “But if you really want to label me, you can consider me a mare. Some of us adopt a gender identity when we live long enough within your society, but such practice is frowned upon by the hive.”
“Why is that?” Trixie inquired.
“We are all considered equal units under the queen,” Zeeps answered. “Our caste is strictly job based, whether it’s a soldier, a worker, or a drone. Foreign concepts like names and individuality endanger the hive’s unity so any changeling that becomes an individual is either banished or killed.”
Trixie nodded with understanding. “I take it you can’t go back home then, even if you wanted?”
“No, I’m not particularly fond of death,” Zeeps said sadly. “Giving up my sense of self might be too hard anyway.” She glanced up at the drifting clouds that had momentarily hid the sun.
“So what’s your story?” Zeeps then countered.
Trixie smiled as she recalled her childhood. “I was born within a gypsy clan in the Broncks borough of Neigh York. My mother was a seamstress, but her true talent was in dance. I never knew who my father was, but mother always said that I was his gift to her for that one special night they shared. She always seemed to talk about him as if he was still around…”
~ ~ ~
The sun hung low in the late afternoon. Although it no longer shone with the same intensity it did earlier, the two travelers now had to contend with the heat radiating back off the sand they walked on. The illusion magic on Trixie’s cape faded, evident as the purple hue slowly returned.
Zeeps found it difficult to maintain her disguise due to the fatigue from the march back towards San Anponio and the severe hunger for emotional food. Feeding on Trixie would have left Zeeps stranded alone, although the changeling questioned if she could even overpower Trixie to feed on her anyway.
The azure unicorn tried to give Zeeps a potato earlier, but the changeling’s stomach had wretched it almost as soon as she took a few bites. This made her stomach too sour to try anything else and thus Zeeps was starved for any kind of sustenance.
Changelings couldn’t handle potatoes, who knew?
The two limped into a farming community that was only a few miles from the city. Trixie decided to stop and try to buy some food. She led the ill changeling over the nearest house and knocked firmly on the door. A large brown stallion answered, but he had the look of annoyance upon his face.
“Yeah?” the stallion asked with apprehension.
“Good afternoon, sir,” Trixie said politely. “We are weary travelers in need of food. I am willing to pay you for some produce if you would be so kind to share it with us?” Trixie showed her goodwill by producing five coins from a saddle-belt pouch.
The stallion swiped the five coins and stepped back into the house, but he returned with a bundle of carrots, peanuts, and sweet potatoes. He dropped the bundle on the steps in front of Trixie and then closed the door without a word.
“Friendly folks here,” Trixie commented.
She packed the food into a sack and then helped Zeeps over toward one of the barns. The two sat down inside to look over their purchase. Trixie held up what was given to see if Zeeps found anything appetizing.
“Try a peanut, they’re pretty good,” Trixie offered.
Zeeps managed to nibble one, but just didn’t have the stomach for anything. She leaned back against a bale of hay with despair.
Trixie sighed and looked around the farm as she rubbed her sore legs. She saw a group of foals playing tag together by the cornfield and got an idea. The idea wasn’t a very pleasant one, but Trixie didn’t want to let Zeeps pass out. If the changeling returned to her true form, well then they both would have been answering to paranoid farmers who had access to torches and pitchforks.
“Come on, I’m going to need an assistant,” Trixie said, picking Zeeps back up.
Trixie carried Zeeps over to the children. They immediately recognized Zeeps’ disguise as Daring Do and rushed her joyfully. Trixie stood by and addressed them with her show-mare facade.
“Gather around, little hayseeds!” Trixie said happily. “Sit here and be amazed at the duo of The Great and Powerful Trixie and Daring Do! We will entertain you all with a few feats of magic!” Trixie began her show with a few simple tricks. She pulled coins from behind the ears of a few foals and made an apple disappear.
The children were delighted at Trixie’s display and cheered her on for more. The unicorn noticed that Zeeps had become more awake as the show continued. Trixie decided to involve her with the next trick.
“Now then, my little admirers,” Trixie began, “For the next trick, Daring Do will jump through a hoop of raging fire!” Trixie took out Zeeps’ whip which she had kept after their previous fight. She made a loop with the whip and then created the illusion of fire with her magical horn. The children all sat in awe of the realistic flames.
It was so convincing that even Zeeps took a step away.
“Uh, fire and I don’t get along,” Zeeps said with concern.
“Just do it, you wimp,” Trixie whispered back. “It’s magic.”
The children chanted for Daring Do to jump through the hoop. Zeeps took a few more steps back and then galloped towards Trixie. The changeling jumped awkwardly and Trixie had to move slightly so as not to ruin the trick, but Zeeps cleared the ring of fire before she stumbled to the floor. The colts and fillies all jumped up and cheered as they ran to hug who they perceived was Daring Do.
Trixie watched Zeeps regain her strength with the love of the children, but when the unicorn noticed that Zeeps’ eyes began to glow green and that many of the fillies and colts began to yawn from sudden exhaustion, Trixie concluded the show.
“Thank you all!” the unicorn said happily. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we must depart to San Anponio. You have been a wonderful audience!”
The children all gave a disappointing sigh, but wearily relented when Trixie pulled her partner away from the crowd. The two walked quickly back to the barn to pick up their belongings. As they stepped inside, Trixie magically levitated all the remaining food back into the sack and held it out for Zeeps to carry.
“Couldn’t I have just a little more?” Zeeps pleaded. “I haven’t tasted love like that since...” Zeeps’ voice trailed off, as if she had just recalled a shameful memory.
Trixie shoved the sack of food into Zeeps’ hooves. “Just be grateful I gave you that much,” Trixie replied. “I didn’t feel comfortable letting you harm little foals like that, but having an unconscious changeling on my hooves would be worse.”
Zeeps grumbled. “I’m not a vampire sucking out their blood,” she said. “They’ll just feel tired for a little while. Besides, they probably have an early bedtime anyway so I did their parents a favor.”
Trixie raised a hoof to Zeeps’ face for her counter-argument, but she was stopped by the distant noise of what sounded like a wooden fence splintering apart. Trixie slowly walked outside the barn and looked around for the source. She saw it to the west, just under the setting sun.
It looked like a large, shambling stallion made of clay that stood at least three heads taller than any stallion Trixie knew. The children ran back to their homes, frightened by this creature.
The unicorn stood there motionless in fearful awe. Zeeps stepped out of the barn to see what had stunned Trixie. The changeling swallowed hard.
“Is that another ‘pet’ of the Walkers?” Trixie asked the changeling.
“No, I’ve never seen it before,” Zeeps responded.
The clay creature pushed over a tool shed and then trampled it without concern. Several farmers called out warnings to their neighbors, but every pony still ran to hide. Trixie tightened her cape and retrieved her slingshot. As she marched with a slight limp toward the creature, Zeeps grabbed Trixie by the shoulder.
“Shouldn’t you be running for your life in the other direction?” Zeeps asked her.
“No,” Trixie said as she brushed off the changeling. “That creature is going to flatten these farms unless we do something to stop it.”
“Hold on,” Zeeps interrupted. “What do you mean ‘we’? You think an egotistical unicorn and a grounded changeling can take on a walking bulldozer? That’s a recipe for a massacre!”
Trixie handed Zeeps’ whip back. “Then let’s get cooking!” the unicorn stated bravely as she charged into battle.
“I meant our massacre!” Zeeps shouted before she hobbled in pursuit.
Trixie approached the clay stallion with her weapon drawn. The reddish creature appeared not to notice her as he gazed down at a wagon full of potatoes. The unicorn pulled back an iron sphere in her slingshot and fired it at the creature’s chest. The bullet struck true and pierced a shallow hole into the soft, clay skin.
The stallion snapped out of his daze with the delivered jolt of pain. He stared at Trixie angrily with small, beady yellow eyes.
“Prepare to be vanquished!” the unicorn stated loudly.
The creature responded with a powerful swat of a foreleg. Trixie tumbled backwards through the dirt. The small hole her bullet left mended itself quickly.
The clay stallion reared up to trample Trixie, but Zeeps arrived and cracked her whip at the creature’s backside. The changeling gulped fearfully as the clay creature turned around to stare down at her.
“Uh, Trixie,” Zeeps said hesitantly, “I got its attention. What’s the next step?”
Trixie sprang up from the ground and fired another bullet. This time she struck one of his forelegs. The clay stallion wobbled and fell painfully to a kneeling position. Trixie rushed forward and kicked the stallion in the ribs, but her hooves met a soft and sticky clay mass.
“Insolent bug!” the clay stallion growled.
“Wrong pony,” Trixie corrected. “You’ll want the pegasus over there.”
The stallion kicked Trixie back and sent her airborne for a dozen feet. Trixie hit the ground and tumbled into a water pump. He then turned his attention back to Zeeps who backed away slowly. The changeling cracked her whip at the stallion in an attempt to keep him away.
“Trixie, use that lightning attack you copied from Golden!” Zeeps pleaded.
The azure unicorn sat up and rubbed her aching head. “I don’t know how I did that!” she explained.
“Then how do we beat this thing?” Zeeps asked nervously. “It’s like fighting a rock.”
“I don’t know, appeal to its sense of morals?”
Zeeps jumped back as the stallion stomped the ground where she was standing. “It’s a clay monster trying to kill us,” Zeeps said. “I don’t think it has any morals!”
Trixie grabbed the pump’s rusty handle and pumped out a stream of water. She caught the falling water with her levitation magic and formed a ball with about half a gallon of liquid.
“Hey you, dough for brains!” Trixie taunted. She magically launched the sphere of water at the creature with all her might.
The stallion turned his head and took a face full of cold water. He clutched his face as the clay bubbled and partly melted. The creature gave a wailing cry that roared loud enough to scare away the tumble weeds. Zeeps was close enough to hear a snap-crackle sound bubble from the creature’s soggy face.
“Is it made out of a breakfast cereal?” Zeeps asked.
“I don’t know,” Trixie commented. “I didn’t expect that to happen.”
Zeeps quickly staggered over to the unicorn’s side. Trixie unleashed a blast of magical fireworks at the creature from her horn, but the spell fizzled to a dull smoke cloud upon contact with the clay stallion.
His attention focused on the unicorn and with the water’s burning effect done, the creature prepared to charge with all the fury that the two mares had invoked.
“Quick, pump more water!” Trixie instructed.
Zeeps pulled hard on the rusted handle. The fatigued metal bar snapped off from the pump and sat uselessly in the changeling’s hoof.
“Ah dung droppings,” Zeeps cursed softly.
“Seriously?” Trixie questioned the changeling. “Was this fight not challenging enough for you?”
Zeeps only shrugged sheepishly at the unicorn. The clay stallion charged in their direction and the two mares jumped out of his path. The heavy clay hooves of the stallion rumbled across the ground as it raced by, but the rumbling did not stop when the creature halted in his tracks.
A stampede of bison burst through the corn fields and drove straight at the creature. Trixie and Zeeps scrambled to get out of the way of the trampling herd. The bison collided at high speed with the clay stallion and drove him back across the dirt ground. The clay stallion’s body cracked painfully from the blow of horns. He quickly turned and fled through the tall corn field before further harm could come to him.
As the monster galloped away through the desert it angrily howled back at the bison.
With the creature on the run, Trixie waved her hat in gratitude. “Thank you, bison!”
The unicorn’s cheer was cut short when the bison surrounded her and Zeeps. The two mares stood back to back as the bison slowly closed in on them.
“I take it you don’t make many friends around these parts?” Zeeps asked Trixie.
“No, not usually,” the Unicorn replied.
“You both will be held responsible for Gung’s release!” the chief bison stated accusingly in a deep resonating tone.
“Gung? Oh, you mean that oversized clay pigeon we just tangled with?” Trixie asked. “That makes sense. I mean, that the creature is Gung. We didn’t release it, although I tend to get blamed a lot for crimes I don’t commit. Do bison have prisons?”
“Silence!” the chief commanded.
The bison slammed Trixie and Zeeps to the ground. The blow was particularly hard on the changeling and she lost control of her form. In a flash of green light Zeeps’ true identity was revealed. The bison collectively let out a gasp of surprise.
“A shifter!” cried one of the bison warriors.
Trixie saw several bison raise a hoof to crush Zeeps’ head in, but she threw herself over the changeling protectively. “No!” Trixie yelled out firmly. “This one is with me!”
“Yeah, I’m with her,” Zeeps added fearfully.
“Unicorn, you best step away from that shifter demon,” the chief said firmly.
“That’s not going to happen,” Trixie rebutted angrily, “And for your information, we do have names. I am Trixie Lulamoon and she is called Zeeps.”
“What happened to ‘great and powerful’?” Zeeps whispered curiously.
“Not now!” Trixie snapped back.
The bison chief leaned in closer to Trixie. “Why do you defend this wretched shifter?” he asked her with a look of disdain for the changeling. “These shifter demons treat love as food and know nothing of true emotions.”
“Not true, I know fear,” Zeeps corrected meekly.
Trixie resolutely stood her ground. “Yeah, maybe changelings are monsters that feed on our love,” she stated, “But, I have offered my friendship to this one and she willingly accepted it. Zeeps helped me out when Gung rampaged through here and if that isn’t an act of friendship, then we’re all just emotionless monsters.”
The chief didn’t reply, he only stood there and looked deep into Trixie’s eyes. He studied those small, purple irises and was able to tell that the unicorn spoke the truth.
“Also,” Trixie said in a softer tone, “Zeeps was manipulated by the true culprits. They’re called the Horizon Walkers, and they used the gem from this thing to release Gung.” Trixie pulled out the sketches she had of the Lunar Wand. She lit her horn magically to shed light on the drawings.
The bison gathered around and they nodded knowingly at the sketches. The chief snorted at the drawings and then turned to Zeeps.
“Very well, as long as you are under the protection of this unicorn, my warriors will not harm you,” the chief said. “However, you would be wise to hide your true nature in the presence of our tribe.”
Zeeps quickly transformed back into her Daring Do disguise. She was then pushed closer to Trixie and the two mares were escorted away from the farms.
“Come, I wish to hear your side of the story,” the chief said.
~ ~ ~
“The king, with his final breath, then cursed the traitorous fairy ponies into hard shells of the blackest night, never again to be touched by the warmth of love!” Trixie said with an eerie voice. She produced a green flash of magical fire from her hoof.
The bison children recoiled fearfully, but the older males looked on with genuine amusement at the unicorn’s performance.
Zeeps sat nearby as Trixie completed the pony legend of how changelings came to be. It was certainly… dark. Unfortunately, changelings didn’t have any epic tales regarding their own origins. Really, they had no tales at all. Creativity was stymied within the hive and changelings simply assumed that they evolved from a throwback branch of ancient ponies. It was a rather boring explanation, but it certainly painted changelings in a better light than ancient curses for betraying pony-kind.
Trixie sat down by Zeeps after she finished her storytelling. The bison of the Lunar Tribe, as they called themselves, treated the two mares fairly well as guests. It was a small nomadic tribe that was very traditional. Their tepees were hoof-woven from the vegetation they happen upon in their travels and their warriors were trained to use their own horns rather than accept more modern weapons.
Even the healing ointments rubbed on the two mares’ wounds were made entirely out of local plant ingredients.
However, Trixie wished they would at least adapt modern cooking methods. Not that the mare was ungrateful about the porridge they shared with her, but it tasted like it was seasoned with sand.
Well, they did live in a desert.
Chief Daybreaker was in his private tent with several warriors and shamans. They asked to study Trixie’s research on the Lunar Wand and had spent the last hour doing so in secrecy. While they did so, the azure unicorn was worried about the clay creature that still roamed the sand dunes out there. It was quite resilient to magic and very strong. A straight up fight here would not be won without several casualties. Then there was Golden who had flown off with a map that led to another of Grogar’s bells. The Horizon Walkers were close to acquiring the dangerous relic.
Trixie was now bothered with the time taken by the chief.
“Thanks for defending me back at the farm,” Zeeps whispered to Trixie.
The unicorn nodded. “You’re welcome, little hayseed,” she said. “How is your wing doing?”
Zeeps gently flapped her disguised wings. “It’s getting better. I’ll be buzzing in another day or so.”
“That’s good,” Trixie said.
“Yeah, but no hurry,” Zeeps commented. “I just want to rest for a bit, take in some of the bison’s interesting culture of stories and… whatever this stuff is that they eat.”
Trixie chuckled at the untouched bowl of porridge by Zeeps. The two mares watched several of the younger warriors start up a rain dance. The bison put a lot of passion into their dance, like dedicated artists with an epiphany and a blank canvas. Trixie leaned back against the rock she sat by and let out a gentle sigh.
“You’re enjoying the big aura of love around here, aren’t you?” Trixie asked.
“I only took a sip off two children,” Zeeps said defensively.
The chief’s tent opened and Daybreaker motioned for the two mares to enter. Trixie and Zeeps gave each other inquisitive glances before they followed the chief inside. Their nostrils were hit by the strong aroma of incense, accompanied by the slight sting of smoke in their eyes from an urn that sat in the center of the tent. The circle of bison around the urn shifted to let the mares sit among them.
“Now then, Moon Warrior and shifter demon,” Daybreaker began, “It is time you learned of what your Horizon Walkers have unleashed.”
“They’re no friends of mine,” Trixie responded.
“Why are they calling you Moon Warrior?” Zeeps asked the Unicorn.
Chief Daybreaker snorted. “That is what Lulamoon means in one of the ancient pony tongues. Bison and ponies share a common history many ages ago. I don’t expect a shifter demon to understand, but it is sad that pony-kind has forgotten the old ways.”
“You can call me a changeling,” an annoyed Zeeps stated. “I find it a lot less offensive than being called a demon, a bug, or a pony.”
“In the interest of speeding this along,” Trixie said politely, “Let’s stick to modernized names. Otherwise we’ll be explaining everything to Zeeps for a good two hours.”
“Very well,” the chief responded. “In a dark age long forgotten, Gung was a general for the demon known in the pony tongue as Grogar.”
“Surprise, surprise,” Trixie muttered in a slow, deadpan voice.
“After Grogar’s destruction,” Daybreaker continued, “Gung claimed one of Grogar’s magical bells with the intent of succeeding his master’s legacy. Our forefathers joined the old pony tribes and defeated Gung before his plans were realized. The ponies secretly buried the magical bell somewhere in the desert sands while the bison turned Gung into clay and buried him within the earth.”
Daybreaker leaned in closer to the mares. “My tribe is the last of the descendants that swore to ensure Gung’s tomb would never be opened. The curse upon Gung ensured he could not escape his seal alone, but it has also made him a powerful force that cannot be stopped by magic. Even the dark arts wielded by the Horizon Walkers are useless against him. We must battle him by our strength alone.”
“See, this is why I hate curses,” Trixie said. “They always create an unintended side effect such as undeath, madness, or immunity to an easy fix.”
“What is done is done,” Daybreaker stated. “Now we must prevent Gung from acquiring Grogar’s bell and gaining more power.”
“Mosaic said something at the tomb about finding that bell too,” Zeeps said inquisitively. “The Walkers aren’t starting a band, are they?”
“Not even close,” Trixie explained. “Each bell is a powerful relic that controls a basic element of magic. My friends and I destroyed one that controlled fire several months ago. There are others, but no one is sure how many bells still exist.”
Daybreaker nodded. “We also do not know what element this bell possesses either, but any magic in Gung’s hooves would be disastrous for both bison and pony-kind.”
“And to changelings, I imagine,” Zeeps quietly added.
“For now it appears Gung does not know the bell’s location,” Daybreaker said. “His movements seem almost random. However, the Horizon Walkers were determined to acquire something in Gung’s tomb. I do not know of anything there that would have helped them find Grogar’s bell. The old pony tribes erased all knowledge of the bell’s whereabouts.”
Trixie’s memories slapped her with an epiphany. “Not all knowledge! There was a metal lid the Walkers took from the tomb. I remember that underneath that lid there was map. What if that map led to the location of the bell?”
“How and why would the bison draw a map to the bell for Gung to follow?” a confused Zeeps asked. “They didn’t know where the bell was buried.”
“Maybe they didn’t,” Trixie countered, “But perhaps Gung still had loyal followers within the ranks of the ponies back then. All it takes is one loyalist to secretly draw the map before Gung was buried.”
“A betrayal that spans the ages,” Daybreaker said with a sad, ponderous expression. “If Gung knew of the old map, then he is searching for that lid now.” Daybreaker sat back, lost in thought.
“However, in life, Gung possessed a keen sense of direction to anything that touched the earth. If he still does, then why is his search random? Why can he not sense that map yet?”
Trixie and Zeeps knew the answer immediately. “Golden’s airship!” they shouted in unison.
The bison did not understand the statement from the two mares. Trixie rose to her hooves and pulled Zeeps up alongside her. The unicorn closed her eyes and recalled what the airship looked like. Her magic flowed out of her horn and conjured a small, ghostly replica of the red airship in Trixie’s left hoof.
“Chief Daybreaker, that lid was taken onboard this ship,” Trixie explained. “It flies through the air, so I assume that until it touches the ground, Gung cannot sense it?”
Chief Daybreaker nodded at the fair theory proposed.
“So if Gung is still wandering erratically,” Trixie continued, “Then the airship has not yet landed. However, once it does, Gung will make a straight gallop for the lid.”
“Debon and the Horizon Walkers are hiding in San Anponio,” Zeeps added. “That’ll be the airship’s logical destination.”
Chief Daybreaker stood up. “Then we must hurry to your city before Gung does! I will round up the warriors and we shall head out immediately.” He marched out of the tent, and behind him the other bison closely followed.
Zeeps gave Trixie a glance of grim seriousness before they followed the bison back outside. As they walked among the tribe, Zeeps whispered her concerns to Trixie.
“You know that the Walkers are going to outnumber us in a fight,” Zeeps said apprehensively.
“Yes, I expect that to be the case,” Trixie affirmed.
“And you know that a charging stampede of bison will cause the city to panic,” Zeeps continued. “We’ll have both the police and the royal guard coming down on us.”
“I’m sure we will.”
Zeeps frowned. “So what’s your plan? I highly doubt you have a magic spell under that hat of yours that’ll keep us from getting killed.”
“We don’t need magic,” Trixie said confidently. “I still have a few good tricks under my cape.”
“And that’ll help us how?” Zeeps asked.
Trixie thought for a moment before she responded with a whimsical voice. “The tenth rule for being great and powerful is that a sufficiently disguised trick is indistinguishable from magic.”
The changeling stopped in her tracks. “What in the queen’s name is that supposed to mean?”