//------------------------------// // Trixie Discovers a Plot to Kidnap the Princess // Story: Chasing Winter // by Raging Mouse //------------------------------// Chapter Seven: Trixie Discovers a Plot to Kidnap the Princess Day 17 We’re at Pinewood Tower. Trixie has not felt like writing but Terra tells me it would do me good. The rimewolves appeared just as I was writing in my journal for day 14 and I forgot about it afterwards. Their attack was horrible and we were unprepared despite our best efforts. Thank Sun and Moon nopony was too seriously hurt. After we’d pulled ourselves together we continued travelling for almost eight hours, making it by far the longest day of travel we’ve had. The moon was past its highest point when we finally made camp and everypony was too tired to celebrate that we’d at last descended to the glacier and were resting on a flat surface. We rested far into the afternoon the next day. Then Terra called everypony to a palaver. Trixie has never seen her so humble before. ****** “When I assembled this expedition I gave each of you my word that, while this venture would be risky, the risks were manageable.” Terra winced as she paced back and forth in front of the sitting crowd. “There are ponies with fresh scars in the audience. Scars that call me a liar and a fool. And while I’d like to tell you that isn’t so I cannot escape my responsibility. Your safety was in my hooves and when it mattered they lost their grasp.” She sat down facing the crowd, her face drawn and eyes darting between onlookers. “In the interest of full disclosure: I did not anticipate our encounter with the rimewolves. I did not expect them to reform under our hooves. The first because they have so far only been seen during the winter months when this place is much colder than it is now. The second because... well... we’re the first to have battled with them and lived to tell about it.” High Life’s angry voice interrupted her. “That’s bull, Terra. What about the army? You said you’d lead expeditions here three times before and you can’t be the only one! Did you just never encounter them or did the military run away every time?” Terra simply nodded. “Yes. We ran. Standing orders are to avoid the rimewolves. A mountain-trained pegasus or a unicorn with a good magic reserve and a teleport spell would lure the pack away from us, lose them and return to us via a long and winding detour. You, my little ponies, have more combat experience against rimewolves than anypony else in Equestria alive today. And the fact that you have it means that I have failed your trust.” Crystal’s voice was raised. “But you didn’t expect the wolves. How could you have prepared for what you didn’t expect?” “Naturally I can’t prepare for every eventuality except by not launching the expedition in the first place. That doesn’t change the fact that I shouldn’t have trusted the wolves not to show up when I didn’t expect them, considering why we’re here. I misjudged the risks and you paid the price.” Trixie turned and looked over her shoulder at the crowd behind her. The crystalline were looking at each other with confusion and whispering among themselves. She raised her voice. “Terra, haven’t the crystal ponies been told why we’re here?” “They haven’t, because it wasn’t necessary. I’m actually impressed that none of you have told them. I wouldn’t have minded much. I’ll recap in a moment anyway. You see it’s now obvious that there are flaws in the preparation for this expedition. As such I must change my estimate of the risks.” She held up her front hooves in front of her. “Don’t rush to conclusions though. I still think we can do this. The moment I don’t is when we’d head back. But I feel it is only fair to let you yourselves have a say on the matter since the situation has changed. I am going to arrange a vote, weighted by our share of the reward money and with myself abstaining, about whether we should continue or not.” Terra paused for a short while as murmurs ran through the crowd. “The voting will take place once we reach Pinewood Tower, about two days from now. There are emergency communication crystals there, left by earlier expeditions, for just such an eventuality as this. If you decide by majority share that we should abandon the expedition then we’ll use the crystals to call for help.” “Anyway, volunteers of the Crystal Guard, I will now explain what we’re out here for. You see, a windigo appeared in Equestria...” ****** They took it about as well as could be expected. For obvious reasons the Crystal Ponies’ memories of the fall of the Old Kingdoms are a thousand years fresher and they were very troubled when they heard a windigo had been spotted in the middle of Equestria. Lunch that day was tense with much conversation and whispering. Trixie wandered around the camp and talked to everypony who let her in order to get a feel for the mood. Of the main expeditionary members Crystal and Broth were the most vocal opponents to continuing. High Life expressed his support by arguing heatedly with them with even less than his usual tact. Visi wouldn’t comment. The crystalline are surprisingly evenly split considering how inexperienced and sheltered they’ve been. It may be that some of them don’t fully realise the dangers involved even after the rimewolves but Trixie must hasten to explain that she didn’t get that impression at all from when she talked with most of them. Especially those who were wounded and their closest friends feel that they have invested too much of their own energy and emotions into the expedition to now just give up. They have suffered for our cause and in doing so have become convinced of its necessity. It’s a coping mechanism of course. But The Great and Powerful Trixie agrees. We’ve come too far to turn back now. We need to find and capture that windigo. The rest of that day was spent travelling, as was yesterday. We quickly reached the edge of the crystal mountains and the glacier opened up in front of us. So flat! There’s nothing but low banks of snow, all in parallel due to the constant wind. Terra explained that there is a permanent cyclone above the Crystal Glacier, spinning clockwise. During the winter months it picks up speed and becomes a raging hurricane but right now it is merely an ever-present caress of glittering ice on our faces as we walk against it. The air is very hazy at ground level as it is full of ice crystals. The ground, though not ice, is still very solid and easy to cross despite the drifts of snow. We could see the tower yesterday already but we didn’t reach it until today by lunchtime. It is massive. I’ve never before seen slabs of stone of this size. The masons of the Old Kingdoms would be considered grand masters of their craft in modern Equestria as far as Trixie can judge. It rests just above the glacier ice. The stump of some kind of ruin extends down to the very edge but whatever that building was the glacier has erased it long ago. Perhaps the most eerie detail are the perfectly preserved banners. They are coated by a thick layer of ice but you can still make out their design. We’re still in Earthen territory so they show the planted fields and sunflowers of that nation. Earthen watchtowers are low with only two stories but they are incredibly sturdy. Even the roof is mostly intact after all these years. Earlier expeditions have done repairs and maintenance and Terra expects us to carry on the tradition. Before any of that there was the matter of the vote. A tally of hooves showed almost half of the shares voting for continuing and a quarter against, the rest abstaining. After that, by Terra’s request, The Great and Powerful Trixie put on a very special retelling of the Hearths’ Warming tale. She even included the tale of the Crystal Empire, how some remnants of Unicornia’s nobility emigrated there with a certain Duke Sombra Cobaltvein among them. This was met with mixed appreciation though overall positively. High Life especially appreciated Trixie’s effort to mention one of the Bluebloods’ earliest notable figures. Terra gave me a light talking-to but even she seemed amused. ****** Trixie laid down her journal next to her bed. To have an actual bed again was unbelievably luxurious even if the spring mattress was so worn out that she’d automatically roll onto her back as soon as she lay down in it. Torches fluttered from the constant draft and the wind outside moaned through cracks and holes but after two weeks in a tent it was the closest thing to paradise. Even the four different sources of snoring she currently heard failed to detract from the lovely feeling. She crept in under the heap of blankets and tried to fight the mattress into accepting her attempt to lie on her side but springs poked at her until she surrendered. She closed her eyes and tried to shut out the world but it kept intruding upon her consciousness and her thoughts just wouldn’t keep still. She was too excited. She opened her eyes, sighed and threw the blankets off her. Sitting up made one of the mattress springs tug painfully at her where it had become tangled in her coat. It snapped loose with a twang, making her wince. The interior of the two-story tower consisted of one room per floor. Arched pillars supported the roof. Unless every sign of decoration had since withered away the place had been coldly utilitarian long before it became merely cold. Three-storey bunk beds lined one section of the circular wall while another, under the stairs up to the second floor, held the line of single beds that included Trixie’s. The bedframes were cast iron and very old but not part of the original set of furniture. Altogether almost a hundred ponies could sleep reasonably comfortably in the tower. Some mumbling to the right of Trixie made her study the row of beds she was in. Terra was to her left followed by Broth. High Life should have been in the bed next to Trixie but it was empty. Visi’s bed came after that, the pegasus’ wings constantly shifting even in her sleep. Crystal’s bed was also empty. Trixie considered her options. She was too lively to remain where she was. Meeting High Life wasn’t appealing but there was always the chance that she’d find Crystal alone. The pegasus mare was still awkward to be around but some light conversation was certainly doable with her. She climbed carefully out of the bed while trying to make as little sound as possible. The high level of background noise helped but there were still a couple of audible sounds from the settling mattress. Then she stood still and considered where to look. Upstairs or outside? Upstairs was warmer but outside was more secluded thanks to the darkness. The wagons were outside too, of course, and since they’d been partially offloaded they had plenty of spaces to retreat to if you wanted to be alone. Outside it is. Trixie walked to the door and considered her next move. She opted for opening it as quickly as possible and dashing out. True to the nature of doors with old hinges everywhere it groaned but not as much or as long as if she’d tried to open it slowly. Shutting it quickly without slamming it was another difficult but moderately successful task. She turned away from the door and looked out over the glacier. The moon hung above, throwing its silvery light onto the haze of ice and making it glow. From Trixie’s vantage point it looked like a sea of cloud moving past her, pulling at her sense of balance and giving her vertigo. She shook her head and looked towards the wagons. Light spilled through the cracks on the walls of the second closest so she walked towards it. As she left the tower the wind gripped her mane but she didn’t feel more than a slight chill thanks to her by now very thick coat. Then, as she approached the wagon, she heard voices. High Life’s and Crystal’s. Cursing her luck she turned around. Then she stopped. What could the two be talking about? Curiosity made her turn back and approach the wagon again. She heard Crystal’s voice. She was almost hissing in agitation. “...Say that you’re all idiots.” High Life answered with a calm and neutral tone. “We’re not idiots, Crystal. If anything the fact that we did so well against the rimewolves proved that. We can take what this place dishes out and we can answer in kind.” “We were lucky, that’s all. We won’t be lucky all the time.” “We won’t need to. We know what we did wrong. Next time we’ll do even better.” “I don’t want there to be a next time! I don’t want to be here! I don’t want to see those wolves attack a pony and-and...” Crystal’s voice dissolved into a low whine interrupted by sobs. Trixie snuck up to the door of the wagon and peeked in. The interior was mostly empty except for a couple of small crates and a lit lamp hanging from a hook in the ceiling. Crystal was lying on the floor swept in a blanket, her expression one of tearful anguish. High Life sat beside her and was in the process of laying a foreleg over her back. He bent his head down to Crystal’s ear and made soothing noises while gently stroking her back through the blanket. Trixie narrowed her eyes. There was something predatory in High Life’s expression. Crystal calmed down gradually and her sobs lessened. High Life nuzzled her mane gently. Then he moved his mouth to her ear and murmured. “Let me make you feel better.” Then he nibbled on Crystal’s ear. Crystal reacted by yanking her head sideways, freeing her ear. High Life froze with his mouth open and his eyebrows raised in confusion. Then Crystal started laughing. High Life just stared at her as her laughter grew until tears were once again rolling down her cheeks. Then she extracted a hoof from under her blanket and shoved him away forcefully enough to make his back hit the wall. “Only somepony like you, High Life! Only somepony with their head stuck as far up their noble ass as you could ever think taking advantage of a hurting mare was a good deed!” High Life’s eyes blazed and his mouth was pulled into a frown. “Hey! I’m offering comfort here! I could dry those tears for you and make you forget the ice and snow and this is how you thank me?” Crystal shrieked with laughter. She was on the floor on her back, squirming and hooting from mirth. Then she waved a leg vaguely in High Life’s direction. “You honestly think you’re doing me a service? You’re simply unreal. Nopony can be that full of himself! It just isn’t possible!” Then she dissolved into laughter again, rolling onto her stomach. High Life’s face twisted into a furious grimace. He leaped to stand over Crystal, gripped her mane with his mouth and yanked back. Crystal squealed from the pain. Then he let go and pressed his snout against her neck. “I’ll teach you to mock my favours ever again you nag!” Trixie prepared to tug open the door to the wagon with her magic and intervene but the magic died in her horn as she watched Crystal twist around beneath High Life, letting her buck him in the groin so hard he flipped over her head and landed on his back in front of her. If not for the fact that the landing had forced all the air out of his lungs he’d probably have screamed from the pain. Instead he merely curled up and emitted small croaking sounds as his eyes threatened to leave his face and his mouth formed a perfect ‘O’. Trixie stifled her own laughter and kept observing. Crystal watched impassively as High Life gained control of his lungs and picked himself up from the floor. When he had managed to stand he turned his head to stare at her with malice. Then he spoke, his voice hoarse. “You wanted away from here? You got your wish. I’ll use the crystal and they’ll drag you from here in chains. Unprovoked assault on a noble? It’ll be fun destroying you in court you bitch.” Then he bolted for the door, surprising Trixie. He almost didn’t notice her in his rush to leave but when he did he stopped. Trixie set her face to neutral and raised her eyebrow. “What is going on here?” “Trixie, I need your healing magic right now. That crazy mare attacked me!” Trixie frowned with concern and sympathy. “Oh dear! Show Trixie where it hurts!” High Life tried to indicate with a hoof but in the end he chose to turn around and raise his back as high as he could. “Hurry! It hurts like Tartarus!” Trixie inspected the damage. The strike hadn’t landed perfectly and the bruising and swelling was one-sided. “Hm, yes. Trixie sees the problem. Shall The Great and Powerful Trixie deliver a diagnosis and remedy?” “Yes! Hurry!” Trixie nodded imperiously and glanced at Crystal, who was peeking out the door and frowning at her, before declaring her verdict. “Diagnosis: painful case of rectocerebellum nobilis. Remedy: evening out the pain, preventing reoccurrence.” Then she carefully aimed a kick at the so far unaffected side of his groin. When High Life’s shouting and retching died down she put a foreleg on his back to immobilize him before leaning down and speaking softly into his ear. “Trixie shall say this once and only once. You won’t be able to prove anything to a court but Trixie is more than prepared to witness on Crystal’s behalf. The Merciful and Just Trixie shall, as a gesture of goodwill, heal your precious family jewels but can’t do anything about the pain or your stupidity. Trixie suggests sitting in the snow to cool them down. While doing so you could try thinking with the head on top of your shoulders for a change. It might be difficult at first but practice makes perfect.” She fired magic through her horn and healed the bruising. Then she removed her leg from High Life’s back and stepped away. High Life rose unsteadily to his feet and looked back at Trixie and Crystal. He spat. “You’ll pay for this!” Then he staggered away. Once High Life was out of sight Trixie turned and studied Crystal closely. The pegasus’ mane was a mess. It was very uneven and tufts of it stuck out in random directions. Trixie frowned. “Did he do that to your mane?” Crystal’s expression became one of confusion.“Huh?” Then she seemed to realise what Trixie was referring to. “Oh! No...” She blushed and drew a shuddering breath. “...I was trying to cut my mane when he came to talk.” She pointed her hoof to a pair of scissors lying discarded in a corner of the wagon. “Trixie could help with that if you want to.” Crystal’s face become an irritated frown and for a moment Trixie expected her to say no but then the pegasus sighed heavily and nodded somberly. “...Yes, please.” She backed away from the door before turning around. Then she walked to the back of the wagon and lay down. Trixie climbed up into the wagon and closed the door behind her. She picked up the scissors in her magic and sat on her haunches at Crystal’s side. “Trixie is a mare of many talents – hairdressing included! Let’s keep it simple though. Does a straight cut sound good?” Crystal nodded. “Yeah, just shorten it to an even length please.” “Coming up!” Trixie set to work. She used her magic to make patches Crystal’s mane stand straight out, making them easy to cut to the same length. She worked in silence, letting Crystal decide if she wanted to talk. The silence lasted only a few minutes. “So... How much did you see?” Trixie made a couple of cuts while working out how to answer. “Trixie saw enough. Trixie saw that you are very afraid and that High Life tried to take advantage of that.” “Trixie?” “Yes?” “Could you please stop referring to yourself in third person?” Trixie chuckled lightly. “I’ll try. It’s a hard habit to break. It’s part of my showmare’s persona, you see.” “You mean to say you’re acting as somepony else so often that you don’t know how to stop?” “It’s not that simple. It’s all me in the end. But I will try my best if I get a favour in return.” There was distrust in Crystal’s voice when she answered. “Oh? What do you want?” “Well, I have this impression that you didn’t like me even before we’d met and that it’s because I’m a noble. If you didn’t like nobles after tonight I’d understand perfectly but what have they done to you? Out of all the possibilities, I mean. I’ve seen enough. I’m noble by birth, not by choice. I hate them personally. So tell me, Crystal. What made you dislike Bellatrix Lulamoon at first glance?” “In spite of your wonderful personality, you mean?” Trixie had been around Crystal enough to recognize when the mare’s sarcasm was friendly. She grinned and snipped hair for a moment as she thought of a retort. “I was unaware that my personality was so powerful that it preceded my arrival into a room. Huh. I’ll have to add that to The Great and Powerful Trixie’s long list of amazing feats.” Crystal tried but failed to hold back the snicker. There was a pause during which only the snips of the scissor were heard. “...Yeah, you’re right. I’ve got a bias against nobles.” “I wouldn’t say you’re biased as much as observant but I may be biased.” “Ha. Anyways, it goes back to Princess Sparkle’s coronation.” “You were there?” Crystal sneezed away some loose hairs before answering. “No. I was in Las Pegasus working for a customer. But you know how the newspapers went all-out and put those huge photos in bad colour on their front pages?” “Yes, I do.” Trixie had scanned the headlines while stopping at a small town west of Manehattan. Colour was seldom used in newspapers, partly because the printing technique to get anywhere near the right shades for ponies’ manes and coats just didn’t exist yet. A smile slowly appeared on Crystal’s face as she thought back. “There aren’t that many all-purple pegasi or unicorns, you know. The very same day as the newspapers hit the stands ponies were approaching me and jokingly congratulating me on my crowning.” Crystal’s smile faded. “Then the cult following started. Twilight Sparkle had to be something pretty amazing to make two goddesses want to elevate her – and only her – to their own level of existence. You know all those stories about how the princesses, Celestia and Luna I mean, would walk disguised and incognito around Canterlot or some other city in order to gauge how normal ponies treated one another?” “Yes, I know several such stories. Most often they’re some kind of comedy of errors. The disguised princesses become recruited by a gang of thieves to plunder the castle or they get marriage proposals by their own unfaithful lovers. That kind of stuff. The crowds eat that stuff up like sugarcoated carrots.” “Yeah, it’s fun until you live through it constantly.” Now Crystal’s voice was bitter. “The ponies worst bitten by the royalist bug saw Princess Sparkle everywhere. It was insane how readily they’d dismiss the absence of a unicorn horn. Or royal guards, for that matter. They... they started plucking my feathers! And they weren’t the worst. The worst were the mothers.” Trixie realised she was listening so intently she’d stopped cutting Crystal’s mane. She cleared her throat and worked the scissors with her magic. “The mothers?” “Yes. They’d run up to me with sick foals on their back and begging, just begging for Princess Sparkle the miracle worker to heal their little ones. They’d crawl on their knees after me, crying in desperation. Sometimes their husbands were there too. The fathers would accost me, demanding to know why I was so cruel to them.” “I don’t get it. Ponies don’t bring their sick foals to Celestia or Luna do they?” “Celestia and Luna are goddesses but they aren’t the Princess of Magic. A unicorn such as yourself can easily mend wounds so surely the great Twilight Sparkle can do anything, up to and including bringing back loved ones from the dead?” The scissors halted and quivered for a moment in Trixie’s magic. “They didn’t.” “They did.” “Dear Moon and Sun above, that’s horrible! What did you do?” “I went to the royal guard. First I just wanted to learn a bit of self defence through their classes but even though that made me feel more confident it didn’t remove the problem. I couldn’t hit ponies for confusing me with somepony else, could I?” “Ah, so that’s how you knew how to do that thing you did to High Life?” “Heh, yep! Only good thing so far out of all this! Anyways, I changed tactic and asked the Guard if I could maybe have an escort or the like for a while. The officer I saw was some noblepony from a lesser house, I think their name was Ironhoof, and she promised she’d help me. Warning bells should’ve gone off in my head when instead of forwarding my complaint to her superiors she invited me to the family’s mansions to discuss the matter.” Trixie was finished with Crystal’s mane. “Do you want your tail cut as well? What happened?” “Yes, please. They imprisoned me and forced me to... enact... some very embarrassing scenes dressed as Princess Sparkle with a fake horn glued to my forehead. They took pictures with the intent of blackmailing the princess and then they locked me away.” “Let me guess: Twilight chased down the blackmailers and freed you?” “No, the photos were never used. The intention was to keep them for when the family really needed leverage. But my husband had reported me missing. My visit to the guards’ quarters was logged and, since that was the last time anypony had seen me, suspicion fell on the sergeant I’d spoken to. The family reacted by pumping me full of booze and drugs and then dumping me in the alley behind a sleazy bar. A reporter found me suspiciously quick. I went to the guard, of course. Accusing an officer of the law is pretty serious so the family mansion was searched and I was asked to show where I’d been kept.” Crystal shuddered. “The rooms didn’t even exist anymore. I suddenly had the appearance of a madmare and was dangerously close to going to jail for filing a false report. After some ‘kindness’ from the sergeant I’d accused I was thrown out onto the street with a restraining order telling me not to approach any member of the Ironhoof family without their express permission. That reporter that ‘found’ me published an article on how I’d tried to ruin the family’s reputation in order to gain attention. So yes, that’s when I started hating nobles and their power.” It occurred to Trixie that the information Crystal was telling could be extremely valuable in the right hooves and momentarily had the impulse to offer her assistance in taking care that it would be delivered to where it would do the most damage. Then she decided that even the sympathy she felt towards this mare wouldn’t make her take up the nobility’s tools of trade. She coughed. “Tr— um, I can see how you’d do that after such an experience. Did things get better after that?” The following silence made Trixie look up from the tail she was styling. Crystal’s ears lay flat against her head, which was pressed low against the floor of the wagon. There was a sob. “...No, it got worse. My... My husband... He was ecstatic to be back with me. We... we celebrated as married couples do. But... Oh, I know he meant well, but he should’ve realised. He should’ve realised! He told me... while we were lying in bed together... that I’d always be his princess. Then... then he gave me some clip-on hair extensions. Two pairs of different purple hues – one pair each for my mane and tail. So I’d have streaks just like her!” Trixie was stunned speechless for a moment and the scissors hung dormant in her magic. Here was a mare whose life had been ruined by Twilight Sparkle’s mere existence. “Wow. Just wow. I guess you really hate Princess Twilight as well?” Crystal shook her head. “I... wish I could. It’d be so easy. But she’s not to blame. She probably doesn’t know I exist. I just have the... misfortune... of looking like her.” “What happened?” “Well... I kind of lost it I guess. I went to live with a good friend of mine. Well I say ‘live’ but I was really hiding from the world. My friend really helped though. She helped improve my mood. She told me that Twilight had announced a tour around Equestria, coming to all the major cities. Once ponies in Las Pegasus would see her in person they wouldn’t be as likely to confuse the two of us. Our colouring is different after all.” “Well that’s good. When is that taking place?” Crystal drew a shuddering breath. “It’s not. It got cancelled for some reason. I started talking to my friend about moving to Saddle Arabia and applying my knowledge of thermals to their dry climate. One day she told me about this expedition. I didn’t ask how she’d heard about it but it sounded like a really good idea at the time.” She turned and her mournful eyes locked with Trixie’s. “Seeing ponies getting attacked by monsters put that into perspective real quick. I’m no hero! I don’t know what I’m doing here anymore.” This level of sympathy wasn’t something Trixie had experience with. She felt her eyes start to water. “I’m not trying to take advantage of you, Crystal.” Crystal raised an eyebrow. “What do you m—” Then Trixie was hugging her. “Oh that.” “Crystal, I really think we need to do what this expedition set out to do. But I promise: I’ll do what I can to keep you safe. And if you’d like I could help you afterwards! I’ve been to Ponyville where Princess Sparkle lives. If you went there then nopony would confuse the two of you! Well... not up close anyway.” Trixie felt a leg patting her mane. “Thank...” There was a huge yawn from Crystal. “...You. Could you finish my tail? I’m getting really tired.” Trixie blinked and remembered what she was supposed to be doing. “Sure!” She let go of Crystal and inspected the tail she was cutting. Truth be told it was pretty much done already. She gave it some additional snips to smooth out some minute imperfections before declaring it finished. When they opened the wagon door they saw Visi staring back at them. Crystal tilted her head questioningly. “What are you doing here?” Visi’s wings twitched and fluttered against her sides while she nodded towards the tower. “High Life barged in earlier shouting something about how you two had assaulted him. He practically overturned Terra’s bed in order to wake her. Then he demanded to use the emergency crystals. Terra just scoffed at him and told him that he’d probably deserved it, whatever the two of you had done. I came to see if you girls were okay.” Trixie rolled her eyes and glanced over at Crystal, who’d apparently done the same thing and was looking back at her. They shared a giggle. “We’re fine. Go to bed, Visi. We’re joining you.” The energetic pegasus sped ahead. Just walking didn’t seem possible to her. Trixie and Crystal walked side by side back towards the tower and it took a moment for Trixie to realise they were touching flanks. Friendship had bloomed. She grinned at this just as she realised that Crystal had asked something. “I’m sorry – I’m getting sleepy. What did you say?” “I was asking why you joined the expedition.” “Oh.” Trixie blushed and thought about what to say. Then her tired brain decided ‘to Tartarus with it all’. “I’ve got assassins on my tail.” “You’re joking.” “I swear to Moon and Sun it is the truth, Crystal.” Crystal laughed. “Must you always upstage everypony you meet?!”