The highwayman's camp was swiftly packed up,saddlebags and saddles slipped on the horses. The Great and Powerful Trixie was largely ignored for a full fifteen seconds. She grabbed the opportunity with both hooves.
First, her magic went to the hobble on her rear legs. It took five seconds to untie that. Then the rein, which was tied to a nearby tree. That took another three seconds to untie. Removing the bridle would take longer, simply because she couldn't get a good look at something so close to her own face – for the moment, she simply looped the rein over her own back, to prevent it from dragging and getting caught (another two seconds). Three careful, quiet steps backwards -
“Hey, it's loose!”
- and then Trixie was spotted. She reared up on her hind legs, whinnied, and threw a smoke-cloud enchantment at the ground.
By the time the smoke had dissipated, Trixie was halfway to the horizon and still accelerating.
“After it! It's getting away!”
* * *
“Faran is not a slave.” insisted the black-armoured Knight.
“Um...” said Fluttershy.
“He looks like a slave.” replied Dash. “Why would anyone possible choose to have something like that stuck in their mouth?”
Sparhawk considered this for a while. How exactly does one describe the process of breaking a horse to saddle and bridle without it looking very bad to a race of sentient ponies?
“Um... could you...” said Fluttershy, quietly.
“And you stink.” continued Dash, backing away slightly and holding her nose with one hoof. “I mean, seriously, I don't see why we shouldn't -”
“Rainbow Dash!” interrupted Rarity, grabbing Dash's tail in her magic and pulling her friend away from the knight. “No matter what else we might think of him, this... creature... is a guest in Ponyville. Possibly in all of Equestria. And we do not treat guests in such a manner! No matter how unfashionable their wardrobes.”
“That's right!” agreed Fluttershy. “And also...”
“Can we give him a 'Welcome To Equestria' party then?” asked Pinkie. “Can we can we can we? I'm sure he'll be much nicer after a few games of Pin-the-tail-on-the-pony!”
“That might be a good idea, but...” began Fluttershy.
“I still say we kick him out and free his slave before he brings an army of his friends and enslaves us all.” suggested Rainbow Dash.
“Everypony BE QUIET!” shouted Twilight.
A sudden hush fell.
“Fluttershy.” said Twilight. “You were trying to say something?”
“Oh, um, it's – it's probably not all that important, really...” muttered Fluttershy, as every nearby eye turned to look at the yellow pegasus.
“I would like to hear it, please, Fluttershy.” said Twilight, firmly.
“Well, um, it's just that, well...” Fluttershy took a deep breath, shut her eyes, and tried not to think of the number of ponies all looking at her at once. “It's-just-that-we've-got-to-keep-in-mind-that-Discord-opened-this-portal-and-I-know-he's-reformed-now-but-he's-still-a-spirit-of-chaos-and-disharmony-so-we-really-shouldn't-jump-to-conclusions-too-quickly!” she said, all in one long breath.
There was another brief silence. Fluttershy muttered “eep” and hid behind her mane.
“Thank you, Fluttershy.” said Twilight. “That was a very important point. Now, what we have here, is two separate nations, with a portal between them. Neither of us, knows very much about the other. Therefore, I would like to propose that each nation send a small group of, let us say, no more than half a dozen – no, wait – make that seven people, to be given a brief tour of the other's nation. Then we can observe each other's cultures, and thus try to avoid misunderstandings in the near future. What does everypony think?”
“That sounds like an absolutely wonderful idea, darling.” said Rarity.
“I'd need to sort out a few security arrangements,” said Sparhawk, “but we could give a small group a tour in about two hours, if you like.”
“I think it's the right thing to do.” said Fluttershy.
“We're going to meet LOTS of new people!” rejoiced Pinkie.
“I disagree.” said Rainbow Dash. “We should kick him back through the portal and then go and free the pony-slaves.”
“That could just be a big misunderstandin', sugercube.” suggested Applejack. “Ah think we gotta know the whole truth 'fore we start tryin' ta change things. An' this tour sounds like jus' the way ta do that. Ah'm in.”
“Alright.” said Twilight, with a nod. “Two hours, you say? Alright, girls, Spike, in two hours we'll go on a tour. Then we'll lead Sparhawk's delegation on a tour of Ponyville. Okay?”
“What about Krager?” asked Fluttershy. “We can't just leave the poor thing here, all alone.”
“Oh.” said Twilight. “Um. Well...”
“I don't suppose I could take a, um, cart or something, to another city?” asked Krager. “Somewhere far from this portal?”
“Well, if you really want to, I guess you could take the train to, let's say, Manehatten.” suggested Twilight. “It's a bigger city, and easier to get lost there...”
“Trust me,” said Krager, looking up at Sparhawk, “getting lost someplace far away from here is exactly what I want.”
* * *
“I'm lost.” said Trixie, glancing around the forest. The trees rustled and whispered in the wind, mixed with the singing of strange birds and the chittering of squirrels. It was dirty, dusty, absolutely full of plants with very sharp thorns, and the only bright side to the whole business was that the highwaymen, with their larger horses, had had a good deal more difficulty than Trixie had had navigating through it. She hadn't heard any sounds of pursuit for at least five minutes.
It wasn't the first time that Trixie had been lost in a forest, with nothing to her name. But it still wasn't a pleasant position to be in, especially as she still hadn't managed to divest herself of the bridle and bit. Trotting forward with a little more care now that the pursuit appeared to have been abandoned, Trixie continued to head downhill, arriving in short order at a river.
Better yet, the river had a small pool off to one side. With a cry of joy, Trixie trotted to the edge of the pool, and carefully studied her reflection in the still waters.
Ah, Trixie sees! The buckle over there, just loosen it like so and...
Now that she cold see what she was doing, Trixie quickly removed the bridle and spat out the hated bit. And as soon as she had that off her head, she decided to slip into the invitingly cool waters and wash off the sweat and dirt that she'd accumulated over the past several hours. The cool water rippled as she slid into it, and a certain amount of splashing and croaking at the other end of the pond suggested that a family of frogs was in residence. Trixie strolled deeper into the water, until only her neck and head were above the surface, luxuriating in the feeling of cleanliness.
Of course, it was at this point, when she was furthest from the shore, that she heard the sound of pursuit once more; the crashing of a large horse through the forest, accompanied by muttered words in the unknown language of the highwaymen.
It was immediately clear that Trixie would be unable to leave the lake before the pursuer was in sight. Grabbing a quick lungful of air, therefore, she ducked below the surface, and waited for the highwaymen to pass.
There was a terrible crashing and thudding as several horses charged past at top speed. Trixie waited a moment to be sure that they were out of sight, and was about to re-surface for some air when she heard another sound – the squelch of someone stepping in the mud of the riverbank. It seemed that at least one of them had stopped. But why?
There was a jingle of buckles as the highwayman picked up Trixie's discarded bridle.