"Trixie! Wait!" Darkness swallowed AJ once more.
Ah thought Ah had to pick the right archway or something. Why am I being made to move on? Ah still got things to say! This place don't make no sense!
Applejack could still remember what Twilight had said, even through the rising hurricane of emotion inside her. This was a place guided by thoughts. She would only be forced to move on if she or Trixie wanted it.
So which one of us is the one tryin' to run away? Or is it both of us? She... she said that she... but Ah...
Applejack stumbled through the blackness, reaching out for where the two Trixie's were standing moments earlier. Nothing. Nothing but a crunching beneath her hooves.
Pine needles, fallen twigs, loam and bracken.
As the light slowly rose Applejack found herself in a forest. Looming trees surrounding her, blocking out the sky. Under the leafy roof it was hard to tell whether it was day or night.
It's day! It's snowin' outside. Ah'm sitting in Twilight's library. Don't forgetwhy yer here. Enough distractions!
It took Applejack more than a minute to shake off her own feelings and focus on the task at hoof.
Twilight's prob'ly feelin' the strain of keepin' that spell goin' this long... Ah gotta keep movin'. We'll sort all this out once we're done. We'll... we'll have a nice long chat... jus' can't have any more distractions. Stay focused.
Applejack suddenly halted. The silence of the forest was broken by something other than her hooves crunching on the turf.
Somepony was weeping nearby. And it didn't sound quite like Trixie.
"Uh... hello?" she called out into the forest.
The sniffling was hastily silenced. A small azure unicorn filly wearing a comically oversized wizard hat and matching star spangled cloak reluctantly stepped out from behind a nearby tree.
"Trixie?" Applejack couldn't help but wonder who else she had honestly expected to find inside her friend's mind. This Trixie could not have been more than eight years old. She timidly withdrew as AJ approached, like a frightened animal.
"Hey, no need to be frightened of lil' ol' me, sugarcube," she treaded a touch more carefully and softened her voice. If this tiny Trixie ran she could vanish amongst these trees and undergrowth in an instant leaving AJ no closer to finding the fragment of the Amulet.
Trixie had a tendency to be a little foalish but this was ridiculous. Was this her inner foal? Applejack took a seat and waited for the filly to come to her. She'd always prided herself in her ability to deal with foals. After a few moments of hesitation the nervous unicorn filly drew closer of her own accord.
"Ah need to find mah way to the heart, Ah think. Do you know how Ah can get outta here?"
Tiny Trixie nodded, "Trixie knows the way," she sniffed and then blew her nose on her cape.
Despite her pretence that she needed to get this mission back on track Applejack had desperately wanted to talk to Trixie a bit longer. But she could hardly discuss her feelings with the mare in such a state.
Darn, if she isn't jus' the cutest lil filly though.
"Climb up on mah back, sugarcube, and we can go on together," Applejack dropped one knee, lowering her shoulder and offering it to Trixie, "Ah bet yer as keen to get outta this scary forest as Ah am."
"Trixie's not afraid of the forest!" there was actually a ring of truth to her denial this time, "Trixie loves forests!"
The filly seemed to have regained some of her courage and with a quick bout of kicking and scrabbling she'd climbed up and was seated between Applejack's broad shoulders, broad in comparison to Trixie's miniature form at least.
"Trixie used to play in the forest all the time back before..." the filly trailed off mid sentence.
"Before yer father passed away," whispered Applejack and the filly buried her face in Applejack's mane in response.
"We moved to the city after that... no more forests..." the filly mumbled into AJ's straw coloured hair.
Applejack knew that pain all too well. But while she had had a network of friends, close and extended family to cushion the blow of losing her parents Trixie had enjoyed no such relief. Nothing but bullies and abusers had awaited her.
"Trixie still sometimes puts pine needles under her pillow at night. This smell reminds her of home," the filly had rested her chin on top of AJ's head.
"Are we going the right way?" asked Applejack, every tree looked the same.
"We aren't going anywhere. We're in Twilight's library. It probably doesn't matter if we walk forward or hold still. Moving around isn't what brings us closer to the heart."
"Then what does?" Applejack halted once more.
"You've been moving closer this whole time. How did you do it the last two times?" Trixie sounded like she already knew the answer to that question.
Kind, open and honest.
Applejack paused for a moment in thought.
"Why... why were you cryin'? If yer not afraid of the forest..."
She could feel the filly trembling.
"The nightmares are close by. Trixie hates them. They got into the one place she thought she'd always be safe and now they won't leave no matter how many times she tells them to go. She needed somepony's help but Trixie told too many lies and now nopony believes her."
"Ah believe ya! And Ah'm gonna help ya too. "
"But you'll leave. The ponies Trixie cares about always leave. Or they make Trixie leave. If you knew how Trixie felt about you..." the filly was clinging to her tightly.
"Ah do! And Ah ain't going nowhere and neither are you. Ah won't let ya up and walk away on me!"
"Ponies always said Trixie was weird for liking other mares. When she told other mares she loved them they laughed at her. Ponies think of Trixie as a joke!" that wasn't the voice of a little filly talking anymore. The weight on AJ's back was growing steadily heavier. The weight of Trixie's insecurity.
But Applejack was a pony who could keep marching with even a mountain on her back.
"Let 'em laugh. They ain't even worth the time you spent thinkin' 'bout them. You deserve better than that. You deserve to love whoever you want and to have them love you in return."
The weight was crushing down on her. Knees trembling and hooves sinking into the soft forest floor.
"Do you promise?"
It was hard to even draw breath to speak. But Applejack raised her head and spoke anyway.
"Ah... Ah... promise."
And in that instant the weight suddenly vanished. She glanced over her shoulder. The filly was gone. She was alone once again. As alone as somepony could possibly be while inside another's head.