//------------------------------// // Chapter Thirteen // Story: Human Relations - HR // by LucidTech //------------------------------//         Ledger scrawled easily on the paper with a practiced hand, but his writing was uncertain. It got the point across, but it wasn’t as fluid as he would have liked. He was under a little bit of stress with the arrival of Trixie and what it meant for him. It was only with muscle memory that the note was signed, the author only half paying attention to what he was writing. He glanced it over once to make sure there were no glaring errors like his last two drafts and then moved to the door.         He opened it and looked out into the passing waves of ponies until he spotted one with white saddlebags. He whistled lightly to get the pony’s attention, who then moved towards him, trying to hide how much he really didn’t want to deal with Ledger. When he got there all he got was a letter, and he was happy that it was going to be a simple delivery after all. But just as he was going to let himself get excited over a simple errand, he remembered who he was dealing with and his heart sunk. A letter from Ledger would only be going to one place. The servant glanced uncertainly at the folded paper that Ledger passed to him, then at Ledger himself. “Could you take this to the Queen for me? It explains the reason for my lateness and I don’t have the ability to pass it on to her myself right now.” The servant glanced back at the paper and took it lightly in their teeth, nodding curtly and walking away, the door closing behind them as Ledger turned to deal with his unexpected guest.         Trixie stood passively among the simple furniture of Ledger’s living room. She looked with glassy eyes towards the far wall of the room, the beige paint upon it offering up no secrets or answers for her. It was only when Ledger had closed the door that she stirred slightly from her thoughts, but Ledger couldn’t tell if she was happy to be rid of them or not.         “Trixie’s—” She coughed. “Sorry, old habits.” Ledger smiled at her as he took a seat on the couch, Trixie opting to remain standing instead. After Ledger was settled, she tried again. “I’ve always wondered… and I couldn’t really ask you the first time we met, everything was going by in a blur then, but now I think we finally have some time to chat.” Ledger glanced anxiously at the clock, then looked back to her. For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to correct her. “Why did the Queen ever hire you? I mean, I understand why she hired you for the job, no one in our world would’ve done the job. But I mean, why did she open up your job in the first place? When did she start caring about the troubles of the everymare and why?” Trixie turned to face Ledger, who seemed to be thinking about how to respond. In the silence, she continued her thoughts. “It was right around your arrival that she completely changed her approach. She was warmongering and completely iron-fisted, more so than she is even now. Out of the blue, she reduced weapon production, signed several uneasy peace treaties, and hired you on as someone who could talk with us ponies about our problems, try and work through them. The system was corrupt already though. What you could offer didn’t always help much, but that’s beside the point. Did you cause it? Or were you a symptom of it?” Ledger sighed and rested his head in his hands. There was silence for a moment before he raised his voice enough to be heard. “Trixie,” he started, but paused again, as if he had been cut off by something. “Trixie, I wish I could tell you. It’s not that I don’t trust you; it’s just that things are very fragile now. I don’t know how much would change if I told you the entire truth.” Trixie made to speak, but Ledger continued after his brief pause. “Trixie, there’s a… statue. It’s… a very powerful statue. It used to be kept in the garden, but she moved it to the basement recently. She was very worried about all the chaos she was causing; the statue, it…. She locked it away while she worked on a plan, knowing that would only delay it at best. That plan involved getting me, or someone like me. And it involved less aggression.” There was silence for a moment as Trixie stared at Ledger. She desperately wanted him to continue, but suspected he was finally done with the subject. She hated him sometimes; she couldn’t recall one time she’d been given a straight answer. It was… infuriating to say the least. “I’ll make sure to keep my eye out for a very powerful statue, then,” Trixie said with the bite of sarcasm lacing her words. Ledger let his hands fall away from supporting his skull, leaned back in his chair and glanced off towards the door. He knew he was a horrible friend to Trixie. He suspected the only reason she kept coming around was because of her curiousity. She wanted to know the answers. Ledger tapped the armrest of the chair in thought. As his finger fell for the fourth tap, he stopped. His face went tense for a moment, but it was so short a time that Trixie failed to notice it. “So you came straight here, no stops?” He asked, an idle tone to his words. Trixie nodded in reply and Ledger continued. “You must be starving, then.” He pulled himself out of his seat and made his way to the kitchen. “I’ve got a salad with some nice light dressing hanging around, would you like it? I’m never gonna get around to eating it.” Trixie seemed torn, not wanting to impose but also being cripplingly hungry. “Well, if you’re sure you don’t want it…” she said eventually. Ledger smiled as he moved into the kitchen, more a tacked on addition to the front room than anything else. He moved towards the fridge, cooled by some sort of magic. Ledger hadn’t been entirely certain how refrigerators worked back where he came from, so he put forth no effort to understand these ones, deciding it wouldn’t be worth the time. He reached into the fridge and pulled out the promised salad as well as a glass jar of white salad dressing. He placed it on the counter facing away from Trixie. She watched with an eyebrow raised as he put the dressing on the salad. Something wasn’t right about how he moved, but Trixie couldn’t quite put her hoof on it. He seemed to note her suspicions. “Can’t seem to get the lid off of the dressing,” he explained. After a few moments of fumbling he brought it out, and she saw she had no reason to worry. It was only dressing and salad, just like Ledger had said. He handed her the bowl and a fork, which Trixie eagerly grabbed in a telekinetic grip. She began to eat, commenting only briefly about the strange but enticing flavor of the dressing. It wasn’t long before she’d devoured the entire meal, licking her lips to get the lingering dressing off. She hadn’t thought she’d been that hungry, and she smiled slyly. “Sorry,” she offered, but Ledger smiled and shook his head. She smiled as well, letting the silence take the room. Then, she caught sight of a very strange bottle. It was entirely empty on the kitchen counter where Ledger had applied the salad dressing. Immediately next to it was the salad dressing. Ledger followed her gaze and stood from where he’d taken his seat. “Ledger… what was in that bottle?” “Nothing important,” Ledger said, sounding just like he always did. Which, as Trixie had found out, meant he was lying. “Ledger,” Trixie said sternly. “If it’s nothing important, then tell—” She cut herself off with a yawn. And while she had every intention of continuing, she stopped. She felt fatigue working its way into her bones, her mind started to blur. “You drugged me!” she shouted angrily. “Trixie, calm down.” Ledger said calmly. “It’s just a sleeping potion.” “JUST A—!” Another yawn wound its way through her body. “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’D—!” She pounded her hoof on the ground, upset at the interrupting yawns she could not control. Her anger was starting to slip away now, but it was swiftly replaced by more anger generated by that fact. She moved threateningly towards Ledger, loathing in her eyes. He matched her gaze with a pair of uncaring eyes, but it was only a moment before he looked away. Unfortunately, her anger couldn’t completely negate the potent potion. Her steps slowed. She stumbled a bit. She swayed as she walked, but she put every ounce of determination into continuing forward. But it was not in the stars. Her walk turned into something more akin to a drunken swagger, and her back and forth moments exaggerated more and more until she threatened to fall flat onto her side. She knew how big a fool she looked, and was ready to impact the carpet as she tilted too far. She felt the fur on her withers shift, her fall was stopped, and Ledger’s hand gently corrected her gait. She looked into his eyes for the first time in the longest time and saw regret. She suspected that was all that had been there for a long time. “Just why, Ledger?” she asked as he guided her to the bedroom, anger gone entirely now. “I’m sorry, Trixie. There’s a lot happening today, and I need everything to go just right. There is no leeway for mistakes or unexpected outcomes.” Ledger helped her onto his bed before he turned and left the room. He wasn’t even sure if she’d even heard him, or if she’d remember it, but it didn’t matter anymore. Ledger stopped in the bathroom and checked to make sure he looked his part. He left the bathroom, but stopped at the door frame, the sound of Trixie’s snores piercing his conscience again. He went once more into the bathroom and filled a cup with water, downing a few more pills before he marched purposefully out of his room and into the hall. There wasn’t long now. It was almost over now, and that was the only thing that kept Ledger going, guilt and sleep deprivation more than taking their toll. “Just an hour longer,” he mumbled under his breath, gazing down the hall towards the Queen’s room. “Just an hour longer.”