Trixie empties the suitcase of its contents by flinging papers left and right, "There's nothing else in here!" Trixie complains as she reaches for the postmare's badge.
"Did any thoughts of reading ever cross your mind?" Lulu asks as she gathers the scattered papers.
"Briefly. Trixie prefers a more direct approach." Trixie clips the badge to her cloak.
Lulu's eyes widen for a moment and she makes an attempt to smack the badge off of Trixie. "You don't know what that is!"
Trixie makes a graceful dodge by turning toward the door, "Have fun reading, Trixie will be back long before you are done." She opens the door and steps out into the morning light.
"Yeah well don't wander too far, I'll need to find you in whatever terrible state you're in when I find the answer first." Lulu scoffs.
Trixie rolls her eyes, confident in her method she walks away and shuts the door behind her. Heading through the gate she decides to stop in the motel's main office and talk to the owner. However as she does so the light from outside dims significantly and a weight in her mouth pulls her head down a bit. "Good evening Trixie, don't worry, you can stay for free as long as you need. Though do tell your... Roommate, that there's some rain scheduled soon, there's a fine if you damage library books." Trixie looks to the nearest desk to find the owner behind it, and down to find she's holding a rope tied to a small package. "Is that another book?" The owner asks, "What are the two of you studying?"
Trixie looks out to the motel courtyard and sees Lulu among large stacks of books. Trixie levitates the package to her side and eyes it in confusion before looking back to the owner, "Trixie is..." She searches her mind for the best answer possible, "homeschooling her little sister." Even with her perfect excuse deployed her mind still races for more answers, 'It should be morning! Where did I get this package?' She examines the package for any indication of its origin.
"Is she visiting? You said you wander a lot, but where does she live?"
The owner's curiosity went unnoticed by Trixie as she finds an address on the package, "Ponyville..." It would be reasonable to assume one could make it to Ponyville and back by train in the amount of time Trixie has missed in her day. 'Did I unconsciously go there and pick this up?'
"She must get overwhelmed with how much excitement is about around there."
Trixie peels the badge off of her cloak, bad enough that it wasted most of her day, it even wiped any memory of the events from her mind. "Nothing all that troublesome." Determined not to lose she hides the badge under her hat and turns back to check on Lulu's progress.
"I guess news does get exaggerated when it goes around, no way a bugbear attack happened on the same day as a wedding. Right?"
Trixie notices the owner is still talking as she makes her way out the door, only catching the last couple of words, "Hmm? Oh, right."
Trixie approaches Lulu in the courtyard, "You were right, of course there would be nothing on how to fix it, even though I have figured out what it is." Lulu speaks while still buried in her books. "I'm assuming you have the item those cultists actually want you to work on."
Trixie looks to the package, it made sense, forcing her to pick up their packages with the badge would keep their base of operations secret and they could've even planted another item on Trixie without her knowing it. As Trixie comes to this conclusion she checks her cloak and hat for anything apart from what she usually carries. Phew, nothing even got taken.
"A wooden case with a simple lock, I guess these ponies don't care about staying on the safe side." Hearing Lulu say this Trixie looks down to find she had snatched the package and opened it. A familiar box sits atop the torn wrapping paper. To Trixie's surprise before she can react Lulu shoves it away, "We won't be playing their game. Secret Society my flank, most of what was in that suitcase was lies, and it's likely the one who trapped me and spoke to you was full of it as well. So whatever they want from you isn't going to happen."
"You're in no position to make that decision for Trixie."
"I'm the only one who has the knowledge of the Accursed and is on your side. We're going to Ponyville, we have to find the pony who had the package. I'll explain what I figured out on the way."
Trixie took a moment to think on Lulu's plan, "Fine, but next time tell Trixie the details and she will make the plan."
"I did a lot more than read books today, I followed some leads on who the Accursed are, spoke to ponies who've been involved with them... I kinda gave up on solving that badge. I needed to know about those ponies we're dealing with. They are highly organized and great in number, but they have split into many factions. The best move we can make is to solidify ourselves as a new faction among them."
"They made it quite clear that they're dangerous and mean business. How do we avoid trouble?"
"The involvement of a cursed artifact can make a crime investigation nigh impossible to solve, it's a free pass to do evil. However, if we gain the favor of, and show value to other factions we can be safe without having to align ourselves to their nonsense."
"You told Trixie that pony last night lied, what did you find?"
"I don't actually know if they were lying, but it's very likely. The ponies who threatened us spread false information about constantly to keep their agenda hidden. It's especially important to them that nopony know the true nature of curses."
"Found anything on that?"
"There are a lot of mysterious things about curses and it's hard to pin down what exactly they are. The one defining factor is that the magic of a curse is conscious, living magic. There is living magic out there that isn't considered a curse, but separating one from the other simply seems to be about the level of danger that magic involves."
"What ki-" The small cart Trixie had been pulling along the path between Ponyville and Las Pegasus is suddenly toppled as one of the wheels falls off, pulling Trixie down with it into the dirt. Trixie grunts in pain, "This is why Trixie doesn't trust wheels!"
"I'll get it." Lulu darts after the wheel, which found momentum as it rolls downhill and into the woods.
Trixie stands and dusts herself before picking everything up with her magic and putting it back in the cart, then she sets the wheel-less end of the axle on a rock. Turning about to look for Lulu, she finds nopony. "Hurry up! The Great and Powerful Trixie will not be caught in the rain!"
No response.
Trixie takes a moment to dispel incoming feelings of regret for having failed her attempt to save on a train ticket by putting Lulu in with the luggage, resulting in her being kicked off the train. She then pulls a map from her cloak, opening it to decide if the patch of woods was anything special. 'Hmm, just a small unnamed thicket between the path and the San Palomino Desert. No way Lulu got lost...' There of course was the same chance as ever that something strange might occur and Trixie remains reluctant to ditch her luggage. The cart held food and water for the trip to Ponyville, what little magic show equipment she had left, as well as the box.
She makes the swift decision to stow the map and put the box on her back before following the imprint the wheel left in the grass, "If Trixie finds the wheel first you will be left behind!" As she enters the thicket the grass fades to dirt where the light wooden wheel couldn't leave any trace. Looking straight ahead there are far too many trees for the wheel to have gotten too far unless it followed a very specific route.
Trixie endures sharp pokes from the dry trees as she takes the only path the wheel could have. She slips her cape out from under the box and pulls it in front of herself, resorting to smashing through the branches as quickly as possible to avoid having to endure the nuisance. "If Trixie's cape is damaged you're paying to have it fixed, Lulu!" Trixie's attempt to get Lulu's attention is once again met with no response.
Trixie is suddenly met with no resistance to her charge and stumbles forward before falling into the sand. She turns around and realizes something is missing. "The box!" Lulu and the wheel no longer held priority as Trixie retraces her path. Yet she looks back to find only more sand and no trace of the thicket she came from.
Trixie feels her face go cold as she gazes at the sea of sand in every direction.
Lulu chases the wheel as it rolls downhill and off a large nearby cliff into the desert. "Ugh." She looks back to see Trixie still focused on the cart. Certain that Trixie wouldn't see she leaps down to the bottom of the cliff. Landing softly she quickly snatches the wheel under a foreleg.
"Hurry up! The Great and Powerful Trixie will not be caught in the rain!"
Lulu rolls her eyes, "Maybe a few thousand years in a window will teach you some patience." She grumbles. To make things easy Lulu decides to float up without emulating any climbing.
"If Trixie finds the wheel first you will be left behind!"
Lulu quickly sticks her hooves to the cliff face as she hears Trixie's hoofsteps approach. "I already have it!" And as soon as she says this she pulls herself over the edge of the cliff to find nopony there. Lulu looks around for a minute, walking to and around the cart, even taking the time to reattach the wheel before concluding Trixie had disappeared. 'Looks like I was wrong, but what's my next move?' The situation left Lulu stumped, there were too many possibilities. 'Would they expect me to flee? Continue without her? Look for her?'
"C'mon we're gonna miss it!"
Lulu looks down the path to find two colts headed her way. One stout and full of energy, the other tall and tired though not lagging behind too much due to his long legs. Lulu concludes that they could be associated with the Accursed and shifts her colors to disguise herself. 'I'll go for something attractive, could work in my favor. Blonde mane, green eyes, baby blue coat.' Having trouble manipulating the light outside her window she hides behind the cart to try and finish her transformation properly.
"Hey wait, isn't this Trixie's?"
Lulu gets startled by their sudden approach, 'They know Trixie, definitely enemies.'
"That could be anypony's you're just trying to get a break."
"No, look."
Lulu peeks out to see the tall one lifting the stout one to see into the cart.
"It really is!"
"Well if Trixie hasn't made it then we really aren't late."
Lulu takes notice of a saddlebag on the tall ones side, a rolled poster featuring Trixie sticks out from it. 'Did she have a show planned before we met? Maybe these two are safe, I just have to be careful.' Lulu jumps into the cart and stares the two colts down. "You two aren't planning to steal from my master are you?"
"Woah!" The small one flails but is held in place, "Who are you?"
Lulu snarls, "You'll introduce yourselves first unless you want to start something."
The small one holds his hooves out, "Okay, okay! I'm Snips and this is Snails." He gestures to each with a worried smile.
Lulu sighs and sits down, "Let me see that poster."
Snails sets Snips down into the cart and reaches for the poster.
"So you're Trixie's apprentice?" Snips asks.
Lulu receives the poster from Snails and looks it over, "Yep."
"Awesome!" The two say in unison with glimmering eyes.
"Yeah, it's some... thing..." Lulu memorizes the poster before ripping it in half.
"Hey! Wh-"
"A changeling." Lulu interjects, "Trixie's stuff is here with me, we finished the show already. Of course with everypony wanting an encore a changeling shows up and consumes all the love and adoration she would have received... But listing it as her final show, we have to stop this before it's too late!" Lulu having made all that up, kept note of everything she said.
Trixie trudges forward hoping that the next hill she walks over would reveal some indication of civilization. She hadn't the slightest clue how she ended up so deep in the desert and was no longer concerned with theorizing. Reaching the top of the hill she peers out to find nothing but more sand. 'No, no, no, there has to be something!'
"Ah!" Trixie's hoof slips forward as the sand begins to sink away, she rolls downs into the valley below which turns out to be a river of quicksand. Trixie struggles violently as she's pulled in, "What has Trixie done to deserve this!?"