81. Dominoes - Part Two
Letters From a Little Princess Monster
Dominos - Part Two
...Much, much earlier that same morning, in the Canterlot railroad station.
It had taken Sunburst Flare many weeks of scrimping and saving to get the bits for his trip to Yakyakistan for his next field of study. Yak magic was a strange melange of earth pony and other sorts of enchantments, wrapped up into their history like a long, braided rope of yak hair. Which incidentally was the same way they kept their history books. And cooking recipes. And family trees. Sometimes all on the same strand of knotted rope. Considerable wheedling had gotten him a small grant from the Canterlot school to visit, copy, and return with as much yak magical history as possible, then translate it for future generations of scholars.
Without getting smashed by a yak like the last researcher.
Personally, he was starting to think the grant was just a way for the teachers to get rid of their worst ex-student. During school, the stress, the competition, the endless class sniping, all had made him a nervous wreck. Eight years of cowering in his dormitory room between classes, not answering mail or seeing visitors, had left him going prematurely bald from stress and with a nervous tic just under his eye, while he still had not managed to pass his exams.
Since flunking out, Sunburst had taken a job in a spellbook store and spent all of his spare time happily reading the various tomes for sale, making personal notes and being thankful about not being in school any more. His present job allowed him to regain his confidence, regrow his mane, and even sprout a small goatee which bothered his mother something fierce when she visited. And it left him with the free time and spare change to research his favorite spells on his own, without having to obey somepony else’s stringent plans about what he could do or what his life was going to be like every minute of every day.
It was like school, without all the bad parts.
“One ticket to adventure, please.” He pushed the pile of bits forward to the ticket salespony, who regarded them with the same bland enthusiasm as if he had dropped a hoof-full of gravel on the counter. “I mean… to the Yak empire, please.”
“North…” The train station was nearly uninhabited in this murky pre-dawn hour, but the mare in line behind Sunburst was close enough that her warm breath was blowing right against his tail. His thick cloak normally protected his thin hide from such indignities, but she brushed up against him again while continuing to mutter quietly under her breath.
“Ticket to Yakyakistan,” said the ticket mare. “Red-eye special or day rates?”
“Red-eye, obviously,” responded Sunburst. “That’s why I’m here, after all. If I wanted the day rates—”
“Your tickets,” said the mare, pushing the flat pieces of paper through the counter hole in the window. “Next!”
“But I have change coming,” protested Sunburst before being jostled from behind again. “Excuse me, young—”
Turning around put Sunburst nose-to-nose with a pony that he had never expected to meet. A much more impressive mare than he expected, too, although most of that was probably due to her immense bulk. The Princess of Love stood on the train station decking just a hoofstep away from him, her eyes hooded closed in the darkness of the night and her mane tangled around her head like a snarl of spider webs.
Even then, she was more beautiful than any mare Sunburst had ever seen before.
“North,” breathed Princess Cadenza again. “North.”
“Yes, north,” said Sunburst with a frantic smile as he tried to remember just what was in the research grant paperwork that he had signed so rapidly, and if it included a rotund royal observer. “To the adventurous land of the Yak, and knowledge. Um… Are you supposed to go with me, Princess?” His eyes tracked to her wide sides and he could not help but add, “I thought you would be with your husband this close to foaling.”
The silence that followed was broken by the faint chuffing of a train pulling into the station, and Sunburst checked his ticket. Well, tickets. “And here is my train. Five stops north, Your Highness. I… um… This way?”
He trotted in the direction of the train, taking a look back over his shoulder to see Princess Cadenza matching his path, if a little unsteady due to her eyes still remaining closed and the considerable sway of her massive barrel. She was not carrying any luggage, so for a moment he thought Princess Cadenza was only there to see him off, but that hope was shattered when she stumbled on board right behind him.
“North,” she whispered. “Hurry.”
“Heh. It’s a train, Your Highness. You can’t hurry them up,” said Sunburst, looking in all directions for the guards that should have been right behind her, or even her husband, who would not be very appreciative of some dropout escorting his pregnant wife into the frozen tundra.
And he was still looking when the train pulled away from the station.
~ ~ Ω ~ ~
There was certainly something odd going on with Princess Cadenza, and if Sunburst had wanted strange in his life, he would have moved to Ponyville. No, that was not entirely true. Ponyville was strange and dangerous. Sunburst preferred a much simpler life in Canterlot, with his strange events being isolated to which spellbooks to put on sale and his worst danger being a paper cut. There were only two kinds of ponies who went willingly into danger, fools and heroes, and Sunburst was neither.
The way Princess Cadenza just stood next to Sunburst’s table with her eyes closed as if she were sleeping was… creepy, at best, terrifying at the worst. None of the spell books he had brought were any help diagnosing exactly what was wrong with her, although one of the books on Yak lore had references to crystal magic which when combined with Princess Cadenza’s crystal cutie mark, had been fascinating to read but all too short. In fact, the magazines in the train had more information about the strange land he was headed into than his books.
“Listen to this, Princess. The arctic tern migrates into the Shamash-Whump valley of Yakyakistan every summer without the assistance of pegasi. Isn’t that exciting?” He looked up at the drowsy princess for any kind of reaction before returning to the wildlife magazine. “They fly over thousands of furlongs across Equestria until they return to the very pile of rocks they were born at, where they build their own nest to raise their new generation of terns. Wow. I wonder if their parents try to control their lives too.”
Still getting no response, Sunburst returned to his reading. A homing instinct like that would have been a terrible inconvenience for his own life. Returning to Sire’s Hollow was the last thing he ever wanted to do, even if Starlight was still there.
My first, last, and only friend. She was always such a genius. And I’m a dropout failure.
“So cold,” whispered Princess Cadenza, which made Sunburst immediately take his own warm cloak off and drape it over her shoulders, much like a blanket. It did not stop her from shuddering, little ripples passing over her pristine pink coat like ripples in a pond several minutes apart.
“When we get to Yakyakistan, I’ll have the yaks put you in a warm yurt,” said Sunburst, although with a glance at her expanded middle that made him resolve to find a yak who knew about foalbirth too.
“Stop,” whispered the princess. She turned in the walkway between the train seats and headed for the train door, where she pawed at it lightly. “Stop.”
“There’s no train station here for us to stop at,” said Sunburst, although he had grabbed all of his scarce luggage anyway and tossed it over his back. There was a certain inevitability to the princess’ words, made only more plain when her horn lit up with a brilliant blue magic and every brake on the train locked up into a hideous screeching at once.
Sunburst went flying, and by the time he had picked himself up from the jumble of items, the door was open and the princess was gone. When he scrambled to the door, Princess Cadenza was just vanishing into the indistinct chilly fog that surrounded an old train station, long abandoned to the northern air and soggy snowdrifts.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” snapped the conductor, who poked his head through the door to the next car. “We got ponies scattered all—”
“Princess Cadenza’s in trouble!” shouted Sunburst, jumping off the train step and following her indistinct figure. “Send word back to Canterlot! There’s something out here!”
Putting his head down, Sunburst galloped into unknown danger.
~ ~ Ω ~ ~
It had to be perfectly safe. All the other students were doing it. None of them had died yet by losing their grip during the swing and smashing into the water too fast or forgetting to let go at the right spot and swinging back into the line waiting for the rope. Germs, maybe. Even if it would just be an excuse.
Monster reached out and got a gentle grasp on the rope with her teeth, then wrapped one foreleg around the remaining section with the knot on it. All of her friends were splashing around in the pond, so she did not have to swing out over the really deep section and let go and make a big splash. Featherweight did not even have his camera out, which she suspected was mostly to encourage her into the swing.
It took courage to step forward, a type of step that she had repeated so many times over the last few months that it was getting easier with every step. Staying overnight at Twist’s house and making sticky candy the next day as a reward. Helping Scootaloo repair an awesome wiz-bang widget in her aunt’s shop only to find they had welded it to the floor. Harvesting apples with Applebloom and discovering how fruit bats disliked having their trees kicked. That had been loads of fun, particularly the fifth or sixth time when it turned into a game of chase. Just as much fun as swinging out across the pond while the rope slipped out from her teeth and the water came surging up and—
Once Monster had dragged herself over to the shore and coughed out most of the pond, she gave a soggy flop onto the towel Twist had brought. It took multiple reassurances that she was fine and would jump into the pond again in just a few minutes before her friends stampeded back into the water and began their rambunctious play again. Even Bookwyrm looked to be enjoying the water, with little pipping cries of joy whenever Sweetie Belle got splashed and his perch wrapped around her horn got damp. The tiny dragon spent nearly all of his time sleeping, which Trixie said was entirely normal at this stage of his development. He was disturbed by Vorel’s presence, though, and hissed at the giant dragon whenever Sweetie Belle visited the library with the tiny dragon’s tail wrapped around her horn and his grey body snuggled down in her camouflaging mane. It was probably why Vorel’aurix-levethuix Maekrix-book-rasvim had departed one evening for her own lair where there would not be any little competitors to hiss at her.
Trixie claimed she would not miss her visiting draconic librarian and the great pile of books she had taken with her on extended loan. Ever since Monster had returned from Canterlot, Trixie had been busy at the library with her friends, spending the afternoons in ‘practice’ for Discord’s eventual release. It looked to be much less fun than Monster’s friendship practice, with considerable complaining that was not limited just to Trixie. They had even taken the ‘Elements of Harmony’ from the young students and tried to wear them around for a few days, although Rainbow Dash kept losing hers and Applejack wound up just stuffing hers in the top of her hat. Eventually, Trixie had put the golden necklaces into a locked case in the library for safekeeping.
It made Monster wonder about the odd box at the crystal tree where they had returned the original Elements to where they belonged. Six keys. Six friends. But which six friends? Trixie could probably pick the locks in a few minutes even though it would be cheating. Slipping their plastic ‘Genuine Elements of Harmony Playset’ into the vault in Canterlot had been cheating too, and Monster had not flinched at that particular form of deceit because of Trixie’s training. Never face strength with strength, brains with brains, or power with power, because there’s always somepony stronger, smarter, or more powerful. Trixie had to know the golden necklaces of the original Elements had plain gems in their settings, but remained silent because of Discord’s possible spying. Besides, Monster was not sure just exactly how the Elements of Harmony would be needed when Discord escaped anyways. Planning how to fight chaos seemed like a futile gesture, but the weakness of chaos was order. And hopefully, friendship.
So Monster soaked up the sun while watching her young friends play in their own chaotic fashion. Trixie had explained that her first practice sessions with the other older ponies were complete disasters with none of her friends doing what she was trying to tell them, and had developed the most pecular expression when Monster had asked if she was doing what they told her in return. The next day the whole bunch had gone off with Fluttershy into the Whitetail Woods, then spent the evening at Sweet Apple Acres, helping with the apple harvest. It made Trixie look haggard and exhausted, collapsing into bed every night so abruptly that Monster had to float her up the stairs one evening during a late study session, but she had actually started to smile more, and Monster had decided to learn by her example.
The pond visit today was Scootaloo’s idea, after yesterday’s careful pruning of the intertwined apple and pear trees on the edge of Applebloom’s farm and the day before yesterday’s attempt at making maple walnut fudge with Twist’s sister and Lyra. Finding fun things to do with her friends was easier than figuring out which activity to do, or who to do them with. After all, since the ground-bound ponies could not fly with Featherweight, Scootaloo, and Monster, they had to find their own activity, and when Monster worked on her mathmatic homework with Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo would rather be anywhere else. Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had become a reluctant participant in their play time, not just because they had houses with a bunch of activities like tennis and squash growing. Diamond was a mean buckball player, and always picked first for any team, while Monster suffered constant anxiety about which of the three positions she really felt the most at home playing.
Defending the buckball basket was a lot easier when she could hide under it, but her friends convinced Monster that the strategy would make for a very boring game, and that she should defend her goal in the traditional fashion.
Participation was the key, because if you did not get out there and do it, you would never know if you liked it. Even things you did not like could become more manageable with exposure, much like Diamond Tiara’s claim that she would be willing to go back to Funland and ride the roller coaster. Diamond had even offered to take Silver Spoon with her, because Silver did not believe her friend actually had faced her fear of heights, even with the pictures.
After several more trips into the pond to cool off and back out onto the towel to dry off, Monster was feeling much more in tune with the world and her friends. They were all ready for a new adventure off to Diamond Tiara’s house to adore her new little brother and see if he had gotten his first fang yet (although Filthy Rich insisted that nocturnal pegasi got ordinary teeth, just slightly sharper than their own). And then a trip by the freezer to find what kind of ice cream was there, and if there would be enough for everypony to have seconds (which there always was). Filthy Rich and Filigree seemed so happy together, although with bags under their eyes and a tendency to startle due to lack of sleep.
Monster wished that Trixie and Green Grass would have a foal like Zecora, only more normal. Seriously, her mother and Tallgrass spent so much time together dealing with pregnancy nausea and kissing that Monster was feeling just the tiniest bit neglected. And worse, when the changeling-zebra foal arrived, Monster was going to get even less attention. True, it would be a unique opportunity to study such a unique hybrid, but the studying would come with late feedings and crying and poop and all kinds of things that were driving Diamond Tiara’s parents nearly crazy.
Hopefully, Monster’s suggestion to them would help.
~ ~ Ω ~ ~
The sign at the door to the Rich mansion read ‘Do not knock! Please! Use string.’
Axial Flow squinted into the bright sunlight to read it, then slowly reached out to the piece of string dangling nearby to give it a tug, which resulted in a low ‘whoof’ of breath from the door, then a second, louder noise when she tugged again. She was just getting ready to tug the string a third time when the door creaked open a crack and a bloodshot eye peered out.
“Hello?” rasped Filthy Rich. “We didn’t worder anyting. Go away.”
“Actually…” Axial Flow shifted her membranous wings in the warm sunshine. She wanted to spread them out to cool off, although that would have just exposed more dark surface to be heated. It was far later in the day than most of her kind would have ever wanted to remain awake too, but a career in Cloudsdale weather control had made her inborn nocturnal scheduling more flexible. Still, it was difficult to say the next words. “I wanted to see if you would like to hire a governess. You know, like a nanny.”
Mister Rich peered up at her from the small gap in the doorway, blinked twice, and said in a very determined voice, “No.”
“I’m not here to try to take away your child,” added Flow in a rapid string of words that matched her sticking a hoof in the closing door. “I know most of our tribes try to talk day ponies out of their nocturnal foals by offering a trade, and I’ve heard Twilight talk about the… unique circumstances of your son’s birth, so I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t work anyway. My Scootaloo was quite the hooffull when she was born, despite my husband being a day pony, so one of my sisters came to Cloudsdale to help and… When did you sleep last?”
“Sleep?” Filthy Rich quit trying to close the door on the batpony’s forehoof and blinked. “What’s sleep?”
“Please.” Axial Flow smiled and tried not to show too many sharp teeth. “Let me see your wife, and I’ll explain.”
Five minutes later as Filthy Rich and Filigree were both sitting in the nursery while each nursing on a thick cup of dark coffee, Axial Flow took off her sunglasses and sat them on the nearby changing table.
“Thank you, Mister and Missus Rich. You have a very handsome young son. Midnight Valor, I believe?”
“That’s what Diamond wants to call him, Missus Flow,” said Filigree with a yawn as she shifted positions uncomfortably due to her swollen udder. “I want to call him Jaws, and Richie wants to call him Jet.”
“Scootaloo introduced me to your daughter,” said Flow. “I think he’s going to wind up named Midnight. But in any case… he’s driving you crazy, isn’t he?”
“No,” said Filthy Rich at the exact moment Filigree said, “Yes.”
“Well, let me give you some advice, even if you choose not to hire me as a governess. Or nanny. I’m not quite sure what the difference is. After all, I work in Turbulence Management at the Weather Factory. I’ve been up to my neck in weather widgets for years… Anyway. Ahem.”
She stood up and walked across the room, then pulled the window shades all the way up so the brilliant light of day cascaded through the nursery. “First, he needs to get accustomed to the correct day/night schedule.”
“Won’t that hurt his eyes?” asked Filthy Rich, who had scurried over to the crib as if to scoop up the sleeping infant at the first sign of discomfort.
“They’re closed. What hurts his eyes is when you turn on the lights too bright when he’s awake at night,” continued Flow. “And you’ve got him tucked in with a blanket. It’s still mostly summer out there.” She whisked the blanket off the sleeping colt and tossed it to one side, where she began to twist it into a cylinder. “He’s been wriggling out from under the covers, if I guess right. It means he’s overheated. If he gets a blanket, it should be wrapped up like this so he can cuddle it like another foal his age.”
She demonstrated the technique by slipping the doll-ish object into the crib, where Midnight promptly clamped onto it with all four tiny legs and began a toothless gnawing on one fuzzy ‘ear’ in his sleep.
“In the winter, he’s going to want to sleep in your bed,” cautioned Flow. “Don’t let him, unless you both like having pierced ears. And don’t be afraid of using formula in a week or two when those first teeth come in. If you think he bites hard now…”
“Hire her,” said Filigree.
“But—” started Filthy Rich.
“Hire her,” said Filigree in a voice like iron. Turning to Axial Flow, she continued, “We’ll make the room next to this your bedroom, you will have the full run of the house except for my husband, and as soon as I get some sleep, you have got to tell me what kind of conditioner you use on your mane. That’s gorgeous.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“And I’m not ma’am,” said Filigree. “I’m Filigree if you’re being formal, or Fil if you like. Tell the staff what you need and it’s yours. You say you’ve met Diamond?”
“Yes ma’a— I mean yes, Filigree.” Flow ducked her head in a brief nod. “She’s a… headstrong young mare, much like my own daughter.”
“She’s a rock-headed, stubborn, arrogant idiot just like both of her parents,” said Filigree. “If you have any trouble with her, let us know. If you have any trouble with either of us, any little things that you think we should know, please tell us directly.”
“Dear,” said Filthy Rich while putting down his empty coffee cup. “Don’t I have any say in this?”
Filigree fixed him with a red-eyed glare. “I’m tired of sleeping in the nursery and you’re probably tired of sleeping by the front door with a string tied to your tail. I want you in bed for a change.”
“Ahhh…” Axial Flow held up a dark hoof. “One little thing. Filigree, it’s coming up on two weeks since your— well, his foaling right?”
“Righ—” Filigree’s eyes got large. “Oh. Foal’s heat. Right.” Turning back to Filthy Rich, she continued, “I’m going to make an appointment with Doctor Stable today. Unless you want another foal in eleven months.”
“My decision?” he asked.
“Your decision,” confirmed Filigree. “Only this time I’ll go through labor.”
“We’ll talk about it,” said Filthy Rich while standing up and collecting the empty coffee cups. “Thank you, Missus Flow. Welcome to our home.”
~ ~ Ω ~ ~
Rewards. Punishments. Trixie was starting to think her friends were a mixed blessing. They were blithering idiots at times, which made her want to look in a mirror and imagine how they saw Trixie in return. Or Twilight Sparkle, who sat on the bench at the ice cream shop and gleefully spooned in bites out of her shared bowl with Trixie. In the few months she had actually known Twilight, Trixie had been dyed twice, nearly killed a half-dozen times, married of all things, turned into a mayor, a sister, and for one memorable day that she was determined not to write down anywhere, a breezie.
The only species in Equestria who makes Fluttershy look decisive and courageous.
Then again, Fluttershy had a pet bear with a slipped disc who needed regular spinal adjustments, and a number of other creatures who Trixie suspected would be more than happy to eat anypony who gave her grief, so the pegasus did not really need to be aggressive to be safe. She made the perfect pony to pair up against Twilight Sparkle’s anxiety about destroying the world, because Fluttershy’s gift seemed to be when not to use her power. And to Trixie’s continuous amazement, the lesson applied to her own life too.
It had taken a simple shift from “How can Trixie do this and get the most credit?” to “How can this get done regardless of Trixie getting credit?” And to Trixie’s amazement, it worked and got her more appreciation than ever before. The discovery was well worth a reward, and the ice cream store in Ponyville had such rewards for all of them in dozens of wonderful flavors.
Maybe this is why Celestia eats so much cake.
“How is training coming along?” asked Trixie for lack of anything else to say while she was shuffling the cards.
“Not training,” insisted the little alicorn. “Playing with friends. Important.” She swallowed another spoonful of ice cream and licked her lips. “You have a new card trick?”
“Please!” Trixie held the deck against her chest while manipulating the order of the cards with her magic. “It is not a trick. It is a manipulation of chaos to bring order by way of misdirection. The end result is foreordained by the magician, while the audience—which is you by the way—marvels at her skill.”
“Miss Trixie?” The ice cream counterpony strolled up to their table with a few bits floating in his magic field. “You forgot your change. Oh, do you have another dusty old card trick?”
“It’s not a trick,” said Twilight quietly. “And Trixie is very good. She’s the best.”
“Best?” The counterpony put on a sly smile. “You’re willing to bet on that?”
“Twilight is too young to bet,” said Trixie with a frown. “And I’m too smart.”
“Oh, come on now.” The counterpony’s magic plucked the deck of cards out of Trixie’s grasp and spread them out in a fan across the table. “If you won’t bet, I will. Any simple magician can solve one card. I’ll bet that the Great and Powerful Trixie—” he extended the cards to Twilight and smiled a gap-toothed smile “—can not solve three cards, even with the help of all her friends. Go ahead.”
Under Trixie’s watchful eye, Twilight silently pulled three cards out of the deck and placed them on the table side-by-side and face down. Then Trixie scooped up the deck in her magic and gave it a quick shuffle. “So what do we get if we win, Mister…”
There was nopony there when Trixie turned, only a single golden bit that rolled across the table, teetered ever so slowly back and forth as it stopped, then flopped over on its side into Trixie’s pile of spare change with a loud clink.
“Huh,” said Trixie. “That’s odd.”
“Showtime,” whispered Twilight.
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What's this? Georg still not having the first comment after 23 minutes? THE WORLD IS AT AN END.
Oh dear. So-Gryphon Aerie, Crystal Empire, and ... whats the third going to be? Twilight already cheated and caught Tirek, so... possibly Our Town?
... I wonder if Starlight can convince herself to be angry enough at a small child to go all the way she did in the show? ... Though, Twilight already has the cheat codes for that one.
Honestly the Gryphon Aerie seems the most threatening. I shouldnt be so negative though- Trixie wont let anyone hurt her Husband.
... I wonder if they'll be splitting into groups for this?
Well good morning to you too... Discord.
This was stalled for so long I think I need to go back and reread parts.
9131608 Before 8AM Saturday morning.. People are probably sleeping in
Wow. If that is Discord, that was a rather subtle entrance. Or should it be subtil? Yeah, that feels more appropriate ^^
9131621
Starlight seems to like children. So...hard to say really.
I'm worried about Cadence. I hope Monster doesn't start acting out due to jealousy, but it's heartwarning to see her engage with her friends after so much trauma. Loved the chapter.
When none of this scene seemed familiar to me, I made a note to try to find time to re-read this. When I got to this bit, I made a note to contact my doctor about potential memory loss. My memory for the coarse details of stories I look forward to is usually excellent.
EDIT: That said, I'll probably just labour on in my confusion. I've been trying to be more productive with my time lately, leading to less and less fanfiction reading... and I'm not sure when I'd be able to fit in something that's both a re-read and three novels long.
9131817
It got fixed a few hours AFTER the colt was born
I was all Flim or Flam? Then I was all, DISCORD!!
9131608 Hey, if *you* want to come out here and mow the lawn before it gets too hot, tell me so I can spend my time commenting. Time and Turf wait for no man. Married man, that is.
9131643 Sensible people. Unmarried sensible people. See above.
9131747 Cadence will be fine. She's got Sunburst with he... Oh. I see what you mean.
9131787 Admittedly, it's easier to keep up on stories when there are not six months between arcs. The tl;dr summary - Filthy Rich and Filigree were mind-swapped right before the birth of Midnight Valor, so Rich is about the only stallion in Equestria who knows *exactly* what labor feels like. Without drugs.
Showtime indeed.
9131787
A body swap spell was involved.
peculiar
9131924
9131955
Ahh, yes. I vaguely remember that now... though I'll probably still want to re-read the last arc since I don't remember the details for that particular swap.
9131621
You’re assuming that she ever finds out that he’s in trouble.
AFAIK, she still hasn't checked her mail & doesn't know how much trouble he is in.
9132008
Discord gave then three cards. I doubt 'hey, does Trixie check her mail' is part of the trial. More likely, he told them where to go- just not what the issue is. Well see tomorrow, but I suspect those arent playing cards.
9132036
Since Discord gave them 3 cards, you could say that he isn't playing with a full deck.
Then again , was he ever?
9132287
Discords prefers to play with atleast 100 cards. Otherwise 52 pickup is less fun.
Speaking of Satan. That was a surprisingly benign opening to the first trial.
Fate seems to hate Trixie for some reason.
9133442
The Author seems to hate Trixie for some reason.
9134109
Or enjoys "torturing" her.
9133205
This is a Discord who is still stubborn in his ways, but knows that he is capable of change.
Of course, that probably means he isn't complacent, and might pose more of a challenge.
Hmm.
> even if you chose not to hire me as a governess.
Shouldn't that be "choose"? If you say "chose" it sounds so... final. Not sure if she did that intentionally though; it's possible given the situation.
11114930 Odd. It's correct in the source document. Oh, well. Fixed here.