Three Wishes

by TimeBaby

Chapter 5

"So, how cool do I look? Come on, be honest, it won't go to my head."

Gilda stood proudly before Trixie and Braeburn, a black scarf flung around her neck, her head covered by a wool-lined flight cap whose unclasped chinstrap dangled freely on either side of her face. The ensemble did lend the griffon the appearance of a sleek daredevil flyer, with one significant departure. The general store at which they had stopped to pick up provisions for the trip into the Crystal Mountains only sold clothes designed for ponies. In this case, that meant ear holes in all of the hats. The haphazard way in which Gilda had thrown the cap on had resulted in a few of the white feathers on her head sticking out through each of the holes, making her look a little bit like the world's most intimidating bunny rabbit. Trixie, and even Braeburn, tried hard to stifle giggles as Gilda presented herself to them.

"Hey, what's wrong? I know this kind of hat looks good on me!"

"You should—snrk—go look in a mirror!" Trixie gasped.

"Oh, for feathering—" Gilda stormed off to a nearby rack of sunglasses with an attached mirror, and squatted down to get a good look at her head. As her expression changed from quizzical to enraged, Trixie and Braeburn finally stopped trying to contain their laughter.

"Stupid feathering pony hats!" Gilda roared, ripping the hat off and flinging it at the floor. "Is everything in Equestria designed to make griffons look like dweebs?"

"Aw, come on, Gilda!" Braeburn said, as she shoved him aside on her way out of the shop, "have a sense of humor! We don't mean nothin' by it!"

The door slammed behind her as Gilda stomped out into the street. Braeburn looked after her in surprise.

"I swear, I never seen a temper like hers before."

"Trust Trixie, Gilda takes herself very seriously."

“Well, we should get the hat for her anyway,” Braeburn said, picking up the offending headgear in his teeth. “She’s probably gonna want it later, ear holes or no.”

“Very well,” Trixie said, casting an annoyed look in the direction of the door through which Gilda had just made her dramatic exit. “But Trixie thinks it might be best to teach her a lesson.”

“Aw, don’t be too hard on her,” Braeburn said. “It ain’t like she’s got no redeeming qualities. I mean, look at the lengths she’s willin’ to go to just to get her friend back.”

“That doesn’t sound like what you were saying about her at the inn a couple of days ago,” Trixie reminded him.

Braeburn looked away with a slightly pained expression. “Well...I guess I can get a little hot under the collar sometimes, myself. But I’ve had some time to think since then, and maybe I could’ve been a little more fair with y’all. I mean, you did save me from that cult before, and even if I don’t agree with everything y’all are willin’ to do to get the Wishing Stone, that don’t mean you’re rotten to the core.”

Trixie’s immediate response to Braeburn’s sudden change of heart was pure glee at how quickly he was playing into her hooves. However, she knew better than to let that show. Instead, she smiled softly at him, an expression that never failed to feel alien when she wore it.

“Trix—er, I’m glad you feel that way. Like I said before, we treasure hunters can’t always play by the rules, but it doesn’t mean we’re all bad ponies.” Trixie watched Braeburn’s reaction carefully to make sure she wasn’t pressing her advantage too hard.

“I just hope you’re bein’ honest with me when you say you’re not gonna use your wish to really hurt that unicorn. I don’t think I could forgive myself for lettin’ something like that happen.”

“Don’t worry, Braeburn,” Trixie said, hoping the Earth pony didn’t pick up on the little tremor of anger than ran through her every time she thought of Twilight Sparkle. “Like I said, I just want a rematch. Yes, I’m going to make my magic more powerful. But it wouldn’t prove anything if I just turned myself into an alicorn and crushed her, now would it?”

“No, it wouldn’t,” Braeburn said emphatically. “At least we see eye to eye on that much.”

“Good. Now if you don’t mind, could you go pay for all of this, and whatever else you think we’re going to need for the trip?” Trixie levitated the supplies she had picked out, as well as her coin purse over to Braeburn, who scrambled to catch all of it at once. “Trixie has a griffon to tend to.”

As Braeburn nodded in agreement, Trixie made her way out of the cramped store. She wasn’t surprised to find Gilda sulking on a nearby bench. Though she hadn’t been in the con game for long, her instincts were developing quickly. With Braeburn contrite and Gilda showing weakness, it felt like the right time to move her plan into its next phase.

“Feeling any better?” Trixie asked as she approached Gilda.

“A little. Just some bad memories, that’s all.”

“Well, let Trixie cheer you up, then. Our Earth pony has had a change of heart. He actually feels bad about yelling at you the other day.”

Gilda laughed, a derisive little snort. “So he wants to be our friend now?”

“Trixie wouldn’t go that far, but he is ready to play nice. And that’s where we want him...if you want to split the three wishes between the two of us, that is.”

Gilda gave her a look so filled with suspicion that, for a moment, Trixie worried that she had read the griffon all wrong. However, when Gilda finally spoke, Trixie’s fears subsided a little.

“Well, yeah...I mean I figured that was the plan. So when do we get rid of him?”

Since first conferring with Gilda back at Porter Stout’s tavern, Trixie had been preparing for this conversation. She knew that if she suggested herself as the one to claim the Wishing Stone, Gilda would refuse. As the leader and mastermind of the expedition, there was no way that the others would ever see her as completely trustworthy, no matter what they might say in order to keep their journey cordial. On the other hand, Trixie had to assume that Gilda would find it suspicious if Trixie trusted her to retrieve the stone after she agreed to double cross Braeburn. That left her with only one option, which just happened to be the one she considered to be the best.

“If Porter’s information was right, we have to keep Braeburn around until we have the Wishing Stone in our hooves—or talons, of course. So barring any unforeseen circumstances, I say we let him collect the stone. Then, I'll use my magic to bind him long enough for you to take the stone."

"And since you're the one trying to talk me into this double cross, how do I know you don't have something even worse planned for me?"

"You don't," Trixie said, "just like Trixie doesn't know that you and Braeburn didn't come up with a scheme of your own while she was performing for the peasants in that village a couple of days ago. Welcome to the life of a treasure hunter."

"Yeah, I guess so," Gilda said, giving Trixie a look she couldn't quite read. Just then, the door to the general store opened, and Braeburn strode out carrying their supplies.

"All right, ladies," he said cheerfully, "who's ready to climb some mountains?"

***

By sundown, the trio was on a road leading them beyond the last vestiges of civilization before they reached the windy, open plains that lay just south of the Crystal Mountains. None of them had spoken much since they left Manehattan, which suited Trixie just fine. She had traveled by herself for most of her adult life, and was used to the sound of her hoofsteps being accompanied by nothing other than her own thoughts.

At the moment, those thoughts were directed a few hundred yards north, where the patchy row of trees that lined the right side of the road thickened into a sizeable grove. It would be a good place to camp for the last time before they reached the mountains, offering both shelter from the heavy winds blowing south from the plains, and a decent supply of firewood. And while Trixie would normally have worried about it being a good spot for an ambush, they were unlikely to encounter highwayponies on a road that, almost literally, lead to nowhere.

Braeburn must have been thinking along the same lines. "Hey, everypony, maybe we should call it a day when we reach those trees up ahead. We could probably get to the plains tonight, but I don't think any of us wants to sleep out in the open like that if we don’t have to."

"But we could cover a lot more ground before it gets dark," Gilda pleaded, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Yeah, but these cloaks and blankets we bought ain't gonna do us much good out on the plains," the Earth pony argued. "You have any idea how hard the wind blows out there?"

"Can't be much worse than the winds at the top of a feathering mountain," Gilda fired back. "You know, where griffons spend about half their lives?"

"Well, last time I checked, me and Trixie ain't griffons."

Trixie let their bickering go on a bit longer. She didn’t relish the thought of listening to them argue for the rest of the trip, but the tension between them would make it easier for her to play them off of one another when the time came. Once again, though, she found herself agreeing with Braeburn. They would easily reach the mountains by the next night no matter when they camped; there was no reason to push on and endure a desperately uncomfortable night on the open plain. After a couple of minutes of listening to her companions' increasingly foalish arguments, she interjected.

"Trixie says we should stop for the night at the grove. We’ll make it to the mountains tomorrow either way. There’s no reason not to be comfortable tonight.”

At once, Gilda’s attention was off of Braeburn and focused on Trixie. “Are you seriously gonna take his side again?” she demanded.

“It’s not about taking anypony’s side,” Trixie replied, taking pains to keep her own temper in check. “It’s about doing what makes the most sense. Why spend a horrible night sleeping on an open plain when we don’t have to?”

“I swear!” Gilda said, her wings flaring out in a way that momentarily made Trixie wonder if a fight was going to break out, “ponies are the absolute lamest thing ever!” The last word escaped her beak in a cry of frustration as the griffon shot up into the air. The skies above them were largely clear, and Trixie watched Gilda carefully as she circled overhead, still not convinced that her strongest ally was not about to attack her. After a few seconds, though, Gilda took off in the opposite direction of the grove, quickly shrinking to a distant dot in the sky.

“S-should we chase her down?” Braeburn finally asked.

“No,” Trixie said. “Trixie has a feeling she’ll be back before too long.”

“You sure about that? She seemed pretty put out this time.”

“Trixie is sure,” the unicorn said, turning to continue on toward the grove. “She’s acting out like this because she’s thinking about the friend she lost. We’re her best chance to get that friend back, so she’s not going to abandon us. Just give her some room, and she’ll work it out on her own.”

“Yeah, she seems to be doin’ a great job workin’ it out on her own so far,” Braeburn said, casting one last look back before trotting off to catch up with Trixie.

“Why Braeburn,” the unicorn said, “was that sarcasm?”

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Braeburn said sheepishly. “Seems like Gilda just knows how to push my buttons.”

“Don’t apologize,” Trixie said, smiling back over her shoulder at the Earth pony, “Trixie was just starting to like you. Now let’s go set up camp.”

***

“The good news is, all this wood is nice and dry, so startin’ a fire won’t be no problem at all.”
Braeburn crouched down and started working with the flint and steel he had picked up at the general store earlier that day, as Trixie watched on from the opposite side of the fire pit they had built.

“What’s the bad news?” she asked.

“Most of our food was in the bags Gilda was carryin’,” Braeburn said, without looking up from his task.

“That stupid bird,” Trixie sighed.

“I don’t think griffons like bein’ called ‘birds’,” Braeburn said matter-of-factly, as a couple of sparks shot from between his hooves into the kindling.

“I know that,” Trixie said with a sigh. “I was trying to—oh, never mind. Do we have anything to eat?”

“Well, I have the oats that were gonna be our breakfast tomorrow, but that’s it.”

“Then that will have to do,” Trixie said, using her telekinesis to pull a small pot and canteen out of her own bag, and levitating them over to the fire pit.

“Not so fast,” Braeburn said. “What I was about to say is that I may be able to find somethin’ else for us to eat nearby. It won’t be much, maybe just some berries or flowers at most, but it’ll get us by in case Gilda doesn’t come back tonight. That way, we can still have the oats for breakfast.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Trixie asked.

“I’d say I was waitin’ on you to ask nicely, but I know that ain’t gonna happen.” He grumbled as he gave the flint and steel an annoyed look. “I never was much good with these things.”

“Stand back,” Trixie said. Braeburn looked up just in time to see her horn glowing, and jumped away from the pit as the kindling erupted into magical flames. Within seconds, there was a roaring fire between them.

“Why didn’t you just do that from the beginning?” Braeburn demanded.

“For the same reason we aren’t sleeping on the plains tonight. Trixie never expends unnecessary effort.”

“But you let me expend unnecessary bits buyin’ this useless thing!” Braeburn said indignantly, indicating the fire striker he had just been using.

“That wasn’t unnecessary at all,” the unicorn said with a laugh. “Trixie found it quite amusing.”

Braeburn got up from the fire and tossed the flint and steel back into his bag. “I’ll be back with dinner,” he mumbled as he plodded off from the campsite.

With both of her companions gone, Trixie used the last of the day’s light to finish setting up the camp. While it was work she did regularly out of necessity when touring with her stage show, she had never much cared for it. She had always viewed her performances, ultimately, as a means of escaping from a life filled with mundane chores. Still, she found a certain peace as she laid out her bedroll next to the fire and organized the cooking utensils so they could quickly prepare whatever Braeburn brought back. Soon she was so wrapped up in the work that, almost without noticing it, she moved on to preparing a place for Braeburn as well.

That was when it finally occurred to her. If everything went according to her plan, she would soon be free from ever performing such simple tasks again. She would also be free from performing the magic shows that had earned her a cutie mark when she was still just a filly. Of course her run-in with Twilight Sparkle had nearly ended that career already, but Trixie had always assumed that, in time, she would be able to recover and get back to making a living off of her performances. She had become so consumed with acquiring the power to defeat and humiliate Twilight that she had never really stopped to think about all the ways it would actually change her life. For a moment, the lie she had told Braeburn earlier about only wishing for enough power to have a fair fight with Twilight started to sound appealing.

All at once, Trixie was filled with the urge to knock over the camp she had spent the last few minutes erecting. She was on the verge of becoming the most powerful unicorn in the history of Equestria, and here she was fussing around her camp like a good little housewife, getting nostalgic about doing magic shows for gullible idiots! With a disgusted snort, she dropped what she was doing and threw herself down on her own bedroll.

“Don’t be stupid, Trixie,” she hissed at herself.

“How amusing,” came an unexpected reply from behind her. “I was just about to say the same thing.”

***

“So, you foals were able to track us after all,” Trixie said, trying to sound calm despite facing down the entirety of Mother Darkstar’s coven with nopony to back her up. “Trixie really didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to attack us before we reached the Wishing Stone.”

“We couldn’t risk you being caught by the Royal Guard before you could lead us there,” Darkstar replied. “And since it appears you’ve managed to run off both of your friends, I suggest you cooperate with us.”

“How did you know the Guard was after us?” Trixie demanded through clenched teeth. Despite her overflowing pride, she knew that she had no chance of winning a fight against the entire coven by herself. The best she could hope for was bluffing them until Braeburn returned, but even then she doubted the Earth pony would be of much use. Earth ponies had a tendency not to be terribly helpful in unicorn fights.

“You and your griffon friend led one of them right to our sanctuary,” Darkstar explained. “At first we thought the Princess of Lies had finally sent her corrupt forces against us, but after interrogating him, we found out that he was really after you.”

Trixie’s thoughts immediately returned to the guard who had chased her and Gilda the night they escaped from the Dragon’s Breath. The idiot must have kept up the chase even after they had escaped from him. Trying to push away the thought that an innocent pony who was just doing his job had had to go through one of Mother Darkstar’s interrogations because of her, she laughed theatrically at the high priestess.

“That must have been incredibly disappointing for you,” Trixie said. “Just when you thought you had finally rated a little attention from Princess Celestia, you found out it’s really The Great and Powerful Trixie that she’s after!”

The unicorns’ horns began to glow in unison, and Trixie’s followed suit. “You can come along quietly,” Darkstar said, her tone still even but clearly hostile, “or we can make it exquisitely painful. It makes no difference to us.”

Once more, Trixie weighed her options. Braeburn probably wasn’t far away, but the moment she called for him, the coven would attack her. Even if she put up a fight in the hopes that the noise would get him to return to the campsite, she couldn’t ignore how badly his last encounter with these ponies had gone. Loath as she was to allow herself to be captured, she saw no solution to her predicament other than to play along until she found a way to escape.

“Fine,” she said, dropping her head with a resigned sigh, “Trixie will come quietly. For now.”

“Thank you, Trixie,” Void Nightshade said, finally breaking her silence. “I really didn’t want to—”

“Quiet, Nightshade,” Mother Darkstar snapped. “If not for your poor judgment, we would not have found ourselves in this situation to begin with. Now let us not waste any more time.”

***

Within moments, Trixie was in what had to have been one of the three most unpleasant predicaments of her entire life. Two of the unicorns from the coven cast binding spells on her, one to shackle her legs and ensure she would not get far if she tried to run; another to hold her mouth shut so that she would only be able to speak when Mother Darkstar wanted her to. The greatest indignity, though, was the inhibitor device they had placed on her horn to prevent her from casting spells. Trixie knew that it was illegal for anypony outside of the Royal Guard to possess magical inhibitors, and surmised that they had stolen it from the unfortunate pony they had “interrogated”.

Keeping her rage under control required all of Trixie's focus. She needed to formulate an escape plan, but all she could think about was how Mother Darkstar was on the verge of replacing Twilight Sparkle as her most hated pony in all of Equestria. Twilight was at least a legitimately great magic user. Darkstar, from what Trixie had observed, was a pompous fraud who relied on her underlings to do most of her spell-casting for her.

Then there were the sorrowful little looks Void Nightshade kept giving Trixie when she thought nopony was watching. Void appeared truly saddened by what her coven had done to her former friend, but that only made Trixie despise her more. The pegasus was already delusional, believing that Nightmare Moon hadn't really been reformed, and that her unknown little coven would one day help to usher in the eternal night Princess Luna had fought for before being reconciled with her sister. Worse than that, though, she clearly disliked the methods of her new leader, but lacked the courage to stand up to her.

The procession walked on in silence, eventually exiting the grove. At once, the winds began to pick up, and Trixie realized what a rough night she had ahead of her. If the coven planned on walking until sunrise, they would be facing the chill winds of the plains in the dead of night, a worst-case scenario. In an effort to distract herself from her increasingly hopeless situation, Trixie looked up to the night sky. There was not a cloud in sight, and the northern stars glittered above her. Their beauty might have been enough to touch even her cynical heart, if not for her captivity.

That was when she noticed something peculiar. Occasionally, she would lose sight of a few of the stars for a moment, as if a shadow were passing between them and her line of sight. At first she thought it was merely an optical illusion, but when it happened again and again, she had to accept that there was more to it than that. Not only that, the black spot seemed to be moving in a pattern. Something was flying around above them, and it seemed to Trixie that it was looking for an opening.

As quickly as it had appeared, the form vanished behind her, to the south. Trixie dared not look, for fear of drawing attention to whatever it had been. But when she heard a faint rustling in the grass far behind her, she began to realize what was happening.

Gilda came first, out of the sky, colliding with the unicorn immediately behind Trixie with a force that sent the pony tumbling through the tall grass. From the yelp of pain she gave, Trixie knew the griffon’s attack had broken at least one bone. She also knew that this pony was the one binding her legs, as the glow of magical energy surrounding them vanished at once. Trixie turned just in time to witness the second prong of the attack, already underway. Another of the unicorns lay helplessly hogtied on the ground behind them, and Braeburn had another lasso around the neck of a second.

Her hooves freed, Trixie's first instinct was to remove the magic inhibitor from her horn, but she knew that would be futile; the device had been locked in place, and Trixie had seen Darkstar pocket the key. All around her, the remaining unicorns, confused and scared, were firing magic bolts blindly into the dark in hopes of hitting Gilda. Still unable to speak or cast spells, Trixie knew there was only one way she could aid in her own escape. Quickly surveying the fight for an opening, she saw that Void had cast off her cloak and unfurled her wings. She was going to take to the air to attack Gilda. Trixie couldn't allow that happen if her side was to maintain its advantage. With an uncharacteristic physicality, the illusionist propelled herself at the pegasus, turning at the last second to deliver the most powerful buck she could muster directly into Void's right wing. Void collapsed with a shriek, and lay gasping for breath at Trixie’s hooves.

For a moment, Trixie stood over her vanquished adversary smiling her self-satisfied little smile. However, when Void, her face twisted in pain, failed to even return the gaze, Trixie's triumphalism quickly faded. Her mouth was still bound, but she was able to mumble something that sounded like "I'm sorry" before turning and running to find another opponent. She knew that she would lose her will to fight if she let the reality of what she had just done to the pony who was once her only true friend set in.

As it happened, there were not many opponents left. Gilda was on the ground now, lashing out viciously with her talons at two of the three unicorns who had not already fallen to her raw power or Braeburn's rodeo tricks. Braeburn, to Trixie's great surprise, was busy running circles around Mother Darkstar herself, presumably keeping her distracted until Gilda could help him deal with her. As Trixie closed on the scene, one of the unicorns fighting Gilda got too close, and caught a talon strike across the left side of her neck. She went down, hard, and Trixie realized she was able to speak again.

"Gilda, " she called, "help Braeburn!" With a nod, the griffon was off, and Trixie rushed to replace her. For a moment, the two unicorns circled each other, then Trixie smiled again.

"It's just you and your mommy left," Trixie said. "And Gilda will probably have her beaten into submission in the next few seconds. Trixie won't think less of you if you want to run back to your wealthy Canterlot family and beg for their forgiveness before the same happens to you."

The unicorn eyed her for a moment, then grimaced shamefully as she turned and galloped back toward the grove as fast as her hooves would carry her. "Trixie doesn't think less of you," she called after the fleeing pony, "because she couldn't!"

When Trixie turned her attention back to the last remaining fight, she started to wonder if she had underestimated Darkstar’s magical abilities. The cloaked unicorn was still holding Gilda and Braeburn at bay with occasional bolts of magical energy, and appeared to have cast a defensive barrier around herself as well. It was unlikely that she could keep that kind of magical dual-wielding up for long, but if she realized she was cornered, with nopony left to come to her aid, she might do something really dangerous.

As she joined the fray, Trixie saw Braeburn trying to flank Darkstar while Gilda feinted at her to give him an opening. Knowing that their attacks would be useless as long as the magical barrier stood, Trixie decided to try something that she knew should have occurred to her immediately upon seeing Darkstar cast the spell. Finding a small, sharp rock on the ground, she picked it up and flung it in Darkstar’s direction. It arced through the crisp night air...and slipped right through the barrier to bounce off of Darkstar’s flank.

“What the—” Darkstar yelped in surprise, instinctively bucking at the new threat.

“The barrier is an illusion!” Trixie called to her companions. “Get her!”

Braeburn and Gilda wasted no time taking the opening. A lasso flew through the air, wrapping tightly around Darkstar’s neck while Gilda threw herself across the small distance to tackle the unicorn, grabbing her horn in both of her powerful talons.

“Make another move,” Gilda growled, “and I’ll break your stupid little horn in half.”

“It’s over, Gilda,” Trixie said, approaching carefully just in case Darkstar was perpetrating a final, desperate ruse. “Darkstar, where’s the key to this inhibitor?”

“In the inner pocket of my cloak,” she said resignedly. Trixie gingerly reached into the robe and quickly found the object she was seeking. A second later, she was free from the device, which she continued to hold in a free hoof.

“So what now?” Darkstar asked.

“Now,” Trixie said, “Trixie is going to make sure you can’t bother us for the rest of our trip.” She approached Darkstar with a wicked smile, and Braeburn’s eyes widened.

“Trixie, you ain’t gonna—”

“Step away from her, Gilda!” Trixie demanded, standing over the helpless unicorn’s head. Even Gilda looked somewhat unsure, but released her grip on Darkstar. Trixie reared up on her hind legs and laughed triumphantly, her own horn crackling with magical energy. Braeburn turned away in disgust, and Darkstar screamed with mortal terror as the unicorn’s blue hooves crashed down...and locked the inhibitor around her horn.

“Wasn’t that a little dramatic?” Gilda asked angrily as Trixie locked the device in place, a note of relief underlying her sarcastic tone.

“Trixie is a consummate showmare,” the unicorn said proudly. “What do you expect?”

“I...I knew you couldn’t really...” Braeburn was unable to even finish the thought as he came forward to finish tying up Darkstar.

“Next we’re going to bandage up the unicorns that Gilda was fighting,” Trixie said, looking at the griffon and adding, “And you thought Trixie was going to kill somepony.”

“Eh, I was pullin’ my punches,” Gilda said, proudly surveying the unicorns who had fallen to her attacks. “They’ll have a few scars, but they’ll know never to cross a griffon again.”

“We ain’t far from the camp,” Braeburn said. “I’ll run back and get supplies to tend to them.” As the Earth pony galloped back toward the grove, Trixie turned back to Gilda.

“So how did you know I was in trouble?” Trixie asked.

“When I flew off earlier, I was just blowing off some steam,” Gilda said, “but then I saw the coven a mile or so back up the road. I knew you and Braeburn were gonna need my help, but I didn’t want to attack them in the forest. Not enough room for me to maneuver. So I waited to see if you came out. When you did, I went back and told Braeburn what had happened, and you saw the rest.”

“The guard may not be far behind,” Trixie said. “The pony who chased us out of Porter’s tavern showed up at their sanctuary just after we left. They were...a little more successful interrogating him.”

“Great. How long do you think we have before they show up?”

“I don’t know, but there’s one way to find out,” Trixie said. She walked over to where Void still lay on the ground nursing the wound Trixie had inflicted.

“Void,” Trixie said, “whatever you think of me now, I need you to tell me something.”

“You broke my wing,” Void choked. She was obviously in intense pain, emotional as well as physical.

“You didn’t leave me much choice,” Trixie said. “This is the second time this week your friends have tried to take me prisoner.”

“What do you want to know?” the pegasus asked sullenly, refusing to make eye contact with Trixie.

“What did that guard tell you? Do they have any idea where to find us?”

“The one we caught was alone, so I don’t really know. But when Mother Darkstar told him you were after the Wishing Stone, he didn’t seem to know what she was talking about.”

“Great. Our secret’s out,” Gilda said. “Looks like we don’t have any more time to waste.”

“Did you leave him alive?” Trixie asked, ignoring Gilda’s pessimism.

“Of course we did,” Void said. “We aren’t killers, for Luna’s sake.”

“You may not be, but I’m not so sure about your leader,” Trixie said. “Anyway, once he tells his superiors about what happened, they’ll have a pretty good idea of where to find us. But that will probably take at least a couple of days to work its way up the chain of command to somepony who officially knows that the Wishing Stone exists. We’ll be in the Crystal Mountains by that time.”

“So what do we do with all these dweebs?” Gilda said, waving a wing at the scene of the fight.

“We let all of them go,” Trixie said. “They’re mostly a bunch of harmless kids pretending Nightmare Moon still exists to scare their parents.”

“I’m right here,” Void said with a combination of sadness and indignation.

Trixie ignored her and continued. “Darkstar is the only really dangerous one. So we have Braeburn tie her up, leave her enough food to last for a few days, and let the Guard pick her up when they come by looking for us.”

“Braeburn’s back,” Gilda said as the Earth pony came galloping out of the grove. “I guess I should go help him.” With a sheepish grin, she added, “I mean, I did mess a couple of those ponies up pretty bad. But hey, at least I’m feeling a lot better now!”

“Great to know,” Trixie said, rolling her eyes.

As soon as Gilda was out of earshot, Trixie turned back to Void. “Look, I’m—”

“You don’t have to say it again,” Void admonished her. “I meant it when I said I didn’t want to come after you.”

“I know. Just...tell me you’re done with all this,” Trixie said.

Void sat there, looking almost heartbroken. “I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it right now. But I’m going to find somepony from the Guard and let them know where Mother Darkstar is. I hated what she was doing, but...I can’t just leave her out here. Really, you have no way of knowing how long it will be before other guards pass by.”

“At least let us bandage your wing up before you leave,” Trixie offered.

“You’d probably just make it worse,” Void said, almost managing a smile. “I’ll get help as soon as I get back to a town.”

“Good luck,” Trixie said.

“Yeah,” Void said, looking back over her shoulder. “Good luck with...whatever it is you’re trying to do.”

As Trixie watched her leave, she thought about Mother Darkstar, how many ponies had been hurt by her quest for power. For the second time that day, she tried to fight off her creeping doubts, replaying the memories of her confrontation with Twilight Sparkle in a desperate attempt to stoke the flames of her desire for revenge.

Comments

[Ms_Fruit_Bat]

Wow....that is so bucking awesome...

[Blue_Paladin42]

Only one comment in a week?
But this is good stuff!

Seems that SOMEPONY is starting to wonder about her motivations.
Oh Trixie, what are we gonna do with you?

Also, triple badasses, and not one shot of magic fired between them. Hay yeah!

[Yoshifan30]

“Don’t worry, Braeburn,” Trixie said, hoping the Earth pony didn’t pick up on the little tremor of anger than ran through her every time she thought of Twilight Sparkle. “Like I said, I just want a rematch. Yes, I’m going to make my magic more powerful. But it wouldn’t prove anything if I just turned myself into an alicorn and crushed her, now would it?”

Well she was close because once we saw her and season 3 she had the Alicorn Amulet yikes

[Yoshifan30]

By sundown, the trio was on a road leading them beyond the last vestiges of civilization before they reached the windy, open plains that lay just south of the Crystal Mountains. None of them had spoken much since they left Manehattan, which suited Trixie just fine. She had traveled by herself for most of her adult life, and was used to the sound of her hoofsteps being accompanied by nothing other than her own thoughts.

Hmm it's too bad the Crystal Empire and yakyakistan doesn't exist until later seasons and a couple of months until Crystal Empire comes to the mix or they could have rested over there but again doesn't exist not yet at least

[Yoshifan30]

"Can't be much worse than the winds at the top of a feathering mountain ," Gilda fired back. "You know, where griffons spend about half their lives?"

You are very close because Griffin Stone do live in the mountains and they are nearby the most dangerous Cliffs when it's so windy

[Yoshifan30]

Well it looks like they got themselves to the forest and they want to decide to stay and camp for the night Gilda says to keep going but she was outnumbered basically frustrated she fly around and Braeburn was looking for any food or Woods leaving Trixie by herself and what makes things worse is now the cult found her annoying to the fact that she was outnumbered and out powered she has no choice to give up but it looks like both of them came to the rescue and finally defeating the colt and it looks like Trixie's starting to think about this whole situation maybe she can turn this around for the better but we know what's going to happen in season 3