“Did you clear that sector?”
“Affirmative. That makes just under three dozen, all counted.”
“The Storm King will be very pleased.”
“Indeed.”
“Ohhhh noooo! The Stooooorm Guaaaaard!”
The two hunched-over figures of the Storm Guard straightened up, heads twisting to locate the sound. They were surrounded by several dozen bent-over ponies, chained and muzzled, and the only sounds they were making was a quiet sort of weeping. The other Storm Guards similarly twisted in place as they rapidly scanned the town square which they had turned into their base of operations. Pony towns had been easy enough to enslave; once Canterlot fell and the Princesses were captured, there was very little they could do to resist.
Except for these two, apparently, who were posing dramatically in a small alleyway.
“You two!” barked the leader, a Storm Guard Lieutenant. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, please don’t hurt us!” the blue one sobbed, leaning against the alleyway wall in a dramatic pose. “We don’t want to be enslaved!”
“No! Slavery is so very bad, and terrible! We cannot bear to be confined!” the lavender one wailed, drawing her foreleg over her eyes, careful not to dislodge the fashionably small chapeau she wore.
“Get them.” the lieutenant commanded with an eye roll, pointing one brutish finger down the alleyway. As his troops tromped off to fulfil his wishes, he climbed aboard the wagon, now pulled by chained ponies instead of his own troops. “If we go quickly, we can make it to the capital by nightfall. Providing that these stupid little ponies can -”
But what they could do, the world would never know; because suddenly, the air was filled with the sounds of rope pulling taut, and the panicked screams of his men. As he whipped his head around to look toward the alleyway, the lieutenant caught sight of the two ponies galloping into the town square, ripping off their fashionably-tiny hats to reveal unicorn horns.
“Ha! Your hubris will prove to be your undoing, foul Storm Guard Leader!” laughed the blue one, as she twirled in place and produced a spangled hat and cape. “For you were not prepared for the Astounding Teamwork of the Great And Powerful Trrrrrrrrrrixie, and her Magnificent Best Friend, Starlight Glimmer!”
“You’ll never conquer Equestria, because the power of friendship will defeat evil, every time!” Starlight Glimmer crowed, and with a wave of her horn, the chains that had trapped the townsfolk fell away, clattering to the ground. As their weeping turned to cries of surprise and joy, the townsfolk began to scatter.
“Grubleg!” the Storm Lieutenant barked, twisting to find his second in command. The sub lieutenant had much the same thought, and was already pulling out the magic-proof chains from their box; but before he could toss them to the lieutenant, a flying barrel crashed into him, scattering its contents all over the town square.
“If the power of friendship will not defeat you, perhaps the Power of Incredible Violence will!” cackled the blue one, and lifted another barrel over her head with her glowing magic. “Care to pick up those chains, lieutenant?”
The lieutenant considered her for a moment, then lifted his arms above his head with a girlish scream, and took off running. He didn’t quit running until he was scooped up in the barrel and tossed into the river, where he began floating downstream, still screaming.
Trixie and Starlight Glimmer whooped and hollered in excitement, bouncing in circles around one another.
“We did it! Did you see his face?” Starlight Glimmer laughed.
“I bet he’s still screaming! ‘Ohhhh noooo, heeeeelp meeee!’” Trixie agreed, kicking up her heels. “You were amazing! You pulled that net tight at just the right moment!”
“You were pretty great yourself!” Starlight Glimmer laughed, her cheeks a little pinker as she came to a halt. “Oh! Uh - hello!”
She hadn’t noticed, but as they frolicked, the frightened villagers had slowly trickled in around them, watching them prance. “Don’t be afraid! We’re here to rescue you!”
“Corrrrrrect!” Trixie announced as she came to a halt, already sliding expertly into her favorite theatrical pose. “We are The Great and Powerful Trixie, and her Magnificent Best Friend Starlight Glimmer!” A beat. “In case you missed our introduction before.”
“But, uh, just Trixie and Starlight is fine!” Starlight Glimmer added quickly, offering them a comforting smile. “We’re from Ponyville, and we’re here to get you to safety. Is everyone able to walk?”
“Did you have to ask if they’re able to - urrghhh - walk?” Trixie groaned, pulling her wagon up the sharp hill to the south of the town.
“Sorry, Trixie. I didn’t realize how many little foals they had.” Starlight Glimmer groaned in agreement, flexing her hind legs as she worked to pull the wagon alongside her friend. “Or big foals.” she added in an undertone, making Trixie snort.
“Well, I guess there are some less glamorous tasks, when it comes to being the kind of hero that ponies will soon write folklore about. Epic poems don’t come without a little sweat, you know!” Trixie lifted her head proudly, until Starlight chuckled. “What? I think we’re heroes! Don’t you?”
“The folklore seems like a little bit of a stretch.” Starlight Glimmer grinned, and took a quick glance over her shoulder, glancing at the line of ponies that followed behind the wagon, weary and frightened. “I guess we are living in unprecedented times, though. I never thought I would live to see Canterlot fall.”
“I wonder what happened to Princess Celestia, that she hasn’t set this right yet? Or Twilight Sparkle? They’re probably just locked up somewhere … right? With those magic chains?” Trixie’s voice had lost its boastful timbre, and shifted to the smaller, less certain tone that only Starlight Glimmer got to hear. “They’ll come and fix this, won’t they?”
“Well, until they do, we need to keep getting ponies to safety.” Starlight Glimmer reassured her gently, and when Trixie dropped her eyes away, she gave her a little shoulder-bump. “Hey. It’ll be okay, Trix. So long as we’re together, we’ll figure it out.”
That cheered up Trixie, and she returned Starlight Glimmer’s shoulder bump, enthusiastic enough that it made her lavender companion stumble a little. “You always know just the right thing to make me feel Great and Powerful again, Starlight.”
Starlight Glimmer colored, and she turned her face away, so Trixie couldn’t see. “W-Well, what are friends for?”
“Best friends!” Trixie agreed brightly, and picked up her pace again, trotting happily up the hill, leaving Starlight Glimmer to scramble to keep up.
“Thank you again for all of your help, Chief Thunderhooves. We are eternally grateful.”
“Of course, Starlight Glimmer. Many of our kind have been taken by these brutal Storm Guards as well; it was only thanks to our ancestral caves that some of our tribe were able to avoid detection. We are honored to be able to shelter some of your kind here as well.” The massive buffalo chief lowered his head to Starlight Glimmer in kind, mirroring her bow. “I only hope that we will be able to discover a way to defeat these cruel invaders.”
“If we can find enough ponies who haven’t been captured yet, we might be able to form our own army, trap the Storm Guard in Canterlot, and wear them down through a siege. It’ll be long and brutal, but Canterlot requires supplies from many different places in Equestria; it’ll be easy to cut off their supply line and starve them out.”
Trixie and Chief Thunderhooves eyed Starlight Glimmer.
“I, uh, do a lot of historical reading.” Starlight Glimmer muttered, turning red.
“Fear not, brave Chief Thunderhooves! Starlight Glimmer is the sharpest mind I know. I am honored to serve at her side in these noble rescue efforts.” Trixie interjected proudly, which was the only way she knew how to interject, and Starlight Glimmer felt her face warming again.
“We are lucky to have both of you working to save Equestria.” Chief Thunderhooves nodded to the pair, and turned away to return to his herd, now bolstered with an entire town full of ponies. “You may hide your wagon in the leeward side of the mountain, if you wish; there is much brush there to obscure it. We have beds for you here.”
“That’s very gracious of you Chief, but the Great and Powerful Trixie sleeps with her wagon.” Trixie bowed dramatically to the buffalo leader, then turned, swirling her cape theatrically as she exited the cave.
“Yeah, I’ll - I’ll sleep with the - the Great and - her wagon too.” Starlight Glimmer stumbled over herself a little, and rapidly trotted after Trixie, her face burning. Luckily, the night air was cold out in the desert, and she cooled back down by the time they got the wagon settled in the brush. There was a small clearing, just large enough for two ponies to roll out their bedrolls, and Starlight Glimmer could have almost believed that they were merely on another tour around Equestria, instead of on the run.
They sat in the dark for some time, staring up at the stars, lost in their own thoughts. Starlight Glimmer kept coming back to certain uncomfortable memories, several of them from that very day, and ran her hooves over her blanket to try and distract herself.
“Glimmy?”
“Huh?” Starlight Glimmer responded, too quickly, and gave an uncomfortable little cough. “Y-Yeah?”
“Do you think we’ll be able to do this without Twilight Sparkle?”
Starlight Glimmer released a relieved sigh, but kept her eyes locked solidly on the night sky when Trixie looked over at her in confusion. “I think so. We have to proceed as if she isn’t coming back, and hopefully when she comes to save the day, it will be made easier if we’ve been doing our best to fix things on our own. If we can distract the troops with the raids, then they won’t be able to focus the fight on her when she gets back. Right?”
Trixie sighed deeply, and Starlight could hear her rolling over in her blankets. “You’re right, Glimmy. You’ve got this all figured out.”
Starlight Glimmer snorted softly to herself. “I wish.” She was quiet for a moment, a question building inside of her, until she couldn’t stand it anymore. “Trixie?”
“Mm-hmm?” Trixie hummed sleepily, but rolled over to face her, eyelids drooping.
“I - do you -” Starlight Glimmer began, face heating up rapidly as she met the sleepy Trixie’s gaze, so trusting and gentle when she got dozy like this. “Do you ever - I mean, when we - Do you have any more of that flapjack mix left for breakfast tomorrow?”
Trixie blinked at Starlight, and had to take a moment to process the rapid fire question before she laughed. “Sure, Glimmy. I think we got some left. I’ll check tomorrow. Is that it?”
“Yeah,” replied the defeated Starlight Glimmer as she plopped her head back onto the pillow, “that’s it.”
“Okay. G’night, Glimmy.”
“Good night, Trixie.” Starlight Glimmer sighed.
The next day dawned, too early as ever; but they all did, nowadays. You had to be ready for an attack at any time, and leaving up protective spells overnight often left them drained the next day. So they had to go old-school, hiding their wagon in brush, climbing into trees to sleep, waking up before dawn, the works.
They left Chief Thunderhooves after a quick breakfast, loaded down with all of the supplies that the Chief and his herd could spare. It wasn’t a lot, but it was appreciated; it wasn’t like they could stop by the market in Appaloosa. Their trip that day was a long one, made longer because they couldn’t take the main roads. There was another small village up ahead, one that should be well ahead of the Storm Guard’s advance, one they hoped they could evacuate without the need for a lot of conflict. Trixie knew they needed to rescue the ponies, but Starlight Glimmer had explained that without the slave labor that the Storm King would extract from them, his army would be considerably weakened when it came to the inevitable battle with Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony. (“... And because we need to rescue the ponies, of course,” Starlight Glimmer had added hastily.)
They hid the wagon a few miles away from town, and approached with extreme caution. They’d grown used to the Storm King’s army’s warning signs over the past weeks, as short of a time as it was. There would usually be signs of the road being tromped down by many feet, and deep tracks where their wagon wheels had ground into the dirt. They also favored fruit, and they’d leave peels and other waste along the roads they passed over. This road held no sign of any army approaching at all, and so while Trixie and Starlight Glimmer approached cautiously, it seemed to be for naught.
Still, the town was eerily quiet when they entered; there should have been foals playing, or markets bustling, or something.
“Something is wrong,” Starlight Glimmer murmured, her eyes darting from window to window. “Someone should be here.”
“Maybe they all went on vacation?” Trixie suggested hopefully, and when Starlight’s mood didn’t lift, she spoke a little more seriously. “Maybe the Storm King already came through here. Maybe we’re too late.”
“But we would have seen signs of the struggle, or the army,” Starlight Glimmer muttered, slowing as they crossed a broad plaza, made all the wider for how empty it was. “It’s almost too perfect, like - Trixie, RUN!”
But it was too late; by the time Starlight Glimmer realized what it must be, the net was thrown over them, trapping the pair tightly within. Starlight Glimmer fought ferociously, but her horn fizzled and sparked before it went dark. “Magic proof rope! Trixie - we have to get out!”
“I’ll chew my way out!” Trixie roared, her voice already muffled as her mouth was full of rope.
A group of Storm Guards rushed at them from the shadowed alleyways, quickly clamping the harsh, magic-proof chains around their hooves and horns.
“No!” Starlight Glimmer cried, thrashing in their harsh, simian grips. “You can’t! You - can’t!”
“You’ve been a thorn in our sides for some time,” growled an unfamiliar voice, “Starlight Glimmer.”
The Storm Guard that emerged from the shadows was larger, stood more upright, and had a cruel scar over his left eye. He wore a different color on his shoulder to indicate his higher rank, Starlight Glimmer assumed. “The Storm King had to send me personally to capture you two, and the Storm King can always count on his captain.”
“Mrrghph! Mrrph!!” Trixie snarled, her mouth still full of rope.
“Take them away,” the Storm Captain sneered, waving his hand idly as the Storm Guard grabbed a hold of the chains, and began dragging the pair away together. “No - take the purple one with the townsfolk. We’ll take the blue one with us. Keeping them at the same labor camp is just begging for an uprising. The Storm King will deal with their punishments personally.”
“NO!” Starlight Glimmer howled, twisting in their grips so fiercely it drove the massive Storm Guards to their knees trying to hold onto her. “You can’t! You - You can’t take Trixie away from me!” She scrambled on the cobblestones, scraping her knees and elbows as she fought to stay next to Trixie. “Please! I’ll do anything - don’t take her away!”
The Storm Captain was smirking as he slowly turned back to look at the pair, the purple one’s expression twisted especially with agony. “How embarrassing.”
“Please, I beg of you. I’ll - I’ll be quiet, I’ll do whatever you want, just - just don’t hurt her. Don’t separate us.” Starlight Glimmer’s humiliation was pushed so far into the back of her mind that she hardly even heard the words she babbled. Something had to make him listen, there had to be something to keep this from happening.
Trixie was looking back and forth between Starlight Glimmer and the Storm Captain rapidly, trying to gauge her play. “Yeah! Don’t split us up!!” she agreed, although her voice wasn’t twisted with the same heartbreak that Starlight’s was.
The Storm Captain watched for a moment, then rolled his eyes, waving a hand dismissively at their handlers. “Let them say goodbye, then, if it will keep the weeping to a minimum on the ride to the labor camp. Prepare my carriage.”
The tears burned hot where they suddenly broke through, and Starlight Glimmer’s body went slack as she wailed. Her head dropped, and it wasn’t until a soft hoof slowly lifted it up that she opened her eyes again.
“It’ll be okay, Glimmy. Don’t cry.” Trixie’s voice was soft, and Starlight could see that she’d accepted, at last, that they had lost. There were tears there, too, but she had swallowed them back for Starlight’s sake. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Tr - Trixie, I don’t - if I don’t - if I don’t see you again, you have to know. You have to!” Starlight Glimmer choked out, fighting to regain control of herself. It was hard, with her hooves chained and her heart breaking, but she managed to get her legs under herself. “I love you, Trixie. I love you so much.”
Trixie’s eyes lit with sudden recognition, and she offered Starlight Glimmer a tiny wink. “Oh! A Romantic Declaration?! How unexpected! How astounding! You cannot chain and enslave and separate Two Fated Lovers! The cruelty would be - astounding, even for you, foul villains!” Trixie proclaimed theatrically, enunciating and projecting for a crowd, gesturing with her chains.
“No - no, Trixie, this isn’t a gambit!” Starlight Glimmer insisted, and she reached out, grabbing her chained hooves with her own.
“True Love can never be a mere gambit, Starlight Glimmer!” Trixie intoned dramatically, tossing her mane despite the chains.
“Listen to me! I - I love you!” Starlight Glimmer gasped, and considered her warm grin for a split second before she reached up with both hooves to grab Trixie’s face and drag her into a kiss.
Her mouth was so soft, and so startled; it was so much softer than she ever could have dreamed of. And warm, too; she hadn’t expected the warmth. She could feel Trixie’s mouth open against hers in surprise, then slowly settle back down, returning the pressure. Something warm was burning inside of Starlight Glimmer, the same warmth she felt on her face whenever Trixie praised her, or shot her one of those special glances, the one that made her feel like they shared a secret. But this warmth felt like it was going to burn her up, and when Trixie opened her mouth to catch Starlight Glimmer’s bottom lip between her own, that warmth exploded into a wildfire that couldn’t be contained by her body alone.
When Starlight Glimmer opened her eyes to pull away, she was no longer in chains; they sat in the center of the square, but the Storm Guard had been knocked back almost thirty feet, and the Storm Captain was struggling to get upright.
“Seize them!” the Storm Captain roared, clearly rattled. “We cannot let them escape!”
“Kiss me again,” Trixie whispered, and something in her voice made shivers break out all over Starlight Glimmer’s coat.
Trixie’s mouth hung open a little the second time Starlight Glimmer moved towards her, anticipating her touch, and Starlight Glimmer could feel the sparks before their lips even met. As she took her turn to capture Trixie’s bottom lip between her own, she felt their horns connect, and this time she was fully aware of the magical shockwave that exploded from their connected bodies.
For a few blissful moments, there was no one else in the world; only Trixie and Starlight, connected in their kiss, their breath intermingling. Slowly, breathing a little harder, Starlight Glimmer pulled back, opening her eyes to look around.
They were no longer surrounded by Storm Guards; they weren’t even in the town. They were in a flowering meadow, somewhere up high, because below them they could see a valley where a tiny village stood in the distance. They could see the road to the village, and even further away, the silhouette of Canterlot on the mountainside.
“Wh … Where are we?” Starlight Glimmer whispered breathlessly, and caught a heavy look from Trixie. “It’s - it’s not on purpose!” she hissed, and cleared her throat, nervously pushing a strand of her mane behind her ear.
“Trixie wasn’t complaining.” Trixie offered, and her slow grin made Starlight Glimmer laugh, breaking some of the nervous tension.
“That was big magic.” Starlight Glimmer added after a moment, and slowly moved her foreleg, so she could lay her hoof over Trixie’s. Trixie moved her hoof in kind, so she could cradle hers. “Those were magic-proof chains.”
“It was.” Trixie agreed, and swallowed, trying to watch Starlight Glimmer from under her eyelashes. “It was the truth, wasn’t it?”
“... do you want it not to be?” Starlight Glimmer was whispering again, but this time it didn’t make Trixie shiver.
“No. Quite the opposite.” Trixie whispered back to her, and gave her hoof a gentle squeeze. “Did you try to tell me yesterday?”
Starlight Glimmer dropped her eyes away from Trixie’s face, but finally gave a small, tight nod. “I wanted … I just wanted to ask if you could ever like me. I thought - love might be too much at first.”
Trixie considered Starlight Glimmer for a moment, then reached out with her free hoof, slowly guiding Starlight’s face back to meet her gaze. “Love isn’t too much. Not if it’s you.”
Starlight Glimmer’s tense mouth curled into a smile, and she sagged visibly as relief flooded her body.
“I love you too, Glimmy.” Trixie murmured, relieved when Starlight’s wide, happy smile returned to her face.
“Really?” Starlight snuffled, rubbing away a few tears that escaped.
“Oh, don’t cry Glimmy! That was horrible - I hated it when you started crying.” Trixie murmured, her brows twisting.
“It’s okay, they’re happy - h-happy tears! Trixie!” Starlight Glimmer gasped, protesting weakly as Trixie leaned close to begin peppering her face with light kisses.
“Mm, it’s my job to kiss away your tears now, isn’t it?” Trixie giggled, peppering even more kisses over her muzzle, her jaw, and up to her forehead. “Because I’m your Grrrreat and Powerrrrful Fillyfrrrriend, -”
“Trrrrrrrixie!” Starlight Glimmer sang out the last word, laughing as Trixie bowled her over, smothering her with kisses. “If you’re not careful, we might make that big magic again and level the mountain!”
“Who cares? Maybe it’ll land on those stinky Storm Guards!” Trixie laughed, and Starlight Glimmer joined her, their laughter mingling in the sweet-scented mountain air.
