> Three Wishes
>  by TimeBaby
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The moment Aurora opened his eyes, he knew that he had made at least one bad decision the night before. If the throbbing headache and parched throat hadn't been enough to confirm that, the tremendous difficulty of moving any part of his body certainly would have. Aurora had drank to excess one or two other times in his life, but the hangover that greeted him that morning was like nothing he had ever experienced before.

With great effort, he rolled over to see that Velvet Blue was still soundly snoring away in the room’s other bed. Soon enough, he would be waking to the same nightmarish pain that assailed Aurora the moment he opened his eyes. The sight of his friend and fellow researcher drunkenly sprawled on the bed brought back the rest of the previous night, slowly at first but with increasing speed and urgency. The unicorn mare who had kept the alcohol flowing was nowhere to be seen. Aurora couldn’t remember when she had disappeared, but he knew now that she hadn’t been looking for a night of debauchery.

That realization did nothing to ease the stabbing pain in Aurora’s head or the queasy feeling in his stomach. She had been pumping them for information on their research—their top secret research, commissioned by Princess Celestia herself—and they had poured it out to her like the bartender poured mug after mug, shot after shot. The thought was too much for Aurora to bear in his weakened state. He quickly grabbed the first object he saw, which he vaguely recognized as one of his saddle bags, and emptied the contents of his stomach into it. While the purge made for a slight improvement in his physical state, it only freed up more of his mental capacity to focus on thoughts of banishment to a distant celestial body.

The noise from Aurora’s vomiting had been enough to finally wake Velvet, who rolled over and let out a long, mournful sound that Aurora thought might have been words.

“I recommend throwing up,” Aurora said, finally sitting upright. “You’re going to anyway, when you realize what happened.”

“Whhappn’d...” moaned his half-comprehending friend. With a sigh, Aurora set about the delicate business of standing up. When he had managed that, he used a bit of magic to levitate a pitcher of water on the nightstand over to Velvet’s bed, which he then upended on the poor, unsuspecting pony.

In a wild thrashing of limbs and yelling of obscenities, Velvet flung himself out of bed and onto the floor at Aurora’s hooves. As soon as the shock passed, the hangover hit, and Velvet groaned loudly as he covered his face with his forehooves.

“What the hay, Aurora...” he finally managed.

“Trixie is gone,” Aurora replied, surprised by how calm he sounded given the gravity of the situation. “And we told her everything we know about the Wishing Stone.”

Downstairs in the dining room, the ponies enjoying their breakfast were treated to a string of swears the likes of which hadn’t been uttered in Equestria since the legendary pirate captain Salty Swagger lost his cherished ship in a Las Pegasus poker match.

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite being hindered by her cart and the rolling hills outside of Fillydelphia, Trixie had made good time getting to her next destination, Hollow Shades. She had expected to have to sleep for the night on the outskirts of the thick woods surrounding the small village, but there was still enough daylight left upon her arrival that navigating the forest didn't seem too dangerous. Even with a light spell, the barely-worn path through the woods was too dangerous at night, providing ample cover for bandits and wild animals. With even a hint of sunlight, though, Trixie felt confident that her magic would offer sufficient protection, should the need arise.

That a pony would need to defend herself was never a bad bet in Hollow Shades. The tree-shrouded village was once a simple community of craftsponies, but its isolated location made it irresistible for outlaws looking for a place to lay low. Gradually, the law abiding citizens left to find homes in safer locations, leaving the thieves and con artists as the town’s primary demographic.

Ironically, this had actually reduced Hollow Shades’ crime rate considerably. Once the town’s population was mainly composed of liars, cheats and criminals, an unspoken code of conduct had arisen. It was as if everypony realized that maintaining the town as a safe haven was a necessity that required a certain degree of restraint on their parts. To be sure, it was far less restraint than one found almost anywhere else in Equestria, but it was still more than one would have expected. Regardless, unrecognized faces couldn't expect safe passage into and out of town, which is why Trixie remained on her guard until she had passed through the forest and into the village without incident. This wasn't her first trip through Hollow Shades, but she was not exactly a regular, either.

She did have friends in town, though—specifically, a gruff old stallion named Porter Stout who was the proprietor of the Dragon’s Breath Tavern. Porter was one of the few regular ponies whose family had stayed in Hollow Shades after the outlaws moved in. They had been running the tavern and a brewery for several generations, and as Porter had explained it to Trixie once, his parents weren't the type to give up easily. Porter, who was if anything even more stubborn than his  ancestors, had stayed and kept the family business going. He may not have been crazy about his clientele, but they did offer a steady income, and most weren't foolish enough to cross a pony as big—and as well connected—as Porter.

Trixie had never been sure what it was that made Porter like her more than his other morally compromised patrons. She was fairly certain it wasn't any kind of romantic interest; at least, if he had ever meant to flirt with her, she hadn't noticed. When they first met, she had treated him with the same arrogance and disdain she displayed when dealing with anypony. However, he had simply laughed off her attitude and welcomed her as he would any other guest. From there, the two of them began to develop a friendship based largely on verbal sparring. That eventually translated into Porter passing along bits of info that he thought might help Trixie in her dual life as a performer and, as she euphemistically put it, “treasure hunter”.

It was the hope of gathering information that had brought her back to Hollow Shades. The clueless unicorn scholars she had drunk under the table in Fillydelphia the night before had dished out far more than she expected to get from them, but she wasn't completely ready to trust their tales of an enchanted gem that could grant wishes. If Princess Celestia was commissioning research on the subject, there had to be something to it, but the fools had been completely sloshed by the time they started giving up the really good stuff. That left Trixie wanting a second opinion. There was no guarantee she would find that in Hollow Shades, but enough information flowed through the place that if anypony not working for Celestia knew about it, Porter probably would have heard.

After triple locking her cart outside the Dragon’s Breath, Trixie headed into the bar. As always, the place was packed with a crowd that crossed just about every racial and national boundary. There were Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, mules, even a solitary—and particularly cross looking—griffon. They were young and old, male and female, upper and lower class. The only race Trixie had never seen in the tavern was the alicorn, but then she only knew three of those to exist, and none struck her as the type to visit such a disreputable location.

Presiding over the noisy crowd from the bar were Porter and his wife Meadow Song. Hollow Shades was one of the few places in Equestria where Trixie didn't go out of her way to make a grand entrance. Nevertheless, Porter spotted her immediately as she walked through the door. His eyes lit up, and a smile spread across his grizzled old face.

“Well, if it isn't the Great and Powerful Trixie!” he called out with a chuckle.

“I've told you before, Porter, make fun of my stage name and I’ll give you a taste of what I gave those rubes in Ponyville!”

Porter laughed as he poured Trixie a pint of cider. If he knew the real story of the Ponyville incident, Trixie hadn't been able to get him to betray it. For the time being, it was enough that he didn't challenge her version of events.

“So what brings a busy unicorn like you all the way out to the Shades?” Porter asked as she took a seat at the bar.

“Porter, you make it sound as if Trixie only visits when she wants something!” she said, taking mock offense.

“Perish the thought.”

“Why, just last night, I was drinking with a couple of unicorns in Fillydelphia, and we were having the nicest conversation about an ancient magical artifact that might have been discovered in the north of Equestria. They certainly didn't think that Trixie was harboring any ulterior motives.”

Porter laughed his hearty old laugh. “At least not until sompony got them to tell everything they knew and stuck 'em with the tab, I’ll bet!”

Trixie gave Porter a wicked little grin. "Now that you mention it, they were awfully eager to tell Trixie all about the work they were doing for Princess Celestia. It was such an interesting story that I thought you might like to hear about it. Perhaps later tonight, after I've had something to eat."

The wary look that Porter gave Trixie brought her no small measure of satisfaction. She had always suspected that the old barkeep thought of her as relatively small-time, almost a hobbyist treasure hunter. Now she had come to him with a plan to steal an artifact right out from under the muzzle of the the most powerful pony in Equestria. She could tell it would take more coaxing than usual to get any information out of him, but she was confident that she would have her way in the end.

"It sounds to me like you've been on the road by yourself too long, Trixie. Why don't you try making some friends?” He indicated the griffon that Trixie had noticed on her way in. “That griffon's been sulking in the corner for three days now. Maybe you can cheer her up."

From anypony else, Trixie would've ignored such idle prattle, but she knew that Porter's small talk often carried a deeper meaning. More than that, he knew Trixie. If he was telling her to make friends—something that he knew went against her nature—there had to be a reason for it.

“Sure, Porter, Trixie will entertain your griffon. Bring us a couple of plates of fried squash flowers—oh, and I’ll be needing a room for the night, of course.”

“Right, oh great and powerful one!” Porter said with a laugh. Trixie glared at him, but held her tongue as he levitated her mug and made her way across the busy common room to the griffon’s table. She had only a few seconds to size up her mark, but that was all she needed. The creature’s sullen expression could have meant many different things, but the lackadaisical way she was pawing at her tankard suggested either a broken heart or a lost friend. Griffons not being known for their romanticism, Trixie settled on the latter option as her working hypothesis.  

This was the kind of job Trixie hated. She wasn’t usually one to take an interest in anyone’s troubles, and the process of gaining the griffon’s trust would not be made easier by the fact that her race was notoriously standoffish. If she wanted things to work out in her favor, she would likely have to play the game differently than she would with a pony. For the time being, though, she decided to test the waters with her usual technique. As she sauntered up next to the griffon’s table, she put on the same confident smile she used to open all of her performances.

“And to think, the Great and Powerful Trixie didn't expect to find anyone in this pub interesting enough to share a meal with,” she said. “But Trixie has never had the pleasure of having dinner with a griffon before.”

Trixie lowered herself into the seat opposite her would-be dinner companion as the expected rejection came her way.

“A, I’m not eating,” the griffon said without looking up from her tankard. “B, even if I was, I wouldn't invite some lame unicorn.”

“Well, then, it’s a good thing Trixie has never been the type to wait for an invitation.” She laughed, not trying to hide the edge brought on by the griffon’s insult. This was the first time she had been face to face with a griffon, but she had heard plenty of stories. They were a proud and competitive race, and would know flank-kissing when they heard it. However, that didn’t mean that they weren’t susceptible to a little ego-stroking. Trixie tried to keep her own pride in check as the griffon replied.

“Look, let me make something real clear: I don’t like ponies. So beat it, while you can still walk.”

Trixie gave the griffon a confident little smirk. “Equestria certainly is an odd place for someone who doesn't like ponies.”

The griffon still didn't look up, but her expression betrayed just enough uncertainty that Trixie knew she was starting to chip away at her defenses. “Maybe I have some unfinished business here, ok? Either way, it’s none of your business.”

“Of course not. But Trixie can’t say she particularly blames you for not liking ponies. After all, some of us can be terrible bores. Always going on about friendship and kindness...”

At last, the griffon looked her in the eye, though with an intensely skeptical expression. “Oh, so you’re different?”

“Of course Trixie is different! Friendship and kindness are for neighsayers who are afraid to go after what they really want.”

For a moment, Trixie thought her would-be dinner companion was going to come around, at least until she spoke again. “Well, what I really want is for you to leave me alone and let me finish my beer in peace.”

Just then, Porter arrived with the food, and another tankard of cider for Trixie. He gave her an approving little nod before heading back to the bar.

“And what I really want is to have a story to tell my audiences about the night I drank with a griffon. You may not realize it, but here in Equestria, your kind are practically legends. So why not snap out of this funk you’re in for an hour or two, and live up to the myth?”

The griffon looked up again, this time with a renewed fire in her eyes. Trixie knew that her approach had worked—either that, or she was about to have the exhilarating new experience of being assaulted by a griffon.

“You want a story? Fine, you’ll get one.” Trixie was actually taken aback as the griffon threw back the ale that she had previously been eyeing listlessly, then pounded the tankard down on the table. 

"Stout! Get me another!”


***


Drinking had always been a key part of Trixie’s strategy when working a mark for information, and she had put a lot of effort into building up her tolerance. While there were spells that could reduce the alcohol content of a drink, casting one of them in the middle of a drinking session was far too conspicuous. And so, Trixie had cultivated a genuine ability to hold her liquor that was befitting of her grandiose stage name. Before the night she met Gilda, she was fairly confident that she could drink nearly any mare or stallion in Equestria under the table. Of course Gilda was neither a mare nor a stallion, and Trixie was coming off another binge less than a day before, not to mention an exhausting trek from Fillydelphia to the Shades. In the end, she didn't have a chance.

After about seven rounds of beer and a few shots of harder fare, Gilda’s tongue had finally loosened enough that she started to confirm Trixie’s suspicions about her predicament. Even though the unicorn had been trying to pace herself, packing away as many of the salty fried squash flowers as she could to absorb the alcohol, her vision was starting to blur, and her lips were feeling tingly and swollen. She began to fear that she wouldn't be able to remember anything Gilda had said by the next morning, a worry that was only increased by the fact that some of the names in the story sounded suspiciously familiar to her alcohol-drenched mind.

“So after I beat Rainbow Dash in a race, this obnoxious pink Earth pony comes flying up to us on her dumb little bicycle helicopter thing, telling me that I had really lost. I mean, like a feathering Earth pony would even know, right?”

Rainbow Dash. Trixie knew she had heard the name, but in her line of work, names came and went so quickly that even in the least inebriated of circumstances it was tough to remember them. At a table piled high with empties, trying to place the name was like trying to wrangle a bunny stampede all by herself. As she slowly came back around to the conversation, Gilda had rocketed ahead to something else.

“Rainbow Dash used to be the only cool pony I knew, but she had changed. She was hanging out with that dumb pink pony, some weak yellow pegasus who was afraid of her own shadow—even a feathering fashion designer!”

Trixie screwed up her face as she made a valiant effort to continue listening to Gilda’s story while also trying to place why its cast of characters seemed so infuriatingly familiar. 

“Worst thing was, I knew Dash was embarrassed by the crew of dweebs she had taken up with," Gilda ranted on. “But after I pointed it out to her, she actually organized this lame party full of dumb pranks just to try to humiliate me in front of all of them!"

Trixie still had just enough of her wits about her to stick to the plan of trying to befriend Gilda, and she thought it might help to suggest that she could identify with the situation. "That's awful! Trixie hasn't seen such pathetic behavior since the last time she was in Ponyville!"

It would be an understatement to say that Trixie's words had the opposite of their intended effect. Gilda slammed her tankard down on the table, sending a cascade of amber ale and white suds into the air. "Ponyville?" she roared. "I didn’t tell you this happened in Ponyville! Dash didn’t just send you here to make fun of me again, did she?"

The griffon's fury actually snapped Trixie's besotted brain back to attention, at least momentarily. "What are you talking about? Trixie was simply saying that the ponies you were talking about sound like the cretins she encountered last time she passed through Ponyville."

"And I'm saying that they're the same feathering ponies!"

All at once, the pieces fit together. The reason the characters in Gilda’s story sounded so familiar was that Trixie had encountered them before. They were the ponies she had humiliated, prompting Twilight Sparkle to show her up in front of all of Ponyville. With that realization came another. Porter had to have known the truth about the incident, and that a small-time treasure hunter like Trixie would only risk going after an artifact that had caught Princess Celestia's attention if she planned to use it to get the revenge she desperately wanted. She felt a harsh pang of embarrassment, but tried her best to push it aside. What mattered at the moment was that Porter was trying to help her find allies in her quest. And even a sulky, abrasive griffon was still a griffon—a powerful ally if ever there was one.

Just to be sure that this twisted chain of logic wasn’t the product of her drunkenness, Trixie asked one more question. "Gilda, tell Trixie...was one of these ponies a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle?"

Gilda eyed her suspiciously, but finally answered calmly. "Yeah, and all her stupid little friends."

With great effort, Trixie got to her hooves and tried to look as imperious as she could while balancing against her chair. "Sober up," she said, "and then have Porter show you to Trixie's room. We just might have a common interest."
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'll be honest, I didn't think you'd be able to do it."

Porter followed a couple of steps behind Trixie, just in case her legs decided to give way as she shakily climbed the stairs. Though she was in a hurry to get to her room and find out what the old stallion knew, she took time to turn and give him a disdainful look.

"How long have you known Trixie, and you still doubt her?"

“Between that griffon’s attitude and yours, I was expecting to have a hefty repair bill by the time the night was over. But I know you’re set on whatever plan you've cooked up, so I thought I’d at least try to find someone to watch your flank."
They reached the top of the stairs, and Porter maneuvered around Trixie to unlock the room he had reserved for her. Once they were inside, he continued.

“Besides, I think I know what you’re after. If I’m right, you’re going to need the griffon’s help.”

“No offense, Porter, but Trixie doubts anypony in Hollow Shades knows about this. After all, Princess Celestia herself is trying to keep it secret.”

Porter smiled, and Trixie had the sinking feeling that she was about to be shown up. “Oh, so you’re not after the Wishing Stone?”

“What—how did you—”

“You still have a lot to learn about the life you've chosen, Trixie. I've been hearing rumblings about the Wishing Stone from every thief and treasure hunter who's passed through my bar for the last two months. If I had to guess, Celestia knows about it because one of them got arrested and coughed up the information in exchange for a reduced sentence. Just because the royals treat something as a big secret, that doesn't mean it actually is."

"Then there are already other treasure hunters after the stone?"

"Of course there are. But even though everypony knows the stories about it, nopony seems to know where it is. Whatever you got out of those researchers has probably given you a leg up, assuming their research involved more than hanging around in bars, trying to pump lowlifes for information."

Trixie poured herself a glass of water from a pitcher that Porter had thoughtfully placed in her room while she was still downstairs drinking. She was seriously feeling the effects of the last two days, and wanted to do all she could to ease the inevitable hangover. After draining half the glass in a single drink, she turned back to Porter.

"Then tell Trixie: what has you so convinced she’ll need help finding the Stone?"

"You should know by now, information is never free in Hollow Shades. I'll tell you, but first you have to tell me something about the Stone that I don't already know."

"And what’s to stop Trixie from just making something up?"

Porter shrugged. "As long as it sounds plausible, somepony will be willing to pay me to hear it."

"Fine, then, you have Trixie over a barrel. The stone is somewhere in the Crystal Mountains."

"Well, that narrows it down. Can’t you be a little more specific?"

Trixie didn't know why she couldn't just lie to Porter and be done with it. She had certainly never had a problem deceiving anypony else. The researchers thought they had traced the Wishing Stone’s exact location to the Crystal Mountains north of Manehattan, though they said that Celestia wanted to send in an expedition to confirm their hypothesis. Trixie knew it would be incredibly foolish to divulge that location to anypony. Still, as she tried to conjure up a plausible lie, she couldn't shake the feeling that something awful might happen to Porter if he was found to be peddling false information.

No, she thought, there was too much at stake to lose her resolve. She would give Porter a fake story, then claim the stone and use it to grant herself unlimited magical power. Porter would then be under the protection of the most powerful unicorn in Equestria—a fact Trixie would make sure everypony knew.

“Ok. It’s true that the Wishing Stone is in the Crystal Mountains. The researchers originally thought it was due north of Canterlot. But then they realized that their detection spells were being thrown off by the Stone's power. It’s actually farther west, in the mountains north of Vanhoover. Of course Trixie knows exactly where to look, but nopony in Equestria can afford that information.”

“Fair enough,” Porter said, and turned as if to leave.

“Wait!” Trixie called after him, “You still owe Trixie an explanation!”

“And you’ll have it. But I think it'll be best if the griffon hears it, too.”

Before Trixie could protest again, Porter left, closing the heavy door gently behind him. In the solitude of the now empty room, Trixie downed the rest of her glass of water and tried to rid herself of the unusual sensation of worrying about another pony’s well being.


***


Moments later, Porter returned to Trixie’s room with Gilda in tow. Outside of the spacious common room, Trixie was better able to appreciate the griffon’s powerful presence. She would certainly make a good deterrent against attacks from highwayponies and wild animals. Still, the unicorn knew that couldn't be the only reason Porter had suggested that she take up with Gilda.

After some hostility from Gilda and prodding from Porter, Trixie explained, in the most general terms, that she was on the hunt for a powerful magical artifact, and that Porter seemed to think Gilda could help her. As she expected, Gilda expressed a pronounced disinterest in having anything to do with Trixie's quest. That was when Porter finally delivered the information he had promised before.

“Of course it’s up to you whether or not you decide to help,” he said to Gilda. “But Trixie can definitely make it worth your while. And she should, because she can’t get what she’s after without help from someone like you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gilda and Trixie asked in unison, then turned and looked angrily at each other.

“I've heard a lot of stories about this artifact, and most of them are either contradictory or too far fetched to take seriously. But there’s one thing almost everypony agrees on: the item Trixie’s after is locked away in a magical chamber designed so that no single pony can get to it. Unless she happens to be an alicorn.”

Trixie cut him off with an audible groan. “Are you kidding me? Those idiot researchers mentioned some kind of trials, but didn't say anything about having to be an alicorn to get through them!”

Porter carried on, as unperturbed as ever. “That's probably because they’re working for an alicorn, so to them it’s a moot point. But it sounds like the chatter I've heard is on the right track: getting to the artifact requires passing three trials, which are designed to keep it out of the hooves of the sort of pony that usually goes mad for power.”

Trixie, one hoof planted firmly against her grimacing face, interrupted again. “And let me guess. Even though the tests are designed for an alicorn, they could also be passed by a unicorn, an Earth pony and a pegasus.”

“Or a griffon,” Gilda added with a laugh. “Sounds like you need me even more than you thought. So, what is this super powerful magical item, and what are you willing to give me if I help you get it?”

Gilda's smirking demand was the last straw. Trixie stamped a hoof authoritatively as her eyes locked with Gilda's. “The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't need help from anypony! She’ll pass the trials and get the Wishing Stone all by herself!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Trixie realized she had said too much. Now it was Porter’s turn to clop a hoof against his forehead, while Gilda’s beak parted in a wide smile.

“The Wishing Stone is for real? I didn't think that goody four shoes Celestia would let anything that powerful exist.”

“It is real,” said Trixie, trying to regain her composure, “and Princess Celestia's underlings are already looking for it. But Trixie can still get there first!”

“Only if I help you,” Gilda said, her smile taking on a sinister overtone. “If the legends are true, the Wishing Stone can grant three wishes. Give me one, and I’ll do whatever I have to to make sure you get it.”

Trixie stared at Gilda, her teeth bared. “I’d sooner—”

“Find someone else with wings who’s stupid enough to help you for free? Good luck with that.”

Gilda turned and strode confidently toward the door. The anger that had consumed Trixie throbbed inside her head, a mantra telling her to let Gilda leave, to go it alone as she always had before. But then, through that pulsating darkness, a single thought struggled to make itself heard.

You only need one wish to become more powerful than Twilight Sparkle.

Gilda’s talon landed on the doorknob, and time seemed to stop for Trixie as her better judgment wrestled with her pride. One wish was all she needed. She couldn't let her chance for revenge, for the power she had always dreamed of, slip away now. She could strike a deal with Gilda—a deal she could later devise a way to break—or she could risk letting Princess Celestia lock the stone away in some forgotten vault forever.

At last, Trixie dropped her head in resignation. "Wait, Gilda. You have a deal.”

Gilda stopped and turned to face her again. Her smile was gone, replaced by a look of determination that sent a little shiver from Trixie's neck down to her cutie mark.

“Good. When do we leave?”

Before Trixie could answer, the three conspirators were interrupted by the sound of the tavern’s front doors being thrown open with such force that they banged against the walls of the common room. There was a commotion of dropped tankards and shuffling chairs, as if everypony in the building was trying to escape at once. A booming voice rang out, so loud and clear that the three of them could hear it almost as if the speaker were there in the room with them.

“By the authority of the Canterlot Royal Family, we are here to arrest Trixie Lulamoon, who is charged with the assault of Aurora Highspire!”

“Aurora—” Trixie sputtered, her face contorting in anger. “That idiot scholar! Trixie didn't assault him!”

Gilda, on the other hand, was eyeing Trixie with barely suppressed glee. “Lulamoon?”

Trixie rounded on Gilda, her horn glowing with the beginnings of a spell, but Porter interrupted. “Get out of here, you two. We’ll hold off the guards—won’t be the first time!”

He shot out the door and down the stairs, and Gilda managed to compose herself. “So get on it, Lulamoon! Can't you unicorns teleport?”

"Trixie can hog tie you with your own tail if you ever call her 'Lulamoon' again!” Trixie growled, pink sparks shooting from her horn.

“Seriously, you can’t teleport? Oh, this is gonna be a blast. All right, get on.”

“Excuse me—”

“Just get on! We’re flying!”

Instinct took over as Trixie jumped onto Gilda’s back and threw her forelegs around the griffon’s stout neck. The last thing she had time to think before her new companion tensed and burst through the room’s single, unopened window was that there wasn't enough space to build up speed for a take off.

The chill of the night air matched the inky blackness of the sky over Hollow Shades. For a moment, the combination of fear, exhaustion and the effects of two days of heavy drinking caused Trixie to break out in a cold sweat, and she had to fight to keep from being sick. Fortunately, a realization about the Canterlot Royal Guard emerged to distract her from the churning in her stomach.

“The guards!” she shouted to Gilda over the rushing wind. “They’re pegasi!”

“Heh, as if a pegasus could ever outfly a griffon!” Gilda shot back.

Trixie gave a nervous look behind them just in time to see a lone guard launch himself out of the window they had broken in their escape. Despite his heavy golden armor, the white pegasus was gaining on them with what looked to Trixie like supernatural speed.

“You want to prove that?” she shouted to Gilda, who took a quick look behind her, then smiled in a way that got Trixie’s mind racing for any spells that could save her if she were to fall from hundreds of feet in the air.

“Hang on, Lulamoon,” Gilda said with a laugh, “you’re about to have the time of your life!”

Trixie tightened her grip on Gilda’s neck as the griffon began to ascend at a steep angle. She glanced back at the guard, who was still closing the gap between them. Though her panic was making it hard to concentrate on a spell, Trixie knew she could at least buy them a little time. The pink light of her magic enveloped her horn again as she recalled the spell she had used to send Rainbow Dash spinning out of control during their confrontation in Ponyville. As Trixie focused on the feeling of the magic flowing through her, gathering in her horn, concentration came more and more easily. The spell was ready, all she had to do was get a bead on her target and—

Without warning, Trixie found herself in a different world, where the ground was above her, the sky below. In her shock, she inadvertently fired off the spell she had been preparing, which streaked past the guard, dissipating into the night. By the time she realized that Gilda had flown them in a loop, the world righted itself again, and the two of them were behind the armored pegasus. Trixie could feel the force of the wind pulling her cheeks back as Gilda summoned an unbelievable burst of speed that brought her alongside the bewildered pony.

“See ya, jerkface!” Gilda yelled as she slammed into the guard, knocking him off balance. Trixie surprised herself by finding the presence of mind to quickly fire off a less powerful version of the spell she had been readying before. It was enough to spin the guard around a couple of times and send him flying back toward the tavern, allowing Gilda to get well out his range and into the cover of the clouds before he could right himself.

“Hey, glad you could contribute!” Gilda called back as the wind noise receded enough for her voice to be audible. “I was starting to think you didn't actually know any magic.”

“And Trixie was starting to think you couldn't outfly a pegasus filly!”

Gilda slowed down, and came to rest on a dense bank of clouds. “Look,” she said, “I told you I was in, and I am. But be straight with me here, why are the guards really after you?”

Trixie took a deep breath in an attempt to calm the adrenaline rush that their escape had triggered. “Aurora was one of Celestia’s scholars who I conned into telling me about the Wishing Stone. I didn't assault him, I just got him exceptionally drunk. He and his partner must be trying to get me arrested on a phony charge to keep me quiet about what they told me."

“Well, the Royal Guard's not gonna give up easily,” Gilda said. “We need to find someplace to lay low, and I’m really gonna need some rest after all this. You know any good hiding places?”

Trixie thought for a moment. If Aurora and Velvet were trying to get her arrested on false charges, then they were obviously too scared to tell their superiors that they had given her the information. That being the case, the guards would be following them, not anticipating their arrival at the stone's location in the Crystal Mountains. There were numerous places in Equestria where Trixie could hide, but she didn't want to get too far off course. That left only one option that she could think of, one she generally tried to avoid at all costs. But, as the saying went, any port in a storm.

“Trixie doesn't know any good hiding places, but she does know some ponies who will keep us safe for a day or so. But they take themselves very seriously, so...just try not to make fun of them directly to their faces, all right?"
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

For most of her life, Void Nightshade had slept through the day so that she could spend her nights observing the sky. As a pegasus, she lacked the unicorns’ magical connection to the celestial bodies, but that disadvantage had only increased her devotion. As soon as she had learned to read, she had started studying books on astronomy. However, what had really captured her heart and mind were the stories her grandmother told her of the Mare in the Moon, that fearsome alicorn forever watching from the heavens, waiting on the opportunity to bring about a night that would never end. Though most dismissed these as mere bedtime stories, Void fervently believed them, and longed for their realization. As a child, she simply longed for the prospect of a lifetime of uninterrupted star-gazing. As a teenager, she had discovered that she was not alone in her desire for a world ruled by Nightmare Moon rather than Princess Celestia. When she became aware of the existence of a small group of fellow devotees, she left home to join them in their hidden mountain sanctuary, and never looked back.

At first, they had been little more than a group of teenagers rebelling against families and society, their rituals little more than poetry readings and long nights of watching the stars' journey across the night sky. That had changed the previous summer, when a devotee received a magical communication from a unicorn friend in Ponyville telling her that Nightmare Moon had returned, attacking the Summer Sun Celebration, but was promptly defeated by a pony named Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Their magic revealed her to be the exiled princess Luna, and she had agreed to rule alongside her sister, Celestia. This account had been received by the coven with scorn, but the more magically adept unicorns in the group had verified that there was a new, incredibly powerful presence residing in Canterlot. 

For a few days, the group had despaired, and a couple even left. However, a counter-narrative had quickly arisen among those who stayed, that the princesses of the sun and moon had not truly reconciled. Nightmare Moon had allowed Celestia to believe that she had been reformed, and was now plotting from within to become the one true ruler of Equestria. Void believed this story, but found herself unable to be as excited by it as others in the coven, some of whom were arguing that they should attempt to relocate their sanctuary to a location nearer the Equestrian capital. Unlike the more powerful unicorns, she couldn’t reach out and feel Nightmare Moon’s magical presence. For her, Canterlot was a distant place that had almost no bearing on her everyday life, and her daily routine continued more or less unchanged, at least until Mother Darkstar arrived.

Darkstar, a middle-aged unicorn from the Tall Tale region in the northwest, had been invited to become the coven’s head priestess after a couple of the sisters had met her family while on a pilgrimage to one of the sites considered holy by Nightmare Moon worshippers. Void had been unsure at first, afraid that as a pegasus, she would be pushed out of the group if they became a proper coven rather than the loose association of believers they had always been. However, Darkstar’s arrival had actually reinvigorated her. A more structured set of rituals had pulled Void’s faith out of the rut into which it had settled. Then, within a couple of weeks of arriving, Darkstar announced that her scrying had revealed the presence of an extremely powerful magical item residing in Equestria’s northern reaches—one she believed would allow the coven to play a vital role in helping to usher in the Lunar Monarchy. The item, she told them, was the legendary Wishing Stone.

Void knew of the Wishing Stone, but like Nightmare Moon, she had learned of it as a child through her grandmother’s stories. She had received this news in much the same way as that of Nightmare Moon’s return to Equestria. She trusted that Mother Darkstar, as the most powerful unicorn she knew, was not mistaken about the Wishing Stone’s presence. However, it was another distant legend, one that had filled her with delight as a child, but which was difficult to accept as a real part of the world in which she went about her daily business. In fact, while she intended to do whatever she had to in order to see the coven’s plans through to completion, the Wishing Stone’s existence had not felt real to her until earlier that evening, when the arrival of an unexpected visitor had solidified her faith in Mother Darkstar’s plans.

In the years that Void had been living in the sanctuary, nopony who was not a devotee of Nightmare Moon had ever happened upon the place. From the outside, it was a nondescript cave not accessible by any obvious path. It was the sort of place that one could only find if one knew of its existence, or accidentally stumbled across it. The former was clearly the case with the visitor, a tan Earth pony stallion who had staggered up the path just as Void was coming outside for her early evening meditation. The pegasus was frozen with shock and fear at the sight of an outsider, but that had quickly changed to concern as the frantic, exhausted pony collapsed at her hooves. Before he passed out, he uttered a few, portentous words.

“Help...gotta find...Wishing Stone...”

A hundred possible scenarios had played out in Void’s head in the seconds after those words escaped his lips, but in the end there was only one she could accept. This pony needed her help, and she was going to give it even if it meant violating the secrecy of the sanctuary. She rushed inside, frantically explained the situation to the first ponies she saw, and was soon dragging the unconscious traveler inside. Mother Darkstar, who was also on her way outside to prepare for the evening’s rituals, saw the intrusion and protested, but was cut short by Void’s explanation that the pony knew about the Wishing Stone, and it was in their best interest to take care of him. A room was made, and his immediate needs were seen to, then the coven distractedly made their way through the night’s rituals.

Void had lingered outside after the others had returned to the sanctuary. Things were moving so quickly. That day, she had realized that, for the first time in her life, she truly believed that Nightmare Moon’s return was not only possible, but inevitable. For the first time, she had seen the signs the other sisters all claimed to have seen. As the first rays of the morning sun peeked over the horizon, Void started to make her way back to the sanctuary, and her own welcoming bed. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of something in the southern sky. Her first instinct was to hurry to get out of sight, but thoughts of the other visitor she had received that day gave her pause, and she watched as what had started as an indistinct shadow resolved into a clearer shape. At first, she thought it was a pegasus with particularly long wings, but as the form drew closer, she realized what it actually was: a griffon, being ridden by a pony. Not just any pony, but a unicorn—a unicorn she recognized. As the griffon and her rider touched down on the rocky path leading to the sanctuary’s entrance, Void rushed to meet them.

“Trixie Lulamoon!” she exclaimed, her excitement overcoming her exhaustion. “I thought you would never return!”


***


"Wow, you've really fixed the place up since the last time I was here."

Trixie looked around the interior of the cave with a hint of genuine admiration. The soft light of magical torches lent an eerie glow to the natural curvature of the walls, not to mention the numerous images of Nightmare Moon. At the far end of the sanctuary stood a large altar engraved with astrological and magical symbols. Several corridors snaked off from the main hall, leading to rooms that the coven used for various non-devotional purposes.

"We were mere foals when you left, Trixie," Void said, "only playing at our devotion to the Princess of the Night. Since Mother Darkstar arrived to guide us, we’ve built a truly great temple to Nightmare Moon!"

Gilda shot Void a quizzical look. "Nightmare Moon? But isn't she back in Canterlot now, with her sister?"

“Some would say so,” Void replied, “but perhaps there’s more to the situation than meets the eye.” 

“Really?” Gilda pressed on, “Because I know one of the ponies who helped turn her back into Princess Luna, and she didn’t seem to think there was anything else to worry about.”

“Gilda,” Trixie interrupted, the fire in her eyes belying her neutral tone, “maybe we should defer to Void’s expertise in the matter.”

"So tell me," Void asked, obviously trying to shake off Gilda’s tactlessness,  "what brings you back to the sanctuary? The circumstances of your arrival do not suggest that you wish to join us in our rituals."

"No," Trixie said, trying her best to look humble. "Gilda and I are simply traveling. We just got caught out in the dark, and hoped we could spend the night here."

Void eyed them suspiciously for a moment. “There is always more to the story than you tell, Trixie. Fortunately for you, the day has already been portentous. I wonder if, for once, even you don’t know the whole story.”

Trixie thought she heard Gilda barely suppress a snicker, and quickly spoke up again to cover for her. “Do tell,” she said, feigning genuine curiosity.

“Perhaps it would be better if you just saw for yourself,” Void replied. “Follow me.”

With that, she split off down one of the side corridors, beckoning Trixie and Gilda to follow. Gilda looked at her companion, her expression clearly asking for an assurance of safety. Trixie nodded and led the way. Void and her “sisters” may have been pretentious, even a little delusional, but Trixie had never known them to be dangerous. While she had never heard of this Mother Darkstar character, she assumed that she would be another harmless blowhard. They followed Void the short distance down the passage until they came to a small room at the end with several straw mats on the floor. On one of them lay a tan Earth pony stallion with an apple cutie mark who was sleeping soundly, a vest and cowpony hat laid neatly beside him.

“He arrived here at dusk, just as we were about to begin the night’s ceremonies,” Void whispered “He was lost, completely exhausted. He was babbling as we brought him inside, though we believe that what he said was not entirely incoherent.”

Void motioned for them to follow again, and led them back to the opening of the corridor. “You know that no stallion has ever discovered our sanctuary,” she said, no longer needing to whisper. “Mother Darkstar thinks that there could be great significance to his arrival. I have a feeling that two more unexpected visitors will only strengthen that belief.”

“Not to be rude, Void, but we've traveled a long way tonight. We’d be glad to talk more about this in the morning—er, the evening, after we've had some rest. If we can stay, that is.”

“Yes, of course,” said Void. “As long as you don’t mind sharing a room with our other visitor. I’m afraid all of our other beds are taken at the moment.”

“Right now, I could fall asleep standing up,” Gilda said. “If I get a bed, that’s just a bonus.”

“Then, please, make yourselves at home, and we will talk again after you've slept.”

With that, the two travelers separated from Void, and headed back to the small room she had shown them before. As soon as they were in the hallway by themselves, Gilda stopped and whispered to Trixie.

“You weren't kidding about them taking themselves seriously. How do you know these nutjobs, anyway?”

“It’s a long story. One that Trixie prefers not to tell.”

“Whatever. Let’s just crash.”

Gilda settled down on one of the straw mats, but Trixie stayed at the entrance to the room, looking askance at the Earth pony who still lay there unconscious.

“What is it?” Gilda asked.

“Yes, well...Trixie normally doesn't sleep well around strangers.”

“You didn’t bring anything with you from the tavern,” Gilda pointed out. “What’s he gonna steal, your horn?”

“Very funny,” Trixie said, remaining on her hooves. “But we know nothing about this pony. Fortunately for you, there are some magical precautions I can take.”

“Knock yourself out, Lulamoon,” Gilda said dismissively, then rolled over so that she was facing away from Trixie. Undeterred, the unicorn set about casting an alarm spell. As her horn glowed with magical energy, a circle of the same color briefly appeared on the cave floor, surrounding her and Gilda, then disappeared. Once the spell was cast, anypony who entered the circle would trigger an alarm that would be audible to all those within its area of protection, but unheard by anyone else.

Satisfied that the spell would be enough protection for what she doubted was actually a dangerous situation, Trixie finally situated herself on the straw mat. As she closed her eyes, images began to swirl in her mind—the Crystal Mountains, the Wishing Stone, and Princess Celestia flanked by a retinue of her royal guards. A shiver of excitement ran through her as she thought about the possibility of her plan actually succeeding. One by one the figures in her imagination faded away until Trixie stood all by herself, staring into the facets of the Wishing Stone. As she imagined it, the stone resembled a large, trillion cut amethyst. The soft magical glow it emitted bathed her face in a pale light, and a wicked smile spread across her lips as she savored the nearness of the power she had craved for so long.

Gradually, she became aware of a sound coming from somewhere behind her. She tried to block it out, to focus on the stone before her. The stone...the stone—

“Where is the stone?”

Trixie's eyes snapped open and she was immediately aware that the sounds were not just in her dream, but were actually coming from elsewhere in the sanctuary. She quickly took stock of her situation. Gilda was still there, sleeping soundly, but the Earth pony from before was gone. In the sanctuary, she heard a brief exchange, too quiet for her to actually make out what was being said. However, what sounded like the muffled cries of another pony were now clearly audible.

Trixie's first thought was to wake Gilda and try to sneak out before anyone from the coven returned for them. After all, she couldn't be sure that the “stone” being asked about was the Wishing Stone. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Maybe there was another magical stone that would cause Void’s coven—which as far as Trixie knew had never harmed anypony—to start violently interrogating strangers who happened to wander into the vicinity of their secret hideout. Maybe Porter Stout was wrong, and tales of the Wishing Stone weren't really circulating throughout the Equestrian underworld.

And maybe, Trixie thought, she could one day get as good at deluding herself as Void and her “sisters”.

Of course there was a chance that the Earth pony knew nothing about the Wishing Stone, but after Void’s cryptic comments about his “babbling”, Trixie doubted that was the case. If he had any new information, Trixie wanted to make sure it was in her hooves, and nopony else’s. And Porter had told her that she would need the help of an Earth pony to retrieve the stone. She was not likely to find a better opportunity to recruit another companion.

Trying to stay as quiet as possible, Trixie crawled over to where Gilda still slept, blissfully unaware of the trouble in which she was about to find herself. A pink glow once again surrounded Trixie’s horn as she held Gilda’s beak closed with a spell, then shook her gently.

The griffon’s sleep continued unabated.

Trixie ground her teeth and shot a glance back down the hall to make sure nopony was coming. “Gilda!” she growled, shaking the griffon as hard as she could. “Wake up!”

After several seconds of throttling, Gilda woke, her wings shooting out in surprise and knocking Trixie back onto her rump. Gilda glared at her, but thanks to Trixie’s spell was only able to grunt her disapproval.

“Finally!” Trixie hissed. “We have to go, now! And we have to take that Earth pony with us. It’s not safe here.”
Trixie released her spell, and Gilda looked ready to spring at her, but she restrained herself.

“First of all, never use your stupid unicorn magic on me!” she hissed. “Second, what the hay’s going on? I thought you said we could trust these ponies!”

“They’ve changed. That stallion knows something about the Wishing Stone, and they’re trying to get it out of him. We need to save him before he cracks.”

Gilda grumbled a curse and stood. The noise that had woken Trixie had stopped. She hoped it was just because the cultists had realized that they were likely to wake their other unexpected guests, and not because the investigation had taken a more sinister turn.

“What’s the plan, then?” Gilda asked. “Do we just rush ‘em?”

“I don’t know what kind of magic the unicorns here are capable of now, and there’s no time to find out. When I lived here, most of them were—”

“Wait. You lived here?”

Trixie sighed. “This is the only time I’m going to say this, so get the laughs out now. I may have gone through a Nightmare Moon worship phase when I was younger—much younger. I lived here for a few months, before I started doing my stage show.”

Trixie looked over to see Gilda smiling sarcastically back at her. “You are just full of surprises, Lulamoon.”

“And since you seem to love mocking my name so much, you might like to know that Void Nightshade’s real name is Flitterheart.”

“Of course it is,” Gilda said.

“So as Trixie was saying,” the unicorn continued, reverting to third person in the desperate hope of regaining some authority, “the unicorns might be powerful, or they might be useless. And Trixie has no idea who this 'Mother Darkstar' is. We can’t really know until we confront them.”

“How about this,” Gilda said. “You distract ‘em, I grab our mystery stallion, and hopefully we get out of here before they know what happened.”

“Trixie would prefer doing it the other way around," she said. “It sounds less dangerous that way.”

"Sure,” Gilda said, her patience obviously at its limits, “as long as Trixie can fly with a half-conscious pony on her back.”

Trixie gritted her teeth and glowered at Gilda. “Fine. We’ll do it your way. Just try to keep up.” She strode confidently down the hallway, then carefully peeked out into the sanctuary. No guards had been posted at the entrance to the corridor, but what Trixie did see left her even more disturbed. The entirety of the coven’s membership (no more than ten ponies) was gathered around the great stone altar that stood at the opposite end of the sanctuary from the entrance to the sleeping quarters. The Earth pony was stretched out on the altar, a gag wrapped around his muzzle. Void herself stood at his feet while an older looking dark gray unicorn, who Trixie assumed was Mother Darkstar, stood over his head. The rest of the coven encircled the altar. All of them were wearing purple ceremonial robes emblazoned on the back with Nightmare Moon’s cutie mark.

Trixie turned and gestured at Gilda to say that she was proceeding, and just before she turned her attention back to the altar, she saw the griffon beginning to creep up the hallway. Taking a deep breath, the unicorn stepped out into the sanctuary.

“Really, Void, Trixie thought you were above this sort of thing.”

Suddenly, all eyes were on Trixie, though with her experience as a performer, that did nothing to make the situation any more unnerving than it already was.

“Trixie,” Void said, almost sadly, “please, I didn't want you to get involved in this.”

“Well, Trixie has involved herself. Now, if you would all be so kind, please step away from your little altar and let that pony go.”

Not for the first time in her life, Trixie found herself facing a hostile crowd. None of the ponies moved, but those with their backs to her did turn to face her. The unicorns looked ready to start casting spells in her direction at any moment, but almost appeared to be awaiting orders. It was obvious that the dynamics of the coven had changed since her brief time there, when it was a small collection of young, rebellious mares. Trixie knew that she had to find a way to break the coven’s ranks so Gilda would be able to get to the stallion with minimal difficulty. 

Then, an idea came to her. Even if the coven had become more disciplined, that didn’t mean that they weren’t still predictable. Before she could consider the possible consequences of what she was about to do, Trixie fired off a spell at Mother Darkstar. The magical energy burst against her robe, which, when the flash of pink magic dispersed, was no longer the deep shade of purple it had been before. Instead, it had been transformed to a brilliant white, adorned with pale pink, blue and green piping that shimmered in the sanctuary’s magical torchlight.

On the back, in resplendent gold, was a perfect recreation of Princess Celestia’s cutie mark.

The matronly unicorn seemed to know what had happened even before she craned her neck around to get a look at the state of her robes. “No! Get it off of me!” she cried as soon as she took in the extent of Trixie’s vandalism. For a moment her compatriots were frozen where they stood, but then the shouting started. The head priestess was thrashing around, trying to remove the robe while her acolytes clumsily attempted to assist her.

Trixie felt more than saw Gilda streak past her toward the altar, where she was easily able to grab the Earth pony and sling him onto her back before anypony in the coven could make a move to stop her. Only Void was not involved in the chaos, but a mere look from Gilda rooted the pegasus where she stood.

In the blink of an eye, the griffon was in the air again, rushing toward the sanctuary’s entrance. Trixie stayed behind, wanting to ensure that nopony would follow them. However, no sooner had Gilda and the Earth pony escaped than Mother Darkstar managed to throw off her defaced robes, bringing a quick end to the tumult around her.

“Stop them!” the unicorn cried. At once, the other unicorns’ horns began to glow with the preparation of spells, but Trixie had known all along that that would be the eventual result of her interruption. Fortunately for her, escaping unhappy audiences was a key component of her act. She reared up and waved her hooves in front of her, the little action she always did to distract the audience from the sleight of hoof that allowed her to drop a smoke bomb to aid in her escape.

There was only one problem: acting primarily on instinct, she had forgotten that her smoke bombs were with all of her other belongings back in Hollow Shades. Trixie crashed back down to all fours, with no puff of smoke to cover her escape. She flashed the coven a sheepish grin, then turned and galloped for the entrance as fast as her legs would carry her. Fortunately the unicorns on hoof seemed to be inexperienced in using magic for anything other than scanning Equestria for signs of Nightmare Moon’s return, and one spell after another zipped past her, blasting away chunks of the walls and floor in the process.

As Trixie closed in on the sanctuary’s entrance, she shot a quick look back over her shoulder, and was surprised to see that Void had thrown off her own robe, and was flying behind her in pursuit. At once the irony hit her, that the pegasus’s presence in the line of fire was probably what was causing the unicorns’ aim to be as bad as it was. She couldn’t savor the moment for long, though; she doubted she could outrun even a relatively sedentary pegasus like Void for more than a few seconds. That meant she had to throw her off her game somehow.

“Come on, Flitterheart!” Trixie yelled at what she assumed was now her former friend. “Can’t you even catch a unicorn with those sad little wings of yours?”

“Trixie, I can’t let you ruin this for us!” Once more, there was a sadness in Void’s voice that might have given Trixie pause, were the pegasus’s friends not trying to cause her serious bodily harm. Pouring on a burst of speed, Trixie lunged through the sanctuary’s entrance and into the early afternoon sunlight.

Almost immediately, she found herself struggling to remain on her hooves as she slid on the loose stones that lay scattered all about the ground in front of the cave entrance. When she had gotten control of her legs again, Trixie immediately had an idea. Rather than continuing to run, she skidded to a halt, rotating to face Void as she slid. At the same time, she readied a levitation spell with which she was able to raise most of the stones within an area roughly ten feet in diameter, which she immediately sent flying in Void’s direction. While she was neither powerful nor vicious enough to do any lasting harm to her pursuer, she knew that the barrage would at least suffice to stop her advance.

“Heads up, Lulamoon!” Gilda’s voice coming from behind Trixie broke her concentration. The hail of rocks stopped, but a second later it didn't matter. Gilda wrapped her forelegs around Trixie's midsection, lifting her off the ground and into a nearly vertical ascent.

“What are you doing?” Trixie cried. “Where’s the Earth pony?”

“He’s safe—let’s just say griffons have a talent for finding places to nest!”

Trixie looked down to see the ground—and Void, who seemed to have little interest in giving chase—quickly receding into the distance. Finally, Gilda reached an outcropping high in the rocky cliffs where the tan Earth pony sat looking simultaneously panicked and exhausted. Gilda set Trixie down next to him, then carefully joined them, the three bodies taking up the entirety of the outcropping.

“Th-thank y’all for savin' my skin,” the Earth pony said cautiously. “Name’s Braeburn.”

“I’m Trixie, and my griffon friend here is called Gilda. So did you actually know about the coven, or were you just unfortunate enough to stumble across it?”

“I wasn't headed there, but...I got a little off course. But now that y’all rescued me, I can get back on track.”

“It’s odd,” Trixie said, ignoring Braeburn’s obvious desire to get away from them. “Trixie knows those ponies, and they don’t have a history of carrying out violent interrogations. They must have had a good reason for making an exception in your case.”

Braeburn lowered his head and eyed Trixie suspiciously. “That was just a misunderstanding,” he said, unconvincingly. “They thought I was somepony else.”

Trixie could see the desperation on Braeburn’s face. He was clearly still tired and afraid after his ordeal. Nevertheless, there was an underlying determination there that convinced her she was not going to get much out of him without taking some drastic measures. The thought of simply having Gilda dangle him over the ledge for a few seconds occurred to her, but that was unlikely to serve the end of getting him to join them. She was fairly certain she knew how to make him to open up, though even as she started to speak, she still wasn't sure that her tactics wouldn't backfire on her.

“Then where did they get the idea that you know about the Wishing Stone?”

Braeburn lept to his hooves, his suspicion turning to hostility as he stared Trixie down. “I shoulda known, everypony here’s just out for themselves!”

“I’d calm down if I were you,” Gilda said, quickly rising to meet him. “Don’t forget, you can’t fly.”

“The Wishing Stone’s my town’s last hope,” Braeburn said, turning his attention to Gilda. “I can’t let anypony else get their hooves on it!”

With what she hoped was a magnanimous laugh, Trixie broke the tense silence that had fallen. “Why don’t we all just calm down for a minute here. Braeburn, Trixie and Gilda aren't like those deluded cultists back there. Yes, we do want to find the stone. But we aren't going to hurt anypony to do it. As a show of good faith, Trixie will tell you something only she knows about the Wishing Stone.”

Braeburn was still eyeing them warily, but he did seem to relax a little. “An’ what might that be?”

“The stone is protected in such a way that only an alicorn could get to it without help. But a unicorn, a griffon and an Earth pony combined would also have a chance.”

“So y’all want me to help you get the Wishing Stone? How do I know ya won’t just double cross me when it’s in your hooves?”

“Right now, we don’t know exactly what we’ll find when we get to where we’re going,” Trixie said, dodging the question. “But we do know that we’ll need three ponies to succeed. So you can join us, or you can push ahead by yourself—which, let’s be honest, doesn't seem to have worked out all that well so far.”

Braeburn looked at the unicorn and griffon before him, then slowly lowered his head. “I’ll tell ya right now, I don’t trust y’all. But it seems like I ain't got no other choice. I’ll go along with ya...for now.”

“Good,” said Trixie. “Now, let’s all get going before those idiot unicorns start trying to teleport up here and get us all killed.”
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Gilda had Trixie and Braeburn safely back on the ground, the trio began their trip north, headed in the general direction of a small village Trixie recalled from her travels, which she believed had an inn at which they would be able to safely spend the night. By the time the sun began its slow descent in the late afternoon, Trixie was barely able to stay on her hooves by her own power. Even Braeburn, having passed out from exhaustion little more than a day before, was doing a better job of keeping up the pace as the trio soldiered on. Only Gilda seemed unaffected by the rigors of the last two days, dividing her time between leading the group and occasionally taking to the air to make sure neither the coven nor the Royal Guard was following them.

Despite Gilda’s abrasive personality, Trixie was thankful that Porter had persuaded her to seek the griffon’s help, though she would never admit it to anypony. A pegasus might have been less obnoxious, but Gilda’s take-no-prisoners attitude had already served her well on a couple of occasions. With or without her help, though, Trixie was fairly confident that they would be able to avoid the two factions that were now pursuing them for at least a little bit longer. The coven almost certainly would not follow them during the day. Void and her friends were too devoted to their misguided idea of Princess Luna to even consider operating outdoors under Celestia's sun. Even though she scoffed at their naïveté, Trixie knew that the coven's nocturnal lifestyle could work to her detriment in this case. During the day, it would be next to impossible for anypony in the coven to get the drop on Gilda; at night, that advantage would be largely negated. Still, Trixie took some comfort in the knowledge that Mother Darkstar and her followers wanted the Wishing Stone for themselves, and had far more to gain from letting Trixie lead them to it than from trying to capture her and torture the information of its whereabouts out of her.

The Royal Guard remained Trixie's primary concern. Chances were they knew nothing of the Wishing Stone, and saw Trixie and Gilda as mere fugitives to be hunted down and brought to justice. The fact that Gilda hadn't managed to spot any of guardsponies since they had gotten back on the road might have meant that their brief layover with the coven had actually managed to throw Celestia’s soldiers off their trail. Still, the Equestrian Royal Guard was not a force to be taken lightly. That Trixie and Gilda had managed to escape from them once was due in no small part to the fact that they had only faced off against a single member. Even with the addition of Braeburn, it was highly unlikely that they would be so lucky upon a second encounter.

Gilda, who had been on one of her forays into the sky as Trixie contemplated their situation, landed softly next to the unicorn, out of earshot of Braeburn. "Yo, Trix, I think I can see that village we're headed for. Shouldn't take us more than an hour to get there if we keep up the pace. But, we need supplies and a place to stay, and we don’t have two bits between us.”

"Leave room and board to me,” Trixie said, gratified that Gilda was finally deferring to her on something, even if it was a relatively small matter. “You and our mystery stallion can scrounge up some supplies. Maybe you can even get him to open up a little while you're at it."

Braeburn had been almost completely silent since the three of them escaped from the coven earlier in the day, and was even keeping a physical distance from them. Trixie wasn’t too concerned about his obvious distrust, as long as he was willing to help her get what she wanted. Still, she liked to minimize uncertainty in her schemes, and at the moment, the Earth pony represented a major uncertainty. His moralizing might have been genuine, or it might have been a show he was putting on to gain their confidence so he could catch them off guard later.

Gilda reacted with the sarcasm that seemed to be her default response to every situation. "Yeah, sounds thrilling," the griffon said, rolling her eyes.

The trio continued on in silence until they were able to see their destination just a couple hundred yards ahead of them. At most, they had a couple of hours before nightfall, which meant that Trixie had a very limited amount of time to put her plan into action. The thought of finally getting a good meal and a night of sound sleep gave her just enough energy to psych herself up for what she was about to do, and for the first time in hours she found herself trotting ahead at a normal pace.

"Meet me at the inn after sundown," she said to Gilda and Braeburn as she hurried on ahead. "I'll have the room ready."


***


"Come one, come all, to witness the magnificent magical stylings of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

Even though it had been months since Trixie's last performance, she found herself falling comfortably back into her old routine. Performing was, after all, her special talent, and even without her stage, costumes and props, she found it easy to draw the attention of everypony in the market. She started with a few simple cantrips to impress the colts and fillies accompanying their parents around the stalls. This was an Earth pony town, and most of the foals had never seen magic up-close before. As a result, the minor illusions Trixie could easily cast inspired a glee that soon had the parents taking notice as well. Before long, most of the shoppers in the market had drifted over to see what the commotion was about, and Trixie was able to segue into her usual routine.

"Perhaps somepony in the audience sees, but does not believe, the power of Trixie's magic. Well, Trixie invites any and all neighsayers to come forward and put her talents to the test! Any feat of strength or skill you perform, Trixie will magically match!"

After her encounter with Twilight Sparkle, Trixie had rethought the open hostility with which she had previously approached her audiences. While she had to be boastful in order to make ponies want to challenge her (since without such challenges, she had no show) she had grudgingly learned to play more fairly with her audience. Of course she still easily bested everypony who tried to show her up, but now she did so with more good humor than she had displayed in the past. While the change was one she adopted grudgingly and only out of necessity, she had eventually been forced to acknowledge its merits. When she was able to find an audience that hadn’t heard the story of the Ponyville incident, her softer approach usually ended with them happily throwing their bits her way, rather than throwing her out of town.

The result was the same that day. As Trixie faced down one challenge after another, the crowd cheered and laughed, and each pony who found herself bested by the unicorn’s magic encouraged a friend to step forward and attempt to avenge the small defeat. By the time the sun began to set, Trixie had faced off with about half of the ponies in the market, and everypony seemed to be having a good time.

"And now Trixie must take her leave of your fair village," she said, bringing the performance to a close as the sun began to sink beneath the horizon. "The journey to the next town will not be an easy one, though, so Trixie...humbly...asks that if you found yourself enthralled by her sorcery, you donate but a few bits to ease the burden of a traveling magician!"

The words never came easily, but they were a vital part of Trixie’s revamped act. Adding them almost always resulted in a bigger take, which was all that allowed her to get through the spiel without betraying to the audience her contempt for the very notion of humility. Especially when faced with wasting her talents in front of such a tiny audience, she preferred the thought of simply swiping a bag of bits from one of the vendors in the market. Had she and her companions not been in such desperate need of rest and food, and therefore particularly risk averse, she would have seriously considered doing just that.

At least the scaled down show earned Trixie enough bits to secure a room and dinner for the night, with, she hoped, enough left over to purchase some warm clothes and saddlebags for the coming journey into Equestria’s perpetually frozen northern reaches. She couldn’t be sure that Gilda and Braeburn had been as successful at their tasks. She had seen them prowling the market when they first arrived in town, but had quickly lost sight of them as she began to focus on her act. While waiting on their return, Trixie rented their room at the inn, happily accepting the inn-keeper's offer of a discount for the entertainer who had brought a rare spark of excitement to the village's mundane routine.

When her companions finally returned, Trixie knew at once that something was wrong. Gilda entered the room first, throwing the door open so hard that it banged against the wall. Braeburn came behind her, saying nothing, but with a darkness clouding his face. Despite the two of them obviously not having gotten on well, Trixie couldn't help noticing the burlap sack Braeburn had slung over his back, which, while not particularly full, looked like it would make a decent back-up supply if the money she had earned ran out.

"Well," the unicorn said, "it looks like your little mission was a success."

Neither the pony nor the griffon responded immediately. Braeburn carelessly tossed the bag onto one of the beds.

"We got some wildflowers, and some fruits and vegetables that had fallen on the ground while the ponies were bringing them to market," he said at last. "And we didn't have to resort to stealing from anypony," he added, with an angry look at Gilda.

"Yeah," Gilda said sarcastically as she lay down on one of the room's beds, "our white knight here is fine with swiping an all-powerful magical artifact, but taking a few apples from a fruit stand, that would be wrong."

"And I already told ya, those are two totally different things! The Wishing Stone is like the food we got off the ground. It don't belong to anypony right now. But those ponies in the market, they worked hard to grow and harvest that food. I ain't about to just take it from ‘em."

"Well," Trixie said, cutting Gilda off before she could further escalate the fight, "at least we've all learned a little bit about each other, right?"

Braeburn and Gilda both shot her irritated looks. "Are you sure you aren't really from Ponyville?" Gilda asked.
Before Trixie could respond to the taunt, Braeburn whirled on Gilda. "And what do you know about Ponyville?" he demanded.

"Oh, for—" Gilda began, covering her face with a talon. "Don't tell me you know those dweebs."

"My cousin is from Ponyville! If not for her and her friends, Appleloosa wouldn't have lasted long enough to see its first harvest!"

Trixie instinctively recoiled at the mention of Ponyville, especially when it involved a group of friends that went around meddling in other ponies' business. However, she knew she had to keep the situation under control. The last thing she needed was for Gilda to get riled up and cost them an ally who was necessary to achieving their goal.

"All right, you two, Trixie thinks you're missing the more important issue here. We have our differences, and we’re not all going to agree with how the others want to do things. But what matters is that at the end of the day, we all have the same goal: we all want to get the Wishing Stone.”

Trixie’s words appeared to have their intended effect on Gilda, but to her surprise, they only seemed to make Braeburn more agitated. “And just why do you two want the Wishing Stone, anyhow?”

Once again, Trixie found herself forced to suppress her anger. “Do you really want to have this conversation right now?” she asked. “Trixie was hoping we could just have a nice, relaxing night with nopony being interrogated.”

Trixie was surprised when it was Gilda who pressed the issue. “Much as I hate to admit it, he’s got a point,” Gilda said, sitting up on the edge of the bed. “I mean, you and me know each other’s reasons, but I don’t see why we should keep them secret from Braeburn. Like you said, we all have to work together regardless.”

Trixie clenched her jaw, but knew that she was outnumbered. With a huff, she replied, “Fine then, Gilda, you start.”

Trixie then saw something she never expected to see: Gilda almost appeared to be blushing. “Well...not too long ago, my, uh, best friend hooked up with some ponies who convinced her I wasn’t worth her time anymore. And I...just want to make everything right between us.” The griffon pawed at the floor, obviously uncomfortable with discussing her feelings even in such vague terms. After an awkward silence, Trixie spoke up.

“Well, then. As a show of good faith, Trixie will go next. As much as it pains her to admit it, Trixie...lost a magic battle with another unicorn a few months ago. She wants a rematch on, shall we say, more equal terms.”

“So you want your magic to be more powerful,” Braeburn said.

“Yes, but it’s not like Trixie is after ultimate power,” she lied. “I just want to level the playing field and take this unicorn on again. Now, Braeburn, it’s your turn.”

“My wish is simple,” he said. “Appleloosa lives or dies on its apple harvest...and this year, we had a bad one. About as bad as a harvest can get. We don't have enough for ourselves to eat, let alone to sell. I just want one wish, to fix this year’s harvest, so we’ll be around to try again next year.”

Despite the dire circumstances Braeburn described, Trixie continued to fix him with a suspicious gaze. “Yes, that does all sound very simple. Except for one minor detail. Just how does an ordinary Earth pony farmer know about a magical artifact like the Wishing Stone? Are there a lot of unicorns working the orchards there in Appleloosa?”

“No. But we are friendly with a buffalo tribe that lives nearby. I talked to their chief when our crop failed, and he told me that his shaman had been having visions of a magical stone, trapped in ice, that would be able to solve all of our problems. There was nothin’ I could do to help back in Appleloosa, but I thought maybe I could find whatever it was he was talkin’ about...if it even existed.”

Once more, the room fell into silence. At last, Trixie smiled and said “There, now everything is out in the open. And just so we’re all on the same page, Gilda, Trixie isn’t bothered by a little petty theft as a means to an end. But Braeburn was right in this case. Don’t steal from the ponies in a town where you need to spend the night—at least not until you're leaving the next morning." Trixie stood up from the bed and walked imperiously to the door. “Now, let’s go have some dinner,” she said, levitating her bag of coins to her side. “And don’t worry, Braeburn, Trixie earned this money honestly.”


***


While the conversation at dinner had ranged from terse to non-existent, Trixie was satisfied to awaken the next morning to find that both of her companions were still sleeping soundly in their beds. She doubted the air between them would stay clear for long, but if Braeburn was willing to stick around after getting confirmation of Trixie’s lax moral code, she knew she could persuade him to stay with them for the long haul.

In fact, she was now more concerned with Gilda. So far, she had assumed that the griffon shared her disgust for Ponyville and its inhabitants. She had even entertained the vague hope that Gilda wanted to use her wish to get back at Twilight Sparkle’s friends for humiliating her, which could only help Trixie’s own revenge plot. But what she had said the night before had sounded more forlorn than outraged. If Gilda wanted to waste her wish to force Rainbow Dash to be her friend again, that was her mistake to make. But Trixie wanted to know that the griffon wasn’t going to start getting soft on her before then.

More than anything, though, Trixie wanted a bath.

Crawling out of bed as quietly as she could and creeping out of the room, she headed to the inn's small communal bath, hoping she was up early enough to get there ahead of anypony else. The rest of the trip to the Crystal Mountains was going to take the three of them across wilderness and rough terrain, and the best Trixie would be able to hope for in terms of hygiene would be a quick dip in a river. While Trixie had never been pampered, the one part of life on the road that she had never really been able to adjust to was the sporadic access to plumbing.

After a short but satisfying soak, Trixie returned to their room to find Braeburn and Gilda up and—predictably—arguing.

"We should go through Manehattan," Braeburn was pleading. "We can cover more ground faster if we use the public transportation there. No reason to waste time trudgin' through the wilderness if we don't have to."

"I don't have to trudge through the wilderness," Gilda countered. "I can fly anytime I want to."

"Then you can fly over Manehattan while me and Trixie take a train!"

"Trixie can't leave you two alone for a minute, can she?" the unicorn asked, making no effort to hide the condescension in her voice. "We're not going through Manehattan, Braeburn. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves, and walking around the second biggest city in Equestria with a griffon is a great way to do that."

"Do you really think the coven has a Manehattan branch?"

"No, but the Equestrian Royal Guard does."

Braeburn's jaw literally dropped as he searched for his next words. "You mean you two are wanted by the Guard, too?"

"Don't be so naive," Trixie chastised him. "Of course Princess Celestia has her underlings looking for the Wishing Stone. I only know as much as I do about it because I conned a couple of them into telling me everything they knew. Now the guard wants to stop Gilda and me from getting the stone before the princess does. The whole story is a bit more complicated, but now you know the important part."

"I can't be part of this," Braeburn said, nervously pacing back and forth. "I wanna save Appleloosa, but not by betraying Princess Celestia."

"Oh come on, Braeburn," Gilda said, "stop playing innocent. You say you wanna use the stone to fix this year's harvest, but once you get your hooves on it, how are you gonna resist permanently changing the weather so there will never be another bad harvest again? I mean, I’m not even from Equestria, and even I know that’s a criminal offense here. I'm pretty sure it's punishable by bani—"

"That's enough!" Braeburn said, and for a moment the look of anguish on his face almost made Trixie feel sorry for him. "I know what I wanna do may not be strictly legal. But I don't think the princess would punish me for doin' it if it's gonna save ponies' lives. I just...just didn't wanna get involved in anything worse than that. But now it looks like I don't have a choice."

"Welcome to the life of a treasure hunter, Braeburn," Trixie said, being careful to sound as matter-of-fact as she could. "If we could always operate within the law, we would. But we can't. That's just the way it works."

"Don't worry," Braeburn said, somewhat caustically. "I ain't gonna desert you two, now. Y'all are my best chance at savin' Appleloosa, which I intend to do, even if savin' it turns out to be the lesser of two evils."

There was a moment of heavy silence before Trixie spoke again.

"If that's all settled, then we need to get back on the road. We'll head toward Manehattan, just so we can pick up more supplies on the outskirts of the city. We'll need some winter clothes, and extra food, just in case we encounter anything in the mountains that we aren't expecting. I have enough bits left over from my show yesterday to set us all up with that.”

"I'll do a quick flyover while you two are packing up," Gilda said somberly. "The Guard probably hasn't given up on chasing us."

With that, the griffon slipped out through a window, taking to the sky with less flash than was her usual practice. As Trixie packed, she stole the occasional glance at Braeburn. The sadness on the Earth pony's face was like nothing Trixie had seen before. For some reason it made her think back to Porter Stout, and whether the old barkeep had escaped punishment for his part in her escape. She chided herself for caring about whether he had, and got back to her preparations.
> 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.
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You can't make me stay here," Gilda hissed. "I can sneak out tonight! I know my way back home!"

The pegasi who ran Cloudsdale’s Junior Speedsters camp had seen their share of family drama. Every year, there were the ponies who were being forced into camp by overzealous parents or, conversely, weren’t ready for their first long separation from their families. But none of the coaches had ever seen a griffon before, let alone an entire griffon family whose daughter was determined to air her grievances in a very public manner.

Gilda knew what an unusual sight the three of them were, and hoped to use that to her advantage. Of course she didn’t actually know what that advantage was for, other than to goad her father into a proper fight. She got so tired of his constant demands that she learn some discipline, and wanted nothing more than to get him to betray his own. The young griffon smirked as he turned and took a step in her direction, but to her disappointment, the fire in his eyes cooled as quickly as it always did. He looked at her for a moment, and Gilda sensed that his disappointment was far greater than his anger had ever been. Rather than continue the fight, though, he simply took a deep breath, then turned to leave. It was the one outcome she was completely unwilling to accept.

"Did you hear me?" Gilda shouted, her voice cracking under the strain of her directionless anger. "I'm not gonna stay here with these stupid featherin' ponies!"

This time, the tactic succeeded. With a suddenness that frightened her more than she would have admitted, her father was in front of her, their beaks touching.

"You will not speak of your hosts that way!” he growled. “Despite your complete lack of pride in the fact, you are a griffon, and hopefully by the time this camp is over, you'll start to understand what that means!"

Gilda stood her ground, but she could feel the joints in her legs weakening, as if being melted by the heat of her father's anger. She knew he had called in favors to get the camp to accept a non-pony, knew how proud he would be if she returned home a more stable member of the small griffon society. Both of those facts just spurred her on to greater heights of rage. She was not about to conform to the griffon culture’s rigid social norms just because her father sent her off to a fancy pegasus flight training camp.

"You think a bunch'a lame ponies can teach me what it means to be a griffon?" she said, hoping her voice wasn’t as shaky as it felt.

For endless seconds, Gilda's father did not respond. When he did, she was again disappointed by his measured tone.

"I don't doubt that you can find your own way back home," he said, "but if you try to come back before this camp is over, you won't be welcomed." Without another word, without even waiting to see Gilda’s reaction, he rejoined her mother. The matronly griffon gave him a concerned look, but the pair departed into the bright Equestrian skies without another word. For the first time in her life, Gilda was completely on her own—an arrangement that suited her perfectly well. As she turned to walk toward the camp, she caught several ponies trying to pretend that they hadn’t been gawking at the altercation.

“Yeah, I have so much to learn here,” she grumbled, shuffling off toward the check-in line.


***


The Crystal Mountains were an awe-inspiring sight, one of those rare places with a fantastical name that was to be taken completely literally. For the last few miles, Trixie had watched with interest as the composition of the ground beneath her hooves changed, with the soil becoming thinner and thinner until she was walking on a field of solid rock. When at last she, Braeburn and Gilda reached the foothills, the rock was giving way to a bed of blue and white crystal that sparkled in the midday sun, gradually curving skyward to form the mountain range's miles of craggy, snow-covered peaks.

“Y’all, I think we oughta stop for lunch here,” Braeburn said, as they reached what appeared to be the last stretch of flat ground before they would have to begin their ascent into the hills.

“Just what I was thinking,” Gilda agreed, not waiting on Trixie’s approval as she tossed her bags on the ground and started rooting through them for something to eat.

Trixie didn’t respond to either of her companions, but stopped anyway. She was still gazing up at the mountain that lay between her and the goal she had been harboring since the night Twilight Sparkle humiliated her. Her horn lit up with the magic of a scrying spell, as it had so many times since they left Manehattan. Even on the outskirts of that bustling city, she had felt magic emanating from so many artifacts that she couldn’t be absolutely sure of the Wishing Stone’s position, or even its presence. With the metropolis behind them, though, she could feel only one powerful magical signature, coming from the mountains directly ahead of them.

Gilda, her voice muffled by a mouthful of food, broke the concentration of Trixie’s casting. “So’s it still there, or has it moved since you cast that spell ten minutes ago?”

“Y-yes, it’s still there,” Trixie said, too distracted to return Gilda’s sarcasm. The griffon was putting on a nonchalant front, but Trixie could tell she was nervous, too. Even if she didn’t fully understand the power of an artifact like the Wishing Stone, Gilda had to know she was getting close to an achievement of legendary proportions. That alone was enough to convince Trixie that her sarcasm was really just an excuse to make sure that they were still headed in the right direction.

“Ain’t no way we’re gettin’ all the way up that mountain today, though” Braeburn said. “I sure hope we can find a cave to spend the night in.”

“Yeah,” Gilda agreed, “you two probably have no idea what the conditions at those altitudes are like. I’ll be fine, of course—griffons are made to deal with that kind of environment. But if we don’t find you guys some shelter, we’ll have a serious problem.”

As Trixie crunched on an apple, she looked back up the mountain. Brash as Gilda was, she was right: Trixie and Braeburn wouldn’t last through a night on the mountain without shelter. Trixie could create a magical barrier around them, but unlike the alarm spell she had cast back at the coven’s sanctuary, it required her attention to maintain it. That meant she would have to trade sleep for shelter.

“Well, we need to know what we’re gettin’ into,” Braeburn said. “Why don’t me and Trixie go ahead and start climbin’, and Gilda can fly up ahead and make sure we’re gonna have a place to sleep?”

“Trixie has a better idea,” the unicorn said. “How about, instead of us climbing the mountain, Gilda can take one of us up with her while she scouts out a place for us to sleep, then if we find one, she can drop the first of us off while she goes back for the other.”

Trixie had barely gotten the words out of her mouth before Gilda protested. “No feathering way!” she shouted. “I didn’t come on this trip to be your feathering steed!”

“You didn’t mind carrying me when we escaped from the guards back at the Dragon’s Breath!”

“Because we didn’t have a choice! But when we do, griffons aren’t crazy about ponies riding on us!”

“Trixie’s got a point,” Braeburn said, surprising Trixie and, based on her expression, Gilda as well. “I mean, hear me out here. You gotta fly up once to scout for us anyway, then you gotta come back down and tell us what you were able to find. So is it really that much more work to carry us up when you go?”

“Yeah it’s more work!” Gilda countered. “Do you wanna carry Trixie and me up the mountain?”

“No, but I’d give it my best if it was gonna help everyone.”

“Right, of course you would,” Gilda said, exasperated. “I keep forgetting what a feathering goody four shoes you are.”

“Hey, that’s uncalled for,” Braeburn said. “I’m just tryin’ to make it easier for all of us to get what we came for.” Then, his expression darkening, he added, “Some of us ain’t sure how much time we got.”

“I’ll fly up the mountain and scout ahead,” Gilda said, standing and beginning to repack the few things she had taken out to get to her food. “That’s the best you two are gettin’ out of me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna get this show on the road.” Without another word, she lept into the air and, with a few furious beats of her wings, was soaring toward the mountains.

“I guess we’d best get goin’, too,” Braeburn said with a sigh as he began packing his own saddlebags. “We got a long walk ahead of us, assuming Gilda’s even gonna be able to find a place for us to sleep.”

Trixie watched the griffon fly as she finished off her apple. With the mountains towering over them, and still no sign of opposition, a strange feeling was starting to come over her.

“Braeburn,” she said, ignoring his suggestion, “do you think it’s a little strange that we’ve made it this far with so little trouble?”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’d call what that cult put us through more than a little bit of trouble.”

“But we’re after a magical artifact with the potential to completely change the balance of power in the world. Other treasure hunters, and even Princess Celestia, know it exists and are looking for it. It seems to be the worst-kept secret in Equestria, but somehow we’re the only ones who have gotten close to it.”

“I can’t say I know why that is,” Braeburn said, “maybe we’re just lucky.”

“But even the Royal Guard is after us!” Trixie argued, the urgency in her voice rising. “The coven were a bunch of idiots, but let’s be honest—Celestia’s private army should be able to stop us!”

Braeburn silently finished loading his saddlebags onto his back, and turned to Trixie with the same look of determination he had worn for the entirety of their time together.

“I knew when I left Appleloosa that this whole thing might be a wild goose-chase,” he said, “but I went through with it anyway. I figure it’s the same with Gilda, and maybe deep down, with you, too. We all got something we want, that we think we ain’t got no other way to get. Right now, I ain’t thinkin’ about why we’ve made it this far. I’m just gonna do whatever I have to to see this thing through. Now let’s get goin’, before we waste anymore daylight.”

He started off for the foothills, leaving Trixie to quickly levitate her own saddlebags onto her back, and hurry after him. As she did, she gave one last tentative look over her shoulder. Once again, she saw that nopony was pursuing them. Trying to shake her growing feeling of unease, she hurried after Braeburn, into the sparkling crystal landscape.


***


No sooner had breakfast ended than a crowd of pegasus ponies rushed out of the cafeteria—some flying, some galloping along the clouds—in hopes of being the first to reach the Junior Speedsters ranking boards. The entire first week of camp had been spent on drills and time trials that would determine the ponies’ placement into one of the camp’s three tiers. For many of the young pegasi, it would be their first taste of glory—or stinging defeat.

Only two of the campers remained behind, casually walking across the cafeteria together as if they couldn’t have been less concerned about their own placements. One was a rainbow-maned pegasus who, while in that awkward stage of adolescence that was all legs and wings, still showed the toned conditioning of a true athlete. The other was the only camper who had attracted more attention than the most promising young flyer in Cloudsdale, the griffon who had quickly distinguished herself as much by her temper as by her flying skills.

“Look at those dweebs,” Gilda said with a derisive snort. “If they had any confidence, they wouldn’t be running off like that.”

“No kidding,” Rainbow Dash agreed, “I don’t even have to look to know that I’m in the top tier. Now you on the other hand...”

“Hey!” Gilda shouted, laughing as she give Rainbow a playful punch in the shoulder.

As the two of them exited the cafeteria, they could already hear the reactions of their fellow campers, some elated, some despairing. The herd that had gathered around the board was already starting to thin as the uncommon pair sauntered up. As Rainbow Dash scanned the board, Gilda watched her carefully. The pegasus was unlike any pony or griffon Gilda had ever met, a bundle of contradictions as messy as her multi-hued mane. Her attitude was brash and effortlessly confident, but Gilda had already seen how many extra hours of practice and harsh self-criticism went into making her the athlete she was. And despite her sarcastic remarks about the other campers, Gilda could see real concern in Dash's rosey eyes as they scanned the board for her name.

Soon, though, Rainbow's self-assured grin returned, and she turned to Gilda. "Well, look who ended up in the top tier!"

Gilda, taken aback as she realized she hadn't even been thinking about her own ranking, looked up at the board. Her eyes darted around until she saw her name, then Rainbow Dash's, in the top bracket. It was odd, but she realized she hadn't even cared where she ended up. In a way, she had expected the ponies in charge to bust her down to a lower tier just for her attitude, or for her outsider status.

Gilda laughed, hoping to mask the real happiness she was feeling at not being separated from Rainbow with her usual bravado. “C’mon, there was never any doubt. We’re gonna show all those other top-tier ponies how it’s done!"

"Well, you know what they say—no time like the present!" Laughing, Rainbow Dash shot off into the sky, leaving Gilda bewildered behind her.

"Hey, no fair!" the griffon called, giving chase. For the first time since her parents had enrolled her in Junior Speedsters, Gilda smiled the kind of pure, honest smile had been missing from her life for as long as she could remember.


***


As she ascended into the mountains, Gilda found herself being overtaken by an unexpected feeling of homesickness. It had been over a year since she had last flown through the turbulent skies of the griffon homeland, or perched in the tall, forbidding mountains that dotted her entire country. The Crystal Mountains, for all their grandeur, were, from what she had seen of them so far, nothing compared to the deadly peaks in which she had been born and raised. While she would have preferred the challenge of navigating more dangerous terrain, she also realized that the less trouble her pony companions faced in scaling the mountain, the better.

Gilda noticed the trail she had been following from the air widening as it cut into the mountain, forming a path that was bordered on both sides by high natural walls. She pushed away the thoughts of home that had been swirling in her mind as she darted into the gap, hoping to find a dangerous series of obstacles awaiting her within. To her disappointment, the only danger she found was a few jagged outcroppings where the two sections of the mountain had separated, and those were easily avoided even with the increased wind velocity created by the crystalline passage.

Coming out the other end of the natural corridor, the griffon saw exactly what she had been looking for. Ahead of her was a snow-covered plateau; on her right side was a drop back to the ground, on her left an almost sheer cliff face leading farther up the mountain. While the terrain would present a great difficulty for her pony companions in the second leg of their climb, Gilda's concern was counterbalanced by the presence of a crack that looked just large enough for her to squeeze through. It might have been nothing more than what she could see from the air, but it also might have been an entrance to a cave.

As she landed gingerly on the plateau, Gilda became aware for the first time of just how much her tolerance for the harsh mountain cold had declined since she returned to Equestria. The howling wind stung her face and body, and she was morbidly cold despite her having eventually accepted Braeburn's gift of the flight cap and scarf that had caused such a row during their brief stop in Manehattan. Mental and physical exhaustion were both beginning to take their toll. The one time she had managed to sleep through the night since leaving Hollow Shades, she had dreamed of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, and the humiliation they had caused her. Now the sinking feeling that she was losing control of both her body and mind threatened to pull her into a downward spiral that would only hasten that outcome.

Regardless of her confusion and exhaustion, regardless of the way her talons and paws refused to grip the snow-covered crystal beneath them, Gilda pressed on. All she cared about now was making it to the cave entrance. Just like she had done when she first started training, she set an achievable goal, and went for it with all she had. She wanted to be inside, to have shelter—and maybe to prove to Trixie and Braeburn that she was good for something besides hauling their flanks out of the fire when a fight broke out. In the ferocious winds, every snowflake hit her like a bee-sting, but the cave was there, within her grasp. She reached out with her talons, pulled herself the last few inches, through the crack that was bigger than it had looked from the air. It was dark inside, but the wind was not there, and so she knew it was safe. She collapsed against the wall through which she had just entered, sighing in relief.

Then she heard the growl.


***


Rainbow Dash was worried about the end of Junior Speedsters camp.

Gilda knew this as soon as Rainbow didn’t turn up for dinner the night before the camp’s final big test. She also had a pretty good idea of where she would find her friend. After just a month together at camp, Gilda knew all of Dash’s quirks, like how she trained even more obsessively than usual when she was worried about something. She rushed through her own dinner, then took a leisurely flight over to the training area where, just as she suspected, Rainbow Dash was flying herself ragged.

After a couple of minutes of watching the pegasus streak back and forth between a couple of clouds she had placed in the sky as markers, Gilda finally approached her.

“Why don’t you save some of that energy for tomorrow?” she asked. For a moment, she thought Rainbow was going to ignore her. However, after completing another sprint between the clouds, the pegasus flew over to her side.

“Look, no way I’m going into that obstacle course tomorrow at anything less than one-hundred percent. Now if you don’t mind—”

“Woah, there, Dash!” Gilda grabbed the pegasus’s tail before she could speed off again. “First of all, slow down. Second, the only thing you’re doing right now is exhausting yourself, which isn’t gonna to help you tomorrow. I thought we could just hang out and relax tonight. I mean, this is our last night at camp.”

“Exactly! And tomorrow morning we’re going up against a replica of the Wonderbolts’ own training course! Everything is riding on this! If I feather things up—”

Gilda shifted her grip from Rainbow’s tail to her shoulders, allowing her talons to bite into the pegasus’s flesh just enough to focus her attention. Her golden eyes locked with Rainbow’s as she spoke slowly, calmly, but with the commanding tone that even a young griffon could muster if she needed to.

“Dash. Chill.”

Rainbow Dash wriggled her way out of Gilda’s grip, but she didn’t immediately bolt.

“Fine. What’dya want?”

“I told you what I want, Dash. I want to hang out with you tonight, because it’s probably the last time we’ll be able to for a long time.”

“What’re you talking about, Gilda?” Dash asked, still looking a little petulant. “You’re acting like we’re never going to see each other again after camp’s over.”

“Yeah, that’s it, pretty much,” Gilda said. “After tomorrow, I go back home. And no matter how good a flyer you are, you’re not ready to cross an ocean by yourself.”

Rainbow Dash finally chuckled, though there was a note of bitterness to the sound that threw Gilda off.

“But you think you are?”

“What the hay does that mean?”

Rainbow flew over to a nearby cloud and sat down, and Gilda followed. “The first day of camp. You were yelling at your parents—don’t pretend you weren’t, everypony heard it. You told them you were gonna sneak out of here and fly home by yourself. Even your dad thought you could do it.”

“So?”

“So, don’t take this the wrong way, but only one of us is winning that obstacle course tomorrow, and I plan on it being me. If I can outfly you here, that means I should be able to visit you whenever I want, right?”

Gilda snorted. There was a juvenile logic to Rainbow’s idea, but Gilda was almost worried that the pegasus was foalish enough to actually try to make the trip.

“Dash,” she said, suddenly feeling like she was the pegasus’s mother rather than her friend, “it doesn’t exactly work that way. Griffons are kind of...built for long-distance flight. Even if you do outfly me tomorrow, it doesn’t mean you can make a trip that long by yourself."

At last, Rainbow Dash seemed to relax a little. She rubbed the back of her head with a hoof, and the determined expression she had been wearing began to soften. “So, I guess this really is it for a while, then, huh?”

“Yep.”

“So, you really didn’t want to come here, did you?”

“Geez, you’re gonna bring that up again? It’s ancient history.”

“It was a month ago! You said ponies were all lame and you couldn’t learn anything from us. Do you still think that?”

Gilda’s feathers puffed out a little. She knew Rainbow Dash was just teasing her, but she still felt a wave of embarrassment at being reminded of her temper tantrum. “First of all, I did not say all ponies were lame. Second, you don’t know what happened before I got here.”

Rainbow Dash was looking at Gilda with a sincere concern that the griffon had never seen from her before. “So, tell me about it,” the pegasus said.

“Oh, man, you really want me to get all serious? Well, um...my dad’s pretty big on the whole discipline thing, and I guess I’m not, so much. I got in a few fights back home, and he decided to ship me off somewhere to—I don’t know, get me out of his feathers for a while? So he called in a few favors, and I ended up here.”

“So did you win?” Rainbow Dash asked, an eager grin on her face.

“Did I win what?”

“The fights! I bet you really gave it to those other griffons, huh?”

“Yeah, but...geez, Dash, your brain moves even faster than you do.”

“Oh, sorry,” Rainbow said. They were both silent for a while before Rainbow finally spoke up again.

“Seriously, though, I don’t think your dad wanted to be rid of you. When he dropped you off, he said something about learning to be a griffon.”

“He says that kind of stuff all the time.”

“Do you know what he means?”

For the first time in her life, Gilda gave that question serious thought. As often as her father talked about her needing to become a “true griffon”, she couldn’t remember a time that he had tried to explained to her what a true griffon actually was. She had just assumed that he was telling her to act more like him—stuffy, boring, all business all the time. It was the best answer she could come up with.

“I think he means I should be a little version of him,” she finally answered.

“That’s rough,” Rainbow said, settling deeper into the cloud and looking up at the sky. "I mean, I think my dad wants me to be like him, too, but we've never fought about it because I do want to be like him."

“Let’s not talk about it anymore,” Gilda said.

“Fair enough,” Rainbow responded. “Man, Celestia’s killing it, isn’t she?”

Gilda looked over at Rainbow, irritated again by her random topic jumping. Still, not wanting a fight, she tried to roll with it. "Huh?”

“Celestia—you know, the princess who controls the sun and the moon. I mean, look at that sunset.”

Gilda laid back on the cloud and looked up into the sky, a rage of pink, orange and red, laced with thin stripes of purple clouds. The thought of a single pony in charge of the entire sky, the sun, moon and stars—it should have filled her with awe, but her reaction was quite different. All she could think of was whether she would ever meet this supreme ruler, and if she did, if she would be able to take the sky away from her. She didn't know why she would want it, just that it would be another way to show what she was capable of.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash yelled suddenly, "Why are we just laying here looking at the sky when we could be flying in it? Let's go, I got some new tricks to show you!"

Dash darted up from the cloud, not waiting on Gilda’s response. The griffon rolled her eyes at her friend's inability to sit still as long as she was awake, but her face soon relaxed into a smile. Dash might have been a squeaky-voiced little pegasus with the attention span of a drunk fruit-bat, but she was the first real friend Gilda had ever had. For the first time in her short, angry life, that made the griffon feel like she had something to fight for, rather than against.


***


The beast was on Gilda as soon as she realized it was there. Its first swipe was only a glancing blow, but it was enough to take off her flight cap. She cried out, more in surprise than pain, as she leapt backwards, toward the crack through which she had entered. Instinct took over. She knew that she had to get out, otherwise the fight would be over before her eyes could adjust to the darkness. Whatever had hit her was big, snarling. If it was intelligent enough to know what griffons were, it wasn’t intimidated by the sight of one. She was in trouble.

Gilda growled a low warning to her opponent as she edged her way back toward the cave entrance. She had only made it a few feet into the cave when the thing came at her, but she was going to have to go through the entrance backwards if she didn’t want to give it the opportunity for an attack. That was not going to be easy. Even though the hole was bigger than she had first thought, she had still had to squeeze through it. She could feel, more than see, the creature that had attacked her pressing forward as she tried to make her escape. As she backed up, she swept her tail left and right until it felt the icy winds on the other side of the cave wall. She was there now, she just had to get out.

That was when the creature struck again, lunging forward with a crushing blow probably meant to pin its prey against the wall. If not for Gilda’s lightning reflexes, the fight would have ended there. In an instant, though, the griffon managed to turn the tables. She ducked the blow, and the small amount of light filtering in through the cave entrance was enough to show her that whatever she was fighting was tall, furry and, most importantly, bipedal. From her low position, the griffon was able to scramble between its legs, get behind it. Once there, she sprung back to a standing position and kicked out with her powerful lion’s legs, sending the beast sprawling headlong into the wall. Enraged, the monster cried out and pounded its fists against the obstacle that had stopped it. As Gilda heard the crystal cracking, she realized that whatever she was dealing with, it was not a rational animal.

But she was, and she was not going to waste an opportunity. There was no room to fly in the small cave entrance, but she could move—enough to throw herself at her adversary. As the weight of both bodies slammed against the weakened cave wall, Gilda felt the cracks expand, then explode outward in a burst of light and wind and snow and crystal shards.

She was free. But the fight had just begun.


***


Aside from Trixie giving Braeburn occasional directions based on the detection spells she was using to guide them to the Wishing Stone’s location, the two ponies had climbed the mountain in complete silence. Trixie was in better shape than one might have imagined, given the number of miles she had logged traveling Equestria with her mobile stage in tow; but even with the strength that had given her, climbing at high altitudes was still causing her some trouble. More than the exertion, though, it was her preoccupation with the thought that things were going too smoothly that kept her silent.

Had the two ponies been talking, they might have missed the first rumblings coming from farther up the mountain. The first sound was a sharp, distant boom which nevertheless reverberated all the way down to the narrow path Trixie and Braeburn were inching their way along.

“That didn’t sound good,” Braeburn said, looking up with a sickened expression.

“You don’t say,” Trixie replied, clinging to sarcasm as her preferred means of coping with a crisis.

Braeburn began to move more quickly along the ridge, and Trixie followed suit. Neither needed to say how bad a spot they would be in if an avalanche were to happen right then. Mere seconds passed before the next rumble. This one started with a tremendous crack, as if part of the mountain had just been blown open, but a low rumble continued after the echoes of the shattering impact ceased.

“We gotta go, now,” Braeburn said, quietly but urgently. Trixie did not reply, but followed his lead. The pair continued along the ridge as fast as they could. By the time the path widened enough for them to achieve a full gallop, the rumble was getting louder.

“What did that griffon do?” Braeburn asked grimly.

Trixie did not respond. She was too surprised by the relief she was feeling at the possibility of a real crisis.


***


The avalanche was well underway before Gilda’s brain was able to process what was happening. She could see the creature now, a hulking thing covered in shaggy white fur, its hands and feet the size of some of the bigger crystal chunks that were left from the cave wall, its broad, flat face cut all the way across by a gash of a mouth filled with crooked teeth, like the stalactites and stalagmites of the cave it called home. She risked a quick glance up to confirm her fear, saw the debris beginning to cascade down toward them, but tried to subdue her rising panic by thinking of nature as just another enemy she had to defeat.

The snow-beast lumbered forward, its eyes locked on Gilda. With a speed she did not expect, it swung down at her. Even when taken by surprise, the griffon was still the faster of the two, and easily dodged the blow. As the creature pulled its fist from the crater it had made in the ground, Gilda launched herself into the air, and over the beast’s head. She landed on the other side of it, gave it a second to turn, then ran around it in the opposite direction. Griffons rarely faced enemies larger than themselves, but when they did, they had a simple strategy for evening the odds: cut your foe down to your size.

Gilda’s talons flashed toward the beast’s calf. Its fur was thicker than she had expected, and provided some protection against the attack, but she knew she had done some damage as the monster howled in pained surprise. The adrenaline of the fight meant that the thing wouldn’t really feel the effects for seconds, even minutes, but the damage was done. Now Gilda just needed to add to it. With her opponent’s lacking mobility reduced even more, that would present little difficulty.

“Let’s do this,” she growled.

Her muscles tensed as she focused on the creature, but just as she was about to dart at it again, something crashed into her from behind. For a moment, her world was nothing but a red splash of pain. When it passed, she realized she could no longer move.


***


As Gilda expected, Rainbow Dash had been her only true competition in the final trial of Junior Speedsters. The obstacle course was tough, but not so tough that it allowed any of the other young pegasi to keep up with her. But Rainbow Dash was on another level. Her lean frame allowed her to dart through the obstacles and change direction in the blink of an eye. As fast as Gilda was, her bulkier frame just didn’t allow for the same sort of hair-trigger reflexes. As they entered the final leg of the race, Gilda realized that she couldn’t win unless her friend made a serious miscalculation, something the pegasus was highly unlikely to do.

“C’mon, Gilda, don’t make it easy on me!” Rainbow Dash taunted her as the two of them entered the race’s final gauntlet.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Gilda said, beating her wings as hard as she could in a desperate bid to overtake her friend. The gap narrowed, but only slightly. Worse, the momentary distraction of Rainbow Dash’s taunting had allowed the pegasi in third and fourth place, a mare named Silverspeed and a stallion called Thunderlane, to narrow the gap. As Gilda fought just to hold onto second place, Rainbow Dash streaked ahead, the colors of her mane and tail trailing behind her as she effortlessly maintained her lead.

The rest of the world disappeared around Gilda as she pushed herself harder and harder, her muscles crying out in protest as she marshalled every last ounce of their power to propel her forward. The final set of obstacles was coming up fast, a series of cloud-rings and pillars through which the fliers had to navigate in close succession. Gilda forced herself to forget about catching Rainbow Dash; that was a lost cause. If she wanted to keep Silverspeed or Thunderlane from closing on her, she would have to make her way through the last obstacles without losing any speed.

She cleared the first set of pillars perfectly, but a quick glance back told her that Silverspeed had, as well. Thunderlane appeared to have been thrown off balance a bit by the challenge, but Gilda didn’t have time to analyze her competitors’ performance as a series of rings, staggered both vertically and horizontally, was bearing down on her. Rainbow Dash’s lead actually served the griffon well in this case, as her rainbow trail showed Gilda the perfect line through the obstacles, which she was only too happy to follow.

This time, though, Gilda didn’t even have to look to know that Silverspeed hadn’t been as lucky. The pegasus’s sharp cry, “Ponyfeathers!”, told her all she needed to know. Gilda turned her head, meaning to shoot Silverspeed a smirk as she widened her lead, but instead she looked back just in time to see Thunderlane, who had managed to clear the rings far more skillfully than the previous obstacle, shoot blindly through the final ring, and right into the flank of the distracted Silverspeed. The collision of the bodies sent a sickening crack resounding through the air. Gilda hesitated, but only briefly. With her competition out of the way, she could give her all to overtaking Rainbow Dash, even if that was hopeless.

No sooner had the griffon returned her focus to Rainbow Dash than the pegasus blew past her in the opposite direction, diving toward Thunderlane and Silverspeed, who were plummeting toward the earth. Gilda took another moment to survey the area and saw that Dash’s help wasn’t actually necessary. The camp’s coaches had sprung into action, and were already building up a cloud-mat under the falling pegasi. Even on an adrenaline rush, Dash could only catch one of the two anyway. Thanks to her pointless heroics, the race now belonged to Gilda. She took off again for the finish line, revelling in the foregone conclusion of her victory.


***


As Gilda lay there, her right wing pinned under a huge hunk of crystal, she thought about the fact that the first fight she had ever lost had been completely unnecessary. She could have flown, grabbed Trixie and Braeburn and waited out the avalanche from a safe distance. Instead, she did what she always did: she let her temper and her competitive streak take over, driving out any semblance of reason. In the past, it had cost her the respect of friends and family. This time it was going to cost her far more.

The beast lumbered forward. It had taken only a glancing blow from the cluster of debris that had trapped Gilda, not enough to even knock it down, let alone incapacitate it. Despite her dire predicament, Gilda found it within herself to marvel at how huge the thing looked from her vantage point. It was so rare that she encountered a creature so much bigger than herself.

The avalanche was over. The beast raised fists like tree-stumps high over its head. Gilda closed her eyes, and was only slightly disappointed that what came to her in that moment was an image of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie watching as she angrily stormed out of Sugarcube Corner.


***


“You didn’t even try to help!”

Rainbow Dash was mad. Not just a little upset, but red-faced, irrational, say things you can’t take back mad.

“Because I didn’t need to,” Gilda replied, trying hard to keep her cool. Rainbow Dash hadn’t cared about losing the race after what happened to Thunderlane and Silverspeed. What had gotten her worked up was that Gilda had focused on winning instead of helping the two ponies who could have ended up gravely injured if nothing had broken their fall. “The coaches got to them even before you did, because they’ve been hovering around us like we’re a bunch of helpless babies this whole time!”

"Who cares?" Rainbow shouted. "When somepony's in trouble and you can help them, you do!"

"Dash, it's been cool hanging out with you here, and I don't want our friendship to end this way, but you are sounding super lame right now."

"And you're living up to every bad thing I've ever heard about griffons—you're being a selfish, cruel—"

Gilda cut her off with a sarcastic laugh. "You know, a self-righteous lecture might be more convincing if it wasn't based on pony racism! There's a reason griffons don't spend much time in Equestria—you ponies aren't so into the whole loving and tolerating thing when you meet someone who doesn't live up to your stupid morals!"

"At least I have morals!" Rainbow was right in Gilda's face, and a physical altercation seemed unavoidable. At the moment, that suited Gilda just fine.

"At least I have morals!" she replied in a childish, mocking tone. "Don't make me laugh!"

Gilda tensed, and waited on Rainbow Dash to attack her. The last thing she expected, though, was for the pegasus to hang her head, a defeated look on her face.

"Aren't you even gonna go see how they're doing?"

Gilda dearly wished that Rainbow would have hit her. Anything would have been better than the absolute dejection in her voice. The two of them stood silently staring at each other for interminable seconds before Gilda finally replied.

"Ok, Dash,” Gilda said, rubbing her brow, “let's go see them."


***


"Stand aside, or be vanquished by the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"Um, I don't think he can understand ya, Trixie."

The blow Gilda was waiting on hadn't come. When she opened her eyes again, she immediately saw why. Trixie and Braeburn had intervened, distracting the beast from finishing her off. Trixie was using her magic to make hundreds of the broken crystal fragments from the shattered cave wall swirl around her. The trick would have even less offensive capability against the monster than it had against Void Nightshade the first time Trixie used it, but the mere sight of magic seemed to have mesmerized the creature for the time being.

"Shut up and go help Gilda!" Trixie hissed, her attempt at whispering ineffectual given that Gilda could hear it clearly. “Trixie will keep its attention!”

Braeburn began to creep away, and Trixie continued her improvised routine. The creature was moving toward her, slowly but perceptibly. Gilda knew they didn’t have long, and was far from convinced that Braeburn and Trixie’s arrival would result in her being saved.

“You think I can move this without hurtin’ ya worse?” Braeburn asked when he finally arrived at her side.

“I don’t know, but we don’t have a choice,” Gilda said. “Just get it off me!”

Without another word, Braeburn positioned himself between Gilda’s side and the huge crystal that had her pinned to the ground. He threw his weight into moving the obstacle, and Gilda was only able to keep from screaming because she was afraid the monster would turn its attention back to her if she did. She tried to take her mind off the pain by listening to Trixie yammer on at the thing while she distracted it, as if she were just performing another stage show. For a moment, she felt her heart softening toward her companions, though she suspected it was just delirium induced by the pain.

“We’re almost there, Gilda,” Braeburn said. “If you can run, you need to do it soon as I give the word.”

“What about you and Trixie?”

“Don’t worry ‘bout us.” Braeburn smiled down at her, and Gilda couldn’t stop herself from returning it. “You just take care’a yourself.”

“All right.”

With one final push from the muscular Earth pony, Gilda was free. She only knew her wing was still attached because something at her side was sending a frenzy of pain through every cell of her body. Still, as Braeburn gave her the all clear, she was able to spring to her feet and run to the first place she saw—the cave that had been the start of all the trouble. Gilda was only half-conscious of what she was doing, but she was determined to win the race, even if she couldn't quite remember who her opponent was.

“Now, Trixie!” Braeburn called, running behind Gilda. The griffon, drunk on adrenaline and agony, looked back just in time to see the unicorn send the crystal shards shooting out in all directions in a shower of little pyrotechnic bursts and crackling rapports. It was the kind of spell that might have delighted a crowd of fillies, but the monster had clearly never seen anything like it. With a terrified howl, he turned and ran, falling over his own gangly limbs in his haste to escape from Trixie’s harmless fireworks.

“You did it, Trixie!” Braeburn called, as loudly as he dared seeing as they had just rescued Gilda from one avalanche. Trixie stood, gaping at where the creature had been.

“I did,” she said, as if she couldn’t believe it herself. “I just—I just vanquished a yeti!”

Gilda was swaying back and forth in a way she hadn’t since her first run in with Griffonian ale. “Good one...Lulamoon,” she said, before collapsing onto her one good wing at the mouth of the cave.

> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Gilda had been dragged unconscious into the safety of the cave, Trixie set about exploring to make sure there were no other hostile inhabitants. A light spell radiating from her horn, she easily made her way through the short passage, which turned out to be little more than a curved hallway leading to another opening at the opposite end. There were other narrow passages branching off here and there, but none were of a size that would accommodate anything larger than bats or rodents―if any such creatures even existed in the Crystal Mountains’ forbidding climate.

As she walked the short distance back to where Braeburn was tending to Gilda's wounds, Trixie tried not to let anger overtake her. For the time being, she had no way of knowing what had happened before she and Braeburn arrived at the scene of the fight, but she suspected Gilda's recklessness had played a major role. Now the griffon was incapacitated with a broken wing at best, a concussion or internal injuries at worst. Even though Trixie couldn't be entirely sure of what tests lay between her and the Wishing Stone, she had only brought Gilda along because of her skill as a flier. Without that, she would be nothing more than a noisy hindrance.

Braeburn was just finishing up his hasty first aid job as Trixie returned to what would have to serve as their camp. "How bad is it?" she asked.

"Broken," he said simply, making a few final checks of his work.

"Are you sure? Have you done first aid on a griffon before?"

"No, but I've worked on a couple of pegasi. Their wings ain't that much different, just a little smaller."

The Earth pony stood, but continued looking solemnly at the incapacitated griffon lying at his hooves. "What'd you find?"

"Nothing. The cave just winds around to another opening at the other end."

"We need to set a trap, then. Just in case that yeti thing comes back."

"I'll cast an alarm spell by this opening," Trixie said.

"All I got's some rope, but I should be able to rig up something that’ll keep us safe for the night."

Braeburn seemed to be talking more to himself than Trixie. There was no mistaking the frustration and anxiety on his face as he absently broke off the conversation and wandered away, stopping to pick up his rope as he went. Trixie knew he wouldn't say so while Gilda was unconscious and unable to defend herself, but he was as unhappy with the griffon as she was. Not only had Gilda's refusal to flee from the fight with the yeti put their chances of finding the Wishing Stone in serious jeopardy, the avalanche that battle caused had placed all of their lives at risk.

As Trixie cast her alarm spell at the cave’s newly expanded front entrance, Gilda seemed to be doing her best to distract her, snorting and murmuring wordlessly. Trixie grumbled to herself, but blocked out the noise long enough to successfully perform the incantation. As she made her way back to her bedroll, she noticed Gilda’s sounds starting to take the form of actual words. The thought of the griffon inadvertently giving up some embarrassing secret was bait that Trixie couldn't resist, and she sat perfectly still, making sure she wouldn’t miss a word.

"...figured out..." Gilda mumbled, "...what it means to be..." 

Gilda trailed off just as Braeburn returned, but he hadn’t completely missed what had happened. "Ain't that a surprise," he said, sitting down on his own bedroll. "Even when she's unconscious, she's still runnin' her mouth."

"Look on the bright side," Trixie said, only half playfully. "We might learn some deep, dark secret we can use to shut her up when she's awake."

Braeburn laughed, a little humorlessly, as Gilda segued once more into intelligible words.

"...a real griffon...Rainbow Dash..."

At the mention of Rainbow Dash's name, Braeburn's face immediately twisted in confusion, and Trixie thought her blood had frozen in her veins.

"Rainbow Dash," Braeburn repeated blankly. "How does Gilda know that name?"

"I don't know," Trixie lied. "This is the first time she's mentioned her."

"But you know it's a 'her', and not a 'he',"  Braeburn said, suddenly displaying a suspicion and cleverness of which Trixie would never have thought him capable.

"What, it was a lucky guess!" she protested. "Stop being so―"

"Rainbow Dash is the friend Gilda wants back, ain't she?" Braeburn's voice was rising as he stood again. "I knew there was somethin' off about the way you two talked about Ponyville! Nopony who goes to a town like that with good intentions comes away not likin' it. What did you two do there?"

Trixie sighed, and shot another disdainful look at Gilda.

"We didn't do anything," she said. "Gilda and I have only known each other a few hours longer than we've known you. But we were...united by the bad experiences we had in Ponyville."

"And now you wanna use the Wishing Stone to get revenge?"

“You heard Gilda before,” Trixie said, trying to diffuse Braeburn's anger. “She’s not looking for revenge. She just wants her friend back.”

“But it’s a different story with you. You say you just wanna have another go at some unicorn who showed you up, but that ain’t the whole truth, is it?”

"Braeburn,” Trixie said, struggling to maintain a calm, even tone, “Trixie shouldn't have to remind you why you're here. You want to save Appleloosa at any cost. But maybe you don't want to know what the cost is."

"The unicorn―what's her name?"

"Braeburn―"

"Tell me," the Earth pony demanded. “My cousin, Applejack, is friends with a unicorn there, and―”

"Fine!” Trixie interrupted, losing her temper at last. “You want to know? Trixie will tell you. The unicorn’s name is Twilight Sparkle. She is friends with Rainbow Dash, and with your cousin, too, assuming your cousin’s the bumpkin with a stupid hat and apples on her flank. Twilight humiliated me in front of everypony and nearly ruined my career!"

“And you were lyin' when you said you wouldn't use the Wishing Stone to make yourself more powerful than her, weren't you?”

Trixie’s lips moved, but to her surprise, no words emerged. All this time, she really had planned to use the Wishing Stone to make it so that Twilight Sparkle would stand as little chance against her as Trixie had stood against the Ursa Minor back in Ponyville. But that plan had only ever lived inside her head. Now, faced with a demand that she give it the finality of putting it into words, she found her resolve beginning to waver. Would she really be satisfied by crushing Twilight Sparkle so easily after dreaming of revenge for so long? Would she feel any sense of achievement afterwards, or would her humiliation only be replaced by emptiness?

"Well?" Braeburn demanded. Trixie was finding it harder to think clearly. Gilda was out of commission, and she had a feeling that no matter what answer she gave, Braeburn was going to desert her. She was so close, but all at once, everything was starting to slip through her hooves. Through a haze of anger, frustration and exhaustion, Trixie blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Of course I am! Why settle for anything less than ultimate magical power if I can have it?"

For an interminable moment, there was silence, as Braeburn and Trixie stared hatefully at each other.

"Then you're on your own," Braeburn said at last. "Twilight Sparkle and her friends helped Appleloosa, and I ain't about to sell them out. Not even if it means..."

But he didn't finish the sentence. His gaze fell to the cave floor. After another tense silence, he looked at Trixie again.

"Thanks for helpin' me get this far. I'll leave the trap I set up at the other entrance, so you’ll be safe tonight."

Trixie watched as Braeburn started to walk away, desperation completely overtaking her. "You'll never get the Wishing Stone without us!" she called after him.

"I don't think you ever planned to let me use it in the first place," Braeburn countered.

"Stop!" Trixie shouted. "Or Trixie will make you stop!"

Braeburn said nothing—didn't even turn to see if Trixie intended to make good on her threat. She began charging energy for a spell, but realized that she didn't even know what she intended to cast. As Braeburn disappeared around the bend, the unicorn hung her head.

At last, Trixie headed back to the camp where Gilda still lay unconscious. Trixie looked at her in disgust as she flopped down on her bedroll.

"Trixie learned what it means to be a real griffon, too," the unicorn said. "It means being a feathering idiot!"


***


A cry of pain shook Trixie from her deep, dreamless sleep. The unicorn was on her hooves, flailing about in the pitch darkness before the sting of the mountain air reminded her where she was. Gilda’s consciousness had returned, and with it a stream of obscenities as loud as they were incoherent.

"Gilda!" Trixie said, trying to keep her voice below a shout. "Be quiet! Remember where we are!"

The griffon's cries ceased, but the tirade of swears continued in a dull murmur. As Trixie's horn began to glow softly with a light spell, she saw that Gilda was on her haunches, clutching at her broken wing.

"Stop that," Trixie ordered her. "Braeburn bandaged you up the best he could, and if you pull it loose, you're be hurting a lot more than you already are."

Gilda's moaning continued, though it had started to sound more like frustration than pain. "Right...now I remember."

"Well, at least we have that," Trixie said sarcastically. "And just so you know, Braeburn is gone."

"What?"

"Our Earth pony left while you were still napping. You were talking in your sleep―about Rainbow Dash. It led to a rather awkward line of questions that I had to field for you."

Gilda groaned again.

"Yes, that about sums it up," Trixie said.

"So...what now?" Gilda asked after a few moments. "I mean...we keep going, right?"

"Of course we keep going," Trixie said. "There's no guarantee that Porter's information was right. Maybe we don't even need an Earth pony."

"If that's true, then you wouldn't need a griffon, either," Gilda said, more than a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"Then you should consider yourself lucky, given your current situation," Trixie replied. "Now go back to sleep. Braeburn's going to try to find the stone on his own, and we're going to beat him to it. Even if Trixie has to drag your carcass the rest of the way up the mountain."

Taking her own advice, Trixie laid back down, but sleep would not return to her until the sky began to lighten with the impending sunrise.


***


As soon as he was out of the cave and back in the biting cold, Braeburn realized how rash his departure had been. However, his conscience wouldn't have let him return, even if his pride would have. He had left with little more than the cloak on his back, and he was unsure whether he would be able to find another cave in which to take shelter. If Trixie's information was accurate, he wouldn't even be able to claim the Wishing Stone for himself. Not for the first time on his journey, hopelessness threatened to overwhelm him.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends had helped Appleloosa through its first crisis, and now he had to choose between protecting the town and protecting them. He resented the cruelty of fate that had put him in the position to make that choice, so much so that he was determined to subvert it. Even if all he knew about what lay ahead of him said that that was impossible, he would find a way.

"Ain't nothin' a unicorn and a griffon can do that an Earth pony can't, if he puts his mind to it," he said aloud, as much to move his rapidly numbing lips as to reassure himself. His words were not a great success at either, but no sooner had he spoken than he caught sight of something ahead of him that, if only slightly, gave his flagging spirits a boost.

There, carved into the mountain, was what appeared to be another cave entrance. To his further relief, it was large enough to easily accommodate him, but not so big that a beast like the yeti could have fit through it. Braeburn wasted no time galloping over to it and squeezing inside.

"Thank Celestia," he mumbled, throwing off his saddlebags and collapsing to the ground. He sat on his haunches, his cloak pulled tight around his shoulders. The cave could not be considered warm by any stretch, but it at least offered some protection from the relentless assault of the wind.

When his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, Braeburn huddled further into his shelter, but quickly realized that it was little more than an oversized crack in the side if the mountain. There was, at most, room for two ponies inside, which made him feel much more optimistic about his chance of lasting through the night than he had just moments before. If he could survive the cold, at least he wouldn't have to worry about monsters.

In the morning, he would continue his climb, on his own. Without Trixie's magic, he would have some difficulty pinpointing the stone's exact location, but he felt safe in assuming that he would eventually get there if he just followed the most difficult path. It had, after all, brought him this far.


***


"That idiot dirt pony," Trixie spat, pulling herself up over another ledge. "When Trixie has supreme magical power, he's going to wish he hadn't run away. But we'll see how much good his wishes do him then!"

"You say that like you had any intention of giving him one of the wishes in the first place," Gilda said, making no move to help as Trixie clambered back to her hooves.

"Don't interrupt Trixie's dreams of conquest!" the unicorn snapped.

"Look,” Gilda said, “I still think Porter's info was probably good. That means we’re gonna need Braeburn's help to get the Wishing stone, whether you like it or not.”

“Nonsense,” Trixie said haughtily, walking past Gilda on the small landing they had reached. Even if Porter was right about the test, what can an Earth pony do that a unicorn and a griffon can't? Are we going to have to plow our way to the stone?”

“Come on, Trixie,” Gilda groaned, “can’t you even pretend to take this seriously?”

Trixie stopped and turned to face Gilda again. “And what are we going to do, Gilda?” She asked. “Tie Braeburn up and force him to help us? We don’t know what we’re walking into, we don’t know if Braeburn will even make it to the stone without my magic guiding him, and we don’t know if you’re going to be of any use with a broken wing. Whether or not I find a way to convince Braeburn that I’m not going to banish Twilight Sparkle and all of her friends to the moon is hardly my most pressing concern right now, so let’s just keep going and hope that we can figure something out if we have to.”

As Trixie started to climb again, she added under her breath, “It’s not like any of my plans have worked yet anyway.”


***


When Braeburn's eyes opened the next morning, the first thing he felt was pure joy at still being alive. He had run out of the cave the day before without his bedroll, but his cloak had kept him warm enough to get through the night, even if it was becoming progressively harder to feel most of his body. 

Still, the sun was out, and as he munched on an oat bar from his saddlebags, Braeburn tried to lift his spirits by admiring how the morning sun made the landscape of snow and crystal shimmer until it blended seamlessly with the sky above. He was seeing something that nopony else from Appleloosa was ever likely to see, and he took some solace in that, even if he wasn't sure he'd ever return to tell anypony about it. At once, his mind filled with memories of the desert heat, the satisfying ache of his muscles after a day of apple bucking, drinks with friends at the saloon on weekends. Since he started his northward journey, he had tried to keep specific thoughts of home from his mind, but now, alone at the opposite end of the continent, he could no longer fight them off.

Maybe, he told himself, he never should have tried. He had been afraid that if he thought about Appleloosa as more than an abstract cause to fight for, he would become too discouraged to carry on. Now, with nothing but those memories to propel him into what would, for better or worse, be the last leg of his journey, he decided there was no more harm in embracing them. His meager breakfast finished, he shouldered his saddlebags again and, steeling himself with a deep breath, started back up the mountain.

In the icy drone of the wind and the blinding sparkle of crystal coming from all directions, Braeburn quickly lost track of how long he had been climbing. As the ordeal of the past few days made itself known ever more insistently in his legs and back, he started to feel as if his entire life had been spent trudging against the bitter cold. Only the memories of Appleloosa, which he allowed to occupy an ever greater share of his thoughts as the monotony of the climb continued, reminded him that he had ever known a life outside of the mountains' dizzying reaches. But the cold had long since ceased to feel much different from his memories of the frontier town's heat, and the arduous journey to wherever it was he was going gradually became indistinguishable from the rigors of the settlers' original caravan to Appleloosa. When he heard Sheriff Silverstar's voice, his surprise only lasted for a second before his friend’s presence made perfect sense.

"Hey, kid," the gruff old pony said, his bushy black mustache bouncing along with the words, "you still with us?"

"Wh—y-yeah, I'm right here," Braeburn answered blearily.

"Coulda fooled me. Looked like you were in another world. Got somethin' on your mind?"

"Nah. Nothin' much. Well, nothin' worth talkin' about, anyway."

"Aw, c'mon, kid, we got nothin' but time out here on the trail. Humor me."

Braeburn stared at his hooves and thought about how to say what he was thinking. He hated to offend anypony, but didn't see a way around it in this case.

"It's just...I'm committed to makin' Appleloosa work, but I guess the more I think about it, the less sure I am we need to go way out to the frontier for that. Equestria's got plenty of unsettled land that'd be better for growin' apples. Why do we have'ta trudge all the way out to the desert when we could start up a town somewhere that's a lot more hospitable to us?"

Silverstar was silent for so long that Braeburn began to feel uncomfortable, worrying that his words had been even more offensive than he had feared. When the Sheriff finally spoke, though, his tone was as calm and measured as always.

"I reckon you could look at it that way," he said, "but maybe there’s more to it. Lemme ask you somethin’. Why'd you join up with this little expedition in the first place?"

Braeburn scarcely had to think at all before answering. "I was tired of livin' where everything was so civilized and...well, solved."

"You wanted to challenge yourself," Silverstar said, with a sage nod.

"Yeah. But growin' apples in the middle of the desert ain't exactly the challenge I was lookin' for."

"I don't think that's what anypony on this trail's lookin' for," Silverstar said. "Well, except for Shamrock, but then gardnenin' is his special talent."

"And my special talent is apple farmin'. So shouldn't that be the challenge I'm here for?"

"Not necessarily," Silverstar said. "There's more to a pony than his special talent. Take me. Law enforcement's my special talent, but I don't go home at the end of the day and enforce the law for fun. And even though I know there'll be a lot of work for me to do out on the frontier, it ain't the only reason I came. Hay, it ain't even the main reason."

"What was, then?"

"Don't you worry them pretty golden locks of yours about that, boy," Silverstar said, giving Braeburn a cross look. "We're talkin' about you, here."

"Well, I reckon it'll sound a little funny, but...I wanted to live somewhere that I could give more to society than just apples. I wanted to feel like I actually had a hoof in where things were goin', instead of just taggin' along with everypony else."

"No, that don't sound funny 'tall," Silverstar said. "But if that's the case, there is somethin’ you’re gonna have to do.”

“And what’s that?” Braeburn asked.

“Snap out of it.”

"What?" Braeburn came to a complete stop, but when he turned to where Silverstar should have been, he saw only the icy sparkle of snow all around him.

He was still in the mountains. He had no idea how far he had walked while hallucinating the conversation with Sheriff Silverstar, but given the depth of the snow, he knew he was at a much higher altitude than when he set out that morning. More importantly, he was no longer sure he was going in the direction Trixie had been leading him before they parted ways. Panicked, he whirled back around, but what he saw there froze him where he stood.

At first, Braeburn thought the black stone structure jutting into the sky in the distance, was just another trick of his beleaguered imagination. Even setting aside the obviously imported materials, nopony could even have built even a simple fortification this high in the mountains, let alone a monolithic temple like the one that now stood before him. As he moved closer, and the ancient and ornate carvings on the structure’s facade came into focus, he kept waiting on the mirage to disappear, or to be revealed as nothing more than a pile of rocks. Even as he reached out to touch the stone that might have been older than Equestria itself, he expected his hoof to pass right through the facade.

That never happened. With a satisfying clop, the stone resisted. 

“This is your last chance,” Braeburn said. “If you ain’t real, now’s the time to let me know.”

He touched it again. And again. Soon he was knocking on the wall with foalish glee. “Well shave my mane and call me ‘Drafty’!” he said, relieved laughter overtaking his words. “This ain’t an illusion after all!"

The pieces quickly fell into place. This had to be the location of the Wishing Stone, and that meant there had to be a way inside. However, where the entrance should have been, there was only a seam running vertically from the ground to about twice the height of a particularly tall pony. Except for the conspicuous lack of any way to open it, it gave every appearance of being a double door. 

Braeburn started to examine the structure more carefully, looking for anything that would cause the doors to part and grant him entry. He traced a hoof over the lines of carvings—which he assumed were magical runes—that ran vertically down each side of the would-be doors. He pushed on the massive stone slabs in various spots, and when that failed, made a complete circuit around the temple looking for any expertly hidden mechanisms. Finally arriving back at his starting point, he began to jump up and down in front of what appeared to be the only possible point of ingress, as if the building hadn’t welcomed him simply because it was unaware of his presence. 

Nothing changed, though. The wind whipped around him in a white din, and the doors stood stoic as ever, taunting him with their refusal to share his sense of urgency.

"Come on you lousy rocks!" Braeburn shouted petulantly. "Appleloosa's gonna die if you don't open!"

"Isn't that rather dramatic?" came a voice from behind him. Braeburn recognized it once, and his shoulders slumped as he realized what it meant.

"Trixie," he said resignedly as the unicorn, along with Gilda, came to his side. "Let me guess, it's gonna take all three of us just to get into this thing, ain't it?"

"It would appear that way," Trixie said thoughtfully, looking up and down the line of runes that bordered the doors. "Jumping up and down and yelling at it didn't work, so that only leaves magic."

"So what do we do?" Gilda asked.

"First," Trixie replied, "we get our Earth pony's assurance that he's not going to try to sabotage the whole operation again."

Trixie, and even Gilda, took a step back as Braeburn turned and, with a cry of frustration and anger, bucked the doors as hard as he could. When they still showed no sign of opening, he fixed Trixie with a look of pure disgust.

"I can't give you that," he said. "But I reckon you need me to get through those blasted doors as much as I need you. So I'll do what I have to to get inside. But I ain’t makin’ any promises about what happens after that."

Trixie looked back to the runes, then to Braeburn's defiant expression. With a sigh, she finally answered him. "Fine, then. Just remember, you're the one making this difficult, not Trixie. Now please stand aside for a moment. Getting these doors open is going to require magic."

Braeburn moved from his position in front of the doors, but just enough to give Trixie room to take his place. If she was going to pull some trick, he wanted to see it up close. However, for a long moment, the unicorn did nothing more than continue to study the runes.

"These really are ancient," she said, "which means that the magic they indicate is rather primitive. Or, perhaps 'primal' is a better way of putting it. At any rate, the information Porter gave us appears to be right. This incantation makes use of unicorn, Earth pony, and pegasus magic."

"Hey, look at this!" Gilda interrupted. She was scraping at the ground with her talons, and Braeburn immediately saw why. Underneath the snow, beneath their hooves, was some sort of stone plate that appeared to be connected to the rest of the structure. "Braeburn," she said, "help me get this uncovered!" 

Braeburn jumped in immediately, thankful to have anything to contribute after his helplessness in the face of the doors. In seconds, they had cleared enough of the snow to see the plate clearly. Though the runes were meaningless to him, even he could immediately recognize the significance of the other engravings in the stone slab. Three symbols were arranged in a triangle: a moon and stars at the top, nearest the doors; below and to the left, a cloud with rain and lightning coming out of it; and to the right of that, a tree sprouting from the earth. The icons were obviously meant to represent the three kinds of pony magic.

“Of course!” Trixie said, mostly to herself, as she looked down at the engravings. “I don’t know why this never occurred to me! I mean, I knew my part of the test would be focused on magic, but I assumed the other two parts would focus on Earth ponies’ and pegasi’s physical traits.”

“You, uh, wanna fill the rest of us in?” Gilda asked.

Trixie whirled around to face her companions again, beaming triumphantly. “Trixie has solved the mystery! The test, the way we’re going to open these doors and get to the Wishing Stone, is entirely magical. If I’m reading the runes correctly—and really, what are the chances that I’m not—then an alicorn who wanted to enter would use her unicorn magic to channel her Earth pony and pegasus magic into this platform to open the doors.”

“So you’re gonna pull the magic out of us instead,” Gilda said, understanding dawning.

“That’s all well and good,” Braeburn interrupted, “but I thought Gilda was here because she can fly, not because she’s magical.”

“Griffons have some magic in us, too!” Gilda said sharply. “We can walk on clouds and control the weather like pegasi. We just don’t feel the need to build big, showy cloud houses, since they don’t exactly do a great job of keeping your enemies out.”

“Gilda’s magic should be strong enough to open the doors,” Trixie said. “I don’t think the spell is based on having an alicorn’s power. We just need to be able to show the doors that all three types of magic are present.”

“Then let’s get it over with,” Braeburn said.

“Fine with me,” Trixie agreed, any hint of friendliness once again absent from her voice. Braeburn didn’t care that his sourness had spoiled her brief good mood at having unraveled the temple’s puzzle. He was too busy thinking of a way to stop Trixie from rushing for the Wishing Stone the second the door opened. 

Trixie took her place on the unicorn magic symbol, and the others followed her lead. “You two just stand still, and try to focus on the magic inside you,” she said. “The more you can bring it to the surface yourselves, the easier it will be for me to direct it into the platform.” Braeburn had to admit that she was showing a different side of herself, one that actually had some appreciation for her craft rather than for the attention it could bring her. 

For a moment, as Trixie’s horn began to glow, Braeburn felt nothing. He risked a glance at Gilda, and saw that she was also watching Trixie intently. He almost envied the griffon, who seemed to have no doubt that Trixie was going to share the Wishing Stone’s magic with her. However, any sympathy he might have had for Gilda disappeared the moment he remembered that she wanted to use that magic to control Rainbow Dash’s mind, and force the pegasus to be her friend again.

Braeburn's thoughts were snapped back to the present when he began to feel a strange pull inside of him. Suddenly, the smell of dirt and leaves and fruit was in his nostrils, as if he were back on the orchard in Appleloosa. The snow and stone and crystal were still there before his eyes, but under his hooves was the feeling of sweet, fertile soil. The sensations were so strong that he looked around wildly, convinced that Trixie’s weakness had all been an act, that she was teleporting them to some verdant field far away from the shimmering crystal of the mountains.

The landscape didn’t change, though, and as the stone beneath his hooves began to glow with the same pink light as Trixie’s horn, he realized that her spell was working. She was drawing his Earth pony magic to the surface, taking it into herself and passing it into the stone beneath them. Then the glow extended out from the platform until it touched the bottom of the doors, slowly creeping up, up, until the twin slabs were bathed in pink light, and the grinding of their ancient weight began.

“It’s working!” Gilda cried. “The doors are opening!” But Trixie didn’t respond. The unicorn was lost in magic that was, Braeburn suspected, more powerful than any she had ever performed before.

The grating sound of stone moving across stone continued, until the doors had swung open, back into the structure that they had protected for untold centuries. Within, Braeburn could see nothing but darkness. As suddenly as it had come, the magic receded back into him. His senses were back in the Crystal Mountains, in the snow and the lashing wind. The glow of Trixie’s magic was gone, and the unicorn was swaying like a drunk in front of him. Gilda moved first, but Braeburn wasn’t far behind, and the two of them caught the unicorn as she collapsed.

Trixie was spent. But the doors were open.


***


Trixie had no idea when she had fallen. Once her companions’ magic began to flow into her, she had lost all sense of time and place. When she came to her senses and found the two of them holding her, she had at first mistaken the warmth of their bodies for the continuation of the spell. It was only when she saw that the doors were standing wide open before them that she realized the spell was over, and she had succeeded.

Gilda was the first to notice her stirring. “You ok, Lulamoon?”

“Trixie is...Trixie is exhausted. But she will accept your thanks and praise for the magical feat she just accomplished.”

“Don’t push it,” Braeburn said.

“I gotta admit,” Gilda said, “that was pretty feathering impressive. I mean, my wing’s even feeling a little better.”

Trixie’s mind was still trying to readjust to the mundane world after being in the path of such a powerful wave of magic. She wanted to tell Gilda that the cloud magic she had been channeling was part of the essence of griffons as much as pegasi, and that bringing so much of it to the surface had probably greatly accelerated her body’s natural healing processes. However, she wasn’t sure if that was true, or if the euphoria she was still feeling just made it seem as if magic was everywhere, dictating the course of everything in the world.

“I guess that don’t matter now,” Braeburn said. “I mean, we got the doors open, so...now we just walk in and take the stone?”

“Only one way to find out,” Gilda said.

“Give me a minute,” Trixie said. The sensation that lingered within her after the casting was both invigorating and terrifying, but curiosity made her want to savor it as long as she could. Her limbs felt unsure and tingly, as if she were intoxicated, but her mind was sharper than it had ever been. For the duration of the spell, Trixie Lulamoon had ceased to exist. She had felt her consciousness unravel, only to be rewoven into the fabric of the universe. For a moment, she had to fight back the desperate urge to abandon her mission. It had taken all of her skill to draw the energy out of Gilda and Braeburn, but the rest of the spell was the magical equivalent of dumping a bucket of water on the floor. If that relatively unsophisticated feat had been enough to nullify her sense of self, she was afraid her mind would never be able to endure the vastly more powerful spells her wish would allow her to cast.

With a valiant effort, she put that thought out of her mind, or at least to one side of it. She refused to let the greatest magical triumph of her life be for nothing. “I’m ready,” she finally said. Then, when neither Gilda nor Braeburn released their hold on her, she added “Which means, you two can let me go now.”

Without the support of her companions, Trixie wobbled and very nearly fell, but ultimately managed to remain standing. Almost as if she were learning to walk again, she slowly, carefully made her way through the doors. Magical torches sparked to life along the walls, shedding their soft blue light on the ageless room, which Trixie realized was as much a vault as a temple. She didn’t have to look to know that Gilda and Braeburn were right behind her, but she could tolerate their presence just a bit longer. Her strength would return as soon as she laid eyes on the Wishing Stone. Then, she could finally enact the plan that had been incubating in her mind since she agreed to accept Gilda's help.

“So...where is it?” Gilda asked. “I don’t see anything.”

As soon as they entered, Trixie had noticed a dais at the other end of the room, and was steadily advancing on it. Something had been laid there, but in the low light it was nothing more than an indistinct shape.

“Maybe it’s on that altar,” Braeburn offered, when Trixie failed to reply.

“Be careful,” Trixie finally said. “There has to be more security than just those doors.” She suspected that was true, but also hoped it would prevent the others from attempting to rush ahead of her. Step by agonizing step, they crept closer to the altar until finally the object laying there became clear. It was a simple black stone, possibly obsidian, polished but nowhere near as ornately cut as the amethyst in her dreams.

“Is...is that it?” Gilda asked.

“Wait,” Trixie said. “I’m going to cast one last detect magic spell. If that’s really the Wishing Stone, the feedback should be overwhelming.” 

Trixie began to channel the energy into her horn. Her thoughts were so scattered that the act of shaping it into the desired spell took far more concentration than normal. Even if she had not been so focused, though, she wouldn’t have been able to move before the trapdoor swung open beneath her hooves. Almost as soon as she realized that she was falling, she came crashing down on her rump. It was enough to knock the breath out of her and cause a considerable amount of pain, but she knew right away the fall hadn’t been far enough to cause any lasting damage. There was plenty of light in this new chamber, carved directly into the solid crystal of the mountain. She saw immediately that she had been separated from Gilda and Braeburn, but that wasn't the worst of it. Looking up, she could also see that the trapdoor had already closed behind her.

“Gilda! Braeburn!” she shouted. “Can you hear me?”

She waited nearly a minute, but no response came. For all she knew, their own falls had been far less benign, but before she had much time to think about that grim possibility, she noticed the sign at the opposite end of the chamber. Hurrying over to it, her eyes landed on its message, and her heart sank.

The real test starts here.
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gilda's wing may have been partially healed by Trixie’s channeling spell, but it was still hurting after her unexpected fall into the chamber beneath the sanctuary. When the floor gave way under her feet, she had instinctively flapped her wings to stay aloft, but the unexpected surge of pain had caused her to drop like a load of bricks. Fortunately for her, the fall had only been about ten feet, and she had landed safely enough that she hadn’t sustained any new injuries.

At least the room in which she now found herself was well lit. Her first instinct was to call out to Trixie and Braeburn, but she quickly decided to save her voice. Whoever had opened the trap doors meant to separate them, and she assumed that would extend to a way to prevent any communication between them, whether mundane or magical. And anyway, she was happy to have a respite from Trixie's domineering personality and Braeburn's constant moral indecision. She might have finally admitted to herself that she missed Rainbow Dash more than she resented her finding new friends, but her attitude toward ponies in general had softened only slightly. She was, after all, still a griffon at heart.

Like any griffon, she hated being caged, and was on the lookout for a way out of her current predicament as soon as she was standing again. The chamber in which she found herself was essentially a long hallway—so long that she couldn't even be sure of what lay at the opposite end. But there was a sign, bearing the simple message The Real Test Starts Here. Gilda grumbled a few obscenities about wizards and their unduly high opinions of their own cleverness, but she was still relieved. If there was a test, that must mean that passing it would get her out of the chamber.

"Alright, whoever you are," she announced, "let's do this! The sooner I ace your lame test, the sooner I can get back to stealing your magical rock!"

Gilda had barely issued her challenge when the floor began to rumble and shift underneath her, subtly at first, but with an increasing violence that soon had her trying to dig her talons into the crystal floor for support. No sooner had she managed to steady herself than a sound like a colossal thunderclap split the air. A rare cry escaped from Gilda’s beak as the ceiling and the walls began to tear apart around her, the pieces shooting straight up, disappearing into the shining white sky above. The temple obliterated, Gilda found herself outside again, perched on the new mountain peak left in the wake of its destruction.

Despite the panic the ruinous spectacle had caused in her, Gilda’s first thoughts were for Trixie and Braeburn. They couldn't have fallen far from her when the trap doors opened, but the place where they should have landed was now nothing but open air. Despair was starting to set in when, over the wild roar of the wind, Gilda heard a familiar voice.

“Gilda! Down here!”

The griffon peered into the chasm that had formed beneath her perch, but what she saw there did nothing to ease her fears. Trixie had managed to catch herself, but was dangling precariously from a crystalline outcropping, her horn glowing with magical energy. A few yards beneath her, Braeburn hung in the air, his freefall stopped, at least momentarily, by Trixie’s levitation spell.

“Hang on, Trix!” Gilda shouted back. Trying not to think of the pain she was about to endure, the griffon leaped from the peak and tried to glide as gently as she could down to where Trixie was clinging to the ledge. Even that proved to be intensely painful given the state of her wing, but she attempted to block out the agony by replaying in her mind the words Rainbow Dash had chided her with so long ago at Junior Speedsters camp: When somepony’s in trouble and you can help them, you do!

At the moment, whether she could help was a big 'if'. Braeburn's first aid job, already taxed by the last leg of her journey up the mountain, was quickly unraveling under the strain of flying. When the bandages finally did give way, she had no idea whether she would be able to support her own weight, let alone Trixie's and Braeburn's. As she alighted near Trixie, though, she did her best to put on a brave face.

"What are you doing?" Trixie cried before Gilda had a chance to speak. "Don't waste time on me! Get Braeburn before I drop him!"

"How much longer can you hold him?" Gilda asked. "I can carry you, and you carry him."

"I d-don't know!" Trixie growled. "Just hurry!"

Gilda surveyed the situation one last time, and made her decision. The wildfire burning through her broken wing told her two trips were out of the question. She could save one of her companions for sure, but if she chose Braeburn, it would mean leaving Trixie behind. Really, then, there was only one choice.

"Don't let go of him, Lulamoon!" Gilda said, lifting Trixie with her forelegs and, before she could think about the consequences, beating her wings for takeoff. As the horrific pain coursed through her, she screamed in the hope of a release, and for a moment she was convinced all three of them were going to plummet into the ever deepening chasm below. With that thought, though, her cry of agony formed into a single word, one that had defined her entire life—one that, in that desperate moment, took on a significance she had never known it could have.

"No!"

At that moment, every inch of her refused to give in to despair, to be beaten by injuries and humiliation and all the barriers she had built between herself and the rest of the world. She flapped her wings harder, letting the pain engulf her until it was no longer an adversary but her entire world. The peak was coming closer, and with it safety, rest, relief. She glanced down and saw that Trixie's horn was still glowing with the magic of the levitation spell, and in that light she found the last of the strength she needed. With one final, titanic effort, she rose above the peak, dropped Trixie, and landed beside her just in time to see Braeburn desperately grab the ledge as Trixie exhausted the last of her magical energy. His hooves wildly tried to find purchase on the slippery surface, and Gilda dove to catch them. For a moment, talons gripped hooves, but Braeburn’s wild thrashing quickly undid the rescue attempt. He and Gilda screamed simultaneously as he slipped from her grasp and plunged back into the abyss.

With a quick look back at Trixie, who had collapsed presumably from some combination of exertion and mortal terror, Gilda threw herself after Braeburn once more. As difficult as the first rescue attempt had been, the second was going to be far worse. Not only had the adrenaline rush that had allowed Gilda to overcome her pain already started to wear off, Braeburn had a head start on her. She couldn't just dive after him and catch up. She was going to have accelerate, and that meant using her wings in a way she knew they couldn't take. Saving Braeburn might mean never again being able to fly like she could before the injury. However, even if she had wanted to turn back, it would have been too late.

As the beating of her wings began to seem like a form of torture that was being perpetrated against her rather than one she was actively causing, Gilda realized delirium was setting in. The wind forced her tears to streak up her cheeks, toward the back of her head, and she focused on the falling pony ahead of her in an attempt to forget her pain. She was gaining on him. It was something. It was everything. Seconds passed in slow motion until, at last, Braeburn was within arm’s reach for her. Gilda held her talons out in front of her, and soon she had as solid a grip on him as she felt capable of.

“We’re going up!” Gilda cried, partially to warn Braeburn of the impending shift in momentum, partially to remind herself that her journey was only half over. With the last of her strength, she pulled up in the gentlest curve she could manage, suddenly feeling Braeburn’s weight far more acutely than she had when they were still falling. With a choked cry, she pushed against gravity with everything she had left. The peak once again came closer, but not nearly fast enough. With a final burst of  energy, which she felt certain was the last one her devastated wing would ever provide, she cleared the peak, dropped Braeburn at Trixie’s side, then crumpled to the ground.

As Gilda curled up there, her body wracked with sobs of pain and relief, a realization crept into her half-crazed mind. She was sure now that she knew what her father had always meant when he talked about being a true griffon. It had never been about dominating those weaker than yourself, but showing them what true strength is, giving them an ideal to which they could aspire. It was a feat she had never managed before that moment.

Behind Gilda’s closed eyes, she saw not darkness, but a pure white light that engulfed everything, welcoming her like the rising sun.


***


“No, no, no!”

Braeburn frantically dashed from one end of the long, crystalline hallway in which he had been imprisoned to the other, desperate to find a way out. Everything had happened so fast, he had no idea whether Trixie and Gilda had fallen into other traps, or if the two of them were still in the temple, using up the three wishes—his wish, Appleloosa’s wish. 
He had nearly exhausted himself before he saw the sign, and cringed at its message. As if he hadn't been tested already! What else was his trek from one end of Equestria to the other, the company of a pompous and probably evil unicorn and a petulant griffon, being tortured by a cult of Nightmare Moon worshipers, pursued by Princess Celestia’s royal guard, climbing to the top of the Crystal Mountains only to be lured into a trap by a fake magical artifact?

“No!” Braeburn cried again. “No more tests! I already earned this wish!”

As if in response, the wall at the opposite end of the chamber became transparent, or perhaps disappeared entirely—from where he stood, it could have been either. Braeburn was galloping toward it before he realized what was happening in the room that was now visible to him. There was another altar, similar to the one in the temple above, but far more ornate. On it sat a gemstone that radiated a wild swirl of multi-colored light, so beautiful and hypnotic that Braeburn found himself unable to focus on it long enough to discern exactly what sort of stone it was. He forced himself to pull his attention away from the artifact before it swallowed his mind entirely, just in time to see a familiar unicorn and griffon approaching the dais.

Braeburn’s anxiety got the best of him. He attempted to rush through the passage into the next room, only to find that the apparent opening was, indeed, blocked by a transparent barrier. As the collision threw him to the floor, he saw his companions turn to one another and begin to talk. Trixie’s back was to him, but he could see the usual cross expression on Gilda’s face. Trixie responded by gesturing toward the stone, as if inviting Gilda to take it. Gilda eyed her suspiciously for a moment, but then began to move toward the altar again while Trixie stayed put.

No sooner had Gilda passed in front of Trixie than the unicorn’s horn began to glow. Realizing what was about to happen, Braeburn rushed to the invisible wall again, pounding on it with his forehooves and screaming a warning to the griffon.

“Gilda! Turn around! She’s gonna—”

Too late, Braeburn realized that while he could see through the wall, Gilda could not. A split second before her talons grasped the Wishing Stone, Trixie fired a bolt of magic, dropping the griffon in a heap before the altar. His face pressed against the invisible wall, Braeburn frantically tried to discern whether Gilda was still breathing. After several agonizing seconds, he had to admit to himself that she was not. As Trixie stepped closer to the altar and levitated the Wishing Stone over to herself, Braeburn slumped to the floor.

“Gilda…” he mumbled, his eyes burning with the beginnings of tears.

“Oh, stop it. You hated her as much as Trixie did.”

Braeburn looked up, weakly, and realized that it was only Gilda who had not been able to see or hear him through the wall. Trixie was standing over him, glaring at him with the disdainful expression with which he had become so familiar.

“You killed…” But Braeburn couldn't finish the sentence.

“Of course I did,” Trixie said, coming closer to Braeburn, the gem still floating securely at her side. “Do you know what goes into creating an artifact like the Wishing Stone? You don’t just zap some rock with a little bit of magic. You have to study for decades. You have to live with the item you’re going to enchant for years, know its every contour, be absolutely certain that it is completely without imperfections. The incantation takes days, and if it’s successful, the casting is so taxing that it drains years—literally years—from the mage's life!

“Do you know what Gilda was going to do with her wish? She was going to make Rainbow Dash be her friend again. That’s it! She could have wished to be the greatest flier who ever lived, to unite all griffons under her rule, for unlimited wealth and fame—any of those probably would have led to that idiot pegasus wanting to be her friend again. But she couldn't see the bigger picture. She was going to waste a wish on something as simple as friendship.” Trixie let the word fall from her lips like a particularly distasteful bite of food.

“But you...even if your motives are sickeningly pure, at least you're thinking big. You weren't just going to wish for a big pile of apples to keep your little frontier town going for another year. You were going to spit in Celestia’s face and manipulate nature itself!”

“What’s your point?” Braeburn finally asked. He was still too afraid to look up, lest he catch sight of Gilda’s lifeless body in the next room.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is paying you a compliment, Braeburn. You have more potential than you think, and Trixie is offering you a chance to realize it. Don’t try to tell me you've never wanted to be more than a simple farmer.”

So many thoughts were crashing around in Braeburn’s mind at that moment that it took a few seconds for the implications of Trixie’s words to really reach him. By the time they did, she was already talking again.

“You can have your wish, Braeburn, even if you only want to use it to fix your harvest. But why stop there?”

Braeburn knew he had to stall long enough to collect himself and decide what to do. He didn't think Trixie had used any of the wishes yet. If she had, she would most likely be an alicorn already. But she was holding the stone in the grasp of her magic, and Braeburn doubted he would be able to get it away from her before she could use it to transform herself. He could try to simply buck her in the horn and disrupt her magic, but he would have only one shot, and if he failed, he would end up like Gilda. If he thought it would stop Trixie from using the wishes, he believed he would be able to give his life. But that was unlikely. She would recover, and then his sacrifice would be meaningless.

There was another option, though. One that was floating right there in the room with him. One that Trixie was even offering him.

He could take the wish.

As soon as the thought formed in his mind, his consciousness exploded with images of what might be. He could change the world for the better, shape it to fit the values that had driven him to help found and nurture Appleloosa. Under his benevolent rule, Appleloosa would become a kingdom to rival Canterlot. Villains like Trixie crushed under his hooves, he would rise to rule all of Equestria. Even the princesses of the sun and moon would kneel before his gracious, merciful kingship. The world conquered, he could move on to—

Gasping like a pony just saved from drowning, Braeburn leaped to his feet and backed away from Trixie, who continued to watch him with a wicked smile.

“You thought about it, didn't you?” she said. “You saw what you could have. Isn't it incredible? You can join me, Braeburn.”

Braeburn finally found the strength to look her in the eye. Behind her, past the wild colors spiraling out of the Wishing Stone, he could see Gilda, but he knew he couldn't let that horror deter him. He had to accept it as a symbol of why the choice he was about to make was necessary.

“I did think about it,” he said. “And...I have to save Appleloosa. That’s all.”

Trixie’s smile drooped and she turned away from Braeburn. “Disappointing,” she said. “But not surprising. You’re so convinced of your own goodness.”

“No,” Braeburn said, “I’m not. For all I know, fixin’ Appleloosa’s harvest could be the biggest mistake I've ever made. Maybe it’ll end with the princesses banishin’ me for the rest of my life. Maybe it’ll make the other settlers think that magic can always come in and solve all our problems. I don’t know. But I believe it’s the right thing to do, so it’s what I’m gonna do.”

“Yawn,” Trixie said. “Save the speeches, just make your wish and get out of Trixie’s sight.”

She flung the Wishing Stone toward him as if its nearly limitless power were already beneath her, but as he held up his hooves to catch it, the colors of its light fused into a blinding white that overwhelmed his senses until he couldn't be sure that even he still existed.


***


Whatever test she was to face, Trixie wished it would just start already. Her pacing had long since progressed from nervous to irritated, but she continued walking up and down the length of the chamber, looking for any hint as to what she had to do to get out. She was so deep in thought that, by the time she realized she could no longer hear the clatter of her hooves on the crystal floor, the ground beneath her had entirely changed to grass.

Trixie looked behind her, only to realize that the chamber was gone, replaced by a typical, sleepy little Equestrian village. Looking ahead again, she saw that the hallway that had lay ahead of her just seconds before had also disappeared. It only took a moment for her to recognize her surroundings.

"Ponyville," she sighed. “Of course it would be Ponyville.”

No sooner had she spoken than the chaos started. A string of ponies rushed toward her, yelling and knocking into each other in their haste to get back to the safety of their homes. For a moment, she felt the impulse to follow them, but memories of the temple and the chamber in which she had been trapped quickly came back to her.

"Trixie knows none of this is real!" she shouted at nopony in particular. "This is an illusion! I'm still locked up in the Crystal Mountains!"

Trixie's defiant demeanor changed abruptly when the crowd passed her by, and she realized what had frightened them all so badly. Out of the darkness came a creature she knew far better than she cared to admit: the hulking, translucent blue form of an Ursa Minor.

As if the great celestial bear weren't bad enough on its own, there was a single pony who had stayed behind to hold it off as the others escaped, a lavender-coated unicorn who Trixie immediately recognized, even from behind. At the sight of Twilight Sparkle, Trixie's anger surged forward again.

"This is my test?" she cried. "Reliving the most humiliating night of my life? I have news for you, whoever you are—I'm going to crush this stupid test, because I've been reliving this night over and over ever since it happened!"

The Ursa Minor continued to advance, Twilight Sparkle cautiously backing away from it. Her horn was glowing, but as far as Trixie could tell, she wasn't actually casting any spells. Despite her awareness of the illusory nature of what she was witnessing, Trixie rushed to Twilight's side.

"We'll, what are you waiting for?" She demanded. "Aren't you going to stop this thing?"

"Trixie!" Twilight said, turning to her with a look filled with fear and concern, "I-I know we don't see eye to eye, but you have to help me!"

"Help you?" the unicorn sneered. "What could Trixie possibly do to aid the mighty Twilight Sparkle?"

“I know I've done this before,” Twilight said, ignoring Trixie's sarcasm. Her shoulders slumped, her voice full of disappointment and shame, she added “I just can’t remember how.”

“Then this illusory Ponyville is completely bucked,” Trixie said. “Because we both know that I can’t take down an Ursa Minor.”

“But you saw me do it!” Twilight pleaded. “You just have to tell me what I did, and I know I’ll be able to do it again!”

“Tell you…” Trixie said blankly. “Oh, well...of course. That should be easy. After all, it’s not as if Trixie hasn't spent plenty of time thinking about this...unfortunate incident.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Twilight said with a smile, “but I’m glad to hear that! Now let’s take care of this Ursa Minor before it ransacks Ponyville!”

“Got it,” Trixie said, giving Twilight a nervous smile. “Ok, let’s see, first you...um…milk! You gave it milk!”

“Milk?” Twilight said. “Oh, right! The water tower!”

Energy began to gather around Twilight’s horn, and soon sparks were shooting out as she focused the considerable magic it would take to dismantle the water tower. With the Ursa still lumbering toward them, Twilight quickly pulled the tower apart, dumped the water out of the tank, and floated it toward the Apple family’s barn. Trixie once again marveled at Twilight’s magical ability. Nothing she was doing was particularly intricate on its own, but the fact that she could perform three different tasks at once, and on a relatively large scale was, Trixie had to admit, worthy of admiration. 

The makeshift milk bottle came floating out the opposite end of the barn, and Twilight stopped it just in front of the Ursa Minor. Trixie watched in anticipation, though her concern was mostly for whether she had given Twilight the right instructions. Her spirits lifted a bit as the Ursa stopped in its tracks and began to reach for the tank—then, in a cloud of fresh milk and splintered wood, swatted it, along with Trixie's hopes, to the ground.

“That wasn’t it!” Twilight cried, panic creeping into her voice.

“Calm down!” Trixie scolded her. “You’re Twilight Sparkle. If anypony can fix this, it’s you.”

“Right,” Twilight said, trying to shake off the failure. “We can still salvage this, if you can remember what I actually did first.”

“Well,” Trixie said, trying to hold back the inner voice that was attempting to shout her down with a commentary on her own uselessness, “it didn't swat the milk away the first time this happened, so you must have subdued it somehow—probably a binding spell."

“A binding spell," Twilight repeated uncertainly.

“Sure,” Trixie replied. “It must have been.”

Despite her obvious skepticism, Twilight began casting the new spell Trixie had suggested. The Ursa was advancing on them more quickly now, but the illusory Twilight appeared to have enough control over her emotions to complete her spell. At last, soft, translucent ribbons of magical energy began to spread out from her horn, wrapping around the Ursa, gently at first, but soon tightening to the point that the creature realized the unicorns were attempting to capture it. With an angry roar, it struggled against the bonds, rearing up on its hind legs and, with a terrifying burst of strength, shredding the manifestations of Twilight's magic.

"That didn't work, either, Trixie!" Twilight cried. "Please focus! We have to get this right!"

Trixie had heard enough. She rounded on this specter of her adversary, her face twisted in rage and humiliation. "Oh, stop patronizing me, you nag! Here, let me pass this stupid test right now: I admit it, I don't remember what you did to stop the Ursa that night in Ponyville! I was way too busy fearing for my life to pay attention to your impromptu magic demonstration! You completely humiliated me, and I've felt like a worthless foal ever since! All my arrogance is just a way to convince even more pathetic losers like Gilda to follow me, and even then it doesn't work particularly well!"

The illusion had frozen in place around Trixie as she unleashed her diatribe, and only when she had finished did she realize what had happened.

"We'll, that's what you wanted, right? For me to admit that I'm weak and talentless?” Trixie had been yelling up at the sky, as if whoever was testing her would be watching from somewhere above her. She looked back at the ground and lowered her voice as she finished. “Now can I please just get out of this stupid fake Ponyville?"

There was another moment of silence, then a flash of white light that obliterated the illusion. Trixie closed her eyes, letting the magic take her where it would.


***


When Trixie dared to open her eyes again, she was no longer in the chamber where she had been held before. She found herself in a new room now, cut from the same dark stone as the one in which she had fallen through the trap door, but round, and even more dimly lit. A quick look around revealed that there was no apparent path back to the room with the trap doors. She also saw, with a small pang of disappointment, that Gilda and Braeburn were there in the room with her.

"Gilda!" Braeburn cried, apparently having just appeared in the room himself. "You're alive!"

"Of course I'm alive," she said. "How could I have saved your flank back there if I wasn't?"

"Saved my—but you and Trixie were—"

"It was all an illusion, you imbeciles," Trixie interrupted. "Whatever happened to us back there, none of it was real. It was just this wizard's way of testing us to see if we deserved the Wishing Stone."

"And...you passed?" Gilda asked.

"Of course Trixie passed!" the unicorn snapped.

"Y'all," Braeburn said. Trixie shot him an irritated look, but saw that he was pointing toward the center of the room. Following his gesture, she saw a round dais, with a crescent shaped cut-away in the center of which sat a Radiant cut sapphire, slightly smaller than a pony's head, shimmering with the unspeakably powerful magic it contained. It was almost as if the circular room had been crafted just to emphasize the rectangular shape of the gem it had been built to contain.

"The Wishing Stone," Gilda said, breathlessly.

"Or another trap," Braeburn grumbled.

"No," Trixie said, the anger draining from her voice. "It's real. I can feel its power without even casting a detection spell."

"Then let's take it and get this over with," Braeburn said, stepping forward. 

"Right," Trixie said. "Gilda, why don’t you do the honors?"

"Trixie," Gilda said, looking confused, "that's not—"

"Not a good idea?" Braeburn interrupted. "I agree! I oughta be the one to take it."

Anger sparked again in Trixie's eyes as she positioned herself between Braeburn and the Wishing Stone. "Trixie doesn't care what you think," she said, tersely but evenly. "I trust Gilda more than I trust you, and I'm the leader here."

"Says who?" Braeburn countered. "I never agreed to that, and I bet Gilda never did, either, did you?"

"Look, let's all just calm down here,” Gilda said. “If Trixie wants me to get the Wishing Stone, I'll get it, then we can all make our wishes and never see each other again."

Braeburn was not ready to concede, though. "Ain't no way I'm dumb enough to let one of you two get to that stone before me!" he said, his voice rising as he turned his attention to Gilda. "We all know I'm the only one here who can be trusted with it!"

"No," Gilda quickly retorted, "we don't all know that! Hay, I've spent more time with Trixie than I have with you, and even if she wants to do some messed up stuff with her wish, I don't think she's gonna try to cheat me out of mine!"

Trixie marveled at the fire in Braebun's eyes as he advanced on Gilda. Her plan was going just as she had hoped. Despite the double cross she had planned with Gilda, she had never intended to give either of her companions one of the stone's three wishes. She knew that changing her plans without telling Gilda first would confuse the griffon and set Braeburn off, sparking an argument that would escalate quickly and distract both of her companions while she took the jewel for herself. However, she had to stay just involved enough not to raise their suspicions, while also stoking the flames of the conflict.

"She's right, Braeburn," Trixie said. "You know the worst about me already. I'm going to use my wish to get magical power Twilight Sparkle can't even dream of. But I'm not going to stop you two from getting what you want. You can have your harvest back, and Gilda—" Trixie eyed the griffon and scrunched up her face like a nicer pony might have when talking to a newborn foal "—can have her wittle fwiend Wainbow Dash back!"

Gilda's face contorted in rage and her talons curled dangerously into a fist. "Why you stupid—"

"Yeah, how could anypony not trust Trixie?" Braeburn sarcastically cut her off.

"You stay out of this, you pampered little golden colt!" the griffon roared.

"Pampered?" Braeburn shouted. "Do you have any idea what I went through to get Appleloosa off the ground, what I went through to get here? Oh, no, of course you don't, because you have your head so far up your own—"

"I'd think really hard before finishing that sentence," Gilda growled, advancing so far into Braeburn's personal space that her beak touched his muzzle.

"Oh yeah? I ain't afraid of you, Gilda. So far I've only seen you take on ponies who couldn't fight their way out of a loose hay bale. I'd like to see what you can do against a—"

Braeburn's sentence was cut short as Gilda's fist flashed out, colliding with his jaw and sending him sprawling on the floor.

"You have no idea how much I've been wanting to do that," Gilda said, catching Trixie off guard with a sly grin. "Now, you asked me to get the stone?"

"O-of course," Trixie stammered. "Be my guest."

This was not how Trixie had expected the argument to play out. She had to give Gilda credit, though. She had expected the griffon to talk a big game, but not be willing to actually attack Braeburn if it should come to that. She had underestimated Gilda's drive to get the Wishing Stone, but fortunately for her, she had one final chance to correct that mistake. As Gilda turned her back on Trixie to grab the artifact, the unicorn's horn began to glow. Gilda lifted the Wishing Stone, whose light pulsed more intensely in response to her touch, off of its stand, and turned back to Trixie.

"And now, if you don't mind," Gilda said, "I'll go ahead and wish my best friend back."

"Go ahead," Trixie said, "you just have to say the words."

With that, she fired off the spell she had prepared. It was the same spell she had used to silence Gilda back in Mother Darkstar's sanctuary on the night they had rescued Braeburn, but this time it was designed to secure Gilda's wings as well as her beak. The magic's glowing band wrapped around the griffon's body, leaving her simultaneously trying to escape and shout what was either her wish, or a string of curses. Trixie advanced on her, and Gilda's eyes widened.

"Magic is a fickle thing," Trixie said. "Spells with a verbal component—like wishing spells—only work if you can clearly state your intentions." She laid a hoof on the stone and smiled at Gilda. "Sorry things didn't work out between you and Rainbow Dash. But thanks for serving as my jewelry stand all the same."

Gilda's mumbling became increasingly frantic as Trixie closed her eyes and let the power of the Wishing Stone wash over her. With a deep breath, she visualized herself as she would soon be, with the wings and extended horn of an alicorn princess. "The Great and Powerful Trixie wishes for—"

But for the second time, the attempted wish was cut short. Trixie found her reverie interrupted as something crashed into her, sending the unicorn, the immobile griffon and the Wishing Stone flying in different directions.


***


No sooner had Braeburn realized that the channeling spell was complete than he saw Trixie starting to buckle before the now open doors of the sanctuary. Instinctively, he lunged forward, catching the unicorn in tandem with Gilda.

"She actually did it," Braeburn said, looking down at the mare with a hint of genuine admiration. "I honestly didn't think she had it in her."

Gilda didn't respond. She was too busy scanning Trixie's face for any sign of consciousness. When a snap of her talons right in the unicorn's ear didn't cause her to flinch, the griffon quickly looked at Braeburn, who was jerked out of his magical hangover by the genuine—and uncharacteristic—concern on her face.

"I don't have much time, so just listen," she said, barely above a whisper. "Trixie's going to double cross you, and I'm going to stop her. I know her plan, so when we get to the stone, just roll with whatever I do."

"Why should I—"

"Just trust me," Gilda snapped. Then, in a much softer tone, she added "Please. We can't let her get that wish."

"What do I do?"

"When I hit you, play dead. You'll know when to get up."

Braeburn started to protest, but a cautious look down at Trixie revealed that she was already starting to come to. He looked back at Gilda, who was now gently massaging Trixie's neck in an attempt to rouse her. For a moment, he wondered whether the offer she had just made was real, or if he was still just feeling the after-effects of the channeling. Either way, he decided he had to take his chances, and go along with whatever plan Gilda had cooked up.

***

Braeburn dared not look back to see whether his attack on Trixie had broken the spell she had cast on Gilda. All he knew was that it had knocked the Wishing Stone free from Gilda's talons, and he was the only one still on his hooves to claim it. Galloping toward the gem, he grabbed it and skidded to a stop. Trixie was getting to her hooves, and he knew that he had only a second to act. When Gilda's punch had scarcely hurt him, let alone knocked him unconscious, he had realized that she had been serious when she confided in him about her plan before they entered the sanctuary. That meant she had put all of her trust in him. He couldn't betray that, even though what he had decided to do filled him with dread.

"I wish Trixie was trapped in here!"

No sooner had the last word left his lips than the floor around Trixie's hooves began to shake and morph into a different form. Stone pillars a foot thick shot up in a circle around the unicorn, reaching all the way to the ceiling. From within the prison he had just wished for, Braeburn could hear Trixie screaming, cursing him and Gilda with a specificity and vulgarity he had never heard before. Her cries were so bitter, so anguished and hateful that they almost distracted him from the fact that he had just used his wish on something other than fixing Appleloosa's harvest.

From her spot on the floor, Gilda continued to struggle against the magical bonds. As the sound of Trixie's curses was replaced by the sound of her futilely trying to blast her way out of her stone cage, the restraints disappeared. Gilda scrambled to an upright position and rushed to Braeburn’s side.

"You did it, Braeburn!" She shouted. "I knew I could trust you!"

"Thanks," the Earth pony said, looking forlornly at the still-glowing gem in his hooves. "I reckon you woulda earned Rainbow Dash's friendship back if she had seen what you did today. So," he held out the gem to Gilda, "go ahead. Make your wish."

"Can we go outside first?" Gilda said, gesturing at the circle of pillars from which Trixie's magic blasts were now alternating with her screams and curses. "It's getting a little hard to think in here."

"Sure," Braeburn said, "if we can figure a way out."

As if responding to his statement, a pair of doors similar to those through which they had first entered the temple began to slowly swing open on the opposite side of the room. With just a nod between them, Gilda and Braeburn crossed over to them, both casting a cautious glance at Trixie’s prison as they passed it by. The cold wind and dusting of snow that blew in through the doors served as a stark reminder that they were still in the highest reaches of the Crystal mountains and far from safety, but at least for Braeburn, even the harsh mountain climate was a welcome change from the magical trickery of the Wishing Stone’s sanctuary.

“Thanks,” Gilda said, as soon as the doors had closed behind them. “For what you just did, I mean. You didn't have any reason to trust me, but you still did.”

“I had to take the chance,” Braeburn said. “I’m just glad one of us had a plan to stop Trixie from...well, I’d rather not think anymore about what she planned to do. But anyhow, you still have a wish coming.” Once again, Braeburn offered the stone to Gilda, and this time she accepted it.

“How’s this gonna work, anyway?” Gilda asked. “I mean, Trixie might be a little unhinged, but...we can’t just leave her trapped here.”

“No, we can’t,” Braeburn agreed. “So after you use your wish, I’m gonna use the last one to free her.”

“But that leaves Appleloosa without—”

“Don’t worry about that,” Braeburn said. “Ain’t your problem.”

“Maybe not,” Gilda said. “But either way, I guess it’s a good thing I’m the one holding the Wishing Stone right now.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Braeburn asked.

“It means...I wish for Appleloosa’s harvest to be restored.”

Once again, magical light began to pulse within the gemstone, and Braeburn had no doubt as the power rushed through him that Gilda’s wish had been granted, even if its effects were being manifested hundreds of miles away.

“What are you doin’?” Braeburn asked. “You came all this way to get Rainbow Dash’s friendship back, and—”

“Yeah, well you came all this way to fix Appleloosa’s harvest. One of us had to not be a total dweeb about this. And anyway, now if Princess Celestia gets her bridle in a twist about someone messing with the laws of nature, it’ll be me and not you.”

“Gilda, you didn’t have to…”

“It’s like you said back there, Braeburn,” Gilda said, handing the Wishing Stone back to him with a smile. “If Rainbow Dash knew what I’d done here, she'd probably take me back as a friend. So why waste a wish on it, when I can just go back to Ponyville and show her that I've changed?”

Braeburn tried to hide the tears of joy that were forming at the corners of his eyes, but soon the hot rivulets running down his cheeks told him he had failed.

“So,” he sniffed, “what do we do with Trixie?”

“Well,” Gilda said, “we can’t leave her locked up in there. But we’re not gonna have a particularly easy trip back down the mountain with a crazy unicorn chasing after us.”

“So we wish her somewhere else?”

“Somewhere far away from here,” Gilda agreed.

“I think I have an idea,” Braeburn said.

“Let’s do it, then,” Gilda said. “The sooner we get out of these stupid mountains, the happier I’ll be.”
Braeburn closed his eyes, and for the second time that day, called upon the Wishing Stone’s power. Once again, he felt its incredible power coursing through him, and this time thought he even caught some hint of how its magic altered the foundation of reality. Its power exhausted, the gem began to vibrate, and Braeburn opened his eyes just in time to see the priceless sapphire turn to dust in his hooves.

“Well, there go my dreams of retirement,” Gilda said.

“Easy come, easy go, I guess,” Braeburn said as he watched the dust begin to scatter in the wind. “Now let’s get out of here. We still got a long trip ahead of us.”
> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since Luna's return to Canterlot, she and Celestia had made a daily habit of meeting at dusk for a short conversation. The royal sisters had started these brief tête-à-têtes in order to catch up on all that they had missed in their millennium of separation; but eventually they became something more casual, a way for the two most powerful beings in Equestria to share a laugh or just a few friendly words in the fleeting moments when their domains overlapped.

Occasionally, though, the meetings still turned to more serious matters, usually at the behest of Luna. Celestia always knew when her younger sister was feeling less than jovial—quite a talent given Luna's tendency to look serious even when she was having fun. As the princess of the night approached that evening, Celestia recognized the tell-tale knit in her brow which indicated that she was not in a joking mood. 

"Good evening, sister," Celestia said, adopting a business-like posture to match Luna's. 

"Well met," said Luna. "I was hoping to hear that your little...experiment with the Wishing Stone had reached a favorable conclusion. Before coming here, I did some scrying, and was no longer able to feel its presence."

Celestia took a moment to consider what had happened before replying. "It will be some time before we know for sure whether the experiment was a success," she said. "For now, I know only what was wished for. The first spell was used to imprison Trixie Lulamoon in the Wishing Stone’s sanctuary, the second to restore the Appleloosans’ failed harvest."

"And the third?" Luna asked.

"To teleport Trixie to Vanhoover."

"Interesting," Luna mused. "I presume Ms. Lulamoon did not make that wish herself."

"It would be quite odd if she had."

“It is just as well,” Luna said. “From the beginning, I was opposed to this bit of meddling. Imagine, crafting an item that had previously existed only in ancient Equestrian legends, just as a teaching tool.”

Celestia finally allowed herself a giggle as Luna continued to frown at her. “How else was I going to top kicking my best student out of Canterlot just to teach her how to make friends?”

Luna snorted. “This may be a joke to you, sister, but you actually made the stone powerful enough to grant any wish! You knew there was a very real chance that Trixie would use it to give herself unlimited magical power!”

“Luna, you’re exaggerating,” Celestia said. “You know how wishing magic works as well as I do. The wish could only have made her as powerful as the pony who enchanted the gem.”

“Of course,” Luna scoffed, “so she could only have made herself your equal then. At which point she might still have had two more wishes to do with as she pleased.”

Both sisters stood in heavy silence for a moment as the significance of that number settled over them. At last, Celestia spoke again. “You are probably right,” she said. “But recently I have become convinced that the magic of friendship is even more powerful than I believed it to be when I sent Twilight Sparkle off on her studies.”

“And you hoped that this ordeal would cause Trixie and the griffon to open their hearts to it the way that...the circumstances surrounding my return opened Twilight Sparkle’s heart?”

“Exactly. But you need not worry—I promise, if I make another attempt to win anypony over, it won’t involve an artifact that could destroy the foundations of Equestrian society.”

“I have always been more pragmatic than you, sister,” Luna said. “Things seem to have worked out in the end, and I bear you no ill will.”

Again, the two sisters fell into silence. After some time had passed, Luna turned to depart, unfurling her wings as she reached the edge of the balcony. She paused for a moment, though, turning back to Celestia.

“If I may ask, why did you choose Ms. Lulamoon? There are surely more powerful unicorns just as ripe for a lesson in the magic of friendship. Was it merely for Twilight’s sake?”

Celestia thought for a moment before answering. “To be honest, sister, I am not entirely sure. Perhaps it was for Twilight. Perhaps I see potential in Trixie that others do not. Perhaps...I just have a feeling that the time is coming when I will need more allies.”

“And ponies think that I am the mysterious one,” Luna said. With a powerful flap of her wings, she took off into the darkening sky, leaving Princess Celestia alone to watch the sun drop below the horizon.


***


No unicorn ever forgets her first experience with teleportation, but Trixie Lulamoon’s was even more memorable than most. One moment, she was standing in the chamber of Wishing Stone, futilely assaulting the walls with her weak force blasts, screaming curses at the griffon and Earth pony who had just betrayed her. The next, she was engulfed in a bubble of light. There was the sound of an explosion, and the feeling of her body being reduced to its smallest components then reassembled. When she regained her sight, she was standing in the middle of an unfamiliar urban street, several shocked ponies gawking at her.

For the time being, she gave no thought to how she had been freed from her prison, nor to where she had been transported. All that mattered was that she had not been left to the awful fate she believed had befallen her just seconds before. When she regained something like composure, she fixed one of the bystanders with a fierce look.

“You! What town is this?”

“V-Vanhoover,” the stunned Earth pony stammered.

“And where is the nearest bar?”

“About two blocks. That way.” He gestured with a hoof.

Without another word, Trixie pulled her cloak tightly around her shoulders and, as she started off for the bar, cursed the circumstances that had brought her to where she was. Ultimate power had been within her grasp, and she had let it slip away. Or, rather, it had been stolen from her by the companions who were supposed to help her attain it. For the time being, she was too tired to think of revenge. She only wanted a drink to celebrate the fact that she had not been left to rot in that stone prison.

As she reached the rustic little tavern, she threw open the door and entered without even bothering to read the nameplate that hung above the entrance. Inside, a fire roared in the fireplace, and a handful of stallions sat drinking at the unornamented bar. It wasn’t even on par with the Dragon’s Breath, but it would suit her present purposes.

“Whiskey,” Trixie grunted as she pounded a few bits down on the bar. “Leave the bottle.”

The large, old mare working the bar issued a noncommittal grunt, but did as Trixie instructed. The unicorn quickly poured a glass, downed it in a single gulp, then repeated the process two more times in quick succession. As the warmth of the liquor rushed through her veins, she finally thought to remove her cloak. As soon as she had disrobed, she filled her glass for the fourth time.

While sipping the next glass, Trixie began to think about what had happened. Not the teleportation—that had surely been Gilda and Braeburn using one of the wishes to save her life. No, what really intrigued Trixie was how she had passed her final test. Gilda had obviously had a change of heart, and had somehow plotted with Braeburn to stop her getting the Wishing Stone. But Trixie had been allowed to proceed to the final chamber despite making no secret of the fact that she was vengeful and power-hungry. She had passed the test precisely by admitting her greatest weaknesses.

Trixie stopped drinking for a moment, staring straight ahead. The effects of the alcohol were already upon her, but that didn't stop her from experiencing an unwelcome epiphany. She had believed that she passed her test by confessing her weaknesses. But what if she hadn't? What if she was actually being tested to see whether she had learned anything in the presence of a far greater mage than herself? If that was the case, she had failed the test, and failed it miserably. In fact, her failure had been so spectacular that she had still been allowed into the final chamber. The magic of the test had determined that she posed no threat, so long as she had her two babysitters in tow.

Trixie pounded back the rest of her drink, then sat for a long time, staring into the brown liquid that remained in the bottle. She hadn't thought that she could get lower than she was after the Ponyville incident, but this day had proved her wrong. The temptation was strong to remain drunk in Vanhoover until her meager supply of bits ran dry, then perform a few magic shows to get enough money to travel back to Hollow Shades. Deep down, she knew that there was only one way to conquer her doubts and shame once and for all. It was the only solution there had ever been.

She had to finally have her revenge on Twilight Sparkle.

Suddenly, Trixie had no desire to stay in Vanhoover a moment longer. Her cart and props were still in Hollow Shades, if Porter hadn't allowed them to dragged off by the Royal Guard. She needed to get back there, rest at the tavern for a couple of days, and try to gather information. The Wishing Stone was surely not the only item of vast power remaining in Equestria. She had heard talk of others, not quite as powerful, but still sufficient to defeat Celestia's pet. The Mirror of Princess Platinum, the Cup of Pegasopolis, the Alicorn Amulet—if any of these turned out to be real, she would find them and claim them for herself. Twilight Sparkle would bow before her, and then she would go looking for Gilda and Braeburn.

Trixie abandoned her unfinished bottle, rushed into the street and grabbed the nearest passerby.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie requires a train!" she shouted at the bewildered pegasus.

"J-just around the corner over there. You can't miss it!"

Trixie shoved the mare aside and galloped in the direction she had indicated. Soon enough, she reached the platform, where she shoved her way through the line to the ticket counter.

"One ticket for Hollow Shades!" she demanded, throwing the last of her bits at the elderly stallion working the window. He collected the money she had flung at him and carefully counted it.

"Looks like yer a few bits short for that trip," he said in a nasally drawl.

"What? Then how far will this take me?"

"This is about enough to get you to Tall Tale," he said. 

“Tall Tale?” Trixie groaned. “That’s just a few miles from here!”

"Well, then, today’s your lucky day," the old stallion said.

"And why is that," Trixie asked, making no effort to hide her exasperation.

"Well, my cousin happens to run a rock farm out that way. He can always use a spot of help. You could earn the money to get to Hollow Shades in no time."

“A...rock farm?”

“Yep, good honest work.”

Trixie looked at the line of angry ponies she had just shoved her way past to be the first in line. She could run, but she quickly decided she might as well take the train as far as she could, and figure out her next move from there. “Fine,” she said with a heavy sigh, “one ticket to Tall Tale.”

The stallion obliged, and Trixie trudged off to wait for the train.