A Spike of Magic

You look down into a metal cup and stare at the brown liquid. It was oddly flat for a supposedly alcoholic drink, especially the mead you’d ordered. Turning around in your seat at the small table, you spot the bar maid.

“Is this mead?” You say to her. She was a large hipped woman with proportional breasts looking like they were going to burst out of her ill-fitting outfit.

“Course’ it is. Well, most of it anyway,” she responds with a shrug as she washed a dish with a rag.

Sighing, you take a quick drink of it, figuring that one wouldn’t kill you. Putting down the drink, you swallow heavily before hissing out of grit teeth. “Good gods, that burned my throat!” you say, swiveling towards her.

“Well, I did say most of it. Rest is some cleaning alcohol,” she said, gesturing to a clear flask on the counter.

“That’s not for people to drink!” you say, holding the mug up angrily.

“What would you have me do? Water it down?” she said, placing her hand on her shapely hips.

"Yes!" you shout. Not to be picky on your poisons, but this was dangerous.

"With what they put in water these days? No sir."

Both of you glare at each other for a few moments. She knew from when you’d ordered a room yesterday that you had very little money left. You begrudgingly sit down again and mumble small curses into the near poisonous liquid.

“Normally we wouldn’t do it, but times are tough. Hell, you should know. When was the last time you guarded some youngins’?” she said, moving to the counter.

The way you earned money was by escorting new adventurers around old dungeons to break them into the field. You once did the exploring yourself, but the risk grew too fast for your tastes. Not to say you couldn’t keep up, but you were hardly the type to go leaping from country to country killing evil. Leave that for those with conviction.

“I was thinking of heading out myself, heard there were some bandits making trouble in Baltimare that earned themselves a bounty,” you say, taking another swig.

“Well, until you do, take off that blasted armor and over sized sword. You make the more skittish customers jumpy” she told you.

You wore a suit of steel plate, having no other clothes aside from sleeping gear. Normally, you’d be wearing street clothes, but this place was dangerous for someone to go around unprotected. Plus, you’d had to sell your clothes a while ago to afford this place.

“Times are tough, this is the best I can do.”

She said nothing, instead choosing to discipline a nearby bar maid who’d spilled some drinks. Just you and your deadly drink to keep you company. Better than being gutted by some cutthroats while laying in the street at least. Taking another drink, you briefly question that thought.

Nearby, you hear some hushed quarreling from two women. Eventually, they stop suddenly and both approach your table looking distressed. From the fact they were whispering in a place like this, you’d figured them for criminals. Instead, they wore very fine looking outfits denoting them as official mages underneath some linen cloaks. One of the biggest mistakes the mages guild did was give every mage an outfit like that, it always begged to be robbed.

“H-hello sir,” said the girl wearing a purple dress. Her outfit looked strange, even for a mage.

To her right sat her glaring partner who wore a bright blue outfit under her cloak. From the way she had kept hers unbuttoned, you could tell that the cloaks were not her idea.

“Did we hear you say you’re an escort?” the girl in purple asked, leaning forward slightly.

“Twilight, an escort is someone who sleeps with people for money. You’re not that, are you?” the girl in blue asks. The girl in blue continued to hold her glare at you, but softened it for some reason.

“No, I’m not a man-whore if that’s what you’re asking. I work as a sort of bodyguard for hire to help with quests.”

The girl in purple was looking angrily towards the girl in blue. “I thought we said we wouldn’t say who we are until we hired them!”

“Trixie doesn’t understand what you’re complaining about, he just told us he could help” the girl in blue responded, pointing a finger at you.

In the past you held off helping certain people, but you were fairly desperate for coin.

The girl in purple, Twilight, turns back to you and sighs. “Sir, we need some help on a quest,” she says, leaning back in her seat.

You look between the two of them and try to assess how much money you could get from them. Passing the mages guild exams and earning your robes generally took a decent income. “I think I can help. What’s the job?” you say, pushing aside the now empty cup and hoping you didn’t die from it. Until you got paid at least.

“Well...here’s the thing...the job is...” Twilight repeatedly drifts off, looking very worried. Were they on the run from the law or something? You didn’t work with criminals because of the risk of getting caught. Oh, and something about the warrior’s code, but that’s mostly semantics.

“Oh just out with it, Trixie is sure this barbarian lacks fear of a task like this,” Trixie says, gesturing to you with one hand.

“Hey, I’m no barbarian. I’m a warrior,” you say, sticking a thumb against your armor.

“Alright...we need to get our friend back from a dragon’s nest” Twilight says with a very serious look on her face.

All three of you go quiet for a few moments. You blink a few times before furrowing your brow.
“A dragon’s nest?”

“Yes.”

Another pause of silence, this time with Twilight growing visibly more anxious. “Sorry for your loss, but your friend is dead,” you say, gesturing for a barmaid to refill your drink.

“Ah, see, that’s where things get complicated,” Twilight says with an awkward and forced laugh.

You lift another drink, waiting for the sudden burning to hopefully take away the sudden feeling of not being able to get paid. “See...our friend is a dragon as well,” Twilight says in a hushed tone.

The sudden news makes you almost choke on your drink more than you already would’ve. Where the drink hit the table, it actually helped clean the old wood up. “I’m sorry, I think I misheard you,” you say, wiping some spatters from your face with the leather of your glove.

“He ran away while I was asleep and he’s been spotted traveling with a dragon horde which is at the Dragon’s Maw,” she said, placing her hands in her lap. Both of the girls look at you expectantly, waiting for your response.

“So, stop me if I’m wrong, but you want me to travel North into the fire mountains, named so because they’re filled with dragons--” you start to say.

“Well, yes but--” Twilight tries to interrupt, but you hold your hand up to stop her.

“Into the most notorious and deadly of all the dragon nests, and on top of that I need to retrieve a dragon from inside of it?”

“Yes, we will also need to travel by the trader’s roads as opposed to by teleportation because we need to do this in secret,” Twilight adds.

“And the dragon can’t be harmed because Twilight coddles the overgrown salamander,” Trixie shares, rolling her eyes heavily. Twilight shoots her a vicious look before turning back to you with wide eyes.

“...Exactly how much would this pay?” you ask, unfazed by her puppy dog stare.

“Well, we can’t actually pay you now because I’m a librarian and she’s homeless as of recently,” Twilight says, gesturing to Trixie.

“Trixie lost her wagon because Sparkle had to show her up,” Trixie says with a huff. Both girls glared at each other momentarily before Twilight turned back to you with a clearly forced smile.

“So you want me to do this out of the kindness of my heart?” you ask, placing a hand on your chestplate.

Twilight lets out an awkward chuckle before elbowing Trixie, signaling her to do the same. “So the answer is...?” she asks, eyes filled with hope.

“No. Never ever have I heard such an awful job offer in my life. I would be hard pressed to find anyone in her willing to do it,” you tell them, taking a drink. It was difficult to be harsh, but sometimes people needed to tough love. Especially two girls who were most certainly trying to get you and themselves killed. Sad to see two young girls trying something so stupid, but new people will do these things.

“S-sorry to waste your--” Twilight starts to apologize sadly.

“No, Trixie has another idea,” Trixie says, grabbing Twilight's shoulder before moving close to you. Trixie recrossed her legs before wrapping an arm around you and pulling you close.

“Since you are playing hardball, Trixie will offer her body as payment for your services,” Trixie says, tracing a finger on your chest piece.

“The answer is still no” you says, pulling her hand away gently.

“W-what? Are you calling Trixie ugly?” she says, balling her hands into fists.

You lean away from here, fearing a blow to your unprotected face coming. “No, but there are women in this very building I can pay for sex that won’t make me go on a suicide mission," you say as she stands up. They will try to steal your wallet, but not having any money tended to help keep that at bay.

“How dare you! Trixie is more beautiful than any cheap harlot in this rotting old bar!” she said, raising her voice. A few girls gave her some angry looks, but most customers only gave her a glance.

“Trixie, please we should just--” Twilight tried to calm her down as she stood up as well.

“No! Trixie will not stand having come to three places in a row to be rejected yet again in place of more glorified whores,” she yells. Your eyes go wide as a very large shadow appears behind Trixie, making her pause and turn around.

The innkeeper was not just a very wide woman, but also stood a few inches taller than Trixie, not even counting her large red hair. She tapped a small frying pan gently into her hand as one eye twitched in anger. “Ah think it’s time you an’ your friends leave missy,” she says, looming over the blue haired girl.

“Trixie isn’t scared of some land whale,” Trixie hisses at the woman. Well, she must have led a good life if she was so willing to die.

You stand up and try to sneak away from this scene as Twilight freezes. “Hold it right there!” she says, pointing at you past Trixie. Squeezing your eyes shut, you turn around slowly and accept your poor fortune.

“You are going to pay for those drinks and then NEVER coming back. All of you!” she says, waving her pan at all three of you. Most of the customers were silent, watching with wide eyes at this public punishment.

“But I’m not even with these girls!” you try to defend yourself.

“Oh yeah, so this one was just feelin’ up some stranger she met today? Fat chance mister,” she says, pointing from Trixie to you Just your luck.

“We’re very sorry to have caused so much trouble, we’ll leave right now. Trixie, come on,” Twilight says, blushing from embarrassment. She waves for you to follow after paying for the drinks, and you do so with a defeated sigh. Both of you move quickly out of the building as Trixie attempts to put up a struggle.

“Hey, what about my--” you try to say to retrieve your belongings. The sudden blow of your carry bag knocking you to the ground both cut you off and answered your question. You were out in the afternoon street now, Twilight standing over you and helping you up. Giving her a glare but accepting the help, you both turn to the doorway. Trixie was holding herself inside the door frame with a determined look of anger on her face.

“Beat it lady!” said the innkeeper’s equally large husband as he pressed his foot against her back.

Trixie’s back arched but she didn’t budge from her spot. “You can’t kick Trixie out of a place like this! This sheep shack is not worthy of her beautiful face and sexy body!” she yelled at the man.

He pressed further against her back, veins popping on his slick forehead and temples. “You’re starting to get on my nerves lady!” He said.

“Trixie please! Stop making trouble and just leave!” Twilight pleaded with her friend. Well, “friend” in any case.

“No! Trixie will see this place in flames before she will be removed for being better than these savage underlings!” she curses defiantly. Some of the barmaids moved in and aided the innkeeper’s husband in evicting Trixie with their feet. For a mage, her finger strength was amazing.

Eventually, she gave way and was flung from the doorway to an unceremonious spot on the dirt road. She glared up at the sky as if it was the sun’s fault for her being on the ground.

“Well, I guess it’s time to go to another town then...” Twilight says sadly rubbing her arm after helping Trixie up.

“No. No more getting treated badly by these yokels. Just show him your thing already!” Trixie said, pointing to Twilight’s crotch. Wait, what was she pointing at?

“What thing?”

“Trixie, I can’t just go around showing it off to everybody!” Twilight said, checking to see if anyone heard Trixie.

“Oh please, there’s no way this stranger will actually tell anyone important till we’re done,” Trixie says, moving to you and placing a hand on your shoulder. As she did, she flashed you a corny smile with large teeth before turning back to Twilight. “Besides, who would believe a random barbarian?” she said, patting you on the back.

You started to protest but paused as she moved away. The numerous footprints on her cloak brought a smile to your face.

“I guess you’re right. I’m going to show it to you, but try not to tell anyone what you see alright?” Twilight said, moving towards you. A small blush comes to your face as she moves forward and starts to undo her cloak. Was she going to just show you out here in public?
Reaching down into her cloak, she starts to lift...

...And pulls out a small badge.

You felt slightly disappointed but wonder what this badge was. “You with the city guard?” you say, picking up the golden medallion.

“Not...exactly,” Twilight says, checking again to make sure only you could see it. Squinting your eyes, you start to read the small type on the border. It read “In Honor of Twilight Sparkle and her Heroics” at the top and “Royal Hand and Favorite Pupil of Her Majesty, Princess Celestia” on the bottom. Your eyes slowly go wide as you finish reading the embossed text.

Slowly, you hand the medal back to Twilight and look at her with a very distant stare. Royal hand and even the star pupil of the Princess. This girl knew the immortal ruler of the land and here she was asking for help. And like that, your very dim looking situation had just turned itself into a cozy existence.

“Miss Sparkle, I believe it is my duty as a loyal subject to help you,” you say, holding out a hand eagerly.

“So you’ll help us? Wonderful!” Twilight said, equally happy as she shook your hand.

“See? Trixie told you that was all you had to do. Though, if you would like to take Trixie up on her offer as a bonus, go ahead,” Trixie offered, pointing to her hip. You and Twilight both give her a slightly shocked look.

“Uh, no thank you. Shall we get going then? I assume you have supplies,” you say, gesturing for Twilight to lead the way. Trixie scoffs as Twilight nods and walks you both towards three stabled horses with stuffed saddle bags.

“We only brought three because we need to travel small. No one is actually supposed to know about our friend going missing,” Twilight admits.

“You told me pretty easily,” you say, mounting one of the horses.

‘Well of course, but you’d have just thought we were going to die so it would be fine,” Twilight admits as you all head out of town together.

Oh right, this was still a suicide mission. To starve to death or get roasted into dragon meal? The irony was almost palpable. Or was that just whatever poison they added to the mead you’d been drinking? Either way, the trader’s road was pretty calm for the first stretch so you could gather your thoughts.

The girls had both discarded their cloaks once you were out of town. Twilight wore an elegant dress of purple, much like a standard mage uniform but with a more regal look to it. Trixie on the other hand wore a pure blue dress that marked her as a simple mage. However, she had decided to add onto this outfit a cloak of sky blues and stars with a large brimmed hat to match. She looked very much the part of a witch, which was only one letter off of your own guess.

Good to be on the road again, even if you didn’t want to think about where it led. Actually, you were uncertain if this road even went in the correct direction that they wanted. “Is this the right road?” you ask back to them.

Being the “guide” they let you be in the front. To be honest, you were fairly sure that they were just hiding behind you. “Yes, sort of. Like I said, we need to move discreetly if possible because--” Twilight started to explain when a bush shuddered.

Out from the rattling foliage lept three small bandits decked in a mismatched armor. They all three wore a small deep red bandana over their mouths emblazoned with some strange crest.

“Cutie mark crusader highwaymen!” They all shouted in unison, striking a pose.

One of the girls with puffy purple and white hair tumbled from her stance and fell to the ground. “Dangit Sweetie Belle, ya can’t break formation!” said the girl with red hair.

“Scootaloo pushed me!” said the girl as she pushed herself up and pointed at with deep purple hair.

“Did not!” Scootaloo said, putting her hands on her hips.

“Did too!” Sweetie Belle responded, both girls touching foreheads aggressively.

“Who are you?” you ask the group of them.

They appeared to just be little kids, but kids could be dangerous. Especially when they appeared to have tiny daggers holstered to their belts. “Huh? Oh! Right, we’re here tah rob ya’ll!” said the one with red hair.

“Excuse me?” Twilight asked, shocked.

“Trixie will not be robbed by some street urchins that can’t even be bothered to urch on a street!” Trixie scolded the girls.

The girl in purple started rubbing the toe of her boot in the dirt like a little kid. “We’re just trying out some careers, you don’t need to be so mean...” she said mumbled towards the dirt.

Sighing, you dismount your horse and walk up to them. “Listen, a life of crime isn’t one that actually works. Especially when you pick fights you can’t win.”

“Who says we can’t? Applebloom! Sweetie Belle! Tower of blades, go!” Scootaloo shouts before hunching down. Applebloom, the girl with red hair, leapt onto Scootaloo’s shoulders and then Sweetie Belle lept onto hers. In this position, the girls were roughly an inch or two below your height and were shakily holding their blades.

“In this...gah...form, we can...dangit Applebloom, stop moving so much!” Scootaloo forced out as she tried to balance all three girls.

“S’not my fault, we never actually practiced this move!” Applebloom replied, trying to hold her knife up while steadying Sweetie Belle.

Sighing, you draw your blade and place the tip of it into the dirt. It was an old sword made of some enchanted metal from some old keep you raided a few years back. You’d always been a fan of large weapons and this one certainly fit the bill. It was around 6ft long from handle to blade point, made of an incredibly durable type of metal. Not only that, but it’s enchantment made it so the wielder could swing it as easily as a large longsword. It was still awkward to swing for most, but far less than an eye’s judgement would let on.

The second the drawn blade pierces the ground, the girls stop their bickering and look at it. “This is my blade. I see your daggers are made from some homemade flint. Care to see which does more damage?” you say, shouldering it. The girls look from the sword to you and finally to your armor.

Circling this a few times, the girls give each other a look before nodding. “Cutie mark crusader crime scene fleerers!” They all shout in unison. Turning around, the girls hold their shaky formation as they wiggle their way back into the bushes.

“Did you really need to threaten those girls? I think I know them,” Twilight asked as you went to saddle your horse.

“What did you want me to do? Let them rob us?” you say before starting down the path again.

“Trixie doesn’t see why you didn’t just chop the air in front of them or something,” Trixie replies casually.

“I could’ve hit them!” you defend.

“He’s not going to just murder some children Trixie...you’re not, right?” Twilight asks you from behind.

“Of course I wouldn’t!” you say, anger starting to rise.

“Jeez, no need to attack Trixie, just a question. How far away are the mountains now?” Trixie continued.

“Following this road with no teleportation? Around a week” you say, trying to judge the time from memory.

“A week?!” Both of them ask. You turn back to see their confused faces and try to tell if they were joking.

“You mean you didn’t look at a map of the way there?” you ask, equally stunned.

“Well, we did, but we’re mages so we don’t really know how long it takes to get somewhere without teleportation. Are you sure a week?”

“Yes, a week. These are backroads and we’re heading to the south from the north. How long did you think it would take?”

“Well, last time Spike ran away, it took us only a few hours to get there,” Twilight admitted.

“Last time? You’re saying this has happened before?”

“Sparkle is awful with pets,” Trixie interjected.

“I am not! Spike is not a pet, he's a friend, just...troubled. It’s tough being a dragon away from his kind,” Twilight admits forlornly. The thought of a troubled dragon hanging around royalty seemed like a pretty bad idea. Still, you weren’t a mage so maybe it actually made sense. Governments are weird.

The three of you continued down the road for an hour bickering occasionally about small things. Trixie, as it turns out, was very opinionated about her knowledge of flora and fauna.

“...And there’s a boot licker fly trap” she said, pointing to a nearby flower.

“That’s just a clover! Seriously, you can’t just name flowers and weeds what you want,” you tell her once again. What was this? The fifth time now?

The trees broke away as you started into a small outcropping. A small mountain pass rose as you all traversed along it’s side, ending in a flat plane of dirt. Strange piles of dirt began to arise around you. And with them, the odd sensation of being watched. “Do you all feel that too? I swear there’s something nearby, but it’s too dim to pinpoint,” Twilight mentions.

“Trixie does, but who cares? Let them gaze upon Trixie’s beautiful body,” Trixie replied, puffing out her chest.

“What if they're bandits? Real adult ones this time. Can you both defend yourselves in a fight?” In hindsight, you probably should’ve asked them this before heading off to a dragon’s nest with them.

“I know some basic attack and shield spells. Most of my knowledge is in research, sadly,” Twilight says, still scanning her surroundings.

“Trixie is an illusionist, combat would only distract her from her natural talent. Though, she obviously can defend herself,” Trixie adds. Yeah, you just have to keep talking and they run in fear.

A slight rustling of dirt nearby made you stop and reflexively grip your sword hilt. “Who’s there? Show yourself,” you demand of the mysterious onlookers.

Over one of the mounds, a set of yellow eyes peered intrusively. Soon, it was joined by two more eyes each hovering behind their own mounds. “Who are you?” you ask, gripping the hilt tighter.

“Ask us? You in OUR land!” One of the eyes accused.

“Yeah, yeah! Our land, our questions first!” Another pair added.

“This is a public road,” you narrowing your eyes, trying to see what the creatures were.

“Road? No road, our land! You--” the voice gets cut off with a strange yelp.

The other eyes snap away as their head suddenly come into view. One was small, but the other looked a great deal larger. They wore vest decked in various jewels that looked finely cut and polished, a sharp contrast to the rest of their outfits.

Their partner still hadn’t shown his face, but you could hear him arguing in a hushed tone with a feminine voice. Wait, a woman was with these things?

Suddenly, the third one stood up and dashed over to the others. Only as you saw this one rushing did it become apparent all of them carried small shovels with them. Along their belts were also a set of tools for excavation work and jewel making. All three huddled together before one lept into a small hole and the other moved over to the side. The third climbed to the top of a pile of dirt and cleared his throat. Looking back briefly, he nodded to something below before turning and nodding to the large one. Returning the final nod, he raised both hands and mimicked the sound of a royal trumpet.

“We now present, fairest in the land and queen of the diamond dogs...Miss Rarity!” He said before starting to applaud. A sudden burst of applause filled the area as various other men climbed out of holes and joined in.

Finally, out from behind a pile of dirt rose a large and golden throne of sorts carried by six of the men from this small group. It was covered in so many jewels that just looking at it at first strained the eyes. A woman was sitting on top of a plush cushioned seat and looked off to the side. She was wearing a revealing white outfit that denoted her as a figure of some importance. Well, one that dressed better than jewel studded leather in any case.

“Welcome, travelers to my--” the woman started before freezing upon looking at your group. An odd silence followed, with the woman holding her mouth open and sweat starting to form on her forehead.

“...Rarity? I thought you said you were going to Canterlot on business,” Twilight asked her.

“Rarity? You mean you know this girl?” you turn around as Trixie starts laughing.

“Trixie, don’t be rude!” Twilight said to her to no avail.

“Hello Twilight, Trixie, and...whoever you are,” rarity said, finally finding the ability to speak again.

“My name is--” you start to tell her before Trixie cuts you off.

“And here Trixie was thinking SHE was desperate! You’re ruling a bunch of miners!” she shouted before bursting into laughter again. Rarity said nothing but put on a pouty face and began to blush heavily.

“Rarity, you could’ve just told--” Twilight started.

“Miss Rarity. You have to say Miss Rarity” the smaller of the first three corrected her.

“No, no Dozer, these are friends. They may call me Rarity,” rarity said with a wave of a hand. He nodded quickly before turning with a smile towards the group.

Looking to his larger partner, he knudged his shoulder and gestured to your group. He jumped with realization and joined his friend in smiling at you. They had strangely yellow teeth, as if they had only eaten dog food for their lives. Perhaps that’s were they got there name.

“So...can we pass?” you ask Rarity.

Rarity looked lost in her embarrassment before snapping back to reality at your voice. “What? Oh, of course.”

“Thank you,” you say as you get your horse moving again.

“Um...say Twilight? Could you be a dear and never mention this to anyone?"

Twilight nods as she passes, but Trixie lags behind you both. “Trixie will” she says with a large grin.

“Well...who would believe you anyway?” Rarity returns.

“Trixie knows lots of people who would believe her!...Just, not any right now! Shut up!” Trixie says, quickly getting angry. You close your eyes and hope Trixie wouldn’t take this out on you in the form of talking.

As you leave, you hear her throne return to the Earth and hear Rarity being showered with compliments from the three diamond dogs. You wonder if every person Twilight knew was crazy. Then again, they did all seem to be fairly attractive crazy women. Hell, maybe there was one of her friends that was the good kind of crazy, like an adventurer or something. Thinking up what sort of dream date you could get with a hook up from Twilight kept you pretty distracted for a while.

Eventually, it started getting dark, so you all need to set up camp. Having done this many times in the past while making long journeys, you knew how to set up a tent easily. Twilight had apparently gone camping with her brother while she was a kid, so it only took her a few dozen times.

“Sorry, I guess I’m used to them being twice my height,” she admitted after finally finishing it.

Trixie sat nearby, angrily staring at a pile of cloth and sticks. “Trixie hates tents. She misses her wagon, things would be so much easier if she had her wagon,” Trixie lamented, poking her tent.

“Trixie, please just pitch your tent,” Twilight pleaded.

Instead, Trixie folded her arms out of spite after dropping the stick into the tent cloth. “Maybe she doesn’t want to. Trixie can handle the cold just fine,” she pouted.

Twilight sighed before moving to gather some sticks. You joined her and started picking up rocks to form a barrier around the fire as well.

“So, why does she hate you so much?” you ask as you place a large stone into your now empty pack.

“I showed her up on stage one time. Things kind of went downhill after that, so now she blames me.”

“Downhill? You mean her losing her wagon?”

“Yes. The wagon was apparently her house. It was destroyed when some enthusiastic fans tried to force her to show off.”

“She destroyed her own wagon in a trick?”

“Not...exactly. They woke up an ursa minor and I had to lull it back to sleep to save the town.” She was able to stop an ursa minor all by herself. If she could pull that off, why didn’t she say so when you asked about her combat prowess?

“Anyway, apparently the whole ordeal earned her a nasty reputation, making her drift from town to town...which is when she found me.” Twilight stopped gathering sticks for a moment and looked back to the campsite before sitting down.

The soft sound of crickets chirped and signaled that night was now fully on you. Thankfully, this was a more peaceful part of the woods and so you knew you could relax. Why they were relaxing you assumed was just blissful ignorance.

“She was on the road when I started looking for Spike. He had been missing a few hours at that point, so I was just searching.”

“A few hours and you were only searching? I thought your friend was a dragon.”

“He is, but he’s still only a baby dragon. I scolded him pretty hard for acting greedy and trying to take some of my money.” Twilight paused and looked to the ground before she continued.

“Anyway, so Trixie was on the road when she spotted me and accused me of stealing away her fame and wealth.” How could anyone like Trixie have fame and wealth? You sat down facing Twilight after brushing off the spot with one of your boots.

“At first I was mad at her, but then I saw that her cape and hat were in rags and she had no home in sight. She was destitute.”

Thinking of Trixie alone on some empty stretch of road in rags made you feel bad for her. But then the idea of her clothes being in rags made you feel something else. Good thing you were wearing a crotch plate. Even though you thought she was an arrogant little demon, you had to admit Trixie was attractive.

“So, I took pity on her and offered to help her back on her feet after I finished looking for Spike. Want to guess what she told me?”

“Something incredibly bull headed?”

“She said ‘Trixie doesn’t accept charity, but she will accompany you to make sure she gets what’s due to her.’ Can you believe that?”

“Sounds like her,” you reply, feeling your one day experience gave you some credibility.

“Right, but it was odd. It was almost like she wanted to be around me, or to actually help me get Spike back,” Twilight drifted off.

“Maybe the idea of a dragon roaming free doesn’t rest easy with her either?”

“Maybe. But I like to think she’s got a good heart, and you do have to admit she can be fun to be with sometimes.” You watch to see if Twilight was being serious or not.

“You get used to her. She might be a handful sometimes, but I think I do owe her something. No one deserves to just lose their home.”

Both of you go quiet for a moment before you clear your throat. “Say, you don’t...you know...like girls or anything do you?”

Twilight begins blush heavily before looking at you with slight indignance. “No, for your information, I like boys, alright?” she says defensively.

“Alright, just curious. The way you were talking about her just seemed kind of...affectionate.”

“Sorry, I just get asked that at home a lot. No boyfriends makes the parents ask questions.” You nod along, completely unaware of how royal families talked or dealt with things.

“Where’s our grandkids? It’s like, boys are hard to figure out mom. You have to talk to them just freaking right.”

“Uh, Sure” you say, starting to stand up.

“And oh my god do they get antsy when you do magic tests on them. I’m not talking bad about you by the way, just most guys,” she continues obliviously.

“Twilight?”

“Not to say I want to date you or anything, because we just met and you look pretty scary compared to--” she continued.

“Twilight!” you cut her off.

“What? What is it?” she replies angrily.

“The firewood?” you say, shaking a small bundle of kindling.

“Oh, right. Sorry about that,” she says, blushing as she stands up. Both of you return to the fire and you begin to make a small circle of rocks.

“Finally! What took you so long? Trixie is freezing her cute butt off!”

“We got a little side tracked.”

“An awful excuse. Trixie saw you two lounging around by those trees,” she says, starting to shake. It wasn’t very cold out, but you couldn’t imagine the warming properties of such a dress when you were sitting on the ground.

“We were just talking about the road ahead and any alternate routes, nothing important,” Twilight assured her. Trixie squinted at her before moving closer and widening one eye towards her for a moment.

“...You’re lying.”
Was she psychic or just paranoid?

“No she isn’t Trixie. Why do you care anyway?” you ask, trying to get her off of Twilight’s back.

“Because Trixie is more attractive, so she should be the one to be the love interest, the first one at least.”

“Love interest?” Twilight stated confusedly.

“Yes, but Trixie supposes you could have her sloppy seconds once she is done with the nameless warrior.”

“I have a name, it’s--” you try to tell her before getting cut off again.

“Trixie prefers her lovers nameless, it assures she gets top billing.”

Everyone except for the crickets paused in silence. “...Right. Let’s just set up a campfire and move on then,” you say, trying not to get into another hopeless battle with Trixie.

Finishing the rock circle, you and Twilight place you kindling in before Twilight lights it up with some magic. After warming up by the fire and making some small banter, things become relaxed. Trixie starts to lose her entirely bull headed nature and joins in with you and Twilight. Though she still stuck to the third person thing.

Soon, the embers began to die down so you stomp out the remaining fire and wave them both good night. “We leave tomorrow morning as soon as we can. Anyone who wakes up first, try to get the others up as well.”

They nod in agreeance before moving into their own tents and giving their good night wishes. Once inside your tent, you strip off the slightly cool armor and feel the brisk night air against your skin. You’d had to use a rather ill fitting cloth to serve as underwear, but it served it’s job.
Placing the armor next to your bedding in a ordered set up, you crawl in a start to drift off to sleep. Lazily, you wondered if tomorrow would be as hectic as today was.