A Spike of Magic

Moving through a large stone temple, you look for anything familiar. Large stone pillars appear to warp as they reach high into what looks like the very heavens. Each one was covered in a variety of glittering symbols depicting various famous events. Gold films stretched over each of the many doors across the beautiful court yard.

A soft laugh makes you lower your head and follow it to it’s source. Entering a doorway, you start to chase after it as a slim finger guides you to another door each time. Finally, you reach a large and elegant bed room draped in fine cloth. Lying on the bed is a slender women completely naked, beckoning you further with her finger.

“Come brave warrior, join me in my bed tonight," she calls out.

“Of course I...wait, haven’t I seen you somewhere before?" you ask, vaguely remembering her face.

“What? No, I’m sure you’re just--" she tries to nervously reply.

“No wait, I remember now. You’re that goddess Luna right? Controller of the moon and dreams?”

She sits up into a cross legged position and folds her arms. “Dammit, how did you know?" she asks with a pout as you approach.

“Pictures of you and your sister are in the warrior’s hall. Hold on, why were you trying to sleep with me?”

Luna looks away as you sit down on the bed beside her. It becomes apparent that you were wearing a very loose fitting robe. “Do you know how hard it is to get laid as a god? All of the guards think they’ll die or something if they so much as touch me," she says slightly agitated.

You glance around the shimmering chamber as you remember being told the princesses were gods made flesh. And gods made flesh were not bound by common desires of sleep, food, or lust. Guess you could chalk that up to a mistranslation. Somehow.

“Occasionally I chance upon someone who doesn't know my real identity, so I can get lucky in that regard.” Luna concedes, rolling onto the bed. Following her lead, you wonder if this was still sacrilege if she was asking you to do it. Could be a test? Better to stay on the safe side in any case. “Crap, you’re going to do the same thing aren’t you? Dammit.”

“Yeah, sorry.”

She rolls onto her side, exposing her shapely rear towards you, making you have second thoughts about the safe side. “Dreams suck. Can’t believe I got shackled with this job," she complained. She goes quiet as you stare at her ass before becoming aware of her disappointed eyes looking back at you. “Oh, so sex is a no-go but ogling is a-ok?”

“Compared to sleeping with an actual god, isn’t staring a lot tamer than that?" you reply indignantly.

“I can get checked out anytime, but what I want is more than just wandering eyes. What’s the point of eternal youth without sex?" she whines. It was odd, but you felt a small amount of pity towards the immortal goddess.

“Look, how about we just...cuddle or something? That good?" you ask, moving further onto the bed.

She looks you up and down before placing her head back on the pillow. “Knock yourself out, I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth. You better not be one of those ‘I won’t touch a woman’ types.”

Wondering whether that meant Luna had tried to sleep with clerics, you move behind her. Pressing yourself along her back, you notice that her skin was slightly cool to the touch. The room’s actual temperature was fairly warm, so you assume where she is sleeping must be cooler. Your hand slides along down her chest before draping freely over breasts, feeling her nipples press into your arm. It's strange, but there's something almost surreal about the feeling.

Luna adjusts herself under your arm before pressing you tighter against her chest. “So where are you sleeping anyway? I can feel your sleep is somewhat troubled.” Even though it's a dream, you're pretty sure it's weird for her to ask something like that while naked.

“I’m on a job. We’re sleeping in the woods right now," you reply, shifting your grip on her body. What's this sensation you get from her skin?

“I see...any woman on this quest?”

“Yeah, it’s just me and two...wait, how did you know? Can you read my mind or something?”

“Didn’t really need to," she replies, adjusting her rear against your groin.

“Why is that?”

“You’ll see when you wake up in a couple seconds.”

“Alright then," you answer confusedly. A few moments pass as Luna continues to press against your body in an awkward silence.

“So...by a few seconds how long did you--" you start to ask her.

“Now," she cuts you off as a wave of white evaporates the world around you. Luna quickly departs, but the foreign sensation you had from her skin remains with you.

And you slowly become aware of the poor lighting within your small tent.

Your sleeping roll comfortably covered, with your armor laying in a pile near your head. Blinking the weariness from your eyes, you let out a yawn before adjusting your body out of reflex.

“Mmm...a few more minutes...” came Trixie’s voice.

“Whatever," you reply in a daze.

It takes a few moments and your hands listfully squeezing one of her bare breasts for the knowledge to hit you. Your eyes shoot open but you remain still as thoughts flash through your head. The odd feeling on Luna’s skin, it must have been caused by Trixie actually being in her place. What was she even doing here when she had her own tent?

Didn’t matter now, you just knew you should get out of the tent. Grabbing the leather britches the go under your leg plate, you slide out of your bed roll carefully. Trixie rolled around under your arm as you slowly lift it and retreat from her.

Either you or her have some serious explaining to do, and you were leaning towards her. Truthfully, you should have just kicked her out and chewed her out later for sneaking into your room. But the fact both of you were naked might make Twilight think something else went down. Wait, why’d you care what Twilight thought about you two? Oh right, she was the one who was paying you and she might not be so nice if she thought you were sleeping with her destitute friend.

You rise to a hunched position as you struggle to get your feet into your pants. Stumbling, you freeze when you hear Trixie start to move. Looking down at her, you watch as she blinks awake before a large blush forms on her face.

Neither of you say anything for a long period of time, confused and angry looks on both of your faces. Trixie glances up and down your body before pulling some of the covers off of herself. It is only a side view, but the sight of her bare curves threatened to get you excited, which would not look too good.

“Trixie is willing to forgive this if you leave now." she says, pausing with the cover barely hiding her sensual areas.

“Forgive me? You’re in my tent!" you hiss at her, trying not to wake up Twilight.

Trixie cocks an eyebrow at you before glancing around, finally settling her eyes on your armor. “Oh. So she is," she comments casually before rolling onto her back.

You silently watch her and wait for her to start getting up to leave. As she rests her head back onto the bedding, it occurs to you she doesn’t intend to go. “Trixie. Get out of my tent," you say, adjusting uncomfortably in your hunched state.

“And go outside in the nude? How barbaric of you," she returns without lifting her head.

“I didn’t ask you to sneak in here naked!" you growl, straining to keep your voice down. This was getting ridiculous, but at least her eyes are downward. While staying vigilant to see if she lifts her head again, you start to put on your pants.

About halfway through Trixie starts to talk and lift her head again. “Trixie likes sleeping nude, it’s far more--" she stops before staring at your groin‏. Her hazy dream like expression becomes a wicked grin. “--Comfortable." she finishes looking between you and your crotch.

You feel your eye twitch for a moment before finishing tying your pants knot. After that, you grab Trixie’s legs through the bedroll and start to drag her outside as she thrashes about. “Unhand Trixie!" she demands, keeping herself covered while also trying to kick at you.

The sound of her struggling obviously wakes up Twilight, who lazily leans out of her tent wearing a thin sleep shirt. “Trixie? Why are you fighting with..." she sleepily asks before noticing you and Trixie’s lack of clothing. All three of you go silent as you prepare to explain yourself.

“Twilight, it’s not what you think,” Trixie says holding up her hands towards Twilight. Was she really going to defend you? “Trixie and the warrior were simply sleeping together with some slight groping. No big deal," she says with a confident smile. No, you should have guessed she wouldn’t help you.

“W-what?” Twilight says moving out of her tent.

“She snuck into my tent last night. I have no idea why she’s naked." you tell her, dropping Trixie’s legs to the ground.

“That’s a lie. Trixie told you she felt more comfortable nude, just like you," she said, pulling herself deeper into the bedroll. You shoot her a glare, which she returns with a grin.

“What does she mean by...you were both naked together in bed?” Twilight asks, a small blush forming on her face.

“No, Trixie snuck in while I was--" you start to defend yourself.

“Yes, we were. And this one even started to mumble and grope me," she cut you off as she inched to her own tent.

“I did not!" you say, moving towards her. Then it hit you that you technically had, thinking that it was still Luna lying in bed with you. But if you let Trixie hear that, you knew she’d stretch the truth even more. You turn back to face Twilight, who is holding a hand up to her chin and looking at the ground in thought.

“I didn’t know you could be so bold..." she mumbles to herself.

“Hey, don’t think I wanted her to do that," you reply, moving back to your tent for your armor.

“Oh, I know she probably did it. You don’t seem confident enough to move that fast.” Twilight replies with a small laugh. Was that an insult or a compliment?

You start to put your armor on while Twilight prepares the horses to leave again. Finishing putting on your gauntlets, you exit the tent and check the fastenings on your gear.

Looking back up, you spy Trixie in her usual dress, cape and hat. Having seen her naked skewed your view of her towards being more lewd than it was before though. Dammit, you refused to believe you found her sexy. Shaking off the thoughts about a naked Trixie, you get on your horse.

The three of you continue down the long road until you eventually exit out of the forest and reach a field. Golden grass stretches for miles out from the forest to the point where the other end of the fields were not visible. It was a long and boring stretch of road, made that much worse by Trixie reminding you all of this fact. “How much longer? Trixie is tired of stupid grass." she whined, leaning on her horse slightly. How that poor creature could stand to carry her is a testament to its persevering nature.

“A few more miles, you can see the tops of the trees now," you tell her, too bored to get mad at her.

“More woods? But we just left those! Trixie is tired of nature, when can we go to a town?" Trixie asks Twilight.

“Sorry Trixie, but we need to stay on these roads, that means no towns until we’re done.” Twilight replies.

“At all? What’s even with all of this secrecy stuff?” she asks Twilight.

Something was disturbing the waves of gentle heat you saw towards the trees. It looks like something was bolting towards your group, but was moving far too slow for that.

“I told you Trixie, if the people knew Spike was running amok, people might blow the situation out of proportions,” Twilight replied in monotone.

You could tell that the thing coming towards you was a bouncing person. Or, at least something that looked human. What kind of person bounces across a huge field like this without signs of fatigue? Over Trixie’s sighing you could make out a gentle strumming as the person drew nearer.

“Hello there!” Came the female voice. It was a woman with a cloud of pink hair bouncing along with her as she moved.

“Pinkie Pie?” Twilight remarked, moving closer to your side. Twilight stops and the rest of you follow her example as Pinkie closes the gap between you.

“Oh, hi Twilight! And Trixie! And whoever you are!” Pinkie says, waving to each of you.

“My name is--" you try to answer before getting cut off by Twilight.

“Pinkie, what’re you doing here?” Twilight asks her with concern.

Pinkie strums her ukelele and bounces around a bit before she continues. “The Cakes gave me a vacation, so I’ve been wandering a little bit and learning some new songs!" she says, finishing with a strum.

“But Pinkie, you were a few towns north of us last time we met. How’d you get here?” Twilight continues.

“By taking the main roads silly!" she replies cheerfully.

“Oh, right.” Twilight remembers before blushing slightly.

“So you’re a bard?" you ask, having an interest in travelling bards. Being on the road and helping adventurers, you’ve often met a few of them and they are always kind. Their behavior is far from normal, sure, but they were always a joy to listen too.

“Yep! Want to hear a song?” Pinkie asks, holding up her instrument.

“Trixie would love to hear what passes for a song in your fluff covered head. Better than bland silence she supposes,” Trixie chimes in.

Pinkie smiles and clears her throat before starting a cheery tune.“Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo! Ring a dong! hop along! Fal lal the willow!" she begins to sing. There are some fairly nonsensical lyrics after this, with you only being able to pick out something about the sun and water. You get the impression this song was meant for a specific person to sing, not her. “Hey! Come derry dol! Can you hear me singing?” Pinkie finishes before strumming violently on her ukelele. After finishing, she begins to breathe heavily as well as wipe some sweat from her brow.

“Well Pinkie, that was...” Twilight trails off.

“Great," you finish.

“Confusing. Half of those words weren’t even real words, you just made them up!” Trixie complains.

“Well I liked it. Thank you for singing Pinkie," you say with a smile towards her.

Pinkie smiles as she regains her breath and begins bouncing once more. “Glad that you enjoyed it! Before I go, a word of advice,” Pinkie says moving closer to you. With one swift bounce, she leaps until her head is next to your ear and whispers into it. “Don’t be fooled by appearances," she’s says in an oddly prophetic tone. She lands and bounces past you, waving goodbye to you all as she leaves.

“Oh, uh, good-bye Pinkie,” Twilight waves as you all resume your travel.

“Well? What was the advice she gave you?” Trixie asks, more out of boredom than interest.

“She told me not to be fooled by appearances," you say, trying to work out what she meant.

“Do you know what she could mean by that?” Twilight asks you. You look at the ground and mull over possible ideas as to what she could mean to. Could she be talking about Trixie or Twilight?

“Who cares? She always gives stupid and cryptic advice.” Trixie says spitefully.

“How would you know about her advice?” Twilight asks her. Trixie says nothing, but you could imagine she rolls her eyes with a glare as usual.

After that, the trip was fairly quiet as you continue to wonder about what Pinkie said. Bards are known for being random by nature, but also being fairly wise from their travels.

The three of you pass under the foliage of the trees and feel the coolness of their shade immediately. Unlike the previous forest, these trees were far taller with thicker canopies. Lucky for all of you, some old magic spell keeps the trees from covering the road and making it pitch black. Or at least, that’s what you’d been told by other warriors. Twilight was happy to give you the entire history of how that was wrong. It really dug in your thoughts about mage stereotypes.

Just as she's about to continue about how it was a series of spells involving rerouting of all kinds of magic stuff, Trixie interrupts her. “Twilight, no one cares. At all,” Trixie says with clear agitation. She goes silent, obviously embarrassed by the fact she was ranting for however long she did.

A breaking twig nearby catches your attention. You motion for the group to stop and you all go quiet, listening for another noise of movement. The loud clanking of metal together followed by a small curse tells you someone is there.

“Who’s there? Come out so we can see you," you say, looking around the the shaded areas on either side of the road. You could swear it's ahead of you on the road, but you can never be too careful.

“There’s...there’s no one here,” comes a female voice from the trees. All of you go quiet before looking at each other.

“...What?" you ask again.

“There’s no one...fuck it," she says before dashing out from above you all in the tree line. She lands with a soft thud on the ground in front of your horses before turning to face you with a large grin. Her hair is a light teal with a white streak and her eyes are a shockingly bright shade of gold.

“My name is...the ten-fingered bandit! And I’m here to rob you!" she says before flashing you her dual daggers. Even though they were just sai, you know better than to doubt someone wielding an unorthodox weapon setup like that.

You dismount your horse and place your hand onto the grip of your sword. “Wait, don’t use your sword,” Twilight tells you, prompting you to turn around.

“Excuse me?" you ask.

“Well, look at her. She’s wearing light leather, you'd cut clean through her armor with it,” Twilight says in a low voice. You made a mental note to blame her if you die in this fight.

She was the one paying you in any case, so you decide it's best to listen to her. It isn’t as if the bandit was particularly imposing in any case, she's just a woman who's on the short side. Striding up to her, you see her tense up, signaling that you should stop.

“Just hand over the money," she says narrowing her eyes at you.

“We don’t have any money. And even if we did, we don’t just hand our money to strangers," you tell her, crossing your arms.

“Dammit, why is everyone so poor here?" she says before pouting. How is this person an actual bandit?

“Well, these are the backroads. People would only travel these if they were doing things in secret, guarded, or both,” Twilight comments. What was Pinkie doing coming down these roads then if that’s the case?

“That’s stupid. I’m not just some rookie bandit you know, I’ve fought for years! Sure, most of them were stealth attacks, but still,” The bandit continues. She waves her sai around in a relaxed manner before looking back at you with a grin. “So, I’ll take what money you have then. It does go towards a noble cause if that makes you feel any better." she adds.

“Noble cause?" you ask, lowering your arms.

“Yep. To fulfill my life long dream!" she boasts before striking a dramatic pose again. A silent moment passes before she looks at you, and gestures for you to continue speaking.

“What? Oh, what’s your dream?”

“Glad you asked! My dream is to one day be able to afford a handsome guard and to fall in love!" she shouts with a blissful look on her face.

“That’s not a noble cause. In fact, that’s almost the opposite of a noble cause," you say, crossing your arms.

“It is noble! I’ll pay him to watch me, and he’ll carry me in his big arms with large hands, caressing my wounded body..." she drifts off. You notice that the girl has actually started to drool at her own fantasy. This sure is one hell of a highway robbery.

“Trixie tires of this girl’s lewd fantasies. How can one person honestly be so vulgar?” Trixie pipes in.

Turning around to chastise her hypocrisy, you hear a yell behind you. Swiveling on your feet, you see a blur of the girl jumping towards you, which you dodge and land a blow onto her side. It was only a punch, but it did connect directly with her side, sending her flying off of the road. Trixie lets out a loud laugh as the girl fell, which Twilight quickly shushed.

“Ow, ow, ow...that hurt, you ass!" she says, clutching her side and trying to stand.

“You leapt at me! With daggers!" you defend yourself.

“You didn’t really need to hit her if you dodged her attack,” Twilight adds.

“What?!" you turn back towards her in surprise and anger.

“Yeah! You...wait, what kind of gauntlet is that?” The bandit asks suddenly.

“What? My gauntlet?" you say, holding up your hand.

She nods enthusiastically as she manages to stand and begins moving towards you. “Just another piece of my armor. Wait, what kind of question is--?" you start to ask before she jumps again.

For someone rolling in pain a few seconds ago, she certainly recovered quickly. Instead of going for another attack, she jumps at your hands and snatches one. “Oh wow, this is real good stuff! And with such a large hand too..." she says, staring in awe at your palm. There was something violating about the way she was eying your fingers.

“Okay then, time to go,” you say quickly yanking your hand away.

“W-wait! You don’t need to go just yet!" she calls after you as you mount your horse. You try to start moving the horse, but the girl moves in front of it.

“Now, just hear me out okay? Can I at least get one chance?”

“You attacked us! As far as I know, you still are!”

“Trixie thinks she should speak. If only to make our warrior frightened again.” Trixie says with dull glee. The girl relaxes, evidently taking the joke as a serious consent. Something tells you to run her down, but if Twilight didn’t want you using the sword, you figured she might not like that.

“Okay then...can I come with? It’s so boring out here!" she pleads. Like hell you're letting her tag along.

“No, we’re on important business and can’t take another person along without good reason," you make up on the spot. Looking back to Twilight, she thankfully agrees. “Oh...well, can you do something for me before you go at least?" she asks, visibly more sober.

“Alright, fine. What is it?”

“...Can you rub my cheek?" she asks innocently.

“Excuse me?" you reply after a pause.

“Or a pat on the head or something! Just let me feel those hands one more time!" she says, a wild look coming over her. You stare down at her with a disappointed look before looking back to Twilight. She shrugs, making you sigh as you turn back to face the bandit.

Moving your horse up next to her, you look from side to side to try and spot any invisible spies of the event. Leaning over, you lightly caress the bandit’s cheek. The light touch makes her bite her lower lip and one of her legs start to twitch. After a few seconds you quickly remove your hands and place them on the reins. “Satisfied?”

“Oh yeah..." she drifts off, blissfully rubbing the spot where your hands touched. You silently wish that she had been a real robber, at least then she’d have just taken your money. The group of you move down the road again as she waves goodbye between giggles. Hopefully you'll come across somebody who isn’t insane on this road. The number of times you met people with estranged ties to one or more members of the group was far too high.

A figure becomes visible marking some nearby trees with a short sword. Don’t speak too soon. As the figure steps back you can tell it’s another woman, but this one was familiar somehow. Strange, you normally remembered people’s faces or occasionally their weapons, why did her body look familiar?

In any case, the woman looked stuck, so you called out to her. “Hello there, do you need help?" you say reaching a few yards behind her.

“No thanks, just looking for--" she says as she turns around. As she does, she removes a small leather helm to reveal a short cut of rainbow hair. God dammit, why does it have to be her? An angry glare comes over both of your faces as you remember each other.

“Pervert!" she shouts, pointing her sword at you.

“Thief!" you say, hopping off your horse and grabbing your sword.

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asks.

“Rainbow Dash?”

“Twilight?” the thief asks.

“Lame-bow Dash?” Trixie asks with a laugh.

“Trixie?!” the thief asks again, pointing her sword at Trixie now.

“Warrior?” Trixie calls to you.

“Warrior?” Rainbow asks.

“Everybody shut up!" you shout, ending the loop of name dropping. Everyone goes quiet from your outburst and looks towards you. Glancing around, you ensure everyone understands that you’re going to speak.

“Alright, so it’s clear we all know each other. Let’s just--" you try to calmly reason before Dash cuts you off.

“Twilight, what’re you doing on roads like these with a pervert and Trixie?" she asks, returning her glare towards you.

“Me? A pervert? You broke into my room while I was asleep!" you say, drawing your own sword. She glances over the weapon before narrowing her eyes and lowering her body, preparing for a fight. Twilight hops off her horse and dashes between the two of you.

“Okay, hold it, both of you. How about one of you explains how you...met?" she asks diplomatically.

“Gladly,” Dash says with a smirk, lowering her sword and shield. You rest the tip of your blade on the ground, not wanting to have to re-draw it should she decide to go after you.

“About a few months ago now, I was in a small town looking for some relaxation. I got a room at an inn and stayed for a few days,” She moves over to a tree and leans against it.
“Afterwards, I left and was about to leave town when I noticed that I’d left my shield. I had already checked out, so I had to sneak in,” Reflexively, you grip the handle of your sword harder, trying not to interrupt her. “But when I did sneak in, that’s when I found this pervert in my old room," she says, pointing her sword at you.

“Pervert?!" you say through grit teeth.

“Yes, pervert! When I went into his room, he tackled me while he was completely naked! If I had not escaped when I did--”

“Nothing would’ve happened! I was naked because I sleep naked! I saw you sneak into my room to steal things in the night!”

“I’m not a criminal, freak!”

“And I’m not a pervert, burglar!” Both of you move towards each other with murderous intent in your eyes.

“Cool it you two! I’m not going to just let you tear each other apart over some silly misunderstanding,” Twilight tells you both.

“Oh, just let them Sparkle. Trixie would love to see our big friend knock Rainbow crash’s head of,” Trixie chimes in.

“I’m not going to kill someone just because you want me to Trixie," you say, turning around.

“Yeah. Like he could even kill me with a sword like that,” Rainbow says with a condescending laugh. The hell did she just say?

“What do you mean a sword like mine? You got a problem with it?" you say, shouldering the blade.

“Aside from the fact I could walk away in the time it took you to swing that thing? It’s an overcompensation cry if I've ever seen one,” Dash says mockingly. She starts to grin as you grit your teeth before placing her short sword between her legs. “Look at me with my big sword! I’m so tough and cool!" she says in a poor mimic of your own voice.

“Shut it, you thief!" you say, gripping your blade with both hands.

“Oh you wanna go? We’ll go!” Dash says, retrieving her own sword. You lower it until it was in position for a quick downward chop. The blade weighed heavily on your shoulders but felt much lighter underneath your hands. Both of you have your weapons ready for an attack, both sizing each other up.

“Both of you, can we please come to a reasonable understanding?” Twilight suggests diplomatically.

“Nope,” both of you say at the same time.

Twilight looks worried, but you could care less when this madwoman was ready to jump. She lowers herself down and you prepare for her to run at you. Instead, she makes an incredible leap forward towards you with her sword pointed at one of the exposed areas of your shoulder. Despite there still being chainmail, a short sword might be able to pierce it when the force of an entire body is pressed against it. You opted to let the mystery of if she could break through remain unsolved and dodge to the side.

As you land, you ready a heavy downward strike. Normally such a move would leave you open since it would clearly be blocked by the opponent's shield. But Dash’s shield was wood and likely lacked any enchantment, which means it won’t stand against a sword like yours very well. Dash sees you ready the attack and starts to leap away just as you start to bring down the blow.

Something flashes across Dash’s body just as you swing downward. Does she really have something on her enchanted? As the sword moves down, a strange feeling comes over the arc, like you're hitting slime. Your blade crashes into the ground when you feel a sudden force push against your chest. The blow sends you to the ground onto your back but otherwise leaves you unharmed.

“Enough! Both of you!” Twilight says. Lifting your head up, you see Twilight's hands slowly lose a soft glow and begin to lower. A bead of sweat rolls down her head as she holds a frown and looks at you.

“Was it really necessary to swing at her like that? You could’ve killed her!” Twilight scolds you before turning to Dash. She was lying on the ground as well, but from the groans of pain it was clear she was alive. How did she survive a blow like that? “I shielded you at the last second the best I could, anything less and you might’ve been seriously hurt or killed!” Twilight continues. Well, that explains that.

But you could’ve sworn that something had gotten cut, you felt something give way after the shield. Dash pushes herself up while rubbing the back of her head, revealing what you’d cut. After getting to a sitting position, the effect of your blow dawns on her. Turns out she failed to parry your attack and had left her defense wide open. Had Twilight not put a shield up over her body, you’d surely have done some serious damage.

“W-what the hell happened to my armor?!” Dash shouts, pushing together the split ends of her leather gear. Both her chest piece and the main knot of her pants had been cut.

“Our friend here struck at you after you jumped him. I barely had time to make a shield over your body,” Twilight says, refusing to lose her frown.

Dash started to blush before looking at you watching her and growling. “You bastard, I bet you planned this!" she shouts before covering herself further.

“How the hell could’ve known she’d shield just your skin?" you return angrily.

“I didn’t, your sword was enough to break the shield as it went over her. She got pushed away and thankfully not hurt,” Twilight said, helping Dash up.

Trixie starts to giggle as she moved off her horse to stand next to you. “Yes, but Twilight dear could you explain how it didn’t catch on anything on it’s way down?” Trixie asks with a laugh. Catch on anything?

“What does she mean Twilight?” Dash asks, wrapping herself in Twilight's blanket. Twilight blushes and rubs the back of her head before shooting Trixie a glare. “Twilight?” Dash repeats.

For a few seconds, Twilight hesitates before sighing and leaning in to whisper in Dash’s ear. Dash listens before a large blush reappears on her cheeks and she grows furious.

“What? What happened?”

“Our fiery prism head here only survived your attack because she had no breasts for the sword to catch on and split the shield.” Trixie tells you.

“S-shut it Trixie!” Dash shouts.

It occurs to you that even though you almost killed her, she was more concerned with her cup size. You feel like a bit of an ass, having almost killed someone over something so stupid. Wait a second, she attacked first. “Well, now that that’s sorted, let’s go," you say, standing up and moving over to your horse.

“Oh come on, we can’t just leave her here with her armor all split up!” Twilight pleads.

“We most certainly can, here, I’ll show you how.”

“Trixie will help. Don’t worry Sparkle, it’s easy once you start,” Trixie says, mounting her own horse and following you. If Trixie's on your side, is that a good or a bad thing?

Twilight moves in front of your horse and holds her hands up in front of her. “I’m the one leading this journey! You just attacked one of my close friends and nearly killed her!” Twilight shouts. She grabs Dash’s hand and leads her over to her horse where she lets her get on before mounting it herself. “So if you think you’re getting paid for this then you are mistaken!" she says, a fire in her eyes and voice.

“But...she attacked me first!" you say, fearing the loss of payment.

“Only because you--” Dash tries to return before getting cut off by Twilight.

“I don’t care who started it, it’s done! Both of you, apologize now!" she shouts with a shrill voice. Everyone winces at the high pitch of her voice.

“Fine...Dash, I’m sorry," you begrudgingly comply.

“Apology accepted,” Dash says. Twilight reaches back and tugs at the blanket covering up Dash’s broken armor. “W-wait! I’m sorry, alright? Don’t pull it off!” Dash shouts quickly.

Everyone goes quiet as Twilight holds her serious expression all the way until sundown when you set up camp. All of you are putting up your tents while Dash sat in a corner wearing a spare shirt that Twilight has brought along. She's repairing her armor with some loose thread from the same shirt. It would be a poor fix, but one that would last her till the next town where should could get a proper one. The longer she stays, the more it sinks in that you almost killed her.

“If you so much as glance at me while I wear this thing, I’ll cut your head off,” Dash remarked as you prop up a tent pole. Were she not such an ass, you might feel bad about it. You choose not to rise to her threat, just in case Twilight is still on edge about the “almost murdered my friend” thing.

After you finish your tent you start making a circle of stones for a campfire. “Dash, before you get a move on how about you stay for some food?” Twilight offers. Rainbow moves from behind Twilight’s tent, wearing her newly fixed gear.

“And stay here with those two? No thanks, I’m heading out," she says before starting to move away. Twilight places a hand on Dash’s shoulder before pulling Dash closer.

“But Dash, if you leave now the cold air might break apart those fresh seams, wouldn’t want that now would we?” Twilight says coldly.

“Uh, sure, but how is that going too--” Dash starts to reply.

“Rainbow Dash. You are going to help me get fire wood. You’re going to stay for a while and make light conversation,” Twilight starts to inform her. She moves closer and closer towards Rainbow Dash, making the shorter girl appear even smaller.

“But Twilight--” Dash starts up again when Twilight pushes a finger into Dash’s chest.

“And then we’re going to eat, and then you may leave once everybody has gotten over their stupid misunderstandings. Do I make myself clear?” Everybody goes quiet, watching to see what Twilight would do next. “I said, do I make myself clear?!" she says, gripping Dash’s shoulder tighter.

“Gah! Y-yes, very clear!” Dash whines. Twilight snaps her head over to you and Trixie sitting frozen by the stones.

“Friends. Got it," you reply.

“Crystal clear,” Trixie acknowledges.

With all of your replies, Twilight lets out a sigh and turns her intense look into a bright smile. “Good! Now, let’s go get some firewood,” Twilight says, turning and walking away. Dash quickly follows suit in an odd sort of trance.

With Twilight and Dash gone, that left just you and Trixie waiting in the quickly darkening tent area. The quietness makes you think back to the morning and how Trixie had just snuck in. Not only is it unsettling that she would just do that, but what was stranger was that she hadn’t woken you up. Being a fighter, you often have to sleep lightly in order to avoid getting snuck up on. In fact, that was how you'd caught Dash when she broke into your room. So how is that Trixie was able to not only get in your tent, but sneak under your arms as well? It was a frightening thought at the least.

Trixie sits by the circle of rocks and glares down into the center of them. “Trixie tires of the sounds of crickets. Is there something you wish to talk about?" she says, breaking away to look at you.

“Well, sort of. When you snuck into my tent, how’d you do it?" you ask, not bothering to dance around the point. She may be arrogant, but she would figure out what you were asking at some point, might as well ask directly.

“Easily. Trixie would’ve gotten away as well, had you not begun too--" she tries to boast.

“Alright, I get it. Not like I expected you to answer my question anyway," you say, fixing a rock that had shifted out of place.

There was an awkward silence before Trixie began speaking again. “Do you not like Trixie?” Trixie asked innocently. Great, first Thieves and bandits, now this. Wonderful day.

“No, I’m...fine with you," you reply, trying not to sound harsh. It wasn’t far from the truth, honestly speaking. Trixie’s mannerisms and attitude were insufferable at times and she had a tendency to make fights out of simple things. Still, she's undeniably cute as well as being good at making awkward or silent moments eventful. Often she makes them eventful by starting fights, but at least they were interesting ones.

“Trixie knows that you do not like her,” Trixie states, coldly. What game was she playing at here?

“Trixie, I told you I don’t--" you start to assure her.

Trixie holds up a hand to dismiss you before she continues. “Trixie is not stupid, she’s very smart you know. But the curious thing is for some reason she doesn’t want you to dislike her,” Trixie finishes. Is this her form of a love confession? “Trixie is not the type to fall for idiots of course, so you have beaten the odds and earned her mild interest. Congratulations.”

You stare at her blankly for a few moments as she corrects a rock on her side of the circle. “Wait, are you trying to confess to me or not?" you ask, shifting to a cross legged position.

“Was this not obvious when Trixie snuck into your bedroll naked? She knew you might be thick, but come on,” Trixie said with a roll of her eyes. That explains that mystery. Well, explains it enough for Trixie in any case.

“Fine, but you should know that I don’t feel quite the same way," you tell her. Better to let her know now than get disillusioned and cause problems along the journey.

“What, a simple attraction? Please, I told you this was mere interest, nothing more or less," she says, sitting the same as you.

“But you snuck into my tent naked. That’s your way of showing mild interest?”

“Trixie used it to show two things. First, that she could be sexy and spontaneous," she says, holding up her thumb. Spontaneous maybe, but sexy is more debatable. “And secondly to show you that she could sneak into your tent and get close to you without you waking up." she finishes. Your eyes go wide for a moment before you look over to Trixie as she holds a large smile. “Just kidding. She doesn’t need another reason, unless getting to entice your clearly depraved mind and fill it with images of her counts.”

Staring for a few moments, you figure she must be telling the truth and decide not to pry any further. It struck you a few minutes later just how surreal that conversation was. Pinkie’s warning comes back to you as you think about it. Is this what she was warning you about? The thought about what that could mean stews around in your head for a while before Twilight and Dash come back.

Both of them place a pile of sticks next to each other on the ground. The piles seem to be unfairly split, with Twilight having around half of what Dash carried. “How come her pile is bigger?” Trixie asks, pointing to the piles.

“Well, I am stronger. Twilight didn’t have to do much lifting or fighting with her hands at that fancy academy,” Dash replies confidently. Twilight brushes some bits of bark and a stray leaf off of her bust, prompting both Trixie and you to look between Twilight and Dash. Dash notices and looks down before brushing some things off of her chest as well. “What?” Dash asks.

You start to reply before Trixie holds up a hand to stop you. “Let Trixie explain,” Trixie tells you, standing up. She moves towards Dash and stands up straight next to her before cupping her own breasts. Taking her hands away, she keeps them frozen in the shape of her bust before using them to pick up sticks from Dash’s pile. It'ss roughly half of Dash’s pile. Dash begins shouting again and made various boasts about things she’s fought or lifted. Both you and Trixie remained silent as Twilight set up the fire, sharing small grins.

Soon after, Dash calms down and you all share in some light banter as Twilight had demanded of you all earlier. Everyone seemed more jovial when there was food to eat, so perhaps you’d all just been hungry. Then Dash and Trixie begin fighting over which was the best kind of meat, dark or light.

Rainbow Dash leaves soon after that in a thankfully better mood, signaling the rest of you to go to bed. You wait a little while longer, making sure you see Trixie go into her own tent before going into yours. Would she sneak in again? Not that it mattered all that much, what could some arrogant mage with an overactive imagination do to you in your sleep anyway? Best not to think about it and catch some sleep.