Showmare

Trixie could tell that her explanation helped. New Guy was doing much better than before she had instructed him to relax. He still stumbled and left openings she could easily exploit, but it became much more manageable. The time it took for him to recover was shorter and left a fairly small window of opportunity.

At least it wasn't like earlier. Immediately after her short lesson, they tried the exercise again. The first time, he fell flat on his side. He had relaxed so much that when he was pushed, he couldn't react properly. After Trixie finished a good round of laughter, which was responded to with a cold glare, she stated that being relaxed didn't mean falling asleep on one's legs. She also explained how dangerous it was to be on the ground with a unicorn opponent. A consistent pressure downward could easily pin most, and it wasn't hard to cast on a fallen foe. He had to stay standing at all costs.

So, now an hour and a half later, New Guy was able to keep himself mostly straight while Trixie pushed at him from multiple angles. He was progressing quite well... for today. She knew that he would have to restart tomorrow. As soon as they stop training, his instincts would override his mind, and his tense reactions would take precedence over his relaxed state. It was the true difficulty of training. Learning a new way to do things was easy. Learning to do it without thinking about it would be the real challenge he would face.

But for now, Trixie had to stop. Simple as a magical push was, consecutive pushes had a way of tiring her out. Cutting off her magic, she signaled for New Guy to sit. He followed the command, seeming to be as tired as Trixie was. They sat there for a moment, their breathing slightly rugged and a small amount of sweat clinging to their bodies.

“So,” said Trixie, smirking over at the stallion, “was it good for you?”

New Guy snorted in response, giving her an incredulous look. With his cold eyes, it was almost deadly. “Are we done?” he asked. To Trixie, it almost sounded like he was bored.

“Yes,” she replied. “We've done enough for today. Besides, Trixie is sure now would be a good time for sleep. She will see you again, same time, same place. Okay?”

New Guy nodded, standing up to head out of the practice ring. As he crossed under the wire that separated it from the rest of the room, Trixie's mind kicked into gear. All the questions that evaded her earlier came crashing through the forefront of her thoughts. A sudden impulse ran through her, and she acted without thinking.

“Wait!”

New Guy stopped mid-step, turning his head to look back at her. With those piercing eyes looking through her, Trixie almost lost the will to speak. Why did that gaze bother her so much?

“Earlier, when you asked for her help, Trixie asked why her.” Trixie said, hesitance slowing her words. “You said it was because she was the only one you could trust. Is that true?”

New Guy kept his gaze firmly set on Trixie as he slowly nodded once.

“Why?” Trixie asked, curiosity emboldening her. “She was your opponent. She could have killed you. You even wanted her to. Not to mention, you plan on fighting her again. She could kill you then instead. Why trust her?”

New Guy stood still for a moment, not taking his eyes off Trixie. He let out a soft snort, as he turned his body to face back at Trixie. Sitting down, his eyes shifted slightly, looking more over Trixie's shoulder than directly at her.

“You helped me. Here. With the punching bag.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow at him, which he probably didn't see given that he was focusing his sight on something else. “All Trixie did was stop you from overworking yourself.”

“You could have let me. It would have helped you.” New Guy's gaze shifted over to the side of Trixie.

“Well, maybe she just likes tough opponents. It's no fun when they're too easy.”

New Guy's focus moved again, towards the floor directly in front of himself. “No. You helped me because you wanted to.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Trixie found herself looking directly into the freezing eyes of New Guy, as he brought his gaze up to meet hers. The intensity was greater than he normally exerted, as he looked at her in the most serious expression he could probably create.

“Yes.”

Trixie just stared. He meant it. He genuinely trusted her, simply because she prevented him from overworking himself. Given the nature that was usual for most fighters in the arena, it did not make sense. Something like helping him should have made him trust her less. He should be questioning her motives. He should be keeping his distance while trying to figure out her dastardly plot for his demise.

Yet, he did the exact opposite. Trixie could not fully understand it, but she believed it. Looking at the stallion before her, as he pierced her with his gaze, she felt something swell within her. Warmth. A bubbly, giddy warmth. She felt it simmer in her chest while she looked at him.

What was that feeling? Respect? No, it felt too personal to be respect. Admiration? No, it felt more substantial than that. Lov-? No. It couldn't be that. That would be impossible, and childish. Trixie settled on it being gratitude. Gratitude that she was trusted, even if he was supposed to kill her.

“Fine.” Trixie said, hoping her internal soul-searching didn't show, “Trixie helped you because she didn't want to see you hurt yourself. Happy?”

New Guy nodded, softening his expression. Though, he seemed bored than happy. Did he ever smile?

“Still,” Trixie started, “It's odd that you would ask for her help after what you said. Promising to kill somebody is usually not followed with friendly interactions. Having second thoughts?”

New Guy shifted his weight, showing discomfort at the straight-forward question. His face remained stoic, but his body gave away everything. “Kind of,” he replied. Trixie almost thought she heard reluctance in his voice.

“That doesn't sound very descriptive,” she said. “Care to explain?”

At this, New Guy shifted again. This time, however, he shifted everything. His weight moved from one side to the other in a slow, rhythmic motion. His eyes glanced around to various targets, seeming to polarize away from Trixie. A small scowl teased at his mouth. Trixie had hit a nerve. She couldn't tell if that was good or bad, but she hoped it was the former.

“I was wrong.”

Trixie sat looking at the stallion, whose discomfort was very visible, and waited for more. Unfortunately for her, he just sat there, shifting around. While he had given her an answer, it didn't make sense to Trixie. Wrong about what? She raised an eyebrow at him, hoping he would catch it and continue to explain. No dice. He kept looking around, keeping his gaze away from Trixie.

She was sure New Guy wasn't going to continue unless she coaxed him to. Letting impatience get the better of her, she tapped her hoof against the floor. Just as she hoped, New Guy stopped shifting and glanced towards the sound, which left him settling his sight on Trixie. She raised her eyebrow at him again, adding a hoof motion to indicate that he should continue his train of thought.

He continued staring for a moment, seeming to process what Trixie wanted from him. A quick snort escaped from him, as he removed his gaze from her and set it straight onto the floor.

“When you didn't kill me, I thought you were mocking me. It was like you thought I wasn't worth your time. Like I wasn't even a threat. I was wrong.”

New Guy kept his sights locked on the ground in front of him, which Trixie took as a sign of humility. To her, he seemed humble and apologetic. She could only imagine how much that took for him to acknowledge that he was wrong, let alone tell her. Still, it seemed somewhat trivial to her. Letting someone live was an insult? Compared to how the other fighters viewed the potential of death, this seemed a polar opposite.

“So, by letting you live, Trixie was insulting you?” she asked, thinking it a better idea to ask him instead of her internal monologue. New Guy nodded, not letting his gaze leave its spot. “Where could you possibly get that idea?”

New Guy shifted again, settling his weight over to his other side. “I... picked it up.”

“....You don't want to tell Trixie, do you?” While it was a question, Trixie said it more like a statement. In response, she got a small shake of the head.

Trixie sighed, feeling a slight pang of disappointment. “Fine. Trixie won't pry into that subject. If you wanted to tell her more, you would have. Besides, she's pulled enough information from you already. You need to get some sleep, and playing twenty questions is getting boring. Trixie will see you here at midnight tomorrow. Er, today. Got it?”

Avoiding looking at Trixie, New Guy gave a curt nod, and walked away from the ring. She wondered if revealing how he felt made him feel worse. Trixie knew there were people that didn't like to be open about themselves. From what she saw, New Guy fit that description. Was there something from his past bothering him, or did he just not like admitting he was wrong? Trixie sure wasn't a fan of apologizing herself. Adding the fact that he promised death to the equation would probably make it much harder to accept.

Realizing that she was going nowhere asking herself questions (something that happened too much lately), Trixie let it go. 'Trixie seems to have gotten more questions than answers. she thought, sighing in her mind. 'Not exactly what she hoped for.' Coming up on her room, she decided to relax herself. Sleep needed to come first. Sleep, then questions, then existential crisis about who wanted to kill whom.

With that, Trixie opened the door, flopped onto her bed, and proceeded to fall asleep.

**********

The gargantuan cave loomed ahead of Trixie, taunting her to enter. She felt a magnetic pull tug at her as she took her first step inside. She felt the fear fill her. She knew what was in the cave. She knew how foolish she was for seeking out the Ursa Minor. Yet, she had to. She had worked hard to reach this end; she had worked too hard to consider giving up. She needed to do this. Still, fear fought against Trixie, filling her chest with a heavy weight. The dark recesses of the cave didn't help. Though, she felt like something wasn't quite right. Something was missing.

Then she felt it. Or rather, didn't feel it. There were no sounds emanating from down the cave. No vibrations rumbled the walls. Not even a drop of water could be heard. Given the giant size of the beast within, Trixie was sure there had to be some sort of sound. But there wasn't. Just a deafening silence. With the odd lack of sound assaulting her senses, Trixie forged on through the cave. She glanced around at every crevice, sure that something was going to appear. It wasn't until she reached a large, open cavern that she saw the first sign of life. It wasn't what she expected.

Laying down, eyes closed, in the middle of the open space was New Guy. Trixie froze when she saw him. She had come for an Ursa Minor, and wound up with a fighter from the arena. One that she knew personally. Not what she had in mind. She stood stock still, hoping not to disturb him, while she tried to process the new information.

New Guy, it seemed, didn't want to give her the pleasure. Without warning, his eyes opened and locked onto Trixie. While she would describe his gaze at any other time as ice, Trixie felt fire from his stare. In one fluid motion, New Guy stood and walked in her direction.

As he approached, Trixie couldn't help but notice how he looked. It was hard not to. The way he walked sent waves through the muscles that formed his body. Powerful strides shifted strength throughout his limbs, all colliding in the core of his chest. There was no doubt about him being a fighter.

Trixie was speechless. She didn't dare move herself for fear of affecting what was in front of her. Instead, it affected her.

Without hesitation, New Guy closed the gap between them. Before Trixie could form a coherent thought, a sudden pain shot through her skull. It was soon followed by more as New Guy laid a barrage of attacks against the mare. Before she knew it, she was on the ground. Pain raced through her body, as it registered just how much damage she took. Looking up, her eyes met those of her attacker. They appeared to her as a living fire.

After a moment of silent staring, a single hoof raised itself, and came crashing down on Trixie's sight.

**********

With a sharp intake of air, Trixie awoke. She lay still for a moment, trying to determine where she was and what she just saw. After no real explanation came forth, she laid a limb over her eyes, blocking out the world. To no one in particular, Trixie asked a single question.

“What the hell was that?”