Their group gathered back in their field headquarters. Long had rushed at them with concern shining in her eyes. At first, Trixie thought the mare was coming for her, but she went for Rags quite pointely. "You poor thing! Caught in a scrap with a mare that don't know how to hold her own." Her hooves explored him, making him wince as she found the tender spots. "You too rough to continue, and what's with all the soot?"

The ash and grit had flaked away on the walk back, by and large, but there was enough for her to notice, a dusting instead of a complete covering. Rags waved her away with a snort. "So long as you stop proddin' me like that. Trixie got us both away, we're fine." He looked over to Trixie. "How about you? You can do your part?"

Trixie gave a slightly shaking nod. "I will do my best. When are we supposed to start?" Sure, she hurt and ached, but getting revenge on that stallion was enough inspiration to make her want to go ahead if that was an option.

Sudden scowled silently through the exchange, but broke that with a grunt. "I appreciate ya bein' ready for some payback, but go lay down, damn mare. You look awful."

Long finally looked at Trixie fully and her ears flipped back. "Oh... he's onta something there. How are you walking?"

Trixie stepped back defensively. "I'm not that hurt!" Somehow, their accusing looks seemed to draw out the pain. Though she had resisted it with the stubbornness of a male taught that showing pain was a sign of weakness, it seemed to be dissolving. It did hurt. Her legs began to quake, ready to give out. Every breath started to become labored. She was falling apart, and she hated it. "Trixie can... handle it..."

Rags slapped her on the side as he walked past her. "Say what you want. I am going to sleep, so we ain't movin' until after that."

Trixie smiled awkwardly. "Well, if you're napping, I may as well..."

They proceeded into the back where some mattresses were on the floor with no box spring in sight. It hardly mattered. They both collapsed onto the softness provided.

Trixie faded from the world quickly, her body eager to begin its repairs in earnest. She opened her eyes in an instant, but she wasn't laying on a mattress. She was sitting on her haunches on a stool. A human sat on the next stool over.

They were at a bar, but no one else was around. The silence was unnerving. A drink slid in out of nowhere along the bar and the human caught it. He looked... familiar, but Trixie could not place him exactly.

Trixie tilted her head at the person. "Hello?"

"You shouldn't talk to yourself, you'll look weird." The human tipped his glass as if offering a toast, then drank deeply, draining the fluid away.

Trixie's ears perked up. Was that... her past self? She reared back. She started to remember it, but like a distant fact. She couldn't feel that face belonging to her, or that body, or anything else about it.

It had happened. She had died and become something different.

He reached for her and brushed away the lone tear that had escaped her. "Every day is a little death. Make the most of what you are." He stood up from the stool. "No reason to worry about me when the place is on fire."

Fire? Trixie blinked, and it was. The entire bar was ablaze with all the logic of dreams, burning brightly all around her.

She woke with a gasp, bolting upright. There was no fire, but there were other sounds. Ponies were shouting. Ponies were fighting. She heard a pony crash into something and it broke with wood and metal snapping.

Rags rolled upright. "They found us. The plan continues. Go take their stuff. If they're raiding, that means most of them are here. It won't get better." He stormed out with a loud shout, announcing his presence.

Trixie watched him go even as she climbed to her hooves. That sleep hadn't been as long as she would have liked, but the worst of it had passed, besides, there was no time to worry about that. She had things to steal.

Concentrating on where she wanted to be, she vanished in a fit of sparkles. Going alone and in less of a panic, she sailed through the distance between Here and There with far less friction. With a flash, she appeared inside the dark interior of the enemy's headquarters.

Running almost on autopilot, she was already warding light around her, fading from sight even as a surprised noise sounded from around the corner. A pony rushed out from the back, looking around suspiciously, but he saw nothing, and grunted. "Huh..."

Trixie smiled, watching him look around a little before he wandered back where he had come from. "Those guys better get back soon. Hate guard duty..."

Trixie walked as quietly as she could. Moving while invisible was stressful, but she dared not abandon her stealth with that stallion present. Still, at least he wasn't watching the door she cared about. With soft hoofsteps, she reached it and bid the doorknob open, only to find that it was securely locked with the faint rattle of an unresponsive jiggle.

She didn't know how to pick a lock, nor was she comfortable teleporting past the door into the unknown space beyond it. Could she teleport into something? How deadly would that be? She decided to not experiment with that.

She reached into the lock with her magic. She had no sense of fine sensation, just a general feeling of a lock pressing from all sides. She pushed further and further, seeping through it as she wriggled her hoof left and right as if turning the knob with it. Her magic rotated in sympathy, jiggling, rattling, catching! She caught something in there and gave it a pull. The door fell open a precious inch, her magic glowing around the latch she had managed to find and pull back.

She hadn't unlocked it at all, just cheated and depressed the latch directly. She felt pride in her jury-rigged lockpick. Side benefit, she quickly decided; there would be little evidence of her presence. She reached forward and pulled the door open wide enough to slip inside and pull it shut behind herself, locking her inside.

Finally, she could release the invisibility, sighing out with relief as that pressure began to abate. The small room was filled with their ill-gotten goods. Stacks of bits, weapons, things that looked like heirlooms, gemstones, and a riot of other things that left Trixie staggering in the scope of it all.

How was she supposed to get it all out?!

Stepping through the collection carefully, Trixie inspected the room. Some of it was collected in an old tub hidden in the back, and she smiled. "Of course." She began plucking the most valuable-looking things, grabbing them in her magic and tossing them into the tub. "You're large for a loot bag, but you'll do."

She made it rain bits, half-filling the tub with the pure currency. She scattered diamonds on top, carefully arranged some of the more interesting looking knick-knacks, even if she wasn't sure what their street value was. For completion sake, she nabbed one of the swords they had. Why did they even have swords, she couldn't say, but she nabbed one anyway, adding it to the pile.

With a tub full of booty, she hopped onto the pile and thrust forward a hoof. "Onwards, my valiant steed!"

She had no idea if it would work, but, hey, Trixie had made a teapot into a poodle... She wrapped her magic around it, imagining a tall and majestic loot horse.

It began to reform and shift beneath her, not changing in any sudden poof. Was it too large for that?

The tub closed around the top as she wanted, her riding on top of the closed ceramic. Its legs grew beneath it, but no head formed. It didn't move. Trixie nudged it with her hind legs, mounted on it as she was. "You awake?" It did not respond.

Trixie sighed. It hadn't been critically important for it to be alive, but she had wanted to do it. Oh well, more practice needed, or maybe less grandiose displays of magic. She had one solid object, and that was more important. She hugged the closed tub, filled with vast amounts of wealth. She thought of a safe place, willing herself and her cargo to go to it, away from the bad ponies.

She vanished into the Between place. The space around her screamed in complaint. She was not skilled by far to take so much with her. It wasn't just sandpaper, it was crushing her, resisting the movement of so much material.

Worse, it was slowing her, trying to stop her. What would happen if she was actually stopped in that place? She dared not consider it, trying instead to force herself forward with her will and her fiercely glowing horn. It was her against that entire Between universe.

The screaming only got louder. She was breaking something. Perhaps herself? The old pains had returned with vengeance, but she didn't stop pushing, she just couldn't. If she was stopped, she might never emerge, or so she feared.

She heard a loud crack. The tub beneath her had split, a spiderweb of cracks showing along its surface. A cough shook her, blood specking out across her front. She was breaking! This had all been a terrible idea! There was no going back, only forwards!

A rush of cool air struck her as she emerged from that terrible place. Wood shattered, ponies were screaming.

They hadn't expected a pony to appear, riding a cracked tub just over their roulette table. It had crashed down right through it and its contents spilled out in a wave of wealth, leaving a passed out Trixie sprawled out in the middle of it, ignorant to the shouts and motion around her.

Back in the field headquarters, Rags hurled the last pony clear of the building to land in the pile of their fellows. "Ain't so tough in a more even fight, eh? Get lost."

Long was seated on her haunches, holding a slingshot with one hoof, the other drawing it back, a rock loaded. How an earth pony did that remained her particular talent. "Unless you need further education. This ain't your turf."

Sudden clopped his hooves, wiping them clear of imagined dirt. "We're ready to keep dancin' if you are, buckos."

The thugs scrambled, pushing and shoving one another in their hurry to flee. The more injured of them hobbled away, but Don's ponies did not pursue them.

Long let her slingshot go limp, laughing with a grin. "Now that was more like it. Hey, Trixie, you can come out now." She turned towards the back. "We didn't need it, but you could have tried lending a hoof this time."

Rags waved a hoof at Long. "She aint here. I sent her to grab their stuff."

Sudden nodded softly. "Well, if she did that, all's even. Are you sure she's any good?"

Rags flicked off a bit of ash that clung to him. "She magiced me across the damn city, I'd say she is. Besides, she ain't all bad. Not a damn clue how this stuff works, but she's a good mare."

Sudden smirked suddenly. "Ya getting warm for her?"

Rags turned away to conceal a faint blush. "No! She's just made of good stuff. She coulda run last time, but she didn't. She stuck by her partner, and that's worth something."

Long suddenly threw an arm over Rag's withers, pulling him closer. "Hey hey hey, no reason to be embarrassed. I bet she thinks you're cool too." She winked softly. "If you offered to teach her how to fight proper, it'll give you an excuse to hang out with her."

Sudden waved at the empty sleeping room. "Before you start worryin' about that too hard, where is she?"

Author's Note

Well, that... worked?

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